CONTROVERSIAL American preacher Creflo Dollar was forced to fend off a furious protester who stormed the stage, during his key-note address at Glasgow’s SECC yesterday.
Less than a minute after the minister had started addressing the hundreds at the gathering of the Destiny church, a man rushed towards Dollar accusing him of heresy. That man was subsequently tackled and taken off stage by both the church and the venue’s security team.
The views of the televangelist Dollar have upset some of Scotland’s Christians. When his tour of Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh was announced, the then moderator of the Free Church of Scotland, David Robertson said that Dollar was not welcome in Scotland.
Dollar has been accused of preaching the Prosperity Gospel that says being rich is God’s will and that a regular donation to the church can help a believer become more wealthy.
The pastor, who has an estimated personal wealth of $27 million (£19m), was mired in controversy in 2015 for asking followers to help him pay for a new $60m (£42m) G650 Gulfstream Jet. He said in 2007 that he charges up to $100,000 per booking, though it is not believed that the Destiny Church paid as much as that.
Dollar addressed the controversy yesterday, saying that “you cannot buy the favour of God”.
Then, in an interpretation of a passage from Corinthians, he explained: “I know you think you’re the source of your prosperity, but you’re not, God is. He is the one that gives seed to anyone who wants to be a sower. So if you want to be a sower, he’ll give you seed. If you don’t care about being a sower, don’t worry about it. You don’t need the seed. But he will give you a seed first, then you will be able to sow second. It’s not what you do first it’s what he does first.”
At one point the minister asked a teenage girl in the audience to come forward to the stage. He held out two £20 notes, telling the girl that all she had to do to get the money was to just take it.
Andrew Owen, who founded Destiny, thanked his parishioners for sticking with the church despite some of the criticism levelled at them since The National first revealed opposition to Dollar’s visit.
“I just want to first say thank you to you as a church. You stood with us over these last few weeks, and these last few months, despite all that’s been said and all that’s been happening and you carried the good grace, with faith, refused to retaliate, prayed for those who said some things,” he said. “This is your moment,” he continued.
Dollar’s tour took in a session at the exhibition centre in Aberdeen, and at the church’s Edinburgh base.
Robertson had previously said that Dollar coming to Scotland was “appalling”.
“He’s a multimillionaire, American, televangelist and we really do not need him here. The church doesn’t need him. It’s embarrassing to have somebody like that come. His prosperity gospel is blasphemous. It’s not what people in Scotland need to hear,” he said.
Chief executive of Humanist Society Scotland Gordon MacRae had also said: “We trust that Destiny Church would not expose any of their vulnerable members to be exploited by his voracious appetite for money. We don’t want Scotland to become the latest layover stop for wealthy televangelists seeking to rip people off.”
Dollar spoke for around an hour yesterday and was warmly received by the audience, receiving a standing ovation.
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