An audio version of this message will soon be available at the link below. There is also a link to the song at the bottom of this page.
Today's message comes with
a heavy heart. I wish things were different. I'll just begin with
where this message was born. Recently while praying I had a vision.
In the vision I was shown the golden arches of a world renowned fast
food restaurant. Then beside the restaurant there appeared a
beautiful church building and it's steeple was made of gold. I was
wondering what this meant. I pondered for a moment and then Jesus
spoke to me.
He said: In one of these
buildings you can get a meal. They are always open when you are
hungry and they have the prices clearly posted for what it will cost
you to eat. For those who have little money they have a meal that you
can get for a dollar. It may not be what some call quality food but
it is exactly as advertised. Out of the money they do collect they
give to many charitable causes, especially for children.
In the other building they
will serve you when it's convenient for them. They are open on
Sundays and sometimes on Wednesday and you can give them all the
money you can earn and you may still leave starving. They don't want
just the change in your pocket they want a percentage of your
complete income. They want it all. Out of the money they collect
they pay high salaries and buy nice homes and cars and even jet airplanes and take exquisite
vacations they even call them ministry trips.
As I continued to watch I
saw the golden steeple fall and break into pieces. People gathered it
up and went to the restaurant next door and bought food. Then the vision vanished and was gone.
I kept thinking about
these thing and I wondered on them. Later that day someone sent me a
video of a well known television preacher. I won't mention them by
name but you would all know the name and unfortunately the video is
there for the world to see. In the video this preacher talks about
having all those who don't pay their tithes to the church to be lined up and
murdered by the ushers for not giving their part.
When I saw it at first I
was angry and then it turned to weeping. Oh the poor people who are
trapped in this church. They don't even see that the only value the
preacher puts on them is whatever money they can give. They are only
worth what they can give to him and nothing more.
Then the sadness came for
the preacher. How could he walk with God and not know that people are
God's treasure and when he redeemed us he didn't use money? All the
money in the world would not buy one soul. He paid our ransom with
the most precious substance in all of creation. It's with the blood
of Jesus. This blood was poured out for each man, woman and child who
was ever or will ever be born. This makes each person more valuable
than the entire universe. It breaks my heart that those who call
themselves preachers could not know this.
And all of this plays out
in front of the world who is searching for the way. They see this and
all the greed that goes on in the churches and they don't want any
part of this message. This hardens their hearts and when someone
comes along with the true message of love and grace then they refuse
to hear because they think we are only about money.
It's time to wake up the
church. You are being abused by those who say they care for you. If
the man who says he cares for you has a fifty million dollar jet and
he knows you don't have food for your children and doesn't help,
then he is an impostor. If a man who says he cares for you has a
twenty thousand square foot home and he knows you are sleeping on the
street and doesn't help, then he is an impostor. It's time to stop
the abuse.
Those who have encountered
the love of Christ don't need to be told when and how much to give of
their money. They become givers by their new nature. It's not about
building organizations and buildings and worldly things. It's about
building up people and restoring their value to them.
In the new covenant money isn't given to build organizations, it is given to help poor
people and to preach the gospel. Consider what it says in Second Corinthians Chapter nine.
“They share freely and give generously to the poor.
Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”
Maybe this preacher should have his ushers go into heaven and shoot the apostle Paul. Did you notice it didn't say anything about giving to build an organization and pay for jets for preachers? It was about giving to the poor.
It's time to tell the truth to those who are being robbed by preachers who always accuse them of robbing God. They always want to use the scriptures in the Old Testament to guilt people into giving. But even in the Old Testament the tithe was always food and couldn't be money unless you lived too far away to carry the grain and animals.
It was food for the priests who couldn't work and for the widows and orphans. Besides it was based on your increase and not your total wealth. If you had one hundred sheep and you had ten sheep born that year you gave a tenth of the increase. Your increase was ten and your tithe was one.
I'm not saying we shouldn't give. Most everyone I know who has encountered the true message of Christ gives much more than ten percent. They don't have to be encouraged or threatened to give. It's just their new nature to do so. God loves a cheerful giver so if you had to be shamed into giving then you didn't do it cheerfully. A person who only has ten dollars and gives two is much more generous than the preacher who collected a million and gave a hundred to the poor.
I say these things because we must put the church in order. We will never win the world for Jesus if we live like Judas. It's the poor and broken who are the most abused. They think they will be cursed even more if they don't put their money in a plate. They are barely surviving as it is and church is the only social event they can afford to attend and now they can't go because they don't have anything to give. When they do go they lose the only thing they had and that is dignity. They feel useless because they don't have money to give and money to buy all the books and messages on the book tables.
I am not saying it's wrong to pay preachers. He who preaches the gospel should live of the gospel and the ox that treads the grain should not be muzzled, but the ox doesn't eat the whole harvest or you would be eating the ox and getting a new one. That's why today preachers have jet planes and Lamborghini's just as Jesus in his day had Gold plated chariot's with thoroughbred horses pulling them and sent his apostles out with reservations at the Hilton.
Wait, he didn't did he? He had sandals and walked where he went. And at his meetings he didn't take up a collection but handed out food along with miracles. And, he had the nerve to tell his disciples to stay at whatever house they were welcomed into and not to move about from house to house to be more comfortable.
Why are these things important? Because the world is watching and they are the ones we are sent out to reconcile unto God. How can we gather them in if we are driving them away? They see the greed and the excess. They are appalled by it and many of them were financially abused at the hands of the so called church. They were promised to give and it would be given to them pressed down, shaken together and running over. They were not told the truth that these scriptures were not talking about money but about giving forgiveness and mercy. Whatever it costs you to walk in love will be given back to you pressed down and shaken together and running over. This is why it says that men will give it unto your bosom. You don't give money to your heart. You give love.
I know I have probably ranted for too long already. So I'll stop here except to tell you that these events, as they always do ended up in a song that I wrote. It's called American Church. I asked the Lord how he felt and I sat down to write and the song came out.
Thanks for not being too critical of my home-made music which is not recorded in a studio but in my closet or my van or wherever I happen to be at the time. Yes, I know this song is louder than most I write. It's that way on purpose, hoping that it will be heard.
Just remember my loved ones. All the gospel is about love. It never was about money. It's about a Father who loves his children so much that he gave all he had to bring them home. It's about a savior who came to save the poor and the lost and the broken and the abused. That is what it has always been and what it will always be. Know that you are loved and help me rescue those who are trapped in these organizations called churches. They are being abused and starved.
Please also pray for their abusers. Some of them are also trapped in the system because that is what they were taught. With God's help this First American Church and Mercantile will come down and the kingdom will arise. Holy Spirit will once again visit our meetings and pour out signs and wonders of our Father's love. Maybe the reason God doesn't come to the meetings is because he didn't pay tithe to the pastor and he is not welcome. Just a thought.
I hope you are encouraged and challenged by these words.
Until next time,
Grow Rich in His Grace,
I love you all,
michael
PS: here is the link to the song:
American Church
For more information please click the links below:
michaelottministries.org
michael's podcast
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