This post may anger some and it is well that they should get angry.
Many Black Churches in the South where I live, and I am speaking of large congregational churches, are not paying preachers and guest preachers fair wages for services rendered. And that is a shame before God.
Anybody or any institution that calls themselves Christian should be about fairness, righteousness and obedience to God’s command. But instead, many of them are stingy misers and unfair paymasters who are always preaching about giving into their ministries and into their own pockets while robbing other servants of YHVH. GOD IS NOT PLEASED and NEITHER AM I!
GOD Instructs All Believers To Financially Take Care Of His Man Servant Who Labors Faithfully In TEACHING/PREACHING GOD’S WORD and DOCTRINE.
Galatians 6:6 says, “Let him who hears the word share all good things with him who preaches to him.”
And 1 Corinthians 9:14 say, “In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.”
And 1 Timothy 5:17 says, “The elders (Male Leaders) who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.”
Now I ask you, who in their right mind, thinks that $100.00 or $125.00 is fair wages for a preacher to receive after ministering the WORD of GOD to a congregation of 100, 150, 200 or 400 souls?
Which one of you think that $100.00 or $125.00, as Galatians 6:6 puts it, is a “A good thing?”
How many of you would like for your sons to spend hours studying and preparing and then laboring just to receive “chump change?”
If a preacher preached every weekend and received only $125.00 per weekend, he could not pay his mortgage or rent. Yet, 1 Corinthians 9:14 instruct him to receive his living from the Gospel. How can he comply with this command when the ones he must serve are sabotaging him and undervaluing his service and ultimately undervaluing the WORD of GOD that was sent to them through him by FATHER YHVH?
GOD IS NOT PLEASED WITH THIS AND NEITHER AM I.
Many Black preachers know what I am saying to be true but will not stand up on the TRUTH and say anything about it. They have been indoctrinated to believe the lie that says it is their place to remain “humble” and accept whatever chump change that the congregations or churches decides to give them. And some of the Black churches praise the preachers who accept such meager offerings. They praise them instead of paying them. And the ones who accept such empty praises are doing a disservice to God, the Word of God and to their fellow servants.
Well, I can’t pay my bills with praises and they who offer such praises don’t work on their jobs just for praises and insignificant salaries.
Many of these well able churches and congregations who pay their preachers and guest preachers trifling salaries aren’t aware that they are robbing GOD and that they cannot be truly blessed by God nor have the Spirit of God abiding in them. THE WORD SAYS SO. And I am making it known so that they might repent and future servants might receive what God commands of the congregation to give.
Malachi 3:8-10 says, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house.”
And 1 John 3:17 says, “Whoever has worldly possessions and sees his brother who has a need and withholds his compassion from him, how is the love of God in him?”
Malachi 3:8-10 is the most preached scripture in the Bible yet no one seems to realize that God is admonishing the congregation to provide for his priests who serve in the temple and who have no inheritance to the land. He is not telling the congregation to pay tithes and offerings for the sake of the modern-day institutional church. God is telling the believing congregation to pay the priests so that there will be meat (resources and sustenance) in His House.
Furthermore, 1 John 3:17 points out that it is every born again saint’s obligation to share their worldly possessions and wealth with other saints of God as they see their brothers and sister in need. How much more does this apply to the Man of God?
This is why I say that those who treat the Chosen, Sent and Anointed laborers of the KINGDOM of GOD in such a disrespectful and shameful manner as to undervalue our service and undermine our ability to support ourselves and our families, are cursed and the Spirit of God does not reside with them.
GOD is a God of generosity and love. He is not stingy nor cheap.
Now that I have exposed some of the shameful hypocrisies and practices of some of the well established and well able Black Christian congregations and churches in the South, maybe some of my fellow slaves of Christ will be better treated and supported as some congregations and churches repent of their backwards thinking and stingy behavior.
After this article, I don’t suspect that I will be called upon to preach anywhere but it was never about me. It is always about the righteousness of the Kingdom of God and obedience to the leading of His HOLY SPIRIT.
May YHVH always be glorified and His TRUTH Proclaimed Faithfully and Boldly with Passion, Power and Purpose.
God can’t use no coward soldier!
Copyright © Othealor W. Prince 2016
All Rights Reserved
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!