I remember as a little boy getting upset that my mother had sent off some 'seed-faith offering' to Oral Roberts following one of his Sunday morning sermons on television.

I was upset because I was unable to wrap my mind around why poor people were being asked to send money to these televangelists. It just did not seem right to me.

I suppose on the surface it seemed selfish on my part but here we are, three decades later and United States Senator Charles Grassley is asking the same questions of these televangelists.

Like Senator Grassley, a top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, I feel that something is very wrong when millions of people are being induced to keep sending their hard-earned money to the ministries of these so-called men and women of God, who use that money to buy themselves expensive cars, lavish mansions and exotic vacations. He has ordered an investigation into six of these television pastors, including a few whom we all know - Creflo Dollar and Joyce Meyer.

"Dollar' rich

Now, I don't know about you, but I would not be inclined to send my money to anyone, let alone a pastor who has 'Dollar' for a surname.

Dollar already owns several Rolls Royces, private jets, and million-dollar homes both in Atlanta and New York. Some of those people sending him money have never even heard of a Rolls Royce, let alone seen one but Dollar not only owns one, he owns a few!

Meyer, who often looks as if she bought her clothes at a bargain centre or borrowed them from my late grandmother's closet, is perhaps the better of these two acts; for while she looks like she needs the money, the perception could not be any farther from the truth.

'Mayer' days be good

According to a report on tucsoncitizen.com Meyer's ministry has reported spending at least US$4 million on five homes for her and her children. The largest of those homes which has been described as a 10,000 square foot Cape Cod-style estate that spreads out over three acres and includes a putting green, a gazebo, a pool and a pool house, is owned by Meyer. So, she ain't hungry. Not in the least.

What I am sure about is that tens of thousands of the people who send their last dollar to these people thinking God is going to reward them often go to bed hungry, wondering where the next hot meal is coming from.

And while I am not suggesting that these television ministries do nothing to help the poor who help make them rich, I don't believe they do enough. If they did, there would never be enough money for the mansions they live in and the private jets they fly around in.

Jimmy Swaggart used some of his 'hard-earned' money to buy some of that weak flesh he often preached against on Sunday mornings before his career was destroyed the first two times but as we all see, he is back again. His son is along for this ride this time, having seen the benefits of his father's sweet tongue and over-worked tear ducts.

Flip side

On the other side of that coin, I do believe in the saying that a fool and his money will soon part.

Now, if I am struggling to make ends meet, I am not about to send money that could very well be used to pay a bill or buy some well-needed groceries to some sweet-talking minister on television. It just doesn't make sense to me. Oral Roberts used to call it seed faith or some crap like that. Well, I prefer to plant my seed where I am certain it will do me some good in the future, not make some slippery religious salesman's bank accounts fatter.

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