Dear Christine,
I WRITE TO YOU with a heavy heart. I’ve been hoodwinked, brainwashed and robbed by the very people who I believed in, and who I came to for help and comfort.
You see, I went through a bad relationship, and was lonely and heartbroken after it. I heard on the radio about a prophetic conference which I attended to find comfort with the people of God.
I don’t know [what happened] but in the space of a week I had given or donated almost $20 000.
I was so devastated at what I had done that I did not know what to do or who to go to for help. The lawyer I consulted told me that I gave cash and not cheques, so there’s almost nothing that anyone can do.
There is no evidence I gave the money in return for blessings of God’s favour. I gave them my money, they blessed me. How could I have been so stupid?
How could I have given away $20 000? Was I brainwashed in this short space of time?
Please, what can you tell me? I throw this out to readers.
What should I do to get back my hard earned money?
These people [take] money from Christians saying it is a “seed” you are sowing into the Kingdom of God. Since then I’ve learnt that there’s no such thing in the Bible. God asks for tithes and offerings (Malachi Chapter 3) to support the church.
Help me Christine.
– BRAINWASHED
Dear Brainwashed,
This is so sad to hear. It is unfortunate when things like this happen as it makes people view all Christian organisations in a negative light.
These types of stories paint not only the particular church in a bad light, but hurt the image of all churches.
Of course I am not saying that you are not telling the truth, but I know from experience that many churches here do a lot of good work even if this is not transmitted to the entire country, and I would not want anything negative out there to taint this.
That said, let’s deal with the main crux of your letter. You said you gave away $20 000 in a week to that organisation and asked if you were brainwashed.
First of all, as your lawyer said, since you gave cash there is no way to trace it, as against if you had given cheques.
I would like to know, if you went back to the people involved in the conference and explained to them what you did, and asked them if they would consider refunding some of the cash?
You did not say if you had done that.
Certainly if you gave cash, and did so over a week – five to seven days, you would have handed it to someone or a number of people whom you can identify.
Did you return to the people behind the conference and describe who you gave the money to, and plead with them to give you back some of the cash as it was a mistake that you gave so much cash?
Now since you gave cash, you more than likely withdrew the money from the bank – as you are unlikely to have that sort of money under the mattress – there would be a record of those withdrawals.
Though they would not be obligated to return a cent to you, clearly, if they remember you were there, and if you can show them your withdrawal slips and describe who you gave the money to when the collection was taken, they would be able to check back their takings on the particular nights and see the relationship between what you gave and what they took in.
With that evidence, it would be reasonable that you aren’t lying and they should refund some portion to you.
On the matter of you being brainwashed to explain why you did it, I don’t know about that. You were in emotional turmoil and because of being overwhelmed with those feelings you may have done a number of things out of character – like parting with so much cash.
I would urge you to stop talking about that church in such negative terms, some of which are slanderous and are missing from this published letter. That does not help your situation.
You made a mistake and you need to have your proof to show them this. With that ask them to investigate the matter.
If they are an upright Christian organisation, I’m sure when they are provided with your evidence that they would seriously consider your appeal. Please keep us informed about this. – CHRISTINE
