Church Ordered to Return 10 Years of Tithes Worth $780,000, Or Lose Building
Messiah Lutheran Church in Joliet, Illinois, received the shock of their lives after government officials ordered them to repay nearly $800,000 in tithes given to them over the last ten years, and the clock is ticking. A FAQ created by the church explains:
An unexpected, devastating crisis threatens the permanent closing of Messiah in Joliet, Illinois, a large congregation that has served the community for over 120 years. And this despite no wrongdoing or accusation of wrongdoing by the church.
In January of 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Receiver filed a federal lawsuit against Messiah demanding payment to the SEC of $780,165, the full 10 years of donations that had been given to the church by a local business. The SEC accused the local business of recent fraudulent financial dealings (by defrauding numerous investors)
The church accepted those donations in good faith and is not accused of wrongdoing. However, the donations are no longer available to meet the SEC’s demand because they have been used in ministry over the last ten years.
Illinois law does not offer any protection despite no wrongdoing on the part of the church. It allows for the claw back of donations to charities based on accused misdeeds of the donor. There are no laws in Illinois to protect nonprofit charities, so no charities in Illinois are safe from facing this same scenario.
The church said it tried for years to settle with the SEC receiver in a way that wouldn’t financially cripple their church, but that the SEC “rejected multiple settlement offers put forth by Messiah on the basis that, even if Messiah did not have the money to pay the judgment sought, a judgment could be enforced against Messiah’s real estate.”
So far the church has repaid $480,000 from cash reserves and donations and needs to raise another $300,000 within the next two months, or else they say they’ll be forced to sell their building and property to repay the balance owed.
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Hopefully, congregants will step up.
Hopefully they will pull out of being a 501(c)(3) and understand the government has them by the horns. Because everybody knows when you’re in bed with the government you get screwed. If people would stop going to church and just read the Bible and stop being a certain religion and learn that the religions are there to separate us in the world would change.
If everyone could see the head, Satanist say thank you to all the worlds religions for separating us. Maybe they would actually get the picture that God never named a religion. He just gave us the Bible. Men and women have named religion. That’s the biggest flaw ever and that’s why the head Satanist absolutely loves it because it separates all of us and that is what he said.
Exactly! Get out of Babylon (government tyranny). There are alternatives to 501c3.
I wonder if they took PPP money. So many churches did and they will pay the price one day.