Posted on 02/12/2007 7:08:10 AM PST by Rakkasan1
Pastor Mac Hammond's congregation at Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park reacted strongly Sunday to his appearance in the wake of a watchdog's group complaint to the Internal Revenue Service that he violated federal tax law and a front-page Star Tribune article examining his financial dealings: Worshipers gave him a prolonged, cheer-laced standing ovation.
"Y'all better sit down; I'll get too choked up to minister," drawled Hammond, 63, pastor of the nondenominational megachurch, which has almost 10,000 members. He called questions about his financial dealings "a misunderstanding" of his prosperity-gospel ministry, which holds that following God's word leads to spiritual and economic bounty.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
"He said he buys expensive clothes because "if I look decent, I preach better, so I'm really doing it for you, amen.""
No...."I'm really doing it TO you, Amen" Screwing you in the name of the Lord!
This is what we Christians will be measured against whenever it is convenient to the Godless left....
Militant
If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.(emphasis added)
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
1st Timothy 6:3-11, NIV
How does one refute this teaching? Also, someone please point to one follower of The Way that became wealthy because of his/her salvation in the NT.
Only an American idiot can believe in the prosperity Gospel. Sheesh.
It is not my doctrine. It is a benefit of believing that Jesus died on the cross according to the scripture. That he was buried and that he rose again the third day. Other benefits include healing and divine righteousness.
Think about Abraham, Jacob, Job, David, were they rich? Job was very wealthy and it was God hedging him about that got him those riches. Without Gods hedge the Devil destroyed not only the wealth but his family too. When God restored that hedge, after he prayed for his religious friends, Job got it all back.
Re read my post again and consider if I said anything out of line with scripture. I said that as your soul prospers your prosperity will come. Money is not the root of all evil, the love of money is. Riches do not hinder you from entering into the kingdom, trusting in them does.
Not saying the pastor wasn't wrong. Just questioning the "mega" descriptive as though it was either accurate or distinguishing.
These are the words of God written in my heart on tables of flesh and not tables of stone like your ten commandments. Look it up. Make an effort. Do you have a concordance of any kind?
an interesting point...one that did not elude me. Nice photo.
Well I do not know what "the prosperity gospel" is but I do not deny that prosperity is a direct result of believing the Gospel of Jesus.
God was angry with Job's friends because they preached exactly what you do. They told Job that if he were truly righteous then he would be prospering. They told Job to repent of his sins. Job was not guilty, as he insisted. His friends took your argument: he had to be guilty of something, or else he'd be prospering. Job suffered despite his righteousness. Jesus, the most righteous of all, suffered the most. There is no correlation between righteousness and material wealth. That is one of the purposes of Job: bad things happen to good people. Your doctrine is evil.
There is no correlation between righteousness and material wealth. That is one of the purposes of Job: bad things happen to good people.
There is no such thing as a good person, for starters, or do you ignore the fact that Jesus said there is none righteous but the Father, not even him while he was sinful flesh.
I already said that gain is not godliness and neither is poverty.
One question. Did the devastation that hit Job come from God or Satan?
Will you pass on healing too?
Thank you, thank you, thank you!(Ignore my thread-bare suit, please. Can't have the preacher looking bad now, here is another dollar!) 14 posted on 02/12/2007 8:06:38 AM PST by rawhide He also thake their money so they won't have to worry about how to spend it. What a compasionate, caring individual fellow this guy is, always looking out for the other guy. Never himself.
Will you pass on healing too?
That all depends who the Doctor is..
Since you seem to be unable to post Chapter
and Verse,
Why don't you post your bank statements,
check stubs and IRS returns for the last 3 years
and let everyone see how the prosperity gospel works?
Like Creflo Dollar preaches: "You can listen to theologians--or listen to the Word of God. I'll choose the Word."
Wow . I'm sort of suprised at this type of response from freepers. Fleecing the flock ? Are you insane? Mac is one of us and has helped countless thousands of people be closer to the lord (me included) and started the church with nothing ...absolutely nothing.
Sure is a lot of stone throwing going on in here.
I for one am thankful for this man and the awesome success's he and this church have bestowed upon my community and my family...not to mention the world.
Without him and this church, my kids wouldn't be getting a proper education. Without him and this church, thousands of young people would be roaming the streets of Minneapolis on the weekends instead of enjoying the largest nightclub in the city ...which is all Christian based. Endless good things come from this church including the support of other ministries and charities world-wide. (how much money did your church give to charity last year ? well ? )
So tell me friends, how much money do you think you should make if you were the head of a 34 million dollar company ? Do you think you might live in a house worth about 500K ? Do you think your wife might drive a 40K Lexus SUV ? Well? You think you might have a sportscar yourself and maybe a couple motorcycles ? You don't think you'd be threading your salary through every tax loophole you could ? Don't be stupid ! Why shouldn't he take every tax advantage he can ? Is he somehow not entitled to the same tax rights as you or I? Well ?
Couple things should be cleared up here. The star tribune is inaccurate and liberally biased. (everyone around here knows that) They missed several of his holdings to which he explained on Sunday and were also inaccurate about others. They said he had two condos in Florida. (wow ..shocking.. so do about a million other minnesotans) They were wrong. He owns two HOUSES in Florida. Don't you all own real estate? Pretty wise investment. I guess pastors aren't entitled to protect their salaries...I guess they are supposed to piss them away on over paying taxes and giving the rest away. (?)
Those of you throwing stones at this man are receiving the wrong message. Mac teaches there are no "get rich quick" schemes. That you must live by the word to find *any* increase in your life that is worthy of the lord.
These are called blessings and you must work for them ... increase doesn't neccesarily mean money.
No I'm not wealthy, and I'm not planning on getting rich. I do however find myself becoming more and more blessed in my life the more I adhere to the word and reflect upon the words of my pastor.
You sceptics have got this man wrong. I invite you to call the church and ask for a free DVD of last Sundays service.
Give him a chance to tell you about the good things this Christian body of believers has done for themselves and the world around them.
..and for Gods sake stop throwing rocks at a good man when he's being challenged.
One more thing in case you think I'm kissing his rear-end. Mac Hammond is not the type of pastor I always see eye to eye with...and he knows that of people. Yet somehow he has enough repect and common courtesy to treat everyone as an individual who answers only to themselves and the lord...not to the church and not to him. I'm not a regular church goer myself for some of these types of reasons, but even I am not about to insult and cut down one of the strongest bodies of conservatives and christians in this filthy secular sea of liberalism known as Minneapolis.
Some of you owe the man an apology...those of you who think otherwise probably aren't church goers anyway and may even think your a better Christian going it alone.
I'm here to tell you're wrong. Thanks for letting me vent ;)
THANK YOU FOR A VERY WELL THOUGHT OUT and articulate response. You have made some very good points which I will take into consideration. I appreciate your response.
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