Megachurch Pastors Are Only Human

Pastors are human and can be swayed by money, power and sex. So why can't their actions be scrutinised and they be held accountable? To do so can hardly be called 'judging'

Florida megachurch pastors Zachery and Riva Tims ended their 15-year-marriage in late July, two years after it was discovered that Zachery Tims had an affair with an exotic dancer he met in Paris.
Read more... http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/news/22954-florida-megachurch-pastors-end-marriage

Ukrainian law enforcers on Tuesday formally charged the ethnic Nigerian leader of a hugely popular evangelical Christian church of complicity in bilking his congregation of millions, the Interfax news agency reported. Pastor Sunday Adelaja, senior pastor of Embassy of God in Kiev, Ukraine, was among the ringleaders in an international scheme to attract funds from Ukrainian churchgoers into questionable Nigerian businesses run by friends and relatives, the accusation read in part.
Read more ...   http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/main-square/30666-nigerian-evangelical-pastor-sunday-adelaja-charged-fraud-ukraine.html

From its inception the Pentecostal movement has been marred deeply by scandals, as we have documented in our illustrated 317-page book The Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements: Its History and Its Error. If the movement had the fullness of the Holy Spirit unction and power that it claims, we would not see such an exhibition of the flesh, but in fact moral and other scandals have continued to plague it in recent history. The following are some prominent examples:
Read more...Recent pentecostal Scandals

Bishop Rick Hawkins is described many ways by many people: showman, a charismatic and powerful preacher, founder of the massive San Antonio church the Family Praise Center, as well as a charter school that bears his name, and an accredited bible college that trains evangelicals. But in recent months Bishop Hawkins is best known for a storm of sex scandal. In 2007 his Family Praise Center was rocked when allegations surfaced of Bishop Hawkins sexually harassing church members, having adulterous affairs. Several women charged that he took advantage of women who came for him for spiritual counseling by soliciting them for phone sex. He is reportedly under investigation for using thousands of dollars in church funds to hush up his victims. Hundreds of church members have fled his church.
Read more ... Who is Bishop Rick Hawkins

Financial scandal. Faulty theology. Moral failure. The last few years have shown that the Church and her leaders are not immune to scandal and corruption. The real problem, however, is that no one is holding them accountable. Until now. Charismatic insider and contributing editor to Charisma magazine, J. Lee Grady has been a voice crying out against the abuse of the gifts of the Spirit in his weekly, award-winning column "Fire in My Bones." Though an avid proponent of the charismatic experience, he has observed trends that both distress and anger him. And now he is overturning the money tables.
Read more Respected Journalist Exposes the Scandals of the Charismatic Renewal

Lori Lewis' pastor let her family stay in a church apartment when her husband went to jail. Five months later, the pastor joined her husband behind bars. He was not there for inmate ministry. The Rev. Robert N. Riddle was charged in April with swindling an elderly widow out of more than $100,000. While not personally affected by the scandal, the disappointment stung Lewis. "If you can't trust your pastor, who you can trust?" she said. Churches are learning that the preacher in the pulpit should not be accepted on his word alone. Scandalous stories of bad pastors floating from one church to the next have also made some wonder whether denominations where there is little oversight over congregations are even more vulnerable to clergy abuse.
Read more... Pastor scandals erode trust in pulpit

Jim Bakker Renounces The Prosperity Gospel As A Lie Jim Bakker on Youtube

The music is catchy, the mood euphoric and the message perfect for a material age: believe in God and you'll be rewarded in this life as well as the next. Greg Bearup visits Hillsong Church and learns how faith and finance go hand-in-hand...
Read more ...Praise the Lord and pass the chequebook

Worshippers at Without Walls International Church are accustomed to seeing the offering collected two or three times each service. At services in May and June, worshippers stuffed the offering buckets with cash, jewelry, and hundreds of colorful envelopes filled with checks and credit card numbers. The envelopes identify seven donation designations: tithes, offering, building fund, Without Walls television, benevolence, pastor's gift and Paula White Ministries. With all the money pouring into the $40 million-a-year enterprise, how do those who give know where it all goes? How can congregants be sure their money supports the causes they intended? The answer: They can't.
Read more ...in God's Hands or the Pastors'?