A televangelist bought a building housing an adult retailer in the same city he operated his church, hoping to drive the tenant out. Yet thanks to an option to extend his lease through 2006 Video Pleasures owner Michael Friend seemed to have foiled the church.
Friend claims the Kingdom Life Christian Church, a non-denominational church, has raised his rent in an attempt to make money off of pornography.
Kingdom Life Bishop Jay Ramirez said the rent was legally raised according to fair market value, and the church has no interest in profiting from the adult business.
"If it drives him out, I’m not ashamed to say hallelujah," Ramirez told the New Haven Register.
Bishop Jay Ramirez is a televangelist who broadcasts his service throughout the Northeast on Fox and cable. He also appears from time to time on the Trinity Broadcast network. He oversees fifty churches.
The store’s rent was raised from $1,886 to $2,386 a month.
Friend offered to move out of the building if the church payed him $200,000 when Ramirez bought the church in June. After his rent was raised he lowered the buyout price to $50,000, saying it was to prove the church didn’t care about ridding the community of porn.
"They are not trying to get rid of me," Friend said. "They are trying to make money off of me." Friend said if the church doesn’t buy him out then he’ll stay in Devon.
Devon may have a point: Ramirez sells Gods Financial Plan: a 9-tape series of his sermons that illustrates that ”The Kingdom of God does have an economic system,” that you can learn for the “suggested donation” of $52.
