Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicodemus1968
I undersatnd what you’re saying.
Yet, what do you think about the money “issue” in general for ALL believers.
Does money guide all of us? Do we understand how much we lean on that green paper or that card in our wallet or purse?
Let’s forget about preachers and ministry and ask ourselves if ANY believer should be wealthy? Ive heard saints that did not preach say, “I’m moving to this state because I was offered a better job making MORE money”. Ive heard testimonies in the church, how God bless this man/women with a new car! Really! The $25k, or $35k you spent on that vehicle could not that have gone to a homeless shelter, or maybe a believer in the church needed repairs on his vehicle, you couldve paid for it. Talk aout serving the god of their flesh. Believers work 40+ hours a week sometimes overtime to make that almighty dollar, yet some may pray 15 minutes a day. How can that work?
Those men and women of the bible gave everything they had for this work! Lets talk about all of us, should any or us be wealthy or should we seek first the kingdom and wait for God to give us everything else?
Matthew 6:25-34 KJVS
[25] Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
[26] Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
[27] Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
[28] And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
[29] And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
[30] Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
[31] Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
[32] (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
[33] But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
[34] Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. |
In general . . .
I believe that money is amoral. I don’t believe that there is anything wrong with any saint being wealthy. The problem comes when saints (whether or not they are preachers) doing immoral things to acquire wealth. Wealth can be a blessing from God, or it can be the fruits of many forms of immoral activities. At some level there has to be excess to bless the poor, hungry, cold etc. as Jesus taught. He wasn’t talking about making it appear out of thin air.
To address your point, money can certainly be too important to the saints. It can become a god in itself. It can become so important that preacher/pastor saints teach giving of a sort that the Bible doesn’t endorse. That is immoral. But it shouldn’t matter if you are a preacher or a layperson. We ALL need to get it right. But, according to scripture, we should be very careful, because when money is involved, there is a lot of temptation. If we love money, we are going to have to deal with the roots of all evil.
However, the fact remains that in general, the laypeople are the victims of the immoral misinformation that the preachers fabricate from their own selfishness. That’s the big picture. It takes a man of discipline and principle to rightly divide the word of God, when it is expected that he will follow the status quo of the self serving false doctrine of tithing.
Most preachers fail the test.