Posted on 08/02/2017 6:57:04 AM PDT by metmom
“But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content” (1 Timothy 6:6-8).
Believers should not have a self-centered preoccupation with money.
With all the attention modern society gives to money, what it can buy, and the dividends it can earn, Christians are continually challenged to view it properly. But Scripture provides us with much help and guidance in this area. It is replete with warnings and admonitions about how we are to act and think concerning money and wealth.
There are at least eight basic, biblical guidelines that when believed and followed will give us a God-centered view of money. First, having money in itself is not wrong (1 Sam. 2:7). Second, we ought to recognize that money is a gift from God and comes to us through His providence (Deut. 8:11-18). Third, we must be willing to lose our money, if that’s God’s will for us. Job said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (1:21). Fourth, we must not be partial toward those who have lots of money (James 2:1-10). Fifth, we must not arrogantly seek security from money (Prov. 11:28; 1 Tim. 6:17). Sixth, money-making pursuits should never be our highest priorities in life (Matt. 6:33). Seventh, we ought to use money for eternal purposes, namely, leading others to the Lord (Luke 16:9). Finally, we must not selfishly hoard or foolishly spend money. On the contrary, true generosity should characterize every believer (Prov. 11:24-25; Luke 6:38).
Just like a firearm, money can be used for good purposes and evil purposes, which means there is nothing inherently wrong with it. Therefore, the real issue does not concern money itself, but what our attitude is toward it. The Lord wants us to view money as He did and be content with what we have.
Suggestions for Prayer
Confess your sinful attitude in one or more of the eight areas mentioned today. Pray that God would replace those sinful attitudes toward money with His righteous attitudes.
For Further Study
Read Deuteronomy 8:11-18.
What divine favors does God remind the Israelites of? What sin is sure to befall any believer who forgets that God is the One who makes wealth possible?
Studying God’s Word ping
Studying God’s Word ping
Yet, the Catholic Church is perhaps the wealthiest organization on the planet, coveting money above all else with tithing upwards of 30%.
I'm a former Catholic and I never heard of anyone tithing anything in the RCC. And certainly not 30%. I was a head usher for years, we took up the collection, and the most frequently offered bill, by those who didn't use envelopes, was a one dollar bill.
And yet prosperity gospel preachers are castigated.
And rightly so, but ALL should be held to the same standard.
“And yet prosperity gospel preachers are castigated.”
Churches just hate the competition.
My God doesn’t need a $10 million church building.
Well...I was doing sorta ok until #5 and then I just fell all apart....sigh...Trust, Faith, charity, and a simpler life.
To say nothing of John MacArthur himself!
Now head on over to Warhorn Media to listen to Episode 1!
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Post on John MacArthur’s money: answering objections...
by Tim Bayly on February 24, 2014 - 1:35pm
Back on January 30th, we ran a post updating readers on the latest IRS Forms 990 filed by John MacArthur’s non-profit companies and what they show about his annual income. Since the post, several commenters have questioned whether MacArthur really had any say over his study notes being packaged with the neutered New International Version, whether we’re saying MacArthur’s income is sinful; and if so, what specific sin we’re accusing him of? Here are some responses to those questions and challenges:
Brothers,
I’ve been out of the loop for a while. I appreciate others who have responded to some of the more recent objections to this post. Now, a couple responses of my own.
First, John MacArthur himself had absolute control over whether or not to package and sell his MacArthur Study Bible notes with the neutered Bible now sold under the name New International Version. It was his decision and he alone is the man who could have stopped it. His elders board did not make the decision. Zondervan doesn’t control MacArthur’s study notes. John MacArthur controls John MacArthur’s study notes. This is how publishing works.
John decided he didn’t want to lose out on one of the largest Bible markets in the English-speaking world, so after negotiating royalties (which unlike John Piper’s royalties, remain a secret), he signed an agreement with Zondervan to sell his own study notes in the text of a Bible that everyone knows has gagged God’s words for the sake of pacifying the feminists.
There’s no debating these simple facts. Readers may differ concerning the reason MacArthur did this, but it’s certain he made the decision to sell the neutered Bible he had previously opposed because of its unfaithfulness to the text of Scripture.
Second, the Bible commands us to exclude men from ministry who are greedy:
It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. (1Timothy 3:1-7)
Each prohibition above must be discussed in connection with pastors and elders. We must make a sincere effort to judge whether Tim Bayly is greedy or not? Pugnacious or not? Controls his household well or not? Hospitable or not? Gentle or not? And so on.
Normally, these discussions happen in session meetings prior to the nomination of a certain man for the office of pastor or elder. Over the years, though, these criteria need to continue to be applied. A man who is gentle may be elected an elder but, after many years of faithful service, he may become violent. A man who, when elected an elder, does not love alcohol may, after many years, become enslaved by alcohol. A man who starts out poor and humble and not loving money may, after many years of faithful service, become rich and proud and greedy. Evaluation of pastors and elders is not a once-and-done.
Most commonly, these evaluations are done by fellow elders and the moderator of the elders board. Healthy elders boards exhort and rebuke and admonish one another all the time, although it happens in the context of their work and thus is not as embarrassing as when the man is vetted originally for possible election to the session.
But what about a super-rich and super-famous man whose living mostly comes from selling his work to others outside his church under the claim that it’s a non-profit work?
That man functions as a bishop or archbishop or cardinal or pope over many outside his geographical area and thus he is accountable to other pastors and elders outside his own geographical area. He is teaching and preaching our flocks and our flocks pay him for his teaching and preaching. The national source of their non-profit’s profit is the reason our IRS requires these men to divulge whether they fly first class (MacArthur does) and whether they have their own relatives on their governance boards (MacArthur does) and whether their organization pays a relative money as a business transaction (MacArthur pays his son-in-law $650,000 per year for video work) and how much they get paid by their non-profit ministry (MacArthur’s non-profits pay him just about $500,000 per year, and this amount doesn’t include his church pay or royalties).
My father-in-law had books providing royalties that dwarf John MacArthur’s books and royalties, plus he and his wife owned Tyndale House Publishers. Yet Ken Taylor was never accused of being greedy. He gave all his money away and everyone knew it because everyone was the recipient of his gifts. Tyndale House’s 990s are there for all the world to see and they could not possibly be more different from John MacArthur’s. John Piper’s 990s are there for all the world to see and they could not be more different from John MacArthur’s. (And yes, I’m aware John Piper would ask me not to make this comparison.)
It seems beyond argument that John MacArthur’s annual income from peddling God’s Word is something around $1,000,000 per year. His organizations and his personal contracts with publishing companies pay him this money. It’s my conviction this is good evidence of the love of money and MacArthur’s boards and elders should admonish him and appoint a blue-ribbon committee to take over control of his organizations and royalties, scale his income back to around $200,000, do open bidding on his organization’s video work, and stop paying for his first class tickets.
John MacArthur’s accountability is as wide as the scope of the sales of his epistles.
Silly. Catholics do not tithe. And the Church’’s wealth is from the oldest and biggest Christian Church in history.
———with tithing upwards of 30%.
You might want to look up the definition of “tithing”
.
If the Catholic Church is “wealthy” it is simply because it is an organization that has grown and survived 2000 years and anything you own over time tends to increase in value.
In my town, where the Church is closing down parishes, they will sell the occasional valuable downtown property, acquired 100 or 150 years ago, to cover their inevitable deficits elsewhere.
The US Episcopal Church is an even a greater example. Being the faith of America’s former elites, it owns some fantastic properties in places like Manhattan, downtown Boston, etc... As the church itself crumbles due to infestation from post-modernism and cultural marxism, it is also bankrupting itself.
Thus, the “wealth” of anyone or anything is simply a function of the strength of their faith.
Actually, you might want to.
“Catholics do not tithe.”
Yes, they do. Well, they’re supposed to.
“If the Catholic Church is “wealthy” it is simply because it is an organization that has grown and survived 2000 years and anything you own over time tends to increase in value.”
That’s a for-profit organization.. The church Catholic is supposed to be helping the poor with that money, not hoarding it.
In my community, as I mentioned, our Catholic diocese is constantly in deficit. They do not, nor have they ever, earned a "profit" and there is no hoarding taking place. They have a budget of tens of millions of dollars - running schools, hospitals, drug-rehab programs, elderly outreach, etc... I would call this "helping the poor." They cover it by many methods, donations, grants, fund-raising - which is rarely enough. So as I mentioned, they occasionally sell off a valuable property to plug the leaks
by any secular business valuation method, they are in terrible shape. No guaranteed revenue, high debts, many unproductive declining assets and buildings, no specific long-term plan for increasing market share. High liability on the behavior of a few of its members, etc... Their net assets simply are a few more valued properties obtained long ago. Some may still consider that "wealthy" - I certainly do not.
“running schools”
Catholic schools are just as expensive as much as some private schools. Nice try.
The Catholic Church is every bit as much a business as any other business.
I have intimate experience with Catholic Schools. Our diocesan school K-8 grade charged <$2000 per year, until it was closed down a few years ago. Not even close to local private school costs. If a family was truly poor, but part of the diocese, we would figure out a way to charge them nothing. The teachers made about 60-70% of what public school teachers did, with worse benefits. They did it because they wanted to teach Catholic children at a Catholic school.
You may refer to certain top-level Catholic High Schools, which may charge $12-14K per year. These are not diocesan-run schools. The Bishop has teaching authority over them, but they are run by particular orders, such as Jesuits or Christian Brothers. They have to make it on their own and with help of alumni. They are not profit making enterprises.
Where do you get your info from?
“Where do you get your info from? “
Reality. You seem to cherry pick what you want to report.
Let’s play the “help the poor”. I’ve seen Catholic churches refuse to help anyone not a member of the church; poor be damned. Need have been a paying member.
As you can tell, I am completely against organized religion. Profit and power is always the motive.
I couldn't tell your position in particular. I thought you just had an axe to grind against the Catholic Church in particular.
Fair enough with your comment. Yes, politics, lust and greed seep into every human organization. No doubt about that. I would simply say - focus on the good people, of whom there are many, who try to serve Christ in their daily work. And confront these organizational evils wherever they arise.
One emphasis of the Catholic Church is "subsidiarity" - which means giving power, and responsibility, to the lowest levels possible within the Church. While limited doctrinal authority may come from the Vatican and the Magisterium, Catholic diocese are otherwise nearly fully independent. In general it allows for greater democracy, responsibility and flexibility in governance of the local Church, as well promoting long-term stability. The idea of dispersed power also work for government as well, which is why I am a conservative.
Anyway - God bless.
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