The Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability- Con Artists!

Subj: The Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability- Con Artists! Date: 7/2/03 7:33:36 AM Pacific Daylight Time From: JohnDavies_171@hotmail.com (John Davies) The Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability- Con Artists! "It's not unprecedented (for ministers to earn a high salary)," said Paul Nelson , president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, an accredit ation group for Christian ministries that monitors the fund-raising practices of its member organizations. "But it is high," Nelson said about Hagee's compensat ion. The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability are real liars and thieves and give nothing back to society. It's a useless organization that exists to pro tect the crooks and not to give true accountability to the donors. Here are some facts you cannot deny: Southern Baptist Evangelist Billy Graham was embarrassed in 1977 when the Charlo tte Observer discovered an undisclosed $23-million fund in Texas, apparently not mentioned in the accountings of the Minneapolis headquarters of the Billy Graha m Evangelistic Association. As a result Graham's business manager led the format ion of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability after Graham said on a national telecast, ". . . there are some charlatans coming along and the publ ic ought to be informed about them and warned against them, " "stated K. Hadden and Charles E. Swann in their book Prime Time Preachers. http://religiousbroadca sting.lib.virginia.edu/primetime/C6.html Graham helped start the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, a self -policing organization, .the St. Petersburg Times reported on Oct 11, 1998. .In 1992 his ministry, Samaritan's Purse, had a run-in with the Evangelical Coun cil for Financial Accountability, the self-policing organization his father help ed start. The ECFA suspended Samaritan's Purse while it looked into Franklin's ( Graham) compensation and use of the company plane. FRANKIN'S REAL COMPENSATION AND PERSONAL USE OF HIS COMPANY PLANE IS STILL A REA L PROBLEM TODAY AND NED GRAHAM'S PROBLEMS HAVE PROBLEMS! Although it's the public right as well as each donor's right to know and ask que stions about the total remuneration of Southern Baptist Billy Graham, including special privileges and expenses in his North Carolina home paid by BGEA, includi ng support staff, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Samaritan's Purse, and Campus Crusade For Christ have developed the art of stonewalling when it comes t o special remuneration and expenses of it's chairmen. Many prominent Baptist evangelists in America, such as Billy and Franklin Graham , belong to the Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability that purports to work on behalf of the donor but in reality exists for the spenders. Although EC FA has in its possessions the total salaries of all the religious evangelical no n-profit organizations that belong to it, it will not disclose them. Christian N ews Today requested such information from ECFA but to no avail, although the hyp ocritical motto of ECFA is

"For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the LORD, but also in the eyes of men" "There is something that can be corrupting about power and notoriety," said Paul Nelson, president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, whic h reviews Graham's finances each year. "God bless them, they (Graham's organizat ion) have been able to navigate that." (These remarks turned out to be false for Billy Graham's total compensation was a lot higher according to the financial s tatement of B.G.E.A. not including fringe benefits pension and health care expen ditures and he spent fifty percent of his time in bed?) Even though he was sick and dying, spent over fifty percent of his time in bed o r the hospital, Dr. Billy Graham had been taking a one hundred percent salary an d other benefits from the B.G.E.A. that he had founded: Even though the I.R.S. r ules stated that no non-profit organization should exist for the benefit of one individual. No other salaried employee in B.G.E.A. was allowed to take a one hundred percent salary plus his pension fund and other perks and spends so many days being sick , as Billy Graham has done and does. Where was the justice or integrity in all o f this? Billy Graham's own son Ned Graham turned out to be no different than Jim Bakker. Even though a President of an Evangelical Ministry must be blameless, the husba nd of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to t each; not given to wine, not violent, and not greedy for money, Ned Graham the s on of Billy Graham, Southern Baptist minister, president East Gates Internationa l, a group that distributes Bibles in China told Christianity Today in an interv iew that he had abused alcohol and spent an "inappropriate amount of time" with two women on his staff. Grace Community Church, Southern Baptist Convention, in Auburn, Washington-which counted Ned Graham, his wife, and their two sons as members established in 1999 the fact that Ned Graham was an adulterer, alcoholic, wife abuser, and drug use r and revoked Graham's ministerial credentials. It directed Graham to stop using the title reverend. Yet in a style reminiscent of Jimmy Swaggart, who refused to be defrocked by the Assembly of God denomination, Ned Graham left that congregation for another chu rch. Most of the staff and board ntroversies. East Gates, in lical Council for Financial with his sister Ruth Graham siness leader Peter Lowe. members of East Gates International resigned amid co Sumner, Wash., withdrew its membership in the Evange Accountability after Ned replaced the board members McIntyre, brother-in-law Stephan Tchividjian, and bu

The Associated Baptist Press - www.abpnews.com on April 3, 2001 reported that: "About half of Baptist organizations contacted by the independent newspaper Bapt ists Today would not disclose salary information for their top executive. Three Southern Baptist Convention entities said policies allowed them to release only salary ranges. Presidents Albert Mohler of Southern Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and Kenneth He mphill of Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, declined to provide any in formation on compensation. New Orleans Seminary did not return numerous phone ca lls regarding the salary of President Charles Kelley. However, the IRS requires all colleges and universities to report the salaries of the top five paid staff

members, Brumley explained." But Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisvi lle, Ky., said recently on CNN's Larry King Show: I believe the Roman Church is a false church and teaches a false gospel. ... Indeed, I believe the pope himsel f holds a false and unbiblical office." The International Mission Board has defended the publishing of prayer guides for use in Southern Baptist churches that critics said were insensitive to Jews, Hi ndus and Muslims. A leader of a Southern Baptist fellowship of "Messianic" believers recently anno unced the group was severing ties with the convention because of a public percep tion that Southern Baptists are intolerant of other faiths. Southern Baptists such as Albert Mohler are not only intolerant of other faiths but are thieves who hid their total compensation? BAPTISTS ALWAYS MAKE THEMSELVES OUT TO BE PEOPLE OF INTEGRITY AND TRUTHFULNESS W HEN IT'S NOTHING BUT A LIE AS SEEN BY STATEMENT About half of Baptist organizati ons contacted by the independent newspaper Baptists Today would not disclose sal ary information for their top executive. AND TO REMIND YOU HOW CROOKED THE BAPTISTS ARE JUST LOOK INTO THE BAPTIST FOUNDA TION OF ARIZONA WHICH ECFA DOESN'T TALK ABOUT? The Baptist Foundation of Arizona took in a total of $590 million, using a maze of shell corporations in a Ponzi scheme, before it was shut down in August 1999. Ponzi schemes depend on the solicitation of new investors to pay existing ones. Christianity Today reported about BFA PHONY DEALS: The foundation was organized in 1948 to raise funds for Southern Baptist-related charities. However, it has c ontributed only about $1.3 million to such groups over its half-century of opera tion. By contrast, in 1996 BFA spent $16 million on staff salaries and $329,000 on staff automobiles. It also invested in a long series of shaky loans and dubio us real estate deals, primarily with companies controlled by members of its boar d. These insider deals left the foundation facing huge losses and are being scru tinized for possible violations of criminal and civil laws. BFA's uncertain financial condition came to light in a prize-winning series of i nvestigative reports by the Phoenix New Times newspaper. Beginning in 1997, thes e reports detailed how company insiders had spun a web of more than 60 corporate shells to cover the tracks of their deals, while the BFA board, made up of past ors and some lay persons, was told little or nothing about what was going on. The reports also detailed how the largest of these deals, involving tens of mill ions of dollars, involved phony land swaps and large loans to board members, man y of which were repaid with inflated real estate collateral. These deals had som e how gone unnoticed by auditors. BFA's former accounting firm, Arthur Andersen, is also being investigated by state officials for its handling of BFA audits. The Southern Baptist Church allowed the BFA salesmen to Preach the investment st uff from the Pulpit, Many different churches that were supported and financed by the BFA and they told they sheep that they were furthering the CAUSE. Three people related to the Baptist Foundation pleaded guilty to defrauding inve stors in May and have agreed to cooperate in an investigation of five others ind icted on 32 counts each of theft, fraud and racketeering. A Phoenix judge had accepted plea bargains from three of eight defendants charge

d with crimes in the 1999 collapse of the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, a subsi diary of the Southern Baptist Convention. They were accused of bilking 13,000 in vestors -- many elderly and most members of Southern Baptist churches -- of hund reds of millions of dollars in the largest fraud case involving a non-profit org anization in U.S. history. Foundation officials Edgar Kuhn, Donald Deardoff and Jalma Hunsinger had earlier pleaded guilty to reduced charges in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors in a case involving five others who claimed innocence reported the Associated Ba ptist Press. The financial crash in 1999 of the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, resulted in th e largest collapse of a religious financial institution in the nation's history resulted with many elderly sheep robbed, hurt and devastated. For all of its tal k of love, compassion and good works the Southern Baptist leadership did very li ttle to change and reverse this tragic situation. Restoring Our Integrity, a grassroots effort seeking to repay Baptist Foundation of Arizona investors and restore Southern Baptist's integrity, had ceased opera tions reported the (Southern) Baptist Press on April 18, 2000 as it had very lit tle support from Southern Baptist churches or its members. Only 66 Arizona Southern Baptist churches and missions, out of about 400 congreg ations, had pledged to support the ROI plan, said Larry Deskins, pastor of Gatew ay Fellowship, SBC, Gilbert, Ariz., who had spearheading the ROI effort. Another effort the Jerusalem Fund had only raised $384,918. Although Steve Bass, Arizona Southern Baptist Convention executive director- treasurer, w ho made a annual salary of $89,937, said the churches' lack of commitment to ROI should not be construed as a lack of concern for BFA investors, although their real deeds spoke louder than their hypocritical words The saga of the Baptist Foundation of Arizona showed how their religious leaders did not care about what happened to the sheep. For while a group called "Restor ing Our Integrity," composed of local pastors had attempted unsuccessfully to ra ise money in Arizona and elsewhere for BFA investors, the Southern Baptist Conve ntion, the largest Protestant denomination of sixteen million members had not be en a good Samaritan to help the oldsters who have lost their life savings and we re hurting. It had been all talk and words but no real concrete action and deeds to correct the injustice to the elderly brought about by the Southern Baptist Convention th rough its support and management of BFA. But it was the Southern Baptist convention who supported and propagated the supp ort of the $590 million Ponzi scheme that enriched insiders. Private companies c ontrolled by one insider, former BFA director Harold Friend, were paid about $11 million from BFA and its maze of related companies from November 1998 to Novemb er 1999, However Armstrong, a retired Southern Baptist minister, and his wife, Lois, 76, need money from BFA and can't get a penny. He suffers from diabetes, cancer and a liver malady. The Armstrongs sold their Casa Grande home in June and wired the proceeds, about $160,000, to their BFA account. In all, the Armstrongs had entr usted about $460,000 to BFA. Their "investments" amounted to promissory notes. B FA borrowed their money at a high rate, and promised to pay it back , reported t he Phoneix News Times. BFA didn't keep its promises. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in N ovember, claiming $640 million in debts and $160 million to $200 million in asse

ts. Now the Armstrongs are living in their RV. It is the only home they can affo rd. While others are investigating and prosecuting the BFA leaders no one is looking into the system that allowed the Southern Baptist pastors and former pastors to do their thievery - The Southern Baptist Convention. Was this fair and right? I t this the way justice was done in America? QUOTES FROM SOME SO CALLED BFA INVESTORS.... "These people are wolves in sheep's clothing, and our money has been consumed by them. They are nothing more than thieves, and God says, 'Thou shalt not steal'. " "What's bothering me really, I am deafened by the silence from the pulpits of th e Southern Baptist churches in the state of Arizona." "This is the largest charitable religious scam in the history of the United Stat es. It makes Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker look like they were kindergarten kids." "I just can't understand [where the missing $590 Million went]. You'd have to be in a casino 24 hours a day for years to get rid of that kind of money." "How is the fox who raided the henhouse going to bring back the chickens? They a te them all, and now they're fat." QUOTES FROM BAPTIST FOUNDATION PAMPHLETS BFA's Biblically-based stewardship perspective... "Stewardship Investing" through the Foundation is a TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITY TO BE FOUND FAITHFUL ABOVE and BEYOND the TITHE TO YOUR LOCAL CHURCH... Do good while doing good...IT'S WISE STEWARDSHIP IN ACTION... Don't let your retirement dollars fly away! In the complex and changing world of today, planning for retirement is CRITICAL. WE CAN HELP you ACHIEVE YOUR RETIRE MENT DREAMS (NIGHTMARES). If you are living on a fixed income, you certainly want to be ASSURED OF THE STA BILITY OF YOUR INCOME STREAM...Call us today...You'll learn firsthand about the UNIQUE MINISTRY and EXCELLENT SERVICE WHICH CAN BE YOURS WHEN YOU PUT YOUR "TRUS T" in the Baptist Foundation of Arizona. Touching hearts and lives AS THE DREAM IS REALIZED. "Up close and personal" service. Our Financial Services Representatives will GLA DLY come to your home or place of business to handle a transaction for you. In a ddition to our three offices, we also provide "SATELLITE" OFFICES IN CHURCHES th roughout Arizona... We re-invest your money, and THE PROFIT we earn GOES to further such ministries as Christian education, care for children and senior adults, missions and new ch urch starts... ...NOT ONE BFA client has ever lost one penny of their investment or interest th ey earned... WE HAVE A PROVEN TRACK RECORD OF PRUDENT AND PROFITABLE OPERATIONS...Profitable for whom!)

EACH YEAR, AN INDEPENDENT AUDIT of BFA is CONDUCTED BY ONE OF THE LEADING ACCOUN TING FIRMS IN THE NATION. We know that for most of you, our common ties to the churches are one of the mos t important reasons you invest with BFA, CFP, and NCV, AND THOSE SAME TIES CAN H ELP CARRY US THROUGH THESE DIFFICULT TIMES. How about it? The Baptist Foundation of Arizona, a subsidiary of the Southern Ba ptist Convention used Southern Baptist pastors and former pastors as sales repre sentatives to rob 13,000 mostly elderly Christians by promising high returns, th e security of church backing, and the chance to help Baptist charities. It was n othing but a fraud and a big Ponzi Scheme. SO NEXT TIME YOUR WRITE ABOUT ECFA PLEASE TELL THE WHOLE STORY AND NOTHING BUT T HE TRUTH THAT THEY ARE CROOKS! John Davies BACK