Obviously we cannot codify that nor should we. Even the Son of Man had no place to lay his head. Yet wealth was not unknown even among the first century church (though it was rare).
So yeah, it works that way.
The Apostles and early Christians were of far more value in the eternal sense than the Roman generals.
And Graham's "wealth" isn't, in the big picture of his ministry, that ostentatious.
Elsewhere in this thread I offered a comparison of the pay of FG in light of the contributions he is able to garner on behalf of the ministry. To wit, his recompense is decided by a committee of men. At .15% and .30% respectively, Graham is receiving a pittance comparatively speaking. Neither YOU nor I would take a job with that much responsibility for that little consideration.
Admittedly, I don't know what a four star general is paid--maybe even a lower amount, but his pay is determined via the law (unlike Graham's), so anyone wanting to achieve that level of leadership knows the score going into the job. So their choice and the "rewards" are known before hand.
< /As I See it>
“Neither YOU nor I would take a job with that much responsibility for that little consideration.”
I have. An officer in combat operations has more than enough responsibility - but I didn’t do it for the pay. I needed to be paid something, but how much do you pay someone to volunteer to go get shot at?
A 4-star general, such as the senior ranking officer in the Army, makes about $185,000/year in base pay. With other perks, they probably have a ‘package’ worth around $250K.
The Lt Col who commands a battalion or a fighter squadron makes around 80-100K. For a number of years, I spent about 6 months/year in either Saudi Arabia or Turkey. I was an O-3, so I was making less - not sure what it was. But I lived in a tent, ate in a chow hall, often started my day at 1 AM, flew over Iraq and sometimes got shot at...and I wasn’t getting paid enough to do that. Not for cash.
But it was my profession - my love and my pride. I did it because I believed in it. When Graham takes my money, which I have a lot less of than he does, and gives himself a salary 10 times greater than anything I ever saw...what is he doing it for? If I could get shot at for 50K, why can’t he preach and help the poor for something a little less astronomical?