Secular and religious commentators offer contradictory theories about coronavirus

I wasn't going to post anything about coronavirus, but I've seen a few items that are too good to pass on. Whenever a plague makes the news, it's only a matter of time before conspiracy theories spring up, and the current coronavirus outbreak is no exception. The explanations, unsurprisingly, are in line with the biases of those offering them.

Cliff Kincaid, a conservative Roman Catholic columnist with News with Views, believes that the coronavirus outbreak is a Chinese government plot against U.S. President Donald Trump:

Chinese Reds Set a Trap for Trump

February 29th, 2020

President Trump is in a difficult situation. If he were to disclose circumstantial evidence that the coronavirus virus is a Chinese bioweapon, there would be calls for retaliation against the Communist regime. Such a declaration could lead to more fear, the threat of war, and perhaps a global economic collapse. As it is, the virus is causing a market meltdown. He does not want to contribute to a panic and further collapse.

Politically, his reelection hangs in the balance...

Trump Has Been Sabotaged by the Medical Deep State

March 9th, 2020

The Chinese virus has been treated as just a natural occurrence or unfortunate incident that necessitates that we have to cede more power over our lives to what critics have long called the Medical Deep State. Under pressure from a foreign threat, President Trump has relied on these health care “professionals.” But the result has been stories from the Washington Post about “How the Trump administration lost control of the coronavirus crisis” and the New York Times about how “The Coronavirus Is Coming for Trump’s Presidency.” This is the new narrative designed to bring down Trump.

The President has another option: put the military in charge of the coronavirus response and move quickly to a war footing with Communist China, the source of the outbreak...

Meanwhile, Iranian authorities are claiming that the coronavirus outbreak is a plot by Mr. Trump against Iran, as reported by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz of Breaking Israel News, March 8, 2020 (links in original):

Fatemah Rahbar, a member of Iran’s parliament representing the capital city of Tehran, died on Saturday from Covid-19. Rahbar, age 55, was the second member of parliament and the seventh Iranian leader to die from the coronavirus.

The Iranian leadership has been hard-hit by the coronavirus. Rahbar, age 55, was the second member of parliament and the seventh Iranian leader to die from the coronavirus.At least 23 members of Iran’s 290-member “Majlis” or parliament have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to Iran’s Deputy Parliament Speaker Abdul Reza Misri. This includes the deputy health minister and one of the vice presidents. This figure represents about 8% of Iran’s government. One week after elections for the parliament, the government suspended open parliamentary sessions indefinitely.

On Saturday, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour announced on a televised news conference that there had been 21 new deaths and 1,076 new cases of coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 145 dead and 5,823 infected in Iran. He emphasized that 1,669 of the confirmed cases recovered from the illness.

“More than 16,000 people are currently hospitalized as suspect cases,” Jahanpour said during a televised news conference.

The government has taken serious measures to combat the spread of the pandemic. Iran temporarily released 54,000 prisoners from overcrowded jails. Mohammad Ja’far Montazeri, Iran’s prosecutor general, said on Sunday that hoarding or disrupting the supply of healthcare items could entail punishments as severe as the death penalty. Hassan Norouzi, the spokesman for the parliament’s legal and judicial committee, told the Tehran Times that the government had instituted a 3-year jail sentence for those who spread fake news or rumors about coronavirus in the country.

China, the epicenter of the outbreak, has so far reported 80,651 cases, of which 3,070 were fatal.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed U.S. economic sanctions for the toll the pandemic is taking on his country. President Trump “is maliciously tightening US’ illegal sanctions with the aim of draining Iran’s resources needed in the fight against #COVID-19 — while our citizens are dying from it” Zarif tweeted on Saturday.

The Iranian Student’s News Agency (ISNA) reported that Gen. Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said that the coronavirus may be the product of an “American biological invasion.”

“Today the country is engaged in a biological battle,” Salami said. “[The coronavirus] is American biological invasion that first spread to China and then to Iran and other parts of the world, and the United States knows that it did that.”

“America should know that this virus will return to it if it was behind it,” said Salami.

Iranian civil defense chief Gholam Reza Jalali echoed this accusation. Without naming the United States as the culprit, Reza said, that a “biological attack has been launched against China and Iran with economic goals.”

Religious commentators are also offering contradictory explanations of the reason for the plague. An Israeli Rabbi blames sodomite pride parades, as reported by Mr. Berkowitz in Breaking Israel News, March 9, 2020:

At a speech at his yeshiva (Torah learning institution) on Saturday night, Rabbi Meir Mazuz, a leading Sephardic Haredi rabbi in Israel, blamed the spread of the coronavirus to Israel on the gay “pride” parades in Israel.

“This pride parade is a parade against nature, and anyone who does something against nature, the one who created nature takes revenge on him. When you do things against nature, you place your hand in fire and pray that the fire doesn’t burn you, it burns you! Here they are doing [something] against nature in impertinence, the pride parade, what are you proud of?” Mazuz was quoted as saying by Israel HaYom.

Israel has reported 39 cases of the novel coronavirus in the country as of Monday morning.

The rabbi also claimed that the Arab countries have not been hit by the coronavirus because they are strictly against homosexuality.

He addressed the outbreak of the virus in Iran, the hardest-hit country outside of China. Though not an Arab country, Iran is strictly Shia Muslim and criminalizes homosexual activity. In his speech, Rabbi Mazuz blamed Iran’s outbreak on their “hatred of Israel.”

Rabbi Mazuz has blamed other tragedies on Israel’s acceptance of homosexuality. In November 2015 he claimed gay pride parades and other forms of “sinful behavior” were the reason terrorists murdered Eitam and Naama Henkin the previous month.

It should also be noted that the rabbi inaccurately predicted last month that the coronavirus would infect every country in the world but would not arrive in Israel.

In his recent speech, Rabbi Mazuz suggested that the holiday of Purim contained a cure for the coronavirus.

“If you pray for rain, the harsh judgment of the corona will also be cancelled. It is recommended that on the eve of Purim you also read the sections of the Torah describing the Temple service of the incense while praying for the plague to be dispersed.”

Laura Densmore of Hebraic Heritage Ministries and Bridge Connector Ministries, however, blames the outbreak on President Trump's Middle East peace plan, which proposes to divide Israel. As she states in Breaking Israel News, March 9, 2020 (bold, links in original):

I open this article with a question and then I want to examine the facts on the ground with you. Then you can come to your own conclusions.

The question I pose is this: Are we experiencing consequences from the God of Israel (the Corona pestilence and the Nashville tornado) due to America’s push for the “Deal of the Century” proposal to divide the land of Israel?

Now let’s look at the evidence and the facts on the ground together.

Here is a general principle in the bible. The God of Israel would often bring judgment upon the children of Israel through natural disasters, plagues, wars, and famines. These events don’t happen “serendipity” by chance or coincidence. Instead, these events are often associated to sin. There is sin in the camp and so the God of Israel gives “push back” in the form of a judgment. There are consequences to the sin. There is a “measure for measure” dynamic going on here. In other words, when the people “sew” sin, they reap judgment from God.

Bill Koenig of Watch.org has done a masterful job of tracking these consequences for attempting to divide the land of Israel in his book, Eye to Eye: Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel.

Keep this in mind: the purpose of the judgment from God is that He wants to see His people repent, turn away from their sin and return to HIM and to His word.

Now, let me be clear. I am a strong Trump supporter. He has done a lot of good for our nation in rebooting our economy, in bringing jobs back to America and getting America back to work. He has done a lot of good in recalibrating our international trade deals in America’s favor. He has done a lot of good for Israel in moving the US embassy back to Jerusalem and in declaring that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the state of Israel. I strongly support Trump and I am one of his biggest fans!

But in this one area, the “Deal of the Century”, I believe our President and Jared Kushner have missed the mark. They are looking at the problem from a pragmatic, reason and logic based perspective. But they have missed the spiritual perspective.

The Trump team took time to ask for everyone’s input on the peace plan: the Saudis, the Jordanians, the Palestinians, the Israelis, the Egyptians, the EU and the US. But they forgot to consult with the God of Israel to see what HE says about dividing the land of Israel:

For behold, in those days and at that time,
When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,
I will also gather all nations,
And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
And I will enter into judgment with them there
On account of My people, My heritage Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
They have also divided up My land. Joel 3:1-2

The covenant that the God of Israel made with Abraham and his descendants to give them the land of Israel is eternal and everlasting. To go against that covenant is sure to bring down judgment upon any nation that “wields the knife” to cut/divide Israel.
Sadly, I believe that is what we are now seeing with the spread of the Corona virus.

I believe that the Corona virus is something that God has allowed as a judgment.
It came upon us in a BIG WAY just days after the Trump Peace plan (to divide the land of Israel) was announced.

Trump’s Peace plan to divide the land of Israel to make a Palestinian state was unveiled on 1.28.20:

Revealed: Trump’s “Deal of the Century” map for a future Palestine, Israel

Within three days, on Feb 2, 2020, Trump had to shut USA borders to travelers from China due to Corona virus:

Trump: US has shut down Corona virus from coming in from China

DO YOU NEED MORE EVIDENCE THAT THE GOD OF ISRAEL IS BRINGING DOWN JUDGMENT UPON THE USA FOR THE “DEAL OF THE CENTURY” PEACE PLAN?

Let’s connect two more data points of cause and effect that appear to be strongly connected to each other (kudos to Sara Ballenger for pointing this one out to me). On March 3, 2020, we read this headline:

At AIPAC, Trump’s Israel envoy Friedman pushes the peace plan.

And I quote from the article:

“US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman gave a scathing and highly partisan speech at the AIPAC Policy Conference on Monday night, castigating the American left for opposing US President Donald Trump’s Israel policies and Mideast peace plan.”

How did the God of Israel feel about this “push” for the “Deal of the Century” plan to divide HIS land? While David Friedman was promoting the Deal of the Century plan at AIPAC, here is what happened in Nashville TN on the SAME DAY, March 3, 2020:

Nashville tornado damage includes destroyed airport, collapsed homes as death toll climbs.

I don’t think the God of Israel was very happy to hear more news about the dividing of His land!

However there is GOOD NEWS! Intercession and prayer can change the course of a judgment from the God of Israel!

Here are some scriptures on pestilence and how intercession and action can change the course of pestilence:

In Exodus 32: 31-35, we see a plague came upon the children of people after the sin of the golden calf. After swift action is taken by the Levites to deal with the sin in the camp, the plague/pestilence stops.

In Numbers 14:11-20 , the children of Israel hear a the negative report coming from the 10 spies about the Promised land. They lifted up their voices against God and Moses, and walking in fear, doubt and unbelief. God threatens to send a pestilence, but Moses intercedes on their behalf. God does not wipe them out, but instead, they wander in the wilderness for 40 years.

In 2 Samuel 24: 12-16, David recognizes he has sinned greatly in numbering all the people and asks for God’s mercy. God’s response is that he gives David a choice:
David can have 7 years of famine, 3 months of enemy attacks , or 3 days of pestilence. David chose 3 days of pestilence. In the end, God had mercy and ended the plague.

In Numbers 25:1-9, we see a pestilence/plague that was rapidly spreading throughout the camp in the wilderness. The children of Israel had sinned by joining themselves to Baal, which was spiritual adultery and treachery to the God of Israel. To Israel’s shame and disgrace, an Israelite man was having sexual relations with Cozbi, a Midianite woman. The plague was rapidly spreading through the camp, claiming 25,000 lives. Phinehas speared them through… and immediately the pestilence stopped.

A CALL TO ACTION

This is a call to action for President Trump and Jared Kushner. It is time that they “walk back” on the “Deal of the Century” and retract it.

This is also a call to action to the people of God to pray and intercede, to seek the God of Israel and to ask for his mercy, asking that HE stop this pestilence, this cursed Corona virus.

As the people of the God of Israel, we need to plead and stand in the gap and ask for God’s FORGIVENESS for the release of the Trump peace plan to divide Israel and ask for His MERCY upon the USA, upon Israel and the upon all the nations of the world.

We can also pray into this as a prayer of protection:

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
Psalm 91:1-7

And, to be prudent and practical we can also stay at home if sick, wash our hands frequently with soap and water, follow the guidelines of our local officials for preventing community spread.

In contrast to the view expressed by Ms. Densmore, a charismaniac "prophet" claims that the U.S.A. will be protected from coronavirus because of President Trump's pro-life stand. As reported by Christina Zhao of Newsweek, February 16, 2020 (links in original):

Conservative pastor Hank Kunneman recently claimed that God will save Americans from the new coronavirus because President Donald Trump's administration has "aligned themselves" with the right side of life.

Speaking to the Lord of Hosts church during a service in Omaha, Nebraska last Sunday, Kunneman prophesied that citizens in the U.S. will not have to fear the coronavirus because God will "give mercy."

"Listen to the words that I speak to you at this moment, says the living God. Why do you fear, United States? For I have spoken to you before and I will speak to you again, I have extended and opened a window of mercy to this nation at this time. Therefore, the virus that they speak of, the bright prognostication, the diagnosis, the fear, my mercy is the quarantine that shall be greater than what they have spoken to you, United States," the pastor said, before crediting the Trump administration for God's "mercy."

"And because of the administration that stands in this land, who honor me, who honour the covenants of your forefathers and of the Constitution. And because they have aligned themselves with Israel and because they have sided on the right side of life—life in the womb, life given outside of the womb—there I give life to this nation and I give mercy," Kunneman added. "Do not fear. This virus is the spirit of God."

Newsweek reached out to Kunneman via phone for further comment, but was unable to speak to the pastor before publication.

Chinese officials on Saturday confirmed 2,641 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of diagnosed to roughly 66,000 across the mainland, with the death toll at 1,523.

There have been 15 cases of coronavirus in the United States. One American citizen has died from the virus in China...

As is so often the case, the report is erroneous, or at least, imprecise, in describing the pastor as "conservative." A quick glance at the website of Lord of Hosts Church shows that Lord of Hosts is in fact a charismaniac church that's part of the New Apostolic Reformation, with the "conservative" pastor's wife listed with him as senior pastor, and the church promoting "prophetic words" and the prosperity gospel, with "apostle" Mike Keyes speaking in both services on March 15, 2020.

Quoth the "prophet":

Here's the "powerful word about what God is saying regarding the Coronavirus! This prophecy was declared on February 9, 2020.



It comes as no surprise to this blogger to see that veteran fraud and con man Jim Bakker isn't about to let the opportunity to cash in on the outbreak to pass him by; as reported by Hunter Moyler of Newsweek, February 12, 2020 (updated February 13, 2020) (links in original):

A guest on televangelist Jim Bakker's show suggested on Wednesday that a product sold on Bakker's website might be effective at protecting against and killing the novel coronavirus.

The guest, naturopathic Dr. Sherrill Sellman, said that Silver Solution—a product that can be purchased on Bakker's web store—has been found to be effective on viruses related to the one from Wuhan. Further, she said Silver Solution could bolster a person's immune system and potentially make their bodies less susceptible to the virus.

"Well, let's say [Silver Solution] hasn't been tested on this strain of the coronavirus, but it's been tested on other strains of the coronavirus and has been able to eliminate it within 12 hours," she said. "Totally eliminate it. Kills it, deactivates it. And then it boosts your immune system so then you can support the recovery, because when you kill the virus, then the immune system comes into action to clear it out. So you want a vibrant immune system as well as an ability to deactivate these viruses."

Newsweek contacted Sellman via her website for further comment and clarification but did not receive a reply before publication.

The novel coronavirus emerged from the Chinese city in late 2019. The virus has since spread to 24 other countries, including the United States, though the majority of those infected remain in China. As of Wednesday, the virus has infected over 45,000 people and killed at least 1,100, according to the World Health Organization.

According to its page on Bakker's website, Silver Solution is a product that "works faster, longer and more efficiently than other silvers to support your immune system." Information on the website does not state how the product is to be used. It currently sells on Bakker's website in a variety of packages with a 16-ounce bottle costing 40, but shoppers can purchase bundles of the product that cost up to $300. The label states that the solution contains deionized water, but no other ingredients.

However, similarly marketed products also include colloidal silver which according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) provides no known health benefits. Ingesting it can cause side effects including argyria, or discoloration of the skin or other tissue, and poor absorption of other medications by the body.

Newsweek could not verify the claim that Silver Solution supports the immune system or kills the coronavirus, nor confirm that colloidal silver is used in Bakker's solution.

Further, Silver Solution's page on Bakker's site contains a link to a warning specifically for residents of California. Under a California law, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (also known as Proposition 65), the store is required to warn that Silver Solution "contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm."

Sellman is a naturopathic doctor—a designation distinct from a mainstream medical doctor. Naturopathy, according to information from the alternative medicine university Bastyr University, is a "system of primary health care that emphasizes prevention and the self-healing process through the use of natural therapies."

Naturopathy's legitimacy is contested. Some professionals consider it to be based in pseudoscience, but 22 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. offer licenses to naturopathic doctors, according to the Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC).

However, Dr. JoAnn Yanez, the executive director of the Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges, clarified to Newsweek that Sellman has not met the educational standards that the organization requires.

Sellman "is neither a graduate of an accredited naturopathic medical program, nor has [she] obtained a doctoral level degree from a program recognized by the US Department of Education," Yanez wrote in a statement to Newsweek. "[Her] online profile mentions graduating from the Trinity School of Natural Healing (AKA Health), which is not accredited and confers 'degrees' not recognized by any governmental institution. 'Graduates' of these programs are not considered licenseable [sic] medical practitioners."

Yanez further requested that Newsweek reiterate that Sellman is not a graduate of any institution accredited by AANMC.

The Twitter account of Right Wing Watch shared a clip of the show on its Twitter account Wednesday afternoon. The full episode of The Jim Bakker Show, "A Close Look At What's Not Being Said About The Coronavirus (Day 1)" can be viewed on the program's website.

Bakker is an evangelist who has made headlines in the past for his involvement in a scandal in which he paid a church secretary "hush money" to keep quiet about a sexual encounter. He is also noted for his ardent support for President Donald Trump. He has repeatedly defended the president against criticism, and, as The Hill reported, stated in 2017 that there would be a second American Civil War if Trump were to be impeached.

The various views of the coronavirus outbreak expressed above can't possibly all be right, but they might all be wrong. A major weakness of the explanations offered above is that they're geocentric, as if the epidemic were affecting just a particular people or area, when in fact it's spreading throughout the world. I don't believe that the pandemic is itself an emergency, but I do believe that there are those who have been waiting for such a situation in order to use it as an opportunity to advance an evil agenda; George Soros and his puppet Justin Traitor Trudeau come to mind. One thing that is definitely right is the following prophecy from the Lord Jesus Christ concerning the end times just before His return to Earth:

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. Matthew 24:7

This blogger recommends sticking to the Bible as the only authority for faith and practice, rather than extrabiblical revelations allegedly given to those masquerading as "prophets" and "apostles."

30 years ago: The death of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. Mark 13:22 (also Matthew 24:24)

On January 19, 1990, Indian "holy man" Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh died of heart failure at the age of 58. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, born Chandhra Mohan Jain, was a Hindu guru who became a philosophy professor and a popular lecturer in the 1950s and '60s. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh became known as the "sex guru" because of his liberal teachings on sex. He began initiating disciples in 1970, and created an ashram. The ashram began attracting Western followers, especially after 1975, when therapists promoting human potential, aka New Age teachings arrived. Violence and abundant sexual activity between members attracted critical attention from Indian authorities, and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and he relocated to Oregon in 1981, where American followers Sheela Silverman and her husband John Shelfer had purchased property.

The Rajneesh organization created the city of Rajneeshpuram, accumulating 93 Rolls Royces and encountering stiff opposition from local residents. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had taken a vow of silence in April 1981, but ended the public silence in October 1984, and almost a year later publicly denounced Ms. Silverman and her associates, accusing them of serious crimes, including a 1984 salmonella attack on local residents. Rajneeshpuram collapsed, and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was indicted in October 1985 for conspiracy to evade U.S. immigration laws; he ended up making a deal including a fine and an agreement not to return to the United States for five years. After various stops around the world, he landed in Mumbai in July 1986, returning to his ashram in Pune six months later. He suffered from declining health, which he blamed on poisoning in U.S. jails, and in 1989 took the name Osho Rajneesh.

It's interesting to note that a disproportionate number of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's followers had backgrounds in psychology. I was a student at Grant MacEwan Community College in Edmonton in the early 1980s, and the college had a psychology instructor under the surname of Narayan, who was a Rajneesh devotee. Mr. Narayan was a Jew whose original name I've forgotten, but he changed his name after falling under the spell of the Bhagwan.

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's organization continues to proclaim his false teachings, using the name OSHO. As for the current whereabouts of Rajneeshpuram's 93 Rolls Royces--we're not sure. False Christs such as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh come and go, but the Lord Jesus Christ lives, and will return to Earth (Acts 1:11).

"Jesus Shoes" cashes in on greed and superstition

More evidence that you can't be a satirist anymore, as reported by Alexandra Deabler of Fox News, October 9, 2019 (link in original):

That’s a holy lot of money.

A limited-edition sneaker, which is filled with holy water in the soles and blessed by a priest, sold out within minutes of its debut, despite each pair costing a whopping $3,000.

Brooklyn-based creative label MSCHF is responsible for releasing the shoe, which is a pair of all-white Nike Air Max 97s -- though the design is in no way affiliated with Nike -- that have been injected with holy water sourced from the Jordan River. The water, which is visible in the see-through sole, has some coloring added to enhance visibility, the shoe’s creator told Fox News.

The kicks, succinctly called “Jesus Shoes,” also feature the Bible verse Matthew 14:25 — the passage describing Jesus walking on water — and a single blood drop to represent the blood of Christ.

Among the other religious details are the frankincense-scented insoles, a crucifix threaded through the laces, and a red sole, which references the red shoes traditionally worn by past Popes.

The shoebox itself also displays an angel and a seal that resembles the official papal seal.

The shoes, which were bought at Nike retail value by MSCHF designers before being re-designed, were part of a desire for the MSCHF brand to poke fun at collaboration culture.

“We thought of that Arizona Iced Tea and Adidas collab, where they were selling shoes that [advertised] a beverage company that sells iced tea at bodegas,” head of commerce Daniel Greenberg tells the New York Post. “So we wanted to make a statement about how absurd collab culture has gotten.”

“We were wondering, what would a collab with Jesus Christ look like?” he added.

Less than two dozen of the Jesus Shoes were made with no plans to create more, according to MSCHF. Although, Gabriel Whaley, founder of the brand, hinted there may be a “second coming” in the future.

The MSCHF label releases new items every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month.

As reported by Lauren Steussy and Hannah Frishberg in the New York Post, October 8, 2019:

What would Jesus wear? The sickest sneakers ever dropped, most likely.

Nike shoes with actual holy water in the soles are going for as much as $3,000 a pop, and sold out in mere minutes when they dropped Tuesday morning. “Jesus Shoes” are made with 100% frankincense wool (get it?), while the laces are strewn with a crucifix.

The godly shoes were made by Brooklyn-based product design company MSCHF, which created about two dozen of the kicks as a way of trolling “collab culture,” its head of commerce Daniel Greenberg tells The Post.

“We thought of that Arizona Iced Tea and Adidas collab, where they were selling shoes that [advertised] a beverage company that sells iced tea at bodegas,” Greenberg says. “So we wanted to make a statement about how absurd collab culture has gotten.”

To do that, it started with “one of the most influential figures in history,” Jesus Christ.

“We were wondering, what would a collab with Jesus Christ look like?” Greenberg says. “As a Jew myself, the only thing I knew was that he walked on water.”

The holy water MSCHF injected into Air Max 97 bubble soles came from the Jordan River — “I have a friend in Israel,” Greenberg says — and was blessed by a priest.

Shoe drops like these, followed obsessively by rabid fans called “hypebeasts,” have become an economy unto themselves. Cash-strapped fashion fans are even turning to the underground streetwear market to make ends meet, reselling duds from the likes of Supreme and Kith.

To promote its shoes, MSCHF sent about six pairs to YouTubers and other big shots, such as rapper A$AP Rocky, prior to the drop. Then, by 11 a.m. Tuesday, it posted them on the retail site StockX.

The shoes were in no part affiliated with Nike — MSCHF bought the sneakers at retail value and hand-created the design. MSCHF anticipates making “biweekly drops at 11 a.m. on every second and fourth Tuesday of each month,” Greenberg says.

“But this one was the holiest of all the collabs,” he says.

Alex Malarkey, "The Boy Who Didn't Come Came Back from Heaven," is suing Tyndale House

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?
But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.
Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. I Corinthians 6:1-8

I hope this situation gets resolved before it gets to court. Neither side looks very good so far, and it's unlikely that it will end well. I wonder how long it will be before Heaven is for Real, the alleged visit to Heaven of Colton Burpo, is similarly revealed to be untrue, despite it being believed by some people who should know better. As reported by Kyle Swenson of The Washington Post, April 13, 2018 (links in original):

On Nov. 14, 2004, as 6-year-old Alex Malarkey drove home with his father Kevin in rural Ohio, a left turn nearly took his life. As Kevin turned the car it collided with another vehicle, and the boy’s skull became completely detached from his spinal cord.

But Alex did not die — and that’s the central fact behind a long-running controversy that has now led to a lawsuit.

Two months after the crash, Alex emerged from a coma as a quadriplegic. The injured boy also began telling family and friends about traveling to heaven and meeting Jesus and Satan.

In July 2010, Kevin and Alex Malarkey penned an account of the boy’s religious experience, “The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven.” The book was published by Tyndale House, a publisher of Christian books. It went on to reportedly move more than 1 million copies and spent months on the New York Times bestseller’s list. The book was part of a bumper crop of similarly geared narratives — tales of near-death experiences and brushes with the Almighty published by religious imprints.

Then it all fell apart. In January 2015, Alex, now paralyzed from the neck down, admitted he had fabricated the story.

“I did not die,” he wrote in a blog post. “I did not go to Heaven. I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention.”

The admission created a firestorm within the worlds of evangelical faith and Christian publishing. The controversy was revived this week when Alex — now 20 years old and living off Social Security — filed a lawsuit against Tyndale House in Illinois’s DuPage County, where the publisher is located. The complaint alleges Kevin Malarkey was the main actor behind the fabrication.

“Kevin Malarkey … concocted a story that, during the time Alex was in a coma, he had gone to Heaven, communicated with God the Father, Jesus, angels, and the devil, and then returned,” the complaint says. “Kevin Malarkey sold the concocted story, allegedly about Alex’s life and what Alex allegedly experienced, to one of the largest Christian publishers in the country.”

Alex has also not received any of the revenue related to his story, the lawsuit alleges.

When reached for comment, a Tyndale House representative told The Washington Post the publisher had just learned of the lawsuit on Tuesday and planned to release a response on Wednesday.

After the publication of “The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven,” behind the scenes of the tremendous success, Alex’s distaste for the project was building. According to a 2015 report by the Guardian, Alex’s mother Beth had begun posting on a personal blog (now taken down) about inaccuracies in the book since at least 2011. The paper also cited emails showing the family had also told the publisher.

“Alex’s name and identity are being used against his wishes. … How can this be going on???” Beth wrote in April 2014 blog, The Washington Post reported at the time. “Great question. … How did it get this far? … another great question.”

Following Alex’s blog post recanting his story, Tyndale House decided to “take the book and related ancillary products out of print,” a company spokesman told the Post.

“For the past couple of years we have known that Beth Malarkey, Kevin’s wife and Alex’s mother, was unhappy with the book and believed it contained inaccuracies,” another Tyndale representative told The Post. “On more than one occasion we asked for a meeting with Kevin, Beth, Alex and their agent to discuss and correct any inaccuracies, but Beth would not agree to such a meeting.”

According to his new lawsuit against the company, the legal action is a way of finally settling the matter.

“Now that he is an adult, Alex desires to have his name completely disassociated from the book and seeks a permanent injunction against Tyndale House requiring it to do everything within reason to disassociate his name from the book,” the complaint states. “Alex is not affiliated with the book. Alex is not connected to the book. Alex wants and has no association with the book.”

The lawsuit reaffirms that Alex’s holy sojourn was fantasy. “The portrayal of Alex’s near-death experience contained in the book is entirely false, because Alex remembers absolutely nothing from the time he was in a coma. The core of the story is entirely false.”

But the complaint also alleges Tyndale House has not cooperated with Alex as he tries to solve the complicated legacy behind the book. Only Kevin Malarkey signed a publishing agreement for the book. This January, Alex’s attorneys wrote to Tyndale House asking for an “accounting of all revenue earned from, all expenses associated with, and all disbursements made in association with the publication of and sale of the book.”

The publisher, however, only agreed to do so if Alex agreed the publishing agreement was “in effect and binding,” the lawsuit says.

“Alex has never been permitted to read the contract, nor to review any accountings provided under the contract, he refuses to acknowledge that the contract ‘is in effect and binding,’ now that he has reached the age of majority,” the suit states.

Alex is suing the publisher on the grounds of defamation, financial exploitation, and publicity placing a person in a false light, among others.

“Despite the fact that Tyndale House has made millions of dollars off Alex’s identity and an alleged autobiographical story of his life, Tyndale House paid Alex, a paralyzed young man, nothing,” the lawsuit states.

Bitcoin is not the wealth by which we should live

Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death. Proverbs 11:4

By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life. Proverbs 22:4

Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. Proverbs 23:5

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:19-21

This blogger has always been suspicious of the virtual currency bitcoin. I've never believed the hype about it having no central authority; it didn't invent itself, someone's pulling the strings, and I suspect that a few people at the top will end up making a lot of money at the expense of many people at the bottom. There have already been scandals (see, for example, here and here); crime (see here and here); and even a suspicious reported suicide. A leading bitcoin developer quit his association with the currency in January 2016, calling it a "failed experiment."

The following anecdotes illustrate the transitory nature of worldly wealth in general, and the impalpability of bitcoin in particular. As reported by Alexandra Posadzki in the Toronto newspaper The Globe and Mail, November 10, 2017:

All the while, the price of bitcoins has fluctuated wildly. In late 2013, it climbed more than 400 per cent, from around $180, to almost $1,000 in just over a month. Its recent upward streak has created surprise windfalls for a number of early adopters, including Nathan Wosnack.

In the spring of 2010, Mr. Wosnack was hanging out at his Vancouver office when a friend offered to trade him 10 bitcoins for half a case of Rickard's Honeybrown ale. Bitcoins were trading roughly on par with the U.S. dollar at the time, so Mr. Wosnack agreed. (By today's values, the bitcoins he received for that half-case are worth about $67,000 – surely the most lopsided trade yet.)

He forgot about the bitcoins until almost four years later when he was home sick with the flu and running low on cash. He ran the bitcoin wallet software on his old laptop. It took several hours for the code, which was out of date, to update. At 2 a.m., a pop-up window alerted him that the bitcoins were still there. They were trading at about $900 a pop...

...When Matt Lefebvre first started mining bitcoin in 2010, he had no clue what it was for. By the end of the year the Richmond Hill, Ont. resident had amassed roughly 13,000 bitcoins – the modern-day equivalent of more than $90-million – on a USB stick.

But the following year, Mr. Lefebvre made a disastrous mistake. He accidentally wrote over the data with Windows 8 – "arguably the worst possible operating system since Windows ME," he said.

It has taken him years to get over the loss, while the price of bitcoins has continued to climb.

"I tried literally everything to get the data back," says Mr. Lefebvre, who is now a professional YouTuber who creates videos about technology. He often daydreams about what he would have done with the money. Home ownership is at the top of his list.

"I had a winning lottery ticket, didn't know it was a winning lottery ticket and set it on fire," he said.

There is no recourse for people like Mr. Lefebvre who lose access to their coins, which will likely sit dormant in cyberspace forever. And unfortunately, tales like his are not uncommon. Perhaps the most famous of such stories is that of British resident James Howells, who in 2013 accidentally tossed away a hard drive containing roughly 8,000 bitcoins. Today his virtual fortune – currently worth more than $50-million – sits in a landfill the size of several football fields.

Mr. Howells has visited the landfill but was unable to get permission from the local council to search the site – despite offering them a 10-per-cent cut and having numerous financial backers willing to finance the venture. But the Newport resident has not given up. Bitcoin's rapidly accelerating price in recent months has buoyed his hopes.

"As the price continues to rise, I'm confident I will be given permission to search for the hard drive at some point in the future," he told The Globe and Mail via e-mail. "Even at current prices, the value of the drive is too high for the council to keep ignoring."

I wonder if the man who traded bitcoins for beer in the first anecdote is named Esau (see Genesis 25:29-34). Christian writer Dave Breese, who's now with the Lord, put the matter of wealth into proper perspective (all capitals in original):

What then is true value, the wealth by which we live? Think of this as if life itself depended upon it, because it does. True value, as all but fools must plainly see, is divine favor, THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

The grace of God is that ultimate value from which all other values are derived and without which the idea of possessions is pure fantasy and the hope of gain is a preposterous, dangerous delusion. The equation is simple: a person who does not know the grace of God is infinitely poor, and one who has come into the protection and provision of the grace of God is rich with a wealth beyond the collected possessions of the kings of the earth. Dave Breese, The Wealth by Which We Live, 1982, p. 20.

10 years ago: The death of Tammy Faye Bakker

So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. Proverbs 1:19

On July 20, 2007, Tammy Faye Messner, formerly Tammy Faye Bakker, died at the age of 65. Mrs. Messner, born Tamara LaValley, was the daughter of Pentecostal preachers, and was married to Jim Bakker from 1961-1992. The two founded the PTL Club (Praise the Lord) television program in 1974, and spent years preaching a false gospel of financial prosperity, using donations from viewers to finance their opulent lifestyle. The "ministry," which included the Heritage USA theme park, collapsed in sex and financial scandals in 1987, and Mr. Bakker went to prison for fraud. The couple divorced, and Mrs. Bakker married building contractor and family friend Roe Messner in 1993.

Mrs. Messner spent her final years promoting alternative medicine and becoming a sodomite icon, appearing in sodomy pride parades. She died after an 11-year battle with cancer, which I suspected may have been caused or exacerbated by chemicals from the outrageously large amounts of makeup she always covered herself with.

See my posts 25 years ago: The PTL scandal breaks, while Oral Roberts demands $8 million--or else! (March 17, 2012) and 25 years ago: PTL gives Jim Bakker the left foot of disfellowship (May 14, 2012).

50 years ago: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi underwhelms Edmonton on his first visit to the city

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Isaiah 8:20

As late as November 1966, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was still so obscure that he could attract only 125 to his first public appearance in Edmonton, and it was relegated to the bottom of page 43 of The Edmonton Journal. The article below doesn't specify, but I suspect that with a crowd that small, the meeting didn't even take place in the concert hall part of the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, but in the basement, in what is now the Kaasa Theatre. Earlier that day, the Maharishi addressed a closed meeting in the University of Alberta Faculty Lounge.

The Maharishi's movement had been incorporated in California in 1959 under the name Spiritual Regeneration Movement and had an explicitly religious emphasis, but by November 1966 the Maharishi had figured out how to combine eastern spirituality with western desires for physical health and material success, and the brand name Transcendental Meditation had probably been adopted by this time. For further reading, see my post 50 years ago: Then-obscure Maharishi Mahesh Yogi tours Canada (September 30, 2013).

As reported by Art Sorensen of The Edmonton Journal, November 11, 1966 (bold in original):

Yogi sells bliss at $50 a course

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Thursday night said he sells the secret to happiness for $50.

For that price a single adult can reach a state of bliss through a process of transcendental meditation, he said.

Preaching the doctrine that no man is born to suffer, Maharishi told a public meeting they would start feeling better as soon as they enrolled in his three-lesson course.

The native of India founded the International Meditation Society at Madras, India in 1957 and says he brought bliss to over 100,000 people since then.

But he wasn't about to drop any hints Thursday night in the Jubilee Auditorium.

Instead Roland Umiker of Calgary will return next Friday to pass on the message to those who can afford it.

Membership 300

Donn McRae of Calgary, provincial president of the society, said the group was organized in Alberta in 1964 and built up a membership of about 300 in the Stampede City.

"But only about 50 of these are considered active in the art now."

Maharishi explained that transcendental meditation takes a person to the source of thought itself--pure intelligence.

This is claimed to bring conscious awareness, more energy, more intelligence, more happiness and better health.

Sitting on crossed legs and playing with a flower, the bearded meditator hinted the process starts with a single thought--"implanted in the mind of the initiate by the teacher who is trained to give the word."

An Hour Daily

After the initiation two thirty-minute periods of meditation a day are required to keep happy.

President McRae said he follows this routine closely.

Although $50 per single adult is charged for the course, a man and wife can get the same instruction for the same price. A student is charged $15.

Many of the 125 plus crowd at the meeting left with the feeling they could perhaps find happiness other ways.

As one University student commented, "I'd have complete happiness if I had $50."

40 years ago: The death of Kathryn Kuhlman

And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: Luke 4:23a

On February 20, 1976, Miss Kuhlman, was one of the most famous "faith healers" of the 20th century, died at the age of 68. As is so often the case, Miss Kuhlman, who conducted crusades in a career that ran from the 1930s until her death, led an immoral life. She met a married revivalist named Burroughs Waltrip, who divorced his wife and married Miss Kuhlman in 1938. The marriage was reportedly a disaster from the start, and the two divorced in 1948 after several years of separation. Miss Kuhlman travelled through the United States before settling in Los Angeles in 1970, where she continued her healing crusades and was often regarded as a successor to Aimee Semple McPherson. Miss Kuhlman's television program I Believe in Miracles was widely syndicated throughut North America.

Miss Kuhlman was accused of financial impropriety in 1975 in a case that was settled out of court, and the healings claimed from her crusades were disputed by physicians such as William Nolen, and other critics. Miss Kuhlman suffered a minor heart problem in the summer of 1975, suffered a relapse in November, and died after open-heart surgery, apparently unable to heal herself.

Kathryn Kuhlman has left a dubious legacy, being a significant influence on later generations of faith healers, such as the notorious liar and false teacher Benny Hill Hinn. Those who are interested in further reading on Miss Kuhlman are invited to search various blogs and sites listed on this blog, such as Way of Life Literature.

Flashback--1978: Serbian Orthodox church in California gambles in Las Vegas--and loses

Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; Jeremiah 22:13a

This was my favourite news item of its year. I don't know if the church pursued litigation afterward, but they got what they deserved, and whether they learned a lesson seems debatable. As reported by Jim Nichols of the San Diego Evening Tribune, July 27, 1978 (bold and capitals in original):

CHURCH LOSES VEGAS GAMBLE

LAS VEGAS--Like many another visitor who's risked his chips in a Glitter City gambling game, a small San Diego-area religious congregation took a financial beating here last night.

Hoping to raise $250,000 to help build a church by sponsoring a high-stakes bingo evening in the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Serbian Orthodox Monastery of St. Petka instead lost nearly $40,000 on the deal.

Today church trustees were bandaging their financial wounds, considering a lawsuit, and wondering how four parishioners would repay the money they borrowed on their homes to provide $35,000 in prizes for the affair.

"We are all sick over it," said Danny Marshall of Escondido, a trustee of the San Marcos church, who was awake until 4 a.m. today looking over the figures and compiling the bad news.

The game went on as scheduled after a hectic day that featured a newspaper attack against it, a threat by the city to cancel it, and a last-minute court order that canceld the cancellation.

Despite it all, Marshall said proudly, "We paid our prizes. We stood there and took the beating like a gentleman, as we advertised."

"It was," he added, "a very expensive lesson."

First, Marshall said, a Las Vegas newspaper ran a front-page attack on the plans of the California congregation, noting that any money raised would be shipped out of state, lost to Las Vegas and its own worthy charities.

Then, he added, city officials announced that the complex rules for getting permits hadn't been followed to the letter. About noon, the church group was told the game was off.

Marshall found a local attorney and went to court. Two hours before the 8 p.m. start of the game, St. Petka's won a restraining order that allowed the affair to go on. The lawyer charged $3,000, Marshall said.

The game started on schedule, though the furor had left no time for rehearsal. Then, although organizers and publicists had prayed for 10,000 players, only about 500 showed up.

They spent about $13,000, Marshall said--considerably less than the $35,000 they won or the $16,000 St. Petka's had invested to arrange the game.

The unkindest cut of all, he said, was that none of the 80 or so Californians who had journeyed to Vegas to play in the bingo game was among the winners.

Marshall figures the newspaper story was partly responsible for the disappointing turnout. He said church trustees will discuss a suit against the paper, and maybe against the city as well.

Marshall is one of four parishioners who took out 90-day loans, using their own property as security, to put up the prize money. He says he doubts anyone will lose his home because of last night's disaster.

"It's a temporary economical setback for the next six months or so," he said, "but we'll just do the best we can to repair the damage."

St. Petka's owns nine acres in San Marcos. It opened a social hall with a temporary chapel in 1975, and hopes to build a church--estimated cost, $750,000 to $1 million--and eventually a home for the aged.

If last night's affair had succeeded, the trustees were considering a series of similar games, the next one probably in November.

Former Campus Crusade for Christ benefactor Nelson Bunker Hunt dies at 88

Nelson Bunker "Bunky" Hunt, who famously said, "A billion dollars isn't what it used to be," died on October 21, 2014 at the age of 88 (see The New York Times obituary here). The former billionaire was one of Campus Crusade for Christ's heftiest supporters, financial and otherwise; for more on his involvement with CCC's efforts to fulfill the Great Commission worldwide by 1980, see my previous post.

David Yonggi Cho, founder of the world's largest church, is convicted and sentenced for embezzlement

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. I Timothy 6:9-10

For more than 30 years I've been hearing David Yonggi Cho (formerly Paul Yonggi Cho) held up as an example of a Christian leader, the assumption apparently being that the bigness of a church is in direct proportion to God's blessing upon it. Whether or not the doctrines taught in such a big church are biblical doesn't seem to be important. Mr. Cho has a long history of teaching New Age doctrines, such as man creating his own reality through creative visualization. Dave Hunt and T.A. McMahon, in The Seduction of Christianity (1985), critique several examples of Mr. Cho's false teaching.

Mr. Cho's ability to visualize, or, in a word that he likes to use, "incubate," seems to be failing him lately. As reported by Yonhap News, February 20, 2014:

A Seoul court on Thursday sentenced a pastor of one of the world's largest Christian churches to three years in prison with a five-year stay of execution for embezzling large amounts of church funds.

Rev. Cho Yong-gi, the founder and pastor emeritus of Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, was found guilty of causing some 13 billion won (US$12 million) worth of losses to the church by instructing church officials to buy stocks privately owned by his eldest son, Cho Hee-jun, at prices four times higher than market value, in 2002.

The elder Cho was also convicted of dodging 3.5 billion won in taxes in the process.

The Seoul Central District Court also ordered the 78-year-old disgraced pastor to pay a fine of 5 billion won.

In the same ruling, the court handed down a prison term of three years to the junior Cho, the former CEO of the church-affiliated local daily Kookmin Ilbo, for colluding with his father in the embezzlement scheme.

An investigation into the Cho family was launched last year after a group of members belonging to the church filed a suit for breach of trust and tax evasion.

The church, which claims it has around 800,000 members, has often made headlines in the recent past over a series of internal feuds and various corruption allegations.

Mr. Cho addressed the church on the first Sunday following the verdict, as reported by the Gospel Herald, February 24, 2014:

Pastor David Yonggi Cho, founder of the world's largest Pentecostal congregation, gave his reflection during the first Sunday Service after a South Korean court found him guilty of breach of trust, corruption and tax evasion, and sentenced him to three years in prison with a five-year probation and 5 billion won (US$4.67 million) in fines.

The 78-year-old disgraced megachurch pastor said that it was the hardest day of his 50 years of ministry when he heard the verdict on Thursday.

"Through this suffering, I've learned a homework. An individual shouldn't possess anything," Cho told his congregation at Yoido Full Gospel Church on Feb. 23, 2014. "Besides health, status, fame, authority, money... these are all matters that are outside the body and unworthy of any pursuit..."

...Cho did not argue against the judgment, but, instead, examined himself from the perspective of faith.

"God forbid, if God calls me back today, I will still be able to go to the Kingdom of God," he said. Cho then asked that the congregation to pray for his successor pastor Young Hong Lee.

In his sermon, Lee apologized to the congregation for the negative impacts that Cho's case have brought upon them. He encouraged them to forget the past and press on towards the future, and to continue the spread of the Gospel to those who have yet to receive the great love of Christ.

Senior pastor Lee said that Yoido Full Gospel Church was purchased with a heavy price - the blood shed by Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore no power of darkness can divide the church. Lee encouraged the congregation to become one body in the Holy Spirit and to be more diligent in the Lord's Holy work.

As might be expected, Mr. Cho's conviction doesn't prevent his supporters from defending him, and blaming everybody but David Yonggi Cho for the scandal. As reported by Luke Leung of the Gospel Herald, February 26, 2014:

News of Pastor David Yonggi Cho's indictment has spread like wild fire among the global Christian communities, where followers of the disgraced South Korean megachurch pastor searched for an explanation on how did their spiritual leader became entangled in the crime of breach of trust and corruption, embezzling $12 million of church funds.

Dr. Bob Rodgers Sr., pastor of Evangel World Prayer Center in Louisville, Ky., is a close confident of Cho, and he and his father have served on his church growth board for a combined 38 years. With the hope of restoring the public's trust towards Cho, he published a letter disclosing details surrounding the case that were disclosed behind close-door meetings which have not yet been made public.

Cho's eldest son, Hee-Jun, was indicted for the same charge and sentenced to three years in prison. He was immediately taken into custody following the court order, because he was considered a flight risk, Rodgers wrote.

"Cho has three sons. The second and third are very productive and work in church-related ministries. His eldest son has been the prodigal. He has been married four times and has been involved in sexual scandals with national personalities," he said, noting that he has closely followed the trial in Seoul. "In addition, he has served prison time for investment scams and embezzlement. His scandalized life has been an embarrassment to his family and the church."

In 2002, while serving as chairman of a church-affiliated newspaper Kookmin Ilbo, Hee-Jun sold the church 250,000 shares of stock in 1-Service, a cleaning company, at four times more than the market price. He "purposely defrauded" the church of more than $12 million, according to Rodgers, president of Church Growth International of the Americas.

"[David Yonggi] Cho testified that he trusted his elders and son and didn't check and read the thousands of pages of paperwork, which was prepared for him to sign," he wrote. "Because Cho relied upon the direction of his choice elders and son, he signed the paper. He never received any monies from the transaction."

However, the prosecutors, representing a group of elders from Yoido Full Gospel Church, had identified Cho as an accomplice to his son's embezzlement scheme, claiming that he used the money to help his son recover losses made in stock investments, the hankyoreh reported. In addition, they claimed that Cho had allegedly directed the transaction to be dealt with as quietly as possible despite his full knowledge of the potential "uproar" from the elders and congregation.

In light of these reports, Rodgers provided the presiding judges' final ruling, "The court considered that even though Pastor Cho had the final say in the church, he never took the lead in any of the crimes, including tax evasion, committed on the suggestion of the accounting firm.

"The court also considered Cho's life journey as a religious leader and his long-term contribution to social welfare as mitigating circumstances on his behalf. The court ruled that his son, Cho Hee-Jun, was the instigator of the crime related to the purchase of the shares of 1-Service stock."

Cho, 78, founded Yoido Full Gospel Church in 1958 and it now claims more than 450,000 followers. His disciples have built their own "disciple churches" across the country, creating a congregation of roughly one million people, with Cho as the leader.

Rodgers shared in conclusion that Cho lives a simple life in a 1,000-square-foot- church apartment and does not own a car, and he has raised and given personally to the church more than $170 million.

Taiwanese Pastor Mao-Song Chang, who pastors Top Church in New Taipei, Taiwan, has close ties with Cho and his church, released a statement, providing further details of the court verdict. He said that one of Yoido's church elder[s] had visited him in January and explained in detail about the case to him. Then, Pastor Lee also visited him in mid-Feb.

"First, when the elders filed a lawsuit against Cho, accusing him of embezzling $20 million, Cho knelt before the congregation and apologized, admitting his mistake for not having a good family testimony, resulting in the harm to church," he wrote.

Second, Cho faced the court honestly, he wrote. "Some elders from the incident have either passed away or no longer work as elders; some said that they don't remember. However, around 1,000 other elders testified that 'Pastor Cho is innocent,' and they asked why the judge doesn't believe in the testimonies of 1,000, but of 30."

"Third, the presiding judge once told Cho, 'We know that this case is not your problem. You just need to blame it on your son, then you will have no responsibilities,'" Change wrote, adding that Cho refused, "My son can be unrighteous to me, but I cannot be unrighteous to my son."

"Fourth, Yoido Full Gospel Church's position is to continue their full support of Pastor Cho, advociating for his innocence!"

Chang urged all to maintain an objective perspective towards the case and not to judge Cho because of his son's crime...

Thai Buddhist monk faces sex and fraud charges

A luxurious lifestyle financed by his followers; claims of miraculous powers; allegations of sexual immorality--no, it's not an American charismaniac televangelist in the 1980s, but a Buddhist monk in Thailand in 2013, which shows that such characters can be found anywhere. As reported by Jocelyn Gecker of Associated Press, July 18, 2013:

BANGKOK - He's known as Thailand's jet-setting fugitive monk, and his story has riveted the country with daily headlines of lavish excess, promiscuity and alleged crimes ranging from statutory rape to manslaughter.

Until a month ago, 33-year old Wirapol Sukphol was relatively unknown in Thailand. Now he is at the centre of the biggest religious scandal the predominantly Buddhist country has seen in years.

Despite the vows he took to lead a life of celibacy and simplicity, Wirapol had a taste for luxury, police say. His excesses first came to light in June with a YouTube video that went viral. It showed the orange-robed monk in aviator sunglasses taking a private jet ride with a Louis Vuitton carry-on.

The video sparked criticism of his un-monkly behaviour and a stream of humorous headlines like, "Now boarding, Air Nirvana."

Since then, a long list of darker secrets has emerged — including his accumulated assets of an estimated 1 billion baht ($32 million). This week, authorities issued an arrest warrant for the disgraced monk after having him defrocked in absentia.

Wirapol was in France when the scandal surfaced after leading a meditation retreat at a monastery near Provence. He is believed to have then fled to the United States but his current whereabouts are unknown.

The arrest warrant implicates him on three charges including statutory rape, embezzlement and online fraud to seek donations. He is also under investigation for money laundering, drug trafficking and manslaughter for a hit-and-run accident. Authorities are struggling to figure out how he amassed so much money.

"Over the years there have been several cases of men who abused the robe, but never has a monk been implicated in so many crimes," said Pong-in Intarakhao, the case's chief investigator for the Department of Special Investigation, Thailand's equivalent of the FBI. "We have never seen a case this widespread, where a monk has caused so much damage to so many people and to Thai society."

Cases of monk misconduct in recent years have centred on alcohol use or cavorting with women or men, all forbidden activities. Last year, about 300 of Thailand's 61,416 full-time monks were reprimanded and in several cases disrobed for violating their vows, according to the Office of National Buddhism.

In Wirapol's case, investigators believe they have only scratched the surface.

Born in the poor northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani, he entered the monkhood as a teenager and gained local renown for claims of supernatural powers like the ability to fly, walk on water and talk to deities. He renamed himself, Luang Pu Nen Kham, taking on a self-bestowed title normally reserved for elder monks.

Gradually, he cultivated wealthy followers to help fund expensive projects in the name of Buddhism — building temples, hospitals and what was touted as the world's largest Emerald Buddha. The 11-meter (36-foot) high Buddha was built at his temple in the northeast, touted as solid jade but made of tinted concrete.

Thailand's Anti-Money Laundering Office has discovered 41 bank accounts linked to the ex-monk. Several of the accounts kept about 200 million baht ($6.4 million) in constant circulation, raising suspicion of money laundering.

Investigators also suspect that Wirapol killed a man in a hit-and-run accident while driving a Volvo late at night three years ago.

Critics say Wirapol is an extreme example of a wider crisis in Buddhism, which has become marginalized by a shortage of monks and an increasingly secular society. The meditative lifestyle of the monkhood offers little allure to young Buddhists raised on shopping malls, smartphones and the Internet.

But the case of Wirapol has also shown the benefits of social media, says Songkran Artchariyasarp, a lawyer and Buddhist activist.

"Buddhists all around the world can learn from this case," said Songkran, who heads a Facebook group that collects tips about wayward monks. Photos uploaded to his page helped launch the investigation into Wirapol.

"Let this be a case study that shows if a monk does something wrong, it's harder to get away with it — especially in the era of social media."

But it remains stunning how much Wirapol did get away with. During a shopping spree from 2009 to 2011, Wirapol bought 22 Mercedes worth 95 million baht ($3.1 million), according to the DSI. The fleet of luxury cars were among 70 vehicles he has purchased. Some he gave as gifts to senior monks, others he sold off as part of a suspected black market car business to launder his money, Pong-in said.

Luxury travel for the monk included helicopters and private jets for trips between the northeast and Bangkok.

"I always wondered what kind of monk has this much money," said one of his regular pilots, Piya Tregalnon. Each domestic roundtrip cost about 300,000 baht ($10,000) and the monk always paid in cash, he said in comments posted on Facebook.

"The most bizarre thing is what was in his bag," Piya said, referring to the typical monk's humble cloth shoulder sack. "It was filled with stacks of 100 dollar bills."

Like many people, Piya only went public with his suspicions after the scandal erupted. Dozens of pictures have been posted in online forums showing Wirapol's high-flying lifestyle — riding a camel at the pyramids in Egypt, sitting in a cockpit at the Cessna Aircraft factory in Kansas. According to the pilot and investigators, Wirapol was interested in buying his own private jet.

Even more incriminating were accusations of multiple sexual relationships with women — a cardinal sin for monks who are not allowed to touch women. Among them was a 14-year-old girl with whom he allegedly had a son, a decade ago. The mother filed a statutory rape case against him last week.

Police have yet to determine how many people he swindled, but the trail of disappointed followers is long.

One of them is a Bangkok housecleaner originally from Ubon Ratchathani who remembers first hearing him preach a year ago.

"His voice was beautiful, it was mesmerizing. He captivated all of us with his words," recalled Onsa Yubram, 42. When he ended his sermon and held out his saffron bag, hundreds of people rushed forward with donations. "His bag was so full of cash, they had to transfer the money into a big fertilizer sack. He told us, 'Don't worry, no need to rush. I'll stay here until the last of you gets to donate.'"

Onsa now feels betrayed but says her belief in Buddhism is too strong to let this scandal shatter her faith.

"As a Buddhist I can understand why this happened. Monks, in a way, are ordinary men who have greed and desire," she said. "Some are bad apples, but that doesn't mean every monk is bad."

One con man undermines an Edmonton church's prosperity gospel

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold. Proverbs 22:1

Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. Proverbs 23:5

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. I Timothy 6:9-10

Cal Switzer, goatherd pastor of Victory Christian Center in Edmonton for the last 30 years, is a typical graduate of the notorious Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, an institution founded by Word of Faith heretic Kenneth Hagin (which may explain why Pastor Cal spells "center" the American way). It seems that Pastor Cal's prosperity gospel message has run into a roadblock lately. As reported by Brent Wittmeier of the Edmonton Journal, July 22, 2012:

EDMONTON - Positive messages abound at the bright and clean Victory Christian Center.

On Sunday morning, the screen inside the spacious white sanctuary at 11520 Ellerslie Rd. lights up with the church’s vision, paraphrased from the Gospel of Mark: “Build a dream with love … produce a harvest beyond your wildest dreams.”

Following praise songs and announcements about backpack giveaways and a kids’ slide at Capital Ex, pastor Calvin Switzer paused during his sermon to discuss “some reports that came out this week” that there have been financial wrongdoings against the church. Lawyers are making “supernatural progress” in efforts to recover millions of dollars owed to the church, Switzer said, reading a lawyer’s statement deploring the “wrongful and unconscionable” actions of Kevyn Frederick, a developer who owes the church $2.8 million, court documents say. The allegations in those documents have not been proven in court.

Switzer deemed the problems a possible stepping stone for greater outreach in the city.

“When the enemy comes in with a flood, God comes in with a bigger flood,” Switzer said. “As a church, we should go after what’s ours because this is a family, a spiritual family, and it’s God’s house.”

He was interrupted by Wally Glimm, a former member of the church, who stood up and yelled.

“I’ve got something to say,” Glimm shouted at Switzer, before ushers came and ejected him from the building. “You’re trying to blame it all on Frederick. You are the one to blame for all of this.”

Earlier this month, the eight-hectare chunk of prime south Edmonton real estate was put on the block by Toronto-based creditors. The church building, school, Bible college, daycare, and the land are expected to fetch $14 million, according to CBRE Ltd., the court-appointed broker.

Glimm isn’t the first to point to Switzer, who also acts as president of Victory Christian Center Inc., for financial obstacles facing his church.

Four years ago, Victory Christian Center sold its Ellerslie Road property in an $18-million cash- and land- swap with Frederick, court documents show.

The 41-year-old developer would later be known for his involvement with the troubled Bellavera Green condos in Leduc, where fire code violations and other problems led to an emergency evacuation order for 85 completed suites in February. After the property was placed into receivership the next month, Frederick was the subject of numerous law suits.

But in exchange for the Victory swap, Frederick gave the church a $2.8-million down payment, transferred over a $2.6-million Leduc County property, and promised an additional $12.6 million to be paid later. Although Frederick took ownership of the church land, he didn’t register a $12.6 million “take back” mortgage, a safeguard to default the land back to the church if he couldn’t make payments.

The next year, the church took out a $2-million mortgage on its new Leduc property to help Frederick buy out Gary Korzan, his partner in the Bellavera Green condos. Frederick told the church he planned to pay his debts from sales of Bellavera Green condos.

At no point were lawyers involved during those deals, court documents say.

Switzer owns 98 per cent of the common shares in Victory Christian Center Inc., reports an affidavit signed by Korzan this past April. The affidavit notes the organization had an agreement with Frederick to build a church on the Leduc County land.

“Switzer signed the mortgage renewal agreement in front of independent legal counsel and swore an affidavit that he had authority to bind the (church),” Korzan’s affidavit reads. “The (church) knew that they were pledging their property for the purpose of business dealings that they had with (Frederick).”

After being escorted outside on Sunday, Glimm talked about attending Victory church for about five years in the 1990s. His daughter was a principal at the Victory school, Glimm said, and donating money was encouraged as an integral part of receiving God’s blessing.

“When I was here, it was nothing but money, money, money, money,” Glimm said.

By his own estimates, Glimm donated $300,000 to $500,000 to the church while running a successful auction and realty business. When his business went badly, the church wouldn’t help him, he said. Glimm still believes in God, but wants to see the church shut down.

“I just hope that real truth and honesty prevail in this,” Glimm said. “(Switzer) did it himself, so why put the blame on somebody else? If he had taken five or six people in there, maybe they would have said, ‘hey, we don’t like this, no.’”

Switzer couldn’t be reached for comment.

Victory Christian Center, Inc. is registered as a charitable organization with Canada Revenue Agency. The information provided by VCC to CRA for the years 2000-2010 can be found here by following the links.

For an earlier article on VCC's financial troubles, see Victory church in land-sale battle from the July 20, 2012 edition of the Edmonton Journal.

Just one question, Chief: What part of Mark is that "Build a dream..." passage cited above "paraphrased" from? It doesn't resemble anything I've seen in Mark, or any other part of the Bible.

August 29, 2012 update: On August 11, 2012, the Edmonton Journal published a lengthy feature article by Mr. Wittmeier titled The rise and fall of the 'Miracle Church'.

November 19, 2012 update: Today's Edmonton Journal contains another article by Mr. Wittmeier titled Future of Victory Christian Center linked to pending hotel deal:

EDMONTON - Like the game of Monopoly, the future of Victory Christian Center might just rest on hotels, mortgages, and bankruptcies.

Two months have passed since the initial deadline for offers on the eight-hectare site — listed in July for $14 million — where the financially troubled south Edmonton church sits. And while CBRE Limited — the court-appointed real estate company looking after the sale — is still shopping 11520 Ellerslie Road, other court documents show the fiscal fate of the church itself may rest several kilometres north, at the 307-room Crowne Plaza Hotel at 10111 Bellamy Hill Road, best known for its revolving rooftop restaurant.

The connection between the two properties and Kevyn Frederick — a troubled developer and convicted fraudster currently in a maelstrom of lawsuits — is detailed in a June 22 decision by Court of Queen’s Justice Donald Lee granting a sealing order on financial details of the hotel’s pending sale and bidding process.

In Aug. 2008, Victory Christian Center signed its Ellerslie Road property over to Frederick’s numbered company, 1410973 Alberta Ltd. In the $18-million cash and land swap, the church received a $12-million “take-back” mortgage promising to return the land if Frederick defaulted, and made a deal for Leduc County land for a new facility Frederick would build. The church also signed a five-year lease with Frederick for $334,668 per year to remain on the land until April 2013, other documents show.

Frederick used the church land to register a $6-million mortgage with Ram Singh, a retired dentist. In Oct. 2010, he used Singh’s money — and the collateral of the church property — in the $47.8-million purchase of the Crowne Plaza Hotel from Chateau Lacombe Limited Partnership. To complete the deal, Frederick borrowed $32 million from Toronto-based Romspen Investment Corporation, and more than $11 million from Allied Hospitality Services Inc...

...Lee’s decision notes that appraisals conducted on the hotel have placed its value “well below” what is owed to Romspen and Alliance. And while a deal on the Crowne Plaza still hasn’t been completed, other court documents show it’s close. After two rounds of offers, CBRE received an unsolicited offer on Aug. 17 — details of which are known to Romspen, Alliance, Singh, and the church — “for a significantly higher price” than all previous bids. Originally expected to close Oct. 1, the final deadline has been extended several times, most recently on Nov. 7, when Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Julianna Topolniski granted an additional 90 days to close the deal.

By then, it all may be moot for Victory Christian Center. Despite the $14-million price tag on the Ellerslie Road property, a valuation report completed in February estimated the property’s value at $7.5 million, or just $6.6 million if the sale is forced. And after Romspen and Singh receive their due, little might be left over.

When I try to read stories about complicated financial deals, I begin to suffer from what a former professor of mine referred to as the MEGO syndrome (My Eyes Glaze Over), so those who are interested in all the details of these complex deals may want to read the full article. I find it interesting and amusing that the Court of Queen's Bench Justice who made the ruling was Donald Lee. Two pages earlier in the November 19, 2012 edition of the paper, Justice Lee is the subject of another article. Justice Lee has had two of his decisions quashed by the Alberta Court of Appeal because his judgments in these cases consisted largely of plagiarizing--cutting and pasting--the arguments of the lawyers.

May 28, 2013 update: As reported by Brent Wittmeier of the Edmonton Journal, May 25, 2013:

Victory Christian Center — a church, daycare and K-12 school — will have to vacate its south Edmonton site by end of July, according to a deal approved Friday in the Court of Queen’s Bench.

Justice Juliana Topolniski approved a cash offer of between $6.6 million and $7.1 million for the eight-hectare site at 11520 Ellerslie Road. Details of the transaction are under a sealing order until the deal closes June 28.

The church, which has occupied the site since 1989, lost its title five years ago during an ill-fated $18-million deal with mortgage fraudster Kevyn Frederick. The church receives nothing from the sale, which came in at about half of the $14-million price tag from its July 2012 judicial listing. Barring an appeal, Ram Singh, one of Frederick’s partners, will also lose claim to a $6-million mortgage agreement signed with Frederick.

“The market has spoken,” Topolniski said. “This is a difficult case for many: the congregation, the students at the school, children at the play school, Dr. Singh.”

The land was auctioned on behalf of creditors owed tens of millions by Frederick, whose finances collapsed in late 2011. Proceeds of the sale will go to Romspen Investment Corporation, a Toronto-based mortgage company that loaned Frederick $32 million to buy the Chateau Lacombe hotel in downtown Edmonton in Aug. 2010. That hotel recently sold under court order for $27.5 million, leaving Romspen roughly $8 million short of recouping its losses.

A last-minute offer nearly saw the church become a mosque. Less than an hour before the hearing, Topolniski received word that the Southwest Muslim Community Centre had submitted a new and higher offer. The group placed a $1-million deposit on the land, offering to pay $500,000 by December and the rest of the money next year.

Despite two counter-offers tendered in the early afternoon, Romspen rejected that deal, opting for the earlier cash bid.

June 16, 2013 update:
As reported by Brent Wittmeier in the Edmonton Journal, June 8, 2013:

Land once owned by Victory Christian Center could soon be replaced by a private seniors' care facility, Alberta Justice confirmed this week.

An offer for the eight-hectare site at 11520 Ellerslie Rd. - currently occupied by the church, its K-12 school and daycare - was approved in Court of Queen's Bench on May 24 and is expected to close June 28.

The offer was submitted by Assisted Care Services Inc., Alberta Justice spokeswoman Michelle Davio said this week. The Edmonton-based company was formed in 2006 by Lorenzo Clonfero, president and owner of Rosedale Developments, which operates a 58-suite, six-storey seniors' facility at 10053 111th St.

Details are sealed until the deal closes on June 28, but the price fell to roughly half of the $14-million asking price. Clonfero's offer was between the land's appraised $7.5-million market value and its $6.6-price tag under "distressed" conditions, court heard.

Clonfero's lawyer argued the buyer should remain anonymous under the sealing order. Justice Juliana Topolniski disagreed...

...Several offers were tabled in the 10 months before Clonfero's unconditional cash offer on May 3, according to an affidavit filed last month by Bradley Gingerich, senior vice-president of court-appointed commercial real estate firm CBRE Limited.

Real estate companies submitted bids in July and October that failed to meet conditions. On Oct. 31, the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination made an offer that didn't "meet the market value" of the land. In mid-December, a numbered company with the address of a south Edmonton law firm submitted a failed offer requiring interest-free financing for seven years.

More recent offers were submitted by a trio of Muslim organizations. The non-profit Muslim Association of Canada submitted a bid on Feb. 14 that didn't meet due diligence conditions. Later offers were jointly submitted by a pair of Mill Woods-based charities, the Southwest Muslim Community Centre and the Markaz Ul Islam Society, which were rejected for "uncertain" payment terms and a final closing date another 10 months away.

The group continued to submit last minute offers on May 24, the day courts were slated to approve Clonfero's offer.

Under the terms of the approved deal, programs affiliated with Victory Christian Center must vacate the site by the end of July.

Rosa Ritzmann, administrator of the private K-12 school operated out of modular classrooms on the land, wrote in an email that "plans are in place for the upcoming (school) year," though she wouldn't say where classes will be held. The school receives 70 per cent of its funding through the province - roughly $5,000 per student - and had 169 students last year.

Court action created disruptions for Victory Christian School officials. Eight teachers left last summer, six after the property went on the market, said Melanie Stevens, a former teacher at the school. Last August, Concordia High School spokeswoman Erin Stevenson said Victory representatives were shown a 15,000-sq.-foot facility at 830 Saddleback Road, then subject of a lease dispute that would cause the 90-yearold Lutheran school to permanently close its doors.

Victory Christian Center will receive nothing from the sale of its former land. Founding pastor and school president Cal Switzer signed away the title in August 2008 in an ill-fated $18-million cash-and-land swap.

Frederick still owed the church $12.3 million when he leveraged the land in 2010 to buy the Château Lacombe hotel in downtown Edmonton, securing a $32-million mortgage with Romspen Investment Corporation to buy the property for $48.7 million.

September 27, 2013 update:
As reported by Brent Wittmeier in the Edmonton Journal, July 31, 2013:

EDMONTON - Whenever Theresa Desjardins tells her toddler that it’s time for daycare, the 16-month-old races to find her shoes and coat.

For the past five months, Desjardins’ daughter has loved going to the attentive caregivers at the Victory Christian Center daycare. But while her daughter ate and slept well there, Desjardins worried.

Journal articles from a couple of months ago explained how tenants of the church at 11520 Ellerslie Road would be evicted by the end of July due to foreclosure of the property. But when Desjardins asked about it, the daycare director told her the stories weren’t true and that any moves were a long way off.

“She told me not to worry, it was business as usual, they’re not moving anywhere,” Desjardins said. “I was told that there’s always been a plan in place to move because they’re outgrowing their facility.”

Desjardins decided to keep her daughter where she was happy. Then on July 18, there were letters taped to children’s’ lockers informing parents care would end July 26. Officials hoped to be up and running soon at a new facility at an undisclosed location, the note said. When pressed for details, they wouldn’t tell parents when or where that would be.

“The director said to me that it was a complete shock, that this was coming out of nowhere, this was so unexpected,” Desjardins said. “I said, there’s a sold sign on your front lawn. How can this be unexpected?”

Victory Christian Center wouldn’t respond to questions or comment about whether it will vacate the site — home to church services, the daycare, and a private K-12 school — later this week. But court documents show the eight-hectare site sold for $6.6 million June 28 to Assisted Care Services Inc., a private seniors care facility developer. Private schools are required to inform Alberta Education of any changes to their location, but Victory hasn’t told the government about any changes, a government spokeswoman said in an email Tuesday. The school received approximately $800,000 from Alberta Education last year, roughly 60 per cent of the school’s budget. There were 150 students there last year, down from 169 the year before.

Nobody from Victory Christian School could be reached, but an administrator told the Journal in June that “plans are in place for the upcoming year,” but wouldn’t say where classes would be held...

...Other parents are just as upset about all the secrecy, Desjardins said. She feels especially bad for staff members, some of whom didn’t bother coming in during the final week of the daycare.

“A week’s notice is not enough time for families to make arrangements,” Desjardins said. “They’re a Christian facility. How could they do this to people? I’m not a religious person, but shouldn’t you be treating people better than this?”

As reported by Brent Wittmeier in the Edmonton Journal, September 5, 2013:

EDMONTON - A troubled south Edmonton church has moved services and its private K-12 school to a location on Saddleback Road.

Victory Christian School will open Monday at a new location at 810 Saddleback Road, an Alberta Education spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday. And while nobody at the church could be reached for comment, a receptionist confirmed church services have also been moved to the site.

The moves come just weeks after the closure of a $6.6-million deal that saw the eight-hectare Ellerslie Road site — home to the church, the school, a daycare and a Bible college — sold as part of foreclosure proceedings against convicted mortgage fraudster Kevyn Fredericks...

...Church services continued at 11520 Ellerslie Road into August. The daycare facility there closed temporarily on July 26, eight days after letters were taped to children’s’ lockers informing parents care would end. Parents say daycare services have yet to resume.

The church was at that site since 1989. The school was first incorporated in 1995 and became its own charity in June 2008, just two months before Switzer sold the property. Private schools are required to inform Alberta Education of any changes to their location, but Victory hadn’t told the government about any changes until last month.

The school received approximately $800,000 from Alberta Education last year, roughly 60 per cent of the school’s budget. There were 150 students there last year, down from 169 the year before.