Hiring someone to be your spiritual mentor is a very big deal. After all, you are trusting this person to guide you in the right direction in life. You ask them for counsel, advice, you attend their meetings on a weekly basis. You take every effort to ensure that they are qualified, and that they are who they say they are.
After all, this is your life we are talking about. Not just your life, but the lives of your wife or husband, kids - your whole family. The advice and teachings that this person (or persons) gives can affect every single aspect of your life - depending on just how much trust and how much weight of influence that you give this person. The responsibility of exactly how much weight that you give this person (or persons) is one hundred percent your responsibility, because you are responsible (as is your spouse) for the well-being and care of your family first in every area. This includes physical care, emotional care, well being, mental health care, needs care, and overall general life care. You hire this individual (or individuals) as a service to better your lives in the physical and in the spiritual, believing first and foremost that they are exactly who they say that they are.
Some may take offense by my use of the word "Hire", but in reality, that's just about exactly what you're doing when it comes to selecting a church or pastor. You might hire a babysitter, or a cleaning service. You might even hire a butler or a personal servant, or hired help as a financial or personal manager as a true hire - but you aren't even going to think about paying one of these sorts of hired help anywhere near 10, 20 or as much as 30% of your gross income for these tasks. In this specific group of people associated with the Churches of God as founded by Herbert Armstrong - that's the minimum of what you are paying these people for their services.
In return for a full nearly one third of your income each year - if you make $100,000 a year, that's $30,000 a year - the amount you would pay in full for a decent new car every single year, think about that - or if you make $50,000 a year, that's $5,000 a year - the amount you'd pay for a used car for your son or daughter - you would think you would have expectations for a positive return, wouldn't you? Why, for that amount of money - probably the highest pay you'd ever give anyone for a service, EVER - they'd better be worth the hire.
In the Armstrong Churches of God, however, what kind of servants are many of the ministers of this Church that you've hired as your spiritual advisors?How would you rate them?
Let's put this another way. If you hired a babysitter for your child at a rate of 30% of your annual income, and that babysitter came into your house, and lied to you, talked down to you, belittled your children, claimed that they are in charge and you have nothing to say, and no input whatsoever, took over your household, commandeered your authority as the parent, and completely took over your life - what would you do? Well, first, I am sure that you would never, ever allow that to happen - that's ridiculous you would say. You'd never let someone who doesn't have that kind of authority assert such a claim of authority in your house. That's preposterous! Completely ridiculous.
The problem is - that's almost exactly what has happened with those who claim to be ministers of God in the Churches of God founded by Armstrong. Without qualification, on a bedrock of lies, deceit, and abuse - they have convinced you that they are the ultimate authority of your family, and not you - claiming divine right and calling while you pay them the highest rate for a service with little to no real return. And because they claim to have divine right, they claim bad things will happen to you if you do not do what they say or listen to them - and also use that power to control what others around you do in regards to their relationships with you and your family. This is what makes Armstrongism ministers so dangerous - the power that they convince those they "serve" that they have. In reality, you are paying them the highest possible fee for them to completely control and take over your family while they reap all the financial benefit and feed their unlimited pride and ego with absolutely unauthorized and abusive power that they have never had in the first place.
How do we know that we know that they have never had this power in the first place from the God that they claim that they serve? We KNOW that that is the case because of the scale of historical truth. We can know when they say something is going to happen in God's name - and it does not - that they are wrong and are not of God. We can know when they give advice that you follow in God's name and it turns out destructive or illogical or completely unreasonable - that they are wrong and are not of God. We can know if they are behaving in ways contrary to the fruits of the Spirit that they are not of the Spirit and have not been sent by God. We can know if they have been made aware or caught in illegal or immoral activity as many of them have without removing themselves from their position and without remorse or repentance that they are not of God. We know these things by measuring their claims against truth.
Yet what have they done when the truth has come out against them? They lie. They deceive. They redact. They explain away. They delay. They claim they did not say what they said. They spiritualize it all away. Then, when you show them what truth is, they turn it on you - saying you are the attitude, that you do not get it, and they use guilt, fear, threats, shame, lies, and any deceitful and cunning tactic under the sun to convince you that you are the problem and not them - all while pretending to serve you while taking the highest pay of any hire you could make of a servant - 30 percent of your income. And you say "yes, sir", and slink away, taking your seat, week after week, while your family and you yourself suffer under their umbrella of shackles and chains while they reap the benefits of your labor.
Let's call it what it really is. It's a con job, and if this sounds like something that sounds familiar in your life, and you believe you've been roped in by these slick, cunning, deceptive con-men - it is time for you to step up, take the reins of your family, and fire your so-called "spiritual help" and take back the control of your family that is rightfully yours. It is time for you to end the tyranny, to end the abuse, to end the illegal control and the spiritual extortion that these men have laid over you in God's name while the truth calls them out for what they are - liars, deceivers, thieves and destroyers. It is time for you to take your family back from the con and bring them to Jesus Christ.
"But where else am I going to go? What about my friends? I'm going to lose everyone I ever knew, they won't talk to me." It's a huge life change. It's hard. I know. It's difficult, I know. I've been through it, and I've lived through it. It's not an easy road. But let me tell you this - it's a better road now then if I had stayed on the road I was on for decades and decades to come - with the same lies, the same deception, the same carrot at the end of the stick. Is it really worth the tens of thousands of dollars you're giving them for twenty more years of absolute crap from men of evil? That's your call. That's your decision. That's between you and your God. The decision is hard all the way around. It's up to you in your situation to weigh the balance and to count the cost - and to see truth for truth, lies for lies, penny for penny - through the eyes, heart, mind, and the love of Jesus Christ for you and your family. No one can make that decision for you but you - and Christ, who lives in you, if you believe in Him.
Regardless of what any con-man has told you - Jesus Christ loves you, and wants the best for you and your family. He has dies so you may live, and have life. Jesus said HE is the Way and the Truth and the Life. Jesus said He will never leave you nor forsake you. Jesus wants you to talk to Him and His Father about any concerns you have. More than anything, He wants a relationship with you - a relationship that no man should ever try to get between, or usurp, or deny. Talk to Him tonight. And listen to Him. He (not I, not any so-called minister, not anybody) who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.
In the book of Jeremiah God said "For I know the plans I have for you, saith the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11) How much more in this, the age of reconciliation to God through the power of the Spirit?
It's time to talk to God and to stop listening to con-men.
You're paying 30% of your income for a spiritual con-man? I fired their lying butts decades ago, and I'm free of their absolute bull. You can be too. Talk to God. He'll speak.
And HE will break the chains and the strongholds as only He can.
SHT where do you attend now?
ReplyDeleteYou're paying 30% of your income....
ReplyDeleteNo, I'm not. It's 10-11% in most years, or 20-21% in "third tithe" years.
The second tithe (10%) is for members to use to celebrate Feast days. Last time I checked, COG pastors weren't running hotels in Panama City Beach or Branson on the side.
And ? When you go to daily services you come empty handed then ? And after the Feast don't you hand over whatever is left to your minister? So just think about that , and if you miss the feast in Flordia are you then handing that over to your minister ? Once you have truthfully answered these questions, you will find that you are tithing !
DeleteI tried to fire the IRS but they still won't go away. :p
ReplyDeleteThe tithe/tenth was only inheritance. It was never from income. I hope this gets spread around more. It's directly from the bible.
ReplyDeleteIsrael got land as an inheritance:
Among these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names. - Num 26:53
The tithe to the Levites was their inheritance.
Then the LORD said to Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel. - Num 18:20
It was never money. And if you didn't have land you didnt pay a tithe.
Also if it was money how could you redeem money with money?
Leviticus 27:31 NKJV — ‘If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one-fifth to it.
Also if it was money how could you sell it?
Deuteronomy 14:25 NKJV — “then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses.
The tithe was never money that is a modern teaching.
You really nailed it with this article. These con men are truly deceptive. They quote Mal.3:10 and accuse the flock of robbing God, when in fact, if you read the entire book, you will see that it is directed to the priests of that day.
ReplyDeleteDon't be fooled. READ the ENTIRE book and say good riddance to these thieves.
Anonymous Feastgoer said...
ReplyDeleteYou're paying 30% of your income....
No, I'm not. It's 10-11% in most years, or 20-21% in "third tithe" years
You must have an easy COG you are attending. The church I attend pressures much more money out of the members. First and third are a basis, but there is 10% that comes out of 2nd tithe which is termed tithe of tithe. Then there is the extraction of "excess" 2nd tithe. The running total would now be 24% of income. Then there is mandatory fund raising which is basically selling each other heavily marked up products so the last bit of profit goes to the church. That would be 1% of income and now we are at 25% total. Then there is Holy Day offerings. 2.5% is a minimum but closer to 5% now because it is the end time. The running total is now 27.5% - 30%. Then there is the emergency fund and building fund. That is another 1% which puts us at 28.5% - 31%. Then there are the expected freewill offerings because if you only do that which you are required - you know the scripture . That would be 1.5% and put our running total at 30% - 32.5%. Then there is the first fruit offerings from the garden or farm which ad 1.5% - 5% to the total which is now at 31.5% - 37.5% for many members.
So it is 21.5% - 27.5% in non third tithe years and 31.5% - 37.5% in third tithe years for many in at least one COG.
The naked pastor is just a hater who bashes Christianity. Most Christian ministers are highly underpaid considering their level of education, but he bashes them all. Why don't people bash the really dangerous and controlling religions like Islam and Judaism? No, they mostly leave them alone.
ReplyDeleteHow about the cut from the approved hotels? Have you ever checked their normal rates especially when you add in AAA or AARP?
ReplyDeleteFeastgoer wrote:
ReplyDeleteLast time I checked, COG pastors weren't running hotels in Panama City Beach or Branson on the side.
No, they aren't. What they are doing is making members stay in $70/night hotel rooms instead of $50/night rooms, then making deals with the $70 hotel to get free rooms for the COG pastors. Between higher hotel rates, activity fees, "tithe-of-the-tithe" and other expenses, a significant portion of "your" Festival tithe ends up going to the ministry rather than to your enjoyment of the Festival.
Feastgoer, please consider something. First I want to preface this by saying that last year I kept my 52nd Feast of Tabernacles and next month will be my 36th Passover, so I'd say we have a lot of beliefs in common. And no, to anyone who thinks I do any of that to gain favor with God, obeying God, whether you have to or not earns no favor. If we do what we're told to do we are unprofitable servants.
ReplyDeleteWho received the tithe in Israel? The Levites, the Levitical priesthood. What does the bible say that followers of Jesus "ARE" right now? A Royal priesthood. Did priests ever pay tithes? The 10% of the tithe that went to the sons of Aaron was not a payment of tithes by the Levites, for the sons of Aaron were also Levites. That 10% was merely their portion. No, priests have never paid tithes. Why do you?
Please also consider this. If tithing was a law from creation then why did God allow Jacob to broker a deal with him concerning a law? I can just imagine what God would say if Jacob said to God "If you bless me then I promise not to murder".
What gall! How dare he make such a deal. Yet he did if tithing was a law. "If you bless me then I will give you 10%" and God blessed him. Again just imagine if he'd used any other law as his brokering tool.
"God, if you bless me then I promise that I won't try to sleep with every woman that I see". What would God's response be to that deal?
I'm not saying that we shouldn't financially support anything if we're receiving something from it. Go ahead send your church money, but it's not a law that we tithe. Especially not to a so called spiritual Levite who demands the tithe. God says the tithe is his, any group demanding a tithe is robbing God.
If you still believe that you should tithe then send that money to St. Jude or the Shriners. Then one day Jesus can say to you "I was dying of cancer and you healed me"!
Kevin McMillen
Feastgoer, as far as the tithe for the feast you need to realize that what we do is merely tradition. Going to a vacation resort for eight days is tradition, Tradition, TRADITION!
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying stop doing it because I love it, but I know it's not commanded. I could keep the feast at home if I chose. If you think it's commanded to go somewhere then you better head off to Jerusalem each year.
Orange Beach, Kissimmee, Myrtle Beach, etc. are not "a place chosen by God".
We are not commanded to save 10% of our income to keep the Feast. Don't misunderstand me please, as I said, last year I kept my 52nd Feast, we went to the U.K. but the money that I spent came from my savings, it wasn't second tithe.
I haven't "tithed" in over 24 years but I've never missed a Feast. It's a tradition that I thoroughly enjoy with my family, like Thanskgiving, but going somewhere for the Feast is not a command.
Kevin McMillen
Feastgoer said You're paying 30% of your income....
ReplyDeleteNo, I'm not. It's 10-11% in most years, or 20-21% in "third tithe" years.
The second tithe (10%) is for members to use to celebrate Feast days. Last time I checked, COG pastors weren't running hotels in Panama City Beach or Branson on the side. we’ll thats not true they get kickbacks or discounts at places they tell you to stay at.
Kevin, have you considered that your tradition of men goes against the Bible's minimal definition of the Feast of Tabernacles? When Jesus entered Jerusalem in the final week of His life, the people waved palm fronds to greet Him -- the same palm fronds that God instructed Israel to use in building temporary tabernacles for the Feast of Tabernacles.
ReplyDeleteShow me how you can wave a resort hotel at Jesus, and I'll accept that your Feast tradition honors God the Father and Jesus Christ. Otherwise, I'm afraid that you have accepted an Armstrong perversion of what God commanded to the Israelites.
If you made $60,000 a year and spent 30% (9,000) on Christmas,I would strongly urge you to obtain the services of a financial counselor ,but quick. Yet that's what the COGs say you must pay them.And to that cat who said you only pay 11% of your income to the church--=May I have some of whatever your smoking?
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that the Apostle Paul did not demand a tithe from the Corinthians, and instead earned a living with his own hands.
ReplyDeleteHe did make an appeal to support, but he nowhere mentions any of the tithing laws in the very least. He instead used this scripture from Deuteronomy 25:4 “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain”
Removing money from a paid ministry could solve a lot of problems. Firstly, those funds could be used to upgrade and potentially purchase on a local basis instead of the (in general) , crap hole locations that COGs have, and still do, have to meet at.
Secondly, by having a volunteer local ministry, it eliminates a money and power grab. In the Seventh Day Adventist Church, members vote every two years for who their deacons and elders are going to be. You are not considered in an office "for life" and have to keep up the performance to be reelected. These deacons and elders, who then are considered "the board" , vote on whether or not to retain the pastor.
Full accountability and peformance standards all the way around! Human problems will always exist in any type of organization, but they are magnified and extrapolated in the COG system, as there is no "cleansing system" or "supreme court" to oversight the madness.
Tithing up to 35% of your income is so lukewarm. I take all of my money in cash and throw it all in the air to God. I tell God to keep all that he needs and wants, and I humbly ask him to return any unwanted cash to me.
ReplyDelete7:02, I'm fully aware that the tradition of man that I keep goes completely against the old Mt. Sinai covenant law. I'm not under that covenant.
ReplyDeleteI'm also aware that what I do is an Armstrong version, but as I said, it's not commanded in the bible.
Going to a resort for eight days is not a command, if you want to call it a perversion of the Lev. 23 command so be it. I would never claim that Lev. 23 commands anyone other than Israel.
I didn't ask you or anyone else to accept the tradition that I choose to keep.I
By the way, I also keep the seventh day sabbath, but not because of the fourth commandment, again I'm not under that covenant.
Kevin McMillen
For anyone who thinks that I can't keep the Feast of Tabernacles unless I keep it by old Mt. Sinai covenant regulations I must ask: just how is Egypt going to keep Tabernacles after Jesus' return? Zech. 14
ReplyDeleteNot by Lev. 23 or Deut. 16 commands because that covenant ended at Jesus' death.
Kevin McMillen
If you feel the need to tithe find a good charity to give to who will actually put the money to good use. Give to a food bank, children's hospital, a charity that helps veterans, the elderly, the homeless, etc. Research the charity to make sure that a bulk of what you give goes to those in need and that a small portion is used for admin use. When giving to a good legit charity some person in need will benefit from your giving. I'm sure God will bless you when someone else in need is helped with your generous donations no matter how small or how large. Don't be as the prosperity pimps and whores out there who are giving and expecting to receive. Helping someone in need should be a blessing of itself and we should not expect anything in return for doing a good deed.
ReplyDeleteCraig
It is interesting that in the Book of Leviticus, which was written for the generation that came out of Egypt, there is no mention of what is called the festival tithe or second tithe, while in the book of Deuteronomy, which was written for the generation going into the Promised Land, there is no mention of what is called the first tithe. That is very peculiar, unless they are the same tithe. I expect that the tithe was taken to the feast and part of it was spent, with the rest being given to the Levites.
ReplyDeleteWhen you consider that a person with income for 50 weeks of the year would pay a tithe of 5 weeks income, and that there were 11 tribes paying that tithe, there would be 55 weeks worth of income going to the feast. If the 11 tribes spent a week's worth, that would leave 44 weeks for the Levites. That is pretty much equivalent to what the others were left with when they tithed 5 weeks of income from 50 weeks income.
If Christ asked for money it would be the most overused scripture in the world.
ReplyDeleteMoney--neither silver nor gold--was ever tithed. Products of the land and animals were tithed. If God didn't ask for silver or gold (which is real tangible money) to be tithed why on earth would He want His people to tithe paper money or digital currency (which are fake intangible counterfeit money)???!!!
ReplyDeleteTithing as taught by ACOGs is a "magic" ritual ie If you tithe money to man-made religious institutions God will "bless" you financially and materially.
It's kind of like how Sacred Name groups claim we must call God or Jesus by their "proper" Hebrew name as if Hebrew is a "magic" language and their Hebrew names are "magical" too ie If you call God or Jesus by their "Hebrew" names they will respond to your prayers more than if you called them by their translated versions ie God, Lord, Jesus.
It's nothing more than fantasy or magical thinking just like Scientology is a sci-fi fantasy cult.
I was disfellowshipped from the restored church of god for telling my local minister I believed tithing only pertained to crops/livestock. I am now so confused about religion and I want to go to church but I don’t know where to go.Most importantly my relationship with God is damaged
ReplyDeleteTo
I was disfellowshipped from the restored church of god for telling my local minister I believed tithing only pertained to crops/livestock. I am now so confused about religion and I want to go to church but I don’t know where to go.Most importantly my relationship with God is damaged
ReplyDeleteTo
6:21 6:49
ReplyDeleteIf you were not a fake account and a liar your comment would have included what happened after you really did offer the tithe on some of the crops and life stock you might have.
But you really didn't believe that, did you?
Unless it was a funny way of saying good bye. Still a weak way by giving the other power in that process.
As for the rest, good for you to be out of rcg and succes with finding a beneficial religion.
Nck