About this time last year I began receiving letters in the mail and emails from a Reformed Christian ministry. This ministry began to beg for over three million dollars in the weeks leading up to Christmas last year. I wrote a post on that ministry because what they were doing struck me as very wrong.
If that same Reformed Ministry began begging for money before Christmas this year I somehow, thankfully, managed to miss it. But today I opened an email with the subject line of 'Your final opportunity' (as if it was a great privilege for me) from that Reformed Ministry.
Inside that email I found THIS...
But in His providence, we can’t make the most of ministry opportunities without your support.
'Your support' was a link to what I assume is a place on their website to donate money. This is supposedly a Reformed Ministry. The people running this ministry presumably believe that the Lord is sovereign in all things. And yet...they claim in their email, an email that informed me it was my final opportunity to give them money, that they can't 'make the most' of their ministry without my money...by God's providence.
Really?
If the Lord wanted their ministry to accomplish something does this Reformed ministry not believe that the God that created the earth and everything in it can't accomplish all He has in store for their ministry without them begging for money?
I wish I could say that that is the only Reformed company that I have encountered doing that but it's not. Over the last week or so I have been getting multiple emails PER DAY from another company 'offering' me the opportunity to help them with their ministry. This is yet another company that sells books, and at extremely high prices, among other things, and yet they are somehow considered a ministry and they find it necessary to badger those on their email list as they beg for money to meet whatever goals they supposedly have.
I know we all have our own opinions on ministry and what is worth our time, money, or even our prayers. Personally, I happen to be opposed to any organization that aligns themselves with Christ and then goes around begging people for money.
I can't help thinking that Christ came to earth, performed His own ministry, without begging for a dime. Yes, He was God. Yes, He could perform miracles that people cannot but these ministry's claim to be doing His work...would our Lord have anyone perform a work that He did not give them the means to do?
And if we really want to get down to the basics...ministry in Christs time consisted of giving the gospel, repent and believe. That is what John the Baptist did, that's the gospel Christ gave, and that is the Gospel Christ told His disciples to give. And yet...people today, people with a tax exempt status, claim that they need to 'minister' to people by writing books, distributing...whatever it is that they distribute...making radio broadcasts, and whatever else it is that they do. Wouldn't a ministry for Christ, the Christ of Scripture, be based on the same ministry that Christ and those that followed Him in Scripture do what He did? I know He performed miracles that we can't perform but...if our Lord didn't feel the need to write out stories and hand them out, only taught the gospel, shouldn't ministry's of today do the same thing?
I recently saw a familiar picture, a picture of what is supposed to be Jesus, and discovered that that picture is based on some evil leader in history's son but as with many articles and things I see online, it wasn't the article that caught my attention as much as it was the comments left at the end of the article. There were many varying comments of all different beliefs, feelings, and understandings. But one particular comment asked why people thought we need a drawing of a supposed 'Jesus'. My husband has said a number of times that if Christ had wanted a picture of Him to survive wouldn't we have one? There were artists in Christ's time, people that could have drawn or painted his picture. We have scrolls and biblical texts that have survived through many, many years...couldn't a picture of Christ have done the same thing, if the Lord had willed it?
And just as a photo of Christ could have survived all of time if it had been the Lord's will...wouldn't a ministry have all the money it needs to do exactly what the Lord wants it to do without begging for money?
I admit that it's my own fault that I have found myself on the mailing lists of these ministry's. I subscribed to something that one of them produces and I placed an order with the other one. But I DID NOT sign up to be badgered and bombarded with emails and letters that beg for money for a ministry that I can't see have much, if anything, to do with spreading the Gospel of Christ. And yet...simply because I gave these companies my email address when I placed an order with them, they have taken it upon themselves to send me multiple letters and emails that all but demand that I give them money.
I know that that is standard procedure for most, consumerism based businesses, but it should not be acceptable or supported in any business that aligns themselves with Christ.
I have written before of people that are out to sell Christ to line their own pockets and honestly I can see no difference in a preacher that uses his sermons to rake in the tithes, an author that writes a book about Christ and sells it for the highest profit, and a ministry that badgers everyone that winds up on their contact list into giving them money so they can reach their ministry goals.
It would be real nice if people, even Reformed Christians, would stop hustling Christ and just be content with the money that the Lord sends their way. What ministry they can do on the funds He gives them...that is the ministry He wants them to do.
Amen and Amen! There's a popular 'evangelist' who begs for money every month. He holds to a Reformed view as well, yet, if God were really behind his ministry, why would he have to ask for $$? This evangelist quit his job to enter into his ministry {he states he 'retired', but some fact checking on my part proves this to be untrue}. Now he spends his days at the park with his dog, or at Starbucks. He stands on the corners holding signs like 'police lives matter'- at the bottom of that sign is his link to his website! It is obvious it isn't about Christ, it's about promoting himself.
ReplyDeleteThere's more unbiblical stuff this guy does, but the gist is that he begs for money, as if his 'ministry' is worth supporting.
I think there are hucksters in the Reformed camp just like there are in the WOF camp. It's sad that people use Christ as a means of support and feel they don't have to work like the rest of us.
They have conferences where big names in Christianity speak, and in the hallways they are selling their wares - books, cds, dvds, etc. I recall Christ overturning the money tables because of similar activity.
Good post, $$ is what drives many who use 'religion' as a means to rake in dollars.
Thank you, Lyn. Money does seem to motivate people in all walks of life and sadly even those who claim a title of Christian, no matter their type of belief, fall victim to the same motivation.
DeleteI can almost understand people in say, the WOF, belief system but among Reformed believers I really have to wonder how they can justify what they are doing. I know that some of those Reformed Christians truly have ministries that they run but do they really think that if their ministry is what the Lord wants that they would need to beg for money? I find myself shaking my head in wonder each time I get hit up for money by one of these 'ministries' and even more so when the ministry in question is one that I can't see much ministry in.
And then there is the other side of this issue, where these same people, especially those in the Reformed faith, make their living off of Christ. Paul was the best example of what a preacher should do, he gave instructions, he showed with his life, and yet, today's preachers and leaders make their living off of Christ.
But you said it best...$$ is what drives many who use 'religion' as a means to rake in dollars.