The $760M pastor vs a frugal billionaire

[RecoveringCowboy]

Full disclosure: Not the best practicing Christian, but definitely believe.


Story: Kenneth Copeland brags he's a billionaire - close @ 760M as America's richest pastor hands down (pardon the pun)

His ministry’s 1,500-acre campus is a half-hour drive from Fort Worth includes a church, a private airstrip, a hangar for the ministry’s $17.5 million jet and other aircraft, and a $6 million church owned lakefront mansion. He is very close to being a Billionaire even though he already claims billion dollar status.

Tarrant County (Fort Worth) valued his church at a little over half a million in 2008?

This is a story like last week's Donald Trump gaffe on the abortion question - offends people on both sides. Likewise, Kenneth Copeland's lifestyle is an affront to believer and non-believer alike.

He teaches faith healing, but especially the Prosperity Doctrine...cherry picks Scripture on money - some of it nearly anyone would consider good advice on how to live, but Copeland guarantees you will be wealthy doing it! Neither Jesus or Scripture made that promise, but that does not stop Copeland.


I have thought how much money would I even want? After taxes, $5-10M I'd probably not ever have a financial worry again. After that, additional wealth would be about power: starting businesses, charities, "making a dent in the universe." Someone I can think of apparently lives that way.

Warren Buffet's home is worth $300-400K, maybe a million now - $31.5K in 1958. It's less than 10,000 sq feet - definition of a mansion. He still lives in Omaha. Think he drives a Lincoln, no cell phone or computer at his desk. He did buy property in California - $4M, but that's it. He doesn't want ten homes. Not religious (agnostic), but he plans to give 83% of his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. While I might not be 100% accurate, it's clear Buffet definitely could spend a lot more on himself.


To understate it, Buffet's lifestyle and what he's trying to do with his wealth looks pretty good compared to Copeland's.

 

[Tony2046]

Kind of reminds me of an Aesop's fable. The frog and the scorpion. We are who we are no matter who we say we are.

 

[The Brandon Five]