Saturday 15 December 2018

South Carolina megachurch pastor gives his wife a $200,000 Lamborghini as an anniversary present

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Matthew 6:1-4

The prosperity gospel seems to work for prosperity preachers, which no doubt enables them to do their alms "in the streets;" I believe the scholarly term is "doing well by doing good." As reported by Charles Duncan of the Charlotte Observer, December 12, 2018 (links in original):

A megachurch pastor from Greenville, South Carolina is catching heat for buying his wife a $200,000 Lamborghini as an anniversary present last week. John Gray, of Relentless Church, is the same pastor who drew praise from around the world for giving tithes directly from the collection plate to veterans, single parents and widows.

A video posted on Instagram, which has since been deleted, shows Gray dressed in black tie leading his wife through a crowd and surprising her with the car.

The gift drew criticism on Instagram, the Christian Post website reports, noting that some people “were angry that a preacher would indulge in such display of opulence.”

Defending the gift from her husband, Aventer Gray posted to her own Instagram account: “My hubby is a hard worker, he worked his whole life and he saved to bless his wife.”

She pointed to his income outside of the megachurch, including producing movies and writing songs.

Her husband, she writes, “Gives away cars, full houses of furniture, coats off his back.”

“I don’t see anyone screaming about how basketball players drive what they do while you paying $$$ to see them play in arenas and on fields,” she wrote on Instagram.

MY HUBBY IS A HARD-WORKER, HE WORKED HIS WHOLE LIFE AND HE SAVED TO BLESS HIS WIFE!!! REALJOHNGRAY AUTHOR X 2 SILENT ENDORSEMENTS (YOU KNOW BECAUSE EVERYONE DOESN’T HAVE TO BRAG ABOUT WHO THEY ARE SIGNED TO) 6 TV SHOWS MOVIE PRODUCER SONG WRITER TOURS Gives away cars, full houses of furniture, coats off his back... Checks before pastoring and tithes that in its entirety between 2 churches AND those he feels lead to at any given moment... BEEN WORKING FOR YEARS...GET OUTTA HERE WILLSTAY OFF MY HUSBAND... I don’t see anyone screaming about how basketball players drive what they do while you paying $$ to see them play in arenas and on fields... We don’t live for people! We live for God! Back to my regularly scheduled grocery store trip!!! Happy Sunday!

A post shared by grayceeme (@grayceeme) on DEC 9, 2018 AT 4:10PM PST

Gray was praised just two weeks ago for a video that went viral of him giving money to needy members of his congregation. “The role of the church is also to meet the needs of people in the house,” Gray said in the video.

“Any single mothers in here?” he asked. “Any widows? Are there any single fathers, any veterans that don’t have what they need to make ends meet? Come to the altar. There’s some money in these baskets.”
Just one question, Chief: If there's nothing wrong with Pastor Gray giving his wife an expensive car for an anniversary present, why was the video of the event deleted?

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