Talk:Melodyland Christian Center

Christianity: Charismatic Low‑importance

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California Low‑importance

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Controversy[edit]

All the controversial stuff is missing. The pastor was criticized for using the church budget to go moose hunting in Alaska instead of using his own money. He was criticized for using the church money to go to Uganda and meet with the Uganda leader and butcher Idi Amin. He came back claiming he had brought Idi Amin to the lord which was not true.

Pastor Ralf Wilkerson was married and having an affair with a married woman from the church. A male in the church discovered this information and was blackmailing Pastor Ralf Wilkerson. Once this information went public several of the different pastors left the church to form their own churches or for other churches. The affair split the church.

Pastor Ralf Wilkerson had the church pay for a nearby apartment which he used on Sundays so he did not have to drive home in between Sunday services. The church paid for the rent on that apartment that he only used on Sundays. He got a brand new, high end, luxury car every year that the church paid for. He went on lavish trips around the world several times a year. He had expensive tastes. He had an artist paint a wall size painting in his office. The church paid for everything. He was not a humble, down to earth man. He was over the top, lavish, expensive and felt he deserved the best of the best with someone else footing the bill. He traveled around the world two to three times a year in very expensive vacations to exotic locations and billed it to the church claiming it was missionary work.

Pastor Ralf Wilkerson had a grown, married daughter with children. He arranged for the church to pay for her mortgage on her home every month despite the fact that neither she nor her husband worked for the church.

The IRS raided the church in the late 1970s (circa 1978), they went over the books and threatened to withdraw their tax exempt status. This caused an uproar in Anaheim, Orange County, The Orange County Register, Federal Court, on the TV news, in the Los Angeles Times and in the gossip mill. There was a long protracted battle, but the IRS is what ultimately shut down Melodyland as they lost their tax exempt status according to IRS agents at the time. They were cooking the books and diverting money for personal use which does not meet code for tax exempt religious status. The IRS found they had two sets of books upon raiding them.

Some parishioners were true to Pastor Wilkerson no matter what he did. Other parishioners saw the writing on the wall and moved on. Wilkerson was essentially defrocked of his televangelist empire and it all crumbled to dust due to his greed and lust. Bree25 (talk) 22:53, 26 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Melodyland Ranch Academy[edit]

Are there reunions for this off campus location in San Jacinto 1973-? 71.228.193.17 (talk) 23:53, 8 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Reunion for Melodyland Ranch Academy upcoming 2011.Contact citizen_journalist@yahoo.com 69.139.113.176 (talk) 11:50, 15 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified (January 2018)[edit]

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