I thought you had to keep politics out of church to avoid taxes

[billy.pilgrim]

https://www.propublica.org/article/fami ... rch-status

But this purely political organization filed for a received tax free, no oversight status.

"What is the FRC? Its website sums up the answer to this question in 63 words: “A nonprofit research and educational organization dedicated to articulating and advancing a family-centered philosophy of public life. In addition to providing policy research and analysis for the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government, FRC seeks to inform the news media, the academic community, business leaders, and the general public about family issues that affect the nation from a biblical worldview.”

In the eyes of the Internal Revenue Service, though, it is also a church, with Perkins as its religious leader."

"The FRC is one of a growing list of activist groups to seek church status, a designation that comes with the ability for an organization to shield itself from financial scrutiny. Once the IRS blessed it as an association of churches, the FRC was no longer required to file a public tax return, known as a Form 990, revealing key staffer salaries, the names of board members and related organizations, large payments to independent contractors and grants the organization has made. Unlike with other charities, IRS investigators can’t initiate an audit on a church unless a high-level Treasury Department official has approved the investigation.

The FRC declined to make officials available for an interview or answer any questions for this story. Its former parent organization, Focus on the Family, changed its designation to become a church in 2016. In a statement, the organization said it made the switch largely out of concern for donor privacy, noting that many groups like it have made the same change. Many of them claim they operated in practice as churches or associations of churches all along."

[O Really]

Slippery slope.

[billy.pilgrim]

Slippery slope.

Looks like we slipped all the way down.

[billy.pilgrim]

[Vrede too]

(tweet)

Nick Knudsen
@NickKnudsenUS

Jul 15

Got a totally normal email today in response to my tweet.

Just think about the massive number of people who actually believe this crap. You know, like the majority of SCOTUS.

Vote like democracy depends on it. Because it does.

cult?

This launched a spirited back and forth with a Christofascist.
https://twitter.com/NickKnudsenUS/statu ... _&ref_url=

Here are the seven mountains, according to the seven mountain mandate:
1) Education
2) Religion
3) Family
4) Business
5) Government/Military
6) Arts/Entertainment
7) Media

Holy shit! When does the Inquisition start?

James Madison must be weeping.

What "church" is this?

It is a branch of Kenneth Copeland Ministries & Eagle Mountain Church. Sadly, much of the Word of Faith movement has been swallowed by the false teachings of Dominionism. When Mike Flynn started his psyops campaign of the “ReAwaken America Tour”, they merged & the cult was born.

Flynn has been holding these rallies in churches across the nation. To my knowledge, there is no official title of the “merger.” But many of the pastors are looking at Flynn as a modern day prophet. Together, they are backing political candidates in an attempt to have their cult pastors as senators, representatives, mayors, governors, etc. This will lead to the destruction of the white evangelical protestant church in America & also to the end of our democratic republic, if they are not stopped, NOW!

Further elaboration on who they are, including discussion on whether to call them a cult or not.

Kinda makes you want to time travel back and sink the Mayflower.

Some debate continues. This is one of the more informative Twiiter threads I've seen. It leans secular, but there are both sides.

[billy.pilgrim]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... story.html

Ted "often references the important role that his father, traveling evangelist Rafael Cruz, has played in his life. During a 2012 sermon at New Beginnings Church in Bedford, Texas, Rafael Cruz described his son’s political campaign as a direct fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

The elder Cruz told the congregation that God would anoint Christian “kings” to preside over an “end-time transfer of wealth” from the wicked to the righteous. After this sermon, Larry Huch, the pastor of New Beginnings, claimed Cruz’s recent election to the U.S. Senate was a sign that he was one of these kings."

"According to his father and Huch, Ted Cruz is anointed by God to help Christians in their effort to “go to the marketplace and occupy the land ... and take dominion” over it. This “end-time transfer of wealth” will relieve Christians of all financial woes, allowing true believers to ascend to a position of political and cultural power in which they can build a Christian civilization. When this Christian nation is in place (or back in place), Jesus will return."

[GoCubsGo]

During a 2012 sermon at New Beginnings Church in Bedford,

Pretty much lost any credibility right there.

[O Really]

Enforcement of laws against direct political action by churches, by way of revoking tax-exempt status or even a stern letter, a wrist slap, or a fart in the general direction has been negligible. Churches' response is pretty much equivalent to ...