PREACHERS AND MONEY

The Old Testament introduces us to Balaam, a Gentile prophet. I shall not take the time to review the life of this greedy prophet, but you can read it in Numbers 22-24. Both Peter and Jude mention Balaam in their discussions of unfaithful prophets. The apostle Peter accused him of loving the wages of unrighteousness (2 Pet. 2:15). Jude wrote concerning the false teachers: "Woe unto them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah" (Jude 11). In his letter to the church at Pergamos, Christ also mentioned Balaam. "But I have a few things against you, because you have there them who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication" (Rev. 2:14).

Balaam exemplified the temptations that confront many religious leaders in our nation. No, I do not have in mind whether preachers are underpaid or overpaid. I am speaking of preachers and other religious leaders who mishandle money. The apostle Paul was concerned that someone might accuse him of misusing money that had been given to help the poor saints in Jerusalem. He made sure there were enough honest people who would take care of the contributions. Titus was one of the men selected to take the money to the needy. Paul explained to the Corinthians: "And we have sent with him (Titus) the brother, whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches; and not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind: avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us: providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men" (2 Cor. 8:18-21). The English Standard Version renders verse 21: "For we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of men." As you can discern from this passage, it is not enough for a man to be honest in the sight of God. He must prove to his fellowmen that he is honest. Our lesson today has the title, "Preachers and Money."

Tragically, there are religious leaders and probably always have been whose interest is in the fleece—not the flock. Ezekiel had such men in mind. He calls them "shepherds." "Thus says the Lord God unto the shepherds; woe unto the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat, and you clothe yourselves with the wool, you kill them that are fed: but you feed not the flock" (Ezek. 34:2-3). The apostle Peter provides some insight into the motivation of false teachers. "And through covetousness shall they with feigned (or well-turned) words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not." Peter accused the false teachers of exercising "covetous practices" (2 Pet. 2:3, 14). Is Peter arguing that the false teachers, like the shepherds of Ezekiel's day, were more interested in what they could get for themselves rather than the service they could render to the cause of Christ?

Time magazine (February 26, 2007) published an article about religious leaders' misappropriation of church funds. One religious leader gave his girlfriend $134,000 and spent $275,000 on rare coins. He had also bought a $455,000 oceanfront condominium. All of this money came from funds that had been contributed by church members for the work of that church. Another religious leader was indicted for allegedly embezzling $600,000 from two churches. The article also reported that Jim Bakker once defrauded his followers of $158,000,000. Two religious leaders combined were accused of misusing more than $8 million over a period of forty-two years (pp. 46-47). If these were isolated incidents, it would be serious enough. But it happens in some religious communities on a regular basis.

Tragically many churches and parachurch groups are governed by one man. Jim Bakker organized and controlled the PTL club. Oh, he had a board of directors, but Jim Bakker made the decisions that controlled the money that people gave to his ministry. Millions of dollars were at his disposal and he apparently used the money as he pleased. When my wife and I lived in Memphis, Tennessee, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported that Jim and Tammy claimed to have given virtually every cent of their money to PTL. The reporter for the paper pointed out that the Bakkers had a $400,000 house in California and an expensive house in North Carolina. In addition, they owned a Mercedes Benz and Rolls Royce. It does not sound as if the Bakkers had taken a vow of poverty.

Of course, Jim went to prison for five years. After his release from a federal prison, he wrote a large book dealing with the mistakes he had made. His book has the title, I Was Wrong: The Untold Story of the Shocking Journey from PTL Power to Prison and Beyond (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996). Jim says that his previous view of prosperity was "fundamentally flawed." He denies that God has promised health and wealth to Christians (p. xiii of the Introduction). Jim affirms: "The mistakes I made are being perpetuated in ministries, churches, businesses, marriages and families" (p. xiv of the Introduction). Jim admits he was proud to be associated with what is known as the "prosperity gospel." He confesses that he had not studied the words of Jesus until he was in prison. He learned that the so-called "prosperity gospel" is the exact opposite of the gospel Jesus preached. He realized that he was helping to propagate a false gospel—not the true gospel of Christ (pp. 532-533).

The message Jim preached convinced him that the King's kids deserved health and wealth. Tragically, there are many television evangelists—both men and women—who preach the same false message, but they are not stealing from their ministries, so far as I know. Incidentally, Joyce Meyer boasted of owning a $10 million jet aircraft, a $100,000 Mercedes Benz automobile and a $2 million home. But we cannot blame the false gospel for Jim Bakker's theft of funds from PTL. He was simply greedy of gain. He had forgotten—or apparently never knew—what Jesus said about "the deceitfulness of riches" (Mt. 13:22). Paul told a young preacher: "But they who will be rich fall into a temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some have coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (1 Tim. 6:9-10). The Greek of verse 10 literally reads: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." How sad that a man who had preached for so many years did not know the message of this verse! Had he believed it, it could have saved him many heartaches, including spending five years in a federal prison.

My concern in our lesson today is to show how these tragedies can be avoided. The Lord ordained elders to oversee or shepherd the flock. The money we contribute to churches and to other worthwhile projects, such as, children's homes, radio and television ministries, does not belong to the men who administer those works. Elders should make sure the Lord's money is used wisely. There must always be safeguards when we are handling the Lord's money. Neither elders nor deacons nor preachers should think the money belongs to them and they can spend as they see fit. Money must be spent for the purpose for which it was given and elders must give an account of every penny the church receives.

So how does the International Gospel Hour operate from a financial viewpoint? If you listen to our announcer, Chuck Richardson, you notice that he always says: "The Gospel Hour is under the oversight of the elders of the West Fayetteville Church of Christ in Fayetteville, Tennessee." Our elders oversee the work we do on the International Gospel Hour. In fact, I would not have accepted the work of speaking on this international program had our elders not agreed to oversee the ministry or I would have moved to a church where the elders would accept that responsibility.

Dozens of churches and hundreds of individuals send contributions to the Gospel Hour. Daily I examine the contributions, but do not deposit the money. As the director of the program, I co-sign the checks that are sent out, but beyond that I have nothing to do with the money. I keep up with how much money we have in the bank and I know how every cent is spent. The Gospel Hour pays me a salary and reimburses me for the enormous amount of traveling I have to do. But other than that, I am not involved in handling the money so many people so graciously give to this ministry.

Did you know that the International Gospel Hour is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, radio ministry in the United States? V. E. Howard started the program in 1934 in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Brother Howard spoke on the program for sixty-one years. We are now in our seventy-third year of broadcasting the gospel. But not one time in these seventy-three years has anyone asked the listening audience for money. When I became director of the program, there were already many churches and individual Christians who were supporting the work. But no one has ever begged for money on the program. You probably have noticed that neither Chuck Richardson nor I ever ask for money—ever. We are not in the begging business. We do not charge one penny for CDs or cassette tapes or radio scripts. These are all free just for the asking. If individual Christians and faithful churches of Christ do not contribute to the Gospel Hour, it will simply die. Neither our elders nor I would be involved in using our time to beg for money. In the words of the apostle Paul: We "seek not yours, but you" (2 Cor. 12:14).

We are blessed with being able to preach the gospel on more than 180 great stations across the United States. Several of our stations reach into Mexico and into Canada. Not in every case, but a number of times, the station owners have asked: "Do you people beg for money?" We always assure them that we have never done so and have no intention of doing it. They seem to be grateful that we do not ask for money. I know some of the station owners and managers are embarrassed when the preachers on their stations constantly beg for money. If I owned a station and a preacher promised a return of ten dollars for every dollar given to a certain ministry, I would strongly object to such unconscionable tactics. I would not want such deceivers on my station.

For the remainder of our time today, we need to examine our philosophy in conducting the International Gospel Hour. I know this from the almost twelve years I have been the speaker on this program: The elders and all the members of the West Fayetteville Church of Christ want me to preach the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26-27). That means I not only must preach what the Bible says about being saved from our aliens sins; it means I must also preach on staying saved. In the eyes of some people in the religious world, the approach I have just outlined may not make sense, but it is what the word of God teaches.

I shall give you just one example of how some people obeyed the gospel and became members of the body of Christ. Acts 7 records the martyrdom of Stephen, a “good man and one who was filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:5, 8). After the Jews murdered Stephen, the disciples in Jerusalem, except for the apostles, were driven from the city. "Therefore they who were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them" (Acts 8:4-5). The gospel had already been preached in Judea. But the Lord directed his disciples to preach the gospel everywhere (Mt. 28:19-20; Acts 1:8). Preaching the gospel everywhere included preaching to Samaritans.

We know Philip preached Christ to the Samaritans, but we have no record of his exact message. The Holy Spirit has provided for us the response of the Samaritans to the gospel. "And when they (the Samaritans) believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Christ, they were baptized, both men and women" (Acts 8:12). Does it surprise you that Luke does not say one word about repentance or confession? But you cannot overlook what he says about belief and baptism. "When they believed Philip...they were baptized, both men and women" (Acts 8:12). Is that not, after all, what Christ commanded his apostles? "Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned" (Mk. 16:15-16). The Samaritans believed and were baptized. That means they were saved from their alien sins and added to the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13).

But faith and obedience are just the first steps on our journey toward our heavenly home. Every New Testament book demands that we continue to grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18). I invite you to listen carefully to the Holy Spirit's instructions about maturing in the faith. The apostle Peter demanded: "And beside this, giving all diligence add to your faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love” (2 Pet. 1:5-7). I do not know of any denomination or cultic group which would deny that Christians ought to grow. But some of them deny that adding the Christian graces is essential to one's salvation. Their reasoning is somewhat as follows: "If we have to add the Christian graces, we are not saved by grace alone through faith alone." The truth of the matter is: If we have to do anything, we are not saved by grace alone through faith alone.

But let us examine 2 Peter 1 to ascertain if the Calvinistic doctrine harmonizes with the inspired word of God. After commanding Christians to add the Christian graces, the apostle Peter wrote: "For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 1:8). At this time, I am not going to examine the conditional statement, "If these things be in you and abound." But it ought to be obvious that Christians who are barren and unfruitful are in grave danger. The word "barren" (argous in the Greek) means idle. The Greek word translated "unfruitful" (akarpous) is always rendered "unfruitful" except in Jude 12 where it is translated "without fruit."

When a Christian is unfruitful, will that affect his eternal welfare? Our Lord himself answers that question in words no one should misunderstand. In his Parable of the Vine and the Branches, Christ warned: "I am the vine, and you are the branches: he who abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned" (John 15:5-6). It does not take a Bible scholar to know the danger of failing to produce fruit in our service to God. Does that mean that an abundance of fruit earns us a home in heaven? Absolutely not! But it does mean that God requires us to produce fruit.

The apostle Peter reminded his readers of the danger of being unfruitful. "But he who lacks these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins" (2 Pet. 1:9). Can Christians who are spiritually blind, and have forgotten they were cleansed from their old sins still have God's blessings? Will they still go to heaven regardless of that condition? If that were the case, why would the Holy Spirit add: "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things, you shall never fall" (2 Pet. 1:10)? If we fail to do them, have we not already fallen? If our salvation is guaranteed just because we have believed in Christ, how can we "make our calling and election sure?" Why did the Holy Spirit further instruct us: "For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 1:11).

One aspect of my preaching on this program needs to be mentioned in passing. I strive with God's help to keep up with what is occurring in our nation. I try to address topics that are on the minds of my listeners. For example, recently I preached a lesson on "Illegal Immigrants." The response in favor of what I preached was most encouraging. But one man accused me of being too political. The truth is: There is hardly any topic I can discuss that does not have political overtones. For example, when I preach against gambling, beverage alcohol, abortion, cloning and physician-assisted suicide, I understand the political implications of those lessons. But my concern is moral—not political. Incidentally, I plan to preach another lesson on illegal immigrants in the very near future. I cannot refrain from discussing any belief or behavior that adversely affects my listeners. I know, and so do you, that silence can be sinful.

Winford Claiborne

The International Gospel Hour

P.O. Box 118

Fayetteville, TN 37334

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