"Minister" makes millions from direct-mail "con"-cept

by Hank Beymer

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them." Eph. 5:11, NKJV.

At the beginning of Jesus' ministry, we see an event that is mirrored at the end, and is of vital importance today, just as it was then. Jesus visits the Temple in Jerusalem, and "found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting". And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen and poured out the changers¹ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; MAKE NOT MY FATHER'S HOUSE AN HOUSE OF MERCHANDISE." (John 2:14-16, KJV). See also Mat. 21:12, Mark 11:15, Luke 19:45.

Jesus was trying to make a point here. The purpose and laws of God had been mightily corrupted, and certain classes of Jews were turning His Word to their economic advantage by deceitful means. Often times people would bring their sacrifices to the temple, and be told that it was unacceptable, and they would be forced to turn to the merchants to buy sacrifices that in many cases were more unacceptable than those brought. Such tactics Jesus considered to be thievery. Today, this misuse and corruption of God's Word is more pronounced than it was then. God's Word and purpose are corrupted and twisted by those who seek only to make gain for themselves. Truly Jude had it right when he said "these people speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. WOE unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward...." (Jude 10-11, KJV).

A ministry out of Tulsa, Oklahoma that goes by many names has been, for many years now, mailing over 1 million letters per month to a segment of the population that can best be described as needy, downtrodden, hurting and weak. This ministry is variously called St. Matthew's Publishing, St. Matthew's Churches, House of Prayer, Prayer by Letters, and several other names. They have a return address of a post office box, and show no physical address or phone number (in the letters). The letters are not signed by an individual, but as "friends of Jesus for over 50 years".

  At stake here is not the question of whether or not "seed faith" is a scriptural or viable concept, but of the manner in which it is done, the types of people targeted, and the use of unscriptural mysticism and superstition to induce a monetary response. These letters, in many cases, almost demand secrecy on the part of the recipient, telling them to "go to a secret and private place to open this letter, and don¹t tell anyone about it", or the "blessings will be withheld". "Place this special red and gold fleece in your wallet, and sleep on the wallet for 7 days, and God will break the curse that has been placed upon you and reward you mightily. BUT-we need you to send the fleece and your largest seed faith offering back to us within 24 hours, or the curse will continue".

Another letter stresses that the two "magically blessed pennies" inside are to be put in the heel of your shoes, and then to walk around your home 7 times, while uttering "prophetically sealed words" that will "break the curse", "open the Bank of God revealing a check signed by the Bank President, God". The two pennies, having been "activated by your act of faith", are then to be returned along with a "seal of faith activator of your biggest sacrificial offering, even if you have to borrow the money".

A third letter includes a special "#7 Faith Seed Package", which is to be placed in a billfold or wallet ALONG with the "seed you are going to sow into God¹s work". "Sleep on it tonite, then return it. " "Your faith may lead you to give a DOUBLE PORTION offering."

The letters all contain a common theme: send money, and you will receive money. With a plethora of scriptures to "prove" the validity of the principle or concept or "seed faith", the letters exhort the reader to give, give, give, give, and then give some more, ostensibly for the purpose of helping the "ministry" to spread the Gospel. Many of the letters even contain admonitions to "borrow" money if necessary to be able to send it in. Targeted towards demographic areas that are rural and the less affluent urban neighborhoods, the letters appeal to those who definitely have a need, usually in the financial area.

It must be noted here that there is a multitude of sin involved on the part of some of the respondents to these letters, as well as on the part of St. Matthews. For those who receive the letters, and respond, it is apparent that there is a lack of knowledge of the Word of God on their part, and a tendency to follow superstitious thinking, both of which are proscribed by the Word. In conjunction with that, there is (in some instances) a certain amount of greed from those who want to "strike it rich." Indeed, the Word of God says "my people are destroyed for LACK OF KNOWLEDGE." (Hos. 4:6).

On the part of St. Matthew's, though, I can find only one motivating factor..the apparent desire to line their pockets with the fruits of someone else's labor. Scripture tells us "the vile person will speak villainy, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right." (Isa. 32:6-7, KJV). Ezekiel was told by God to prophesy against the false prophets who spoke lying words to His people for the purpose of gaining wealth, by saying "likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against those who prophesy out of their own heart, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Woe to those that sew pillows to all elbows, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of my people, and will you save the souls alive that come unto you? And will you pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?" (Eze. 13:17-19, NKJV).

Judging by the numbers of letters being mailed by St. Matthews and associated companies (1 million plus letters per month), it is apparent that there are multitudes of people who respond to these mailings, hoping. It is questionable as to how many actually receive anything at all in response. According to several respondents who had been receiving mailings, they have given for periods of many months, and had not received any "windfall" or "blessing" at all, although they did notice an increase in the frequency of the letters they received. Occasionally, a letter will contain a "testimonial" from someone (initials only, no city or state) claiming immediate monetary gifts or income increases.

Over the past few years, several giant corporations have gone belly-up because of the book-cooking schemes of their management. In the process, they have cost the "little" guy on the street untold billions of dollars in lost savings, deflated stocks and ruined retirement plans. In each instance, the Federal government has initiated investigations into the companies and their officers, and indictments have been issued in many cases for criminal wrong-doing.

In the case of St. Matthews, though, the government can do nothing. Hiding behind the protection of a 501(c)3 status, the companies are legally recognized as tax-exempt churches. They do not have to file tax returns, or make their records public, and any hint that a government agency might investigate them immediately results in cries of religious persecution, or religious privilege, whichever seems most appropriate at the time.

At the helm of the St. Matthews groups is a man named James E. Ewing. Born in 1933, Ewing began his career by starting Camp Meetings Revivals out of Dallas, Texas in 1958. By 1968, Ewing's outfit had reportedly topped $2 million in offerings, and was giving advice on letter campaigns to Oral Roberts. In 1972, Ewing renamed his organization "Church of Compassion". In 1974 he moved the church to Los Angeles. An article in the Los Angeles Times described the Church of Compassion as a "mail-order church with a half-million members".

For several years, St. Matthews (under many different names) was denied IRS tax-exempt status, with the commisioner of the IRS noting that "Ewing and McElrath (one of the incorporators) sit at the top of a very lucrative set of organizations which they totally control without interference." The IRS filed several tax liens against Ewing and St. Matthews, which have since been paid, according to the companies attorney. In 2000, St. Matthews finally won a suit against the IRS, and was awarded tax-exempt status. Since then, there have been no financial records available for examination. Attorney J. C. Joyce says that the St. Matthews Churches has services in a Presbyterian church that it leases in New York City, even though it shows an address in Tulsa. Rev. Leslie Merlin, pastor of the Presbyterian Church in New York (1998), said she has never heard of Ewing.

A memo (Oct., 1993) from McElrath to attorney J. C. Joyce (Joyce & Pollard, Tulsa, OK) states that the Church and Bible Study group has developed a computer program capable of targeting "good growth addresses", and forecasting a return of $600,000 per month on the mailings. According to the memo, McElrath claims that "we are actually picking those geographic areas that we know respond the best to our growth letters. The size of each area is about two to four city blocks....thank God there are tens of thousands of them across the nation."

  Shown here is a graph giving the increases in revenues by the Ewing groups as reflected in IRS filings. No reports are available for the years after 1999, since St. Matthews was awarded a tax-exempt status by Federal Appeals Court. The National Better Business Bureau reports that St. Matthews has refused to provide current information about its finances, programs, or governance, noting that they had received numerous public inquiries from individuals receiving direct mail letters. The CBBB report states in part:

"[37] has been evaluated in relation to the 20 Better Business Bureau Standards for Charitable Solicitations. [37] did not meet the following BBB Standards.

Standard 16- Have an annual report available to all, on request, that includes:
(A) the organization's mission statement, (B) a summary of the past year's program service accomplishments, (C) a roster of the officers and member of the board of directors, (D) financial information that includes (i) total income in the past fiscal year, (ii) expenses in the same program, fund-raising and administrative categories as in the financial statements, and (iii) ending net assets.

[37] did not provide an annual report." (Source-CBBB online report, May, 2003).

Ole Anthony of the Trinity Foundation (a ministry watchdog alliance) says of Ewing¹s group that "he capitalizes on the isolation of the loneliest and poorest members of our society, promising them magical answers to their fears and needs if only they will demonstrate their faith by sending him money." "He is, quite literally, the father of the modern-day 'seed-faith' concept that fuels the multi-billion-dollar Christian industry known as the 'health-and-wealth' gospel." Anthony says "the only ones becoming rich are the men like Ewing."

At one point in time, as many as nine different televangelists were sending out virtually identical letters in direct-mail campaigns, including Oral Roberts, Robert Tilton, Rex Humbard, Marilyn Hickey and "Rev. Ike". The letters were almost exactly the same as those previously developed by St. Matthews/Ewing.

In one of the letters, as we noted, there was a "fleece", that was supposed to be placed in a wallet, and slept on. I placed the red velvet/gold foiled piece in my wallet, placed it under a pillow, then put my head on the pillow. It took only seconds to leave a perfect impression on the "fleece" of a credit card from my billfold. Now, 3 weeks later, the impression is still there, and it is easy to see the numbers and expiration date given on the card. It does make me wonder how many people may have followed this procedure, then sent the fleece back in along with a money offering, and never noticed that there was an impression on the fleece. It also makes me wonder if each fleece returned is examined carefully for just such impressions.

Does St. Matthews actually pray for anyone who sends in money? They claim that they do. Attorney Joyce says that after the letters are opened and the funds deposited, the prayer requests are sent to the California offices of St. Matthews, where they are "prayed over five times a day, every day." One does have to wonder why, if the letters are sent to Tulsa, they have to be transferred to California for prayer. It also would appear that the cost involved in such a transfer would indicate "poor stewardship" of the money being sent.

While St. Matthews allegedly is also a publishing company, and many of their appeals have revolved around soliciting funds for the purpose of "furthering the Gospel message", I could find no tracts, bibles, books or Gospel material published by St. Matthews other than the letters themselves.

There are several things to note here. First, there is no scriptural reference for the practice of placing things in shoes and walking around while repeating endlessly certain words. Scripture does tell us not to make a practice of "repetitious" prayer, as do the pagans and heathen priests. These things smack of witchcraft and paganism, not forthright supplication and prayer. Secondly, I can not find anywhere in scripture where we are admonished to "borrow" for the purpose of paying a tithe, or making an offering. We are to make offerings of our increase, and borrowing money is not considered a part of the increase.

In Malachi 3:10 (KJV) we see: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Why is it that we see so many local ministries and churches (the REAL storehouse) that are barely scraping by because so many who call themselves Christian give a pittance (if at all) to them, while sending so much to ministries and groups that are far away, and have no accountability? Why is it that ministries and churches that preach the ENTIRE Word of God in truth suffer, while those who call themselves prophets and ministers and lie awake at night seeking ways to "fleece" the flock reap great benefits, and heap only to themselves.