The horses donated to Steven Lewis' ministry

[Breezy]

Here is a post from Bonnie on AT. She asks a huge amount of questions about the horses. Here is her long post:

bonnie
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Re: Approved SDA Media Outlet Publishes an Article about the IRS Investigation
« Reply #116 on: Today at 07:49:28 PM »

This really is more idle curiosity,but it still should be able to be answered. With the mere pittance received by DS and LS they had a very expensive hobby, tough to maintain on that pittance. To say nothing of donating some very expensive horses to another ministry.

Been a while since I was on the farm and maybe I have forgotten a few things. Fran or IRSPro should be able to correct me or clarify if I am wrong.

Wouldn't the donation of these two horses have to be donated to the ministry of Lewis? That would mean then Lewis also had a horse business but it was run thru his ministry. Who is Lewis and is he SDA? Can someone tell me why the Sheltons would rely on donations to pay their salary and then donate money or animals to another ministry?
These are not pets, no matter how fond of horses you are.
In order to purchase, breed and sell horses you have to have had them for more that a couple of months. It is not a fast turn around business or hobby.
On this relatively low salary where did the money come from before there was anything to sell?
If you take a look at a few figures it becomes hard to believe this was only a hobby.

94,000.00-roughly 80.00 a month to care for each horse x 15. That alone is almost 15,000.00 Not the purchase but the maintenance. Without grazing land it goes up from there. With grazing land the funds to fence it in would not be cheap. Horses take between 1-2 acres a day for grazing. If you are buying hay I know it has to be up from the 3.00 a bale we paid in the 80"S .
Then donate two of these expensive animals,those purchased out of pocket.
Then all those little incidentals in life
Insurance,home owners and auto and health insurance. Tithe, and I am assuming he pays tithe and offerings, another 10,000.00
Clothing,food, vehicles,the hundred and one things that make up a normal life.

Claiming on personal income tax of 94,000.00, 30,000.00 in charitable giving as would show on the tax form. Church and the anticipated 20,000.00 cash receipt. Without living expenses his personal income would show now at 64,000.00. Then deduct the daily cost and the purchase cost.


So I guess I am still left in the dark. Were the Sheltons audited on their personal income? re the horses considered part of the 3ABN ministry?There was something more than a pittance to set this up.
I personally dn't care what the salary of the Sheltons were, as long as it was clearly stated and they lived with those means in their personal lives

Still find it curious that of the three most vocal and staunchest defenders are now going mute. Not that difficult to answer and you have never cared till this question whether someone believed you or not, so why now??

BONNIE, I have the answer to your question. You did say you would believe us right? It never happened. Yes, Danny looked into the horse deal and then consulted with an accountant who let him know that he could not do this. So he didn't. Do I need to repeat myself here? IT NEVER HAPPENED!! Besides, when the IRS checked out Danny, they would have latched onto this one fast. But it never happened.

AND you wonder why no one answers you on AT? Most have been banned and their TRUTHFUL posts removed. When are you going to see Bonnie that you are on the wrong side?

[Breezy]

Now some over on AT are asking about Stephen Lewis. It was years ago that he spoke at 3ABN. I believe if people would watch the 3ABN programs they would find that 3ABN allows many different and various ministies to be interviewed and promoted on their TV channel.

Since Stephen Lewis was on 3ABN many years ago, I think it was only recently that he went independent of the General Conference of SDA's. I don't know how some over on AT seem to think they know that Danny donated to his ministry, but so what!! Who cares. I have no doubt at the time when donations were given to his ministry that things were well. I don't know what has happened since, maybe someone else on here does.

[Breezy]

Apparantly you didn't read the first post to Bonnie on this thread Mr. Joy.

Yes, DS consulted with an accountant about the horse deal, he did write about it but it NEVER actually happened. Zilch, zero, none! He did not go through with it because it was shown to him that he could not do this legally. The deal was never carried out in actuality. If it had been, the IRS would have caught it.

So your horse accusations are a moot point. You are wasting your time there.

[odie1962]

Here is a post from Bonnie on AT. She asks a huge amount of questions about the horses. Here is her long post:

Sorry if this was to many questions for you.

BONNIE, I have the answer to your question. You did say you would believe us right? It never happened. Yes, Danny looked into the horse deal and then consulted with an accountant who let him know that he could not do this. So he didn't. Do I need to repeat myself here? IT NEVER HAPPENED!! Besides, when the IRS checked out Danny, they would have latched onto this one fast. But it never happened.

No, I did not say I would believe you. I think what I said was more in line of it should be able to be answered.

You have answered virtualy nothing in this post. My questions concerning Stephan Lewis was more curiosity as I had never heard of him. I couldn't care less when the last time was he was at 3ABN. Not the point.
You claim it was ignorance that prompted the e-mail from DS to LS. Almost impossible as this was not DS first experience with buying/selling/donating what many of you claim is a hobby.

There can be explainations concerning this rather dubious transaction, but so far no one has stepped forward and provided such.

Just this donation alone provides some interesting speculation. Yes, that is what it is on my part, I cannot prove it but....


I believe DS did change his game plan concerning cash receipt vs appraised value of animal. I would have done so as well when it was made public in my own words what I wanted to do. I do not believe it was ignorance. Then DS and LS and Stephan Lewis, all engaged in this "hobby" had to be ignorant.
Then to donate to Stphan Lewis, I believe the donation would have had to go to the ministry or charitble org.

Surely if that was the case Stephan Lewis would have known better,it would have been his ministry. One upon receipt of the horses should have been given to DS,not after the fact. After the first year of this business, you learn very quickly what is legal and what is not. You are asking others to believe that DS never discussed this with his accountant. That, from being in this business I do not believe.
Stephan Lewis would have to have a horse business, profits dedicated to his non-profit status. So far, and maybe someone can correct me if I am wrong,I have not found where this man did have a non-profit horse business.
Then DS has to get the horses to him ,it looks like another state. Expensive business and would seriously erode any benefit the non-profit of Lweis would gain.

AND you wonder why no one answers you on AT? Most have been banned and their TRUTHFUL posts removed. When are you going to see Bonnie that you are on the wrong side?

No, I don't believe most have been banned for "truthful" statements and I know exactly which side I am on.

Frankly, I think 3ABN and the leaders of the anti-3ABN crowd deserve one another. It is unfortunate that they will take other's with them. Pretty evenly matched for having those that will gladly follow where ever they dictate. Both sides have sucessfully hired a water boy or two to carry the water

[Breezy]

Hello Odie:

The only reply I have is that I have said the truth whether you want to believe it or not. You had written over on AdventTalk that you would believe an explanation so I wrote an explanation. It gets tiring saying the same thing over and over again as it has been said before. But it matters not really if you don't believe me because it doesn't alter the truth of what I said. I would invite you to check it out for yourself.

[odie1962]

Hello Odie:

The only reply I have is that I have said the truth whether you want to believe it or not. You had written over on AdventTalk that you would believe an explanation so I wrote an explanation. It gets tiring saying the same thing over and over again as it has been said before. But it matters not really if you don't believe me because it doesn't alter the truth of what I said. I would invite you to check it out for yourself.

The only reply you can give is from DS and that is not a name I would take to the bank. It is fairly obvious from your postings that you do not have a working knowledge of a business such as this. The improbability that Lewis has a horse business that is a non-profit is mighty slim.
The logistics of this clearly escape you. You are repeating what you have been told. Having done a very similar business for 17 years there are several things that stand out about the claims concerning the horses
I put no faith in an anonymous poster. None. It could be the gospel truth, but I have nothing to gauge that by except those that wish to defend DS will only do so under anonymous.
Many times I put liitle faith in those that sign their name to a post, however it does provide a certain accountibility and provides a certain paper trail at least

[Breezy]

You are entitled to your opinion. I am anonymous for my own reasons and if you don't like that, I guess once again, you are entitled to your own opinion.

I just noticed you said my reply was from DS. My reply to you did not come from DS but why not? It is his horses afterall, isn't he the one that would know about his own horses? Is he not able to answer this question? Why don't you phone 3ABN and ask to talk to him. Get it straight from the horses mouth...pun intended.