... wrote on Feb 19^th, 2013 at 7:03pm:


exactly

longy , you naughty old boy.

answer me this since i know nothing about hillsong (apart from the fact that i know a lot of people who used to go to garden city pentecostal church in brisbane which was the BIGGEST church in brisbane.

1 did not brian houston launch a hostile takeover bid for this church and kick out the pastor who built it up (steve dixon) because he refused to share the donated funding with head office.  this is what my contacts tell me.  google steve dixon if you want.

2 did not brian's dad admit to sexual abuse of a young boy in NZ (for which he was never charged)

3 is not the family nepotism extended to all his kids being directors of marketing etc etc.

4 is there not an eftpos machine installed at the back of the hillsong church at garden city (after the very popular pastor was deposed in a religious coup)

now listen up good,  prsoperity christianity is evil.
even the ato think so
and the ato love me, i'm a massive donor

heres some more of the" good news"



Hillsong services attract huge crowds with devotees encouraged to donate generously to the church Source: Supplied Hillsong

…

THE tax office wants a special national body set up to monitor “not for profit” charities, admitting that churches – such as the multi-million-dollar phenomenon Hillsong – are literally “invisible” to it.

And the sector is expanding so rapidly that $31 billion a year is now being drawn out of the federal Budget in tax exemptions to the ever-growing list of groups claiming church and charity status.

The push to put not-for-profit groups under greater fiscal scrutiny comes amid revelations that senior pastors of the Hillsong mega-church and their families are enjoying lavish lifestyles virtually tax-free.

Critics say Hillsong – which makes millions by routinely demanding its followers hand over at least 10 per cent of their salaries for the church coffers – exploits tax exemptions designed to help small, struggling churches.

The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal that Hillsong founder Brian Houston uses a not-for-profit company – Leadership Ministries Inc (LMI) – to fund a burgeoning, tax-free global preaching empire.

LMI and other tax-free companies in the Hillsong network are able to provide housing, cars, overseas travel, accommodation, credit cards and other perks free of fringe benefits or income tax.

And since LMI was set up in 2001, the Houston family’s relationship with the company has included:

* Property deals that have earned Brian Houston and his wife Bobbie $1.4 million. The Houstons are still tenants of waterfront properties at Sydney’s Bondi Beach and the Hawkesbury River that they sold to LMI.

* A $1 million, fringe benefits tax-free expense account each year for five people, including the Houstons.

* The use of vehicles worth more than $120,000.

* Fully funded overseas tours where Brian Houston can earn $US20,000 a speech in “love offerings” on the preaching circuit.

* The refund of all goods and services tax paid by the Houstons in their pastoral duties back to LMI.

* The creation of a network of Hillsong subsidiaries in South Africa, Britain, Sweden and Ukraine.

The Sunday Herald Sun has also learnt that the Australian Taxation Office reviewed LMI’s tax-free status this year and has re-affirmed it, despite growing concerns about a lack of accountability in the not-for-profit sector.

ATO Assistant Commissioner Michael Hardy told a recent Senate inquiry he lacked the staff to monitor religious organisations.

Once tax-free status was granted, churches were “technically invisible to the tax office”, Mr Hardy said.


Mr Houston said his total salary was “just over $300 000″.

The ATO defines salary as cash payments, excluding fringe benefits and exemptions.

Pentecostal preacher Philip Powell, a critic and former Assemblies of God national secretary, said Hillsong, which has a congregation of more than 20,000, should be stripped of its tax-exempt status.

“It should be recognised for what it is: a corporation, not a church,” Mr Powell said. “Hillsong is really just a sales and marketing operation.

“If you took out the religious aspect, a company like that would have to pay thousands of dollars in fringe-benefits tax each year.”

Lobby group Taxpayers Australia spokesman Roger Timms wants the Government to adopt Treasury secretary Ken Henry’s recommendation that tax exemptions for churches be replaced with direct grants.

Under the Tax Act, there is no cap on the amount of expenses churches can pay ministers of religion before incurring fringe-benefits tax.

Mega-churches such as Hillsong have taken full advantage of this, rewarding its leaders tax-free, the pastor of a church aligned to Hillsong says.

glad i still make more than brian though 

Bobby. wrote on Feb 19^th, 2013 at 7:29pm:



Yes nails, no nails, three bags full nails, meet me tonight round the corner nails.

NorthOfNorth wrote on Feb 19^th, 2013 at 8:21pm:



Cheeses! this sounds dangerously similar to what I would say, what Chesterton - for it is he, in that opening quip - would have said.
Defending age-old tradition - that's, like, so, um, like, conservative, man!

NorthOfNorth wrote on Feb 19^th, 2013 at 8:21pm:


You make the mistake of assuming that crazy cults are a modern phenomena.
I think the reverse is true in regards to secularism. It immunises us against these crackpot religions.

the salvos are assholes, never give money to charity ever.

Roberta??? 

go away... you are wasted space mon.

yeas...


can be exposed....

keep at it I say....  defrock these false prophets...