Originally Posted: 11/13/2004

I am so tired of hearing ministers sound like info commercial sales people. This deception has filtered into many churches and corrupted many ministers without them even knowing it has happened.

Many years ago, I heard a minister that I greatly respected, say that he had promised God that he would never beg for money in his ministry. Less than six months later, he had his assistants asking for money. Within a year, he was regularly asking for money. The deception was complete. While this person was a good man and minister, he was taken in by money. I personally think that that are close to him are as much responsible as him, as they apparently they did not stand up and tell him he was straying.

This is not to say that all fund raising is wrong, it is for all those that insinuate that your loved ones will get saved, you will receive your healing, your financial problems will be over or maybe you will be able to have faith you need in God if you just buy their book, video tapes, CDs or DVDs . Many of them claiming they received the message from God and wanted you to have it.

Ministers, it is time to quit taking and start giving! It is time to do the work and be servants to the body, not servants to self. What point is enough? It is time to nurture the Body of the Messiah and let the Body grow. Lookup the word "servant" and remember what God is asking ministers to be!

In churches today, we should be able to record and hand out all our praise and worship along with ministering series at "no charge". It costs a few pennies to make a CD, most churches can afford that!

Quit trying to sell Gods word and lets all start LIVING IT!

So, do you know ministers that are selling and not serving? If so, lets pray that God will open their eyes and free them from this bondage. While most of us can do nothing directly, our prayers can!