After seeing the latest attack on the body of Christ, coming by way of the Senate Finance Committee investigating 6 major televangelists, I believe that the church better be prepared for just about anything these days. We are definitely moving into some dangerous waters when the govt. feels it has the liberty to call ministries into account for how they spend their money. Now, in a way, it makes sense that when you buy a 23,000 dollar marble top toilet with donor money that someone should look into what is going on but when any govt. entity feels compelled to police the church it is a dangerous sign. We already have the IRS breathing down every churches neck and this evidently is not enough.
I see the problem as 2 fold, you have on the one hand preachers who have lost touch with reality and are living life at a standard that is really beyond reason. On the other hand you have a secular society that is hungry for any argument against the church and is armed with information from religious spirits known as “watch dog groups”. Between these 2 things I believe it may not be long before we see the govt. stripping churches of their tax exempt status and bringing financial persecution to the church in a way that we cannot even imagine right now.
Of course, this may one day be necessary to wake up the slumbering, sin infested church and cause her to return to early church form. God forbid that we would need that kind of motivation to simply follow the NT and become light in the darkness for our troubled nation. So what is the answer? First, we need preachers with big budgets to return to reality by having some true accountability in their oversight and the body of Christ to rise up and quit supporting anyone without proper accountability (no matter how anointed they are!) and become a united voice to our nation and govt. saying we reject your talons from meddling in our business. Next thing you know they will be telling us we can’t send money overseas without being taxed!
I pray today that God would awaken His church to the seriousness of the hour and that the sleeping giant of govt. would not be unleashed to incorrectly manage and regulate the church. Seems like we left England to get away from that!???
2 Cor. 2:17- You see, we are not like those hucksters- and there are many of them- who preach just to make money. We preach God’s message with sincerity and with Christ’s authority. And we know that the God who sent us is watching us. (I am not accusing the 6 directly who are being investigated but think we should stay clear on the perspective of the Bible.)
Yes! Someone finally says it. Thank you for your boldness to speak out about what is happening these days in the government. It’s refreshing to see a Pastor who is willing to view things the way they really are.
This generation is poised to usher in the return of the King. In order to do that the house must be in order. Big ministries are needed to bring in a big harvest of souls. Not for the sake of numbers but for the sake of greater reach.
Let us pray that the spirit raises up BIG accountability and covenant friends (like your podcast) for very visible leaders as some of these are…lest they be victimized by our government and seen as frauds by those who so desperately need to hear the word spoken THRU them.
Michael Toering
Houston TX
Thank you, Joel!! Well said. I applaud Bethany and the Stockstill family for being leaders in the accountability department within the body of Christ. I received the brochure on the Remnant Conference…and it is exactly what we as pastors need.
God WILL prosper his people, but his people must remain committed to using everything towards establishing God’s kingdom, taking the Gospel to all nations and maintaining a great testimony with the unbelievers. Let them not find any spots or wrinkles on His bride!!!
I don’t necessarily see anything wrong with being accountable. Churches are tax-exempt and that status is given by the gov’t and it does look pretty bad when the leaders are living extravagant lifestyles while the majority of the donors are at or below average income.
This is a great time for the ministries to be transparent and show that they are handling God’s finances correctly.
Why should there be anything to hide?
From a spiritual standpoint… the Church (body of Christ) must endure through the harsh times. We know that we will suffer persecution, period. Let us rejoice in the fiery trials, and may we keep our eyes on our Lord Jesus… not the winds, waves, and circumstances, which are ultimately irrelevant.
From a legal standpoint… Yes, that is why we left England!
We agree with you 100% Pastor Joel. It is time for the Church to be “The Church”. This is God’s business and not our own. We are willing to stand strong on the truth no matter how many enemies we make! We are living to please God, not man!!! P.S. My $79 toilet works just fine!!!