In I started receiving letters from Saint Matthew's Churches. At the time, I was going through a very difficult time in my life. I have always given to others, so I wrote a check to them for a few dollars. It was all I could afford at the time.
Soon, I started receiving letters almost every other week, from St. Matthew's called "Prayer By Letters." A lot of good things had happened to me and I had come into some money, so it made me feel good ~ so I sent them a few more dollars.
Someone had told me it was a scam but I didn't want to believe it. I had been coming into money and it seemed like my prayers had been answered. But I did look into the church and saw they had a web site and everything. It all seemed to be legitimate.
Later, I didn't hear anything at all ~ because I had gone through a divorce and I had no money to give. For about 6-7 months, I didn't receive any letters at all.
Then, all of a sudden about a month ago, they started sending me letters again. I ignored them and threw them away. But they were persistent, so I sent them $3 in a check. The next week, I got another letter but I ignored it, then another. So far, they have gotten $11 from me, in the past month.
You see, this is how I figured out that this is a scam. I had recently changed my last name due to my divorce. I had asked St. Matthew's Churches, to change my last name on the mailings. But it kept coming in my married name. Every time I had sent them a few dollars, I would write on the letter itself, plus on the envelope, for them to change my name ~ but they never did!
This is how the scam works and why people fall for it. They ask you personal questions about your "needs" in your life, whether it's for money, happiness, to find love, a new house or car. The next time you get a letter, they letters "seem" like they are talking about the needs you have, based on what you wrote in your last letter. I bet that they have blank letters, fitting each description, so that they just fill in your name.
For example, a letter for someone who needs money. A letter for someone who needs a home. A letter for someone who needs a new car. And so on... Get the picture? It must cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars, to change the name on the letters and to do mass mailings. They also pay for the postage, as well. According to wikipedia, they gross more than 6 million dollars a month! These people prey on the poor and the hopeless. This is not a church, it's a scam!
Here is the wikipedia article about the guy who started these Prayers by Letters, James Eugene "Gene" Ewing: http://en. Wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Eugene_Ewing. This guy has written fundraising letters for evangelists such as Oral Roberts, Rex Humbard, WV Grant and Don Stewart. Here is also more info about this so-called church:
St. Matthew's Churches, formally St. Matthew Publishing Inc.[1], is an evangelical "Christian ministry". It is primarily a mail-based "ministry" with an address in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with churches in New York and Houston.[2] In 1999 St. Matthew Publishing Inc. Reported $26.8 million in revenue.[1] In it reportedly earned $6 million a month.[2]
This is from wikipedia, not that wikipedia is a good source of information. But I am surprised that this so-called church, which is based in NY and TX, is allowed to scam people and get away with it. Once, I received a mailing from St. Matthew's Church but the address was in Baltimore, MD.in the letters where people "claim" they have gone to their church, it's all a lie. Anyone could make this up and copy/paste apic of a church, write up a fakeweb site and send out letters. But the guy behind all this, lives in Beverly Hills andmakes over $26 million a year! This man needs to go to prison for fraud.
Who is willing to stepup to the plate and get an attorney to sue this man in a class action lawsuit? I have given them hundreds of dollars, in the past 2 years. I am a single mom. I couldn't afford to give them this money. I am college educated but I fell for this scam too. I wanted desperatedly to believe that God would help me. Now, I don't have faith in any organized religion at all. I can't even find a job anywhere... Yet this guy is kicking back, layingat the pool by hismansion, sipping cocktails and laughing at us.
Please do not send them any more money. Or if you never have sent them money, don't. This really upsets me that someone can be so deceitful and rob thousands of people who are so desperate, especially during these harsh economic times. Thank you for reading this.
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