"Would any believers seek state
endowments for their Church, if they remembered that the
Lord is dishonoured by their asking Caesar's aid' as if the
Lord could not supply the needs of His own cause!" -
Spurgeon
Jesus proclaimed “I have come to bring fire on earth...'' Luke 12:49
He said, "The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the
violent take it by force." Matthew 11:12
He gave us, His church, authority over
sickness and the demonic. Matthew 10:1
John the beloved wrote 'For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroytheworks of the devil. 1 John 3:8
The apostle Paul told the church that 'we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places' Ephesians 6:12
He also wrote, 'The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.' 2 Corinthians 10:4
Our enemy is 'the god of this age' 2 Corinthians 4:4
And that 'the wholeworld lies under the sway of the wicked one' 1 John 5:19
We are co-workers with Jesus in bringing in the Kingdom of God. 2 Corinthians 6:1
We are soldiers in the King of Kings mighty army! 2 Timothy 2:3-4
And how have we proclaimed this counter-culture to a disbelieving culture.
In the main, we have registered His Kingdom activity as a
charity .
For financial gain we have joined the charity register to be counted alongside thousands of secular groups ranging from gay and lesbian associations to the Rhyl
Steam Preservation
Trust.
As long as the
donors pay sufficient income tax, the church or ministry can
claim back substantial amounts of money on those donations from
the income tax department. (e.g. 28p per £1, in the UK 2006 )
To receive this money the
government must be satisfied that the church or ministry can
meet their stringent conditions.
Enable charities to
work better within an effective legal, accounting
and governance framework, keeping pace with
developments in society*,
the economy and the law;
Comply with all diversity and equalities
legislation, and we will work to promote diversity
and equality in all our dealings
In the secular world that is
unlikely to provide any problems in the future.
However registered charities
operating within the Kingdom of God will soon find themselves in
troubled waters, because as society changes so the charities
commission will bring in conditions that will reflect
those changes. Sexual orientation or religious persuasion will
not be allowed to be discriminated against.
We will have handed real
power over to secular authorities who will not allow the
registered charities under their control to slip too far behind
what they regard as positive developments within society.
The early warning signs are
already appearing in society. (2006)
Take Birmingham University's
Christian Union in the United Kingdom for example.
They have been banned
from using Student Union Guild rooms and facilities, and had
their bank accounts frozen by Guild
authorities because they refused
to make politically-correct changes to their charitable
constitution on religious grounds.
The Student's Union
wanted to place one of their own
(non Christian) leaders onto the
Christian UnionExecutive, and
open membership to people of all faiths and beliefs and
instructed the Christian fellowship to change its constitution
from "men and women" to "people" to make it more inclusive for
transsexual/transgender persons to become members.
The Christian Union spokesman
said,
"As a Christian
Union, we restrict membership to only those people who
profess faith in Jesus Christ, [and that leadership
positions are also restricted to the same criteria and the
beliefs outlined in the University and College's Christian
Fellowship Doctrinal Basis]. It is a fundamental right of
any organisation to be able to include in its membership
only those who abide by the ethos and focus of the
organisation. We believe this to be true for all
organisations within the Student Union, not just religious
or ethnic ones. We are not a special interest group there to
attract people with similar interest but a Union of
Christians. Whilst our meetings are open to all people,
believers and unbelievers when it come to being a voting
member or leader of the Christian Union we feel it is
perfectly respectable to restrict access to people who call
themselves Christians".
The University's Student
Union Guild has now
de-recognised the Christian Union and frozen its bank account,
including money donated by the public and churches to be used
for Christian work in the university.
As I write this portion of
the paper in Spring 2006 the Christian Union is considering
legal proceedings to have funds returned and a democratic way
forward agreed upon.
In Portland Maine,
USA, the Salvation Army lost $60,000 in annual local government
funding for refusing to provide health care benefits to the
domestic partners of its homosexual employees. City Councillor
James Cloutier said if the Salvation Army wants to receive
funding from the City, "its going to come with strings
attached" (CNSNEWS.COM June 20,2002)
One United Kingdom ministry
leader confidently told me several years ago that if and when
ungodly conditions were forced upon them as a Christian Ministry
they would immediately opt out of charitable status. What that
leader did not understand was that it is not that easy. You
can't opt out and retain the massive benefits accrued over years
from charitable status.
One ministry
leader who chose to withdraw
his ministry from charitable status
told my sister that he found to
his surprise that it cost them a lot
of money to do so, because the tax man
levied large amounts upon them based on the assets they had
accrued while in charitable status and not paying tax. In other
words you cannot use the tax free money to acquire assets and
then switch to another status and keep the benefits from life in
a tax free zone.
It was interesting to see that in
2004 the influential magazine 'Prophecy Today' choose to come
out of charitable status, distribute its assets to other
ministries and then set up as a limited company in order to "to
further the renewed vision of the magazine in a dynamic,
spiritual, and effective way" I believe others will follow
their example in due season.
Scripture leaps on to the subject very quickly.
Right back in Genesis chapter 14
Five kings united and went to war against an amalgam of four
kings..
The king of Sodom, the
king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zebolim,
and the king of Zoar went out and joined together in battle
in the Valley of Siddim against Chedorlaomer king of Elam,
Tidal king of nations, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch
king of Ellasar.
In the battle the kings of Sodom
and Gomorrah fled and the victors took the spoils of their
cities which included Lot and his family and all his
possessions.
Verse 13 takes up the exciting narrative..
Then one who had escaped
came and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt by the
terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and
brother of Aner; and they were allies with Abram.
Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he
armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who
were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as
Dan.
He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his
servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah,
which is north of Damascus.
So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his
brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the
people.
Read carefully what happens next
in scripture.
The mysterious Melchizedek High priest of God appears first to
Abram and Abram gives Him a tithe of the spoils.
I say mysterious because this is his one and only appearance
and Hebrews (7:1) has this to say about him.
For this Melchizedek, king
of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham
returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,
to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being
translated "king of righteousness," and then also king of
Salem, meaning "king of peace," without father, without
mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days
nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a
priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, to
whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils.
Many believe that this was a
pre-incarnate appearance of Christ - a 'theophany'.
At the very least he is a 'type' of Christ.
The writer of Hebrews (6:20) says of Christ..
..where the forerunner has
entered for us, even Jesus, having
become High Priest forever according to the order of
Melchizedek.
So either this was Jesus Himself
or a man honoured with being a 'type' of Jesus. And so this
momentous and mysterious meeting symbolises a meeting with
Jesus.
Abram is blessed by Melchizedek.. and worships Him with a tenth
of his spoils.
We read..
Then Melchizedek king of
Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God
Most High. And he blessed him and said: "Blessed be Abram of
God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be
God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your
hand." And he gave him a tithe of all.
Then in complete contrast comes
the meeting with the king of Sodom.
Abram is of course the hero of the hour and naturally the king
..the government of the day..wants to thank him and reward him.
Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the persons, and
take the goods for yourself."
But Abram said to the king
of Sodom, "I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High,
the Possessor of heaven and earth, "that I will take
nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will
not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, `I
have made Abram rich' -- "except only what the young men
have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me:
Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion."
Note that Abram is submissive and
honouring in his attitude to the king, but note that he will not
compromise his spiritual integrity for money.
I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I
will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, `I
have made Abram rich'
Abram knew that any king likes his subjects to be wholly
dependent on him for
sustenance, and he had already decided which King he would
depend on.
I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, `I
have made Abram rich'
The next verse in scripture shows God's good pleasure..
After these things the
word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not
be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great
reward."
God was revealing Himself as the
All Sufficient One.
And yet Abram, or Abraham, was not fully convinced. He had more
to learn from the Lord on this subject.
God promised him a son through whom all the nations of the world
would be blessed. Let's call it 'his ministry to a needy and
dying world'.
At first he was sure that what God had called him to do for Him,
He would make provision for. But as time went by, and by, and
by, (10 years in Canaan) he was not so sure.
And so he slipped from the great blessing into the lesser
blessing.
He sought to establish the right thing through soulish means. We
read in Genesis 17:1..
Now Sarai, Abram's wife,
had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian
maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram,
"See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children.
Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by
her."
And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
Then Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian,
and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after
Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. So he went
in to Hagar, and she conceived.
My reference book on interpreting
symbols and types tells me what I instinctively know. That in
Scripture 'Egypt' is symbolic of 'worldliness, bondage and
whoredoms' (Rev 11:8 Eze. 23:3,4,8,19)
And Abram sought to fulfil his destiny in God by going 'into'
Egypt for help.
He got a result. Called Ishmael. And he genuinely thought that
he had helped God to fulfil his ministry to the needy and dying
world.
And Abraham said to God,
"Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!"
God had to correct him.
Then God said: "No, Sarah
your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name
Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an
everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
When it was God's timing, God
supernaturally provided Isaac, and it was through Isaac that
Abram's ministry was, and still is, being outworked to a needy
and dying world.
Note however, God's grace in the midst of this. First He blessed
Abram.
No longer shall your name
be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have
made you a father of many nations. "I will make you
exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and
kings shall come from you.
Then He blessed Sarai..
Then God said to Abraham,
"As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai,
but Sarah shall be her name. "And I will bless her and also
give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall
be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her."
Then He blessed Ishmael because
He loved Abram and Sarai..
And as for Ishmael, I have
heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him
fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget
twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
"But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah
shall bear to you at this set time next year."
Note that God blessed Abram's
soulish endeavours, the fruit of his going into Egypt for help
in fulfilling his calling. And many a servant of God can point
to such immediate blessings - unaware of the bitter fruit that
also comes eventually with such a blessing.
As we track history, we see that what Abram sowed into, he then
had to reap from
Right at the start it brought division..
Then Sarai said to Abram,
"My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and
when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in
her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me."
Then it brought trouble upon the
blessings that were coming through the promise.. Out of Ishmael
came the Ishmaelites, and out of Esua came the Edomites, and we
read in Psalm 83 where the two nations conspired with other
enemies to oppose Israel.
"Come, and let us cut them
off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be
remembered no more. "For they have consulted together with
one consent; They form a confederacy against You: The tents
of Edom and the Ishmaelites;
What is God's great history
lesson in scripture meant to teach us in the spiritual'
Abram went into Egypt for help in fulfilling his ministry. That
fruit appeared to be good fruit at first, but ended up not only
bringing trouble into his camp, but it warred continually with
the fruit from the real blessing.
Out of Ishmael came Mohammed, and Islam. Still today the major
persecutor of the promise.
The fruit of God's man.
The fruit from going into Egypt for
help to fulfil God's promise to him.The fruit from
not waiting on God to
supply what was needed to fulfil God's
promise to him.
Moses and the Children of Israel had to learn this before they
were let loose in the land flowing with milk and honey.
First they were locked in the wilderness where they had to rely
on God.. and they found Him faithful to meet all their needs,
exactly as and when they needed them. Psalm 78..
He had commanded the
clouds above, And opened the doors of heaven, had rained
down manna on them to eat, And given them of the bread of
heaven. Men ate angels' food; He sent them food to the full.
And yet the Children of Israel
still thought in their hearts that God's provision was meagre
fare, and they began to turn their hearts to the rich blessings
to be had from Egypt.. Numbers 11:5
"We remember the fish
which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the
leeks, the onions, and the garlic;
God determined to teach the
children a lesson He hoped they would remember in the land of
promise. He gave them their wish.. but again, as with Ishmael,
there was a bitter reaping that came with the blessing..
`Consecrate yourselves for
tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the
hearing of the Lord, saying, "Who will give us meat to eat'
For [it was] well with us in Egypt." Therefore the Lord will
give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall eat, not one
day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty
days, `but for a whole month, until it comes out of your
nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have
despised the Lord who is among you, and have wept before
Him, saying, "Why did we ever come up out of Egypt'"'"
When we find in our church or in
our ministry that the manna God sustains us with is (in our
eyes) meagre fare, we can so easily go into 'Egypt' and there
conceive 'Ishmael'.. and genuinely believe that we are helping
God to fulfil our destiny in Him.
'Good and wise stewards' we call ourselves.
And so to obtain more money through one of Egypt's channels we
have legally registered Church or ministry as 'a charity'.
Registered churches and
ministries receive their official charity number from the
government and display it at the bottom of
their notepaper as a plus.
I don't believe it is a plus.
Jesus declared that His Kingdom was not of this world. In the
world yes, but not 'of the world'
He informed Pilate that he only had authority because God had
given it to him.
He told His listeners to render on to Caesar what He was
entitled to. Matt.22:17
"Tell us, therefore, what
do You think' Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not'"
But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you
test Me, [you] hypocrites' "Show Me the tax money." So they
brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, "Whose image
and inscription is this'" They said to Him, "Caesar's." And
He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that
are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
And to give no offence to those
who collected the temple tax and to demonstrate that even that
could be supernaturally supplied He got a fish to provide the
money. Matt.17:24
When they had come to
Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter
and said, "Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax'" He
said, "Yes." And when he had come into the house, Jesus
anticipated him, saying, "What do you think, Simon' From
whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from
their sons or from strangers'" Peter said to Him, "From
strangers." Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free.
"Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a
hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you
have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take
that and give it to them for Me and you."
And so we see Jesus advocating
obedience to paying taxes, and reverence to the governing
authorities, because God has placed them there, yet at the same
time being 'separate' from them, belonging in spirit and soul to
another Kingdom, whose King owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
And the thousand hills. He alone must be the one that we His
people look to for our needs.
Paul echoes this again and again in his teachings.. Romans 13:1
for instance,
Let every soul be subject
to the governing authorities. For there is no authority
except from God, and the authorities that exist are
appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority
resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will
bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to
good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the
authority' Do what is good, and you will have praise from
the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if
you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in
vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath
on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject,
not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. For
because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's
ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render
therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due,
customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honour to whom
honour.
If we break the law, God will use
the government to discipline us. If we walk true we will have
nothing to fear. We are in the world and these are God ordained
orders within the world.
But we are not of the world. And Paul tells us where we get our
supplies from.
Phil. 4:19
And my God shall supply all
your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
God has declared that He will take the wealth from the wicked
and give it to us. I do not believe we are to acquire it
ourselves by registering His Kingdom as one of society's
charities. Even the pagan's can get money that way. Where is the
Glory for God'
Jesus called satan the 'ruler of this earth'. Paul called him
the 'god of this world'
Would He have told the Apostles to register the church and their
ministry with Herod as a charity in order to get more money from
the believer's giving' Render him what he is due yes. Live
within the laws of the land. But submit any part of His Kingdom'
It has been suggested that the children of Israel getting riches
from the Egyptians as they left for the promised land is
scriptural proof that God is happy for his people to take
support from the world system. Nothing could be further from the
truth. First of all it was to fulfil God's promise to Abraham
made in Genesis 15:13
Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your
descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs,
and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred
years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge;
afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
The Egyptians treated God's people cruelly but God judged
them severely and in their newly broken state they gladly handed
over whatever the conquering Israelites asked for.
However once the Israelites had gone their hearts hardened
again and they sought to bring them back into slavery again.
Moses and the children of Israel did not have to register
with Pharaoh and submit to the governments watchful eye in order
to get God's promised riches here. At Moses command they went
and plundered the Egyptians. They got their promised 'treasures
out of darkness'. Exodus 12:35
Now the children of Israel had done according to the
word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians
articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. And the
Lord had given the people favour in the sight of the
Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested.
Thus they plundered the Egyptians
Haven't we as God's people reaped
what we sowed'
Isn't this exactly how society
sees 'The Church' '
A charity. A harmless, non profit making organisation,
full of well meaning people.
Why have churches and ministries felt pressurised to turn to
Egypt for help.
Why have they rushed to register the Kingdom as a charity and
get their official government number for the bottom of their
notepaper'
Disobedience.
Listen carefully to God's word..
Malachi chapter 3
"Will a man rob God' Yet
you have robbed Me! But you say, `In what way have we robbed
You'' In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. Bring all
the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My
house,
God has supplied His people with
the means to build His Kingdom, yet they will not bring their
tenth into His house.
Listen to the promise He makes to churches and to ministries..
And try Me now in this,"
Says the Lord of hosts, "If I will not open for you the
windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That
there will not be room enough to receive it. "And I will
rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not
destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to
bear fruit for you in the field," Says the Lord of hosts;
"And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a
delightful land," Says the Lord of hosts.
Blessings independent of any
government.. 'lest you should say, `I have made Abram rich'.
What about the curse if we rob God'
You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this
whole nation. (Israel/Church)
Let's look at the church today from the world's point of view.
We have bring and buy sales. Antique sales. Bouncy castles. And
the latest blessing..car boot sales..where the church car park
becomes a market place.
George
Muller had strong feelings on this subject. While he
remained in brotherly love with the various Christian societies
who were happy to work with the unsaved in
obtaining finances for their ministries he felt that he had to
withdraw from them officially. In his autobiography he wrote..
"In temporal things
the children of God must make use of the world but the work
to be done requires that those who attend to it should have
spiritual life. The children of God are bound by their
loyalty to refrain form any association with the
unregenerate. It is common to ask the unregenerate for money
which even Abraham would not have done. (Genesis 14:21-24)
How much less should we do it"
He went on to say..
"We can therefore
obtain everything we can possibly need in His service
without being obliged to go to the unconverted world. The
first disciple did this in 3 John 7 'Because that fir His
name's sake they went forth taking nothing from the
gentiles' (pages 57-58)
I remember with some pain an
event that occurred some months after my conversion in 1989. The
church I attended shared the building with another denomination.
I was a Friday night youth club leader and when I showed up on
the night I was surprised to find a team of people from the
other denomination preparing the church for a second hand book
sale planned for the following day. Surprised to see the church
turned into a market place I wandered around the many tables,
packed with books that the congregation had brought to the sale.
Among the books I found several Jehovah Witness Bible
translations and other books from that organisation. I found
several Mormon books such as the Pearl of Great Price. I found
books on eastern religions. I found books which were totally
unsavoury and which would have been forbidden in our home.
Horrified I went to see the minister, assuming he too would be
shocked. But no.
His concern could be equated to me telling him that the toilet
door need oiled but he agreed to let me remove the offending
books.
As I left the hall with a bag containing the worst ones, some of
the leaders told me to leave the bag with them and they would
sell them to one of the book dealers who would come before the
public came and then they would sell them instead down in the
town's market.
When I tried to explain to them that this was wrong they thought
I was getting bothered over nothing. This sale was after all to
raise money for the church.
I left with the books and with a pain in my spirit.
At that moment I knew why Jesus had turned the tables over. So
many moments
came and went when I had to refrain from easing the pain by
doing just that.
I remember too the pain of seeing a minister in full 'regalia'
standing at a table outside his church in the holiday resort of
Portrush, with a notice asking passers by to donate money to
help repair the church. More pain in my spirit.
I remember thinking what he was really saying to the unbelieving
world.
It's what we are saying with all our schemes to raise money.
We are saying to the world.. 'we need your help. We cannot make
it without you'.
'Please help us repair the roof of our lovely church'
'Please help us to build a church extension'
What he was saying and what we are saying is 'OUR GOD CANNOT OR
WILL NOT HELP US - PLEASE HELP US OR WE DIE'
Registering the church as a charity has of course a bit more
class to it .. but the message is the same.
'But its our money - and we're only getting more out of our
money'
Wrong.
That tenth (if that's what it is) is not your money.
It belongs to God. Lev. 27:30
`And all the tithe of the
land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the
tree, is the Lord's. It is holy to the Lord.
The government money returned
when we agree to covenant costs us nothing.
Perhaps there is even another
principle here.
Listen to David a man after God's own heart. 1st Chron. 21:24
Then King David said to
Ornan, "No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for
I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt
offerings with that which costs me nothing."
All the blessings of Isaac are
there when we trust and obey and wait upon the Lord. We have not
done this with all our heart and soul and mind and strength and
so we have sought ways to not have to depend on God coming
through.
We go into Egypt and we conceive Ishmael.
The sad thing is that as Ishmael multiplies we believe we are
making progress. We believe we are building the Kingdom.
Did not Jesus say 'I will build My Church..'
Listen to Jesus. Could He be talking to us' Rev.3.
"I know your works, that
you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or
hot. "So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold
nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. "Because you say,
`I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'
--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor,
blind, and naked-- "I counsel you to buy from Me gold
refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white
garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your
nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye
salve, that you may see. "As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
For several years I covenanted my
tithe to the church I attended. And was pleased to do so. Then
the Lord moved us to another church. There, I asked for a
covenant form but misplaced it. So I asked for another, and the
same thing happened. Then I got one filled in, but week after
week I forget to hand it in. Then I lost it also. The church
then held a special Saturday morning clinic so that those who
were not covenanting could meet with the treasurer and get help.
I planned to go, but was unable. Since I am a fairly organised
person, I began to wonder why month after month I was unable to
carry out this one simple action. I came to believe that within
the covenanted four year minimum period the Lord would be
changing my circumstances or perhaps the church I attended, so I
left it at that. However four years came and went and I was
still there and my my tithe and church were unchanged. Now I was
really puzzled. So I prayed about it. To my shock I sensed the
Lord speak quietly into my heart.. 'Since when has My Kingdom
been a charity'
At that moment salve was applied to my eyes, and I saw.
When a God given ministry
asks for and is given charitable status it places that ministry
under an additional and unnecessary level of secular control.
Secular control is becoming less and less favourably disposed to
Christianity and the inevitable will surely happen.
"I
am worried that many Christian ministries to the needy
will eventually take federal dollars and gradually
become dependent on government funding. Then if the
courts eventually require it and many legal experts
contend that they eventually will - these ministries
will have to abandon the religious emphasis in order to
continue their operations. What the government giveth
the government can take away and I am concerned these
agencies which are expanding their operations with
federal dollars, will have to give up their spiritual
cutting edge just to keep getting the money they need to
stay in business. 'connecting government with faith
based programmes is allot like mixing ice cream with
horse manure', one American mayor has observed ' it
won't hurt the manure but it will really mess up the ice
cream'."
I have a charitable financial
covenant with the National Trust, so that they can claim back
28% on my annual giving from the Inland Revenue. I have no
problem rendering on to Caesar what is his. They are of this
world, they are charities, they are doing excellent work, and I
am blessing them through the means by which society has set up
for them to be blessed.
As a Christian ministry however we are a
registered trust, but not a charitable trust.
I will not now, not ever, declare
to taxman, friend or foe, that my Father's House or the ministry
He has honoured me with is a charity to be registered with the
world.
I agree with the writer of Psalm 127:1, (Solomon)
Unless the Lord builds the
house, They labour in vain who build it;
It's something to ponder.
But
Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal
food and wine
...At the end of ten days they looked healthier and
better nourished than any of the young men who ate the
royal food.
Daniel 1: 8a & 15
Following
debate the new Charities Act became law on November 8th
2006. There was much debate as to what might or might not be
included under the new laws. The
Christian Institute said..
Until now the law has always held a
presumption that religious charities are for
the public benefit, but this is removed by
the Bill. New and existing religious
charities will have to justify their 'public
benefit'. The Christian Institute is
particularly concerned to protect
cross-cultural missionary organisations or
charities which hold to traditional
Christian belief on abortion or human
sexuality. It could be argued by secularists
that such bodies are not in the public
interest.
Miss Anne
Widdecombe MP
expressed her alarm at recent statements by the
Charity Commission, which has said that in
future the public benefit test will be assessed
in the light of "modern society"
In reply a government minister assured her that
the new act is not intended to lead to a
narrowing down of the range of religious
activities that are considered charitable. He
also made clear that a religious charity would
not be disqualified for its beliefs about sexual
morality
*.
My comment:Is
this the end of the matter on this issue, or the
beginning of the thin end of the wedge on this
issue'
In light of recent developments in our
increasingly secular society - much of which is
documented in the editorial section - I would
lean towards the latter. Time will tell.