I am not fond of a church 501(c)(3) status. The money changers love it.

I realize that the government is supposed to be a servant of the Lord. The Church is supposed to be the of the Lord, as well. There are issues I see with churches having a tax exempt status. There has been a lot of abuse with that status in the name of freedom of religion. There are tax breaks for ministers that most people do not get. I had some web sites bookmarked for years. One of them dealt with churches and 501(c)(3) status. Unfortunately, that URL no longer is valid, or I would link you there.

There are a lot of churches who do finances correctly. They are prudent with their money and respect how it is spent. Other ministries become the personal wealth machine of hucksters. That is one major reason why I left the Word of Faith Movement (WOF) in the mid 1990's. I have no problem with apostolic authority, but I do have a problem with stacking the deck of a ministry's board of directors with family and/or "yes men". It is the unfortunate consequence of tax exempt status that a not for profit corporation has to have a board. I have seen some churches with only family on the board.

It is sad to see that people make money off the fears of others. WOF preachers scare parishioners into tithing and giving to "the man of God" so that they will themselves be blessed. Of course those tithes and offerings can go to no other ministers much less fellow believers or God will be angry at them and curse them. I sat through a lot of sermons to that end, as well as read plenty of books teaching those heresies. Yes, I believe that God honors your giving and blesses you for it. I do not, however, believe that people are going to be cursed by God if they do not give 10% of their income to their local congregation. I live under a new covenant, established upon better promises. Nonetheless, these WOF preachers will pull all sorts of cursings out of the Old Testament to back their claims. The most popular is the old Malachi 3:10. However, you never hear those preachers share the intended recipients of the message. I am not a Jew, I never was a Jew, and never was under the Law.

The sad truth is that people who often can not pay their own bills ignorantly pour money into the pockets of such charlatans, believing that God will honor their faithfulness and owes them more money in return, as if there is a formula or equation in Heaven to follow. I have seen poor people give money when they could not afford groceries of to pay the electricity bill with the expectation that God will bless them mightily. Years later, they are still poor. Do not get me wrong. I do believe that God does honor giving. He is not obligated, however, to honor a covenant that is not yours to begin with or giving in fear of his wrath.

Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Jesse Duplantis, Jerry Savelle, Benny Hinn, Robert Tilton, Marilyn Hickey, Oral Roberts, Frederick Price, John Avanzini, Morris Cerullo, E.W. Kenyon, and a host of others preach the "name it and claim it" gospel; the "blab it and grab it" theology, or the health and wealth gospel. Pick your term, I don't care. You see many of these same people and their ilk on television regularly. I have personally met some of them, been in their services, read their books, etc. Had I compromised, I would probably be a millionaire raking in millions of dollars every year and have a world wide TV ministry. God would not let me do so, and for that I am grateful. Thank you, Lord, for your grace and your mercy.

Side note: I am reminded of a joke.

A Christian Scientist and a WOF preacher both died and ended up in Hell. They both looked around at their surroundings and figured out their location. The Christian Scientist started confessing, "There is no such thing as Hell. There is no such thing as Hell. There is no such thing as Hell." The WOF preacher started confessing, "I'm in Heaven. I'm in Heaven. I'm in Heaven."

Those who understand the theologies involved will enjoy that one.

For some time now, the US Congress, having solved all other major issues in the country, have decided to start auditing and questioning televangelists and their ministry finances. I realize as well as anyone that there is a serious First Amendment consideration here. However, keep in mind that we are talking about a 501(c)(3) corporation here, not just a ministry. There is supposed to be some degree of accountability. Rest assured that if there is no accountability now, there will be in the future, and that will be to the supreme judge.

I believe it to be wrong that the IRS can threaten to take away the tax exempt status for a preacher that makes political statements in the pulpit. There is a righteous standard that a minister is supposed to uphold. Those standards transcends into politics. If the government is ordained of God, then we have a responsibility to ensure that the proper ethics are employed in selecting leaders who will exemplify God's character and nature. Not only that, but there is an abridgment of First Amendment freedom of speech when preachers are disallowed to preach righteousness to their congregations and encourage them to vote according to their ethics that are based upon their faith.

When people abuse their authority, then they must face the minister of God, as enumerated in Romans 13. When a church or para-church organization abrogates their responsibilities and fails to pay their employees, they have legal issues, not just church issues. When a charter is handed out by the state, the state can regulate and hold you accountable. For instance, a pastor I know was purchasing a radio station and failed to live up to his end of the purchase agreement. He owed several employees, myself included, thousands of dollars in back wages. One man was owed ten fold of what I was owed. That pastor insisted that nobody could sue him. Well, it is not exactly easy to go before a church when he runs that church body. I sued a corporation. Had that same pastor not committed perjury by lying his butt off in court about his involvement and stake in the operations of that radio station, he would have lost that lawsuit. He had to resort to dishonesty to win. That is sad. Here some of us employees had to move out of our housing because we were not getting paid, some had not even enough gas money to show up for work or get home, and others ran up debt to help keep the radio station going. Promises were made but not kept, and we all suffered. Sin affects other people.

I weep for my brethren who are still mired in WOF theology. There were people that I loved dearly that were and may still be stuck in the preaching of manna and false hope for healing. I believe in healing. I have personally laid hands on the sick and injured and watched them be healed before my very eyes. The problem with WOF teaching is that they proclaim that if you are not healed, it is their own fault for not having sufficient faith to be healed. What a crock of BS. If someone calls for an elder of the church and asks for prayer and laying on of hands to be healed, then according to James chapter 5, the prayer of faith is the burden of the elder, not the one who is sick. That is the great heresy. Blaming someone else for your inaccurate theology to the detriment and possible destruction of the afflicted just pisses me off royally.

I have seen this many times. One such instance stands out in my mind in that a church held a healing service. There were ads on the radio asking for anyone who is sick to attend this special anointed healing service. I should know, I made the ads. After a message delivered about having faith to be healed, one person came up in a wheelchair asking for God's healing touch. After struggling to her feet and the pastor laying hands on the woman, she was none the better. The pastor actually chided the woman for not having sufficient faith to be healed. As I recall, he told her to go study about having faith sufficient for her healing. I was disgusted, but I could not vent my frustrations at the time.

That same pastor taught more than once that if you did not tithe, that you were a "God robber" according to Malachi 3:10 and that as a thief, you would go to Hell. Funny, that same verse talks about extortioners. Obtaining money from people under a false or even real threat of punishment or retribution is extorting from people.

Main Entry: ex·tort
: to obtain from a person by force, intimidation, or undue or illegal power : wring; also
: to gain especially by ingenuity or compelling argument

It is not hard for me to equate WOF teachers with the money changers in the temple during Jesus' time. They twisted the law, extorted money, and made profit from the people of God. It is ironic that Jesus said, "make not my Father's house an house of merchandise" and yet when you go to many churches, there are book stores, tapes, CDs, videos, and books for sale of the preacher, singing group, or guest evangelist for sale. I have seen one particular preacher hock his books for some fifteen or twenty minutes. I have been in services where a so called prophet claimed to have a word from God as to how much money people should give that night. Another night, the special word from God was to take out your largest denomination bill and give it in the offering and you would get a 1000 fold increase by the end of the week. Another night he said that the Lord showed him that someone in the audience was keeping a $100 bill tucked away in his wallet in case a special need or occasion came up and that God instructed for him to give it in the offering. I saw this guy several times and it was amazing that in two totally different services in two different locations, God amazingly gave the exact same words of knowledge about money squirreled away in wallets and giving the largest size bill. Because I did not tolerate that crap or want any part of it, I was removed as a deacon in one church.

Not surprisingly, those who deal loosely with the truth or are downright deceived about the truth about money have a real motivation to keep these things private. Jim Bakker can attest to that. Somewhere here at the house, I have a recording of his first message after he got out of prison. I have his book, I Was Wrong on my book shelf. One by one, dirty ministers are being exposed. I wrote about one earlier this week.

Kenneth Copeland is refusing to let Congress see his ministry finances, hiding behind the First Amendment. He has some validity to his claim there, however I firmly believe that if the government is the one chartering a non-profit organization then they have the right to inspect to ensure that it is indeed non-profit. There is more than accountability to God, there is accountability in this world. Since Copeland elected to use the world's system to obtain tax exemption, he is bound to be accountable to that same system. Hiding behind the pretense of ministry and freedom of religion is might shady and casts a dubious light upon him, not that there was not one already.

The Bible has a stern warning about people who teach about greed and wealth. They usually covet it themselves. Convincing others that they will be wealthy by giving to your own ministry is self serving and as I pointed out earlier, extortion.

Here is one parting thought about those who extort money from the flock. I call it fleecing the sheep.

1Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into [this] world, [and it is] certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and [into] many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Dealing with violence

In our church men's group last night, we were discussing the topic of violence. The men's group has been reading the book, The Measure of a Man. This week, we discussed chapter 12, which dealt with violent behavior and attitudes. We had a great discussion, and many of the guys were transparent with one another. We talked a lot about sin and righteousness, anger and violence. I have been pondering such topics as the WWJD (what would Jesus do) philosophy, since a dear friend of mine and I have been talking about it this morning. I have been measuring my thoughts and attitudes, my answers, my actions, and such the past several days. I admit I am not perfect; I never claimed to be.

One can be violent in speech and not violent in deeds. Make no mistake, sometimes people deserve violent words. They may not respond well and the one dishing out the words may have the wrong motive and want retribution. Words are one way some people find that retribution. I admit that I am guilty of that. Also in those violent words can be the expression of righteous indignation, albeit encapsulated in carnal ways. Just recently, meaning in the past couple of days, I have been dealing with a great deal of hypocrisy from someone with whom I used to be very close. I admit that I let some sarcasm enter in.

In some cultures, the base of humor is sarcasm and there is generally no harmful intent. It is understood by both parties to be jesting lightheartedly. Other times, it can be mean or violent, especially when the recipient is not of that bent of a sense of humor. Intellectual victories feel real good, but are they worth it? I struggle with that, I admit. Such is how I may display indignation, irritation, and the declaration that regardless of what you have done to me I am moving on.

As I said, the book deals with those subjects, and I admit that I fall short. I am no stranger to lively discussion or argumentation. For the most part, I do not seek strife. It seems to find me. Quite often, I merely comment upon something in society, as I am a blogger and newspaper columnist. I have opinions. Yes, I judge (and Christians ARE supposed to judge, contrary to common misconception and excuses). There is a fine line, I guess, between having an opinion and being a shmuck.

When talking about being violent in the study, I thought of this:

Being wary of false prophets

Perhaps I am too sensitive to the topic of the false amongst the flock of God. I have met some of the people who are big named ministers today. I have had the opportunity to have meals with, be involved with, listen to, and correspond with several such ministers over the years. I lost a position as a deacon because I refused to sit under a false prophet's teachings during a revival. I left a couple of churches because of their false teachings. I have even been thrown out by those with false teachings. One was a congregation I helped found.

A friend of mine who has seen many of the same things I have seen with false prophets called me over a month ago about some revival going on in Florida. The revival is on television on some obscure satellite network that I do not get on cable. It is also web cast on the internet. My friend named a few ministers who are involved in this "revival". I personally have been around one of the names he mentioned and knew from whence this man came. I sat for several days right behind him in a prayer gathering in Jacksonville, Florida that lasted several days. I saw this man "in action" so to speak, as he was one of the "one and twenty elders" as I termed them. 21 people that the lady who organized the meeting felt were at the "forefront of the prophetic ministry" were guests and acted as elders to judge every prophetic word or deed in that meeting.

What the leader missed was that there were people who walked much deeper in that office or anointing that were sitting in the pews than the ones she hand picked. Of course she did not know those people, but it was not hard to pick them out by the Spirit of God.

I watched as this particular man, who is on the internet a lot and if I mentioned his name, many Charismatic believers would know exactly who I was writing about and the company he keeps. I will say that I witnessed some way off judgment, a lack of maturity in the very subject they were supposed to be elders and the forefront of, and some serious control/posturing by the one and twenty.

Another man who is at this revival is Todd Bentley. I have seen his name on the internet quite a bit. I have checked out his web site and heard a bit of his teachings. Today, the Religion News Blog had an article on Mr. Bentley which I find curious.

I have seen and heard many ministers that had great claims in the faith. They had alleged healings, allegedly raised the dead, and performed miracles. Hey, I have not raised the dead, but I have seen healings and what some would consider to be miracles at my own hand. I have heard claims of men talking with angels. One such man in particular was Mack Timberlake. The same claims are being made by Bentley.

The Religion News Blog asks a simple question. Where is the evidence supporting his claims? That is a reasonable question. I have no problem with the idea of making claims that are true. I just made a few in my post about my own self. Nonetheless, Bentley is preaching to thousands, maybe millions. He is making some grandiose claims of things way out of the ordinary. Apparently, he has had to distance himself from the revival after an expose on network television.

From the RNB piece:

Bentley told stories of remarkable healings. In fact, he claims that in his ministry 30 people have now been raised from the dead. Are these stories credible? A common pattern in his accounts of healing was an absence of specificity. Bentley claims that one man, unembalmed, had been dead for 48 hours and was in a coffin. When the family gathered around at a funeral home, the man knocked from inside the coffin to be let out.

But what are the specifics? Who was this man? What’s his name? Where’s the death certificate? And why not parade the man at Bentley’s meetings? If I am ever raised from the dead through anyone’s ministry, you can be sure I’ll put in a guest appearance. Bentley claims that he is having a team investigate healings performed under his ministry and will soon go public with the evidence.

It is people like this that give the rest of Christendom a bad name. I believe in tongues, prophecy, healing, and miracles. I have often said that the prophetic ministers in the church have shot themselves in the foot and ruined things for those who came after with a legitimate and mature gifting. The same goes for healing evangelists and others. It is sad that in order to find sound teaching, I have to fellowship with cessationalists, meaning those who believe that such spiritual gifts are no longer for today.

Here is a video on Youtube that is on one of the web pages I linked you to.


I weep for the Church because of things like this. I stayed away from Christianity for years because of such people. After getting saved, I hung out with such people. After learning to discern the true from the false, I again separated myself from the Church for years, but not before I attempted to have regular, sustained fellowship with different groups and after seeking something different. I ran across hyper critical pastors, hypo critical ones, ignorant people, some apathetic ones, and some just plain heretics. After beating your head against the wall for years, it makes you want to withdraw.

For the past 8 or 9 months, I have been fellowshipping in two different churches. One of which I decided that I would no longer attend regularly because of its leadership, control, and lack of fellowship. The other I have attended more regularly since and have become fairly involved. As much as I love miracles, healings, signs, and wonders, I have a great appreciation for doctrine. I find it ironic that those who major on the gifts of the Spirit often lack the fruit of the Spirit. Those who major on developing the fruit often never experience the gifts. What irony. I have been attending a solid, evangelical congregation for a while, and have enjoyed the participation and fellowship that has been growing amongst the brethren. I need to step up my fellowship with other believers, and so I should probably do so soon. I will still feel like Jeremiah and weep over those who are duped by the false, though. It not only makes me sad, but indignant with a righteous anger within.

What a scumbag.

Sometimes, people amaze me. I did a lot of illegal and crazy stuff as a youth, myself. Some things, however, I would not do. I admit to stealing a bunch of traffic signs, and my favorite ones were "SLOW CHILDREN" signs. Why advertise that you have stupid kids in the neighborhood? However, I would not have stolen stuff like an American flag.

I was reading a news story on WTSB's news page about some scumbag(s) who stole American flags from in front of a church. They were for Memorial Day commemoration. That is just plain low.

Mayor Seeks Return Of US Flags Stolen From Selma Church
Selma Mayor Charles Hester is hopeful thieves who stole 8 US flags on display for Memorial Day will do the right thing and return them. The flags and two flag stands were stolen from the front of Selma Baptist Church sometime between May 24 and May 27. The items were owned by Mayor Hester who had placed them in front of the church in honor of veterans who fought to protect our country. In a report, Hester told Selma police he hopes the items, valued at $260, will be returned. Anyone with information about the missing US flags is asked to contact Selma Police at 919-965-8189.

Worth the watch. Church history in short

And if you like Gilbert and Sullivan's "The HMS Pinafore", you will love this video.

"Christians" against Christianity

Hey, let's toss out everything we are supposed to believe according to scripture and make up our own moral code based upon what feels good and what we "think" Jesus would do. Never mind that the Bible is adamant about the topic of homosexuality. Why not let secular sources dictate our faith? Yeah, that's the ticket.

From The N&O:

Delegates to the annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina adopted a resolution asking the national body to support the full inclusion of gays and lesbians and to encourage development of liturgies to bless same-sex unions.

The resolution passed by a majority vote of the more than 700 delegates to the convention, which met in Greensboro on Friday and Saturday.

I really detest the "nicer than Jesus" mentality prevalent in most liberal theological circles. It is hypocritical, theologically ignorant, and mostly just plain secular humanism. I have no problems with hypocrisy as long as the perpetrator is up front about the hypocrisy and admits it. However, to be so and act as the holy standard bearer is abhorrent. I have my faults, even a few areas in which I am not really much of a standard bearer, but at least I recognize it and admit it. In other areas, I know I have it right.