Thieves in the Church

 

Important disclaimer: Back in the introduction to these stories I wrote the following: and if I chose to write about negative experiences as well, my purpose would be to make folks think, not to expose someone as a cheat, a liar, or a hypocrite (even if they are).  The following story does focus on negative experiences that we have had however I will not name names, churches or even specific states.  The object here is educational not singling people out as the snakes thieves and liars that they may be.  So read on at your own risk.

 

In John 2 we find Jesus in the beginning of his earthly ministry.  After He turns the water into wine at the wedding feast  we find the following in verses 12-16 “After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days. And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to

Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.”

 

Then in Matthew 21 we find Jesus at the end of His earthly ministry (just 3 years later)  and he needed to do the same thing in the temple.  Verses 12 & 13 record the following “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”

 

Here getting close to 2,000 years later, the temple is in need of cleansing again.  We have had a variety of experiences that would fall into this category.  I guess I will break them down into a few subtopics.  Remember if you see a story that you see yourself in, don’t get mad just get right.

 

The Check is in The Mail

There are basically two ways that this will manifest itself.  One is “Our treasurer is not here tonight/this week we will have to mail you a check”   Being human and realizing that things come up I understand the premise and how this can happen.  I am surprised how often it has happened to us over the years.  One thing people need to realize is that often itinerant preachers count on the love offering from one meeting to get to the next meeting.  I know that when we were first starting out this was about always the case and after a decade it is still true more often than I may want to admit.  All of that being said the problem here is that more often than not “our treasurer is not here”  is pastor or deaconeze  for “We are not going to give you anything for being with us.” I say that because in all the times this has come up in our ministry perhaps once have I ever gotten a check after the fact.  Perhaps the treasurer never did come back?  I don’t know.

 

The other way this manifests itself has to do with the book table.  Not to often but on occasion someone will come up to us during a meeting and say “I get paid next______ could I get this stuff off your table and mail you a check?”  The answer is always yes with us because the whole reason behind the book table for us is to get the material out.  not to make money (which is why all 3 booklets that I am no longer printing, and all of our sermons on CD are available on our website for free) and on many occasions we have given things away off of the table.  But anyway here again, If I am not mistaken we have never received a check after the fact when someone said it would come.

 

Five Finger Discount

More times than I care to admit, people will walk off with stuff from the book table. Of late my kids have entered the bookmark business and have been selling bookmarks in our meetings.  These (perhaps because they are small and inexpensive) have an uncanny ability to disappear.

 

The most notable example of this type of thievery goes way back (remember, I couldn’t make this stuff if I wanted to) to when we were first getting started.  We were in a church on a Wednesday night and sat a table up.  My wife had recorded a singing tape (which has been unavailable for quite sometime) it was on the table with everything else.  Right before I got up to preach, as the pastor was introducing me, he pulled one of the tapes out of his pocket and said “everyone should buy one of these tapes, I stole mine but you folks should buy one” Perhaps because I was young and naïve I assumed he was kidding.  Once church was over and we were headed down the road (with the kids asleep in the back of the car) Carmen says “Did that pastor give you money for the tape?” I said “No, he didn’t give it to you?” She said “Nope”  and we both said “I guess he was serious about stealing it”

 

Please don’t misunderstand me  I am not griping about the money, God takes pretty good care of us and a few dollars here and there will not wipe us out.  It is far deeper than that it is about character, honesty and integrity and allowing the world to rightly claim “The church is full of hypocrites”.

 

Everything Given in the Offering is Going to the Iseminger’s (or whoever)

Please read this section before you write me off as a money hungry preacher.  However you decide to take care of someone while they are with you is between you and God.  I would imagine we have been on the receiving end of about every way it can be done.  Some churches never take an offering, they have decided what they are going to do and do that.  Some churches take an offering and give you whatever comes in.  It seems that many of the churches we are with take an offering during the services and then add to what has come in (sometimes a considerable amount).  Some churches (but not to many) have taken offerings during every service without mentioning what they are doing and then give us  what seems to be a predetermined amount of money at the end of the  services,  this also is ok.

 

The one and only gripe I have in this department is the pastors deacons and song leaders (and you know who you are) who get up and state over and over again the above statement- “Everything given in the offering…”  and then don’t do what they said they would.  Please remember that when setting on the platform you usually have a pretty good view of what is happening weather you want to or not.   Also remember that while I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer I am smart enough to realize that two offering plates piled with bills equals more than $50.00 and the same thing for six days equals more than $200.00.  Please also realize that when you do this you are robbing me (or whoever) just as much as if you put a gun in my back.  It is just flat wrong.  If you need a down payment for a bus or a van or some repair money then raise it or pray it in or however but don’t raise it on the back of me or some other preacher who needs the love offering to feed his family and get down the road.

 

There are several other examples that I could give but I trust the point has been made.  The sad thing is that in many of these churches I have had members ask me something along the lines of “Why isn’t God blessing our church” The answer-it’s time to clean it again