Controversy: "Senator's Inquiry Into Megachurch Money Hypocrisy Sparks Church-State Showdown"

Something to get us all depressed and cynical on a Monday morning:

The New Testament reports that Jesus rarely used fancy modes of transportation to get around. He walked most of the time, although Matthew and other gospels mention that he once rode a borrowed donkey into Jerusalem, where he burst into the Temple and tossed out the money changers.

Nearly 2,000 years later, some who claim to speak in Jesus' name are taking a different view. Consider Bishop Eddie Long, who pastors a megachurch in Lithonia, Ga. With a salary approaching $1 million a year and a nine-bathroom mansion situated on 20 acres, Long's choice of vehicles reflects his opulent lifestyle: He drives a $350,000 Bentley.

Far from casting out money changers, Long is likely to join them. In a 2005 profile in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he defended his high-flying ways, insisting, "I pastor a multimillion dollar congregation. You've got to put me on a different scale than the little black preacher sitting over there that's supposed to be just getting by because the people are suffering."

Long's lack of humility has probably done him no favors.

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I'm not sure when else I'll ever get to fit this in, but that Joel Osteen guy [picture] really irks me. Anyone who uses a BA in television production as his sole credentials to preach is begging the question, if you ask me.

And it's not only the "lack 0f credentials," but also his constant posturing as a preacher-healer with next to no scriptural content, rarely mentioning sin, and constantly dealing in platitudes. This is no true help.