"It takes wealth, folks, to establish God's covenant on this Earth. You and I will never get so spiritual that we don't need money to get more influential in the world we're in."
If this doesn't make you sick, read the rest of the article. The article does say that out of a $34 million gross revenue the church gives $3 million to charitable causes and evangelism, [edited on 2.21 read the comments, join the fun.] If you check out their website you'll find the typical mega-church format. Listen to a sermon and you'll find a lot of self back-patting, and chest-puffing. Of course, it's hard to talk about a ministry without any personal involvement. I listened to a sermon and heard these words:
"It takes wealth, folks, to establish GOD's covenant in this earth. You and I will never get so spiritual that we don't need money to be more influential in the world that we live in. It takes money to buy air time. It takes money to become highly visible. It takes money to influence a community.
"The world is not moved by poverty. There's enough of that. If you've got hole's in your shoes there not too interested in what you have to say, friend.
"You can't even obey the mandate to love without being financially prosperous. Because love means to give, to be a blessing to somebody else. If you hadn't got anything to give you cant even love."
Does this bother anyone else? He's preaching that you can't love if your not prosperous. Then on top of this he started to preach that the Bible teaches that ministers should be paid double everyone because that way they are able to minister out of what they know. He also said something to the effect that if the enemy keeps the preacher living in poverty through tradition then it keeps the congregation living below the standard that is available to them because the pastor is only able to teach about things that he/she has experienced.
I need to stop this post, I'm getting too worked up.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Lord have mercy.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Lord have mercy.
8 comments:
Stephen----I ran across your Blog, while Googling "Parakletos".....your thoughts on the Comforter/Holy Spirit & also on the "Prosperity Gospel" are similar to my own thoughts.
I have a son about your age.....I was once a member of a church which taught both the Healing & Prosperity Gospel.....Interesting to see that these "teachings" & the Mega-churches are alive & well, after all these years.....I'm old enough to even remember how the Mega-churches (especially amongst the Baptists) got started decades ago.....Sue in TN
I am really surprised of your tone as one who is a Pastor. What do these scriptures mean to you? Luke 6:37-38 (NLT) "Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. Stop criticizing others, or it will all come back on you. If you forgive others, you will be forgiven. [38] If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving—large or small—it will be used to measure what is given back to you."
What do you honestly know about Pastor Mac Hammond? Have you been to the church and sat under his ministry to honestly know what he teaches? Did you know that some years ago his church gave their entire building fund, over a million dollars away one year to help four or five other churches pay off their building funds? Did you know that the church has paid for and given hundreds of meals in the community directed to people given them by the city and police? Did you know they support a local ministry that helps keep pregnant teens from getting abortions and instead helping them keep their babies? Did you know his church helps support a local teen center in the community called that works with teens that families can no longer deal with? Did you know that the church helps support a local ministry that helps handicapped children ride horseback to help them develop? Did you know that the church subsidizes the largest night club (Christian) in Minneapolis to help people get saved, and to give church kids from the entire community of Minneapolis from all churches have a place to fellowship with other Christians? Did you know that his church helped build a church in Indonesia? Did you know that his church has sent over 600,000 to feed poor children and people in Israel devastated from the bombing and terrorism? Do you know that short term mission’s teams and evangelism teams have traveled over the United States and many nations of the world to help others know Christ and minister good works?
Did you this list could go on for pages? Did you know that he has been stable blessing in their community for over 26 years? Did you know that whenever he preaches about God wanting to bring increase to the lives of Christians, he always qualifies it with the purpose of using what God blesses people with to help and serve others?
What do you really know about Pastor Mac Hammond other than what you have read? To judge without knowing is ignorant, critical, and devise working to tear down the body of Christ rather than build it up. It’s contrary to the Christian walk I've learned from the Bible. Would you mind posting your accomplishments on your site for us all to read?
i'll be honest with ya. i completely got lost in all the "do ya" and "did ya's" that the second guy left.
now, to answer them. Jesus did not judge the wretched and the poor and the, well, the unchurched. he came down hard on the churched. in fact, i do believe that paul commands us to judge those in the church. but there is the warning: you will be judged by how you judge. also, person number 2 seems to be mistaken in thinking that just because a person has a stupid theology, or some some dumbass stuff that they are incapable of accomplishing good. hell, mob bosses donate to charity. just because you help out doesn't mean that your understanding is correct. sure, them quadriplegics thank ya for lettin' them ride horses, but nevertheless, preaching things of that nature is preposterous. i mean, correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't Jesus tell the rich guy to sell his possessions? if memory serves, none of the church patriarchs were rich or even remotely wealthy... until catholicism... and then you could argue their patriarchy maybe.
the fine line is this: you judge his theology as "wrong" or "filled with holes at best," but don't preach this from the pulpit. just teach truth, right? what thoughts you have on your own time in your own blog is a different matter, aye? aye.
it is a shame that this screwball theology runs rampant as it does, however. being rich is neither good nor bad, but what you do with it and how it makes you think.
It seems rather futile to post a comment to an anonymous poster. I'm sorry that you felt that you had to post without using your name. I'm assuming that you Googled a word or phrase and my blog came up. And by the sounds of this, you are involved in LWCC. I can understand your frustration with me, granted you know me as much as I know you, Mr or Mrs Anonymous. My first thought was to not even reply to your comment. I don't really expect you to come back and look for a response. If you do, I would welcome you to use your name. I would like to use your name as a sign of respect to you and your opinions.
I realize that I do know very little about your church and Pastor Hammond. But at the same time I did spend time looking around the churches website to try to gain a better understanding of the church before creating my post. I watched the video that was available. I even went back to see/listen to certain parts over (and sometimes over) again. The quote I used was something that I had to transcribe. I listened again and again to his words. And even as I reread them they still don't sit right with me. If there was one sentence that I wrote that I think might have been careless it would be
"...I wonder what their terms are for a 'charitable cause.' The church is making micro loans to the pastor. "
These words are assumptive. But other than that most of the post is Pastor Hammond's words. How do you respond to those? I have read the wonderful things that the church is a part of. I have read the mission statements, beliefs, etc.. I have family in Eden Prairie who are not believers who have heard of LWCC. I know the impact of 3degrees in the Twin Cities area. I've been there while I was visiting a friend in college.
You have written a long list of wonderful things. Praise GOD for all of those that were done to bring GOD glory. I was surprise that you ended your comment by asking for all of my accomplishments, when you started by asking me about Luke 6. Certainly my list would be much shorter that the one you listed for Pastor Hammond and LWCC. My list wouldn't be that interesting to a person who goes to such a large church. GOD's bountiful riches have certainly blessed you all. I wanted to bring up Luke 12:48, but I didn't want to take the time to show how I feel that relates.
If you come back and read this I would be more that willing to continue this conversation. Please understand my sincerity. I'll end with this:
I still cant rationalize the words that I heard being preached. I do not understand how Pastor Hammond can elude that the only way to love is through a financial gift. If this was true would he say that Mother Teresa wasn't acting out of love. Or what about those who have committed to a vow of poverty for the sake of the Kingdom? How can a person who believes this rationalize the things that Jesus did? Jesus didn't even have a place to lay his head. I can't think of any words of Jesus to support that. If I am wrong, please tell me.
Peace.
Well, well, well......that certainly was a quick (!) reaction to Stephen's personal thoughts & opinions as per the "Prosperity Gospel"......Hmmm....I've been down THIS Road before! Ha!
Stephen---keep up the good work!
i like sue and her quixotic posts.
It would be good of you to take the malicious comments about Pastor Mac Hammond off your site. It's an embarrassment to you, a Pastor that is supposed to be more spiritual than the rest, to not be so judgmental about someone you don't even know, or the fruit of the ministry.
He does not teach wealth for personal consumption. He has been as steady of a Pastor as I have ever seen anywhere in ministry. His fruit through his congregation abounds.
I just heard a guest minister who has a world wide ministry say that he has seen churches all around the world and that Pastor Mac Hammond and his church is one of the finest he has ever seen.
Side note. The organization who made the charges against him are a watchdog ethics committee. What is really funny is that they put up stolen documents marked confidential that belonged to a bank. So much for the watchdog ethics committee.
In closing, we should be focused on bring people to Christ, not tearing down leaders who are accomplishing that but under attack by Christ hating liberal groups.
Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous. I was glad to see that you returned and commented again. I'm going to edit the two sentences that I feel were assumptions. Thank you for bringing my attention to them.
However, you still have not answered any of the questions I have asked you. I would love to hear your insights since you seem to be involved with Pastor Hammond's church. How can we rationalize the words that Pastor Hammond preached? I would like a greater understanding of those. The easy thing to do would be to say that I took them out of context, but I'm not really a big fan of that. The church has a bad habit of that as it. You have written a lot of words to bring a different understanding to the church, but please address the words. That is what I am wanting clarification on.
Also, please don't use my blog as a place to use vague,mud-slinging words like "Christ hating liberal groups." I'm not a big fan of that. If you knew anything about me you would know that I'm focused on bringing people to Christ. The problem is that if I have to preach that people must be prosperous to "obey the mandate to love," then I think I'll need to find a different calling for my life. Fortunately I don't. In John's gospel of Jesus we read that Jesus said:
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
I don't see anything about wealth in there. These are Jesus words, and he's saying that if you want to have influence over the world you are apart of then love in a way that shows them GOD's love for us.
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