Our Responsibility: To Examine All Who Teach And Preach.

If any man among you seem to be

religious and bridleth not his tongue,

but deceiveth his own heart, this

man's religion is vain. Pure religion

and undefiled before God and the
Father in this, to visit the fatherless

and widows in their affliction, and to

keep himself unspotted from the world.

James 1:26-27

     A the early Church grew in numbers of Christians and numbers of Churches problems arose, not only from the Gnostics, the Judaizers, but from those who taught heresy and falseness so that they could have the most esteemed place among the congregants. Oh! These men talked a good talk, even sounded to be Christian, even Scriptural, but upon examination it was found that they did not hold to the truth of Scripture. This problem exists today as many teachers and preachers shout, scream, act drunk, and teach a supernatural mysticism (Bethel Church in Redding is a good example of this) and have come to be very rich, drive the most luxurious cars, and have the most luxurious homes, clothing, go on expensive vacations and all the while decrying that the poor are so needy and people need to do more, and all the while they live in opposition to what they say. In other words: they "speak with forked tongues," and they "speak out both sides of their mouths at the same time." Here are some facts to be considered:

  The average salary for a lead pastor in a megachurch is $147,000, according to a recent survey.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/46779/#SMdGBDq5XbXvfb1r.99

  It is sometimes argued that only a small portion of every person's donation ends up as part of the huge salaries of such ministry heads. That is true, but that is not the point. Why must those ministry heads receive so much money, especially money that is given to help those suffering in deep poverty? If what they are doing is justifiable and they aren't ashamed of it, I challenge them to report their salaries openly in their ministry magazines along side the photos of starving children. If they did, is it possible that donations might drop? Not only are these individuals accountable before God for their exorbitant salaries, but so are the boards of directors who set their salaries.

    It could be argued that we have no right to judge these ministry heads, because we don't know what they are doing with the sizable salaries they receive. Perhaps they are giving all their money away. But we do have some idea of what they are doing with their money from looking at their lifestyles. And if they wanted to give a significant percentage of their salaries away, they would do it simply by taking a lesser salary, because that would enable them to give away much more---due to the fact that they must pay taxes on their incomes. Being in the highest tax brackets, as much as half of what they receive goes to income taxes. Thus they could give away considerably more by taking smaller salaries and designating the reduced portion to charity. By doing so, they might also give unbelievers less reason to be offended at the gospel, those who otherwise might cynically reject it, convinced that those who proclaim it are only in it for the money. These ministry heads know that their salaries are a matter of public record. And before anyone judges me for being judgmental, please read my article, "Judge Not." Christ commanded us to judge all spiritual leaders (Matt. 7:15-23).

Joyce Meyer, for example, lives like a queen. The St. Louis Dispatch reported, "Minutes of ministry board meetings show that for 2002 and 2003, the board approved compensation packages of up to $900,000 for Joyce Meyer and up to $450,000 for her husband." More recently, she and her board cut her salary to a humble $250,000, but she formed a private for-profit company from which she now receives royalties from her many books, royalties that were previously received by her ministry (see: www.ministrywatch.org/mw2.1/F_SumRpt.asp?EIN=431382734). http://crossbearer-brian.tripod.com/id277.htm

     The average citizen of the United States earns approximately $45,000 per year. This begs the question: Why do these wealthy men and women supposedly preaching God's word (Some are, but most are preaching a gospel that is not the Gospel, rather a prosperity gospel as though man can cause or make God give to them by their works, or even by their "faith." Should not a Church leader live as to what the Bible says a Christian is to live? Yes! It is not that they might receive large sums it is what they do with that money. Is it large homes, expensive, cars, airplanes, etc. We can see that this is the case for many of those so-called Christian preachers. Our life, by our working and producing a product may make us to be rich, and this is ok, for a man made this occur by his production. A preacher has a responsibility to do what God's leaders, and Christians are to do: take care of the needy, the homeless, the sick, widows, and care for the children of those who are left orphan (did we not vow this when that child was baptized?) 

     Leaders of the Church are to keep themselves free from the world and cause nothing to bring reproach upon Jesus Christ, His Church. Are thses so-called "TV evangelists," other prosperity and famous preachers doing that: it is up to us to examine them and to know for sure that the Gospel is what is leading them in all they do and say. Check out your Church, your Church leaders, do they have a program to care for the needy and others who need support? Are you involved in aiding those and ensuring that the congregation is doing what Jesus commanded us to do within our Churches? Our responibility is not to ourselves, but to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. 

Give therefore they servant an

     understanding heart to judge

thy people, that I may discern

    between good and bad: for who

is able to judge this they so great

   a people?

                   1Kings 3:9

Check the gospel you hear? 

Richard L. Crumb