Are Christians more accepting of charlatans then we should be?

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CS1

Well-known member
May 23, 2012
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Several differences and those Churches are known for attacking one another based upon Doctrines. Whoever's view the audience likes best gets their support. A Battle of doctrines and their own little myths.
so it's ok for them to be millionaires as long as you agree with them doctrinally?
 
S

Scribe

Guest
context of 1 Cor. 16:2 is a collection for the poor, heavily persecuted believers in Jerusalem. Paul wasn't even going to pick up donations and bring them there; he instructed that someone from the group in Corinth be chosen themselves to be entrusted with it. see verse 3.

notice how he doesn't want there to be any collecting of money going on while he's present? why not? wouldn't people feel more compelled to give during all the excitement while Paul was there?
It is an example of how they gave to support a cause.

Another cause is the support of the local church. Why not use the same principle. "How much should I give each week?" How about a proportion as God has given you? "When should I give it?" How about each time you meet give in proportion to how God has prospered you since the last time you met.

It is not complicated. It is not a law. It is a method. One that was used for support the poor in the church in Jerusalem.

The idea of it being a proportion as God has prospered you is a good method and it comes from the bible and is one example that we can point to and say "Look what they did there. that sounds like a good way to do it." And just doing it. The main thing is that you support the local church because you love the church and want to keep it functioning.

Now you could also do it to send a Missionary out. Or to support a Pastor who is going to plant a church. Or to help some saints in a church in Africa get a water treatment plant or a well dug so they don't have to drink parasites. Give a proportion each week until the collection is ready and send it.

The proportion as God has prospered you is a biblical method of how much to give and how to do it regularly. "What proportion? How much?" It is in accordance to how God has prospered you. If you chose a percentage like 10% that might be a good method for you as you can generally make it on the rest. But what if you were extremely poor. 10% might be more than you could afford. Give what you think you can. What if you were abundantly blessed with unexpected income, you might want to give more than 10% and you were blessed with so much that even 50% would leave you with much abundance for yourself and you are excited about helping the church with a large sum. This is in proportion as God has prospered you.

I know someone who received an unexpected $8000.00. They received it at the exact time that their church was experiencing a financial crunch. There were no appeals given and no one in the congregation new about it, they heard about it because they were part of the weekly staff meetings where such things were discussed. They were talking in the staff meeting about what they could cut in order to meet the basic bills. When this unexpected income came to them they believed that it was for the purpose of helping the church meet that need. They believe that this is God's method. Unexpected prosperity will come to individuals in the church so that if they are all being faithful to give a proportion of that surprise income to the church they will meet a need that just so happen to be faced by the church at that time and they don't even know about it. They gave $5000 of the $8000 to the church and used the rest to pay taxes on the $8000 and to take car of a debt they owed. This to me is a good real life example of how individuals who understand the principle of 1 Cor 16:1 are used by God to fund the church.

The Lord may call a pastor to start an outreach to the community that will cost money but will be effective in winning the lost. They may know that they have heard from God but don't know where the money will come from. Then members in their congregation will get surprise income from various sources. If those members are praying and if they are spiritual mature and understand this principle will give in proportion as God has prospered them and it will meet the need of that outreach ministry goals.

This is God's method. He will bless individuals with finances because he wants them to give a proportion to the church. THAT IS WHY THEY GOT THE SURPRISE INCOME. Only a small percentage of these people get it and give anything. They go about telling everyone how God blessed them with unexpected money but they don't give a proportion of it to the church. They may only give 10% out of a legalistic rule, and this is up to them but if they were sensitive to the Lord they might have given more. It is very rare to find people who understand that financial prosperity is coming to them to give to the work of evangelism. (The eye of the needle)

If they meditate on 1 Cor 16:1 a light should go off and they should have that "AH HA moment" God gave this to me so that I would give a proportion because there is a need in the church and this is His way of meeting it. This is God's method. Each member giving a proportion as God prospered them during the week.


After this letter was read many of the the individual Corinthian saints probably experienced financial gains that week and thought to themselves... "I know why I got such an unexpected boost of income! It was so that I could give a proportion of it to meet that need that Paul told us about." This is how God has ordained that his Church should function.
 

shittim

Senior Member
Dec 16, 2016
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“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Matthew 18:15‭-‬20 ESV

Also Jesus giving authority to forgive sins.
If this is true you don't need Jesus, you can forgive your own sins. Jesus said "All authority has been given to me", if He gives it away He no longer has all authority.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
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I will be a pastor of a church somewhere in a year or two. I have every intention of it growing into a mega church. I hope that out of it several hundred other mega churches will be birthed. I would not approach ministry without expectations of turning the world upside down with the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Day of Pentecost, 3000 saved = Mega Church) :love:
i appreciate the enthusiasm and hope, and my opinion may matter very little here, but i think that anyone wanting to become a pastor should be ready to be content with a congregation of no more than 1 or 2 others.
 
E

eternally-gratefull

Guest
i appreciate the enthusiasm and hope, and my opinion may matter very little here, but i think that anyone wanting to become a pastor should be ready to be content with a congregation of no more than 1 or 2 others.
I would say there should be many pastors, in any church, there is no way one man can feed and shepherd a large flock. I think this is the problem with many churches, a pastor does not really know his people, you can not disciple what you do not know
 

shittim

Senior Member
Dec 16, 2016
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I have heard it taught about a hundred or slightly more. Ideally we were intended to shepherd one another as the early "ecclesia" did, meeting in each others homes, children learning of and experiencing God with the family, not packed off to "sunday school" and the body not sitting there listening to someone talk about God with no experiencing or training in how to experience the Father in Jesus name.
 
B

Blackpowderduelist

Guest
If this is true you don't need Jesus, you can forgive your own sins. Jesus said "All authority has been given to me", if He gives it away He no longer has all authority.
That's absurd.
You believe the gifts that came on pentecost but not the ministerial authority that Jesus gave directly to the disciples, the most important gift of all. To pronounce forgiveness in his name. That they could cast out demons and heal the sick but not forgive sins. How many times in scripture did jesus when healing, say your sins are forgiven you rather than you are healed, Jesus even saying stuff like what is easier to say, you are healed or your sins forgiven?
And what's far more important forgiveness of sin or healing bodily sickness? It's better to die of sickness with your sins forgiven than be healed and go about still bearing sin.
Then there is this.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
John 20:21‭-‬23 ESV

Where Jesus said it emphatically.

You believe in speaking in tongues according to your doctrine, but not what Jesus said from his own mouth as he turned over his earthly ministry to his disciples.
 

Angela53510

Senior Member
Jan 24, 2011
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Thanks for your reply Dino.

I found in the Church that few people were willing to search the scriptures for themselves, instead all too willing to basically allow others to think for them.
This meant they they bought into the cherry-picked verses that had subsequently been twisted to serve an agenda, which almost invariably involved giving somebody else your money.

I have no found a single verse in the new testament that compels modern Christians to tithe. Tithing is in fact an old testament requirement.
And no, Malachi does not say that modern Christians must tithe!
And no, you're not robbing God if you don't tithe!
Sorry I am late to the thread. I just wanted to give you a link to a long but excellent link about tithing.

https://www.tentmaker.org/books/TheTitheisIllegal.html

As far as charlatans, the best way to identify them is to know your Bible inside out and backwards. Then things which are not scriptural stand out like a sore thumb. My husband is very bad for not having discernment about false teachers. If I criticize some TV preacher, using the Bible to show how wrong the person is, he will get all puffy, and say, "touch not the Lord's anointed."

Well, if someone is far from God and telling lies or twisting the context or meanings, I don't think they are "anointed." For that matter, in the OT sense of anointing priests & kings, we do not have that. As believers, we are all anointed because anointing refers to having the Holy Spirit within us.

"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." 2 Cor. 1:21-22
 
Oct 19, 2020
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If you make it a purpose to get up, get dressed, and be in church attendance, being a good giver you should want to pay something to support what has been supporting you. That is just being a human being using common sense. The Bible should not be a [gage] determining how you give. You're supporting the efforts in the purpose and goal of sharing the Gospel. But if you've found a Bible based home Church, no matter its size, you [should] support it.
 

CS1

Well-known member
May 23, 2012
13,067
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If you make it a purpose to get up, get dressed, and be in church attendance, being a good giver you should want to pay something to support what has been supporting you. That is just being a human being using common sense. The Bible should not be a [gage] determining how you give. You're supporting the efforts in the purpose and goal of sharing the Gospel. But if you've found a Bible based home Church, no matter its size, you [should] support it.

let the reason why you give be between you and God and let it be worship to Him.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
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let the reason why you give be between you and God and let it be worship to Him.
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,
and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of
you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not
reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 :)
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
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I have a up the road from me a a big box home improvement store thats called mitre 10 mega.

Its like a huge warehouse full of stuff you can buy to improve your house. The mitre 10s used to be quite small. Then for some reason due to relaxing of import regulations or something, all these big box stores and warehouses started going up. They were cheaper due to economies of scale, but some of the stuff they sold was rubbishy stuff that didnt last long. well actually MOST of it is stuff thats kinda useless, will break in a few years and then you have to go back and buy some more.

They put a lot of smaller buinesses out of business completely as they couldnt compete.

Im not sure where the 'mega' church comes from. Though some churches do operate out of factory warehouses. Though going to one of those churches in an industrial area is an interesting experience. Im not a big fan of windowless buildings and huge carparks though. Why not just have church as a drive through or drive in? Park up and get a sermon delivered.
 

CS1

Well-known member
May 23, 2012
13,067
4,349
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Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,
and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of
you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not
reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 :)
yes you should give that way I hope you do :).
 
May 12, 2016
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Hello everybody,

I hope you are all well.
I have been lurking on this forum for some time and decided to join - thanks to the administrators for approving my profile very quickly.

The thing I'd like to get people's views on is whether we as a broad church are more accepting of charlatans and narcissists than we should be.

I had a bad experience at a so called church (Hillsong) about 2 years ago and haven't returned since.
I left because I didn't like how people were manipulated into tithing (not a requirement for modern day Christians) and side-lined if they didn't give in to the manipulation.
I gave to the Church myself, but eventually realised I was doing so under compulsion which is when my eyes were opened to the manipulation.

I also didn't like how closed the 'books' (financial records) were.
The pastor always said the the 'books' were open and free for all to examine, but when a couple of people from the church asked to look at the 'books', they were simply forwarded to the statutory accounts on a government website.
The statutory accounts provide a summary, not a full breakdown.

The pastor and his wife were also living the life of Riley: new car paid for by church, utility bills paid for by church, travel expenses paid for by church, near £40k a year wage (which doesn't include his wife's wage!).
I even witnessed the pastor say during a sermon that he is "God's gift to the church"! Massive ego.

I came to the conclusion that the church was being run like a business.
I did some research on Hillsong and realised that Hillsong is definitely money orientated.

Any thoughts?

Sorry in advance if this divides opinion.
I think you did a great job of providing a summary of issues that did and does exist in places where people claim to be “Christians” and teach about how the Christ. Thank God for opening your eyes and Congrats for leaving it!!
 

Edify

Well-known member
Jan 27, 2021
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I will be a pastor of a church somewhere in a year or two. I have every intention of it growing into a mega church. I hope that out of it several hundred other mega churches will be birthed. I would not approach ministry without expectations of turning the world upside down with the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Day of Pentecost, 3000 saved = Mega Church) :love:
Says the guy that does things his way instead of God's way.;)
 
Oct 19, 2020
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let the reason why you give be between you and God and let it be worship to Him.

I would also hope the acts of to get up, get dressed, and be in church attendance, being a good giver are also being done in reason for Worship to God.