Luke 6:36-37 (KJV)
[SUP]36 [/SUP] Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
[SUP]37 [/SUP] Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
It is a large lie that Creflo preaches a false gospel. Such claims are making for me CCHat a hard place to visit and be blessed. 600 people died listening to lies like that from Jim Jones. Satan is the accuser, and has many ears eagerly listening. He would love to bring Creflo Dollar down likehe did Job, but that won't happen.
We record the World Changers weekly TV service along with other favorite ministries so we can watch them after church or while on the road. I've never heard Creflo begging or pressuring anyone on TV. I don't trust YouTube, seeing many sermons by all major preachers are altered to suit a critic's intent. There's a lot of statements shown out of context.
At the Atlanta meetings we find a typical church setting with all the usual events. There comes a offering time, and all the current projects and opportunities to join in are presented very professionally, no begging or pressuring. Visitors are encouraged to tithe to their home church, please, then gladly give an offering there of any amount. Got financial problems? Stay a while and get help. Maybe you need enough gas in the car to get home. Need help getting your ex to keep child support payments coming? They can link you up with help. Hang around at close of service to meet the biggest, friendliest crowd in America. You might want to move to Atlanta to join them. They are happy, prosperous, and love to give to those that need. It's their extreme delight to know millions of dollars are going out to ministries around the world.
Our local church can't do much like they can, just not having that big spark plug catching us on fire like Creflo does.
Creflo preaches and teaches pure New Testament gospel in its entirety. His books present gospel truth too. Nothing is left out, leaving nothing unknown about Jesus that can be known.
From the comments on the 11 Christian sites I look at, the complainers obviously don't know the man and ministry they condemn. I think the main reason few condemn Billy Graham, with a net worth of 25 million, having solicited offerings every service, is people are more familiar with his ministry and just love the man.
Try reading up some basic facts about Creflo at
http://www.worldchangerschurchnewyork.org/bio_t.aspx
My Bible indicates that judging the man is sin, and can bring upon a condemner the same condemnation we utter. I've watched once fine, dedicated Christians rumble into ruined health and broken finances following bitterness against ministers. Even if you don't speak your mind against them, somehow the devil just finds out, and you get judged. We're supposed to pray for them, love even our enemies.
I've only been to the Atlanta church of about 6,000 members, so can't testify about the dozens of satellite churches World Changers has in the US. We want to visit the Dallas congregation this summer. I do know each of them expect Creflo to come by. Like Billy Graham, Creflo has a ministry team that goes with him, along with lots of equipment for places where a good sound system is needed. None of that is practical when traveling daily on commercial flights that are not available when the team and equipment must be moved hours after a meeting to the next one. Lots of destinations don't have direct flights. Whenever we fly we have frequent temporary delays in luggage getting to us.
What you probably don't know is WChangers is shooting for 500 churches world-wide, and it's happening. The plane will get them wherever they are supposed to go, and when, a lot cheaper and more efficiently.
Critics of ministers that are actually building churches world-wide are tools of the Devil, who hates the idea of spreading the gospel that much. His folks would love to see the average church be like the following. The homeless guy wakes up from his night on the park bench to find his congregation of equally poor folks sitting on the grass waiting for him to move. He folds his newspaper bedding up, goes behind a tree a moment, returns to hold up his plywood sign "Jesus is Love". He then preaches the profound blessings of being poor for Jesus. He is deeply grateful for $1.25 in donation in the paper cup. Well, he'll have to wait another service to afford a Junior beef melt meal.
A full time minister deserves, according to the Holy Spirit, to live off the gospel he ministers. Without a committment, typically a pledge to tithe, how is that fellow I described going to sign a lease for a little apartment, pay a deposit, make the monthly rent, have a bed, pay utilities and eat? If all he can count on is random giving, no budget, how does he survive while the church members have what they need? Many he ministers to are probably wealthy, but they've been taught not to tithe, so won't consider a regular salary. To provide a salary requires commitment from people. Without that, the congregation won't attract a pastor, unless that pastor is employed elsewhere.
Paul was obviously wealthy, a tent-maker by trade. He insisted on paying his own way, even becoming a ranch hand when staying with a host. In Rome he had a rent house where he stayed with a guard, meeting leaders daily, writing epistles. He was a frequent visitor to Caesar's palace, popular among the servants and family there, making them Christians.
It is that Paul that wrote to the Corinthian Christians who were poor, living where the citizens were plugged into an economy built around the pagan temple of Dianna, pagans favored for jobs. Paul appealed for an offering from them to take relief to other Christians suffering persecution. From his teachings I doubt he told widows not to give, as that act done properly qualifies them for direct blessing from the Lord, which they need. God's economy also provides for the blessed congregation to afford maintaining all their widows, orphans, and needy.
Poor congregations that are not generous and committed to support those the Lord sends their way will remain poor and of little use to anyone, even themselves.
Blessed churches are the ones carrying out Jesus' directives to establish the gospel around the world.
There is no blessing for critics of the lively churches that have discovered the many blessings of the Lord. You won't hear about the dead churches, their pastor having to sell used cars all week, available a few hours on Sunday morning. The churches doing the right thing are prospering and able to do great things locally and abroad.
It's as simple as that. Folks, don't curse yourself with your own tongue. If you hate the prosperity part of God's promises, God will kindly let you try to enjoy your poverty, lack, and misery. He won't force his prosperity on anyone not expectant of his promises. Americans tend to reject the good, while congregations around the world living in the middle of deplorable economic situations are rising out of poverty by the multiplied millions through faith in God's promises. They have the money to send missionaries to America, and are themselves reaching the rest of the world.
Whether you got this far in this post or not, I believe all here who castigate ministers who are greatly blessed by God will have to be accountable to God for that. That could simply mean losing long held jobs, careers vanishing, costs sky-rocketing. God is not responsible for what's happening in America. Unbelief is the cause. When God is ignored, people lose vision, then perish simply because he is no longer welcome in our midst.
