Post by robertskynner on Nov 30, 2013 14:17:04 GMT -6
I can't seem to post text posts as new threads! Here is my post, is there any chance that you could post it for me
Robert
Jesus, Tithing and Communism!
There is a surprising link between the teaching of Jesus Christ and the Communist collective as advocated by both Karl Marx and Leon Trotsky, namely that each of them placed power within the hands of a collective and are opposed to rule by a single man. Furthermore, whilst Communism regards mankind as born inherently good, so that according to them, only the debasing influence of capitalistic forces corrupts young people. The Bible, on the other hand regards mankind as born inherently sinful, which is known as the Christian doctrine of original sin (Psalm 51:5, Romans 5:19). So both Christianity as well as the Communism of Marx and Trotsky will agree that power ought to be held only in the hands of a corporate body of trusted men.
Now, in examining Communist ideology, it's strange that the children of faithful communists, who were born without any corruption and then grew up in a 'glorious' communist state such as the present day North Korea, would then become corrupt. After all there is only so much which you can blame on the power of the CIA and the other supposed capitalist pigs! Wouldn't it make sense for the most enlightened communist in North Korea to be the leader, Kim Il Un himself, he being the third in the line of effective Communist Kings. Now of course this is not true, for recent communist leaders seem to be amongst the most evil and the corrupt in world history, rivalled only by the Nazi's and the very worst of the Roman Emperors such as Nero!
It is for this reason that those on the extreme left are forever attending and organising endless committees and other dull meetings, as power in the hands of a committee is the only real alternative to one-man-rule by Tyrants such as Mao, Stalin and the North Korean Kims! I recall a humorous British TV comedy series from the 1970's; 'Citizen Smith' which summed up situation this very well. Mr Smith also known as Citizen Smith, or 'Woolfie,' was a member of a lunatic Communist collective of about only four people in the middle-class South London borough of Tooting, which had the intention of taking over the entire British state by a mass revolution of the people. But being a Trotskyite Communist, he was also in favour of collectivisation and rule by committee, rather than one-man autocratic rule. However, in every episode, Wooflie Smith always ended up steamrollering the other three member of his communist committee and then bullying his comrades. So Woolfie Smith always ended up as a 'little-Stalin' himself, who never practised what he preached, which was the humour of this series.
Now as I recall these episodes, I'm drawn to the similarities between Communism and Christianity. For God expressly warned Israel not to ask him for a King, as these Kings would then abuse their power over the people (1st Samuel 8:5-19). Nevertheless, Israel completely ignored God's advice, by demanding from him a King and then they consequently got precisely what God had warned them about. Thus, in contradistinction, in the New Testament, each congregation was to be ruled by a plurality of male elders (1st Timothy 5:17) and never by a single man. Paul always used the plural with regard to appointing elders (Titus 1:5 re Acts 14:23). So the modern evangelical tradition of having a single pastor in charge of a congregation is not Scriptural, in fact the word 'pastor' is only used once and it refers to a gift, and not to a title or an office. So any elder who does his job well qualifies as a pastor (Ephesians 4:8-12). There are several reasons why God has ordained that congregations are to be ruled by a plurality of elders, each of whom always have equal authority.
One reason for the necessity of corporate male leadership within a Church, is that a man submitting to another single man is the underlying basis of the homosexual act, thus God has instead ordained that men and women within a congregation are only to submit to a corporate body of elders and never to one man with the fancy title of; 'priest' or 'pastor.' I am of course not attempting to argue that a Baptist pastor or an Anglican priest, by nature of his religious title, is thereby promoting homosexuality or the gay lifestyle within a congregation! Please do not misquote me. However, what I am pointing out that that what we are seeing today in some of the worst evangelical Churches and particularly within the Black American Evangelical Churches, is the pastor as a single dominant Alpha-male leader who possesses most or all of the power and who also lives entirely off the tithes as his own private thiefdom. Now gradually, over time, he then evolves into an Alpha male who must bully the other weaker males within that congregation into submission, in order to maintain his own superior rank, status and especially his right as the exclusive benefactor of the church tithes.
In fact I've heard of several pastors, particularly mega-Church and African American pastors, who now act just like the Alpha-male lions within a pack, by dominating and subjugating the other less dominant males within that pride of lions. It is for this reason, knowing that the pastor will attempt to completely dominate their lives, that so many African American men refuse to attend Church despite their wives frequent pleas. For if a couple are experiencing marriage difficulties and even if the woman is mostly to blame, pastors have so brainwashed so many evangelical woman today, that the woman's attitude towards her non-Church attending husband will be; 'let's both go and receive counselling from the pastor.' The counselling will usually involve the pastor attempting to exercise his control and domination over that husband, by attempting to make him 'humble,' to 'pay his tithe' and to effectively recognise the pastor as both his moral and intellectual superior, thereby effectively making the pastor the third member of that marriage partnership and the one who'll exercise the most control over the other two. None of this is scriptural and any real man, would want absolutely nothing to so with such an evil and unbiblical system of control, which is why so many African American men now loath the institutional Black Evangelical Church system.
Finally and amazingly, some pastors are themselves uneducated and completely lack moral integrity, so one has to ask why on earth would you want anything to do with men of such low moral principles who seek to demand a tithe from you and then control your marriage and private life. Let me demonstrate this by examining the lives for two famous multi-millionaire preachers; Bishop Eddie Long and Dr Creflo Dollar, both of whom live in the lap of luxury, with mansions, many expensive cars and in Creflo Dollar's case a $30 Million Gulf Stream jet for his exclusive and private use! However, both lack any real university level education and both have unaccredited diploma mill fake doctorate degrees, which they've simply purchased for a few thousand dollars. Creflo Dollar worked as a sales representative for the Ford motor company in the 1980's but was fired for expense irregularities (he's a thief). Eddie Long's church has recently paid millions of dollars in an out of court settlement, to silence four young men whom Eddie groomed from about the age of twelve or thirteen with holidays, gifts and presents until they reached the age of consent when sex was legal and so Eddie Long then had sex with them. Now a fifth young man is taking Eddie Long to court, requiring yet another out of court settlement. Now whilst I am not trying to argue that all preachers are like this, the fact is that some are and much of this abuse would be halted if only congregations were run by a plurality of unpaid elders.
Robert
Jesus, Tithing and Communism!
There is a surprising link between the teaching of Jesus Christ and the Communist collective as advocated by both Karl Marx and Leon Trotsky, namely that each of them placed power within the hands of a collective and are opposed to rule by a single man. Furthermore, whilst Communism regards mankind as born inherently good, so that according to them, only the debasing influence of capitalistic forces corrupts young people. The Bible, on the other hand regards mankind as born inherently sinful, which is known as the Christian doctrine of original sin (Psalm 51:5, Romans 5:19). So both Christianity as well as the Communism of Marx and Trotsky will agree that power ought to be held only in the hands of a corporate body of trusted men.
Now, in examining Communist ideology, it's strange that the children of faithful communists, who were born without any corruption and then grew up in a 'glorious' communist state such as the present day North Korea, would then become corrupt. After all there is only so much which you can blame on the power of the CIA and the other supposed capitalist pigs! Wouldn't it make sense for the most enlightened communist in North Korea to be the leader, Kim Il Un himself, he being the third in the line of effective Communist Kings. Now of course this is not true, for recent communist leaders seem to be amongst the most evil and the corrupt in world history, rivalled only by the Nazi's and the very worst of the Roman Emperors such as Nero!
It is for this reason that those on the extreme left are forever attending and organising endless committees and other dull meetings, as power in the hands of a committee is the only real alternative to one-man-rule by Tyrants such as Mao, Stalin and the North Korean Kims! I recall a humorous British TV comedy series from the 1970's; 'Citizen Smith' which summed up situation this very well. Mr Smith also known as Citizen Smith, or 'Woolfie,' was a member of a lunatic Communist collective of about only four people in the middle-class South London borough of Tooting, which had the intention of taking over the entire British state by a mass revolution of the people. But being a Trotskyite Communist, he was also in favour of collectivisation and rule by committee, rather than one-man autocratic rule. However, in every episode, Wooflie Smith always ended up steamrollering the other three member of his communist committee and then bullying his comrades. So Woolfie Smith always ended up as a 'little-Stalin' himself, who never practised what he preached, which was the humour of this series.
Now as I recall these episodes, I'm drawn to the similarities between Communism and Christianity. For God expressly warned Israel not to ask him for a King, as these Kings would then abuse their power over the people (1st Samuel 8:5-19). Nevertheless, Israel completely ignored God's advice, by demanding from him a King and then they consequently got precisely what God had warned them about. Thus, in contradistinction, in the New Testament, each congregation was to be ruled by a plurality of male elders (1st Timothy 5:17) and never by a single man. Paul always used the plural with regard to appointing elders (Titus 1:5 re Acts 14:23). So the modern evangelical tradition of having a single pastor in charge of a congregation is not Scriptural, in fact the word 'pastor' is only used once and it refers to a gift, and not to a title or an office. So any elder who does his job well qualifies as a pastor (Ephesians 4:8-12). There are several reasons why God has ordained that congregations are to be ruled by a plurality of elders, each of whom always have equal authority.
One reason for the necessity of corporate male leadership within a Church, is that a man submitting to another single man is the underlying basis of the homosexual act, thus God has instead ordained that men and women within a congregation are only to submit to a corporate body of elders and never to one man with the fancy title of; 'priest' or 'pastor.' I am of course not attempting to argue that a Baptist pastor or an Anglican priest, by nature of his religious title, is thereby promoting homosexuality or the gay lifestyle within a congregation! Please do not misquote me. However, what I am pointing out that that what we are seeing today in some of the worst evangelical Churches and particularly within the Black American Evangelical Churches, is the pastor as a single dominant Alpha-male leader who possesses most or all of the power and who also lives entirely off the tithes as his own private thiefdom. Now gradually, over time, he then evolves into an Alpha male who must bully the other weaker males within that congregation into submission, in order to maintain his own superior rank, status and especially his right as the exclusive benefactor of the church tithes.
In fact I've heard of several pastors, particularly mega-Church and African American pastors, who now act just like the Alpha-male lions within a pack, by dominating and subjugating the other less dominant males within that pride of lions. It is for this reason, knowing that the pastor will attempt to completely dominate their lives, that so many African American men refuse to attend Church despite their wives frequent pleas. For if a couple are experiencing marriage difficulties and even if the woman is mostly to blame, pastors have so brainwashed so many evangelical woman today, that the woman's attitude towards her non-Church attending husband will be; 'let's both go and receive counselling from the pastor.' The counselling will usually involve the pastor attempting to exercise his control and domination over that husband, by attempting to make him 'humble,' to 'pay his tithe' and to effectively recognise the pastor as both his moral and intellectual superior, thereby effectively making the pastor the third member of that marriage partnership and the one who'll exercise the most control over the other two. None of this is scriptural and any real man, would want absolutely nothing to so with such an evil and unbiblical system of control, which is why so many African American men now loath the institutional Black Evangelical Church system.
Finally and amazingly, some pastors are themselves uneducated and completely lack moral integrity, so one has to ask why on earth would you want anything to do with men of such low moral principles who seek to demand a tithe from you and then control your marriage and private life. Let me demonstrate this by examining the lives for two famous multi-millionaire preachers; Bishop Eddie Long and Dr Creflo Dollar, both of whom live in the lap of luxury, with mansions, many expensive cars and in Creflo Dollar's case a $30 Million Gulf Stream jet for his exclusive and private use! However, both lack any real university level education and both have unaccredited diploma mill fake doctorate degrees, which they've simply purchased for a few thousand dollars. Creflo Dollar worked as a sales representative for the Ford motor company in the 1980's but was fired for expense irregularities (he's a thief). Eddie Long's church has recently paid millions of dollars in an out of court settlement, to silence four young men whom Eddie groomed from about the age of twelve or thirteen with holidays, gifts and presents until they reached the age of consent when sex was legal and so Eddie Long then had sex with them. Now a fifth young man is taking Eddie Long to court, requiring yet another out of court settlement. Now whilst I am not trying to argue that all preachers are like this, the fact is that some are and much of this abuse would be halted if only congregations were run by a plurality of unpaid elders.