CHANGING THE BIBLE
http://www.lorendavis.com/news_articles_chg_bible.html
by Loren Davis
God's Word, the Bible, is His covenant with mankind and applies to all generations. The religious practice of pointing out so-called errors in the Bible is what has produced Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, Islam, and the massive schism in the Christian world today. This attitude has produced THE GAY TRANSLATION, THE FEMINIST TRANSLATION; translations that say nothing about the VIRGIN BIRTH of Christ; and versions that delete THE NECESSITY OF THE BLOOD for redemption. This list goes on into infinitum. Nothing makes a person angrier than for someone to take what he says out of context, twist his words and misrepresent him. If we, as people, feel that way when someone distorts our words, how do you suppose God feels when His words are distorted? The New Testament is THE NEW COVENANT between God and man. It is a legal document, the law of God that must not be tampered with. The Bible is God's unchanging, infallible Word
METHODS OF TRANSLATING THE BIBLE
Many translations were made by one man. Question? If one person is translating the scriptures, is it possible for him to make mistakes? Is it possible or even probable that he will taint the translation with his own doctrinal positions? The answer is obvious.
Other translations were commissioned by a denomination or a particular group. Is it possible that these translations will be tainted by their doctrinal beliefs? Knowing mankind, it is impossible to believe otherwise. For example, the Catholic Bible, the Duhey Version, totally deletes "Thou shalt not make before me any graven images" from the Ten Commandments given in Exodus 20. The reasoning behind this is not hard to figure out. Catholic churches are full of graven images.
WHICH BIBLE IS RIGHT?
Many translations come from corrupt texts, manuscripts that were scholastically proven to be inacurate. The Bible revisers, Hort and Westcott, did not even believe in the infallibility of the Bible. By developing such watered down Bibles, the world's religions will soon have a common book to rally around, a Bible that will deny the divinity of Christ and one that will be contrary to His teachings.
NEW AGE VERSIONS, FLUID BIBLES
The New Age Movement has impacted modern Bible translations and has given us New Age Versions of the Bible. Three of these are the NIV, NASB and The Message paraphrase. Using these many translations is doing nothing but making a "fluid" Bible, which is like water. It will take on the form of whatever it is put into. A New Age Bible is developing which can be used by all religions (even non-Christians). It is so fluid that it can be taken many different ways. The New Age Movement, by using these different translations, has even infiltrated most of Evangelical Christianity. It has SLOWLY BEEN CHANGING THE BIBLE AND ITS DOCTRINES TO LINE UP WITH the "One World" movement, the "New World Order".
THESE NEW TRANSLATIONS ARE GETTING THE APOSTATE CHURCH READY to accept the Antichrist, the Mark of the Beast, his Image, and the anti-Christ's religion, Satanism. 2 Thesselonians 2:3 The proliferation of so many translations of the Bible has done more to change the teachings of Christ than any other thing.
Some who worked on the NIV admitted that the translators own beliefs influenced their work.One quote from Palmer, the manager of the NIV translation, said that "the common error in the KJV was, namely that regeneration depends upon faith...and that in order to be Born Again, man must accept Jesus as his Savior". If the manager of the NIV translation project has such an objection regarding "The Born Again" experience, how is his translation going to be untainted by his view? We know that many so called "Christian" denominations do not believe in being born again.
UNSUSPECTING CHRISTIANS
Despite the facts that many of these versions are based on corrupt texts, they are continually being sold to unsuspecting Christians in Christian bookstores. Accuracy is totally ignored as long as they will sell and make money for the retailer.
THE INTEGRITY OF THE BIBLE AND IT'S INFALLIBILITY IS THE MAIN ISSUE FOR CHRISTIANS. OTHERWISE, HOW COULD ONE EVER BELIEVE IT? MANY VITAL ISSUES ABOUT MORALITY, ETERNITY, AND THE PROMISES OF GOD ARE AT STAKE.
The reason this issue is so critical is that without the Bible's integrity it is impossible to establish Bible doctrine and truth.
There are "favorite Word" people who attach themselves to certain scriptures, and either ignore or reject other scriptures. If, as they say, certain scriptures are not accurate, how do we know which scriptures are true? On that premise, John 3:16, the foundation for salvation may not be true. How can we know that the promises for healing and blessing are accurate? What if those scriptures were not translated correctly? The Bible is the only foundation we have to know about Jesus; salvation; and heaven. When faith in the Bible has been shaken, the foundation of our faith has crumbled. "Doctrines of devils"(1 Timothy 4:1) can then easily take the place of the doctrines of the Bible. Many who believe the Bible is full of errors particularly target the King James Version. No version has been attacked more than the KJV. The biggest assault on the KJV comes from inside Christianity. Is this attack justified? WHY SHOULD WE TRUST THE KING JAMES VERSION ( KJV)?
HOW WAS IT TRANSLATED?
Scholastically, the KJV IS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER TRANSLATIONS. Consider these facts regarding how the KJV was translated. This will help you to gain total confidence in the integrity and scholarship that went into it so that you can be fully assured the KJV is TRULY THE WORD OF GOD. There is a major difference in a "professing" Bible, containing some of the Word of God, or the Bible that literally is the Word Of God. A TRUE BIBLE CANNOT BE PARTIALLY ACCURATE.
47 TRANSLATORS WERE INVOLVED IN THE TRANSLATION OF THE KJV
"Never in history had such an assembly of scholarship and spirituality been brought together on a project as these FORTY-SEVEN LEARNED MEN. Four were college presidents, six were bishops, and five were university professors who were all Greek and Hebrew scholars of rare scholarship. Three of them were eastern linguists who were well versed with Arabic. They were as at ease with the eastern languages as they were with their own English. "All of them believed in the plenary, verbal inspiration of the Bible, the Divinity of Christ without equivocation, and all of them were men of prayer. Some prayed as much as five hours per day during the entire course of their Christian lives. Only God could have prepared this group of men for such a monumental task, the results of which were, in the providence of God, needed for the great evangelistic and missionary thrust of the succeeding centuries." 1
THEY WERE DIVIDED INTO 6 COMPANIES
Each person was assigned certain portions of the scriptures to translate. After he finished, he met with others in the group to compare results. Their combined work was then given to each of the other groups of companies for review and approval. Finally A SELECT COMMITTEE OF TWO OF THE BEST EXPERTS IN LINGUISTICS was assigned for THE TASK OF FINAL REVIEW AND APPROVAL. The results were that this gave the world an objective, unbiased translation of the Bible which was done with the highest degree of scholarship. Nothing in history can match the scholarship. It still stands as a masterpiece of scholarship and literary art, unexcelled in the history of the world." 2
To criticize the King James Version is to ignore how it was translated. That criticism is unfair. It is an objective, scholarly, and unbiased translation that has no doctrinal axe to grind. Therefore, it should be unwaveringly accepted as the Word of God and believed to be completely accurate. IF ONE BELIEVES THAT PART OF THE BIBLE IS UNRELIABLE, THEN REALISTICALLY, ONE CANNOT KNOW FOR SURE WHICH PART IS ACCURATE AND BELIEVABLE, and which is not. Then the foundation of the Faith is destroyed, because...
*Romans 10:17 "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."
*Psalm 11:3 "IF THE FOUNDATIONS BE DESTROYED, WHAT CAN THE RIGHTEOUS DO?"
Therefore, I submit that THE KJV MUST BE THE STANDARD BY WHICH EVERYTHING ELSE IS JUDGED.
ELIZABETHAN ENGLISH: KJV AND SHAKESPEARE
Many criticize the KJV saying it is hard to understand because it uses the old Elizabethan English. Yet, in the west, SHAKESPEARE is mandatory for students in schools. Shakespeare used the same Elizabethan English as the KJV. I have never heard a complaint that children can't understand Shakespeare. There are no calls to retranslate Shakespeare to put it into modern language. As a boy I read the KJV and had no problem understanding what "thee and thou" meant. To use modern English for the Bible wouldn't be an issue if while doing this, they wouldn't change the meaning of what the Bible is saying, but that is not what has happened. These newer versions change the very essence of the Bible's doctrines. The complaint about the KJV using Elizabethan English is just a subtil ploy to change the real message of the Bible.
The NIV is now the biggest selling Bible in the world. It is becoming very difficult to get a KJV Bible in bookstores.
COMPARING THE KJV WITH OTHER TRANSLATIONS
EXAMPLES:
Romans 1:20 in KJV," For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse."
The NIV and NASB change "GODHEAD" to "divine nature." This language does away with the concept of THE TRINITY.
John 3:15, KJV states..."Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life"
The NIV deletes "should not perish" and says "May" have eternal life instead of "Shall".
Colossians. 1:14, KJV, states..."In whom we have redemption through his blood..."
NIV and NASB state simply..."In whom we have redemption"... The blood is deleted. Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Hebrews 9:22
Psalms 8:5, KJV... "For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour".
NIV and NASB.... "Yet thou hast made him ...a little lower than God".
Proverbs 8:18 KJV says..."Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness."
NASB and NIV state..."With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity. Prosperity takes the place of righteousness.
1 Corinthians 8:4, KJV... "As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world."
NASB... "There is no such thing as an idol". It denies the very existence of idols.
Luke 4:8 KJV Jesus said, "Get thee behind me Satan".
"NIV omits "Get thee behind me Satan."
Luke 4:4 says, "And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."
NIV, NASB, omits "by every word of God."
Daniel 3:25, "He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."
NIV and NASB say... "He said, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods." (A son of the gods is much different than THE SON OF GOD).
John 9:35, KJV... "Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?"
NIV, NASB, "Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
John 3:16, KJV "for God so loved the world that he gave his ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life."
NIV ..."For God so loved the world that he gave his ONE AND ONLY SON, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON IS DELETED.
Deleting "begotten" has a direct impact on the essential truth that Jesus was born of a virgin with a heavenly Father, which makes Him God in the flesh. He had the flesh of man, but the blood of God. He was sinless.
John 3:18, NIV "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's ONE AND ONLY SON.
Again, the NIV DELETES "THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD."
The biblical concept of Jesus being God's ONLY BEGOTTEN SON is foundational to salvation.
In John 1:14, and 1:18 the NIV also deletes ONLY BEGOTTEN SON.
Matthew 1:23 , KJV says..."Behold A VIRGIN shall be with child."
Matthew 1:23, NIV "THE VIRGIN will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel", which means, "God with us."
The terminology THE VIRGIN was taken from Babylon and Egypt and is pagan.
1 Timothy 3:16,KJV..."GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH."
NIV "Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory."
The NIV DELETES the phrase, "GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH".
If Jesus was not manifest in the flesh, there is no Gospel.
*2 John 1:7 "For many DECEIVERS are entered into the world, WHO CONFESS NOT THAT JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH. THIS IS A DECEIVER AND ANTICHRIST."
Romans 8:1 KJV "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
The NIV DELETES "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." That means that if one has accepted Christ, even if he doesn't live right he is not under condemnation. This is the doctrine of many denominations which believe one's behavior has nothing to do with his salvation. They finally got a Bible to substantiate their doctrine.
The words "SOVEREIGN and SOVEREIGNTY" are not found in the KJV one time.
The NIV uses the word SOVEREIGN 315 times and SOVEREIGNTY twice. This is a prime example of denominations influencing translations to taint it with their denominational doctrine of "The Sovereignty of God". This is blatantly changing the scriptures and ADDING to them in defiance of Revelation 22:18-19. The NIV translation and teaching on "The Sovereignty of God" negates all the Bible's teachings on the importance of having faith and believing God to receive from Him.
KJV speaks of "THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST".
*II John 9 states... "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son."
KJV uses the word DOCTRINE 51 times.
The NIV uses the word DOCTRINE only 5 times. Is this not changing the Bible?
What about the "NEW" King James Version (NKVJ)?
NKJV omits the word ..."REPENT" 44 times; "GOD" 51 times; "LORD" 66 times; "HEAVEN" 50 times; "HELL" 22 times; "DAMNATION" entirely; "DEVILS" entirely; "JEHOVAH" entirely; the "NEW TESTAMENT" entirely.
(You can use the concordance on your computer comparing the KJV and the NKJV to verify this).
MANY TRANSLATIONS ARE BASED ON CORRUPT GREEK TEXTS
Here is a test to determine if a translation is based on corrupt Greek texts or not.
*Use 1 Timothy 3:16, which says, "GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."
If your version does not state this, you can then be assured that the translation comes from corrupt texts. Even many translations that accurately translate this scripture often change many others. Just because the cover of a book says Holy Bible doesn't make it a true Bible .
*Psalms 105:8 "He hath remembered HIS COVENANT FOR EVER, THE WORD which HE COMMANDED TO A THOUSAND GENERATIONS."
THE CHANGING OF SCRIPTURES
The changing of scriptures by these varied translations has no end. THE SIN IS ADDING TO and/or TAKING away FROM THE BIBLE, GOD'S WORD. By doing this the translators are blatantly distorting the scriptures. These translations are no longer Holy Bibles, but fraudulent imposters. If I were the devil I would rewrite the Bible and get into the Bible translating and publishing business. He needs no advice regarding this,however, because this has already happened. This strategy of using translations to change the Bible is so diabolical that it had to come from Satan himself. This tactic has even deceived many of the very elect. It is the work of The Deceiver! Revelation 18:23
God is jealous over His Word and will not tolerate it being tampered with. To attack the integrity of the Bible is to attack the integrity and infallibility of God. The Bible is not an ordinary book. It is supernatural. God gave His Word by the Holy Ghost, and He knows how to keep it generation after generation. It was not given just to an exclusive club of clerics who are Greek scholars. That is how the Catholic church operated for years. For a long time, itt was even illegal for the laity to even have a Bible. They needed a priest to tell you what the Bible said and what it meant. Now the protestants, by using so many translations and the heavy usage of the Greek, are virtually doing the same thing.
THE PRACTICE OF USING MANY TRANSLATIONS
Many ministers use several translations to develop their messages. Is there a problem here? Since most translations disagree with each other to varying degrees, this leaves it to the judgment of the minister which one he thinks is translated correctly. I have often heard preachers comment after reading from the KJV, that "this scripture was translated wrong." Then he goes to another translation and says that it was translated the right way in this one! In preaching a message, they often jump from translation to translation. This is what I refer to as the eclectic way of finding truth. If you don't like what you are reading, just go to another translation that you like better. Jumping from translation to translation now makes the preacher the final authority of faith and not the Bible. This practice actually destroys faith in the Bible by causing the congregation to doubt that what they are reading is accurate. Now we are left with the notion that we can't understand the Bible without the preacher interpreting it for us. This practice is deadly.
The abuse of the Greek to privately interpret scriptures is very intimidating. Some will read the Bible, then tell their congregants that the Holy Spirit told them that this was how it should have "really been interpreted".
*2 Peter 1:20-21 "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
God is jealous over His Word and will not tolerate it being tampered with. To attack the infallibility of the Bible is to attack the infallibility of God. John 1:1 says "...the Word was with God and the Word was God." The Bible is not an ordinary book. It is supernatural. God gave it to men by the Holy Ghost, and He knows how to keep it generation after generation. 2 Timothy 3:16, Psalm 105:8
A WARNING FOR THOSE WHO WOULD CHANGE THE BIBLE
Revelation 22:18-19 "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." KJV
A WARNING FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE A LIE
II Thesselonians 2:11-12 "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should BELIEVE A LIE: That THEY ALL MIGHT BE DAMNED who BELIEVED NOT THE TRUTH," To trust in a corrupt translation will cause you to believe a lie and can lead you to be damned for eternity.
PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE IS DANGEROUS
http://www.lorendavis.com/news_articles_pdl.html
THE FIVE POINTED SIRIUS STAR
http://www.lorendavis.com/news_articles_sirius.html
THE ENEMIES OF CHRISTIANITY
http://www.lorendavis.com/news_articles_pagan1.html
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This article is an excerpt from my book "The Paganization of Christianity" which can be ordered online at www.lorendavis.com
1 New Age Bible Versions, Gail Riplinger
2 Bible Versions, Eldred Thomas; New Age Bible Versions, Gail Riplinger
SECOND ARTICLE
A Creationist's Defense of the King James Bible
by Henry M. Morris*
In this day of rapid change, when many Christians have suddenly started using one of the many modern English translations of the Bible (NASB, NIV, NEB, NRSV, NKJV, etc.), abandoning the long-used King James Version read and loved by English-speaking people of all ages and walks of life for over ten generations, it may be appropriate to review a few of the reasons why many creationists, including this writer, still prefer to use the latter.
The King James Translators
One reason is that all the fifty or more translators who developed the King James Bible were godly men who believed strongly in the inerrancy and full authority of Scripture and who, therefore, believed in the literal historicity of Genesis, with its record of six-day Creation and the worldwide flood. This has not been true of many who have been involved in producing the modern versions.
The spiritual motivations and convictions of the King James translators are indicated by their fascinating preface, entitled "The Translators to the Reader." The flavor of this impassioned essay can be illustrated by the following brief excerpts
The Scriptures then being acknowledged to be so full and perfect, how can we excuse ourselves of negligence, if we do not study them, of curiosity, if we be not content with them? . . . It is not only an armor, but also a whole armory of weapons, both offensive and defensive; whereby we may save ourselves and put the enemy to flight. It is not an herb, but a tree, or rather a whole paradise of trees of life, which bring forth fruit every month, and the fruit thereof is for meat, and the leaves for medicine. . . . a fountain of most pure water springing up unto everlasting life, and what marvel? The original thereof being from heaven, not from earth; the author being God, not man; the Editor, the Holy Spirit, not the wit of the Apostles or Prophets; the Penmen such as were sanctified from the womb, and endued with a principal portion of God's Spirit; the matter, verity, piety, purity, uprightness; the form, God's word, God's testimony, God's oracles, the word of truth, the word of salvation, etc.; the effects, light of understanding, stableness of persuasion, repentance from dead works, newness of life, holiness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost; lastly, the end and reward of the study thereof, fellowship with the saints, participation of the heavenly nature, fruition of an inheritance immortal, undefiled, and that shall never fade away; happy is the man that delighteth in the Scripture, and thrice happy that meditateth in it day and night.
Furthermore, the King James translators were also great scholars, every bit as proficient in the Biblical languages as any of those who have come after them. They were very familiar with the great body of manuscript evidence, as well as all the previous translations. They worked diligently on the project (assigned to them by King James) for over seven years, completing it in the year 1611.
The professional qualifications of the translators were all extremely high. There were 54 scholars originally assigned to the project by King James, though some died early in the project. There were evidently 47 who were active throughout the project, all of whom were exceptionally well qualified both academically and spiritually.
For example, John Bois, who kept the most complete account of the proceedings of the translators, was extremely skilled in both Hebrew and Greek. In fact, it is reported by his biographer that he was reading through the Hebrew Old Testament when he was only five years old. He was expert in all forms of Greek, including the Koine Greek of the New Testament, and compiled one of the largest Greek libraries ever. Dr. Bois became Dean of Canterbury in 1619.
Lancelot Andrews, a leader of the Old Testament translators, had been chaplain to Queen Elizabeth. He was fluent in fifteen modern languages, as well as Hebrew, Greek, and the cognate Biblical languages. He served as Dean of Westminster and later as Bishop of Winchester.
Dr. William Bedwell was expert in Latin, Arabic, and Persian, preparing lexicons in these languages, as well as in the Biblical languages. Edward Lively, who died after only a year, had been Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge and had an unequaled knowledge of the Oriental languages. Dr. John Harding was Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford. Miles Smith was a noted Orientalist who became Bishop of Gloucester in 1612. He was the last man to review the translation and was selected to write the Translators' Preface.
Dr. Andrew Downes spent forty years as Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford University and was on the final checking committee of the translation. George Abbott became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1611. Sir Henry Saville was Provost of Eton and was a scientist as well as Bible scholar. His works included an eight-volume edition of the works of Chrysostom. And on and on. All the translators were great scholars, deeply fluent in the Biblical languages, the cognate languages, the writings of the church fathers and other relevant materials, as well as accomplished writers in English. It is almost certain that no group of Bible scholars before or since has ever been as thoroughly fit for their task as was the King James Translation Team.
The result of their consecrated labor was that the so-called "Authorized" version eventually displaced all those that had gone before and then has withstood the test of wide usage in all English-speaking countries ever since. To suddenly abandon it in just one over-stressed, pseudo-intellectual, largely apostate generation may well prove to be a decision with sad and entropic consequences.
Which New Translation Could Replace It?
This is not a new question. As a matter of fact, there have been no less than 120 English translations of the complete Bible published since the King James, as well as over 200 New Testaments. Even in my own lifetime there have been at least 45 Bibles plus about 100 New Testaments, and I have tried to use at least 20 of them.
My wife and I were given an American Standard Version for a wedding present when we married in 1940, and I later bought a Berkeley Version, then a Williams, and a Phillips - each time thinking the latest might be the best. I was especially pleased when the Revised Standard Version was finally marketed in 1952 with great publicity. Each time I was disappointed, however, and soon went back to the KJV. Later came the Amplified and the Expanded and the Basic English and the Living Bible and many others. I even studied some of the older translations (Afford, Weymouth, Goodspeed, etc.).
Each of these provided interesting variations in wording, as well as updating the archaic expressions and old-style English, but something always seemed missing, so I continued using the King James in my writing and speaking, and God continued to bless its use, in spite of its Elizabethan-age English.
But other new translations kept on appearing. The New English Bible, Good News for Modern Man, the Anchor Bible, New American Standard, New International Version -- even the New King James Version. There were numerous others, most recently one called God's Word.
On one of these -- the New King James Version -- I was even a member of the North America Overview Committee, reviewing the proposed translation of Genesis in particular, even though I cannot read Hebrew. The men who worked on the NKJV were, so far as I know, all godly men committed to Biblical inerrancy, and many of them, at least, to literal creationism, and I do believe it is the best of the modern translations. Even so, after trying to use it and endorse it, I finally went back to the "old" King James, convinced that it is still the best, in terms of poetic majesty, spiritual power, and over-all clarity and reliability.
Therefore, even if one really feels keenly that he ought to switch to a modern translation, how does he decide which? With apologies to Judges 9:25, it seems today that "every man does that which is right in his own eyes," as far as selecting a Bible is concerned. But how can he decide which, if any, best preserved the inspired, authoritative Word of God? After all, God did say that His Word had been "for ever settled in heaven" (Psalm 119:89) and had given sober warning to any who would presume to supplement, delete, or distort any of the words of Scripture (Revelation 22:18,19; II Peter 3:16).
Is God the Author of Confusion?
For a long time, the "official" English version used in each Bible-believing church was the King James, with the others used occasionally for reference study by teachers and pastors. Now, however, confusion reigns. Congregational unison reading is no longer possible, and church members often don't even bring their Bibles to church. The pastor preaches from one version and the people in the congregation each have their own, so they can't follow the pastor anyway, and thus they just listen, and soon forget.
Scripture memorization, which has been an incalculable blessing in my own Christian life, is almost a lost art these days. I remember back in 1943 when Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators, first got me and others in our Gideon Camp back in Houston, to start memorizing Scripture, he used to stress that the verses should be quoted "word perfect," with their respective "addresses" cited fore and aft. But such meticulous attention to the very words of a Scripture verse becomes anomalous when even the supposed authorities all disagree on what it says, so why bother? In addition, the musical phrasing in the King James makes it easier to memorize than the more ponderous English of the modern versions.
And what becomes of our long-cherished belief in verbal inspiration? If it's only the "thought" that counts, then the words are flexible. Yes, but then the thoughts themselves easily become flexible also, and we can adjust the words to make them convey whatever thought we prefer. We forget that precise thoughts require precise words.
Another fast-vanishing form of Bible study is that of comparative word studies, comparing the various usages and contexts of a given key word or phrase as it occurs throughout the Bible. This has been a highly fruitful means of obtaining many precious insights into the mind of the divine writer who inspired all of them. A given word may have been rendered in various ways by the King James translators, of course, but they have assured us (in their preface) that this was always done very carefully and in accord with context and the known range of meanings carried by the word itself. A Bible student may easily discern and compare all of these -- usually with real blessing to his mind and heart -- even without knowledge of Greek and Hebrew, simply by using one of the complete concordances based on the King James translation (Strong's or Young's). But this type of study is far more difficult, if not practically impossible, with most modern versions in which the translators have often either resorted to paraphrasing the supposed thought of the writer, or even to using their own interpretation of what they think he would have said if he were aware of our modern scientific knowledge of things.
One can only wonder -- and speculate -- about why our ecclesiastical leaders have felt it necessary to keep producing so many new English translations all the time. The Bible, of course, is the best selling book of all time, but surely publishing profits and translators' royalties don't have anything to do with it. Anyway, in spite of the rising popularity of many modern versions, there are still more King James Bibles and Testaments being printed and distributed today than any other.
Which Version Best Renders the Original Manuscripts?
Even many King James Bibles now have added footnotes referring to what are said to be "better manuscripts" which indicate that certain changes should be made in the King James text. The most famous such changes are the omission of the last twelve verses of Mark and the first eleven verses of John, chapter 8, but there are many other important omissions, as well as some additions and many word changes that have been incorporated in these new versions, with the implication that all these changes have been derived from these "better" ancient manuscripts.
But what are these better manuscripts, and are they really better? The whole subject of New Testament criticism is too complex to discuss here (or for me to try to discuss anywhere!), but it is significant that almost all of the new versions of the New Testament are based on what is known as the Westcott-Hort Greek text, or some modification thereof (such as the Nestle-Aland text), whereas the King James is based largely on what is known as the Received Text (also called the Textus Receptus or the Byzantine Greek text). As far as the Hebrew text of the Old Testament is concerned, the King James is based on the Masoretic text, while the modern versions rely somewhat on the Masoretic but also on the Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and various others, especially the Kittel Hebrew reference text, Biblia Hebreice, in its "Stuttgart" edition.
The Masoretic text was compiled from the ancient manuscripts of the Old Testament by the Masoretes, who were groups of Hebrew scholars dedicated to guarding and standardizing the traditional Hebrew text as "handed down" (the basic meaning of "Masoretic") from the earlier Hebrew scribes, who had in turn meticulously copied the ancient Hebrew manuscripts, scrupulously guarding against error. There seems no good reason why the Masoretic text as preserved and codified in its present form by about 600 A.D., which has served as the basis for the King James translation, should not continue to be accepted as the most accurately preserved Old Testament portion of the Bible.
Most scholars would agree that neither the Greek Septuagint nor the Latin Vulgate are comparable to the Masoretic Text in accuracy or reliability. As far as the Hebrew text changes proposed by Rudolf Kittel are concerned, it is worth noting that Kittel was a German rationalistic higher critic, rejecting Biblical inerrancy and firmly devoted to evolutionism. The Dead Sea Scrolls were produced by a heretical Jewish sect called the Essenes, but for the most part they do agree with the standard Masoretic Text.
The two men most responsible for modern alterations in the New Testament text were B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort, whose Greek New Testament text has largely replaced the traditional Textus Receptus in modern seminaries, especially as revised and updated by the Germans Eberhard Nestle and Kurt Aland. All of these men were evolutionists. Furthermore, Westcott and Hort, although they were Anglican officials and nominally orthodox in theology, both denied Biblical inerrancy and promoted spiritism and racism. Nestle and Aland, like Kittel, were Gemman theological liberals.
Westcott and Hort were also the most influential members of the English revision committee that produced the English Revised Version of the Bible, published in 1881. The corresponding American revision committee which developed the American Standard Version of 1901 was headed by another liberal evolutionist, Philip Schaff. Most new versions since that time have adopted the same presuppositions as did those 19th century revisers. Schaff was twice tried for heresy by his denomination and taught at the very liberal Union Seminary. As chairman of the revision committee, Schaff not only was greatly influenced by Westcott and Hort, but also by the Unitarians Ezra Abbot and Joseph Thayer, of Harvard, as well as other liberals whom he placed on the committee.
Furthermore, the changes adopted by the Westcott-Hort (or Nestle-Aland) Greek texts were predominantly based on two old Greek manuscripts, the so-called Sinaiticus and Vaticanus texts, which were rediscovered and rescued from long (and well-deserved) obscurity in the 19th century. Since these are both supposedly older than the more than 5000 manuscripts that support the Textus Receptus, they were accepted as "better." This was in spite of the fact that they frequently disagreed with each other as well as with the Textus Receptus, and also contained many serious and obvious omissions. The Vatican manuscript, for example, leaves out most of Genesis as well as all of Revelation, in addition to the pastoral epistles of Paul, 33 psalms, and over a third of Hebrews.
The fact that these two manuscripts are older obviously does not prove they are better. More likely it indicates that they were set aside and not used because of their numerous gross errors. Thus they would naturally last longer than the good manuscripts which were being used regularly and thus wore out sooner.
The Sinaitic manuscript was reportedly rescued from a wastebasket in a monastery on Mount Sinai by another German evolutionist theologian, Friedrich Tischendorf. The Orthodox monks evidently had long since decided that the numerous omissions and alterations in the manuscript had rendered it useless and had stored it away in some closet where it had remained unused for centuries. Yet Tischendorf promoted it widely and vigorously as representing a more accurate text than the thousands of manuscripts supporting the traditional Byzantine text. Furthermore, he assumed that it came from about the fourth century, but he never found any actual proof that it dated earlier than the 12th century.
A similar mystery applies to the famous Vatican manuscript, which had been kept in seclusion in the Vatican Library since 1480 or earlier, though no one seemingly knows for sure when it was originally written or how it was acquired by the Vatican. Again, it was only conjectured to date from around the fourth century. Tischendorf learned of its existence and again was instrumental in promoting its antiquity and superiority to the Textus Receptus.
There are a few other old manuscripts, even including fragmentary Greek papyri, whose textual character seems to conform more to the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus readings than to the Textus Receptus. These all have been traced, by liberal and conservative scholars alike, to a probable source in Alexandria, Egypt, in the second or third century. At that time, Alexandria was a great center of both philosophical and theological scholarship, including a relatively large population of both Jews and Christians.
The most influential man among the Christian community of Alexandria was the learned Origen, and it is believed by many that he was largely instrumental in developing the so-called "Alexandrian" text of the New Testament, of which the Vatican and Sinai manuscripts are representative, in contrast to the "Byzantine" text, from which the Textus Receptus has largely come. It is barely possible, some think, that Origen may also have been involved in developing the final form of the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament.
With all his immense learning and zeal, however, it is sad that Origen's views of theology and Biblical interpretation were heretical in respect to numerous key doctrines. Like modern theistic evolutionists, he felt constrained to harmonize Christianity with pagan philosophy, especially that of Plato and the Stoics. This led him into excessive allegorization of Scripture, especially Genesis, and into denigrating the actual historical records of the Bible, even that of the bodily resurrection of Christ, as well as the literal creation of the world.
Whether or not Origen and his associates were first responsible for the differences in the Alexandrian text from the Byzantine, the fact remains that significant differences do exist, and that practically all modern English translations have been heavily influenced (via Westcott/Hort, etc.) in favor of the former, whereas the King James translation has its basis primarily in the latter.
In many cases, the differences are minor, but it is true that far too many do involve significant watering down of even such basic doctrines as Biblical inerrancy, the perfect divine/human nature of Christ, and the Trinity. On the other hand, they certainly do not eliminate these doctrines, so it is still happily possible to discern these doctrines and to find the true gospel and way of salvation in almost any of the new texts or translations.
In any case, one of the serious problems with almost all modern English translations is that they rely heavily on Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible developed by liberals, rationalists, and evolutionists, none of whom believed in the verbal inspiration of the Bible.
Are we to believe that God would entrust the preservation of His eternal Word to men such as these? Would He not more likely have used devout scholars who believed in the absolute inerrancy and authority of the Bible?
What About the Archaic Language in the King James?
The beautifully poetic prose of the King James is a great treasure which should not be lost or forgotten. It has been acclaimed widely as the greatest example of English literature ever written. Apart from a few archaic words or words whose meaning has changed, which can easily be clarified in footnotes, it is as easy to understand today as it was four hundred years ago. That is why the common people today, especially those without higher education, still use and love it. It is usually the "intelligentsia" who tend to favor the modern versions. These modern translations commonly tend to use long words and pedantic rhetoric, but the King James uses mostly one and two-syllable words. Formal studies have always shown its readability index to be 10th grade or lower. There is nothing hard to understand about John 3:16, for example, or Genesis 1:1, or the Ten Commandments, in the King James.
There are some sections of the Bible, of course, that are quite complex in the original language and thus a faithful translation should preserve that same complexity (after all God inspired it that way), but all the basic histories, doctrines, and precepts are easy to follow by anyone who can read at high school level. Many sections can easily be read by children as soon as they learn to read at all. In fact, in earlier times here in America, children were actually taught to read by means of the King James Bible.
It is also noteworthy that the King James was produced during the period when the English language and literature (as well as knowledge of other languages by English-speaking people) had reached their zenith of power and expressiveness. That was the age of Shakespeare, for example. Modern English, on the other hand, has become merely a decadent remnant of its former beauty and clarity.
This phenomenon seems to be a universal characteristic of languages as well as people, cities, and institutions of all kinds. A period of youthful growth and vigor reaches a zenith and is then followed by a gradual decline and eventual death. Albert Baugh, in a widely used textbook on this theme has said:
The evolution of languages, at least within the historical period, is a story of progressive simplification.... Language may reintroduce previously lost complexity but over-all the superfluous and redundant aspects are systematically streamlined from the complex structure of language. (A History of the English Language New York. Appleton Century-Crofts, 1957. p. 10.)
This trend is exactly opposite to any evolutionary concept of language origins, but is analogous to the law of entropy in the physical realm.
With respect to the English language, the authors of a more recent study, companion to a PBS television series, note the literary accomplishments of the Elizabethan period in England as follows.
The achievements of these astonishing years [i.e., 1558-1625, the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James I] are inescapably glorious. Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558 at the age of twenty-five. William Shakespeare, her most famous subject, was born six years later in 1564. Her successor, James I, who gave his name to another famous masterpiece, the Authorized Version of the Bible, died in 1625. During their reigns, about seventy years, the English language achieved a richness and vitality of expression that even contemporaries marveled at. (Robert McCrum, William Cray and Robert MacNeil, The Story of English New York, Viking. 1986. p. 91.)
These writers call the King James Bible "probably the single most influential book ever published in the English language" (ibid., p. 109). They also make an important observation concerning the beautiful simplicity of the King James Language.
The King James Bible was published in the year Shakespeare began work on his last play, The Tempest. Both the play and the Bible are masterpieces of English, but there is one crucial difference between them. Whereas Shakespeare ransacked the lexicon, the King James Bible employs a bare 8000 words-God's teaching in homely English for every-man. From that day to this, the Shakespearean cornucopia and the Biblical iron rations represent, as it were, the North and South poles of the language, reference points for writers and speakers throughout the world, from the Shakespearean splendor of a Joyce or a Dickens to the Biblical rigor of a Bunyan or a Hemingway (ibid., p. 113).
It is no wonder that a Bible translation produced at that special time in history has (except for changes in spelling and letter form) endured for almost 400 years, meeting the needs and guiding the culture of over ten generations of English speaking peoples. In fact, it has been very instrumental in standardizing the language itself, providing a common bond among its millions of readers, and restraining what would otherwise have been a more rapid deterioration of the language.
We have abandoned today many fine points of English grammar commonly used in 1600. For example, we forget that "thee," "thou," and "thine" were used to express the second person singular, with "you," "ye," and "yours" reserved for second person plural. Today we use "you" indiscriminately for both singular and plural, thereby missing some of the precise meaning of many texts of Scripture. The same applies to the "th" and "st" endings on verbs associated with second-person pronouns; they also contribute significantly to the musical quality of the language, especially as used in the King James Bible.
The translators were not only Biblical scholars but accomplished writers, and one of the deliberate goals, in fact, a part of their assignment, was to produce a Bible that would "sing" with beauty and power, and would also retain literal faithfulness to the Greek and Hebrew texts, which had themselves been written with majestic musical beauty.
This they did accomplish, most admirably, and modern versions are without exception inferior to the King James Bible in this regard. The King James is also the most reliably accurate of all translations, seeking to translate the words of the original rather than "dynamically equivalent" thoughts. This aspect allows detailed word study and comparisons which are hardly possible in most other versions.
With all these factors in mind, do we not most honor the Lord and His revealed Word by having it read and used in that form of our language which was in use when the English language was at its best, instead of in our modern jargon? So what if it does not sound like a modern newspaper or novel? The fact is, it should not sound-like that, for God is speaking! His Word should be distinctly different from that in some current novel or newspaper.
Conclusion
I believe, therefore, after studying, teaching, and loving the Bible for over 55 years, that Christians -- especially creationists! -- need to hang on to their old King James Bibles as long as they live. God has uniquely blessed it in the history of England and America, in the great revivals, in the worldwide missionary movement, and in the personal lives of believers more than He has through all the rest of the versions put together.
The King James Bible is the most beautiful, the most powerful, and (I strongly believe) the most reliable of any that we have or ever will have, until Christ returns.
Postscript
This brief article is only a very inadequate introduction to a large and important subject. Many excellent books and journal articles have been written on this vital theme and much of the discussion in this booklet is based on material covered in these other more authoritative publications. I have no training or experience personally with the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts and do not wish to argue the subject with any who disagree with my reasons.
Many other Bible-believing creationist Christians also prefer to use the King James, but we do not regard its use as a test of salvation or spirituality. This essay is intended merely to answer questions as to why I, as well as many others, will continue to use the time-tested King James Bible in our writing and speaking.
*Dr. Morris was Founder and President Emeritus of ICR.
http://www.icr.org/home/resources/resources_tracts_kjv/
Further Reading
Bible versions Your Questions answered
http://www.chick.com/search/searchask/questionans.asp?Srch=EKJB
THE DEVIL IS COUNTEFEITING OUR ONLY WEAPON
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2007/04/devil-is-counterfeiting-our-only-weapon.html
THE NEW KING JAMES COUNTERFEIT
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2007/01/new-king-james-version-nkjv-devils.html
Did the Catholics give us the bible
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Bible/kjb_from_catholics.htm
The Roman Catholic cult
http://www.biblebelievers.com/FalseDoctrine.html
History of Roman Catholicism, heresies and scandals of Rome
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2006/12/history-of-papacy-heresies-of-rome.html
CULT INVASION
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2007/03/cult-invasion-preacher-calls-himself.html
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
CHRISTIANITY AND THE TITHE
http://propheticoutreach.blogspot.com/2007/10/christianity-and-tithe.htmlOct 30, 2007
Christianity And The Tithe
Danny McDowell
CHRISTIANITY AND THE TITHE
HONESTY
There needs to be a little HONESTY regarding this matter. Pastors often BOAST of their deep convictions, and devout entrenchment regarding “THE WORD OF GOD”. They frequently hold open invitation to those in agreement with them. They BELLOW of a “CHRIST CENTERED, BIBLE BELIEVING ADJENDA”.
With pride, [bordering arrogance] they proclaim their personal conviction. They wear their “RELIGION” blazingly on their sleeve. “Yes sir there brother; I believe that the Bible is the inspired WORD OF GOD”. They will speak of “abundant grace”, and of “salvation by faith”. They will boast of the many blessings of the Father. They decorate their automobiles with the “ADVERTISING” of their conviction. They are --------------“CHURCHITES” !
SACRED COWS
There is an abundance of SACRED COWS amongst the Churchites. They will vehemently deny that they have any such IDOLS. They are schmoozy in their denial, until one OPENS THE WORD, and proves them to be in grave error. They will SPIN a desperate rationalle for that which is abominable to the Christian Faith.
YOU can literally see this in action. Just ask them how many days and nights Jesus was in the tomb. Jesus said; “as Jonas was in the belly of the great fish for three days, and three nights; so the Son of Man will be in the earth for THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS”. Watch the desperation in their eyes as they attempt to defy mathematical reason.
See how this SACRED COW is corralled, and guarded by the Churchites. See how he dismisses the IMPORTANCE of the TRUTH in this matter. Watch the SWEAT bead upon his skin when he is threatened by the truth----------only to turn and label you as a “trouble maker”, and a sower of DISCORD”. Watch, as the graciousness of a timid spirit turns to VENOM---------and WHY ?--------because you have slain a SACRED COW !
TOUCH NOT MY CASH COW--------AND DO MY PROFITS NO HARM
MONEY----------is the DRIVING FORCE in the American Church. It begins at the PARKING LOT. The yearly budget for maintaining the “Church” parking lot can easily exceed the yearly income of SEVERAL families in a third world nation. Why don’t they save some cash by applying a GRAVEL [rather than the expensive blacktop surface that has to be maintained, and cleared of snow and ice in the winter] ? The yearly cost of maintaining a PARKING SPACE for the churchite’s 40,000 dollar gas guzzling S.U.V !
The building, and maintenance expence of the mega-church parking lot ALONE would build a medical clinic I Calcutta, or drill FIFTY fresh water wells in South America, or fund an AIDS ORPHANAGE in Africa. BUT NOOOO----- We simply MUST have a blacktop surface, with clearly defined parking spaces for the THOUSANDS that visit our “church” on Sun-day morning. Literally TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS go into your car’s personal comfort, while millions of your “brethren” worship the Lord on a DIRT FLOOR in China, or Africa.
There are even “ATTENDANTS’ who watch over the parking process. Everything goes like clockwork in the parking lot, so that the SERVICE can begin in a timely fashion. It reminds me of what I use to se back in Kansas where I grew up-------I mean; the way they use to load CATTLE from the stockyard pins, onto the rail cars for shipment.
Timely and organized with a little JOLT here and there for sake of expedience. All that’s missing is a CATTLE PROD. There is a THIRTY MINUTE interval between services in which to TRADE CATTLE [cars]------and the WRANGLERS [attendants] are never late---------HUNDREDS IN-----HUNDREDS OUT-------HUNDREDS IN AGAIN, and when it’s all said and done; it boils down to the most EFFICIENT WAY to gather-----MONEY---------AND WE HAVE NOT YET CROSSED THE THREASHOLD OD THE DOORWAY.!!
Now we move to the Church FOYER. “MAGNIFICENT” is the only way to describe the ENTRY-WAY to the mega-church in America. The WHITE HOUSE has no greater entry than the American Mega Church. This grand introduction to what is ahead, also serves as a POLITICAL PROPAGANDA CENTER at election time.
Tables are set up, and political brochures, and HIT LISTS cover their surfaces. At this time of the year; sermons are centered in YOUR OBLIGATION AS A CHRISTIAN to vote for this candidate, or that. “Hell awaits you” if you make the wrong choice-----or at least a shunning, and dismissal from the service ledger of available candidates. You will be treated politely, but you will know with certainty, that NOW you are an OUTSIDER
if you support THE OTHR GUY !. This ENTRO-WAY alone, costs THOUSANDS to function, in light of the costs of PRINTING materials, maintenance, and up-keep. Thousands, that could buy SHOES for those brethren who WALK TO “CHURCH” !
You enter the GRAND ARENA [sanctuary], and GRAND IT IS! A salaried organist is playing “inspirational pieces”-------[some composed in the middle ages] -----that you do not even recognize. The organist salary pales in comparison to the cost of the instrument itself. Every note, from every PIPE, bellows out DOLLAR SIGNS1 Of course, not all “churches” are this magnificent, but you can rest assured that the less GRAND of the assemblies, would very much like to exchange places with their opulent siblings. ..
Choirs of dozens of professional voices begin to sing, as the service officially begins. A salaried MINISTER OF MUSIC leads the orchestra [including harp, and strings], to elevate the spirit to a place that one believes; this must truly be--------HOLY GROUND!
After the MONEY PUMP has been sufficiently PRIMED-------the pastor steps forth sporting an eight hundred dollar suit, and without a wrinkle-----because the “seating compliment” in his LEXUS is designed to be STATIC FREE----and GARMENT FRIENDLY! He begins with his necessary announcements, the collecting of the TITHE, yada, yada.
The ceilings of this TEMPLE TO THE GODDESS OF TREASURE, are FIFTY FEET HIGH. The whole thing is designed to artificially induce a feeling of awe in preparation for the message, and to GOBBLE UP THE TITHE in heating, and air-conditioning expenses, in as short a time as possible.
This monster [church] was intentionally designed to be--------A MONSTER-------A MONEY EATING MONSTER, with an endless and veracious appetite. It’s like one of those Star Trek creatures that feed on energy, and the more you try to kill it with your plasma-gun, the more it grows and devours everything with energy, or in this case------MONEY..
What’s my point?--------My point is: ALL THIS STUFF COSTS MILLIONS !! Where do you think these MILLIONS are going to come from? Do you think that this FINANCIAL MONSTROCITY is going to support itself on the “FREEWILL” offerings of the weekly attendees?-----------ROFLOL----------IT’S THE TITHE STUPID!!
In gathering the weekly TITHE, it is possible to “financially STRATIGIZE for the FUTURE”. It’s something the “church” authority can COUNT ON. Out of this dependable, and bottomless source of revenue; come plans to GROW THE CHURCH FURTHER-------ADD MORE SERVICES---------ADD TO THE MEMBERSHIP----------[trumpet fanfare please]-------AND COLLECT MORE TITHE. Something seems familiar about this. I think the world calls this a PYRAMID SCHEME, or something like that.
WHAT THE NEW TESTAMENT SAYS OF THE TITHE.
“TITHING” IS NOT A NEW TESTAMENT PRINCIPLE! Tithing is an element of the LAW of the Levitical system. Under the Law; the Levites [pastors] collected the TITHE from all the citizens of Israel [whether righteous or not]. This system would be best portrayed as if the AMERICAN CLERGY collected a TAX from EVERY FAMILY IN THE NATION, for the express purpose of supporting a NATIONAL RELIGION.
With the gathering of the Tithe, the priesthood was able to support them selves to that degree that was established in the Law. It was God’s will that tight parameters be placed on the Levites so that their POWER to collect treasure could not easily be abused by greedy clergy. The Levites were forbidden to own property. They were forbidden to own livestock, or ANYTHING that could lead to REVENUE PRODUCTION. No INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO! No CAPITAL GAIN! NADA!!!
They were compelled to be cared for BY THE PEOPLE and UNDER THE LAW. Imagine a TITHE COLLECTING PASTOR of today, living under those circumstances.. In fact, that might be the solution to many of our problems. If a pastor was to be restricted to this kind of austerity----------the pulpits would be emptied at the first sign of a problem on payday. They would “HEAR THE VOICE OF GOD” saying “COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM, AND GET THEE ANOTHER JOB----- IF YOU CAN”. A giant SUCKING SOUND would be heard, as the “pastors” exit the BACK DOORS in droves.
The New Testament is CLEAR about this matter of “giving”. It is a matter of THE HEART. Paul tells us time and again, that we are to give as the Lord [through the Holy Spirit], leads us. Time and again PASTORS smother us with promises of PROSPERITY, and more importantly------GOD’S FAVOR in the tithe.
God will FIX ANYTHING in your life, IF YOU FAITHFULLY TITHE!! This is what we are told. The Body, and Blood of Jesus have become irrelevant to our privilege in the work of Christ. There is ANOTHER path to God’s favor [they say]--------it’s called THE TITHE. With it; the sacrifice of the cross becomes SECOND FIDDLE. Our redemption is “INCOMPLETE” without THE TITHE!!
We are INDEED REDEEMED to that point where our FINANCIAL NEED comes into play--------then our Great Redeemer becomes weak, and inadequate to save. Who will save us from our financial despair?------------“THE LAW”---------“THE LAW WILL SAVE US” in the inadequacy of Christ’s Blood. If you will only TITHE----------then “blessings” are just beyond the next bend in the road. Your salvation is COMPLETED when you add the TITHE to your faith. YEAH----THAT’S THE TICKET!! Faith carries us just so far-------but the LAW catapults us to the FINISH LINE!! Such a deal??---------NONSENSE!!!
But the pastor has taken us to the Seventh Chapter of Hebrews, and proven conclusively that Abraham TITHED to Melchezedek, and Abraham lived PRIOR TO the law, and Melchedzedek was a type, and foreshadow of Christ. Doesn’t this place God’s seal of approval to this matter? Well, let’s see what the message of Hebrew’s Seven is all about.
Hebrews 7
7:1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
4 Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
5 And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:
6 But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.
7 And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.
8 And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.
9 And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.
10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.
11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.
13 For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.
14 For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
17 For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
18 For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.
20 And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:
21(For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)
22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:
24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
28 For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.
KJV
To begin with; we are introduced to TWO characters in this illustration. They are both actual historical characters. They are both type, and foreshadow of things to come.
The first character is an ancient HIGH PRIEST. He rules from a place called Salem [meaning “peace”]. Salem is located at a high location [later to be called Jerusalem]. This man’s name is Melchedzedek. He is a portrait in type of Christ our HIGH PRIEST.
The second character is Abraham. He is our portrait type of MANKIND. He precedes the Law and Moses in history. Now the story begins;
Abraham has just returned from a battle in which he slaughtered several local kings. He has rescued his nephew LOT, who had been captured by those kings. He also comes with all the people that had been taken with Lot, and all the BOOTY OF WAR. This Melchedzedek descends from his throne in Salem, and meets Abraham in the valley below. Abraham knows that the KING OF SALEM has come to extract a gift [tithe], and Abraham respectfully complies.
Now HERE is where the whole thing brings CLARITY to this matter of the TITHE. Abraham gives TITHE of the booty of war. In exchange; the KING OF SALEM gives BREAD AND WINE to Abraham. Can you see what has happened here? Abraham gives TITHE------the representation of THE LAW; and Melchedzedek gives to ABRAHAM--------BREAD AND WINE, the very SYMBOL of the New Testament in Christ’s BODY AND BLOOD. This entire story is a portrait of the exchange made at the cross.
It was the exchange of the system of LAW-------for that of GRACE. The story goes on to say; “and the LESS [Abraham] was blessed of the GREATER [the King of Salem]-- [verse 7]. Do you see in this typology, that GRACE is more excellent than LAW, and that Melchedzedek [Christ] left his home in Salem [heaven], and descended to the valley below [earth], and met with Abraham [mankind], and received the TITHE [law] unto himself, and blessed Abraham with BREAD AND WINE [the testament in Christ’s body, and blood]------and Abraham [the lesser---the law] received of Melchedzedek [the greater----the New Covenant in grace] ?? This is the message of the ENTIRE BOOK OF HEBREWS. The writer WARNS the Hebrew Church to SHUN THE LAW, for in returning to the things of the LAW, one presents himself EXEMPT from the benefits of GRACE-----and there IS NO REMEDY to those who would try to BLEND law and grace.
KJV
Heb 6:4-6
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame
KJV
When CHRIST OUR PASSOVER screamed out these words: “ IT IS FINISHED”; the VEIL that separated God and man, was FOREVER destroyed. Three and one half years into Christ’s ministry-------HE CONFIRMED THE COVENANT WITH MANY, AND CAUSED THE SACRIFICE AND OBLATION FOR SIN TO CEASE !!!
There is NO LONGER a path to God’s blessing, other than that TRAIL OF BLOOD that flows from the STAUROS. I beseech you as a brother in Christ, to cease, and desist from the coercion in the tithe. It is reprehensible that you should believe that the TITHE survived the cross. Christ PAID THE TITHE for the entirety of human kind.
Now our offerings are made in the NEW Holy of Holies---------the heart of the elect. Our gifts, and giving are far SUPERIOR to that gift given by Abraham. Our gifts are motivated in purity, and recompensed in JOY. FORSAKE THE TITHE, and FORSAKE RELIGIOUS COERCION. Danny McDowell
Christianity And The Tithe
Danny McDowell
CHRISTIANITY AND THE TITHE
HONESTY
There needs to be a little HONESTY regarding this matter. Pastors often BOAST of their deep convictions, and devout entrenchment regarding “THE WORD OF GOD”. They frequently hold open invitation to those in agreement with them. They BELLOW of a “CHRIST CENTERED, BIBLE BELIEVING ADJENDA”.
With pride, [bordering arrogance] they proclaim their personal conviction. They wear their “RELIGION” blazingly on their sleeve. “Yes sir there brother; I believe that the Bible is the inspired WORD OF GOD”. They will speak of “abundant grace”, and of “salvation by faith”. They will boast of the many blessings of the Father. They decorate their automobiles with the “ADVERTISING” of their conviction. They are --------------“CHURCHITES” !
SACRED COWS
There is an abundance of SACRED COWS amongst the Churchites. They will vehemently deny that they have any such IDOLS. They are schmoozy in their denial, until one OPENS THE WORD, and proves them to be in grave error. They will SPIN a desperate rationalle for that which is abominable to the Christian Faith.
YOU can literally see this in action. Just ask them how many days and nights Jesus was in the tomb. Jesus said; “as Jonas was in the belly of the great fish for three days, and three nights; so the Son of Man will be in the earth for THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS”. Watch the desperation in their eyes as they attempt to defy mathematical reason.
See how this SACRED COW is corralled, and guarded by the Churchites. See how he dismisses the IMPORTANCE of the TRUTH in this matter. Watch the SWEAT bead upon his skin when he is threatened by the truth----------only to turn and label you as a “trouble maker”, and a sower of DISCORD”. Watch, as the graciousness of a timid spirit turns to VENOM---------and WHY ?--------because you have slain a SACRED COW !
TOUCH NOT MY CASH COW--------AND DO MY PROFITS NO HARM
MONEY----------is the DRIVING FORCE in the American Church. It begins at the PARKING LOT. The yearly budget for maintaining the “Church” parking lot can easily exceed the yearly income of SEVERAL families in a third world nation. Why don’t they save some cash by applying a GRAVEL [rather than the expensive blacktop surface that has to be maintained, and cleared of snow and ice in the winter] ? The yearly cost of maintaining a PARKING SPACE for the churchite’s 40,000 dollar gas guzzling S.U.V !
The building, and maintenance expence of the mega-church parking lot ALONE would build a medical clinic I Calcutta, or drill FIFTY fresh water wells in South America, or fund an AIDS ORPHANAGE in Africa. BUT NOOOO----- We simply MUST have a blacktop surface, with clearly defined parking spaces for the THOUSANDS that visit our “church” on Sun-day morning. Literally TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS go into your car’s personal comfort, while millions of your “brethren” worship the Lord on a DIRT FLOOR in China, or Africa.
There are even “ATTENDANTS’ who watch over the parking process. Everything goes like clockwork in the parking lot, so that the SERVICE can begin in a timely fashion. It reminds me of what I use to se back in Kansas where I grew up-------I mean; the way they use to load CATTLE from the stockyard pins, onto the rail cars for shipment.
Timely and organized with a little JOLT here and there for sake of expedience. All that’s missing is a CATTLE PROD. There is a THIRTY MINUTE interval between services in which to TRADE CATTLE [cars]------and the WRANGLERS [attendants] are never late---------HUNDREDS IN-----HUNDREDS OUT-------HUNDREDS IN AGAIN, and when it’s all said and done; it boils down to the most EFFICIENT WAY to gather-----MONEY---------AND WE HAVE NOT YET CROSSED THE THREASHOLD OD THE DOORWAY.!!
Now we move to the Church FOYER. “MAGNIFICENT” is the only way to describe the ENTRY-WAY to the mega-church in America. The WHITE HOUSE has no greater entry than the American Mega Church. This grand introduction to what is ahead, also serves as a POLITICAL PROPAGANDA CENTER at election time.
Tables are set up, and political brochures, and HIT LISTS cover their surfaces. At this time of the year; sermons are centered in YOUR OBLIGATION AS A CHRISTIAN to vote for this candidate, or that. “Hell awaits you” if you make the wrong choice-----or at least a shunning, and dismissal from the service ledger of available candidates. You will be treated politely, but you will know with certainty, that NOW you are an OUTSIDER
if you support THE OTHR GUY !. This ENTRO-WAY alone, costs THOUSANDS to function, in light of the costs of PRINTING materials, maintenance, and up-keep. Thousands, that could buy SHOES for those brethren who WALK TO “CHURCH” !
You enter the GRAND ARENA [sanctuary], and GRAND IT IS! A salaried organist is playing “inspirational pieces”-------[some composed in the middle ages] -----that you do not even recognize. The organist salary pales in comparison to the cost of the instrument itself. Every note, from every PIPE, bellows out DOLLAR SIGNS1 Of course, not all “churches” are this magnificent, but you can rest assured that the less GRAND of the assemblies, would very much like to exchange places with their opulent siblings. ..
Choirs of dozens of professional voices begin to sing, as the service officially begins. A salaried MINISTER OF MUSIC leads the orchestra [including harp, and strings], to elevate the spirit to a place that one believes; this must truly be--------HOLY GROUND!
After the MONEY PUMP has been sufficiently PRIMED-------the pastor steps forth sporting an eight hundred dollar suit, and without a wrinkle-----because the “seating compliment” in his LEXUS is designed to be STATIC FREE----and GARMENT FRIENDLY! He begins with his necessary announcements, the collecting of the TITHE, yada, yada.
The ceilings of this TEMPLE TO THE GODDESS OF TREASURE, are FIFTY FEET HIGH. The whole thing is designed to artificially induce a feeling of awe in preparation for the message, and to GOBBLE UP THE TITHE in heating, and air-conditioning expenses, in as short a time as possible.
This monster [church] was intentionally designed to be--------A MONSTER-------A MONEY EATING MONSTER, with an endless and veracious appetite. It’s like one of those Star Trek creatures that feed on energy, and the more you try to kill it with your plasma-gun, the more it grows and devours everything with energy, or in this case------MONEY..
What’s my point?--------My point is: ALL THIS STUFF COSTS MILLIONS !! Where do you think these MILLIONS are going to come from? Do you think that this FINANCIAL MONSTROCITY is going to support itself on the “FREEWILL” offerings of the weekly attendees?-----------ROFLOL----------IT’S THE TITHE STUPID!!
In gathering the weekly TITHE, it is possible to “financially STRATIGIZE for the FUTURE”. It’s something the “church” authority can COUNT ON. Out of this dependable, and bottomless source of revenue; come plans to GROW THE CHURCH FURTHER-------ADD MORE SERVICES---------ADD TO THE MEMBERSHIP----------[trumpet fanfare please]-------AND COLLECT MORE TITHE. Something seems familiar about this. I think the world calls this a PYRAMID SCHEME, or something like that.
WHAT THE NEW TESTAMENT SAYS OF THE TITHE.
“TITHING” IS NOT A NEW TESTAMENT PRINCIPLE! Tithing is an element of the LAW of the Levitical system. Under the Law; the Levites [pastors] collected the TITHE from all the citizens of Israel [whether righteous or not]. This system would be best portrayed as if the AMERICAN CLERGY collected a TAX from EVERY FAMILY IN THE NATION, for the express purpose of supporting a NATIONAL RELIGION.
With the gathering of the Tithe, the priesthood was able to support them selves to that degree that was established in the Law. It was God’s will that tight parameters be placed on the Levites so that their POWER to collect treasure could not easily be abused by greedy clergy. The Levites were forbidden to own property. They were forbidden to own livestock, or ANYTHING that could lead to REVENUE PRODUCTION. No INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO! No CAPITAL GAIN! NADA!!!
They were compelled to be cared for BY THE PEOPLE and UNDER THE LAW. Imagine a TITHE COLLECTING PASTOR of today, living under those circumstances.. In fact, that might be the solution to many of our problems. If a pastor was to be restricted to this kind of austerity----------the pulpits would be emptied at the first sign of a problem on payday. They would “HEAR THE VOICE OF GOD” saying “COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM, AND GET THEE ANOTHER JOB----- IF YOU CAN”. A giant SUCKING SOUND would be heard, as the “pastors” exit the BACK DOORS in droves.
The New Testament is CLEAR about this matter of “giving”. It is a matter of THE HEART. Paul tells us time and again, that we are to give as the Lord [through the Holy Spirit], leads us. Time and again PASTORS smother us with promises of PROSPERITY, and more importantly------GOD’S FAVOR in the tithe.
God will FIX ANYTHING in your life, IF YOU FAITHFULLY TITHE!! This is what we are told. The Body, and Blood of Jesus have become irrelevant to our privilege in the work of Christ. There is ANOTHER path to God’s favor [they say]--------it’s called THE TITHE. With it; the sacrifice of the cross becomes SECOND FIDDLE. Our redemption is “INCOMPLETE” without THE TITHE!!
We are INDEED REDEEMED to that point where our FINANCIAL NEED comes into play--------then our Great Redeemer becomes weak, and inadequate to save. Who will save us from our financial despair?------------“THE LAW”---------“THE LAW WILL SAVE US” in the inadequacy of Christ’s Blood. If you will only TITHE----------then “blessings” are just beyond the next bend in the road. Your salvation is COMPLETED when you add the TITHE to your faith. YEAH----THAT’S THE TICKET!! Faith carries us just so far-------but the LAW catapults us to the FINISH LINE!! Such a deal??---------NONSENSE!!!
But the pastor has taken us to the Seventh Chapter of Hebrews, and proven conclusively that Abraham TITHED to Melchezedek, and Abraham lived PRIOR TO the law, and Melchedzedek was a type, and foreshadow of Christ. Doesn’t this place God’s seal of approval to this matter? Well, let’s see what the message of Hebrew’s Seven is all about.
Hebrews 7
7:1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
4 Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
5 And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:
6 But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.
7 And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.
8 And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.
9 And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.
10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.
11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.
13 For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.
14 For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
17 For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
18 For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.
20 And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:
21(For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)
22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:
24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
28 For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.
KJV
To begin with; we are introduced to TWO characters in this illustration. They are both actual historical characters. They are both type, and foreshadow of things to come.
The first character is an ancient HIGH PRIEST. He rules from a place called Salem [meaning “peace”]. Salem is located at a high location [later to be called Jerusalem]. This man’s name is Melchedzedek. He is a portrait in type of Christ our HIGH PRIEST.
The second character is Abraham. He is our portrait type of MANKIND. He precedes the Law and Moses in history. Now the story begins;
Abraham has just returned from a battle in which he slaughtered several local kings. He has rescued his nephew LOT, who had been captured by those kings. He also comes with all the people that had been taken with Lot, and all the BOOTY OF WAR. This Melchedzedek descends from his throne in Salem, and meets Abraham in the valley below. Abraham knows that the KING OF SALEM has come to extract a gift [tithe], and Abraham respectfully complies.
Now HERE is where the whole thing brings CLARITY to this matter of the TITHE. Abraham gives TITHE of the booty of war. In exchange; the KING OF SALEM gives BREAD AND WINE to Abraham. Can you see what has happened here? Abraham gives TITHE------the representation of THE LAW; and Melchedzedek gives to ABRAHAM--------BREAD AND WINE, the very SYMBOL of the New Testament in Christ’s BODY AND BLOOD. This entire story is a portrait of the exchange made at the cross.
It was the exchange of the system of LAW-------for that of GRACE. The story goes on to say; “and the LESS [Abraham] was blessed of the GREATER [the King of Salem]-- [verse 7]. Do you see in this typology, that GRACE is more excellent than LAW, and that Melchedzedek [Christ] left his home in Salem [heaven], and descended to the valley below [earth], and met with Abraham [mankind], and received the TITHE [law] unto himself, and blessed Abraham with BREAD AND WINE [the testament in Christ’s body, and blood]------and Abraham [the lesser---the law] received of Melchedzedek [the greater----the New Covenant in grace] ?? This is the message of the ENTIRE BOOK OF HEBREWS. The writer WARNS the Hebrew Church to SHUN THE LAW, for in returning to the things of the LAW, one presents himself EXEMPT from the benefits of GRACE-----and there IS NO REMEDY to those who would try to BLEND law and grace.
KJV
Heb 6:4-6
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame
KJV
When CHRIST OUR PASSOVER screamed out these words: “ IT IS FINISHED”; the VEIL that separated God and man, was FOREVER destroyed. Three and one half years into Christ’s ministry-------HE CONFIRMED THE COVENANT WITH MANY, AND CAUSED THE SACRIFICE AND OBLATION FOR SIN TO CEASE !!!
There is NO LONGER a path to God’s blessing, other than that TRAIL OF BLOOD that flows from the STAUROS. I beseech you as a brother in Christ, to cease, and desist from the coercion in the tithe. It is reprehensible that you should believe that the TITHE survived the cross. Christ PAID THE TITHE for the entirety of human kind.
Now our offerings are made in the NEW Holy of Holies---------the heart of the elect. Our gifts, and giving are far SUPERIOR to that gift given by Abraham. Our gifts are motivated in purity, and recompensed in JOY. FORSAKE THE TITHE, and FORSAKE RELIGIOUS COERCION. Danny McDowell
Thursday, 20 December 2007
UNDERSTAND THE SIGNS OF THE TIME
Ecumenical Movement
http://www.understandthetimes.org/topics/ecumenical.shtml
FALSE UNITY OF ECUMENICALISM
http://www.gospelgrace.com/
Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
http://www.understandthetimes.org/topics/romancatholic.shtml
Experience-Based Christianity
http://www.novalisbooks.com/cgi-bin/nov455/007689.html
Mark 13 And The Sign of The Times
http://www.yesumulungi.com/Commentary/Comment80.htm
A MUST WATCH: END TIME REVIVALS UNMASKED
http://www.cuttingedge.org/videoroom.html
A MUST WATCH: THE GREAT GLOBAL APOSTATE CHURCH
http://www.cuttingedge.org/videoroom.html
A MUST WATCH :NEW VINE OR BABYLONIAN VINE
http://www.christianreality.com/videos/vs-vid474.htm
http://www.understandthetimes.org/topics/ecumenical.shtml
FALSE UNITY OF ECUMENICALISM
http://www.gospelgrace.com/
Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
http://www.understandthetimes.org/topics/romancatholic.shtml
Experience-Based Christianity
http://www.novalisbooks.com/cgi-bin/nov455/007689.html
Mark 13 And The Sign of The Times
http://www.yesumulungi.com/Commentary/Comment80.htm
A MUST WATCH: END TIME REVIVALS UNMASKED
http://www.cuttingedge.org/videoroom.html
A MUST WATCH: THE GREAT GLOBAL APOSTATE CHURCH
http://www.cuttingedge.org/videoroom.html
A MUST WATCH :NEW VINE OR BABYLONIAN VINE
http://www.christianreality.com/videos/vs-vid474.htm
Was the 'crippled' man really healed?
Benny Hinn in Kampala, Uganda
Was the 'crippled' man really healed?
http://www.christianresearchservice.com/BHinn35.htm
By Bud Press, Director
Christian Research Service
www.christianresearchservice.com
June 12, 2007
To the Reader: The following information details an encounter between Benny Hinn and a crippled man named Moses, who, according to Hinn's Kampala, Uganda Crusade Report and a This Is Your Day! telecast, had been crippled since birth.
This information is not meant to satirize, ill-treat, or ridicule Moses. It does, however, expose more incredible, in-your-face deception that permeates the most prolific false prophet, false teacher, and false healer of our day.
On May 18-19, 2007, Benny Hinn conducted his first "Holy Spirit Miracle Crusade" in Uganda at the Nelson Mandela National Stadium in Kampala. The following information contains direct quotes from Benny Hinn's website, and a word-for-word transcript of portions of Benny Hinn's Monday, 6/4/07 This Is
Your Day! Archive Show.
Beginning with the Uganda Crusade Report from Benny Hinn's website, the reader is informed that,
Nationally distributed newspapers proclaimed, "The lame walked, the blind had their eyes opened, the deaf heard, and the sick recovered at the first-ever Pastor Benny Hinn crusade in Uganda!" ("Crusade In Uganda Draws International Audience," http://www.bennyhinn.org/articles/articledesc.cfm?id=263 ).
The Crusade Report also shares "The Moving Story of Moses," which states in part that,
One of the most amazing stories that was shared with everyone was the story of Moses. At the close of the first service, the young man named came to the platform. Pastor Benny noticed that Moses was wearing no shoes. He quickly learned that Moses had been crippled since birth (emp. added).
"The Moving Story of Moses" goes on to state that Moses entered Hinn's crusade in a wheelchair, was accompanied by his sister, and that the 28 year old Moses took his first steps during the crusade.
The story contains two photos of Benny Hinn and Moses. The first photo is from the waist up. The second is full-length, where the reader will notice Moses' left leg, which is obviously bent at the knee and bowed inward.
Was the 'crippled' man really healed?
The following is a word-for-word transcript of a portion of Benny Hinn's Monday, 6/4/07 This Is Your Day! Archive Shows telecast of the "Holy Spirit Miracle Crusade" in Kampala, Uganda, http://www.bennyhinn.org/television/tiyd.cfm ).
At 11 minutes:28 seconds into the telecast, a conversation takes place between Benny Hinn, Henry Hinn (Benny Hinn's brother), Benny Hinn's crusade interpreter, and Moses the crippled man:
Benny Hinn: "He has been a cripple from birth!"
Henry Hinn: "His mother; he was born in 1979. This is Moses, born in 1979; paralyzed when he was born. He couldn't move! He couldn't move his body! He, this is his wheelchair. He was back there. I saw him back there; pulled his way out of the wheelchair, and just began walking."
Benny Hinn [looks at Moses and asks]: "You've been a cripple all your life?"
Interpreter: "He has never walked. This is the first time."
Benny Hinn: "Now, you've never walked?"
Moses: "No."
Benny Hinn: "Ladies and gentlemen, this young man has never walked. You understand? From his mother's womb he was born a cripple. For the first time tonight, he's using his legs."
At 12 minutes:36 seconds into the telecast, Moses struggles to balance himself on one leg, and says he wants to be saved. Benny Hinn raises his hands and thousands cheer.
Benny Hinn: "Listen. The man has just walked for the first time in his life."
At this point, Benny Hinn instructs the crowd to stand up, and begins quoting from Isaiah 53:5. Afterwards, Benny Hinn states,
And the man comes up. You know what it's like for me to stand here and listen to a young man who had never walked in his life, and tell me, 'I want to be saved'?
At 14 minutes:22 seconds into the telecast, referring to Moses, Benny Hinn states,
His legs. Life is coming back in his legs tonight.
At 16 minutes:55 seconds into the telecast, Benny Hinn states,
You know, I'm, I'm standing here next to this young man. We better never take this for granted; never forget the privilege.
At 18 minutes:05 seconds into the telecast, Benny Hinn pronounces Moses healed:
Here's a young man who says, 'I want to be saved.' He's healed. He's happy about that but he really wants to be saved. That's what he wants.
At 21 minutes:05 seconds into the telecast, the Kampala, Uganda segment ends and returns to Benny Hinn in his This Is Your Day! studio, where Hinn states:
What a Lord we serve. There's none like Jesus is there? To heal this young man, like this, a cripple from birth. And then for the young man to look at me and say, 'I want to be saved.' This, I, I'm telling ya; there's nothing like it. Nothing.
Towards the end of the telecast at 22 minutes:04 seconds, Benny Hinn once again reminds his viewers that Moses was crippled from birth, and that he stood for the first time in his life:
And then this, this young man. I mean, this is one of the greatest miracles I've seen in really a long time. We've seen wonderful miracles. But, you know, to see a young man crippled from birth just standing for the first time in his life--in front of me--and he stood with no shoes on, with clothes that weren't that nice.
But the next night when he came back, he had new shoes for the first time in his life. And he had new clothing. And now he is in a Bible school.
The video evidence
If a picture is worth a thousands words, then a video must be worth its weight in gold. Benny Hinn is no stranger to controversy and deception, and the video evidence of Hinn's encounter with Moses does not lie.
At 22 minutes:17 seconds into the telecast, Moses and Benny Hinn are shown together on-stage during the crusade. Moses is balancing himself on his right leg. His left leg is still bent inward at the knee.
At 22 minutes:29 seconds into the telecast, Moses is seen limping to the stage. As he approaches the stairs to the stage, Moses is assisted up the stairs by Henry Hinn. Two "catchers" are behind Moses at the bottom of the stairs.
As Moses slowly hobbled up the stairs, he uses the stair-rails to assist his climb. His left leg remained bent inward during his climb. When Moses finally reached the top of the stairs and onto the stage, he was not only assisted by his sister, he limped to Benny Hinn with outstretched arms.
Therefore, was the crippled man Moses really healed? No. Yet, he was pronounced "healed" by Benny Hinn.
It bears repeating again: Benny Hinn follows a counterfeit Jesus, counterfeit gospel, and counterfeit spirit (Galatians 1:6-9; 2 Corinthians 11:3-4). Hinn's god is incapable of healing precious people like Moses.
However, Benny Hinn's god is capable of deceiving the masses into thinking a legitimate healing has taken place.
The crippled and lame: true accounts of healing
"One need not be a doctor or physical therapist to know when someone is walking abnormally and in pain. Most importantly, where in the Bible does it say that when Jesus healed someone, they remained partially blind, partially diseased, or walked away limping? It doesn't" (Bud Press, "MIRACLE IN TRINIDAD?" http://www.christianresearchservice.com/BHinn16.htm ).
One need not look to Benny Hinn and like-minded false healers for true accounts of healing. God's word records numerous accounts of legitimate healings of all types, including those who were lame and crippled from birth:
The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them (Matthew 4:24).
Departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there. And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them. So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel (Matthew 15:29-31).
And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them (Matthew 21:14).
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. And a man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is
called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, "Look at us!" And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, "I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene--walk!" And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God (Acts 3:1-9).
For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed (Acts 8:7).
At Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother's womb, who had never walked. This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze on him and had seen that he had faith to be made well, said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he leaped up and began to walk (Acts 14:8-10).
When Jesus healed the lame and crippled, they didn't get up, limp around, and struggle to maintain balance. When the apostles used their gift of healing through the power of God, there was no lag-time in between and no ifs, ands or buts. The feet, ankles, and legs of the lame and crippled were immediately straightened and made whole.
None could deny Jesus' miracles, nor could they deny the apostles' gift of healing through the miraculous power of God.
2,000 years later, although Benny Hinn is adored and idolized by his followers, he has once again clearly demonstrated his inability to heal the sick, dying, and crippled by the power of God. Indeed, the testimony of God's word proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Benny Hinn is a charlatan and a false healer.
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isaiah 8:20).
The God of the Bible forgives, saves, sanctifies, and redeems the unsaved. The God of the Bible also heals broken bodies--according to His perfect will, that is:
This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (1 John 5:14).
Sometimes, God's perfect will for the believer includes incredible suffering and persecution, of which the apostle Paul endured in 2 Corinthians 11:18-30.
Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostle John wrote:
We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error (1 John 4:6).
Those who listen to God and study His word will know the difference between truth and error, as well as the difference between a true and false healing.
God does not work miracles through hyper-heretical faith healers like Benny Hinn, because Benny Hinn and those like him are ...false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
Final comments: To the skeptic and unbeliever
The situation with Moses is both sad and tragic. It not only serves as fuel for the skeptics and unbelievers to downplay Christianity, it serves to drive the unsaved deeper into sin and further away from accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Accordingly, a skeptic or unbeliever who witnessed the encounter between Benny Hinn and Moses may say, Benny Hinn proclaimed a "crippled" man healed, but the man continued to limp. If this is what Christianity is all about, then I want no part of it.
The fact of the matter is that individuals like Benny Hinn have been around for thousands of years. They do not represent true Christianity. They are, as the Bible warns: savage wolves (Acts 20:27-31); distorters of the gospel of Christ (Galatians 1:6-9); false brothers (Galatians 2:4-5); enemies of the cross (Philippians 3:18-19); stumbling blocks to those searching for truth (Matthew 18:7); false prophets (Matthew 24:11); false teachers (2 Timothy 4:3-4); false healers (Matthew 7:21-23); and more.
This is why it is extremely important to trust in Jesus Christ and the truth of His word over-and-above the Benny Hinn's of this world. While Benny Hinn has a long history of controversy and deception, Jesus Christ will not lie or deceive you, for He alone is the Healer of souls:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30; KJV).
For additional articles and information on Benny Hinn, please refer to
Christian Research Service's "Benny Hinn: False Prophet" page at
http://www.christianresearchservice.com/Benny_Hinn.htm
Bud Press is the Director of Christian Research Service and a Christian Investigative Researcher. Christian Research Service is a discernment ministry that provides information, documentation and referral on a wide variety of issues to the body of Christ and the Christian news media worldwide. All correspondence is subject to public scrutiny.
Was the 'crippled' man really healed?
http://www.christianresearchservice.com/BHinn35.htm
By Bud Press, Director
Christian Research Service
www.christianresearchservice.com
June 12, 2007
To the Reader: The following information details an encounter between Benny Hinn and a crippled man named Moses, who, according to Hinn's Kampala, Uganda Crusade Report and a This Is Your Day! telecast, had been crippled since birth.
This information is not meant to satirize, ill-treat, or ridicule Moses. It does, however, expose more incredible, in-your-face deception that permeates the most prolific false prophet, false teacher, and false healer of our day.
On May 18-19, 2007, Benny Hinn conducted his first "Holy Spirit Miracle Crusade" in Uganda at the Nelson Mandela National Stadium in Kampala. The following information contains direct quotes from Benny Hinn's website, and a word-for-word transcript of portions of Benny Hinn's Monday, 6/4/07 This Is
Your Day! Archive Show.
Beginning with the Uganda Crusade Report from Benny Hinn's website, the reader is informed that,
Nationally distributed newspapers proclaimed, "The lame walked, the blind had their eyes opened, the deaf heard, and the sick recovered at the first-ever Pastor Benny Hinn crusade in Uganda!" ("Crusade In Uganda Draws International Audience," http://www.bennyhinn.org/articles/articledesc.cfm?id=263 ).
The Crusade Report also shares "The Moving Story of Moses," which states in part that,
One of the most amazing stories that was shared with everyone was the story of Moses. At the close of the first service, the young man named came to the platform. Pastor Benny noticed that Moses was wearing no shoes. He quickly learned that Moses had been crippled since birth (emp. added).
"The Moving Story of Moses" goes on to state that Moses entered Hinn's crusade in a wheelchair, was accompanied by his sister, and that the 28 year old Moses took his first steps during the crusade.
The story contains two photos of Benny Hinn and Moses. The first photo is from the waist up. The second is full-length, where the reader will notice Moses' left leg, which is obviously bent at the knee and bowed inward.
Was the 'crippled' man really healed?
The following is a word-for-word transcript of a portion of Benny Hinn's Monday, 6/4/07 This Is Your Day! Archive Shows telecast of the "Holy Spirit Miracle Crusade" in Kampala, Uganda, http://www.bennyhinn.org/television/tiyd.cfm ).
At 11 minutes:28 seconds into the telecast, a conversation takes place between Benny Hinn, Henry Hinn (Benny Hinn's brother), Benny Hinn's crusade interpreter, and Moses the crippled man:
Benny Hinn: "He has been a cripple from birth!"
Henry Hinn: "His mother; he was born in 1979. This is Moses, born in 1979; paralyzed when he was born. He couldn't move! He couldn't move his body! He, this is his wheelchair. He was back there. I saw him back there; pulled his way out of the wheelchair, and just began walking."
Benny Hinn [looks at Moses and asks]: "You've been a cripple all your life?"
Interpreter: "He has never walked. This is the first time."
Benny Hinn: "Now, you've never walked?"
Moses: "No."
Benny Hinn: "Ladies and gentlemen, this young man has never walked. You understand? From his mother's womb he was born a cripple. For the first time tonight, he's using his legs."
At 12 minutes:36 seconds into the telecast, Moses struggles to balance himself on one leg, and says he wants to be saved. Benny Hinn raises his hands and thousands cheer.
Benny Hinn: "Listen. The man has just walked for the first time in his life."
At this point, Benny Hinn instructs the crowd to stand up, and begins quoting from Isaiah 53:5. Afterwards, Benny Hinn states,
And the man comes up. You know what it's like for me to stand here and listen to a young man who had never walked in his life, and tell me, 'I want to be saved'?
At 14 minutes:22 seconds into the telecast, referring to Moses, Benny Hinn states,
His legs. Life is coming back in his legs tonight.
At 16 minutes:55 seconds into the telecast, Benny Hinn states,
You know, I'm, I'm standing here next to this young man. We better never take this for granted; never forget the privilege.
At 18 minutes:05 seconds into the telecast, Benny Hinn pronounces Moses healed:
Here's a young man who says, 'I want to be saved.' He's healed. He's happy about that but he really wants to be saved. That's what he wants.
At 21 minutes:05 seconds into the telecast, the Kampala, Uganda segment ends and returns to Benny Hinn in his This Is Your Day! studio, where Hinn states:
What a Lord we serve. There's none like Jesus is there? To heal this young man, like this, a cripple from birth. And then for the young man to look at me and say, 'I want to be saved.' This, I, I'm telling ya; there's nothing like it. Nothing.
Towards the end of the telecast at 22 minutes:04 seconds, Benny Hinn once again reminds his viewers that Moses was crippled from birth, and that he stood for the first time in his life:
And then this, this young man. I mean, this is one of the greatest miracles I've seen in really a long time. We've seen wonderful miracles. But, you know, to see a young man crippled from birth just standing for the first time in his life--in front of me--and he stood with no shoes on, with clothes that weren't that nice.
But the next night when he came back, he had new shoes for the first time in his life. And he had new clothing. And now he is in a Bible school.
The video evidence
If a picture is worth a thousands words, then a video must be worth its weight in gold. Benny Hinn is no stranger to controversy and deception, and the video evidence of Hinn's encounter with Moses does not lie.
At 22 minutes:17 seconds into the telecast, Moses and Benny Hinn are shown together on-stage during the crusade. Moses is balancing himself on his right leg. His left leg is still bent inward at the knee.
At 22 minutes:29 seconds into the telecast, Moses is seen limping to the stage. As he approaches the stairs to the stage, Moses is assisted up the stairs by Henry Hinn. Two "catchers" are behind Moses at the bottom of the stairs.
As Moses slowly hobbled up the stairs, he uses the stair-rails to assist his climb. His left leg remained bent inward during his climb. When Moses finally reached the top of the stairs and onto the stage, he was not only assisted by his sister, he limped to Benny Hinn with outstretched arms.
Therefore, was the crippled man Moses really healed? No. Yet, he was pronounced "healed" by Benny Hinn.
It bears repeating again: Benny Hinn follows a counterfeit Jesus, counterfeit gospel, and counterfeit spirit (Galatians 1:6-9; 2 Corinthians 11:3-4). Hinn's god is incapable of healing precious people like Moses.
However, Benny Hinn's god is capable of deceiving the masses into thinking a legitimate healing has taken place.
The crippled and lame: true accounts of healing
"One need not be a doctor or physical therapist to know when someone is walking abnormally and in pain. Most importantly, where in the Bible does it say that when Jesus healed someone, they remained partially blind, partially diseased, or walked away limping? It doesn't" (Bud Press, "MIRACLE IN TRINIDAD?" http://www.christianresearchservice.com/BHinn16.htm ).
One need not look to Benny Hinn and like-minded false healers for true accounts of healing. God's word records numerous accounts of legitimate healings of all types, including those who were lame and crippled from birth:
The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them (Matthew 4:24).
Departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there. And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them. So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel (Matthew 15:29-31).
And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them (Matthew 21:14).
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. And a man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is
called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, "Look at us!" And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, "I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene--walk!" And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God (Acts 3:1-9).
For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed (Acts 8:7).
At Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother's womb, who had never walked. This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze on him and had seen that he had faith to be made well, said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he leaped up and began to walk (Acts 14:8-10).
When Jesus healed the lame and crippled, they didn't get up, limp around, and struggle to maintain balance. When the apostles used their gift of healing through the power of God, there was no lag-time in between and no ifs, ands or buts. The feet, ankles, and legs of the lame and crippled were immediately straightened and made whole.
None could deny Jesus' miracles, nor could they deny the apostles' gift of healing through the miraculous power of God.
2,000 years later, although Benny Hinn is adored and idolized by his followers, he has once again clearly demonstrated his inability to heal the sick, dying, and crippled by the power of God. Indeed, the testimony of God's word proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Benny Hinn is a charlatan and a false healer.
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isaiah 8:20).
The God of the Bible forgives, saves, sanctifies, and redeems the unsaved. The God of the Bible also heals broken bodies--according to His perfect will, that is:
This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (1 John 5:14).
Sometimes, God's perfect will for the believer includes incredible suffering and persecution, of which the apostle Paul endured in 2 Corinthians 11:18-30.
Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostle John wrote:
We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error (1 John 4:6).
Those who listen to God and study His word will know the difference between truth and error, as well as the difference between a true and false healing.
God does not work miracles through hyper-heretical faith healers like Benny Hinn, because Benny Hinn and those like him are ...false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
Final comments: To the skeptic and unbeliever
The situation with Moses is both sad and tragic. It not only serves as fuel for the skeptics and unbelievers to downplay Christianity, it serves to drive the unsaved deeper into sin and further away from accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Accordingly, a skeptic or unbeliever who witnessed the encounter between Benny Hinn and Moses may say, Benny Hinn proclaimed a "crippled" man healed, but the man continued to limp. If this is what Christianity is all about, then I want no part of it.
The fact of the matter is that individuals like Benny Hinn have been around for thousands of years. They do not represent true Christianity. They are, as the Bible warns: savage wolves (Acts 20:27-31); distorters of the gospel of Christ (Galatians 1:6-9); false brothers (Galatians 2:4-5); enemies of the cross (Philippians 3:18-19); stumbling blocks to those searching for truth (Matthew 18:7); false prophets (Matthew 24:11); false teachers (2 Timothy 4:3-4); false healers (Matthew 7:21-23); and more.
This is why it is extremely important to trust in Jesus Christ and the truth of His word over-and-above the Benny Hinn's of this world. While Benny Hinn has a long history of controversy and deception, Jesus Christ will not lie or deceive you, for He alone is the Healer of souls:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30; KJV).
For additional articles and information on Benny Hinn, please refer to
Christian Research Service's "Benny Hinn: False Prophet" page at
http://www.christianresearchservice.com/Benny_Hinn.htm
Bud Press is the Director of Christian Research Service and a Christian Investigative Researcher. Christian Research Service is a discernment ministry that provides information, documentation and referral on a wide variety of issues to the body of Christ and the Christian news media worldwide. All correspondence is subject to public scrutiny.
Pastor rapes, impregnates his daughter
Pastor rapes, impregnates his daughter
http://www.ugandaobserver.com/new/news/news200712201.php
December 20, 2007
By Richard M. Kavuma
WEEKLY OBSERVER
A Kampala preacher who allegedly raped and impregnated his 16-year-old daughter says jealous pastors simply want to bring him down.
The girl produced a baby boy who made 6 months this week.
In a bizarre twist, the mother of his abused girl claims that she herself was forced into sex by the same pastor, resulting in the conception of Lucia (real name withheld).
Pastor Herbert Bugembe, 33, of the defunct Great Commission Christian Centre in Bweyogerere, is said to have raped Lucia, now 17, in Nairobi last year.
Lucia’s mother, Joyce, claims that she conceived her daughter after Bugembe forcibly had sex with her in 1989.
At that time, both Bugembe and Joyce were only 15, the same age Lucia was when she was allegedly raped by her father.
Under Chapter 14 of the Penal Code Act, both rape and defilement carry a maximum death penalty. Incest, which is sexual intercourse with a blood-relative, is punishable by up to seven years. If the person with whom the incest was committed is below 18, a culprit faces life imprisonment.
Bugembe this week calmly denied Lucia’s accusations in a two-hour interview outside his house in Mutungo, charging that some pastors were trying to tarnish his name. He said he had temporarily put his church on hold because of the problems associated with Lucia.
But this newspaper has seen signed documents where Bugembe admits that he “attempted” to sexually assault his daughter. In another document signed five months ago, Bugembe admitted being the father of his daughter’s child, who made six months on Monday.
The Weekly Observer has learnt that Bugembe was reported to the Police CID in Kampala by a child-rights organisation in September. But no action has been taken so far, reportedly because the case is complicated by the fact that the alleged crime was committed in another country.
Long story
Spanning two decades and two countries, the story starts in Jinja in 1989. Joyce was working as house-girl at the home of Bugembe’s elder sister, Sarah. Bugembe, then 15, was living with the family.
In an interview at her two-room rented home in Kayunga last week, Joyce said Bugembe forcibly had sex with her that year. By the time she found out that she was pregnant, she had lost her house-girl’s job and returned to Kayunga. She went on to deliver Lucia but Bugembe denied that he was the father.
On his part, Bugembe told The Weekly Observer that “like any young man then”, he “played around” with Joyce “about 20 years ago”. As to whether he was the father of Lucia, Bugembe said the matter would be resolved by a DNA test, which he was ready to pay for. He did not say why that test has never been taken.
Joyce, now a married mother of seven, says that Bugembe’s relatives, persuaded by a resemblance between him and the baby, accepted Lucia and lived with her at various times. Aged 7, she was taken in by Bugembe’s sister called Prosy who lived in Nsambya. It was not until she was 14 that she moved to Mutungo Zone 6, where her father Bugembe lives with his wife and six children.
Father’s care
What happened thereafter is not clear and depends on who you talk to. Lucia says she was mistreated by both her father and step-mother. At one point she ran away and went to live with her mother in Kayunga. On other occasions, she either took refuge at a teacher’s house or a Local Councillor’s home, because Bugembe allegedly wanted to rape her.
In response to these allegations, Bugembe calls Lucia a liar who has teamed up with rival pastors to bring him down. Asked to name and shame these jealous pastors, Bugembe said he had not kept their names, as that would create lasting enmity – something unchristian.
He also claimed that Lucia was being sponsored by her mother to make the allegations in order to get money out of him. To show how bad his daughter can be, Bugembe said that Lucia had gone to the extent of smuggling witchcraft – green leaves and tips of chicken legs wrapped in bark cloth – into his bedroom.
“But do you think [Lucia] can design witchcraft?” Bugembe said. “There is a force behind her. When you become a pastor, you have to be ready for any attack.”
However, the area Local Council leaders have a different story. The Mutungo Zone 6 Secretary for Women, Jane Nalongo Lugayizi, said she was aware that Lucia had run away from home several times, claiming that Bugembe was harassing her.
In March 2005, the girl sought shelter in a neighbour’s house and the neighbour took her to Nalongo at night. A meeting was convened that night involving local leaders, Lucia, Bugembe, his wife, and his in-laws. At the end of the meeting, said to have ended about 2 a.m., Bugembe wrote and signed a statement committing himself to be a better parent.
Taking responsibility
“I, Pastor Herbert Bugembe of Mutungo Zone 6… have accepted the claims and reports that were reported by [Lucia] that on the 20th of March 2005, I attempted to unlawfully have sexual intercourse with my daughter and upon refusing, I beat her and caused her to run away from our home… and it was the second time it was happening to the child,” Bugembe wrote in the statement dated March 30, 2005.
Bugembe further writes that the matter had been reported to Kitintale Police Post on March 27, 2005 by Lucia’s teacher. He ends by promising to put his daughter in a good boarding school and asking all present to forgive him.
According to Nalongo, the matter was then considered closed. But it did not end there. Bugembe says that last year, he had a mission to preach in 32 churches in Kenya and he took his family with him.
Lucia says that her father promised he would place her in a vocational school in Kenya. It was there in Mwimuto, near Nairobi, that Bugembe allegedly raped her.
“It was around 4 a.m. I was sleeping in the chair. I was wearing my night dress. He only had a towel wrapped around his body. Then I saw someone sitting on me and holding my mouth and I was struggling to shout… When he got off me, he entered his room and closed the door. I cried a lot.”
In the interview with The Weekly Observer, Bugembe repeatedly denied having had sexual intercourse with his daughter. He said he could not do such a thing both as a Muganda and as a born-again Christian.
Lucia says that a month after the incident, she developed sores and swellings in her private parts until she could hardly walk. Noticing the girl’s worsening situation, Bugembe later dressed her wounds using a piece of cloth, capsules and hot water.
According to Dr. Adrian Matovu, a medical officer in Rakai, if the sores and blisters were related to the alleged rape, it suggests that the girl contracted a sexually transmitted infection during the act.
Lucia says that once she missed her periods for two months, she knew she was pregnant. Despite the sickness and pregnancy, Lucia claims she did not get any help from Bugembe’s wife, who is said to have been incensed by the girl’s increased appetite.
Maid in Kenya
In January this year, Lucia says her father took her at night to a woman called Helen, promising to pick her up the next day. The next thing she heard, the Bugembe family had returned to Uganda and left her in Kenya. Apparently, she was supposed to work as Helen’s house maid.
“I just started crying. I was pregnant. What was I going to do? The woman told me that any Ugandan found walking on the road in the area could easily get killed,” Lucia said.
Bugembe admits that when the family returned to Uganda in January, Lucia remained in Kenya. He could not explain why he left her in Kenya. All Bugembe says is that he left her with a cousin called Robert in a house with rent paid upfront for two months. Then he adds that when he went back to pick the two children, he found that Lucia “had run away with men”.
Lucia’s account is that she got help from health workers at Wangige Health Centre, who also directed her to a doctor who bought her a bus ticket back to Uganda.
She went straight to her mother’s home in Kayunga. On June 17, 2007, she delivered a baby boy.
But because of cultural beliefs relating to incest, she is reported to have refused to breast-feed ‘her father’s’ baby, fearing it would die. The baby (names withheld) has since been taken to a Kampala orphanage following the intervention of ANPPCAN, the African Network for Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect.
Empty promises
ANPPCAN’s Information Officer, Joshua Lubandi, told The Weekly Observer that the NGO first learnt of Lucia’s case around May this year, when she reported having been raped by her father.
Lubandi said that Bugembe committed himself to maintain both children but had since reneged on his promise. The Weekly Observer has seen a document titled ‘Commitment to maintain and care for my child’, signed by Bugembe in the presence of APPCAN social workers.
“I, Bugembe Herbert hereby agree that I am the father of the child of [Lucia]. I therefore commit myself to care and maintain both the mother of the child and the child by providing for both of them food, shelter and clothing,” reads the July 15, 2007 statement. “I make this commitment without undue influence or coercion of any form and hereby append my signature to affirm this.”
Bugembe pledged to pay Shs 40,000 every month but ANPPCAN says he has not paid again since that July. About failing to pay, Bugembe explained that he had lost the contact of the ANPPCAN officials and did not know where their offices were located.
Both Lucia and Lubandi separately told The Weekly Observer that Bugembe was given a Post Bank Account number on which he was supposed to deposit the money.
But he failed to honour that commitment.
rimkav@ugandaobserver.com
http://www.ugandaobserver.com/new/news/news200712201.php
December 20, 2007
By Richard M. Kavuma
WEEKLY OBSERVER
A Kampala preacher who allegedly raped and impregnated his 16-year-old daughter says jealous pastors simply want to bring him down.
The girl produced a baby boy who made 6 months this week.
In a bizarre twist, the mother of his abused girl claims that she herself was forced into sex by the same pastor, resulting in the conception of Lucia (real name withheld).
Pastor Herbert Bugembe, 33, of the defunct Great Commission Christian Centre in Bweyogerere, is said to have raped Lucia, now 17, in Nairobi last year.
Lucia’s mother, Joyce, claims that she conceived her daughter after Bugembe forcibly had sex with her in 1989.
At that time, both Bugembe and Joyce were only 15, the same age Lucia was when she was allegedly raped by her father.
Under Chapter 14 of the Penal Code Act, both rape and defilement carry a maximum death penalty. Incest, which is sexual intercourse with a blood-relative, is punishable by up to seven years. If the person with whom the incest was committed is below 18, a culprit faces life imprisonment.
Bugembe this week calmly denied Lucia’s accusations in a two-hour interview outside his house in Mutungo, charging that some pastors were trying to tarnish his name. He said he had temporarily put his church on hold because of the problems associated with Lucia.
But this newspaper has seen signed documents where Bugembe admits that he “attempted” to sexually assault his daughter. In another document signed five months ago, Bugembe admitted being the father of his daughter’s child, who made six months on Monday.
The Weekly Observer has learnt that Bugembe was reported to the Police CID in Kampala by a child-rights organisation in September. But no action has been taken so far, reportedly because the case is complicated by the fact that the alleged crime was committed in another country.
Long story
Spanning two decades and two countries, the story starts in Jinja in 1989. Joyce was working as house-girl at the home of Bugembe’s elder sister, Sarah. Bugembe, then 15, was living with the family.
In an interview at her two-room rented home in Kayunga last week, Joyce said Bugembe forcibly had sex with her that year. By the time she found out that she was pregnant, she had lost her house-girl’s job and returned to Kayunga. She went on to deliver Lucia but Bugembe denied that he was the father.
On his part, Bugembe told The Weekly Observer that “like any young man then”, he “played around” with Joyce “about 20 years ago”. As to whether he was the father of Lucia, Bugembe said the matter would be resolved by a DNA test, which he was ready to pay for. He did not say why that test has never been taken.
Joyce, now a married mother of seven, says that Bugembe’s relatives, persuaded by a resemblance between him and the baby, accepted Lucia and lived with her at various times. Aged 7, she was taken in by Bugembe’s sister called Prosy who lived in Nsambya. It was not until she was 14 that she moved to Mutungo Zone 6, where her father Bugembe lives with his wife and six children.
Father’s care
What happened thereafter is not clear and depends on who you talk to. Lucia says she was mistreated by both her father and step-mother. At one point she ran away and went to live with her mother in Kayunga. On other occasions, she either took refuge at a teacher’s house or a Local Councillor’s home, because Bugembe allegedly wanted to rape her.
In response to these allegations, Bugembe calls Lucia a liar who has teamed up with rival pastors to bring him down. Asked to name and shame these jealous pastors, Bugembe said he had not kept their names, as that would create lasting enmity – something unchristian.
He also claimed that Lucia was being sponsored by her mother to make the allegations in order to get money out of him. To show how bad his daughter can be, Bugembe said that Lucia had gone to the extent of smuggling witchcraft – green leaves and tips of chicken legs wrapped in bark cloth – into his bedroom.
“But do you think [Lucia] can design witchcraft?” Bugembe said. “There is a force behind her. When you become a pastor, you have to be ready for any attack.”
However, the area Local Council leaders have a different story. The Mutungo Zone 6 Secretary for Women, Jane Nalongo Lugayizi, said she was aware that Lucia had run away from home several times, claiming that Bugembe was harassing her.
In March 2005, the girl sought shelter in a neighbour’s house and the neighbour took her to Nalongo at night. A meeting was convened that night involving local leaders, Lucia, Bugembe, his wife, and his in-laws. At the end of the meeting, said to have ended about 2 a.m., Bugembe wrote and signed a statement committing himself to be a better parent.
Taking responsibility
“I, Pastor Herbert Bugembe of Mutungo Zone 6… have accepted the claims and reports that were reported by [Lucia] that on the 20th of March 2005, I attempted to unlawfully have sexual intercourse with my daughter and upon refusing, I beat her and caused her to run away from our home… and it was the second time it was happening to the child,” Bugembe wrote in the statement dated March 30, 2005.
Bugembe further writes that the matter had been reported to Kitintale Police Post on March 27, 2005 by Lucia’s teacher. He ends by promising to put his daughter in a good boarding school and asking all present to forgive him.
According to Nalongo, the matter was then considered closed. But it did not end there. Bugembe says that last year, he had a mission to preach in 32 churches in Kenya and he took his family with him.
Lucia says that her father promised he would place her in a vocational school in Kenya. It was there in Mwimuto, near Nairobi, that Bugembe allegedly raped her.
“It was around 4 a.m. I was sleeping in the chair. I was wearing my night dress. He only had a towel wrapped around his body. Then I saw someone sitting on me and holding my mouth and I was struggling to shout… When he got off me, he entered his room and closed the door. I cried a lot.”
In the interview with The Weekly Observer, Bugembe repeatedly denied having had sexual intercourse with his daughter. He said he could not do such a thing both as a Muganda and as a born-again Christian.
Lucia says that a month after the incident, she developed sores and swellings in her private parts until she could hardly walk. Noticing the girl’s worsening situation, Bugembe later dressed her wounds using a piece of cloth, capsules and hot water.
According to Dr. Adrian Matovu, a medical officer in Rakai, if the sores and blisters were related to the alleged rape, it suggests that the girl contracted a sexually transmitted infection during the act.
Lucia says that once she missed her periods for two months, she knew she was pregnant. Despite the sickness and pregnancy, Lucia claims she did not get any help from Bugembe’s wife, who is said to have been incensed by the girl’s increased appetite.
Maid in Kenya
In January this year, Lucia says her father took her at night to a woman called Helen, promising to pick her up the next day. The next thing she heard, the Bugembe family had returned to Uganda and left her in Kenya. Apparently, she was supposed to work as Helen’s house maid.
“I just started crying. I was pregnant. What was I going to do? The woman told me that any Ugandan found walking on the road in the area could easily get killed,” Lucia said.
Bugembe admits that when the family returned to Uganda in January, Lucia remained in Kenya. He could not explain why he left her in Kenya. All Bugembe says is that he left her with a cousin called Robert in a house with rent paid upfront for two months. Then he adds that when he went back to pick the two children, he found that Lucia “had run away with men”.
Lucia’s account is that she got help from health workers at Wangige Health Centre, who also directed her to a doctor who bought her a bus ticket back to Uganda.
She went straight to her mother’s home in Kayunga. On June 17, 2007, she delivered a baby boy.
But because of cultural beliefs relating to incest, she is reported to have refused to breast-feed ‘her father’s’ baby, fearing it would die. The baby (names withheld) has since been taken to a Kampala orphanage following the intervention of ANPPCAN, the African Network for Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect.
Empty promises
ANPPCAN’s Information Officer, Joshua Lubandi, told The Weekly Observer that the NGO first learnt of Lucia’s case around May this year, when she reported having been raped by her father.
Lubandi said that Bugembe committed himself to maintain both children but had since reneged on his promise. The Weekly Observer has seen a document titled ‘Commitment to maintain and care for my child’, signed by Bugembe in the presence of APPCAN social workers.
“I, Bugembe Herbert hereby agree that I am the father of the child of [Lucia]. I therefore commit myself to care and maintain both the mother of the child and the child by providing for both of them food, shelter and clothing,” reads the July 15, 2007 statement. “I make this commitment without undue influence or coercion of any form and hereby append my signature to affirm this.”
Bugembe pledged to pay Shs 40,000 every month but ANPPCAN says he has not paid again since that July. About failing to pay, Bugembe explained that he had lost the contact of the ANPPCAN officials and did not know where their offices were located.
Both Lucia and Lubandi separately told The Weekly Observer that Bugembe was given a Post Bank Account number on which he was supposed to deposit the money.
But he failed to honour that commitment.
rimkav@ugandaobserver.com
ACCOUNTABILITY IN BORN AGAIN CHURCHES
Where do born again churches put the Sunday offerings?
Rodney Muhumuza
Sunday Monitor
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/insights/Where_do_born_again_churches_put_the_Sunday_offerings.shtml
Insights | December 16, 2007
Many Pentecostal preachers could be diverting cash and other
donations to personal use. In the American case, as in Uganda,
preachers’ lavish lifestyles, flamboyance and sometimes deceptive prosperity sermons continue to make them fair game for critics
KAMPALA
American televangelists Benny Hinn and Creflo Dollar are among four international preachers now on the spot over their failure to readily provide information that would be used in a federal inquiry into possible corruption within their ministries.
Both Hinn and Dollar were in Uganda a few months ago, and many Ugandans religiously watch their television shows. Chuck Grassley, the Republican senator from Iowa who has called for the probe, made his intentions clear in letters he sent to the televangelists on November 5, giving them at least four weeks within which to reply.
“I’m following up on complaints from the public and news coverage regarding certain practices at six ministries. The allegations involve governing boards that aren’t independent and allow generous salaries and housing allowances and amenities such as private jets and Rolls Royces,” Grassley said in a statement posted on his Web site.
“I don’t want to conclude that there’s a problem, but I have an obligation to donors and the taxpayers to find out more. People who donated should have their money spent as intended and in adherence with the tax code."
The lawmaker sent out long questionnaires to the six ministries, asking them to provide audited financial statements, compensation reports, records for ministry jet travel, and other documents. It turned out that the December 6 deadline was beaten by only the ministries of Joyce Meyer and Kenneth Copeland, with the other preachers—Dollar, Hinn, Eddie Long and Randy White--either questioning the senator’s motive or asking for more time.
It is now a waiting game: Grassley could seek the backing of the majority of senators on the Finance Committee, on which he is the ranking member, to authorise subpoenas or call for hearings, potentially leading to very damaging revelations.
But Ugandan observers say that while the American story is on a larger and much more complicated scale, the basic similarities are not hard to see, most especially the suspicion that many Pentecostal preachers here are diverting cash and other donations to personal use.
In the American case, as in Uganda, preachers’ lavish lifestyles, flamboyance and sometimes deceptive prosperity sermons continue to make them fair game for critics.
Mr Solomon Male, a Kampala pastor who is known for his exposes on impropriety in the Pentecostals, says that churches for the balokole (born again Christians), despite making a lot of money, have boards that are not independent and members who are loyal to the pastors.
“Many of these churches have dummy boards. They handpick anybody to sit on their boards,” Male said in an interview last Tuesday, adding: “The pastors are not accountable to anybody.”
Most, if not all, of the local pastors preach that there is no limit to recruiting warriors for Christ, and churchgoers are normally encouraged to give as much as they can. But while congregations are given only general accounts of how and when the collections are to be spent, there are no tales of churchgoers asking for accountability because, as the pastors like to say, money will forever be needed to complete “God’s work”.
While the overall strategy may be brilliant -- ultimate accountability is purportedly made to God, the pastors insist -- the tactics have sometimes been controversial. In some ministries, notably the church of the Kampala prophetess Imelda Namutebi, churchgoers, long discouraged from offering coins, are expected to drop high denomination notes in offertory bags. And bullion vans seen outside Kampala churches on Sundays leave no doubt that huge sums are collected.
Yet it is difficult to know how many of these religious non profit organisations account to their benefactors or congregations.
Mr Martin Sempa, a senior pastor at Makerere Community Church, says there are some dubious pastors who have added “too much drama” to the character of the local Pentecostal community.
“There are two kinds of pastors: those who exist to create a name and wealth and those who exist to serve God and the people,” Sempa said. “But the bad ones have greater publicity.”
In recent times, local pastors have attracted a bad press, facing accusations that range from trickery to defilement, but there has been no public scrutiny of their financial dealings. A spokesman for the Uganda Revenue Authority, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the subject, said the agency has been “trying to sensitise churches, as they think that all things to do with a church are not to be taxed”.
“They don’t pay taxes apart from Pay-As-You-Earn if they are employing people. But they have to pay tax if they engage in any business activity,” he added. The question is: Do they?
Some city pastors are known to have companies, most particularly printing presses, which, in addition to making money for their ministries, also churn out the money envelopes used during services or the flyers that invite the faithful to miracle bonanzas “where they are expected to give”, according to Male.
Critics of the local Pentecostals also find fault with the alleged reinvention of the phrase “sowing a seed”, especially as some prominent pastors have led their congregations into giving away so much in the sometimes misplaced hope of receiving miracles.
Mr Sempa admitted that there were cases of “abuse of power, while Mr Male spoke of incidents where pastors remind their audiences that they can only reap in dollars if they sow in a similar currency.
“In that case, the minimum amount of shillings that someone would need to change at a forex bureau is Shs10,000,” Male said. “For a big church, if about 2,000 give that amount on average, that is a lot of money every week.”
It has never been in doubt that many of the revivalist churches make a lot of money through just Sunday collections, and a lot more through countless fundraisers.
Maracha MP Alex Onzima, who sits on the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee of the 8th Parliament, said they would only be concerned if the pastors were using the donations in a way that endangers national security, and not if the funds are being used to build lavish homes.
Rubanda West MP Henry Banyenzaki, who sits on the Finance Committee, said Parliament would only investigate if a complainant “presents a petition on the [bad] conduct of pastors”. But no complaint has come through, he said.
Interestingly, some of issues Senator Grassley had with the six televangelists are not far removed from what is happening with Ugandan pastors. In his letter to Randy and Paula White of Without Walls International Church, the lawmaker asked the preachers to confirm that they gave Bishop T. D Jakes a Bentley Convertible as a gift and to “explain the tax-exempt purpose of the gift” if it was purchased by a tax-exempt entity.
Some Ugandan pastors have been reported to give car and cash gifts to colleagues whose loyalty they wish to hold. Mr Robert Kayanja, for example, gave $10,000 to Meyer when she visited Uganda recently, while Namutebi donated a luxury car to Mr Joseph Serwadda, another of the prominent Kampala pastors.
Critics at the time said the donation to Meyer was immoral as Kayanja failed to appreciate that there were needy people in his community who needed the money much more. Meyer runs a $124-million-a-year empire.
“Meyer has never apologised for her financial success.
In the 2003 series, Meyer said everything she has — the $10 million corporate jet, her $2 million home, her family's fleet of fancy cars — were blessings straight from God,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on November 11. “Meyer preaches the prosperity gospel and uses blunt pitches to get her followers to open their wallets.”
But even when local pastors have been in conflict, which happens often, the results have been a spectacle. In August, for example, Moses Sekatawa, a Kampala pastor, was involved in a nasty conflict with the ministry of Joseph Serwadda, whose wife he accused of grabbing a donated car that he said was originally meant for him.
“Pastor Freda Serwadda refused to release the vehicle to me,” Sekatawa said in a letter sent to the National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches of Uganda (NAFBAPC), an umbrella organisation that brings together Pentecostal churches.
“I am always at pains trying to conceal the obvious truth so as not to tarnish her name whenever any of our church members ask me why they do not see me driving the vehicle I testified about.”
Sekatawa later confirmed that he had given up the car, a Toyota Liteace Station Wagon, by accepting a compensation fee of $2,000 from the Serwaddas. (Serwadda refused to comment, requesting for more time to study all the issues at hand).
Many more donations and other bizarre transactions go unreported, as there are at least 20,000 churches for the Pentecostals spread all over Uganda. Only about 1,020 subscribe to NAFBAPC, an association that does not have the mandate to regulate its members. In some cases, it has failed to investigate and arbitrate even those cases where there is smoking gun evidence of wrongdoing.
Officials at NAFBAPC insist there should be an independent agency that regulates religious organisations now that they are a force to be reckoned with.
Most Pentecostal churches register with the NGO Board at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Mr Warren Nyamugasira, the executive director of the NGO Forum, an umbrella organisation that has some churches within its ranks, said that while there are codes of conduct that would mandate the association to check for possible wrongdoing, “we have not received any complaints”.
He also said the NGO Forum was considering developing a code of conduct that “encompasses even those [NGOs] that are not our members”.
Rodney Muhumuza
Sunday Monitor
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/insights/Where_do_born_again_churches_put_the_Sunday_offerings.shtml
Insights | December 16, 2007
Many Pentecostal preachers could be diverting cash and other
donations to personal use. In the American case, as in Uganda,
preachers’ lavish lifestyles, flamboyance and sometimes deceptive prosperity sermons continue to make them fair game for critics
KAMPALA
American televangelists Benny Hinn and Creflo Dollar are among four international preachers now on the spot over their failure to readily provide information that would be used in a federal inquiry into possible corruption within their ministries.
Both Hinn and Dollar were in Uganda a few months ago, and many Ugandans religiously watch their television shows. Chuck Grassley, the Republican senator from Iowa who has called for the probe, made his intentions clear in letters he sent to the televangelists on November 5, giving them at least four weeks within which to reply.
“I’m following up on complaints from the public and news coverage regarding certain practices at six ministries. The allegations involve governing boards that aren’t independent and allow generous salaries and housing allowances and amenities such as private jets and Rolls Royces,” Grassley said in a statement posted on his Web site.
“I don’t want to conclude that there’s a problem, but I have an obligation to donors and the taxpayers to find out more. People who donated should have their money spent as intended and in adherence with the tax code."
The lawmaker sent out long questionnaires to the six ministries, asking them to provide audited financial statements, compensation reports, records for ministry jet travel, and other documents. It turned out that the December 6 deadline was beaten by only the ministries of Joyce Meyer and Kenneth Copeland, with the other preachers—Dollar, Hinn, Eddie Long and Randy White--either questioning the senator’s motive or asking for more time.
It is now a waiting game: Grassley could seek the backing of the majority of senators on the Finance Committee, on which he is the ranking member, to authorise subpoenas or call for hearings, potentially leading to very damaging revelations.
But Ugandan observers say that while the American story is on a larger and much more complicated scale, the basic similarities are not hard to see, most especially the suspicion that many Pentecostal preachers here are diverting cash and other donations to personal use.
In the American case, as in Uganda, preachers’ lavish lifestyles, flamboyance and sometimes deceptive prosperity sermons continue to make them fair game for critics.
Mr Solomon Male, a Kampala pastor who is known for his exposes on impropriety in the Pentecostals, says that churches for the balokole (born again Christians), despite making a lot of money, have boards that are not independent and members who are loyal to the pastors.
“Many of these churches have dummy boards. They handpick anybody to sit on their boards,” Male said in an interview last Tuesday, adding: “The pastors are not accountable to anybody.”
Most, if not all, of the local pastors preach that there is no limit to recruiting warriors for Christ, and churchgoers are normally encouraged to give as much as they can. But while congregations are given only general accounts of how and when the collections are to be spent, there are no tales of churchgoers asking for accountability because, as the pastors like to say, money will forever be needed to complete “God’s work”.
While the overall strategy may be brilliant -- ultimate accountability is purportedly made to God, the pastors insist -- the tactics have sometimes been controversial. In some ministries, notably the church of the Kampala prophetess Imelda Namutebi, churchgoers, long discouraged from offering coins, are expected to drop high denomination notes in offertory bags. And bullion vans seen outside Kampala churches on Sundays leave no doubt that huge sums are collected.
Yet it is difficult to know how many of these religious non profit organisations account to their benefactors or congregations.
Mr Martin Sempa, a senior pastor at Makerere Community Church, says there are some dubious pastors who have added “too much drama” to the character of the local Pentecostal community.
“There are two kinds of pastors: those who exist to create a name and wealth and those who exist to serve God and the people,” Sempa said. “But the bad ones have greater publicity.”
In recent times, local pastors have attracted a bad press, facing accusations that range from trickery to defilement, but there has been no public scrutiny of their financial dealings. A spokesman for the Uganda Revenue Authority, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the subject, said the agency has been “trying to sensitise churches, as they think that all things to do with a church are not to be taxed”.
“They don’t pay taxes apart from Pay-As-You-Earn if they are employing people. But they have to pay tax if they engage in any business activity,” he added. The question is: Do they?
Some city pastors are known to have companies, most particularly printing presses, which, in addition to making money for their ministries, also churn out the money envelopes used during services or the flyers that invite the faithful to miracle bonanzas “where they are expected to give”, according to Male.
Critics of the local Pentecostals also find fault with the alleged reinvention of the phrase “sowing a seed”, especially as some prominent pastors have led their congregations into giving away so much in the sometimes misplaced hope of receiving miracles.
Mr Sempa admitted that there were cases of “abuse of power, while Mr Male spoke of incidents where pastors remind their audiences that they can only reap in dollars if they sow in a similar currency.
“In that case, the minimum amount of shillings that someone would need to change at a forex bureau is Shs10,000,” Male said. “For a big church, if about 2,000 give that amount on average, that is a lot of money every week.”
It has never been in doubt that many of the revivalist churches make a lot of money through just Sunday collections, and a lot more through countless fundraisers.
Maracha MP Alex Onzima, who sits on the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee of the 8th Parliament, said they would only be concerned if the pastors were using the donations in a way that endangers national security, and not if the funds are being used to build lavish homes.
Rubanda West MP Henry Banyenzaki, who sits on the Finance Committee, said Parliament would only investigate if a complainant “presents a petition on the [bad] conduct of pastors”. But no complaint has come through, he said.
Interestingly, some of issues Senator Grassley had with the six televangelists are not far removed from what is happening with Ugandan pastors. In his letter to Randy and Paula White of Without Walls International Church, the lawmaker asked the preachers to confirm that they gave Bishop T. D Jakes a Bentley Convertible as a gift and to “explain the tax-exempt purpose of the gift” if it was purchased by a tax-exempt entity.
Some Ugandan pastors have been reported to give car and cash gifts to colleagues whose loyalty they wish to hold. Mr Robert Kayanja, for example, gave $10,000 to Meyer when she visited Uganda recently, while Namutebi donated a luxury car to Mr Joseph Serwadda, another of the prominent Kampala pastors.
Critics at the time said the donation to Meyer was immoral as Kayanja failed to appreciate that there were needy people in his community who needed the money much more. Meyer runs a $124-million-a-year empire.
“Meyer has never apologised for her financial success.
In the 2003 series, Meyer said everything she has — the $10 million corporate jet, her $2 million home, her family's fleet of fancy cars — were blessings straight from God,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on November 11. “Meyer preaches the prosperity gospel and uses blunt pitches to get her followers to open their wallets.”
But even when local pastors have been in conflict, which happens often, the results have been a spectacle. In August, for example, Moses Sekatawa, a Kampala pastor, was involved in a nasty conflict with the ministry of Joseph Serwadda, whose wife he accused of grabbing a donated car that he said was originally meant for him.
“Pastor Freda Serwadda refused to release the vehicle to me,” Sekatawa said in a letter sent to the National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches of Uganda (NAFBAPC), an umbrella organisation that brings together Pentecostal churches.
“I am always at pains trying to conceal the obvious truth so as not to tarnish her name whenever any of our church members ask me why they do not see me driving the vehicle I testified about.”
Sekatawa later confirmed that he had given up the car, a Toyota Liteace Station Wagon, by accepting a compensation fee of $2,000 from the Serwaddas. (Serwadda refused to comment, requesting for more time to study all the issues at hand).
Many more donations and other bizarre transactions go unreported, as there are at least 20,000 churches for the Pentecostals spread all over Uganda. Only about 1,020 subscribe to NAFBAPC, an association that does not have the mandate to regulate its members. In some cases, it has failed to investigate and arbitrate even those cases where there is smoking gun evidence of wrongdoing.
Officials at NAFBAPC insist there should be an independent agency that regulates religious organisations now that they are a force to be reckoned with.
Most Pentecostal churches register with the NGO Board at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Mr Warren Nyamugasira, the executive director of the NGO Forum, an umbrella organisation that has some churches within its ranks, said that while there are codes of conduct that would mandate the association to check for possible wrongdoing, “we have not received any complaints”.
He also said the NGO Forum was considering developing a code of conduct that “encompasses even those [NGOs] that are not our members”.
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