Today must have been my lucky day! I received a prayer rug in my US mail. Not just any prayer rug, but a folded paper prayer rug with a huge picture of a purple Jesus donning his crown of thorns and a teardrop rolling down his cheek. Sort of got to me and after reading about how to use this flimsy paper prayer rug and what good fortune will come my way, I was ready to empty my bank account and send them all of my money and will them my house and everything else. I might add that a lot of additional material and testimonies were included in my envelope. I can be healed! I can make millions! I can have every prayer and desire answered, all by returning my prayer rug along with a donation in the postage paid envelope. Praise the Lord and pass the collection plate!
Open the Door to a New Tomorrow
Welcome to Biblical Prayer
Now try as hard as I could, I stared into Jesus' eyes and they didn't open and look back at me. Possibly it's because I'm Unsaved Trash or maybe it's because I realize how they superimposed slight corneas on they eyelids. Damn, and just when I thought that Betty Bowers and the Landover Baptist Church might be attempting to lead me astray of the Good Word, I fell to my knees on my prayer rug and soon felt a chunk of wood hit me on the head from the Heavens as the Baby Jesus kicked a slat out of his manger. However, I do plan on sending back my prayer rug just so I can receive my free blessed Deuteronomy 8:18 Prosperity Cross. Maybe that can save me but if it doesn't, they have a multitude of other "faith items" I can choose from (purchase required).Look into Jusus' Eyes you will see they are closed. But as you continue to look you will see His eyes opening and looking back into your eyes. Then go and be alone and kneel on this Rug of Faith or touch it to both knees. Then please check your needs on our letter to you. Please return this Prayer Rug. Do not keep it.
So who is this James Eugene Ewing Man of God?
I guess we can add this douchebag to our growing list of religious scammers. I know it makes me proud to question "the Gift" these sleazebuckets can provide. A search on Saint Matthews Churches will result with a profusion of complaints and humorous comments.The ministry is led by its founder James Eugene "Gene" Ewing, a former tent minister, who, according to the Trinity Foundation, lives in Beverly Hills, California. Ewing, a native of Kaufman, Texas, was born in 1933 and has written fundraising letters for other evangelists, including Oral Roberts as well as Don Stewart, WV Grant, and Rex Humbard.
Ewing operates Church by Mail Inc., which had a several decade long struggle with the IRS before being denied tax-exemption in 1992, which was appealed. Ewing was a revivalist in the 1960s with revenue at $2 million. He then began writing fundraising letters for Oral Roberts. By 1971 Ewing renamed organization Church of Compassion as a "mail-order church with half a million 'members'" with income exceeding $3 million. In 1979 he started for-profit advertising and printing "to provide printing and mailing services to nonprofit religious groups." Then in 1980 his business Church by Mail applied for tax-exemption. However, by the 1990s his businesses owed back taxes to state and federal agencies. Nonetheless, in 1993 he bought a $2.2 million, 6,400-square-foot (590 m2) home above Beverly Hills. Subsequently, a year later the U.S. Tax Court ruled Church by Mail Inc. is "operated for private rather than public interests" and "is not a church" within the meaning of federal tax laws.
The ministry has been accused of preying on the very low income and the elderly by using census records to target their mailings. Initial mailings often only speak of the "power of prayer"; once a recipient responds and is placed on the church mailing list, they are targeted with letters saying that monetary donations are required for their prayers to be answered.
Kansas City Better Business Bureau Blog: St. Matthews Churches - Church or Scam?
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