Secular News Daily » Economy

Cracking Crystal Cathedral's Financial Troubles Mount

Jenny Donati — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:23:34 +0000

California megachurch “Crystal Cathedral”, one of the nation’s largest and oldest nondenominational churches, has been slapped with three lawsuits totaling $2M in unpaid bills.

Robert Schuller spent 50 years building his ministry, based not on literal Scripture but on “positive thinking”. Schuller, considered by some the father of Feelgood evangelism, is presently 83. Since 2008, he has watched his ministry crumble; the current lawsuits, one more straw on a financially-saddled camel’s back.

Schuller had humble beginnings, but always showed the entrepreneurial spirit common to successful ministers, politicians, and other con artists. He studied marketing and told people what they wanted to hear, and gained great success. “If you can dream it, you can do it,” indeed!

Only five years after obtaining his Master of Divinity, Schuller started a church at a rented drive-in located in Garden Grove, California — Disneyland’s back yard. In just three years, he was breaking ground on a combination drive-in, walk-in theater (er, church) on ten acres. The facility, designed by Modern architect Richard Neutra, cost a whopping $3M . . . not a small figure now, but a fortune in 1958!

Completed in 1980, the massive Crystal Cathedral now has a congregation of 10,000, and is seen weekly on Schuller’s “Hour of Power” broadcast.

All went well until Schuller passed leadership of his ministry to his son, Robert A. Schuller, in 2006. Less than two years later, in October 2008, the senior Schuller pulled Junior out, noting a “lack of shared vision”. This familial discord disturbed fans:

Several angry viewers have launched petitions to get the younger Schuller back.
Melody Mook, a 58-year-old medical transcriptionist from El Paso, Texas, said she stopped her $25 monthly donation and is looking elsewhere for her spiritual needs. She said she dislikes the guest pastors.
“I feel hurt and confused, and I’m not sure that I want to sit and watch when I know there’s problems beneath the surface,” she said. “You feel like you’re in somebody else’s church every Sunday.”
Others said they felt betrayed that the Schullers couldn’t put God before their family spat.
“They have not been forthcoming at all,” said John Dewart, an insurance agent from New Jersey who’s watched for 30 years. “Why can’t a father and son work together for the glory of God? That’s my big question.”

These small cracks, exacerbated by the economic downturn, have led to Crystal Cathedral’s once-unimaginable $55M budget deficit in 2010. Layoffs, unpaid bills, and pending lawsuits are mounting. The OC Register reports:

lawsuits were filed in February and March in Orange County Superior Court and are a continuation of the Garden Grove megachurch’s financial problems. Last week, several vendors who provided services for the cathedral’s “Glory of Christmas” pageant said the cathedral has yet to pay them.
PNCEF LLC, an Indiana-based equipment finance company, alleged in a lawsuit filed Feb. 19 that the Garden Grove church defaulted on loan payments as early as April 2009. By December, the cathedral owed close to $2 million they borrowed to finance various pieces of equipment, including speakers, lights and fiber optics.
Two television stations, KRQE-TV owned by Lin Television Corp. and WCKF-TV owned by Hearst Television Inc. also filed lawsuits against the cathedral March 3, stating that the church owes them about $100,000 for “the reasonable value of the work, labor, advertising services and materials rendered by plaintiff to defendants at the defendants’ request.”

Current executive director, Sheila Schuller Coleman (Schuller’s eldest daughter), has responded as one might expect . . . begging for a handout.

The megachurch is also in the process of selling off various real estate holdings, hoping to close its budget gap as its attendance and donations continue to drop.

How long before the Crystal Cathedral collapses?

California Divorce Ban Could Save $4.8 Billion Annually

Mike Daniels — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:16:42 +0000

The Institute for American Values estimates that the 2010 California Marriage Protection Act could save $4.8 billion — yes, BILLION — per year in California, a state with a $20 billion budget shortfall. How can Californians say no?

The report, available HERE, reviews the costs to society of family fragmenting — that is, divorce and unwed childbearing. Nationally, the Institute’s report suggests that these acts cost taxpayers at least $112 billion, and California taxpayers at least $4.8 billion. The report addresses “hard costs” only, and does not include the broader, less-tangible costs to society of ill will and inadequate parent attention which often results from divorce.

While the Institute for American Values has not yet commented on the 2010 California Marriage Protection Act promoted at RescueMarriage.org, they clearly will come out in favor. As is stated in their FAQ,

We recommend that readers take a hard look at the data and decide for themselves whether it supports the idea that the U.S. should use modest taxpayer and other funds to support marriages and families before they end up in costly breakdown.
We believe the answer is yes, and that the investment will more than pay for itself.

What more cost-effective way to support traditional marriage than to make it illegal to divorce, except under exceptional circumstances?

Support the 2010 California Marriage Protection Act. Save marriages, and save money. Fund schools, not divorce!

You can join the effort at RescueMarriage.org. They also have beautiful, professionally-designed t-shirts and stickers to show your support.

If you prefer the more down-home, grassroots variety, check out some of our supportive offerings!

Employee Free Choice Act: Specter Says No

Jenny Donati — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:42:22 +0000

In a surprise move, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) announced that he would not back the Employee Free Choice Act.

With a doublespeak name straight out of George Orwell’s 1984, the Employee Free Choice Act grants unions the right to intimidate and threaten employees into supporting unionization. The act, supported by Big Labor (you know, like the Teamsters, and the $73/hour United Auto Workers who helped kill Detroit), would allow unions to skip the currently-required secret ballot election when trying to unionize a shop. Instead, they would only need to collect signatures on cards from more than half of the employees.

Imagine working in a non-union business, with an employer you like.

The union people come around, and a fair number of your co-workers are interested. Soon, they’re signing their cards, and bringing them to you to sign, too. But you don’t want to.

“Why not?” “Come on, sign!” “It’s only 2% of your salary per month for dues, it’s not expensive!” “What’s wrong with you, do you like management better than us, your co-workers?”

Then comes peer pressure, threats, and intimidation.

“Once the union is in place, we’ll remember who supported us and who didn’t. Which list do you want to be on?” “I’ll stop by your house after work and bring the card so you can sign.”

American elections are also based on secret ballots. Would you vote to give up that right, so community organizers could come to your home and pressure you to vote for their candidate? Of course not! So why should employees be subject to union intimidation and lose their existing right to a secret ballot?

The Employee Free Choice Act is no choice at all. Kudos to Senator Specter for showing some backbone . . . if only this once.

EU on Eastern Europe: Let Them Eat Cake

Jenny Donati — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:56:58 +0000

Leaders of the European Union today rejected calls for a bailout of Hungary and the rest of Eastern Europe. Is this the first step toward elimination of all foreign aid due to the global recession?

Led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the European Union’s member states roundly rejected Hungary’s bid for a $240+ Billion bailout of Hungary and several other Eastern European nations, threatening a “new Iron Curtain” if aid was withheld. (Where Eastern Europe would get the funding for said curtain is unclear, as Russia veers toward collapse itself.)

Merkel stated that there was no need for a broad bailout package, claiming that “we cannot compare Slovakia nor Slovenia with Hungary”.

Merkel is correct. Slovakia and Slovenia are already on the Euro, and thus further stabilized, while Hungary is not . . . and suffering from a plummeting currency.

The tightening of the purse strings may be a sign of things to come. As all economies head farther into this recession (and probably the Second Great Depression), Western governments such as Western Europe and the United States will not be able to provide foreign aid to Eastern Europe, and will also have to cut the billions in food and medical aid currently sent to third world nations.

For decades, the West has provided “humanitarian relief” to parts of Africa, Asia, and other locales suffering from droughts, famines, and disease. Over time, these “developing nations” have become dependent upon foreign aid, seen their life expectancies extended and populations exponentially expanded. What will happen when we can no longer afford to provide what amounts to food stamps for entire nations?

Share your thoughts. Is the European Union’s closing of the checkbook the first step of many to come?

Americans Abandon Jesus for "Psychic"

Jean Poole — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 17:08:36 +0000

Roxanne Usleman, self-proclaimed “psychic medium”, has seen her business boom in the last few months as people abandon God and His Laws and turn to her witchcraft instead of the Love of Jesus.

According to her own website, Roxanne is “Roxanne is a world-class Psychic, Metaphysician and Parapsychologist who has gained prominence because of the extraordinary accuracy of her psychic predictions. This includes private readings and global happenings. As a psychic consultant, her clients include businesses and professionals, people in the media, and major corporations. She is a psychic investigator and is sought-after to uncover previously unsolved crime cases and find missing persons.”

Oddly, her Testimonials page includes no comments from law enforcement agencies or people whose loved ones she has helped find.

Tell me, if you were a genuine “psychic”, wouldn’t that be the first thing you’d list? Something concrete, instead of nonsensical jabbering like Sandra Berhard’s utterly useless commentary, “Roxanne can see into other worlds – and we all need help…sometime.”

Huh?

Well, I have a question for Roxanne:

“Can Americans’ determination to turn their backs on God bring anything but greater disaster?”

Usleman says no. In fact, she insists that the recession will get worse and could become a depression. The housing market will also fail to improve in the near term, and people who’ve been laid off might have to start their own businesses if they want work.

Seems Roxanne’s read the paper this month. Good for her! But she claims that, as she clasps a visitor’s keys or other metal object, that she is given advice by “the angels”.

A review of Ms. Uselessman’s “talents” suggests that she’s not in touch with angels, demons, or anything other than a client’s money clip:

My many past lives as a French woman and someone with a strong musical connection come to her first. I tell her I don’t get to many shows and am not musical. She suggests I start: “Do as many musical interviews as possible. Be around musicians.” My life-mate will be around music and very smart, she hears: “They say you are not to get involved with any married men” — something I haven’t done in the past, and not good karma for anyone.
Later, Uselman begins to sense strong vibrations around me from the grandmother I never met. “She tells you not to be so stressed out, and massages your shoulders.” Worrying, she reminds me, shows that we don’t trust the universe.

Uh huh.

Deuteronomy 18:10 gives us God’s take on this business:

There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.

Were it not a violation of God’s Law, I’d be happy to rake in $135/hour to tell gullible fools who hate Jesus that everything will be OK, and not to blow all their money on things they don’t need in a down economy.

Course, Suze Orman does the same for free, in her books.

Regardless, people like failing businessman Bruce Levy flock to Uselessman’s door for her “valuable input”:

She helps me make better decisions. She is able to make me see things that I wouldn’t otherwise see. I just think that she has this intuition that gets through to my subconscious in a way that I can’t.

Seems that Mr. Levy, at least, is bright enough to recognize that she’s not talking to angels, but simply giving a different perspective.

Jesus can offer a perspective, too. Maybe Mr. Levy would like to meet Him?

Suze Orman: Recovery by 2015?

Jenny Donati — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:25:41 +0000

Suze Orman predicts economic recovery by 2015, and offers her new book (free download! Oooo!) to help. Jesus predicts prosperity for all who follow Him, and offers His 2,000-year-old Book. Which do you choose?

I was cruising through the HuffnPuff Post today, seeing what the liberals are trying to soak us for now, and saw Suze Orman’s blog. She predicts that Obama’s stimulus package will work wonders, with people becoming hopeful about their portfolios by . . . 2015.

Yes, 2015. Six long, hard, lean years.

After pointing out that many people have false hope for 2009 — the Dow dropping 32% in 2008, the worst year ever, doesn’t mean there’s anything to prevent 2009 from being as bad or worse — Suze makes a prediction, and unwittingly provides us the answer to all our woes:

What is so important for you to understand is that there is no magic market wand you or I can wave to make this all go away. And I am so sorry to say that I think it is foolish to think that [Obama's] massive [socialist] stimulus package will be an insta-cure. I can only pray it will help, but recovery is not going to be quick and there are no easy solutions.

There it is, in black and white. “I can only pray.”

God loves you, friend. He doesn’t want you to be hungry and poor. He wants you to be happy and prosperous. In order to achieve this prosperity, you can take three routes:

You can put your faith in the “financial experts” who got us where we are today. If this is the route you choose, I suggest you hustle on over to Oprah.com and download Suze Orman’s new book, Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan.

In a callous effort to boost her bloated name recognition even further, Orman is giving away free downloads of the entire book until January 15. 227 pages of Orman’s shrill harping about debt and action plans and stretching your dollars and “People first, then money, then things”. Yippee. :lalala:

You can put your faith in Obama’s Socialist Utopia. Say goodbye to anything resembling free markets, take the Mark of the Beast, and trade in Obama Dollars.

There may not be much choice in accepting That One’s plans; of course, you can refuse the Mark. But that may not be forthcoming for some time yet.

You can put your faith where it belongs, in Jesus. Prayer. You can stop worrying about silly things like your mortgage. After all, He says He will take care of you!

Malachi 3:

10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

If you show your faith by giving back to Him, and by following each and every one of His commands, He will pour out His abundance to you!

Where God guides, God will provide. Is God not providing? That means you’re not allowing Him to guide!

Are you unemployed, and on the verge of foreclosure or bankruptcy? God knows! Why, He knows more about you than that ARIA supercomputer in Eagle Eye!

Matthew 10:
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Don’t curse your former employer for bad management decisions or poor investments. Stop whining about the freeze on credit markets making it impossible to sell your home. God isn’t punishing you for someone else’s choices! He’s withholding provision from you because of something you are doing (or not doing)!

Take a close look at your life.

Have you given your every thought to Jesus?
Have you foresaken all those in your life who hate Him, even if they’re your parents or your children?
Have you obeyed His every command? There are over 600 in the Bible. God expects us to follow each and every one; disobedience is a sin, and any sin leads you to Hell.
Have you even read the Bible? Have you meditated on it day and night? Or do you prefer the HuffnPuff Post?
Have you tithed? That means 10% of your gross income to His work, friend. And let’s not play that tax-deductible nonsense; if you’re claiming a deduction and saving on your taxes, the amount you save should be part of your tithe! (Why, yes, we accept (non-deductible, to aid in your Salvation) donations using the PrayPal button in the right sidebar!)

Which will you choose? Will you put your faith in the likes of Suze Orman, who has created exactly zero universes in her short lifespan, or will you instead trust in the Creator of All, and let Him lead you, even if He means to guide you into homelessness and abject poverty to teach you to follow Him correctly?