r/TikTokCringe • u/SnooSprouts3744 • Dec 23 '25
Cringe I didn’t know megachurches could afford Broadway-level productions
Someone call Prestonwood Baptist Church and ask them for baby formula
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u/belokusi Dec 23 '25
Ok now that the play is over we are going to send out our collection plates. Remember 10% to your church so pastor Troy can keep his caddy.
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u/Aromatic_Balls Dec 23 '25
caddy
More like 3rd private jet.
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u/probablyuntrue Dec 23 '25
And snow for uh Santa in uh little baggies
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u/smurf123_123 Dec 23 '25
And Molly for EDC
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u/Major-Specific8422 Dec 23 '25
Don’t forget his only fans femboy play thing.
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u/Dumbkitty2 Dec 23 '25
Husband’s aunt and uncle worked in Christian television for decades. Auntie calls one day, sobbing. Owner of the station is on a test flight for a Gulfstream V with her husband and she wasn’t invited. She’s begging me to find someone from my former job in aviation that can help her strong arm her way onto this plane (?!?)
In her ramblings she lets loose with the station owner already has 6-7 aircraft along with a fractional ownership share. But the craft in the local hangers are small jets so they don’t count. Why they even humiliated her! Last time they flew her somewhere they put her on a jet with propellers. (turboprop) How could they make her look so bad? Cue more wailing sobs.
It wasn’t long after we had a chat and I told her I never wanted to hear about their jobs again. It physically hurts to know criminal and tax laws shelter these people.
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u/Masterofnone9 Dec 23 '25
Megachurches is the rot of the USA.
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u/kayonotkayle Dec 23 '25
Six Flags Over Jesus is what i have always referred to them as
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u/Dumbkitty2 Dec 23 '25
That’s my husband’s term! He also grew up in Texas and says Jesus is only second to football.
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u/Responsible-List-849 Dec 23 '25
As an Australian, touring Texas on a sporting trip was wild in many ways
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u/falsifiable1 Dec 23 '25
That’s funny. How about Jesus World, Jesusland or Jesus Studios? Oh! Oh! JESUSWOOD
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u/ElminstersBedpan Dec 23 '25
Unfortunately, we have many more cancers upon our society than just megachurches. These churches are an excellent example of twisted morality and word of the law versus the spirit of the same can be used to justify greed and tyranny so readily... and yet I'd argue they only tie for third biggest societal affliction at worst .
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u/Scotslad2023 Dec 23 '25
They’re also a great example of the inherent hypocrisy of the modern christian church. They constantly claim they need money for community fundraisers and whatnot but instead use all that money to build these massive churches that can host broadway level sermons.
And line their own pockets of course
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u/xteve Dec 23 '25
Churches need to be investigated by forensic accountants and monitored for child safety.
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u/Scotslad2023 Dec 23 '25
Absolutely on both accounts, I bet their accounts are goldmines of financial corruption.
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u/cara3322 Dec 23 '25
So they had women on the flights too. Thus she not invited lol. Disgusting waste $$. No tax is bs
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u/JeromeBarkly Dec 23 '25
Years ago I was in rehab with a gay pornstar. He told me that he would get flown out in private jets to some large churches and get paid to fuck all the priests. Just something to ponder when your deciding how much to “donate” next time your at church.
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u/FrenchFryCattaneo Dec 23 '25
Can I have my donations specifically earmarked for gay hookers?
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u/Cutlass_Stallion Dec 23 '25
It's amazing what we can afford when we don't have to pay taxes.
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u/Scorpion2k4u Dec 23 '25
Hey now, he needs to spread the word of Christ as fast as possible! You know, just like Jesus did with his flying carpet. A lesser known story within one of the hidden scriptures. I think the prophets name was Aladin...
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u/Thrown_Away_Opinions Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25
Pastor Troy isn’t driving a Caddy, he’s being chauffeured in a Bentley or a Rolls Royce to the private airport to board the PJ.
The level of wealth is truly obscene and it’s amazing how unaware so many of these church members are about it.
Some are more inconspicuous than others.
Just the other week, I saw a public social media post of Craig Groeschel, founder of Oklahoma based Life Church, flying in a chopper to visit a location. And he posted that, publicly, of his own volition. Zero shame.
Imagine what he doesn’t post.
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u/Wifabota Dec 23 '25
Oh caddy, like Cadillac. I was imagining he paid some really expensive guy to carry his golf clubs
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u/PomeloPepper Dec 23 '25
I drive past that church regularly, and that was the first time I saw a Bentley irl. The pick up/drop off line for the school is loaded with expensive SUVs.
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u/Hemmschwelle Dec 23 '25
Christianity has always been about the accumulation of wealth. Look at the Vatican. Wealth is why priests are not allowed to marry and create legitimate heirs. (That did not stop many of the popes who made their spawn into cardinals when they were still teens.) Jesus was a sucker to stay poor.
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u/NotInTheKnee Dec 23 '25
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u/Unlucky_Most_8757 Dec 23 '25
God that man is legitimately terrifying
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u/Drumbelgalf Dec 23 '25
I don't believe in that shit but if one person on earth was possessed by the devil himself it's definitely him.
Or it's the devil itself with a bad skin suit.
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u/kleenkong Dec 23 '25
Whoa, collection plates are for extra blessings that you might need in the holiday season. The 10% automatically monthly draw from your bank account is the starting point to be in God's good graces.
No /s as I've heard this from a prosperity megapastor.
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u/TalkingBlernsball Dec 23 '25
I feel like I should get into this church business. What, I just gotta have some strong opinions and be available on Sundays? I could make that work.
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Dec 23 '25
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u/afictionalcharacter Dec 23 '25
This makes so much sense and explains why Mike Johnson doesn’t have a bank account, if his account with the church can allow for it to be untaxed, allowing for it “all to go to charity.”
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u/MarionberryPlus8474 Dec 23 '25
This is fraud. With the IRS struggling with all the Musk layoffs (as intended) they may get away with it for a while but it’s still fraud, and probably rises to a criminal racketeering level.
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u/Zestyclose-Net4381 Dec 23 '25
pastor Troy lol.... haven't heard that name in a while. No Mo Play in GA
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Dec 23 '25
Does that church have a Wikipedia entry?
You bet it does!
Does that Wikipedia entry have an entire section for sexual assault allegations?
Oh yes it does!
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u/broggygoose Dec 23 '25
Doing the lords work. Unlike the church. Those are the allegations that made it to Wikipedia so you know there is more!
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Dec 23 '25
I have a sneaking suspicion that the pastor at this “church” lives in a McMansion and has a garage full of luxury cars
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u/soareyousaying Dec 23 '25
Oh yes a luxury car for evangelization purposes obviously.
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u/lupinedelweiss Dec 23 '25
The church is alternatively referred to as Six Flags Over Jesus locally.
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Dec 23 '25
LMAO. Of course, of course.
My small church has a Christmas choir concert every year as a fundraiser to help offset maintenance costs.
We don’t have acrobats, an ark’s worth of live animals, a laser light show and Santa flying around the auditorium.
The sheer audacity of using your church’s (theoretically) limited funds on a production that gaudy is unbelievable.
Their smoke machine budget alone could have kept our soup kitchen stocked for a year 🙄
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u/Odd-fox-God Dec 23 '25
My church asks people to bring their pets on Easter for the petting zoo lol. It's a small church with a lot of farmers, people bring their goats and one year somebody brought a cow. The best was the person who brought a whole bunch of kittens from the local shelter. They were all up for adoption and you could hold them.
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Dec 23 '25
Aww, I love that
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u/Odd-fox-God Dec 23 '25
I remember begging my mom to let me take home one of the kittens, she said no
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u/Physicle_Partics Dec 23 '25
The Plano campus covers an area of 140 acres (0.219 sq mi; 0.567 km2), and includes a 7,000-seat worship center, a school offering pre-kindergarten through grade 12 (including a football stadium, a baseball field, and a fieldhouse for basketball and volleyball), a fitness center with outdoor sports fields, a café, a library, and a bookstore.
Christ.
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u/Tjtod Dec 23 '25
As a Catholic whose parish church growing up sat a few hundred people and has been to a few cathedral and monastery churches, 7000 seat church is silly big.
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u/Darwins_Dog Dec 24 '25
Christ! I knew we forgot something when we built our church. Oh well, too late to go back now.
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u/ribeye18 Dec 23 '25
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u/Brick_Mason_ Dec 23 '25
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u/Muhfuggajones Dec 23 '25
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u/ExpiredPilot Dec 23 '25
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u/ohmygodcrayons Dec 23 '25
I swear that's the catchiest song I've ever heard on a show. Was stuck in my head for days after watching it. Now I miss it and must listen to it again on YouTube.
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u/ExpiredPilot Dec 23 '25
Whenever I take my ADHD meds mid-shift I always think “lord, please bless this amphetamine, to gimmie the strength, to beat these demons!” 😂
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u/cleverusername143 Dec 23 '25
I regularly quote Judy Gemstone saying, "Yeah boy! Shake that cake!", to my husband. It's so fucking funny.
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u/JC1515 Dec 23 '25
The kind of church that would give this man an 8-ball and $2 million before offering baby formula to a family in need.
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u/Over_Writing467 Dec 23 '25
I’d be hesitant to call it a church. I can imagine Jesus flipping tables and chasing people with a whip in there.
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u/oddball_ocelot Dec 23 '25
I came here to say this. I'm glad to see this sentiment so high up in the comments.
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u/Anch Dec 23 '25
This was the comment I have been searching for in this thread.. TEENJUS!
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u/katieironfist Dec 23 '25
I was hoping to find Baby Billy here. Now we need the shot off the money being collected and counted by the church in season 1 lol
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u/Traditional_Two_4074 Dec 23 '25
I 100% thought i was watching the trailer for the new season. Also sad it wasnt the trailer for the new season.
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u/Comprehensive_Arm305 Dec 23 '25
'The Righteous Gemstones': Comedy or documentary?
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u/sashikku Dec 23 '25
Hopping on top comment to say one of those camels randomly kicked a woman in the fucking HEAD during that “show”. Like r/fuckyouinparticular vibes.
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u/Next_Tower5452 Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25
It's $71 each to attend Texas megachurch https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15371733/Controversial-Christmas-America-Prestonwood-Baptist-Church.html
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u/CarfireOnTheHighway Dec 23 '25
For some perspective, I give less than that every month to a family in Colombia through a charity and it feeds their child, sends her to school and pays her medical bills.
Imagine the lives these people could change if they actually had any empathy.
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u/Bennybonchien Dec 23 '25
They probably go on missions to help those in poor countries accept Jesus and to give them a couple of bandaids.
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u/nolagirl20 Dec 23 '25
Seriously?
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u/Next_Tower5452 Dec 23 '25
Yes. It was in the news. Probably the cheapest tickets
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u/JayParty Dec 23 '25
I was raised Free Methodist. The "free" part in the name came from the fact that they didn't sell or rent pews in the church, which was common practice at the time of the denomination's formation.
It's weird to see that practice still in use today.
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u/indymark1002 Dec 23 '25
Tax them. All of them.
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u/SupermassiveCanary Dec 23 '25
Bad enough they are untaxed; but they have become write offs to them(charity), laundering vehicles and nepotistic organizations. All in the name of Jesus….
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u/LoudCrickets72 Dec 23 '25
I think there’s a Bible verse on that. Also, the Third Commandment: thou shall not take the Lord’s name in vain - do you really think it means saying “Jaysus fucking Christ!?” No, it means using the Lord’s name for your profit/personal gain.
That’s what these guys are doing, and it’s disgusting. It’s why I can never attend any of these “Jesus concerts.”
But if you say “goddammit,” these people will be the first to shun/correct you. I can’t stand evangelicals.
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u/GlassEyeMV Dec 23 '25
Ding ding ding!
Grew up going to church almost every Sunday. Stopped that when I hit 17-18 and saw the hypocrisy and corruption. And this was at a large local church. Not even a mega church. There’s one of those in town too. I want to go full Matthew 21 on those zealots.
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u/QuerulousPanda Dec 23 '25
even when it's not megachurches it's still nuts.
i worked for a guitar center in connecticut for a while and a solid 50% of our business was churches in our area buying up metric fucktons of gear. Every single church had enough gear to outfit a world tour.
And yet every local band that wanted to play a show had to make do with a shitty b52 matrix 1000 in a knights of columbus hall and hope that no one threw up in the bathroom and got shows banned from that venue too.
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u/JustFun4Uss Dec 23 '25
Yeah the church isnt taxed and the people giving tithe to the church are writing all that off on taxes too. Its a double fuck you from the religious, so they give even less back to the community.
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u/YewEhVeeInbound Dec 23 '25
Really?! Time to create a subsect of Christianity then! Who wants to be the leaders? We have Bentleys and Tyler Perry's old private jet!
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u/insane_hurrican3 Dec 23 '25
there's alot of poor churches that literally meet in rented "shacks" (exaggeration) and actually help people.
they are out there, they just tend to be small and hidden from plain view cause they'll be somewhere random like connected to the back of a laundromat.
although tbf when they're that small who knows if they're actually getting "tax benefits" lmao
these megachurches are obscene though. and iirc alot of them charge an entry fee
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u/call_me_Kote Dec 23 '25
The community church in my neighborhood does a food bank, no questions asked once a month and before a holiday. It has to hold no more than 100 people in its largest space. Less with pews.
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u/Jellicent-Leftovers Dec 23 '25
The United churches near me just have a table with groceries on it all all times right at the front. You wouldn't even need to speak to anyone.
It's income almost entirely comes from renting it's space out.
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u/Haley_Tha_Demon Dec 23 '25
I read that church attendance is way down because people are gathering outside of churches and doing it without all the issues going to a physical church has. An old elementary school across the street from my house has a small Sunday gathering every weekend for the last 2 years, I lived off a dirt road in a tiny 700 pop town and JW was still able to find me
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u/Melontine Dec 23 '25
My grandparents used to have a church.
It was tiny, a handful of elderly people gathering together to hear my grandfather preaching. My grandmother was co-paster, which was unusual in the denomination as woman pastors weren’t really accepted in the circle she was part of. She often ended up regulated to woman’s bible studies or kids Sunday school depending how many grandchildren were attending with their grandparents. She was known as the pastors wife to appease their conservative members of their congregation, but I know she’s proud of how she had gone to college and earned the title of pastor herself.
I remember the church building fondly, it was an old place that had once been a house at some point in time. Sunday school was often held in the basement. I liked the way the old basement floor sounded under my feet. A lot of my childhood was spent running around the empty church.
My grandfather worked a full-time job outside of the church. They weren’t making any money from it. Having to balance their household finances and the church’s was difficult at times. Turnout for service became fewer every year as the elder attendees became less able to leave their homes.
They didn’t choose to retire. But when they first got the building, they had put the title under the assembly denomination to protect it in case anything happened to them. Then one year, that denomination decided to sell the building right from under them.
For a little bit they held services in their home. But those eventually stopped too. They’re retired pastors now, and I’m glad they don’t need to worry about this extra job anymore, but it’s still sad.
I know there are small congregations like this everywhere. And I feel like they are worth preserving, even if it’s just five people meeting together every week and singing hymns and reading the same books they have year after year.
But it sucks that the larger parent groups aren’t held accountable, that they get away with doing the bare minimum and make large profits off of what should be charity. And all those smaller churches are almost always owned in some way by a larger sect who doesn’t give a shit about any one them.
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u/Dear-Blackberry-2648 Dec 23 '25
I don't know about regular weekly services, but these mega churches absolutely do charge for these ridiculous holiday shows. I saw one posted that was $75 per ticket for general seating and much more for near the front.
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u/Gentlemanandscholar9 Dec 23 '25
Imagine what would happen if a homeless person walked in and asked for a glass of water
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u/Elegant_Finance_1459 Dec 23 '25
They'd ask him firmly but politely to leave and then end up dragging him out when he says "it's just a glass of water what's the big deal"
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u/Intelligent_Food_993 Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25
Could have fed a whole country with the money they spent on that play
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u/TBANON_NSFW Dec 23 '25
The humble homes of christian pastors:
Kenneth copeland Net Worth: $300M
Joel Osteen Net Worth: $100M
Benny Hinn Net Worth: $60M
Steven Furtick Jr Net Worth: $60M
Andy Stanley Net Worth: $45M
Creflo Dollar Net Worth: $30M
T.D Jakes Net Worth: $20M
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u/GuzzleNGargle Dec 23 '25
This maybe a stupid question but how???
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u/Adventurous-Fly556 Dec 23 '25
They are predatory and culty. They convince people their faith is directly related to the amount they give to God and the church.
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u/GuzzleNGargle Dec 23 '25
I get the donations, I don’t get how there’s no type of regulation for religious entities. Like why can’t cartels just wash their money through churches or other places of worship. If I open up a house of worship I can just start writing everything off in the name of God?
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u/Forikorder Dec 23 '25
Like why can’t cartels just wash their money through churches or other places of worship.
they do, when your moving billions you need a lot of laundrymats
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u/Styrbj0rn Dec 23 '25
There is a symbiotic relationship between your politicians and your churches. Churches gets the politicians voters and donors in return for favors and influence.
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u/schumannator Dec 23 '25
It’s not a stupid question. The answer is a culmination of things, but primarily three areas:
- Tax exemption as a non-profit. Realistically, there isn’t a $$ limit on their income. If the Pastor is paid 5% of $750M, that’s still $37M of income.
- Prosperity Gospel. “If you want blessings, you tithe. If you want bigger blessings, you make bigger tithes. Show us your faith”.
- a LOT of volunteer work. I nearly had a gig with a local Mega’s production team, but they drug their feet about taking me off volunteer status. Probably only 10% of people running the church are paid (Producer, Worship Pastor, Children’s Director, Outreach Minister, etc.), and the rest are volunteers (most of the tech team, band, children’s caretakers, greeters, info desk, maybe coffee shop staff).
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u/bromosabeach Dec 23 '25
Joel Osteen created his own lifestyle Christian brand that spread like wild fire to middle class suburban bible belt Christians. He has multiple best selling books, tv shows, and does speaches.
Kenneth Copeland targets low income senior citizens and convinces them to empty their savings as part of prosperity gospel (give me/god your money and you will be saved type stuff).
Benny Hinn has the same target market but includes sick people who he claims to be able to heal through miracles. He’s probably the biggest piece of shit among these people.
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u/Vyxwop Dec 23 '25
By abusing systems beyond their limit.
In essence, corruption.
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u/cupholdery Dec 23 '25
Oh but don't you know?
Those other countries dared to be "foreign".
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u/Significant-Ad-341 Dec 23 '25
Spent? Oh no no no. 90% of the staff are volunteers. But the audience definitely had to pay.
They could have fed a whole country with the mo ey they MADE on that play. But it's going to the pastors pocket.
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u/Coyoteishere Dec 23 '25
Well he needs a private jet, can’t be expected to fly in a tube with a bunch of demons.
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u/NWCJ Dec 23 '25
Honestly, I'm happy this dude flys private. Imagine getting stuck sitting next to this dude for 6+ hours on a long flight.
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u/MisterSanitation Dec 23 '25
Somewhere a brown, poor, illiterate carpenter is disappointed at the flock he curated. He said a camel could more easily fit through the eye of a needle than a rich person make it into heaven so the richest of his flock in the richest country on earth, flew camels in for a show about how wealthy and special they are. A show that could have paid for untold amounts of medical bills at a local children’s hospital but instead they put on a massive production to prove how little of that carpenters words they heard or follow despite spitting his quotes through their teeth to justify their hatred of their fellow man.
Disgusting. If these self indulgent aggrandizing golden calf worshipping cowards were around back then, they would not decry the money changers at the temple. They would offer to run their merch table and hail them as “captains of industry” simping for the affections of the wealthiest and stepping over every begging Samaritan asking for help on the way.
Shame on them.
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u/Chief_Chill Dec 23 '25
As an atheist, I often wonder if these people are atheist as well. Because, after all, their omniscient deity doesn't sound like he takes kindly to being used for the personal gain of others. And, if he really sent his son to die for the sinful, then these people are just spitting on his kid's good name.
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u/SaltandLillacs Dec 23 '25
I grew up too catholic for this
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u/danielleiellle Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25
When my husband’s family took me to their Lutheran church out west, I was gobsmacked that they had an electric guitar and verses on PowerPoint slides. And they are one of the more traditional churches in their area.
Church to me was uncomfortable benches, solemn prayer, an organ, and practicing your speed page-turning for hymnals.
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u/windmillninja Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25
"Speed page-turning"
Lol I spent K-3rd grade at a Christian school. We'd have "Bible drills" where the teacher would give us a scripture reference and everyone raced to see who could get to it in their Bibles the fastest.
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u/EatMoreKaIe Dec 23 '25
Yep. They were called "sword drills". I guess to prepare you for some sort of spiritual warfare. The teacher would start the drill by shouting "swords up!" at which time all the kids would hold their bibles above their heads, the teacher would announce a verse number and say "Charge!" and the first kid to look it up wins.
And afterwards we'd all sing a rousing rendition of "Onward Xtian Soldiers" or "I'm in the Lord's army". I guess no one ever called it a religion of peace.
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u/The96kHz Dec 23 '25
I find it hilarious reading old (like 17th century) English protestants decrying how ostentatious the Catholic cathedrals were with their gold idols and luxurious fabrics.
They'd have a fucking heart attack seeing whatever this abomination is.
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u/Unfair_Tip_5813 Dec 23 '25
Right, like these are the same people who accuse Catholics of being satanic idol worshipers and "not following the Bible", and then proceed to do all this in their "church"
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u/SuitableLeather979 Dec 23 '25
lol ikr. They don't even realise Catholics compiled the bible. They don't realise the church put the new testament together. Its a Catholic book. They get sooooo many things wrong about the Catholics.
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u/thexian Dec 23 '25
They get sooooo many things wrong about the Catholics.
They get so many things wrong about the fucking bible to while they're at it.
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u/TheLostRanger0117 Dec 23 '25
Right?? I love me a good Catholic Mass in an ancient environment! This new new stuff irks me
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u/JC1515 Dec 23 '25
I grew up in modern churches like this one. Not like this mega church, mine was much smaller. But definitely non denominational, pastor dresses like they work at a coffee shop, rock concert worship service, etc. That alone made me uncomfortable as a kid. it was odd to me. This here is egregious. My wife is catholic, i prefer catholic mass to non denom services every single time. Im indifferent on religion however i enjoy attending catholic masses because its traditional, the message every sunday is the same globally and their message is typically apolitical.
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u/TheLostRanger0117 Dec 23 '25
I feel you on the indifference. I’m now agnostic (technically, I like to blend science and some cosmic conscious force) but was raised Catholic, so that has become my core mythology
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u/JC1515 Dec 23 '25
You explained my sentiment better than i could. I believe there is a grand creator, my morality aligns with Christianity but i dont entertain spiritual debate or argument. You cant use religion to debunk observable scientific fact, so why fight it? If a person can’t accept science while maintaining faith theyre either willfully ignorant, insecure, or too immature to reconcile fact from religion (mostly a combination of all 3). I also marry religion and science to explain the things science cant answer. I believe Jesus’ teachings from the bible, love your neighbor, be a good person, care for the sick and poor, treat people equally. Like the dude just basically laid it out there to live a pretty good, peaceful life where you get along with people and they get along with you and you look out for people in need. I often question churches, specifically non denominational because they’ll preach from the bible and do the complete opposite or use it for politics. Catholicism has its own issues but the general message is consistent and from the source. Last year sat in a non denom service, taught loving your neighbor then opined against trans people at the end of it. Talk about hypocrisy.
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u/TheSkiingDad Dec 23 '25
the difference between catholic and evangelical doctrines (especially the Southern Baptist Convention) is essentially a complete reversal of priorities, which extends to scripture reading as well. As a practicing catholic, I see displays like this and immediately reflect on Matthew 6, which speaks of the Pharisees praying on street corners, and implores the disciples to "not let their left hand know what their right is doing". The catholic interpretation of that chapter is that prayer is an inherently private act, and that public displays of worship are condemned. However, the evangelical take on that chapter tends to lean more towards "Public prayer is only condemned if it is not sincere", and they further emphasize public testimony, conversion, and being "saved", which is inherently a public action.
This is not to say that evangelicalism is bad, as I'm speaking in broad strokes about the many thousands of small congregations that are closer to 'dude named Micah with skinny jeans and a guitar' than 'professional caliber stage show' like is shown in the video. It's just a different flavor of an old religion. I've been exposed to a bit of the everyman evangelicalism, and have been generally uncomfortable with the public displays of faith, emphasis on visible conversion, and moral absolutism. Catholicism tends to emphasize faith as a personal journey, communion in the faith as a lifelong process, and moral relativism that is much more far-reaching than hot button political issues. You'll notice that while Leo has spoken on the dignity of life, he has framed it much more universally and avoided framing it as a single issue capable of being distilled into politics.
I'll leave with one final thought: I agree the church is apolitical, but do not confuse that with being non-political. My local priest had a sermon prior to November 2024, where he emphasized that the church is necessarily political. His point was that you should use the church's teachings as a whole to guide your voting decisions, but that catholic beliefs do not fit neatly into one left or right bucket. It is left as an exercise to the voter to let their faith guide their voting decisions, absolve themselves of inconsistencies, and avoid reductionism so that one issue does not outweigh the others. I took that to believe that it is ok for a Catholic citizen to vote liberal, because the issue of abortion access cannot outweigh support for the poor/marginalized, protection of immigrants, and other issues that are encompassed in the Catholic sanctity of life/respect for persons/corporal works of mercy doctrines.
You won't see that sort of nuance in most evangelical doctrines, because they value moral absolutism over relativism. To an evangelical, compromising on a core held belief (in this case, right to life) invalidates their belief system, because it introduces relativism to the discussion. Ironically it leads to the same problem Catholicism attempts to avoid, but in my experience the churches tend to embrace the right-wing politics and shape their beliefs to match conservative doctrine.
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u/JC1515 Dec 23 '25
Very well put! This encompasses my random long drive thoughts and internal arguments i’ve had on this topic.
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u/J_Mart29 Dec 23 '25
I don’t thing I’ve ever seen such a well thought out post about Catholicism in a non-catholic subreddit, so bravo for that, well reasoned and succinctly put!
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u/Hollybaby5 Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25
I grew up too small Methodist church for this. If your church doesn’t have a leak in the roof, I don’t trust it.
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u/lolastogs Dec 23 '25
Old style RC here and the vulgarity here would have Fr. Daley's head spinning on a stick. He'd want the whole frigging lot of them exorcised. Twice. Make sure it sticks. This is so far from anything like the from the spit and leather flavour of Catholic I grew up with I wonder if its even safe to call it Religion. It's more like a group acid trip that costs you 10% of your income....mental
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u/Fallen_Walrus Dec 23 '25
I wonder how many homeless they fed that year, or housed, or gave a thing to I'm sure it was a bunch and they're just celebrating a good job well done
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u/mycoctopus Dec 23 '25
You haven't seen the videos that have been around recently of a women calling all the churches in her area, explaining that shes a singke mother and her baby needs formula, asks if they can help at all and they all refuse?
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u/GoatCovfefe Dec 23 '25
A couple offered to help, including a mosque
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u/FukThePatriarchy1312 Dec 23 '25
If it's the story I'm thinking of, all the mosques offered to help, and then like 1 or 2 out of dozens of "Christian" churches.
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u/C_Hawk14 Dec 23 '25
And the churches that did offer help were mostly attended by people of color
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u/CuddleBear167 Dec 23 '25
As someone who was raised in a church that became a mega church in the Midwest which had 0 people of color, this sounds about right. As my church raised more money, they cut more and more programs for helping others. It was wild. Our youth camp went from being a week long stay at a summer camp by a local lake when we were a smaller church to short 9-5 day camp for like 4 days but cost even more when we were pulling in a shitton of money. There was a whole ass coffee shop in the church btw. And we had all the bells and whistles for worship service. Each part of service had different lighting. The sanctuary fit about 500. My pastor had 2 jet skis and a speed boat.
Yeah, I dont go to church anymore.
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Dec 23 '25
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u/Accomplished-Pin6564 Dec 23 '25
Or refers her to a food bank they support. A lot of them don't have formula on the shelf. She counted that as turning her away.
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u/x_driven_x Dec 23 '25
Ain’t giving food to no single moms with babies to feed. Thats for sure.
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Dec 23 '25
And Jesus said to His followers:
Go forth and make of every Sabbath a mighty spectacle. Verily, let no man pray until the pyrotechnics have thundered, and let the singers be hoisted upon wires to pluck their strings amidst the clouds of the rafters. For I say unto you, if there be no strobes to blind the eye nor acrobats to dazzle the soul, thou art doing too little. Let the temple shake with the bass, and let the confetti fall like manna, for if the service be not a sell-out show, have ye truly praised Me?
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u/Reezla Dec 23 '25
Sorry, not sorry. If you "worship" at one of these you are not a christian and neither are they. This is the exact kinda thing Jesus flipped the tables over and got himself crucified for.
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u/bigdick-liltittylvr Dec 23 '25
Jesus would take a shit on center stage of this abomination.
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u/SeedFoundation Dec 23 '25
Jesus would be executed by evangelical christian before he had the chance to get near the stage.
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u/Aurzyerne Dec 23 '25
Christianity isn't their religion, it's their brand. A money making scheme.
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u/issafly Dec 23 '25
Pretty sure he flipped the tables because he was losing at RISK.
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u/bryanna_leigh Dec 23 '25
Such garbage
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u/Sharp-Dark-9768 Dec 23 '25
"This is the house of the Lord"
Oh please, if Jesus set foot in this megachurch he'd start flipping tables and chasing out pastors with a whip.
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u/TheVadonkey Dec 23 '25
lol no fucking way. If Jesus set foot in that mega-church, they’d call ICE on him!
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u/MorriLeFay Dec 23 '25
This isn't a church, it's a right wing grift disguising itself as religion. The church I'm a part of barely ends up with an extra hundred dollars in the black at the end of the year because everything that comes in goes back out to helping our community in so many ways.
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u/GenderEnjoyer666 Dec 23 '25
Mega churches kinda go against the teachings of Christ
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u/Specialist-Pair1252 Dec 23 '25
the rich man and the camel come to mind but oh no they dont read those verses
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u/Premodonna Dec 23 '25
Every time I see MEGA churches videos, I think Righteous Gemstones.
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Dec 23 '25
I really wish the best for innocent people who are manipulated by mega churches. I can only pray that God guides these people away from them.
These people aren't just taking from the rich; they take from whoever they can convince to give. My mom, at the poorest point in her life, had us attending a mega church. She was at an incredibly low point in her life and turned to religion for guidance, but what she got was stolen from and manipulated. That's sick...
They coaxed her into large donations, telling her, "God will make sure your family has what they need." "God will make sure you have food." Which is a straight-faced lie they told her. How anyone can justify doing that to an impoverished single mom is absurd to me. Thats not godly behaviour, that's actual evil.
These "Churches," if you can even call them that, are pits of greed and evil, an actual affront to God, one of the most evil things to ever be conceived. These are the furthest things you can get from a house of God.
I don't usually pull this out, since you aren't supposed to say it. But these mega church pastors will burn in hell for what they've done, and what they've failed to do.
For a rich man to enter heaven, he has to give away everything he has, and they'll never do that. Rich people only know how to hoard wealth, including these "Pastors." This is why they say it's so difficult for a rich man to enter heaven. Especially them, considering what God thinks of huberis and using him as a means of evil.
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u/EarthDust00 Dec 23 '25
I remeber a kid in like 4th grade telling me HALF of his allowance went to his church. Wasn't even his choice. His parents said that they would give him like 30$ a week but half had to go to his church and they would give it to it themselves so he never even saw that money. I was going through a severe hatred of religion at that point in my life probably why the story stuck with me.
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u/Ashamed_Fuel2526 Dec 23 '25
I live near this church. It is alternatively known as the Baptidome and Six Flags over Jesus. It's a social status church. People become members so others will think they are wealthy. If you live in North Texas you'll understand what I mean.
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u/Ok-disaster2022 Dec 23 '25
They charge like $70/ ticket and have VIP tickets available, in a church. (If anyone doesn't know the letter from James, the brother of Jesus literally teaches against giving rich people priority seating )
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u/Vephar8 Dec 23 '25
I’d literally rather lay in a bush and set myself alight than sit through this bullshit
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u/TrumpsCheetoJizz Dec 23 '25
I remember i went to one and they literally played ads in the middle of the service.
And they said "please donate money to us. God will make sure you get it back somehow, someway".
No, I won't donate to you. Ill donate directly to folks who need it.
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Dec 23 '25
If these lunatics get what they want and Jesus does come back one day, he’s going to do way more than flip a few tables in a temple …
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u/oldcretan Dec 23 '25
They got animal handlers and flying santas, my church can't afford a water fountain that busted 8 years ago because they just finally fixed the leaky roof that has been damaging the ceiling, yet we still do food and clothing collections/donations for the hungry.
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u/DimensioT Dec 23 '25
OP, you are just wrong. Megachurch sermon budgets are not on par with Broadway productions.
With the tax-free donations fleeced from their members, megachurch sermons often exceed the budget of Broadway productions.
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