Rich Churches

Originally posted by Rajk999
Where I live the rich Pentecostal pastor lives in a 10 bedroom house, has a BMW, a Subaru, a Toyota pick-up truck, goes on expensive holidays, while most the congregation live either below the poverty line or are humble farmers and govt workers.

In the US they drive private jets etc etc

The principle remains the same.

I have known pastors who worked another job, like everyone
else, to support himself because the members gave so little
that the offerings did not always cover the cost of the expense
of having the building to meet in. There were other pastor
who were forced to have meetings in their homes because they
could not afford the cost of renting a building. So there are
not all big mega-churches with wealthy pastors here in the USA.
But these poor preachers and pastors are not able to spread the
gospel message as easy as the rich churches can, nor can they
help the poor, since they are poor themselves. So we can't have
all the good without allowing for some bad along the way. Sorry,
that is just the way it is in today's world.

Originally posted by RJHinds
I have known pastors who worked another job, like everyone
else, to support himself because the members gave so little
that the offerings did not always cover the cost of the expense
of having the building to meet in. There were other pastor
who were forced to have meetings in their homes because they
could not afford the cost of renting a building. S ...[text shortened]... out allowing for some bad along the way. Sorry,
that is just the way it is in today's world.

Yep .. not sure Christ will be pleased though. Rich churches and greed wont go down well with him.

Originally posted by Rajk999
Yep .. not sure Christ will be pleased though. Rich churches and greed wont go down well with him.

Yes, I agee with that. But it is up to us to try to do what is right
by loving and helping those in need. If we can expose the greed
when we are sure it is there, maybe, we can have an effect on
changing things for the better.

Originally posted by RJHinds
Yes, I agee with that. But it is up to us to try to do what is right
by loving and helping those in need. If we can expose the greed
when we are sure it is there, maybe, we can have an effect on
changing things for the better.

I agree. But what about the question in the opening post. Should we avoid these religions?

Originally posted by Rajk999
I agree. But what about the question in the opening post. Should we avoid these religions?

I believe josephw answered that question very well when he said,
"It's the men of corrupt minds that we are to avoid, not rich churches."
If the right men are overseeing the rich churches, then great work
can be done in the authority of Jesus.

Originally posted by Rajk999
Yep .. not sure Christ will be pleased though. Rich churches and greed wont go down well with him.

I agree too
KJ

Originally posted by RJHinds
All organized religion requires money to operate in todays
society, especially here in the USA. But many of these
organized religions do good work with some of that money.
They help those in times of need both in my country and
in many other parts of the world. They use some of the
money to establish and operate satellite televison stations
to broadc ...[text shortened]... orst examples in the USA that you are referring to, so we
can all be aware of what to look for?

Do you get out much?

Originally posted by divegeester
Do you get out much?

What do you mean by that question? I don't understand in what
context you mean. Or maybe, I just don't understand what "get out"
means.

Originally posted by RJHinds
What do you mean by that question? I don't understand in what
context you mean. Or maybe, I just don't understand what "get out"
means.

You asked for "examples" in the US. To ask that question I have to assume you are bed-bound with no access to the outside world.

http://tinyurl.com/44w3pe4