A Prosperity Gospel Preacher by the name of Creflo Dollar [yes that is his real name] recently made headlines by asking his congregation to give sacrificially to raise 60 Million Dollars so that they could "assist us in acquiring a Gulfstream G650". For those not familiar with such things, a Gulfstream G650 is a 65 million dollar private Jet. This was apparently necessary because Dollar's old private jet had been damaged and so it needed to be replaced. Not surprisingly, the uproar over this request was significant, and when the outrage went viral all references to the campaign for the jet were quietly removed from the his church's website.
Now people have been getting rich in the name of Jesus for a lot of years and while this is obviously an extreme case, it is by no means the most dangerous. No, most financial abuse in the Christian church takes a much quieter and more insidious path. Sure, sometimes it is Pastors lining their pockets for their own gain. But far more often it takes the form of Poor Financial Stewardship caused by Arrogant Leadership. In fact, i would argue that Church Leaders making Foolish and Selfish financial decisions with churchgoers' money costs the Christian church far more every year than the obvious shysters like Crenflo Dollar.
In the case of my former employer, their poor financial stewardship certainly fits this pattern. For instance, my employee compensation package when i was dismissed from my position totaled about 90k and i didn't hold a pastoral position or have a college degree. It doesn't seem far-fetched to imagine that those with greater seniority or pastoral positions [which is nearly everyone else on staff] would certainly have higher compensations than mine. When you consider that the median household income for the area is around 60k it would seem that this Mog is very generous with his church member's money. It also makes me wonder exactly what or who he's attempting to buy.
In the Fall of 2013, a Capital Campaign was run to raise funds to 'improve the technology in the main auditorium' as well as a few other smaller projects at this same church. Over 180 Thousand dollars was raised. Some money went to new vehicles and building repairs, but the bulk of that amount of money went to the aforementioned technology upgrades. I think if i were a member of a church that spent this much money on improving the Sunday Morning Experience i would want to be able to notice actual improvement. And if i didn't see that, i think i would be asking some hard questions to the leadership about where all that money went.
Which brings us around to today. At the request of one of my blog readers, I took a few moments to view my former church's online service today, and much like the obvious prosperity charlatans like Crenfro Dollar, i see the Mog of this church on his stage imploring people to give to his ministry and, in my opinion, misusing Scripture to do so. In this case, the Mog used Luke 16:9 to say that by giving to his church you will enable others to come to Christ and they will, at some future time in heaven, welcome you into their 'eternal homes' as some kind of thank you for your gift. Now, i am not qualified to give an authoritative interpretation as to this passage actually means [of course this particular Mog isn't really either], but i would encourage anyone reading this to go find Luke 16 and read what it actually says and compare it with his interpretation. Personally, I think that this Mog is venturing dangerously close to abusing Scripture to finance his own personal kingdom. And if he can bend Scripture to feed his bloated church budget, how different is he really from the guy that bends it to buy a Private Jet?
[ Special thanks for Radio Free Babylon for the use of their awesome comic. www.facebook.com/radiofreebabylon ]
