Greater Ministries International was an

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

Christian ministry In Christianity, ministry is an activity carried out by Christians to express or spread their faith, the prototype being the Great Commission. The '' Encyclopedia of Christianity'' defines it as "carrying forth Christ's mission in the world", in ...

that ran a

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to believe that profits are comin ...

in an

affinity fraud Affinity fraud is a form of investment fraud in which the fraudster preys upon members of identifiable groups, such as religious or ethnic communities, language minorities, the elderly, or professional groups. The fraudsters who promote affinity ...

that had taken nearly 500 million dollars from 18,000 people by the time it was shut down by federal authorities in August 1999. Headed by Gerald Payne in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, the ministry bribed church leaders around the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Payne and other church elders promised the church members double their money back in 17 months or fewer, citing

Biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

scripture. However, nearly all the money was lost and hidden away. Church leaders received prison sentences ranging from 12 years to 27 years. The group had ties to

Stayton, Oregon Stayton is a city in Marion County, Oregon, Marion County, Oregon, United States, located southeast of the state Capital (political), capital, Salem, Oregon, Salem, on Oregon Route 22. It is south of Sublimity, Oregon, Sublimity and east of Aumsv ...

-based

Embassy of Heaven The Embassy of Heaven is a Christian-based new religious movement based in Stayton, Oregon, that seeks to separate from secular government. Its members profess to be literal citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven and reject any ties to what they refer t ...

, run by Glen Stoll, which was later closed by the

Justice Department A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

. Their group founded a newspaper, the "Greater Bible College" in Tampa, a line of "Greater Live" herbal remedies, cancer treatments ("We actually pull the cancer right out of your stomach", Payne claimed.), a supplement called "Beta 1, 3rd Glucan" (to survive "end-times plagues",) and plans for "Greater Lands", an independent country (an "Ecclesiastical Domain ... similar to the Vatican") where other governments would have no jurisdiction.

In popular culture

In 2007, the first story on the episode " Religious Prey: Greater Ministries Int'l / It Takes a Thief", of the television series ''

American Greed ''American Greed'' (also known as ''American Greed: Scams, Scoundrels and Scandals'' and as ''American Greed: Scams, Schemes and Broken Dreams'') is an American documentary television series on CNBC. The series focuses on cases of Ponzi schemes, ...

'', covered the fraudulent criminal actions of Greater Ministries International, including a prison interview with Gerald Payne insisting that God Himself was still going to refund all the stolen funds.

References

{{reflist, 3

External links

www.greater-ministries.com
(archived) ;Injunctions/press releases

August 24, 1999

1999

February 19, 2002 ;Articles
Whitfield, David v. U.S. / Hall, Haywood v. U.S.
Pyramid and Ponzi schemes Religious scandals