Send It In!
All churches require
money to operate their ministries. All churches have come to realize that
just depending on "give as you are able" or deciding for
oneself what they can afford to give does not work well when you want to build
things and put your ideas out "to all the world." Around here
the radio ministers make no bones about the Christian obligation to tithe so
get over it and "send it in!"
But then there
are those types of ministers, apostles and prophet types who take it to the
outer limits of demanding members supply church "needs." This
is not a discussion on tithing. The argument is endless and you can't win
because no one wants to be made to feel they are robbing the God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob of income or faithless in believing that if they tithe, that
God will open the windows of heaven and give most of it back if not more...just
try it. This is a brief caution to the hundreds of you who read this site
secretly and quietly because you have to if you are ever to get another perspective
and the financial and spiritual abuse by your Church leaders.
Among the
"send it in" ministers who take the prize for pushing members to the
brink and over at times is Dave Pack, Apostle and many other glorious titled
founder of the Restored Church of God. Dave coined the "send it
in" concept and is well known for his insane demands for retirements,
homes, estates and any spare cash you may have just sitting doing nothing in
the bank. If you wish to hear him directly commanding it, find a copy of "A
Clarion Call" and be inspired or enraged depending on your
orientation. (Exposés of "Clarion Call" can be found here and here.)
Dave is just a
good example of influence of ministry over member gone nuts. I'm not so
sure you can actually call it a ministry as the demands undo the meaning of the
concept of servant to all. In these kinds of cases, the members are the
ministry and the minister is the beneficiary. Flurry and countless others
do this all the time and not just in the COG's. It is a tendency in
ministers to make demands of members which are beyond reason. I have
often wondered just how brain dead a member has to be to give in to this
approach by his church pastor, but that is not the topic here.
So to the
point. Some simple concepts and rules the member should adopt in their
giving, NO MATTER HOW THREATENING YOUR PASTOR GETS TO SEND IT IN.
Your hard earned monies are yours
Your retirement is yours
Your home is yours
Your bank account is yours
Your belongings are yours
Your time is yours
Your mind is yours
Your family comes FIRST
Your needs come FIRST
Your children come FIRST
I realize the
Bible tells you differently in places and ministers can quote "God"
to you all day guilting you out of your own mind and common sense if you allow
it. Please remember, even if don't understand this. Human Priests
in the OT wrote the OT and every rule in the OT that the masses must
obey. If you do not understand this Bible fact, do your homework.
It will easy your mind that you are not really offending a Deity that also says
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills , which if He really needed money, He
could sell since they belong to Him.
Please also
note that the concept of "and they all shared their stuff in common,"
in the book of Acts was a very short lived and failed experiment in early
Church history. Once more wealthy people came into the Church, all bets
were off and the ministry was forced to abandon that idealistic view. The
first successful businessman who came into the church with the "all share"
view in vogue who said "screw that," probably changed the policy as
the ministry would not want to lose his contributions. Voting with your
feet or funds has always caused ministers to discover new truth and ways to
keep you in your seats if an idea of his goes wrong.
So here are the
real rules if you wish to keep your own integrity in tack along with your mind
and resources.
Never give what you do not have
Never give beyond that which you are able thinking it will come
back to you. It won't
Never give up your home to a church cause
Never give up your property to a church cause
Never Will your home, property and stuff to any church...EVER!
Never allow your personal finances to become the business of the
Church or the leadership of that Church
Never dip into your retirement for a current Church need or
want...EVER!
Never be afraid to undo what you said you'd do...no matter what
you think the Ananias and Sapphira tale was all about. It is not what you
think is about.
Never put yourself in a place of need by giving to someone who has
everything already
Never send in diamonds, physical gold or silver to your
church. It will be kept by the ministry and the rings will end up on the
hands of their kid's fiancé.
Never break these rules or you will live to regret it.
And a few
"always" rules.
Always feel free to repeal what you said you'd give under duress of
sermons filled with proof-texting and too long in your seat hearing about
it. You won't be struck dead.
Always check out the size, quality and location of your pastor’s
home
Always demand to know the real salary the guru gives to himself or
family members
Always use the phrase "I'll take that under
consideration," when you are being commanded to do something by your
minister.
Always defend your family and partner before you defend the Pastor
or Church
Always allow for anything the Pastor says to be taken with a grain
of salt. Petra, "God says," "I am..." "You
aren't..." come to mind.
Always pay attention to the spinning in your head and the pain in
your stomach. Your stomach is telling you the truth. Your head is lying
to you.
Always be your authentic self before you allow a book, booklet,
Church or its leadership to hijack your mind
Always stay on your own journey and not that of others unless you
really chose wisely to do so and make them part of your journey not you giving
up yours for theirs.
And finally...
No God will be angry with your if you adhere to the above
Only men will be angry with you if you adhere to the above
If you allow others to do your thinking for you...
If you allow others to filter your life through their eyes
If you are motivated by fear, guilt and shame in these matters...
I will be mad at you as will most of the people you love and who
love you.
