Update: There is one place you can still listen to the Ed Young sermon excerpt asking for his church to fill out forms with their checking account and routing number. It is at Fighting for the Faith, on the November 2nd, 2010 podcast, starting at about the 9:00 minute mark. Chris Rosebrough analyzes the audio of the video that was removed. So far Fellowship Church hasn't successfully removed it from the Rosebrough website.
"When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, 'Will you give me a drink - along with your bank account and routing number?' " John 4:7
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Ed Young, Jr. of Fellowship Church delievered a humdinger of a tithing sermon on 10/10/10. As you see in the picture above, Young blazed a trail that likely no other Southern Baptist has gone down: he actually is trying to gain access to his church member's bank accounts to withdrawl their tithe automatically. He doesn't just want THEM to use online banking for an automated payment, Ed wants the church to have access to their bank accounts! This is not a joke or a parody. He really did this. Watch the video above.
I'll have more to say about this sermon later, as it might be the most heretical, nonsensical, self-serving, manipulative sermon I think I've ever heard. I can't wait to hear what Chris Rosebrough has to say about this.
By the way, men, if your pastor has recently used the line: "come on men, 'man up' and start tithing and supporting your church", chances are they got it from Ed Young. He started this sermon by appealing to the men to be spiritual leaders, and wrapped it up by insinuating that if you aren't forking over 10% of your income to his church you aren't a real man and you're under a curse, and it's no wonder your marriage is lousy and your career is on the shaky ground. According to Ed, you can't possibly be blessed by God if you don't tithe.
He even said if you aren't tithing, why bother coming to church, you should just stay home, play golf, and not waste his (Ed's) or God's time. Even said if you're sitting next to a non-tither, watch your wallet because that person is a robber. These pastors can't help but accuse their own church members of being criminals if they don't fork over the dough. It is sickening.
I would submit to the men of Fellowship Church: if you want to be a man, a spiritual leader in your home, then "man up", admit to your family that Ed Young is a false teacher, and that you're sorry you have been subjecting your family to his false teaching. Stop letting your family see you drinking the Ed Young Kool-Aid. You're setting your kids up to follow in your footsteps and be duped by some guy holding a bible that wants to get his greedy hands on their bank account.
But Ed saved the best for last. He made every person pick up a tithing commitment card, and he told them to put their routing number and bank account number on it, and commit to giving 10% of their gross income. Ed said some of them would become very wealthy as a result, because "God will get it to ya, if he can get it through ya." As shown in the photo above, Ed even showed a picture of a check, and where you can find your routing number and account number.
Wow. Imagine giving a mega church access to your checking account. I thought at first maybe I was watching a Saturday Night Live skit - the preacher collecting the bank account access numbers. Maybe next year Ed is going to ask for their ATM card to be put in their tithing envelope, along with the PIN.
FC church member, if you did give this information to Ed on 10/10/10, I hope and pray that you have, or will, write the church office and retract your permission to have access to your checking account. This is not good for you, and it is not good for your church.
This is greed, pure and simple. Ed Young wants you to trust God with your finances, but he doesn't want to trust God that enough money will be collected each Sunday. He doesn't trust you, so he wants to get DIRECT access to your funds.
Tell Ed that you will give him access to your checking account, the day your employer gives YOU access to the company checking account for YOU to get access to your salary directly. No, it doesn't work that way. You trust your employer to give you the money when it is due you. It is that simple. If you want to automate the giving process, you can set up through your bank for online payments to go to the church. There is absolutely no reason to give your bank account info to your church. I can't believe a church would ever want to do that. But maybe Ed will start a trend, and the SBC can have Dave Ramsey add this to his stewardship pitch.
But hey, perhaps Ed's bible says "It is more blessed to give your account number, than it is to receive." - it could be in the Greek.