No, this is not a joke.  And, terribly relevant as we approach the anniversary of Kristalnacht.

When I moved to Virginia a lifetime ago, I was amazed at how many Christian TV ministry programs existed. Sure, when I was growing up, they were all over the Sunday morning TV choices. But, in Charlottesville, they were on every night of the week.

Some of them looked legit, but a lot of them were all about raising money. I always wondered how much of what they raised really went to programs, as opposed to the pockets of the preachers. (Jim and Tammy Fae Bakker were among these folks.)

I actually wonder about all charities- not just the Christian ones- but the issue with many of the Christian ones is that leaders actually have the right to start their own church. And, a church is not required to file Form 990 (as would be required of all other sorts of charities), so it’s hard to know if the money is going for a good cause or the cause of the charity’s founder(s).

Which leads to today’s topic. A fight between two evangelicals- both of whom are associated with TheDonald, serving since 2016 on his evangelical advisory group (henceforth, EAG). (At least this time, the link with TheDonald is not the prime issue).

The first evangelist is Dr. Mike Evans of the Jerusalem Prayer Organization. It took me a few moments to realize that this organization is a dba for another Christian entity- the Corrie Ten Boom Fellowship- and yet another subsidiary, Churches United with Israel. (It took even more time since the Jerusalem Prayer is based in a different state than the Corrie Ten Boom Fellowship.)

The second pastor is Jentezen Franklin of the Free Chapel Worship Center, a multi-state megachurch group; Drake Franklin, Jentezen’s son is the faith outreach director for the Trump Presidential campaign.

Dr. Evans instituted a federal lawsuit (US District Court, Northern District of Georgia) because these two had a deal to raise funds to benefit Holocaust survivors in Israel that yielded some pretty unkosher results.

Over my more than 4 decades of living in Virginia, I’ve seen more than a few groups hawking their claims to raise funds for and to benefit holocaust survivors. Most of the ones I had seen were clearly either manipulating the recipients or capitalizing (read- profiting) from their activities (or purported activities). That’s what piqued my interest about this lawsuit.

See, back in 2017, Evans and Franklin linked up to raise millions for the Holocaust survivors. Franklin used Evans’ property in Israel and images of Evans on his televangelist programs to raise the funds for the Holocaust survivors.

And, let’s consider some logistics. Holocaust survivors aren’t just in Israel- there are some in America, and a bunch in Russia and the Former Soviet Union, among other places. But, by 2017, 72 years had elapsed since the end of World War II. So, the folks would have to have been pretty darned young to be survivors, and the number of survivors is greatly decreasing each year- for obvious reasons. It’s one of the many problems I have had with the television ministries claims over the years.

(I wrote about how few survivors exist not more than a month ago.)

Notwithstanding those facts about how few survivors are still living, the crux of the action is the Evans’ is ticked off that millions were raised and Franklin only provided $ 1.2 million for the cause.

How did Evans find out? You’re going to love this.

Franklin wanted Evans to attach a bunch of names on Evan’s “Holocaust Survivors Wall”.   And, provided Excel datasheets listing 4216 donors, each of whom provided $ 1000 apiece, and 33 who provided $ 10,000. Oops! That’s more than $ 4.5 million.

Franklin also claimed that Benyamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel (plus his wife) were helping the cause. Oops. That was news to Bibi!

And, while Franklin used Yair Netanyahu (Bibi’s son) in his cause, Yair claims he had no knowledge of same; he was under the impression he was aiding the Israeli group, Yad Ezer- the largest group in Israel dealing with Holocaust victims- which is not assocaited with either of these ministers.

Evans is extremely worried that his reputation will be damaged by such shenanigans. Franklin says there’s no merit to the case- and that Evans wasn’t a beneficiary to the charity so he and his group have no standing. Moreover, Franklin is “doing God’s work”.

(Now why doesn’t that make me feel good. Oh, wait, here’s why. Andrew Brettler, one of the team of lawyers that Franklin has engaged claims that the millions raised went to Evans, and to fundraising costs and other groups in Israel working on similar causes. Yeah- I kind of love the fundraising and other groups working on similar [but not the same] causes.)

There are problems with the lawsuit. Evans admits they only had a verbal arrangement; Franklin avers there was no written contract so it’s an unenforceable agreement. But, verbal agreements are often found to be valid and enforceable. After all, women sue all the time when a marriage proposal doesn’t convert to a real marriage.

Oh, it gets better. The above mentioned EAG volunteered to help settle the suit. Now, the EAG’s primary effort is to advise (read-lobby) TheDonald; they love the fact that TheDonald agrees with minimum oversight of religious entities, social conservatism, and support for Israel. (You do know that most of this support for Israel is because they expect Israel to fold, thereby bringing about Armageddon, and what they call the second coming.  Some friends are not worth having.)

I decided to omit the original paragraph  herethat would have insulted a whole bunch of folks. Let’s just agree that it would be nice if the Mashiach (messiah) comes. Sometime around 20 January 2017 would have been real nice.

But, I digress.

Let’s compare the two organizations behind these ministers. Even though the Corrie Ten Boom Fellowship is a church, it provides information about its activities. And, talk about being squeaky clean…

The Fellowship has a 100% rating from the Charity Navigator. And a 95% rating for program expenses. Think about that for a second.
Goodwill has a 100% rating, but only 85% for program expense. The Girl Scouts have a 100% rating with a 84% for program expenses. United Way gets a 95% rating and the ASPCA gets almost an 86%. The American Cancer Society hasn’t been diligent about filing 990’s (the Federal Income Tax return), so it’s not rated- but Givewell notes that the ACS spends an awful lot on what I would call publicity (as does the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer group) and not benefit programs.

So, you can see that Evans is right to worry about his reputation.

And, Franklin’s church doesn’t file 990’s- so the Charity Navigator has no rating for the group.

Hmm. This whole thing is a little like “When you lie down with dogs, you get fleas” Let’s hope Frontline isn’t needed to clean up this mess.