"Now no one can be slaving for two lords, for either he will be hating one and loving the other, or he will be upholding one and despising the other. You cannot be slaving for God and mammon"
Matthews Account 6: 24, Concordant New Testament
I noticed the other night on a feed I was watching a montage of different mainstream church pastors glorifying the fact that they were rich. Not only that, but they proclaimed that if their congregations increased their tithing, that they would prosper as well. There was Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar (Yes, that's his name) all glorifying the glory of the almighty dollar. Welcome to the prosperity gospel. This is the home of the ornate mega church and the upper income church leadership. The first I had ever heard of this type of belief was in a former church of mine when they began to speak of the "Name it and claim it" idea. Simply put, pulling passages from the scriptures that the Lord will provide, they insist that His children can indeed ask for anything, even wealth. Now, I never personally prayed that the Lord would supply wealth unto me, but I do admit to praying for various needs. In my opinion, this is just one more way in which man has corrupted the mainstream church for his own gain. Many believers are unfamiliar with the practice of the tithe. The tithe, as those of the days of old knew it, was meant to support the Levite temple priests whose sole occupation was that of functionaries of the temple. These Levites were responsible for the upkeep of the temple and the teaching of the nation of Israel. They were far from rich. This was the original intent of the tithe. However, these days that intent has been hijacked to include everything from new church buildings to ministry events. All of this, of course, on top of the pastors salary. Growing up, it was common knowledge that the pastoral ministry was not a profession which people chose to get rich. On the contrary, it was a calling. Those who entered the pastoral field were often "Led" to do so by the spirit. Financial gain was not the motivation. Serving the Lord was something many were led to do.
Will a human defraud Elohim? For you are defrauding Me. Yet you say, in what way do we defraud you? In the tithe and the heave offering! With a curse you curse Me, and Me you are defrauding - the nation, all of it. Bring the entire tithe to the treasure house, and viands shall come to be in My house. And test Me, indeed in this, says Yahweh of hosts, if I will not open for you crevices in the heavens and I empty for you a blessing until there is insufficient storage.
Malachi 3: 8-10, Concordant Old Testament
In recent history, the institutional church has done an excellent job of using the scriptures found in Malachi to bestow guilt and shame unto their congregations when the tithing totals are not where they think they should be. I can recall more than a few Sunday mornings where the senior pastor would lay down a "Tithing challenge" to those in the congregation in an effort to get them to give more. This challenge even included the "Guarantee" that if they increased their giving and the Lord did not bless them financially that the church would reimburse them for what they gave in extra tithing. I can recall more than a few lower income families who scrimped and saved extra money to tithe in the hopes of Gods financial blessings. I was never on board for this. It didn't take long for me to see these tithing challenges for what they really were, the churches attempt for financial gain. Now, if the pastor would have simply put the word out that the church needed funds for building maintenance I probably would have reacted with less skepticism, but this was a shakedown. I have heard stories of a few families who were struggling financially and ended up asking the pastor for their refund on their tithe and the pastor doing his part to convince them to "Give God more time." It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see through this smoke screen. The prosperity gospel has never been about the prosperity of the church of Christ Jesus, but the financial gains of a few.
~Scott~
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