Money, Position and Power
For thus says the LORD: "You have sold yourselves for nothing, And you shall be redeemed without money Isaiah 52:13
When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, Matthew 8:16
Unlike many Christian ministries today which covet the money, talents and resources of people, when Jesus and the disciples healed, delivered and did miracles for the people money, rank, position and power had nothing to do with the gospel. Jesus and the disciples freely gave as they freely received; as best expressed by the word of Jesus and Peter:
"And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. "Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, "nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food. Matthew 10:7-10
Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them-walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Acts 3:6-9
The emphasis among the early disciples was on sharing and collecting money for the poor and not for the glorification and enrichment of one particular person. As is done in so many TV ministries we have seen in the last generation in America. For God’s word is true:
for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 1 Corinthians 3:3-7
It is not he who plants nor he who waters who are important, but God who gives the increase. Also Love, not religion, prominence, fame nor doctrine, is the golden rule which dictates the plans and purposes of ministry for edifying and building up the sheep and not robbing, raping and using them. For God’s word is true:
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load. Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Galatians 6:2-6
What matters is not that the ministry of men are successful but that God’s kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven and that His sheep are saved, healed, delivered, set free, bless and prospered. So that God not man will get the credit and the glory. For God’s word is true even this day:
'I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 'You shall have no other gods before Me. 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image-any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Deuteronomy 5:6-11.
Jamie Buckingham a well known Christian writer in his article “ He is saying something to us through the PTL scandal. The question is: How will we respond?” wrote in 1987 some very profound remarks that need to be considered even today in light of the many religious scandal with the prominent ones in America:
There are certain times in history when "God comes down." Charismatics like to think of Pentecost as one of those times, when the gentle breath of the Holy Spirit blew upon the church and filled it with power. But we need to remember the Holy Spirit is not only pneuma, which is the New Testament concept of a gentle, lifting spirit. He is also ruach, which is the Old Testament word for a roaring, seemingly destructive wind. Evangelicals and fundamentalists, while denying the miraculous power of the pneuma, understand the purpose of the ruach.
In this case, humans conspired to enter into rivalry with God. God was called "The Name." They said, "Let US make a name for ourselves." They conspired to take away the Name from Him. The result: God came down, for He will not share His glory.
Today's generation is characterized by countless Christian leaders who have named their ministries after themselves. There is nothing wrong with name identification. The problem lies in the super-star syndrome many attach to themselves. When I asked the head of one of the nation's largest ministries to whom he submitted, he quickly said: "To God."
I shudder at the personal arrogance and lack of accountability among leaders--which is one of the major causes of faulty lifestyle and lavish spending. I know of only one man, among the heads of America's largest ministries, who submits his personal life to peers who are not in his employ or enamored with his position. I believe God is calling leaders, not just the televangelists, but all pastors and lay leaders, to be personally accountable to peers. The temptations are too great to grow prideful or to become deceived. Today's shaking is forcing leaders to turn to one another.
I shudder at the fund-raising techniques used by most major ministries of America. Most of the direct mail letters sent out play fast and loose with truth. How can God bless a computer- generated letter, signed by an automatic pen, telling the recipient that the leader is praying for him at that very moment? How can God bless a televangelist who goes on the air and tells people he has used up all his money and desperately needs more contributions--while he and all his family are driving $50,000 automobiles and living in very expensive homes?
We must be careful in judging. Oral Roberts, in standing up for Jim Bakker, made a point of saying he was going to forgive him, because he (Oral) wanted to be forgiven also. That is the essence of what Jesus said in Matthew 7:1: The spirit by which we judge others will be used by those who judge us.
Now, once again, God has come down and is walking among us. He is not pleased that we have tried to satisfy our individual obligations to minister by giving to large ministries. We give to Jerry Falwell to build a home for unwed mothers, to PTL for a home for handicapped children, to Jimmy Swaggart so he may support Assemblies of God missionaries, to CBN's Operation Blessing to feed the hungry. All are worthy ministries. But God wants each of us involved. We should be taking these people into our homes, we should be evangelizing--not hiring a televangelist to do it for us. God is forcing us back into our local churches, the only place where real ministry--personal ministry--can take place.
Television has been the greatest means of spreading the Gospel since the invention of the printing press. But with great opportunity comes great accountability. This is a time of accounting. God is checking the books. Those who love to appear in public are being judged in public. Once again, it seems, God has entered the temple to overturn the tables of the moneychangers. His breath is blowing across His kingdom, cleansing and purifying. The end result will be as always: to form a people in the image of His Son and to bring glory to Himself.
All this is happening for one reason: to reveal the sovereignty of God. He is, after all, "a consuming fire....removing what can be shaken--that is, created things--so that what cannot be shaken may remain" (Hebrews. 12:27).
Richard Roberts announced on Television Sunday August 23, 1998 that God was moving in many churches because of the word that the Lord gave his father Oral Roberts about Miracles are coming back in big way. But the Roberts never talked about how the City of Faith failed? How the accreditation of their law school failed? How they went 40 millions dollars into debt after Oral Roberts forgave and defended Jim Bakker for robbing and using the sheep? Richard and Oral Roberts did not talk about the Miracles that they lost?
Richard Roberts did not talk about how he went to bat for Dan Strader the Son of Pastor Karl Strader who was sentenced to 45 years for crimes he did commit? Richard Roberts did not talk about how he did nothing for the victims of the Strader's even though he was asked to help them and to remove Karl Strader from being on the board of Oral Roberts University?
Was this not hypocrisy and double standards from so called men of God? Didn’t God speak to other men today beside Oral Roberts? Are not the word of prophet Micah true today?
But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD, And of justice and might, To declare to Jacob his transgression And to Israel his sin. Now hear this, You heads of the house of Jacob And rulers of the house of Israel, Who abhor justice And pervert all equity, Who build up Zion with bloodshed And Jerusalem with iniquity: Her heads judge for a bribe, Her priests teach for pay, And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the LORD, and say, "Is not the LORD among us? No harm can come upon us." Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, And the mountain of the temple Like the bare hills of the forest. Micah 3:8-12
Did not the Roberts sin by showing partiality and favoritism to the high and mighty like Jim Baker and the Straders of Lakeland? I personally sent my draft manuscript the Strader Affair plus many personal letters to all the prominent religious ones in America; Dr. Billy Graham, Dr. Bill Bright, Kenneth Copeland, Oral and Richard Roberts, Paul Crouch, Pat Robertson, Scott Ross, David Mainse, General Superintendent Thomas E. Trask, District Superintendent Don Lunsford, Dr. Benny Hinn, Dr. Rodney Howard Browne and many others. I explained to them that I had documented that wolves in sheep's clothing were raping, robbing and murdering the sheep in the house of God and what God's word said about justice including chapters 1, 57, 58 of Isaiah. But not one of them would do anything about this matter. But they did help the aggressors and not the victims?
Unfortunately, as documented by the Strader Affair there were many who were deceived but very few who were doers of the Word as defined by the History of the Revival of 1992-1995 6. Karl Strader taken from a web site:
In February of 1993, Karl Strader, pastor of Carpenter's Home Church in Lakeland, Florida, and his wife, Joyce, were in Hawaii for a Worship '93 conference, where Norvel Hayes prophesied that a tremendous great wind of the Spirit was about to come to them. Joyce Strader wrote in Ministries Today (July/August 1993, p. 38), "We arrived home Saturday night. That Sunday morning Carpenter's Home Church began a planned one-week series of meetings with South African evangelist Rodney Howard-Browne But God had a surprise for us. The meetings went on for four weeks -- with thousands flocking to the church to see and taste the new move of God.... But God never intended for it to last only a week. Full-blown revival has come to Central Florida and Carpenter's Home Church."
During the first few months of 1993, Rodney Howard-Browne spent a total of thirteen weeks at that church, and Christian leaders from many parts of the United States, including Richard Roberts, chancellor of Oral Roberts University, came to the meetings to observe and participate, and minister in the new anointing. Charisma (Aug 1994, p. 24), stated that people flew in for these meetings from Africa, Great Britain, and Argentina to see what was happening.
The effect of this so called revival in Carpenter’s Home Church and its lasting impact on the community as documented by this book included the robbing, raping and murdering of innocent God fearing elderly by people by the Straders. The assistant State Attorney’s remarked, at the trial of Daniel Strader, that there are other things in life besides the pursuit money such as justice is something that Oral and Richard Roberts did not consider important.
The Roberts never talked about what the media talked about in Florida including: investors knew him as the son of a well known local pastor. Strader 35, is the son of Karl Strader, Pastor of the Carpenter’s Home Church in north Lakeland. A 1979 telecommunication graduate of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla. the younger Strader formed Interstate in 1985.. Daniel Strader, 36 was arrested on Friday May 20, 1994, at his father’s beautiful home, on a lake, across the street from an 18 hole golf course, for what the State of Florida alleged that Dan did.
He was the son of the Pastor and a devout Church member of Carpenter’s Home Church. Also a former insurance investigator and a self-made and self-proclaimed investor with a once-thriving insurance practice. The State Attorney office of Florida would give a picture of a confident pitchman whose financial world was in shambles. Interviews with investors by the media revealed that Strader offered attractive double digit interest rates on their so-called investments which turned out to be a sham.
The Investors solicited by Dan Strader were told many things about where their money was being invested, from real estate to insurance companies or stocks or bonds, but ended up instead in a company run by Dan Strader, Interstate Financial Services or in his personal pocket or bank account. All the while, Dan Strader was telling others that he was paying the interest with income from company owned properties. While it mainly came in from other gullible investors who believed the Pastor’s son and this so called man of god and graduate of Oral Roberts University who prayed with and preyed on them, while he talked about Christ and quoted Bible verses.
Investigators would later show that Dan Strader’s five of the properties he had purchased for investors with their funds, were actually in Strader’s own name. Many of his so-called investors or victims, were his insurance clients or members of his father’s church. Dan and Pastor Karl Strader also told the parishioners of Carpenter’s Home Church, Lakeland, Florida that Dan faced real threats and dangers because of threats from his investors. Although, this was never established as a fact, by the Straders or by the court.
Many people in and around Lakeland, Florida, especially preachers and retired elderly, were really upset that they were conned out of their life’s savings by the son of a prominent Assembly of God, Pastor. Karl Strader once told others that his original calling was to serve God in Russia as a missionary, and started to learn the Russian language in order to fulfill his calling. Too bad, Karl didn’t go to Russia, so many people would have been spared the pain and agony of knowing and working with him!
Dan Strader said about the arrest and all the rumors that he was innocent and it was all a misunderstanding. This was a theme that was replayed by Dan and his family for the next two years. On Sunday, May 22,1994, Pastor Karl Strader, 64, of Carpenter Home Church in Lakeland, Florida, paraded his complete family including in-laws in front of the congregation and told them that the media and government were not hearing the full story of his son’s plight.
This circus parade of the Straders was to repeat itself over the next two years, because the Straders thought they were special in the eyes of God and man. Little did they know what the community around them, religious and business, really thought and said about them. Words such as crooks, hypocrites, Pharisees, thieves, liars and murderers and wanted nothing to do with them. All along the Straders couldn’t figure out why the ten thousand seat church had only a fraction of the people, the turnover of members and adherents was the highest of any church in the states, and church was in financial trouble all the time.
Karl said, he was perplexed by the picture of his son portrayed by the investigators and in the media reports. He also stated, that they have pictured us as a part of the family we don’t know, for his son is a warm, loving, kind, very human person, a person who trusts God and after 36 years was caught in a web drowning. Nothing was farther from the truth, as Karl Strader’s spoken words were, as the mountain of evidence and testimony of real elderly victims, would later show.
In the circus parade, Pastor Karl Strader stated what was to be his standard response for the next year about Dan Strader, “ All we ask is a fair trial and opportunity for him to make restitution. His heart is very tender towards God. He is seeking the Lord. There never has been a time when he hasn’t sought the Lord to my knowledge. We’re all looking for a supernatural deliverance, for God is a God of miracles.” Well Dan received his fair trial, he was found guilty of seeking illegally the riches of this world, supernatural deliverance never came, Karl’s knowledge was of Dan was poor, and Dan never confessed that he did something really wrong, and neither did the Straders.
The fact remained that as a result of the Ponzi scheme operated by Dan Strader and Alice Faye Redd (also once members of Carpenter’s Home church) in Polk county, Florida, some people lost their homes and many other things including their lives. A Ponzi scheme is where returns are paid to older investments by using funds from newer investors, Many were not able to recover financially, from the loss of their life’s savings being stolen by so-called Christians, who were also members of the Assembly of God Churches.
Many of the real victims were retired elderly, who invested with Dan Strader or Alice Faye Redd because they were recommended as a good Christian people. They trusted these Christians, as they came from a prominent Assembly of God church, which was supposed to be the home of the Carpenter, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Well for the record, the real “Carpenter” worked for a living, He didn’t collect money nor steal from others. He also blessed, healed and delivered people and gave even His own life for them rather than to put them in bondage.
Jesus Christ was literally innocent of all the accusations that the religious leaders and the authorities of the day made against Him. The Straders and Redds were guilty of their crimes which included robbing, stealing, lying, hurting and even causing people to die prematurely. Many of their victims, out of embarrassment, or because they were Christians, didn’t file any charges or complaints against them. Some of the victims, especially in Carpenter’s Home church, even believed that Dan Strader one day would return their money, because he gave his word and the Strader name was “a good name which could be trusted.”
The state attorney’s office stated that some cash derived from expensive local check-cashing services, of investors checks, were deposited in bank accounts of Dan Strader and his wife Melissa, and they were used to pay the couples personal debts. Again Dan, as a pastor’s son and graduate of Oral Roberts University, should have know the Word of God, which stated:
Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. (Ephesians 4:28)
It was also established in the courts by Debby, Dan Strader’s secretary from 1989 to 1992, that Dan quoted the Word of God “The wealth of the wicked will be inherited by the righteous, ” especially when he talked about and mocked three of his investors and called them alcoholics, a red neck and a truck driver. Other events would show that the Straders knew how to quote Scripture verses but they didn’t know how to live by them. There is a difference that is evident to all!
Although, some people, including Senior Pastors of Assembly of God churches , memorized chapters and even books of the Bible, they definitely didn’t put into practice the Word of God the way it was meant to be. For many of them did not do anything about the injustices and wrongs in their denomination. Again, there is a difference between memorizing and doing the Word of God.
What was proven and established by the courts was that Dan stalked and preyed on the trusting and defenseless elderly. The unfortunate part, is that the group of people who were mostly hurt by the criminal actions of Dan Strader and his competitor Alice Faye Redd, were the elderly. It was a group that was defenseless and powerless and an easy prey to those who were supposed to be trustworthy.
In the PTL Scandal, it was also the widows with their small monthly incomes, that became the target of Jim Bakker, in his search for easy money. It was no coincidence that both Jim and Dan pleaded not guilty and they both got a 45 year sentence. However, it was a group that Jesus Himself would have been most upset about, because Jesus saw what the widow and the Pharisee gave to the house of God.
The Roberts were fooling nobody with their hypocritical words and trying to steal glory from God;. Sure God was moving in a miraculous and mighty way in America but it is definitely not because of but in spite of the Roberts of Tulsa and their continual chatter about money.
(Alice Faye Redd, once a member of Carpenter's Home Church, Lakeland, Florida and later Victory Assembly of God in 1995 was sentenced to 15 years in prison for defrauding more than 100 people especially the elderly out of $3.5 million. The Auburndale native was released from prison in 1998 at the age of 61 because she was battling spinal cancer and the Parole Commission learned she was dying. She lived another four years before dying in 2002.)
When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, Matthew 8:16
Unlike many Christian ministries today which covet the money, talents and resources of people, when Jesus and the disciples healed, delivered and did miracles for the people money, rank, position and power had nothing to do with the gospel. Jesus and the disciples freely gave as they freely received; as best expressed by the word of Jesus and Peter:
"And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. "Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, "nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food. Matthew 10:7-10
Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them-walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Acts 3:6-9
The emphasis among the early disciples was on sharing and collecting money for the poor and not for the glorification and enrichment of one particular person. As is done in so many TV ministries we have seen in the last generation in America. For God’s word is true:
for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 1 Corinthians 3:3-7
It is not he who plants nor he who waters who are important, but God who gives the increase. Also Love, not religion, prominence, fame nor doctrine, is the golden rule which dictates the plans and purposes of ministry for edifying and building up the sheep and not robbing, raping and using them. For God’s word is true:
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load. Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Galatians 6:2-6
What matters is not that the ministry of men are successful but that God’s kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven and that His sheep are saved, healed, delivered, set free, bless and prospered. So that God not man will get the credit and the glory. For God’s word is true even this day:
'I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 'You shall have no other gods before Me. 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image-any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Deuteronomy 5:6-11.
Jamie Buckingham a well known Christian writer in his article “ He is saying something to us through the PTL scandal. The question is: How will we respond?” wrote in 1987 some very profound remarks that need to be considered even today in light of the many religious scandal with the prominent ones in America:
There are certain times in history when "God comes down." Charismatics like to think of Pentecost as one of those times, when the gentle breath of the Holy Spirit blew upon the church and filled it with power. But we need to remember the Holy Spirit is not only pneuma, which is the New Testament concept of a gentle, lifting spirit. He is also ruach, which is the Old Testament word for a roaring, seemingly destructive wind. Evangelicals and fundamentalists, while denying the miraculous power of the pneuma, understand the purpose of the ruach.
In this case, humans conspired to enter into rivalry with God. God was called "The Name." They said, "Let US make a name for ourselves." They conspired to take away the Name from Him. The result: God came down, for He will not share His glory.
Today's generation is characterized by countless Christian leaders who have named their ministries after themselves. There is nothing wrong with name identification. The problem lies in the super-star syndrome many attach to themselves. When I asked the head of one of the nation's largest ministries to whom he submitted, he quickly said: "To God."
I shudder at the personal arrogance and lack of accountability among leaders--which is one of the major causes of faulty lifestyle and lavish spending. I know of only one man, among the heads of America's largest ministries, who submits his personal life to peers who are not in his employ or enamored with his position. I believe God is calling leaders, not just the televangelists, but all pastors and lay leaders, to be personally accountable to peers. The temptations are too great to grow prideful or to become deceived. Today's shaking is forcing leaders to turn to one another.
I shudder at the fund-raising techniques used by most major ministries of America. Most of the direct mail letters sent out play fast and loose with truth. How can God bless a computer- generated letter, signed by an automatic pen, telling the recipient that the leader is praying for him at that very moment? How can God bless a televangelist who goes on the air and tells people he has used up all his money and desperately needs more contributions--while he and all his family are driving $50,000 automobiles and living in very expensive homes?
We must be careful in judging. Oral Roberts, in standing up for Jim Bakker, made a point of saying he was going to forgive him, because he (Oral) wanted to be forgiven also. That is the essence of what Jesus said in Matthew 7:1: The spirit by which we judge others will be used by those who judge us.
Now, once again, God has come down and is walking among us. He is not pleased that we have tried to satisfy our individual obligations to minister by giving to large ministries. We give to Jerry Falwell to build a home for unwed mothers, to PTL for a home for handicapped children, to Jimmy Swaggart so he may support Assemblies of God missionaries, to CBN's Operation Blessing to feed the hungry. All are worthy ministries. But God wants each of us involved. We should be taking these people into our homes, we should be evangelizing--not hiring a televangelist to do it for us. God is forcing us back into our local churches, the only place where real ministry--personal ministry--can take place.
Television has been the greatest means of spreading the Gospel since the invention of the printing press. But with great opportunity comes great accountability. This is a time of accounting. God is checking the books. Those who love to appear in public are being judged in public. Once again, it seems, God has entered the temple to overturn the tables of the moneychangers. His breath is blowing across His kingdom, cleansing and purifying. The end result will be as always: to form a people in the image of His Son and to bring glory to Himself.
All this is happening for one reason: to reveal the sovereignty of God. He is, after all, "a consuming fire....removing what can be shaken--that is, created things--so that what cannot be shaken may remain" (Hebrews. 12:27).
Richard Roberts announced on Television Sunday August 23, 1998 that God was moving in many churches because of the word that the Lord gave his father Oral Roberts about Miracles are coming back in big way. But the Roberts never talked about how the City of Faith failed? How the accreditation of their law school failed? How they went 40 millions dollars into debt after Oral Roberts forgave and defended Jim Bakker for robbing and using the sheep? Richard and Oral Roberts did not talk about the Miracles that they lost?
Richard Roberts did not talk about how he went to bat for Dan Strader the Son of Pastor Karl Strader who was sentenced to 45 years for crimes he did commit? Richard Roberts did not talk about how he did nothing for the victims of the Strader's even though he was asked to help them and to remove Karl Strader from being on the board of Oral Roberts University?
Was this not hypocrisy and double standards from so called men of God? Didn’t God speak to other men today beside Oral Roberts? Are not the word of prophet Micah true today?
But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD, And of justice and might, To declare to Jacob his transgression And to Israel his sin. Now hear this, You heads of the house of Jacob And rulers of the house of Israel, Who abhor justice And pervert all equity, Who build up Zion with bloodshed And Jerusalem with iniquity: Her heads judge for a bribe, Her priests teach for pay, And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the LORD, and say, "Is not the LORD among us? No harm can come upon us." Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, And the mountain of the temple Like the bare hills of the forest. Micah 3:8-12
Did not the Roberts sin by showing partiality and favoritism to the high and mighty like Jim Baker and the Straders of Lakeland? I personally sent my draft manuscript the Strader Affair plus many personal letters to all the prominent religious ones in America; Dr. Billy Graham, Dr. Bill Bright, Kenneth Copeland, Oral and Richard Roberts, Paul Crouch, Pat Robertson, Scott Ross, David Mainse, General Superintendent Thomas E. Trask, District Superintendent Don Lunsford, Dr. Benny Hinn, Dr. Rodney Howard Browne and many others. I explained to them that I had documented that wolves in sheep's clothing were raping, robbing and murdering the sheep in the house of God and what God's word said about justice including chapters 1, 57, 58 of Isaiah. But not one of them would do anything about this matter. But they did help the aggressors and not the victims?
Unfortunately, as documented by the Strader Affair there were many who were deceived but very few who were doers of the Word as defined by the History of the Revival of 1992-1995 6. Karl Strader taken from a web site:
In February of 1993, Karl Strader, pastor of Carpenter's Home Church in Lakeland, Florida, and his wife, Joyce, were in Hawaii for a Worship '93 conference, where Norvel Hayes prophesied that a tremendous great wind of the Spirit was about to come to them. Joyce Strader wrote in Ministries Today (July/August 1993, p. 38), "We arrived home Saturday night. That Sunday morning Carpenter's Home Church began a planned one-week series of meetings with South African evangelist Rodney Howard-Browne But God had a surprise for us. The meetings went on for four weeks -- with thousands flocking to the church to see and taste the new move of God.... But God never intended for it to last only a week. Full-blown revival has come to Central Florida and Carpenter's Home Church."
During the first few months of 1993, Rodney Howard-Browne spent a total of thirteen weeks at that church, and Christian leaders from many parts of the United States, including Richard Roberts, chancellor of Oral Roberts University, came to the meetings to observe and participate, and minister in the new anointing. Charisma (Aug 1994, p. 24), stated that people flew in for these meetings from Africa, Great Britain, and Argentina to see what was happening.
The effect of this so called revival in Carpenter’s Home Church and its lasting impact on the community as documented by this book included the robbing, raping and murdering of innocent God fearing elderly by people by the Straders. The assistant State Attorney’s remarked, at the trial of Daniel Strader, that there are other things in life besides the pursuit money such as justice is something that Oral and Richard Roberts did not consider important.
The Roberts never talked about what the media talked about in Florida including: investors knew him as the son of a well known local pastor. Strader 35, is the son of Karl Strader, Pastor of the Carpenter’s Home Church in north Lakeland. A 1979 telecommunication graduate of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla. the younger Strader formed Interstate in 1985.. Daniel Strader, 36 was arrested on Friday May 20, 1994, at his father’s beautiful home, on a lake, across the street from an 18 hole golf course, for what the State of Florida alleged that Dan did.
He was the son of the Pastor and a devout Church member of Carpenter’s Home Church. Also a former insurance investigator and a self-made and self-proclaimed investor with a once-thriving insurance practice. The State Attorney office of Florida would give a picture of a confident pitchman whose financial world was in shambles. Interviews with investors by the media revealed that Strader offered attractive double digit interest rates on their so-called investments which turned out to be a sham.
The Investors solicited by Dan Strader were told many things about where their money was being invested, from real estate to insurance companies or stocks or bonds, but ended up instead in a company run by Dan Strader, Interstate Financial Services or in his personal pocket or bank account. All the while, Dan Strader was telling others that he was paying the interest with income from company owned properties. While it mainly came in from other gullible investors who believed the Pastor’s son and this so called man of god and graduate of Oral Roberts University who prayed with and preyed on them, while he talked about Christ and quoted Bible verses.
Investigators would later show that Dan Strader’s five of the properties he had purchased for investors with their funds, were actually in Strader’s own name. Many of his so-called investors or victims, were his insurance clients or members of his father’s church. Dan and Pastor Karl Strader also told the parishioners of Carpenter’s Home Church, Lakeland, Florida that Dan faced real threats and dangers because of threats from his investors. Although, this was never established as a fact, by the Straders or by the court.
Many people in and around Lakeland, Florida, especially preachers and retired elderly, were really upset that they were conned out of their life’s savings by the son of a prominent Assembly of God, Pastor. Karl Strader once told others that his original calling was to serve God in Russia as a missionary, and started to learn the Russian language in order to fulfill his calling. Too bad, Karl didn’t go to Russia, so many people would have been spared the pain and agony of knowing and working with him!
Dan Strader said about the arrest and all the rumors that he was innocent and it was all a misunderstanding. This was a theme that was replayed by Dan and his family for the next two years. On Sunday, May 22,1994, Pastor Karl Strader, 64, of Carpenter Home Church in Lakeland, Florida, paraded his complete family including in-laws in front of the congregation and told them that the media and government were not hearing the full story of his son’s plight.
This circus parade of the Straders was to repeat itself over the next two years, because the Straders thought they were special in the eyes of God and man. Little did they know what the community around them, religious and business, really thought and said about them. Words such as crooks, hypocrites, Pharisees, thieves, liars and murderers and wanted nothing to do with them. All along the Straders couldn’t figure out why the ten thousand seat church had only a fraction of the people, the turnover of members and adherents was the highest of any church in the states, and church was in financial trouble all the time.
Karl said, he was perplexed by the picture of his son portrayed by the investigators and in the media reports. He also stated, that they have pictured us as a part of the family we don’t know, for his son is a warm, loving, kind, very human person, a person who trusts God and after 36 years was caught in a web drowning. Nothing was farther from the truth, as Karl Strader’s spoken words were, as the mountain of evidence and testimony of real elderly victims, would later show.
In the circus parade, Pastor Karl Strader stated what was to be his standard response for the next year about Dan Strader, “ All we ask is a fair trial and opportunity for him to make restitution. His heart is very tender towards God. He is seeking the Lord. There never has been a time when he hasn’t sought the Lord to my knowledge. We’re all looking for a supernatural deliverance, for God is a God of miracles.” Well Dan received his fair trial, he was found guilty of seeking illegally the riches of this world, supernatural deliverance never came, Karl’s knowledge was of Dan was poor, and Dan never confessed that he did something really wrong, and neither did the Straders.
The fact remained that as a result of the Ponzi scheme operated by Dan Strader and Alice Faye Redd (also once members of Carpenter’s Home church) in Polk county, Florida, some people lost their homes and many other things including their lives. A Ponzi scheme is where returns are paid to older investments by using funds from newer investors, Many were not able to recover financially, from the loss of their life’s savings being stolen by so-called Christians, who were also members of the Assembly of God Churches.
Many of the real victims were retired elderly, who invested with Dan Strader or Alice Faye Redd because they were recommended as a good Christian people. They trusted these Christians, as they came from a prominent Assembly of God church, which was supposed to be the home of the Carpenter, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Well for the record, the real “Carpenter” worked for a living, He didn’t collect money nor steal from others. He also blessed, healed and delivered people and gave even His own life for them rather than to put them in bondage.
Jesus Christ was literally innocent of all the accusations that the religious leaders and the authorities of the day made against Him. The Straders and Redds were guilty of their crimes which included robbing, stealing, lying, hurting and even causing people to die prematurely. Many of their victims, out of embarrassment, or because they were Christians, didn’t file any charges or complaints against them. Some of the victims, especially in Carpenter’s Home church, even believed that Dan Strader one day would return their money, because he gave his word and the Strader name was “a good name which could be trusted.”
The state attorney’s office stated that some cash derived from expensive local check-cashing services, of investors checks, were deposited in bank accounts of Dan Strader and his wife Melissa, and they were used to pay the couples personal debts. Again Dan, as a pastor’s son and graduate of Oral Roberts University, should have know the Word of God, which stated:
Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. (Ephesians 4:28)
It was also established in the courts by Debby, Dan Strader’s secretary from 1989 to 1992, that Dan quoted the Word of God “The wealth of the wicked will be inherited by the righteous, ” especially when he talked about and mocked three of his investors and called them alcoholics, a red neck and a truck driver. Other events would show that the Straders knew how to quote Scripture verses but they didn’t know how to live by them. There is a difference that is evident to all!
Although, some people, including Senior Pastors of Assembly of God churches , memorized chapters and even books of the Bible, they definitely didn’t put into practice the Word of God the way it was meant to be. For many of them did not do anything about the injustices and wrongs in their denomination. Again, there is a difference between memorizing and doing the Word of God.
What was proven and established by the courts was that Dan stalked and preyed on the trusting and defenseless elderly. The unfortunate part, is that the group of people who were mostly hurt by the criminal actions of Dan Strader and his competitor Alice Faye Redd, were the elderly. It was a group that was defenseless and powerless and an easy prey to those who were supposed to be trustworthy.
In the PTL Scandal, it was also the widows with their small monthly incomes, that became the target of Jim Bakker, in his search for easy money. It was no coincidence that both Jim and Dan pleaded not guilty and they both got a 45 year sentence. However, it was a group that Jesus Himself would have been most upset about, because Jesus saw what the widow and the Pharisee gave to the house of God.
The Roberts were fooling nobody with their hypocritical words and trying to steal glory from God;. Sure God was moving in a miraculous and mighty way in America but it is definitely not because of but in spite of the Roberts of Tulsa and their continual chatter about money.
(Alice Faye Redd, once a member of Carpenter's Home Church, Lakeland, Florida and later Victory Assembly of God in 1995 was sentenced to 15 years in prison for defrauding more than 100 people especially the elderly out of $3.5 million. The Auburndale native was released from prison in 1998 at the age of 61 because she was battling spinal cancer and the Parole Commission learned she was dying. She lived another four years before dying in 2002.)
HOLY SPIRIT GIFTS http://www.freeworldfilmworks.com/gifts.pdf
APOSTATE RICK-WARREN http://www.scribd.com/doc/136880990/
Rick Warren's Son Had Ricks
Warren's Demons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2kCWywY5QU
Rick Warren’s Son Commits
Suicide http://wp.me/s2M7AJ-rwsuicid
RICK WARREN EXPOSED BY DR. PAT
HOLIDAY
http://www.scribd.com/doc/30458758/
http://www.scribd.com/doc/30458758/
THE
ARROGANT TBN’S PAUL CROUCH http://www.scribd.com/doc/82784017
BILL
JOHNSON IS THE DECEIVER http://www.scribd.com/doc/25418818
Pastor John Charles Hagee the antichrist http://tinyurl.com/k3p4zrv
Roy
Aldrich, a retired school teacher, who was robbed of a $100,000 by Dan and Karl
Strader, knew that Pastor Karl Strader was an enemy of good men. http://goo.gl/GjQJ3
http://www.scribd.com/doc/56459981/
SEEKING JUSTICE http://wp.me/p2M7AJ-Dp
WALTER KAMBULOW BLOGS
VICTORY
MINISTRIES http://wp.me/P2M7AJ-r
FACEBOOK WALT KAM
Gordon
Williams http://gordwilliams.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment