Pimping the Pulpit

Before I begin, let me start out by saying I am not an atheist. I do believe in God. I consider myself spiritual, but not religious. With that said, am I the only person that has noticed all these pastors pimping the pulpit, especially within the larger churches? I finished reading a book over the summer called "Snakes in the Pulpit", written by a pastor by the name of Rueben Armstrong. This book reflected my thoughts on the subject of "The Message" being lost between the dollar signs. Armstrong spoke of his pastoral mentor introducing him into the life of the lord. I recall the chapter where he mentions his mentor telling him something to the effect of "we need to get more money from our members, because I need a new car". I was reminded of this book this past Sunday as I sat attentively in church listening to the enchanting words of my so called Bishop. I hope I wasn't too harsh by saying "so called". I was extremely bothered by the sermon he delivered in reference to giving your hard earned money to "the lord". I can't quote every word, but in a nut shell he said that we should not be faithful to or depend on man. We should only be faithful to the lord. We should not attempt to pay our debts (car payment, mortgage, gas bill, etc.), until we have been faithful to the lord and paid our fair share to the church first. He said that when your faithful to the lord and your car gets repossessed, you can catch a ride with a friend (god has made a way). If I'm not mistaken, didn't he just say don't depend on man? If I'm not mistaken, if I bum a ride from a friend, didn't I just depend on man? As a matter of fact, when you lose your house, you don't get the equity you've invested over X number of years. That money is just gone. Likewise, when you car gets repossessed, it ruins you credit, which makes it harder to buy a replacement, which means you will pay a higher interest rates, which means you will have even less money to give to the church.

Even in this horrible economy with people losing jobs, homes, and savings left and right, he still expects people to give every dime they have or don't have to the church and claim we are giving money to the lord. SOMEONE HELP ME OUT HERE! I don't have a problem with anyone giving what they can afford to give. If your paying your tithes on a credit card, and you can't pay the card bill off immediately, guess what? You can't afford it.

Wouldn't a better message be to teach people to reduce there debt so that they can give an appropriate amount of funds to the church.? If you really feel like you should give a certain amount to the church, then sacrifices should be made so that you maintain running water, heat in your home, and a roof over your head, while giving to the church. Maybe, don't eat out as much, or reduce that cell phone plan. If paying a certain amount is important enough to a person, reducing other expenses shouldn't be a problem.

It bothers me because I know he isn't alone in delivering this message. I still can't believe he said it. My childhood days in church involved messages centered around loving thy neighbor, respecting thy parents, and the ten commandments. When did it become about the pastors and their private jets, million dollar homes, Bentley's, and more? Why don't more people seem to question this behavior?

I have concluded that these men and women standing in these money green pulpits are nothing more than modern day pimps. The are pimping the members of the church, the communities they operate in, and the IRS, since they are exempt from paying some taxes. If they are pimps, then what does that make the people who follow them? LOL. A person can never have too much common sense.