Ultimate Prosperity, Ultimately Bankrupt

I just got some new furniture the last couple of days. While I was pawing through the piles of books and other junk I had lying around, I found a book that I got from SRF on the subject of tithing. Like a few other religions, SRF asks their membership to contribute at least 10% of their income to the church.

Tithing is not a new concept. It is a central belief of many religions such as the Mormon church. Tithing was practiced at newer churches like the Mormon church to build the facilities and fund charitable activities such as disaster relief and help for the poor. There are biblical references to the giving of a portion of a farmer's harvest and some historical evidence that the tithe was used as a governmental tax.


Keep in mind that modern interpretations of the bible indicate that the references to "first fruits" apply to the giving of grain and other farm products to small churches in early biblical times. Current thought is that "first fruits" do not apply to your personal wages or personal wealth. In fact, there was no requirement for anyone to give a "first fruits" offering in cash or anything other than produce or grain. The term "tithe" refers to the ancient word for "ten percent" and current thought is that cash tithes are not required by "spiritual law".

Malachi is often pointed to as the authority for the giving of the tithe. However, current thought on Malachi is that the admonition to "bring your tithes into my storehouse" applies to the CLERGY who at that particular time in history were lining their pockets with the tithes and offerings the congregation gave them (Malachi chapter 2 starts with: And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. Then goes on for a long time about all the things ministers better stop doing and what's gonna happen to them if they don't. "Robbing the storehouse meat" is one of them).

Some things never change...

I don't want to start a holy war on the validity or non-validity of tithing here, so that's all I'll say about it.

Tithing at other churches is pretty straightforward. You give a tithe, if you can afford it, and the church uses it to help maintain the church and help others. Tithing at SRF is like nothing you will see in a legitimate church, however.

To SRF, tithing is the key to achieve financial prosperity. In order to thrive in life and attain true financial success and satisfaction, you must give to the "church". This concept is so important to SRF, that several publications and audio recordings are presented to the members to reinforce the concept of the tithe. The true believers dutifully give as directed.

Every year, there is a requirement to give a cash tithe equal to 10% to 30% of everything you own to SRF. In the SRF publication, "The Ultimate Prosperity - Tithing Demystified" p. 82 it says: "To start the process of tithing, you must begin with first fruits offering. First Fruits is the process of cleaning your slate to receive or preparing your foundation to build a strong house upon. The first fruits are done by making a tally of everything you own, from your house to your car to the furniture and socks in your dresser. You figure out their value and take 10-30% of this figure and give it to the place that is addressing the Supreme Being inside you to want to tithe".

As it was explained to me, the above all means that you have to pay at least 10% of EVERYTHING YOU OWN, including your home, retirement account, savings, car and even the clothes on your back. This payment is made every year, even if you made a first fruits payment the previous year.

In addition, the first two weeks of your year's salary are due as a first fruits payment. Your entire gross paycheck for the first two weeks of the year, before taxes is due to SRF.

The tithe is so important to SRF dogma, that every month, a class is held to educate and reinforce the message of giving a tithe. The message of giving your first fruits payment as well as a regular tithe is always prominent. People are sent in front of the membership often to testify about how throwing away their hard earned wages or paying the church a cut of their personal property has actually made them oh so prosperous and happy.

Those members are happy, at least, on Sundays when they give their testimony on the benefits of tithing. The end of the month, however, brings about a whole different situation.

I spoke to ex-members who have stopped tithing their hard-earned wages, savings and other investments. They have been more prosperous and financially comfortable since leaving the Spiritual Rights Foundation. No more sweating out the end of the month, no more scrambling to earn more income, no more late bills and no more stress about money.

So, I guess there is a relationship between tithing and prosperity.

Tithe the SRF way and you wind up less prosperous.

Stop tithing the SRF way and you become more prosperous.

That story is only one of many. Several members of the church have been forced to file for personal bankruptcy or suffer immense financial difficulty for years on end in the belief that first fruits and tithing will make them prosper someday.

They are still waiting for that day to arrive. In the meantime, they are beat over the head with admonishments to bring their "tithing space into present time" (meaning to pay up or, uh, yeah, just pay up). If they don't or can't, they are held up to the congregation as losers with "low havingness" who are broke and directionless because they weren't paying money to the Spiritual Rights Foundation (who, according to the Bishop, is the Earthly incarnation of "Jesus Effing Christ" and you'd better not piss off Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin as they are Mr. Effing Christ's holy representatives).

In any event, despite their imposition of oppressive demands for your earnings, assets and any damn thing you might have of value (I heartily believe after they bleed your bank account dry, they would bleed you dry at a monthly mandatory blood drive - blood brings in good money, you know) SRF denies any responsibility for one's personal poverty - that is the fault of the poor bastard who fell for the con game promising heavenly riches in return for a mere 10% tithe, $350 class fee, $1000 apartment rent, $350 weekend retreat fee, $100 meal fee, $100 special class fee, $200 very special class fee, and a $300 exclusively special special class fee - every damn month.  Don't worry - it's all tax deductible...
Anyway, think about this scheme: you pay out to SRF 10% of the value of your home every year. How long before the entire value of your home winds up in SRF's hands? What about your retirement account? Your car? How about that first two weeks of salary? Can you afford to lose 10% of your hard earned wealth every year?  When a 1% to 3% drop in the stock market causes worldwide concern, what would a 10% reduction cause?  Why aren't the faithful few at the Academy for Psychic Studies concerned?

Oh right... they don't own a damn thing anymore.  My bad...

I own my home. I have a good deal of equity in my home. Owning a home is a hard-fought accomplishment for any person. Buying a car is a big deal as well. Using the market value of my home as a basis, I'd have to pay SRF more than twice the national average wage in America. Each year. At that rate, it would take only a few years to deplete the equity of my home to the point where no more financing could be obtained. After that, the house will need to be sold. And that sale will incur an additional tithe to SRF.

Did I also mention that every equity loan obtained to pay the previous year's tithe is also subject to a tithe to SRF? According to "The Ultimate Prosperity - Tithing Demystified" you are required to pay a tithe on your debts.

If you purchased a shiny new car for about 25K, you'd owe $2500 or more to SRF year after year. Never mind if you are financing your new car over five years, putting you in the hole for at least the first two years. Never mind that the car is worth less than the price you paid as soon as it left the lot. You owe SRF a payment based on the full brand-new value of that car even though you still owe the bank for it.

If you get a new credit card, congratulations! According to "The Ultimate Prosperity - Tithing Demystified", you have the honor of paying 10% to 30% of your credit line to the Spiritual Rights Foundation.

They want 10% to 30% of everything you own, including your debts, right down to your skid-marked underwear.

Now, here is the perverted part: tithing is presented to the membership as a way to gain personal prosperity and wealth.

If you read "The Ultimate Prosperity - Tithing Demystified" you will see that you will become prosperous only if you give your first fruits and tithe to that person or church who told you about tithing.

According to the logic that only SRF can justify, because I told you about "The Ultimate Prosperity - Tithing Demystified" YOU now owe SRF 10% of your personal possessions, cash and credit lines each year, the first two weeks of salary you earn each year, as well as 10% of the income you receive the rest of the year.

I haven't seen anyone yet get rich by dumping 10% of his asset value every year. Have you? Bill Gates may be unloading his wealth because he can but can you?

And another astonishing leap of reason, the Spiritual Rights Foundation defines prosperity as a diamond with four facets. Only one of them is financial. The rest have nothing to do with money. And according to them, you can be prosperous even without a nickel to your name. Good thing. Most people there can't rub two nickels together.

So as you complain about the poverty you live in after dumping your paycheck on classes, workshops, special workshops, special classes, donations, special donations as well as SRF learning materials on top of your tithe, you would be pointed to the prosperity you nearly achieved in the other three aspects of prosperity then directed to attend a $200 retreat to ensure that near-prosperity may be embedded in your aura.

The members of SRF are generally regular working people who live on their paycheck like most regular people. That 10% (or more) of the "first fruits" payment of all their assets per year, the first two weeks of their earnings of the year (BEFORE TAXES) going straight to the holy Spiritual Rights Foundation, with another 10% with every paycheck (again BEFORE TAXES) is a big kick in the head (or maybe the wallet).

And having a cash payment of 10% of your entire worth (the concept of NET worth isn't recognized at SRF) due every year is a difficult burden when you have already thrown out 10% of your paycheck, before taxes, and pay out hundreds of dollars a month for church classes and even more to pay for church facilities.

These funds are going somewhere. For all that money coming in, where is it going?

Remember the purpose of a tithe: to develop the church facilities and reach out to those who are in need. That, at least, is the purpose of most church funds.

SRF, the church, does no outreach or charitable activity. SRF does not disclose where the tithe is being spent. However, it seems the church leadership stays up to their eyeballs in new cars, new clothes, credit cards and all the creature comforts of life. One of them has a personal steam room, hardwood floors, skylights and cedar-lined closets in her church-supplied home courtesy of the now-defunct church-owned "business", Liberty Construction. The membership struggles to maintain the small apartments (located in a notoriously bad part of Berkeley, known for gang activity and gun violence) rented from the church.

SRF also "owns" properties across the nation (even Hawaii). Most properties are "managed" by by an entity called "Freedom Estates". Ms. Angela Silva is President of the Spiritual Rights Foundation and also, coincidentally, president of Freedom Estates.

One property is the "Blue Sky Ranch" located in Bethel Island, CA. This ranch was often touted in the SRF newspaper, church bulletins as the church's place for the people and is a featured "retreat space" owned by the church for the benefit of the SRF faithful. The Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder's office reports Ms. Silva, NOT SRF, owns the "Blue Sky Ranch" in Bethel Island. There is no mention of the Spiritual Rights Foundation owning that property. It's not held in trust for SRF either. Official records show it's owned by Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin alone.

To support the activity concocted at the Blue Sky Ranch, the leaders cajoled, browbeat and embarrassed their flock to give, give, give to show their faith, trust and support of the church. Too bad that "donation" went to support anything but helping our community.

Members of the Spiritual Rights Foundation donated money to the Spiritual Rights Foundation for the purchase of and maintenance of the Blue Sky Ranch, believing the property was owned by their church, not by the leaders. The members of the church donate their labor (without pay) to Ms. Silva's Blue Sky Ranch, making improvements on the property, maintaining the grounds or providing care and support for the ranch's livestock. Other times, they were shamed into giving money to feed animals or for anything else happening on the Blue Sky Ranch. "Don't you want to give to your church?" was the usual taunt.

They left out the "Didn't you realize I own the Blue Sky Ranch?" part.

One person was not only shamed but pretty well exploited into hauling away a huge truckload of Robin Dumolin and Angela Silva's holy trash from their ranch to the dump as often as the leaders wanted him to - which was pretty much every time he showed up. The dump was some distance away (about a half-tank of gas) and charged a pretty good price to drop off garbage. Some runs cost this person hundreds of dollars. After asking for reimbursement of his expenses (or at least something to help ease the oppressive costs) he was given the usual "Don't you want to give to your church?" admonishment. When he pushed back, there were vague promises to reimburse his costs but nothing ever materialized.

So, you think someone is "robbing the storehouse meat"?


I think the guy dumping the SRF garbage is wondering the same.



I wonder what may have happened if all that money paid as tithes and all the items, work and services that were "donated" went to charity instead? Or what would happen if even a portion of it went to charity. Doesn't a church have the duty to serve? I mean serve the community - not the people at the top.

Can't a church who pounds out 10% to 30% of their follower's income and assets find 10% to 30% of its own largess to feed hungry children, help parents make a better living for their families, fund an after-school program or help people in need with items they need to just live?

And can't a church who so proudly touts to their followers they are involved in a spiritual community honor the community they live in as this church does:

click to enlarge

Why doesn't the Spiritual Rights Foundation give to those in need and to their neighboring community as many churches do?  Isn't a tithe given to a church intended for far more than to pursue prosperity?  

At any rate, it looks like the tithe the members are giving is prospering someone here. You tell me who that might be.

If you would like to prosper the SRF way, I heartily recommend you purchase a copy of the Spiritual Rights Foundation's "The Ultimate Prosperity - Tithing Demystified".


If you'd like to participate in giving a tithe, don't let me stop you. Just know what you are getting into when you pony up.

And think of how your tithe will come back to you as prosperity, health, wealth or unlimited supply: you could tithe "The Ultimate Prosperity - Tithing Demystified" down the porcelain throne of prosperity. That's where I tithed mine. And the entirety of that tithe came back to me while I was snaking out the toilet. I even got back more of the same with it!