Thought Picnic: The Love of Money in the Church

Money and the church

Two articles over the last 24 hours seem to have brought into focus a crisis of confidence in the way church finances are being gathered and consequently disposed of.

There is a wider issue here and I dare say it is somewhat bordering on endemic and you will appreciate that view in a moment.

First, it was the way demands were being made to engage in a partnership commitment with the church the scriptural basis of which is no doubt suspect but the arguments put forth by the writer makes a compelling case for serious reflection. [NigeriansTalk – Casino Pentecostalism – Ebenezer Obadare]

Scandal in Britain

Then a news story in a UK tabloid suggested worshippers in the UK were being fleeced to maintain a situation in Nigeria. The story stated 73% of offerings contributed in the UK went off-shore and it was not clear if this funding was a primary charity activity undertaken by the UK church or the moneys were just been extracted for the ministry of the church leader. It included calls for a Charity Commission investigation. [Daily Mail -Laughing on his private jet - the £93m pastor accused of exploiting British worshippers]

Back in 2004, it was the second largest Pentecostal church in Britain that was involved in a multi-million pound scandal. [Rick Ross - Scandal in the second biggest Pentecostal church in Britain.] In 2005, it was the turn of the largest Pentecostal church in Britain being investigated for financial irregularities that have not been fully resolved yet. [The Telegraph - 'Wealth' church leader practised what he preached.]

Evangelicals tainted globally

Out in the United States, it was a Senate inquiry into the finances of 6 televangelists. [USA Today - Televangelists escape penalty in Senate inquiry.] In Ukraine, the biggest church there has been embroiled in a serious financial scandal too on a failed business venture that frittered away about $100 million. [Christian Today - Ukraine: Megachurch pastor in business scandal.]

Over in Singapore another megastar preacher with a superstar wife and all the accoutrements of amazing wealth was arrested on suspicions of false accounting. [Singapore News - City Harvest's founder Kong Hee, four others arrested.] Then a more bizarre case in Canada where congregants were left out of pocket by reason of “affinity fraud” that gained support from the church leaders. [The Vancouver Sun - Evangelical church in $14-million financial scandal.]

Practice lagging doctrine

All the citations above are not so much to castigate any of the organisations, many of the issues are still sub judice but this calls for serious comment and I am sure this is just a subset of a larger issue with regards to churches of this type.

I mean type because all these churches, ministries and the ministers that run them identify as evangelical and/or Pentecostal and they seem to all have similar teachings based around what is commonly known as the Prosperity Gospel.

There is scriptural basis for this slant of teaching but its projection and expression leaves much to be desired. One finds that these wealthy preachers are not modest and reserved in their show of riches that it is unbecoming, vulgar, hedonistic, ostentatious, bragging and almost evil.

Room for grave error

It excites covetousness and greed; believers are led to believe that a bartering and exchange system exists between God and man short of saying they have to pay God for blessings of health and prosperity. An objective reading of the first reference in this blog could easily imply this and it is dangerous presaging a slippery slope into error where the love of money sets people up for being agents of evil.

However, that is a different matter; the most critical issue is that these church leaders are not doing much to offer a transparent and sombre reflection such that we are found in debates about excess and abuse rather than being profitably engaged in preaching the gospel.

On the wrong side of controversy

I am saddened that many have confused the kind of controversy they are supposed to excite that should make outsiders curious about Christianity rather than being critical of practising Christians.

Churches, church organisations and leaders of such establishments should be the vanguard of probity, rectitude, accountability, transparency, honesty, clarity, responsibility and trustworthiness. It is disgraceful and beneath contempt and well as contemptuous of the gospel to find churches so remiss in character and honourable conduct.

If the church cannot give good example, the world we seek to change is definitely lost. We find church leaders behaving like new-money types with nothing to separate them from the ostentation and showiness of drug barons or hip-hop artistes. They have become outrageously acquisitive and excused this as proof of God being a rich God.

No sombreness

Then see the really rich people around the world, either scions of genteel old-money or the likes of Bill Gates or Warren Buffett who can buy anything they want but have given themselves to works of stupendous charity and unsurpassed philanthropy that puts literally every other billionaire to shame.

Then you read articles in the Forbes magazine about Richest Pastors in some country and the whole context of the article has nothing to say about the gospel but the personality and the grand lifestyles that are worthy of opprobrium because in all the investigations that I have highlighted the biggest failing of these organisations is no clear separation of ministry finances from personal finances.

In secular organisations, that will be grounds for bringing charges of financial impropriety and possibly fraudulent activity.

Responsibilities matter

Any organisation that collects money by persuasion, inducement, cajoling or proposition from the public even if the said public have willingly subscribed to the project owes the public full accountability as to how the moneys are being spent for whatever reasons along with full justification for such expenditure and where that appears to be lacking they should expect secular government organisations to wade in and sanction bad practice.

It goes without saying that the preachers should repent and change their ways, it stinks to the high heavens and it portends the odium that emanates from the pits of Hades, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been corrupted into a Gospel of Mammon – it ought not to be so. [Wikipedia - Mammon]

Beyond their responsibilities that matter, perceptions of being completely above board matter the most with the view of not bringing the name of Jesus Christ and the body of the church into disrepute.

Nigeria: Nigerian Religious Junk and Hedonist's Constitution

Nigerian Religious Junk

As I rode my bicycle home this evening I began to turn over in my mind the article I read earlier in the about a perversion of the Christian Gospel that a Zambian Baptist pastor termed Nigerian Religious Junk.

Conrad Mbewe wrote Nigerian Religious Junk! [1] in February but I came about it through a tweet that led to a whole scale dump of that blog on the NairaLand community forum.

The pastor addressed some well-defined themes that appear to be common to evangelical or more particularly Pentecostal church branches exported out of Nigeria in what he called a personal-to-holder construct.

Witch doctors in the shrine

He noted most of these establishments had become personality cults to the founders with church taking second place to the conglomerate of the ministry with the moniker “International” appearing to give those arrangements more credence.

Interestingly, he showed similarities between the African witchdoctor in animist religions with that of pastors whose related activity was to offer deliverance, the articles of ritual were not too dissimilar with money being common.

Then he lamented the suspension of reason and intellect of followers who in adulation and subjugation to the leader who appears to be answerable to no one as a Sangoma holds power to the dread of the people.

By the time he ends the piece, he has addressed the obsession with titles, the milking of the flock, the tolerance of corruption, the hedonism of the “clergy”, the absence of the gospel and no grounded Christian teaching.

The hedonism of religious leaders

Now, as he said, this was not to say that all Nigerian missionaries were planting churches of this perverted ilk of the gospel, but a trend and pattern had emerged that was being copied by those with connections to Nigeria.

A few days ago, I wrote a blog titled Nigeria: The spectacular gospel of Mammon [2] which pertained to a documentary on The Making Of … Nigeria’s Millionaire Preachers [3] aired on Channel 4 in the UK about Dr Sign Fireman whose mesmerising services mimicking a form of Shamanism featured his outlandishly ostentatious tastes leading a people that appeared vulnerable rich pickings to make the leader rich.

At one point, ladies of the “shrine” since church would be too generous an artistic license danced to welcome him as he cruised in with his Yellow Hummer calling him “Daddy” where it was clear that he probably was closer to their son – now, there is nothing wrong in according religious leaders respect and reverence but fawning obsequiously in the display of false humility and hyper-respect has to be altogether sinful.

The Hedonist’s Constitution

However, the more concerning part of this matter is the underlying fundamental that drives these movements called the Prosperity Gospel though it is closer to the Hedonist’s Constitution which carries the refrain that Jesus Christ was a rich man, he had a treasurer, he wore special clothes and all other contrived interpretations to support this call to wanton ostentation.

So, as I meditated on my way home, I decided to check every reference in the Gospels where Jesus Christ used “rich” in His utterances just to see if there was any alignment with what teachings we have today.

Jesus and the rich

There are 18 occurrences of “rich” in the Gospels, 3 in Matthew, 2 in Mark, 13 in Luke and none in John, off all these, using the red letter edition of the King James (Authorised) Version, Jesus uttered “rich” in 13 verses all of which appear below. My comments are in parenthesis.

Mat_19:23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Mat_19:24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

[Here, Jesus expressed the view that the rich will have difficulties towing the Christian path, there must have been reason why He felt he should repeat Himself on this topic.]

Mat_27:57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple:

[This was after the Jesus was taken down from the cross, this rich man provided the burial place for the body of the crucified Jesus Christ.]

Roping a camel to a beam

Mar_10:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

[This common saying does have certain scholars in dispute about the translation from Aramaic which was the tongue of Jesus Christ in His day, the Aramaic word gamla means camel, a large rope and a beam – contextually, it would appear rope is the more appropriate thing to go through the eye of a needle. Study]

Mar_12:41 And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.

[This was Jesus observing the offertory just before the widow put in a mite, which was all she had and in context, Jesus suggested she had given more than all.]

Luk_1:53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

[This was the Virgin Mary prophesying when she visited Elizabeth, her cousin and the mother of John the Baptist.]

The rich in earth and in hell

Luk_6:24 But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.

[Here, Jesus suggests the rich seem to have no need for consolation.]

Luk_12:16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

Luk_12:21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

[In this parable, Jesus talked of how a rich man had schemed out things for his life only to be told he will die that night.]

Luk_14:12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.

[Doing good deeds for the rich is not seen as selfless or generous.]

Luk_16:1 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.

[The power of the rich to endow, reward and punish on earth was illustrated in this parable.]

Luk_16:19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

Luk_16:21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

Luk_16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

[Jesus uses this parable to illustrate the realities of heaven and hell, indicating the poor man went to heaven and the rich man went to hell.]

The rich and charity

Luk_18:23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

[When Jesus advised a rich man to sell all his goods and become a disciple, but it showed how attached to his riches and status, this gave rise to the statement Jesus made about it being easier for a camel to go through the needle’s eye.]

Luk_18:25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Luk_19:2 And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.

[Jesus went to dine at Zacchaeus’ house, he give up half his goods to the poor and offered to restitute fourfold those he might have defrauded.]

Luk_21:1 And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.

[This was just before the widow cast her mite in the treasury]

Jesus had sufficiency

From the foregoing, it appears the labour to be rich is a distraction from following the Gospel, they find it hard to part with their riches and because they are more mindful of money matters that Jesus called Mammon, some never lived to enjoy their riches and some died and ended up in hell.

There is no doubt that the rich are comfortable and powerful in life, in the case of Jesus Christ, I believe He had sufficiency with contentment. As an itinerant preacher and prophet there were people who would have supported his ministry; so it would have been necessary to retain one of the disciples as a holder of the bag that just happened to be Judas Iscariot.

2Co_3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; [That aligns with the real prosperity concept.]

2Co_9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: [Sufficiency is there for us to distribute not hoard for show.]

The love of money

Is it any wonder than the guy in charge of the money was the same that was ready to take a bribe to betray Jesus – but it is pertinent to note that it is not money that is the root of all evil, rather it is the love of money that is the root of all evil.

1Ti_6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. [Being driven by the love of money, people have erred from the faith and the gospel and encountered many misfortunes in the process.]

The need to return to the tenets of the Gospel is pertinent, there is a pervasive perversion out there and many are being led down the path of great error. I am sure we all have the discernment to see if these are issues in our religious communities and we should have the courage to divorce ourselves from such settings and seek teachers of the true gospel.

Sources

[1] Nigerian Religious Junk! Conrad Mbewe

[2] Nigeria: The spectacular gospel of Mammon

[3] The Making Of … Nigeria’s Millionaire Preachers

The example of riches untold

It’s the Guardian angel of thought

I have tendency to fall into a stupor when I get on flight to anywhere, the time before take-off is literally interminable that I sometimes miss the choreography of aircraft safety and the offer of newspapers to read.

I had deliberately left the things I was reading in my bag as I took my window seat but halfway through the flight my mind was aching for input so I asked the lady next to me if I could read her paper.

It was the UK Guardian and I really would not read anything that wet but for the seemingly dire circumstances.

The bottom of the front-page of the Friday 29^th of August newspaper had the picture of a lady kneeling down fully and submissively bowed to the floor as if in deep supplication at a religious convention that majored on getting rich [1].

The Prosperity Gospel

I have seen that before and it took years to be weaned off the diet of milk and honey with a tub of unhealthy lard.

The prosperity gospel [2] has taken root in a branch of Christianity that has Pentecostal yearnings, the news feature contends that these ideas of interpretation of the Bible come from Oklahoma which has been the incubator to the wildest inspirations that defy the logic of getting successful.

Now, I have nothing against prosperity, in fact, I am all for prosperity which in essence could be good health, the presence of happiness, the ability to share, having sufficiency to meet ones requirements and something over whilst being content, I doubt if it is all about getting rich [3].

I like people to be ambitious and have good role models too that inspire them to great things, but it is covetous to desire to be like others for the sake of being able to say you have arrived.

Extensive studies [4] have been conducted on whether elements of the Prosperity Gospel do have a theological basis rather than a pseudo-heretical deviation.

Rick Warren [5] who pastors one of the largest congregations in American seems to stand alone from this deluge of “God make me as rich as Richie Rich [6]” syndrome and had a feature run in the Economist [7] about his teachings.

Ghetto churches with a different message

One thing the news feature noticed was most of the congregation seemed to be made of ethnic minorities from West Africa and the Caribbean – I do wonder how these churches integrate into or adapt to the communities they are in.

I remember when looking for a church, years ago, I went to 2 churches in The Hague and Amsterdam, I could have just walked down a street in Lagos, they were alien to the culture and their environment – it was all well to have the comfort of similarity in numbers but that is what the ghetto is made of.

These ghetto “churches” probably do have a message and have the power to inspire in a particular way, but when every message, intonation and supplication begins to read like dollar or pound signs, I worry for where the evil has taken root in the quest for or the love of money.

Between money and wisdom

There are many verses in scripture that suggest it is good to be rich but key to those verses lies the juxtaposition with wisdom because like the Proverbs say, money is of no use to a fool – Proverbs 17:15-17. As we all know, a fool and his money are soon parted too.

Wisdom is the key – Ecclesiastes 7:11-13; it brings prudence to the management of ones resources where the making of ones character can even be an exercise in money management.

The church featured in the news story which happens to be the largest church in the UK ran into some difficulty recently concerning its charitable status as well as financial irregularities with the way its funds seemed to have been diverted to means that were not above board.

Those matters got resolved with the minister in charge having to pay back GBP 200,000. It does not augur well for churches that taken voluntary contributions on the premise of faith and goodwill to end up under financial investigations - it is bad as an example of character and damages the reputation of the greater message - that is a glaring fact that cannot be subject to debate.

Example of riches

As one sits down to listen to the word as preached today, the anecdotes, analogies and allegories sound like the example of riches untold triggered by selfless tithing in the belief that the returns can be a thousand-fold - tendency to go out of context to pursue a particular belief system is rife.

It reminds of an episode years ago where an overdose of this kind of talk lead a friend to believe that God had promised him a large some of money, N17,000, and that was a lot of money; an equivalent of $20,000 or GBP 14,000 at the exchange rates then (1984) as we were all students.

He opened a bank account and waited for the day when the money would be deposited by God, the day finally arrived and he wrote the amount out to cash in a cheque, prayed over it and went to the bank.

He got done for fraud and it was a case that dragged on for a good while, the only saving grace for him was that he did not spend too long in a police cell; it was an eye-opener to all of us – God uses people most of the time and rarely exceptional circumstances, He does not do magic and many confuse the need for the miraculous with unexpected providence of good luck typifying a magical wave of the wand.

Riches of example

The riches of the example of Christian living cannot be just having the best car, the biggest house, the most vulgar bling and the swagger of a garrulous moneybag – it must be the ministering to ones community with whatever little one has got because sufficiency is what matters not excess leading to squander or wanton living 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 & 2 Corinthians 9:7-9.

I seek a gospel that espouses and ululates in the riches of example, it is time to find relevance in our communities which are more diverse than specific race churches or financial-driven thought philosophies; the gospel of the example of riches inspires no confidence in the quality of Christian devotion, dedication and living.

Chasing the cloud of success without the requisite dint of hard work, honesty, good character, reliability, dependability and service to ones community is as far removed from the gospel as the East is from the West.

As for the woman who was pictured kneeling on the front-page of the Guardian, if you are not asking a-miss – Amen.

Sources

[1] Religion: Pentecostalist gathering draws worshippers keen to get richer | World news | The Guardian

[2] Prosperity theology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[3] TIME.com - Does God Want You To Be Rich? - The Religion Pages - Sponsored by Unitarian Universalists

[4] ReligionLink - Is the 'prosperity gospel' prospering?

[5] Rick Warren - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[6] Richie Rich (comics) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[7] Rick Warren – Lexington | The next Billy Graham | Economist.com

Note about originality: The example of riches derives from a phrase used by Bill Clinton where power replaces my use of riches.