PCG: Get A Grip On Your Finances So You Can Give More To Us

Of the many extra-biblical things the church felt they needed to stick their noses into, the big one was how you spend your money. Underneath all the expectations and rules set out by the church and its leaders, the bottom line was that how you managed your money determined how much money you could give to the church. After all, the church n needed your money more than you did.

None is worse at this than the Restored Church of God and its "common" teaching where all you have belongs to Dave and the church. Christ's return is minutes, hours, days, and months away, so why spend money on frivolous things when you can send it all to Dave Pack.

Quickly behind the Restored Church of God is the Philadelphia Church of God and its money expectations members. As membership rapidly drops, income is being affected. OCG recently ran a 2004 article by Wik Herrma, Get a Grip on Your Finances

Let’s face it, most people today struggle with their finances. Under today’s rising costs, many worry and fret over this issue more than any other problem, regardless of how much money they make. Yet this worry robs them of the real happiness and joy God intended man to have. Even among God’s people, financial problems hold an oppressive grip. 

 

Isn’t it time you reversed this trend and got a grip on your finances? 

 

But how do you go about it? Where do you start?

His first point out of the box is materialism, Everyone knows this is a materialistic society. The problem comes into focus when the church feels it needs to blab on about materialism. They see it as the more you buy the less you send into the church. Materialism is not good for members, but for church headquarters and the no-expenses-spared mentality, this does not jive well with struggling members. Lavish campuses, concert halls, fancy homes, fine art, lavish gardens, horses, etc. is like a slap in the face to struggling members. 

Did you know the "obsession" with physical pursuits drains the Holy Spirit at work in you? The more you do the weaker it gets.

Drifting into materialism slackens our dedication to God and His Work. We cannot let the cares of this world control our lives. If we do, we may not be alert to the signs of the times—those events that indicate the imminent return of Christ and the establishment of a government based on the way of give instead of get. Christ Himself said, “[T]ake heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares” (Luke 21:34). 

 

The obsession with physical pursuits leeches the supply of God’s Holy Spirit and will prevent us from reaching our full potential. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Galatians 5:17). Coveting will lead to more and more financial, personal and physical problems.

The church has always coveted our money. The more you have the more they expected you to give, It also did not matter how you struggled financially, that money still was required to come in. Some even resorted to checking on members' salaries to make sure they had their 20+ percent. 

He continues:

If God promised physical blessings for obedience to His commandments, wouldn’t it make sense that He’d specify what would happen if we let our minds drift from His spiritual law and dwell on the physical? Of course! 

 

“And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy [cattle], and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me” (Deuteronomy 28:14-20). 

 

Letting materialism become our god will automatically reap these curses, “until thou be destroyed.” 

Since the New Covenant does not require tithing nor the demands of the law those curses have been lifted and no longer have any sway of Christians.

Pursuing material wealth is a form of idolatry and if we go after it, we will incur these curses. One major reason people do not have control over their finances is their materialistic mindset that pushes God out of the picture.

The materialist mindset of so many Church of God leaders has shoved Christ completely out of the picture. They despise his name, and anything he stood for and instead bow down at the altar of the law and its demands of tithing. New Covenant followers of The Way give as they have been richly blessed. 

New Covenant followers of The Way give as they have been richly blessed. 

Wik continues with this little gem:

God is the multibillionaire who is eager to share all of His riches with us (Revelation 21:7), but we must learn how to manage our affairs now so God can entrust us with such responsibility. In order to prepare for our future roles, God has given us dominion, or rule, over our physical possessions now.

So, if you piss off magical god then their riches will not be shared.

Our generation has lost the mastery of faithful diligence. God will bless our efforts; He did not say He would reward our idleness. God wants us to learn to work and said that “if any would not work, neither should he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). God does not give social handouts to those who are able, but unwilling, to produce. 

 

Sadly, even among God’s people, some are not good providers. They rely on handouts from the government, fellow members or even the Church to supply their families’ need. God rebukes such behavior: “[I]f any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5:8). 

We won't assist our own but let's spend millions on jets, concert halls, performers, lavish campuses, and private homes. Dumb fools! How dare you even contemplate asking us to help you when you are seriously in need!  

Christians have an obligation to work hard in order to provide for their physical families. They should carry the burden for not just their immediate relatives, but even supply the needs of generations before and after them. They should take care of any widows in their family and lay up for their grandchildren (verse 16; Proverbs 13:22). 

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27

Wik then moves on to hard work (not the kind of white shirt work that goes on at so many COG HQ's where legions of men have never formed a callus on their delicate hands from actual work).

Regular tithe slaves are needed to work long and hard hours so that they can give most of it to the church. After all, Gerry Flurry's grandkids need to travel the country doing Irish dance.

 

Hard labor will be rewarded. Those who apply this principle will prosper and be able to share their blessings with others. Through their first tithe they help God’s Church do the Work. By their excess second tithe they provide a way for others to attend God’s festivals, and by their third tithe, twice every seven years, they provide social security for those who really are needy, the widows and the fatherless. 

 

Such an individual is a credit to God’s Church and to his community.

Then there is this:

God has placed ministers in His Church who can help give valuable advice and counsel on financial dealings, from a biblical perspective. Too often, however, they are confronted with people presenting to them the consequences of their ill-thought-out actions.

Yep, go to men who get a salary from the church, get ministerial perks and deep deductions for homes, cars, gas, utilities, personal expenses, and large checks at Feast time for travel along with their free rooms. Yes, they sure know how difficult it is for regular members to survive. 

While not everything in the article is bad advice, and it does contain some good advice, the ultimate goal is that the more you make the more you give to the church in demanded tithing.