THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

For most people religion is source of guidance for their lives and comfort when they are troubled. For some it is just a big, fucking Gravy Train.

At a time when Inspiration Networks has been cutting jobs, freezing wages and even adjusting the office thermostat to save money, the chief executive of the Charlotte-area broadcaster has invested about $4million in a lakefront home under construction in South Carolina.

CEO David Cerullo's new house includes more than 9,000 heated square feet, along with a 2,000-square-foot screened porch, records show. It sits on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains west of Greenville in a gated community that overlooks Lake Keowee.

And it's shaping up to be one of the priciest houses in western South Carolina. On Realtor.com, just two homes in the greater Greenville area are on the market for more than $4 million.

But it is not just the usual suckers he draws from, no sir! He picked up a little corporate trick along the way.

Much of the network's money has been invested in a multimillion-dollar campus in Indian Land, S.C., just south of the Charlotte outerbelt in Lancaster County. That's where Inspiration is fighting for an exemption from property taxes on the 92-acre site, despite an S.C. revenue department ruling that it must pay them.

S.C. taxpayers are already helping to subsidize the project. In recent years, South Carolina offered the broadcaster incentives worth up to $26 million to land its City of Light campus.

Taxpayer advocates question the deal, particularly in light of Cerullo's salary and real estate holdings. “If they've got these kinds of assets, does the state really need to offer… tax breaks?” asked Don Weaver, president of the S.C. Association of Taxpayers.

Yup, get the taxpayers to subsidize you so you don't move your valuable self elsewhere.

And what, you may ask, is his particular gospel hook?

The broadcaster has raised tens of millions, largely by telling viewers that God brings financial favor to those who donate.

A white Reverend Ike, without the integrity.