LAST Thursday, the Commissioner of Charities made known to the public a good initiative introducing measures of accountability and transparency in the report, 'Watchdog finds four areas for improvements'.
accountability and transparency should be for all and sundry - not only the charity sector. watchdogs like CASE, PTC or CCS should also not have `double' standards and appear selective in choosing targets or seem to `protect' big business profits and interests more than the ordinary man in the street.
why do you think they're called "servant leaders"? to be a leader, you first need to serve. whatever is offered is a love offering. i don't mean that religious leaders should live in the slums, but certainly, as far as christian ones are concerned, the rule is to depend on God and God alone, just as any other christian is commanded so to do.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6)
i think the believers giving to the mega churches know about their church's spending. how not know when they have expensive buildings, professional sound systems, high definition cameras and the like? how can they not know if their pastors live in high class condominiums (as reported in ST before, one pastor couple lived in a well renovated condo unit with a private lobby) and drive expensive cars?
Maybe the wife of the pastor earns more than the pastor himself and is contributing more to the housing??? Maybe the expensive cars they drive are bought by the pastor's wife who is earning more???
Maybe we even got misunderstood that the "pastor singer " title given to her is out of our own will and she has never admitted to the acceptance, after she got famous....may be we are referring to the same person/couple.
Where does it say in the Bible that Pastors and Christians have to be poor? If so, where would that leave Abraham, or, Solomon whose wealth exceeds that of Bill Gates? And how can you bless, unless you first have? Or do you just say, "I'll pray for you" when what the poor man needs is a new fishing boat to feed his family. Poverty is defined in the Bible as a curse, not a blessing. Otherwise, heaven would not have streets (made) of gold (not paved with gold). And if it were holy to be poor, then heaven would have a lot of poor angels and God would be dressed in rags. God is not poor. He owns the universe and every precious stone and His desire is to save and to bless.
September 19, 2008 Friday, 02:19 AM
