The Church and Money - An Introduction

This post begins an in-depth critique of American evangelicalism as it displays itself in the present day. But before I dive into such a critique, I believe I must explain where I've been for the last several months. Let me just say that I was tackling a rather different kind of writing assignment, namely, a series of articles on the subject of Peak Oil. For those who are in any way still unfamiliar with this subject, Peak Oil refers to the time at which worldwide oil production will reach a maximum, then enter into terminal decline. It is a topic of intense interest to many, because of the implications and effects that declining oil production will have on the world economy, and because some reputable scientists believe that we have already reached the peak of oil production and are now starting to decline. Those articles have been published in the Fullerton Observer, starting with the July 2007 edition, and can be read online at www.fullertonobserver.com if anyone is interested. Please forgive the typos and grammatical errors in some of the later articles.

I first became aware of Peak Oil in February of this year. As I studied this issue and the related issue of global climate change in more detail, I also thought about the implications for American evangelicalism. I began to believe that changes were coming upon our society which would make many of the problems of the evangelical community irrelevant, since they would be overtaken by the events of distress and possible collapse in the broader society. Thus I thought that even this blog might become irrelevant within the next year or two. Indeed, I was almost ready to abandon it altogether. But certain events over the last two months provoked me and convinced me that I should not do so. First, there is the Republican presidential campaign, and the candidates posturing to try to secure the evangelical vote. There were also the conversations I kept having with co-workers where I was explaining that although I am orthodox and evangelical in my faith, I don't go along with many of the practices of present evangelical churches. There was also the recent shooting incident involving Matthew Murray at a famous Colorado megachurch. And there is a new movie being advertised over four months before its release date, based on a Christian children's story written by a man who has been deceased for over 40 years and whose legacy is still being milked for all it's worth by the religious arm of big secular entertainment companies. Finally, there was the fact that I noticed one day that people are still reading this blog, and are probably wondering, “When is he going to write more?” So I'm back. Now then, let's talk about money.

The intersection of faith and money is a danger zone for Christians, a collision between moldy corruption and pure bread. That intersection, or rather, collision, is a big issue in evangelicalism today, and many evangelicals have become moldy. There are the obvious examples of greed and excess – pictures splashed all over television screens and newspaper front pages, showing pastors promising miracles if we only "giiivvvehuh till it hurrrrtshuh!"; pastors who own dozens of radio and television stations, who just want a little more from us so they can reach the millions of benighted people in Third World countries with the Gospel; pastors with expensive mansions, private jets, summer houses and collections of cars; pastors being led away in orange jumpsuits and leg irons by law enforcement personnel. I already mentioned in an earlier post the troubles that occurred at Melodyland Christian Center in Anaheim, California. I could also mention the disgraceful fall of Ted Haggard, and the fact that after he was removed from the pastorate by his church, he tried soliciting donations from strangers so that he and his wife could go to school to obtain degrees in counseling. Those of us who are old enough (I'm not that old) can remember Oral Roberts. Or Reverend Ike (now, I do remember him), and his famous slogan, “You can't lose with the stuff I use!” as he held a fistful of dollars in front of the TV cameras. There was also the head elder of the abusive church I once attended, which I first mentioned in this post: http://thinsoc.blogspot.com/2006/10/what-my-old-church-was-like-part-1.html, who has four Social Security numbers and used to keep thousands of dollars in cash in his home, according to some former members. Indeed, to borrow a phrase from Hebrews 11, time will fail me if I tell of Jimmy Swaggart, Jim and Tammy Bakker, Al Forniss, Paul Crouch, etc.

As has been said, these are the obvious examples of people who view godliness as a means of material gain, and who pose as servants of Christ in order to take money from undiscerning, yet sincere people. Christ directed His apostles that those who preach the Gospel should get their living from the Gospel, and almost from the first, there have been those who have sought to misuse the Lord's words in order to secure an easy life for themselves by posing as servants of the Gospel. These people are also quite obvious in the damage they do, not only to the members of their “flocks”, but also to the Christian witness in the world today. The apostle Paul warns of these people in 1 and 2 Corinthians, and in 1 Timothy, to name a few passages.

But there are other forms of moldy corruption in the Church, corruption caused by the love of money. These forms are not as obvious as some screaming televangelist on a big screen. Yet because they are more insidious, they are far more dangerous. They threaten to render the worship and witness of the Church utterly meaningless. As the writings of Paul help us to understand the danger posed by the flashy false apostle, there are Scriptures which help us to understand the danger of these other forms of corruption. Because the worship of the Church is now at stake, one helpful set of Scriptures is found in Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-18, Luke 19:45-48 and John 2:13-22. These Scriptures all describe Jesus Christ entering the Jewish temple, whose chief business was to be the worship and service of God, and how He bodily threw out the moneychangers and those who sold animals for Temple sacrifices.

Why did the Lord get violent here? Because these moneychangers were not present in the Temple for the purpose of worship. Judging from their actions, they probably did not even believe in the God of the Bible. Rather, they had turned the service of the Temple away from the worship of God. That service had, instead, been made into a means of making the moneychangers rich. A study of Jewish history of this period shows how these moneychangers and sellers of animals worked in concert with the Jewish priesthood to disqualify worshipers from using their own animals for Temple sacrifices, forcing worshipers instead to pay exorbitant prices for “kosher” animals – animals approved by the priests and the moneychangers. It was a racket, and it discouraged the true worship of God.

It is the premise of my next few posts that secular moneychangers are now mediating the worship, culture and art of the Church, not for the glory of God, but simply to make a few corporations rich. I will explore the effect these moneychangers are having on actual worship services, as well as their effects on our music. I will discuss the train wreck that Christian literature has now become. I will also mention the constant efforts by the “Christian” media to manufacture stars who have wide-ranging appeal and marketability. I will mention how secular media corporations are moving beyond needing “Christian” subdivisions, and how this will accelerate the Church's slide into irrelevance. I will also mention how what has happened to Christian media is what is also happening in the broader secular culture, namely, a move away from a free culture of limited copyright and relatively free exchange of ideas and information, and a move toward a “permission culture” in which all exchanges of information must be accompanied by payment of royalties to a holder of copyright, which is usually a large multinational corporation. I will point out how of all who should be alarmed at this shift, the Church has been among the last to notice (indeed, we may still be asleep).

But lest anyone think I believe the situation to be hopeless, I will also propose remedies. Stay tuned...