Copelands, Congress & U.S. Constitution

From The Hidden

By Anne T. Garcia

Former Sen. John Edwards uttered some very significant words last week: "I started to believe that I was special and became egocentric and narcissistic." One wonders if he was describing a malady that has become epidemic in the U.S. Senate. President John Kennedy called it "the arrogance of power." A case in point is Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) who initiated an investigation of six conservative evangelical mega-ministries last year. His request for their personal and financial ministry records was arguably illegal. Some leaders like Benny Hinn and Joyce Meyer acquiesced. After all, it takes time and finances to fight the federal government and they're busy winning lost souls. But Kenneth Copeland courageously chose to stand against Goliath Grassley. The Church (Eagle Mountain International Church) declined to submit financial records or the names of church board members because "the Church believes the United States Constitution protects the Church from having to disclose such information to the Federal Government outside the context of a legitimate church tax inquiry conducted by the IRS." According to correspondence posted on Kenneth Copeland's Web site (kcm.org) "the Church asked Senator Grassley to request the Church's audited financial statements from the IRS. . ." Since the IRS could legally requisition the desired documents, what's the problem? Why doesn't Sen. Grassley just follow the law? Maybe it's because he is above the law (read that egocentric and narcissistic).

The buzz in Washington is other Republican senators told him to cease and desist, because he's attacking their base in an election year. He confided that after the election he is going after every conservative ministry that owns an airplane. Recall the Church Audit Protection Act was passed by Congress in 1984 for the purpose of discouraging such harassment as the senator has undertaken. According to that 1984 law, an investigation like Grassley's may only be conducted at the request of a "high level Treasury official." In this case, no such U.S. Treasury Department official endorsed Sen. Grassley's mischief. The senator would better serve his constituents if he understood the Biblical Law of sowing and reaping. In more scientific parlance, every action has an equal and opposing reaction. In the vernacular, what goes around comes around. Put another way, there is no such thing as a "coincidence." In fact, the word coincidence isn't even in the Hebrew language. Hebrew is, in all probability, the original language spoken on planet earth.

Thus, when the cloned sheep Dolly was produced in England in 1997, it was an abomination. In 2001 there was an epidemic of hoof and mouth disease in England and all sheep in Great Britain had to be slaughtered. In another instance, homosexual activists marched into St. Louis Catholic Basilica in New Orleans, disrupting a Catholic Mass on "Southern Decadence Day." The next year the annual event was canceled several days before it was slated to begin due to Hurricane Katrina. In 2007 Sen. Grassley went after some of the most beloved and respected Christian leaders in America. In June 2008 devastating floods dubbed "Iowa's Katrina" ravished the state. Could the floods and Grassley's investigation be related, as one Tennessee evangelist opined? Sen. Grassley would do well to heed good advice spoken 2,000 years ago by the esteemed Rabbi Gamaliel, He was addressing some other pharisees, and he said: "Keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this . . . work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it-lest you even be found to fight against God." (Acts 5:38,39)