Pastors, Please Read This: Don't Do This to Your Families in Your Congregation....

I know, another tithing post from the Watchdog.

Please bear with me, I'll try to be as brief as I can.

I'm trying to help here.

Pastors, please don't abuse your church members by ever insinuating that God is harming a Christian's family or their children because they are not "bringing the tithe" to your church each week. I'm not sure what to call this when you do this: it is maybe spiritual/financial extortion, or maybe it is spiritual abuse. But it is lying. And it hurts families. It damages your families. And you need to stop it if you're doing it.

Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about, so you know never to do this.

I'm going to use Tim Maynard, the pastor of Fruit Cove Baptist Church here in Jacksonville as my example. Tim is the elected president of the Florida Baptist State Convention. I have absolutely nothing against Tim Maynard or Fruit Cove Baptist. I have friends that go there, and I've never heard anything negative about the church or Tim Maynard. I've heard they are a very generous church and do a great deal of good in St. John's County.

But a member did alert me to this ridiculous tithing illustration/testimony/fable (take your pick, I'm not sure which one it is) that their pastor used very briefly this past Sunday, and once before in 2012.

Pastor Maynard spends his tithing sermon trying to convince his church members the standard "storehouse tithing" nonsense is true: Christians must give 10%, that none of the money they earn is theirs but it is all God's, that they must give it to the church because the church is the "storehouse", that they must tithe on the gross not the net, and that blessings or cursings of one's finances are dependent upon obedience to the tithe. Those are all lies and tall tales, but nothing out of the ordinary for pastors who push the tithing doctrine.

But my beef with Tim Maynard is how he closes out his sermon with this illustration/testimony/fable:

"There was a cattleman, he owned a lot of land in Montana, and thousands and thousands of head of cattle...he had been going to this pastor's church for a long time but had never given....he said 'I will be a tither in your church from now on.'

He said 'But pastor, would you do one thing for me? I have not spoken to my oldest son in ten years. Would you please pray that God would bring my son back to me, and back to himself before it's too late?'

The next Sunday, the rancher did as he promised. He tithed. He put the money in. It's hard. A big check. It's hard. The middle of the next week, the rancher got a phone call. The first time in ten years he heard from his son. His son said 'Dad, I'm broke, I've been wrong, and I want to know if it's OK that I come home. And I want to give my life back to God.'

Now here's the story folks: you can say 'what a great coincidence'. Maybe. Or maybe God was waiting for this man to fix this part of his life, before the other blessings started to flow.

The promise in God's word is if you will put God first in this, he will bless your work, he's going to bless the investments you make, he's going to teach you the joy in giving."

Pastor Maynard is actually telling his people that the God he serves is a God who would actually harm this man's son and his relationship with his dad - that God COULD HAVE gotten his son back to him, but God was NOT going to do that until the man started forking over 10% of his fortune.

He actually says it: God was "waiting for this man to fix this part of his life"....before he would help the man restore his son to well-being.

This hurts families. If what Maynard says is true - and it is not, it is complete hogwash - but if the religious faithful in his congregation believe it, then here's what might happen:

1. What about that family that has a son or daughter with autism and they are suffering over the lack of development in their son? Perhaps God COULD help their son, but God WON'T help their son. Maybe God is sandbagging, waiting for them to get some area of their life right. Maybe they aren't tithing. Maybe they don't pray enough. Maybe they don't serve enough. If they would only perform to some level - the 10% financial level according to Maynard - THEN maybe God would help them.

2. Or, perhaps Pastor Maynard's closing story opens the door now for one of the family members to play the blame game. If what their pastor says is true, maybe the reason their son is on drugs, or their daughter was maimed in a terrible accident, or their son is now an atheist - it was the dad's fault. If only the dad had given more, or read his bible more, or had prayed more, or had stronger faith, or hadn't criticized the pastor's sermon - then maybe God WOULD have intervened and fixed things before they went awry in the family. Way to go, dad. You blew it. God has been waiting for you to fix your life; you didn't; now you're to blame.

I'll be optimistic and say most pew sitters know just to roll their eyes when Pastor Maynard tells the story, and smart enough to not fall prey to either of the above logical extensions from Maynard's tale. But some WILL. And it will harm their family. And sadly, all in an attempt to get people to believe the false notion that a tithe is required.

So Pastor Maynard, please don't do this anymore. I would hope that you would altogether stop the storehouse tithing nonsense and preach what the New Testament says: give according to the dictates of your heart, and be generous, and be happy about it. THAT will get the job done at your church.

But pastor, if you can't get away from preaching the storehouse tithe, at least stop harming families by painting a picture of God as a holy extortionist who will only come to your aid in your family's troubles if you fork over 10%.

And other pastors, please learn from this. Don't do THIS.

Thanks for reading.

Perry Noble to Non-Tithers: Don't Be Like Judas, and Betray Jesus Over Tithe Money or Your "Land" Will be Cursed!!

Once again, Perry Noble comes up with a way to use the bible he professes to believe to extract more money from his congregation. It is a fable involving a piece of land in Israel, your pocketbook, a house maybe once owned by Caiaphus, and Judas, the betrayer of Jesus - and I think you see where this is going.

Yes, Perry drew a parallel between those greedy non-tithers in his church - and Judas, the greedy guy who sold Jesus for some, well, tithe money. But Perry did it in a way to offer what he called "proof" that your finances will be cursed if you don't tithe.

And you have to have the intelligence of a 5-year old who believes in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and Frosty the Snowman to even begin to believe the hogwash put forth from Perry Noble on this one.

Perry starts his hocus pocus by saying:

"When it comes to your finances, they are either blessed by God, or cursed by God, there is no middle ground..."

OK, nothing new there. But then, Perry tells his peeps about his latest trip to Israel (and gets a plug in for his NEXT trip) and says he visited a place called "Caiaphus' house". There is an achaelogical location in Jerusalem that tradition says may have been the home of the high priest Caiphus where Jesus was brought before he was crucified - as explained in Matthew 26:57. It is not fact, just tradition, no one really knows.

But then Perry says he noticed an "undeveloped" piece of land next to Caiaphus' house, and he asks his tour guide why the land is undeveloped, while houses and structures are built around it. Perry explains the answer he received from his tour guide:

"And [the tour guide] said 'That is the piece of land that was bought with the money that was given to Judas when he betrayed Jesus. It is cursed land. Christians will not build on it. Jews will not build on it. Muslims will not build on it. It...is...cursed."

Time out. Perry is pulling a fast one on his peeps. That "undeveloped land" he shows on the screen is "Potter's Field". It is NOT cursed. It is an archaeological site. Its lack of development is NOT because Jews, Christians, and Muslims think it is cursed. Perry might think it is cursed, but the lack of development is because it is an archaeological site. It was also a burial site. It was a place where clay was mined.

But Perry takes his deception even further, using it to guilt his non-tithers, comparing them with Judas.

"I started thinking about this: Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. He got the money to betray Jesus from who? The High Priest. Where did the High Priest get the money? The temple treasury. How did money get into the temple treasury? The tithe. Technically, Judas betrayed Jesus for tithe money."

Oh it gets better. Forget that the story of Judas' death and his giving back the money to the priests who then maybe bought a tract of land with the "blood money" is one of the more confusing and disputed stories of the New Testament. No, Perry now says that his fable is "2000 years of proof" that non-tithers are cursed!

"And for people to believe that the tithe is an Old Testament concept that was done away with in the New Testament...this is a picture 2000 years of proof that when we betray Jesus for money the ground, what we have, is cursed."

I don't know what else to say, than to say to the people of NewSpring Church: the only "proof" that Perry's story offers is proof that your pastor has no respect for you and your intelligence, and he doesn't give a whit about the potential harm his fables will do to your kids' faith when they finally realize their pastor chose to tell fables in church to get more of their parents' money.

Actually, I do have something else to say about Judas and the tithe money. Let's follow Perry's logic on the tithe money, but in today's terms:

In Perry's church and other mega churches today: who are the only people getting "tithe money" from the "temple treasury"? Why, it is Perry himself and other professional religious men like him. Where did Perry get his six-figure salary? From the temple treasury at NewSpring. How did the money get into the temple treasury? From the tithe.

Technically, Perry, YOU are the one taking tithe money every week from the temple treasury, not the people at your church who might be giving less than 10%! They are GIVERS...you are a TAKER!

And all you do to earn your money, Perry, is stand up and tell fables in an attempt to re-fill the treasury.

Perhaps it is Perry's ground that is cursed. He is the one that is taking money from the temple treasury.

Just like Judas did.

Ooops!! Perry Noble's Tithing Gimmick Ends Up Cursing His Congregation!

Perry Noble of NewSpring Church once again came up with a new gimmick to try to manipulate - er, I mean teach - his people to tithe. This past Sunday Perry gave everyone who came into the auditorium what he called a "dime bag"...a bag that contained a dollar and a dime.

So Perry gave everyone $1.10 in a plastic bag.

Then after he told them that if they truly love God they will tithe - Perry invited them all to demonstrate their committment to tithe by tithing on the $1.10 given to them, and dropping the dime in a bucket and keeping the dollar bill.

But there is one problem: that dime did not represent a tithe.

You see, if I give you $1.10, and you only return ten cents back to me, you are short of the 10% tithe. You would have to return to me 11 cents to give me a tithe of the $1.10.

Giving $0.10 on a $1.10 gift is only a 9.1% return - thus you have robbed God, and have brought cursings upon yourself. So says Perry, right?

So Perry, the church members who dropped the dime in the bucket were actually demonstrating their willingness to rob God and be cursed. And they didn't even know it - you misled them into disobeying God, and have subjected them to the cursings of God.

You think I'm being silly?

No more silly than Perry claiming that non-tithers are robbing God and inviting God's cursings. After all if what Perry preaches on the tithe is actually true - then indeed these people who only returned 9.1% on a $1 gift all robbed God when they thought they were obeying.

In other words, once again, Perry misled his people about the tithe.

Ronnie Floyd Tells His Non-Tithing Church Members: You and I Don't Know the Same God

It never ceases to amaze me the depths that some "men of God" will go to try to manipulate their own church members into forking over 10% of their income. They will stop at nothing.

Case in point is Ronnie Floyd, lead pastor of the SBC church called Cross Church, from this past Sunday. In a sermon that closely resembled the worst of Ed Young's and Robert Morris' tithing masterpieces, Floyd asked his church members:

"You gonna go 'clucking' around here talkin' about how you got saved and changed and goin' to heaven when you die and you won't even trust God financially? Lord help ya. That's not the same God I know."

You know what, it finally hit me after watching Ronnie "Max Headroom" Floyd strut around for 45 minutes popping off with lies and fables about tithing and blessings and curses and God magically filling "buckets" - and then to hear him sum it up with that humdinger above - I finally got it:

Ronnie is 100% correct. He and I don't know the same God.

Not even close.

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If you can stomach it, here is the WD's 2 minute video clip and commentary.
  

Or, take the "Watchdog 2-Minute Challenge": below is the entire 45 minute sermon. Go to any random spot in the sermon, listen for 2-minutes, and see if you hear anything that is true, or anything that if the hearer believed it and acted on it would be helpful and not harmful. If you do, let me know, and I'll pray and God will fill your bucket.

More Caner Fibs: Caner is "One of the Finest and Foremost" Preachers in America - And He Speaks to 120,000 Students Every Year!!!

Readers - this is an example of how you can't always trust what your pastor says about the visiting preacher. Men of God are still telling fibs about Ergun Caner, furthering the "Ergun Caner mystique" as Brett Shipp called it.

Case in point: Ergun Caner preached this past Sunday, 1/26, at Maysville Baptist Church in Maysville, Georgia.

Here is what the church's interim pastor, Dr. Gerald Harris, told his congregation on 1/19, the Sunday before the "wonderful" Dr. Ergun Caner was coming:

"Next Sunday, I will not be able to be here, but I have conscripted one of the finest preachers in all of America to be here. And I'm not blowing smoke. Now he's a little weird but he is absolutely wonderful. Dr. Ergun Caner is the new president to of one of Georgia Baptist Colleges, Brewton Parker College. And he is really one of the foremost preachers in America, he speaks to about 120,000 students every year. But he also appeals to adults as well. So I want you to come, I want you to bring somebody with you. I want you to get as many high school and middle school students to come next Sunday because I am convinced it will be an incredible service."

It is bad enough that preachers bring Ergun Caner into their church, but how derelict do they have to be to purposely expose Caner to their most vulnerable and gullible members, their young skulls of mush? Yep, the kiddos will love the stories Caner tells. Maybe Can can get them to laugh at his ethnic jokes about Mexicans and blacks.  Too bad that some of these kids will have to go through the pain of learning the truth on their own about Caner - and they'll probably wonder why their pastor, the Good Doctor Gerald Harris, purposely brought him in to their church.

Perhaps Georgia Baptists expect a bit more accuracy from Gerald Harris, given that he is the editor of the "Christian Index", the state paper of the Georgia Baptist Convention.

This is just the beginning of course, as Georgia Baptist pastors will be pushing and marketing Caner to their congregations - especially the high schoolers and middle schoolers and their parents - to entice them to follow the bold and brash "olive-skinned Turk" down to Brewton-Parker to somehow save the struggling college.

Are people in Georgia really that stupid - that they can be told that Caner is one of the "finest  [and foremost] preachers in all of America"?

And one last question: where are these 120,000 students he is speaking to every year? That would mean he has to average about 2300 students per week.

Where did Doctor Harris get this number? Maybe from one of the new BP Cabinet appointees?