Onstage in Fort Worth, Texas before thousands of believers weighed down by debt and economic insecurity, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland and their all-star lineup of “prosperity gospel” preachers delighted the crowd with anecdotes about the luxurious lives they had attained by following the Word of God.  Private airplanes and boats. A motorcycle sent by an anonymous supporter. Vacations in Hawaii and cruises in Alaska. Designer handbags. A ring of emeralds and diamonds.

“God knows where the money is, and he knows how to get the money to you,” preached Mrs. Copeland, dressed in a crisp pants ensemble like those worn by C.E.O.’s.

Large buckets were passed so that those in attendance could “sow their seed of faith”…and so that the Copelands and their fellow “ministers” could pad their pockets.

At the same time, on the other side of the globe in Pakistan, about 2,000 Pakistani Christians have been forced to live in a refugee camp.  Their only crime is that they are Christians, and among the displaced Christians, two have already died due to poor hygiene.

The displaced Christians told CNN correspondents, who visited them recently, that the government had kicked them off their land without warning only because they are Christian.  The 2,000 displaced Christians have ended up living in tents for the past three months in the middle of nowhere and in the scorching heat (110 degrees).  People are dying of poverty in this camp regardless of any religious strife, CNN reported. Two have died since the group settled here, and children lay totally exposed to the sun, suffering slowly.

My question to the Copelands and their partners in crime is this: “If God knows where the money is, and he knows how to get it to those in need, then why isn’t he doing it for these suffering believers in Pakistan?  Might it be that he has blessed you in order for you to be a blessing to people like this rather than for you to buy another car, boat, ring, or handbag?”

It’s inexcusable and a total shame that Christian leaders like the Copelands (and many others like them) would use their influence to pad their pockets with an ungodly amount of material excess while people all across the globe are living and dying in extreme poverty.  May God have mercy on all of us.