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The Herald on Sunday reported the latest luxury purchase of the controversial Tamaki family.

They are fundamentalist Christian church leaders known for urging their religious followers to shower banknotes at the feet of self-anointed bishop Brian Tamaki.

Registration records show Brian's wife Hannah, who has previously talked of owning a $90,000 diamond ring, became the registered owner of the 2015 Mercedes SLK 200 on January 25.

Capable of reaching speeds of up to 239 kph - almost 2 times the legal motorway limit - Hannah's jet-black convertible also boasts 18-inch AMG alloy wheels and heated sport seats.

The flash German two-seater was listed online though Mercedes-Benz North Shore, carrying just 1800km on the clock and at a "drive away" price of $74,990.

Earlier this month a controversial American preacher who has faced allegations he sexually abused young men during a previous trip to New Zealand urged Destiny Church followers to "repent, repent, repent" at their annual conference.

American evangelist Eddie Long was the guest of honour at Destiny's annual get together at the "City of God" in Manukau, south Auckland, which attracted about 1000 followers who paid $120 for a weekend pass.

Standing just metres away in the church's hangar sized 'Sanctuary', ankle deep in tithed banknotes, stood self-appointed Destiny Church 'Bishop' Brian Tamaki who had invited Long as a special guest to the church's weekend Australasian 'Invasion' conference.

In 2010, several young men of Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in US state Georgia, sued staunchly anti-gay Long for alleged grooming and sexual abuse, some of which allegedly happened in New Zealand.

By 2011 four lawsuits resulting from those allegations, according to US media, were all subsequently dismissed, unable to proceed in court.

The four former members of a youth group Long ran had accused him of repeatedly coercing them into homosexual sex acts, and of abusing his moral authority over them while plying them with cash, new cars, lodging and lavish trips overseas trips including, for one of the four, a trip to New Zealand.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• Image: i.imgur.com

It has been written by Massey University's associate professor of religious history, Peter Lineham. He relies heavily on the accounts of Lynda Stewart, a former financial administrator for the church.

Brian Tamaki's wife Hannah says Stewart was a member for seven years, but left after Brian Tamaki was anointed bishop in 2005.

Stewart accuses the Tamakis of living an extravagant lifestyle off the backs off their oft-impoverished church members.

Hannah refutes the accusations made by Stewart about her life style and behaviour.

"She is trying to paint me as unethical and that is what people do, but it comes back on them." She claims Stewart owns part of a gold mine in South Africa and a villa in Italy.

And she rejects some of the claims about her own extravagance. "One of my favourites was that we gave our son Samuel a Corvette. We have never even sat in a Corvette so, no, we didn't give him one.

"Another was that we bought our daughter a cruise, which we haven't."

Recent reports put donations to the church as high as 30 per cent of parishioners' incomes, but Hannah says this is untrue - the tithe sought, she says, is the traditional 10 per cent. She describes members who in the past would have spent $100 on booze each weekend but now give $60 to the church. "They are saving $40 and getting a lot more for it," she says.

Claims the poor are forced to tithe are also untrue, she says. "We don't force people to give and we don't follow up saying you didn't tithe last week," she says. "Other churches tithe and no one questions them on it."

Source

• The New Zealand Herald
• Image: 2p.blog.hotspot