Arthur Owiti | Posted July 23, 2009
Since when did people pay money to attend conferences that promise the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Even in the days of Wesley the people heard the word of God outdoors, for all to hear. Peter sharply rebuked Simon the sorcerer for believing that he could purchase the gift of God!!
This 'Simon syndrome' is the hallmark of the so called Christian market's 'music industry', TV ministries and church ministry in Christendom-- who say, ‘You will have heavenly things if you only give money’.
The episode of Simon and Peter is very interesting because Simon had just been baptized meaning he believed in the gospel .But when he made request for the power, Peter declared that his heart was not right with God despite his being baptized. His heart was filled with bitterness and iniquity because of the thought of buying the gift of God, the Holy Spirit.
Was it that Simon wanted the power for his own gain and glory since he was already a famous sorcerer? Did he believe that riches can buy heavenly gifts of God like the tithe proponents believe that paying tithe is assurance of our Heavenly Father blessing the giver?
Like Simon, many believe that since money is the answer for everything, it can also move God. That money is one way of access to God. This is wrong, a big lie.
This is the basis of the tithe teaching today and sow a seed teaching. One so called preacher dared to say that tithe is God's protection money like that in a mafia ring which Christians must pay to get his protection-utter BLASPHEMY since he is replacing the gift of God by which we can all draw near to him , with money--the gift of man.
Money is the foundation of most of church ministries instead of Jesus Christ and his doctrine. Not that ministries and the church do not need money. Good use of money can help in many needy areas and aiding true gospel ministry. The issue is money should not be the oxygen of the church as this seems to be the case in most of Christendom.
The Word of God revealed by the Holy Spirit, is what should sustain the life of the church first. Money is an accompanying necessity in ministry, one that should not hinder the work of ministry. Or when it runs dry, the church can still function, not today’s overdependence on money (love and worship of money). We should master money’s deceptive power and not be slaves of money. Godliness with contentment is great gain.
Some churches cannot function without money. With the economy of the world facing hard times, ministries that were money based have closed shop. This should not be the case for the gospel does not need money to work but the Holy Spirit.
With the Levitical order having been wrongly restored in Christendom, money has taken the driving seat in the church. In the Old Testament the priests used money for temple maintenance. This has been erroneously employed by many churches using the order as a justification of asking for money for everything. But must this be the excuse for asking money? Is it not better to ask and give for the needy amongst us or for gospel materials like bibles for many saints in who are in need of them today?
It is doctrinally wrong to claim that church workers are today’s Levites as we are all priests under the order of Melchizedek with Jesus as the High priest. Moreover tithe was a command which is not present in the New Testament Teachings of which we are under. Why just open up and say people need salaries instead of abusing the word of God?
MONEY AND MINISTERS
Money is the door to qualification in ministry instead of the Holy Spirit evidenced by godly conduct and sound doctrine. Some buy their way to ministry simply because they got a PHD from a prominent theological school, where only a rich fellow or sponsored student can reach such a level.
The PHD, not godly conduct or sound doctrine, will earn him the place in ministry. A stark departure from the apostle’s traditions which should be the church’s standard today. Ministry money provided by the church is enticing and some have fallen into temptation by defrauding in the name of love gifts and donations. Instead of keeping up with the goal of true ministry many Ministries are created in churches so as to share the gains made. I used to serve in a ministry where swindling was subtle and habitual yet the ignorant givers gave, knowing it was for God’s work.
In fact the moment the ministries started receiving church money, their spiritual life collapsed. We served only when the church had money. We could not sacrificially travel to a rundown place and minister because we did not get any money from our ‘superiors’. Money, not the Holy Spirit was the leader of ministry.
In other quarters, some ministers from the West say that they cannot come to Africa because of the costs, when all it will need is an air ticket in the economy class.
What they mean is that they will only come if there is a chance of recovering the costs and in the end get profit and fame and expansion. Sacrificial love, hazarding one's life are strange terms to them, but profits, the love of money and the world are not.
‘Anointed musicians' are those whose CDs are selling well or need to sell well. The more the sales the more the ‘anointing’, the more the awards, the more the videos -- the more the exposure the more the sales, the more the ‘anointing’.
‘Anointed’ pastors are those who have large crowds and mega churches, because the more the numbers, the more the money to pay for airtime on TV , the more the books become best sellers.... Why don’t we just call these people by their profession – BUSINESSMEN AND BUSINESSWOMEN, shrewd ones for that matter, instead of abusing words such as ‘anointing’?
In Kenya, some Christian TV programs have quickly adopted the new technology of mobile phone-banking accounts where one can quickly send money to the ministry to the flashing number on the screen. Some Christians have said they are being distracted, focusing on the flashing numbers instead of receiving the ministry of the word. You can forget the word but not the number because the number is the door to ones deliverance and blessing. God have mercy on us all!
However there are some struggling Kenyan ministers of the gospel who after being hard hit with the economic down turn are coming up with self employing jobs because ministry giving and partnership money has gone down. This humility is commendable and such ministers do need encouragement as it is not easy for them to carry the burdens of the church and their own family.
Such need our prayers and help especially if they are preaching the true gospel. They also need to learn the true church ministry standards provided for in the word of God and unlearn the deception of New Testament ministers who belong to the Melchizedek order, living Old Testament lives under the Levitical order.
MONEY AND THE POOR CHRISTIAN
So what happens to the poor Christian, the one who can say 'silver and gold have I none'?
They cannot receive the Holy Spirit because they could not pay 50 dollars? They cannot have the presence of God because they did not buy a musician's 'anointed' CD. They are not allowed to come and worship the Lord in a concert because they could not pay the tax at the door?
They need to break the curse of poverty to enjoy the things rich Christians enjoy such as outpourings, prayer cloths, newsletter teachings, things only available to the partners of the ministry?
They cannot fellowship in a specific church because at that church you are only recognized as a member if you pay a certain tithe --hence the sad vocabulary such as 'rich churches v. poor churches 'because the love of money has caused class divisions, cliques and clubs in the church.
This division is similar to the Levitical order where only the Levites could minister before God--- in our case those who have more money have access to the ‘man of God’ but the majority have no access to him therefore are not justified by quid.
Yet these things such as teachings, prophecies, healing and baptism of the Holy Spirit are heavenly gifts, gifts that only come from God to them that believe. How can we put price tags on gifts no man can give? Unless those things which are being given are gifts of men falsely called gifts of God, business in sheep’s clothing. Such falsehood is taking the name of the Lord in vain, doctrines of demons
Thus if that is the way things are to go, the poor Christian is far from God because he has little money to be near him. This is not what the Holy Scriptures support or say.
As the book of James says the poor Christian is rich in faith ,---without which no man can please God ; faith, which is part of the fruit of the Spirit according to Galatians 5. So how did the poor Christian get the Holy Spirit, without money or paying for a Holy Spirit conference ? Because of faith in Jesus Christ by which one is justified by God. Man's gifts, like money which the poor Christian does not have, cannot justify anyone before God.
When the global economy collapses the true church will not disappear. Only those churches that have money as their foundation will fall; churches: Where people attend church hoping to get more money through planting seeds and tithes, so as to gain the world and riches; Where people serve God as ministers for the main aim of getting money to gain the world and riches.
The Love of money has replaced the love of and for God in the lives of many, leading them to the path of destruction, which Peter had pronounced on Simon. We judge ourselves and others by the amount of money and success in the world we have, instead of the word of God and the life and sayings of Jesus Christ.
The Life of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit in the church and a Christian is what matters, not the size of the bank account. The Holy Spirit is given to those who obey the gospel and not those who have enough money to buy his power. You cannot serve both God and money/mammon. Please God, despise mammon in the name of Jesus Christ.
Abiding in the Word,
Arthur Owiti
