{"id":13553,"date":"2017-06-05T15:21:22","date_gmt":"2017-06-05T19:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/?p=13553"},"modified":"2022-03-10T09:28:01","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T14:28:01","slug":"saint-matthews-churches-faith-seed-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/2017\/06\/05\/saint-matthews-churches-faith-seed-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"Saint Matthew\u2019s \u201cChurches\u201d Faith Seed Scam"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s not just televangelists that are scamming old ladies with faith seed promises. Now churches that don\u2019t exist are getting in on the fun.<\/p>\n

Today I received a strangely decorated letter, covered in text and underlined words. It was made to look like a personal friend wrote on the envelope but it just looks someone puked random Bible verses and slogans on the envelope.<\/p>\n

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So what\u2019s the scam?<\/h2>\n
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According to the letter the recipient is supposed to kneel on the prayer \u201crug\u201d and then fill out the prayer needs list. After that, the prayer rug printout needs to be returned to Saint Matthew Churches. They also urge you to follow further steps after you mail in the rug.\u00a0According to the letter, the rug has been blessed for two people and it must be used and returned within 24 hours. Apparently, God\u2019s blessings only work on bankers hours and they expire quickly. Strangely, they inform the reader that they must return the prayer rug poster as soon as possible so that it can be sent to another person who is \u201cin need\u201d of the poster, as if they couldn’t just print another one.<\/p>\n

If this was the only instruction in the mailer then it could be passed off as harmless. However, that is not all that came in the mailer package.<\/p>\n

Throughout the rest of the package there are faith seed testimonials, repeated instructions, and misused Bible verses to convince the recipient to follow more instructions. When the recipient fills out the \u201cprayer request\u201d letter there is a small section to fill in a faith seed amount. The entirety of the package is a large gimmick to get people to follow these instructions, in hopes that the recipient will send in a donation.<\/p>\n

The gimmick is so crudely constructed that even a new believer could tell that the scriptures were being used out of context. The back side of the prayer rug has three verses listed to steer the reader into obedience.<\/p>\n

\u2026I will make all my goodness pass before thee\u2026 (Exodus 33:19 [KJV])<\/p>\n

If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. (John 13:17 [NRSVA])<\/p>\n

Those who listen to instructions will prosper (Proverbs 16:20 [NLT])<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The most peculiar thing about the 3 verses is that the scripture verse and translation are listed below each passage and they are all from different bible translations and they each use a different font\u2026.. strange. Why is St. John 13:17 in italics but not the others? Why is the first verse in Gothic font but the others in serif? It just looks unplanned.<\/p>\n

\"Saint<\/a><\/p>\n

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Who\u2019s Behind the Faith Seed Scam?<\/h2>\n
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This scam might look familiar to some as there is a real church named Cathedral of Saint Matthew<\/a> which participates in some mailers and faith seed scams. This church is the mother church of the big scam which is housed in a fake church named Saint Matthews Churches<\/a> who’ve sent out unsolicited mailers for decades, referred to as Prayer Rug Mailers.\u00a0They’ve been assessed by the CBBB and charity watchdogs in the past and claim that they are not running a scam because they are not “fund raising”, rather, they are allowing people to “worship” with their money. Seems like a convenient description. It should come as no surprise that they also collect “faith seed” offerings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

CBBB report from 2004<\/a><\/p>\n

Pictures of older mailers<\/a><\/p>\n

If you want to know if a religious organization is a scam or a hoax, the best method is looking at it\u2019s founder(s). In this case, the founder is a man that goes by the name Rev. James Eugene Ewing<\/a>. There appears to be multiple locations where mail is collected. The first is a PO box in Tulsa (PO Box 21210 Tulsa, OK 74121). Another seems to be (PO Box 3036 Tulsa, OK 74101-3036<\/a>). The mother church is actually in Texas and has a real address which is 9101 Airline Dr. Houston, Texas 77037. When checked on google maps, the church is definitely real and looks very expensive.<\/p>\n

\"Cathedral<\/a>
Cathedral of Saint Matthew<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, just to summarize, there is a real church in Texas which operates a fake church in Oklahoma and they send out millions of mailers hoping to receive donations. They have a fake church send out the mailers because they don’t want the real church to be affiliated with the scam and end up losing membership.<\/p>\n

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Who is Rev. James Eugene Ewing?<\/h2>\n
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Rev. James Eugene Ewing lives in Beverly Hills California, where he lives a life of luxury off the back of some of the world\u2019s poorest believers. His actual business is listed as \u201cChurch by Mail Inc.\u201d. Before starting his long journey scamming people through the mail, he had a career writing fundraising letters for\u00a0Oral Roberts<\/a>. You heard that right folks. All of these scam artists and TV preachers run around in the same tight circles together. They have\u00a0fake degrees<\/a>,\u00a0luxurious mansions<\/a>, and fake ministries. Despite the size of Oral Roberts University, it was still founded and run by scam artists and crooks. Luckily, today new faces have tried to turn ORU into a reputable school, with at least minor success.<\/p>\n

Ewing’s business, Church by Mail Inc. struggled initially to get legal status, but eventually got it in 1992. Some of the court documents and legal proceedings can be found on the following website \u2013>\u00a0law.justia.com<\/a>. The court\u2019s initial complaints with the organization can be summed up in the following sentence from the documents.<\/p>\n

Finally, the potential for abuse created by the ministers\u2019 control of the Church requires open and candid disclosure of facts bearing upon the exemption application. (Source<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The organization also had a few other scoundrels in the mix, who are listed in the court documents.<\/p>\n

Church By Mail, Inc. was incorporated under the laws of Oklahoma on November 28, 1978. The Church\u2019s primary activity has been the preparation, printing and mailing of various religious messages, most of which include a request for money. The Church is run by Reverend Ewing and Reverend McElrath. The Church also employs Reverend O.D. Snyder, Reverend D.R. Luce and Brenda Ewing. (Source<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For more on the background of Ewing the his various organizations I highly recommend\u00a0reading this report from tulsaworld.com<\/a>. Alternatively, you can peruse Ewing\u2019s own website\u00a0http:\/\/www.jameseugeneewing.com<\/a>. You will find that before he was a scam by mail artist, he was a scam by revival artist.<\/p>\n

\"Rev<\/a>
Fooling people out of their money since the 50’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n
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Like the goofy people in Kenya trying to convince you that you have a wealthy relative that just bequeathed you a million dollars, these scams only continue because whoever is\u00a0scamming people is actually making money. This organization makes roughly 6 million dollars in a single month. (Source<\/a>) Clearly, they have every incentive to continue with evil behavior.<\/p>\n

The only way to make these crooks go away is to stop giving them money. Spread the news about these guys.<\/p>\n

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Document collection from mailer<\/h3>\n