Cashing in on Christ
Lawrence Seretse | Friday November 22, 2013 17:27
There is always something fascinating about this Hollywood impressionism of a preacher named Bishop Magic Don Juan playing a cleric role where he is as controversial as he is entrepreneurial.
Bishop Don is excessively flamboyant, dressing most of the time in expensive Armani suits, top-of-the-range shirts and ties, outlandish crocodile leather shoes, ‘iced up’ Rolexes, luxurious fur coats and rolls with a team of bodyguards in a stretch Rolls Royce or a yacht and a private jet.
A deep look into the extravagant celebrity lifestyles of some modern church preachers draws a picture that shows how the church has slowly turned into a prosperous industry where some have garnered colossal profits into their business empires.
Today, one of the most powerful Christian leaders in the southern African region, Zion Christian Church (ZCC) leader Bishop Engenas Lekganyane, lands in Gaborone with his entourage. Since establishing the ZCC, the Lekganyane family has also amassed considerable wealth as well as followership.
Founded in 1910 by Bishop Engenas Barnabas Lekganyane, the ZCC has expanded into a number of countries and with a membership estimated at just over 10 million today. Little did the founder know that a packet of branded ‘Holy Tea’ that is said to be used for prayer and other practices would churn millions in profit for the church or its founders.
In 1968, the church founders registered a business called Barnabas Lekganyane Enterprises that has accumulated millions of Rands over the years and helped give birth to businesses such as Lekganyane Motor Group and Construction. The church is also said to be into the lucrative tombstone carving business and security services. The church, like any other society, runs a funeral scheme where its members contribute a certain amount of money for insurance.
However, the Lekganyane family does not show the same drive for crass materialism as recent Pentecostal church preachers and televangelists such as the aptly named American Creflo Dollar. Nevertheless, St Engenas has a few toys of his own. Amongst his collection of ‘toys,’ St Engenas is chauffeured in a custom made black Rolls Royce Phantom. A source discloses that during the 2012 congregation at Moria or Zion City in Sputh Africa’s Limpopo Province, a collection of huge black limousines could be spotted over the mountain at the Bishop’s home, including two Mercedes Benzes and older American Cadillacs. The source says armoured cars filled with cash could be seen moving slowly through the crowd.
In Polokwane, the provincial capital, it was said that in the past, banks closed to count contributions made to the church at its Easter sermon – large drums full of cash. There is now a bank on site, a source says.
In the 1970s, a schism occurred in the church between two of the sons of the founder, Engenas Barnabas Lekganyane, who have their father’s given names, Barnabas and Engenas. The son named Barnabas remained with the Star ZCC, while the one named Engenas founded the Dove branch. In 2012 alone, members of the church reveal that close to 9.4 million adherents attended the annual Easter holiday pilgrimage. The ZCC Star of Barnabas had 11.6 million pilgrims while the branch of DSt Engenas ZCC had three million, the source says.
This is one of the most alluring – even prestigious - church denominations in the southern African region, made up of ministers, mayors, chiefs, business leaders and celebrities. The ZCC Star is said to have a branch in Sherfield, England and many students under its scholarship in South African and international institutions of higher learning.
The ZCC sells a range of branded products ranging from holy water, holy coffee, khakhi uniform, hats and white church shoes. It also has a brass band that records and sells its musical projects. The church also has an agreement with the MTN cellphone network to customize sim cards and communication networks. The telecommunications industry is one of the most lucrative in today’s times.
But it is the modern Pentecostal church where real cash is pursued and indeed made.
Brazilian Bishop Edir Macedo of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) has been listed in Bloomberg Billionaires as Brazil’s billionaire bishop whose wealth stands at $1.2 billion (P10.2 billion). The church has more than five million followers whose donations over the last 36 years have made him a billionaire. The empire also owns a large radio and television network. Bishop Macedo runs a cable news channel, three newspapers, a film production company and a small bank. His church owns a fleet of private jets that he uses to host congregations in different parts of the world. There are branches also in Botswana.
Early this year, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published an explosive report that fingered a number of famous pastors and churches that hid their millions in offshore tax havens, including the Cayman Islands. Nigerian televangelist, Reverend Chris Oyakhilome, has also been linked to an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands. A business associate of the pastor told ICIJ that some directors in the company held shares on behalf of the pastor’s daughters, Sharon and Charlyn, who are now teenagers.
Oyakhilome’s company is Gmobile Nigeria Limited, an offshore firm incorporated in 2007 in the British Virgin Islands, according to an archive provided to Mmegi. The shareholders listed in the documents include Oyakhilome’s wife, Anita, another pastor in his organisation, and another British Virgin Islands company, GTMT International Group Limited.
Oyakhilome is the founder and president of one of Africa’s largest Pentecostal churches, Believers Loveworld Inc. (aka Christ Embassy), which claims “hundreds of churches … affecting millions of people” in all the continents of the world, with a strong presence in the United Kingdom, South Africa, the United States, Canada, Nigeria and Botswana.
He has also set up satellite broadcast channels in the United Kingdom (LoveWorld TV), South Africa (LoveWorld SAT) and Nigeria (LoveWorld Plus). He hosts a TV show, Atmosphere for Miracles, which airs on television networks in Africa, North America, Australia, Asia and Europe, according to his church’s website.
His church has a series of business interests, the website says, that include vibrant TV and Internet ministries and a publishing outfit that churns out the popular “Rhapsody of Realities” booklet, which is like a second Bible to members of his church.
Forbes Magazine recently disclosed that Nigeria’s most controversial prophet is also one of the country’s richest and most philanthropic. T.B. Joshua heads the Synagogue Church of all Nations (SCOAN), a congregation he founded in 1987 which accommodates over 15,000 worshippers on Sundays. The church currently has branches in Ghana, the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Greece. In the past three years, he has given over $20 million to causes in education, healthcare and rehabilitation programmes for former Niger Delta militants.
He owns Emmanuel TV, a Christian television network, and is close friends with Ghanaian President Atta Mills. His estimated net worth is $10 million, $15 million according to Forbes. Other Nigerian pastors on the list were Matthew Ashimolowo-Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC) media company, Matthew Ashimolowo media, estimated net worth: $6 million to $10 million.
Chris Okotie’s church: Household of God Church. Net worth: $3 million to $10 million. His 5,000-member church consists predominantly of Nollywood celebrities, musicians, and society people. He contested and lost Nigerian presidential elections for the third time this year under the Fresh Party, a party he founded and funds. An automobile lover, he owns a Mercedes S600, a Hummer and a Porsche, among several others.
The 27 million-dollar man, Creflo Dollar, is an American Word of Faith pastor and the founder of the non-denominational World Changers Church International. He has been criticised for his lavish lifestyle as he owns two Rolls-Royces, a private jet, a million dollar home in Atlanta, and a $2.5 million home in Manhattan. In 2007, US Senator Charles Grassley named him and other evangelists in a financial investigation, citing lavish lifestyles and questioning their use of money collected from churchgoers and viewers. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The richest of them all
By now everyone knows that the Roman Catholic Church is one of the most powerful institutions to ever exist and is often referred to as the mother of all mega churches. Following reports in foreign media, there is no doubt, however, that between the church’s priceless art, land, jewellery, gold and investments across the globe, it is one of the wealthiest institutions on Earth and has been since 313 AD when the Roman Empire adopted Catholicism.
Over 300 years, the Vatican became one of Europe’s largest landowners, reports reveal. It is said to own landed property in Sicily, Gaul, Spain, the Balkan lands, the Near East and even many parts of Africa, including here in Botswana. These properties include not only lands and farms, but also whole towns.
The ‘bling bishop’
Recently Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg was criticised even in the media for spending tens of millions of euros building a luxurious private home at the cost of €31m. The home included a €15,000 bathtub, furnishings worth €380,000 and a garden that came with a €783,000 bill. However, he was temporarily suspended from his post by the Pope and an investigation called.
What do we know about the church’s finances?
One (1). The symbolic value, in euros, of the buildings in Vatican City. The church uses this number to indicate they are priceless and could never be sold.
They include: the Apostolic Palace, the Pope’s official residence, the Sistine Chapel that is best known for murals by Botticelli and Michelangel, who painted the ceiling and the famous Last Judgment behind the altar; and St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest church in the world erected over the supposed burial site of the apostle St. Peter, the first bishop of Rome.
Another number, 716,290. The amount of church-owned land, in square kilometres across the globe. Properties include Vatican embassies, churches, cathedrals, monasteries, some schools and convents.
Ten: Reported investments (in billions of dollars) in foreign companies by the Institute of Religious Works (the Vatican Bank) in the 1990s. It has holdings in such industries as banking, insurance, chemicals, steel, construction and real estate.
It only invests in companies that operate according to Catholic morals. For example, it will not invest in a pharmaceutical company that produces birth control.
Eighty-six: In millions of dollars, Peter’s Pence in 2011. The Vatican’s most important source of ready cash is made up of donations from parishes across the globe.
The money is spent on humanitarian projects, including disaster relief, medical aid, and help to the poor in developing nations, children and refugees.
The number 22.4. In millions of dollars, the approximate value of almost one metric tonne of gold owned by the Holy See in 2008.
In millions of dollars, 308 is the Vatican’s revenue in 2011. It spent $326.4 million, but ended the year with a $27-million surplus.
Thirty-one: In millions of dollars, the amount seized from the Vatican Bank by Italian authorities during an investigation into money laundering.
Two: In billions of dollars, the amount paid out as settlements by the church for sex-abuse allegations in the United States. (This extract is from The National Post newspaper)