If i were to say to my kids, “tonight, we’re going to skip dinner so that mommy and daddy can save up for a house”, do you think that i could be reported to child affairs? I guess the same goes with how our churches operate. They neglect the immediate needs of their fellowship so they can fulfill the future goals. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with these visions and goals per se, but why have we neglected the immediate needs of our fellowship? You can’t nutritionalize and keep your family healthy by living on a vision. Visions and goals are good and all but let’s face it, i’m not skipping my dinners to fulfill them.
One of the bad doctrines that stem out of “The pursuit of Goals” is the enforcement of tithing. Many leaders call their church to follow in their footsteps as they are being led by the Spirit to build. This raises much suspicion because the people must give by a mandated law to a cause that claims to be inspired by the Spirit. But how can the Spirit give a commission on building expensive structures, without the ability to commission potential givers? Can you see how using the law to fund the call of the Spirit obstructs the spirit of discernment? This is how cults are formed and people are deceived. All someone has to do is say, i had a vision from God, and now you should support this vision, no questions asked.
Let’s have some accountability with our visions and our giving. If the Spirit is prompting the pastor to purchase a nicer complex, then i believe the Spirit should be the entity that prompts the support as well. If a pastor knows that our giving is open to discernment, he’ll probably think twice before he neglects the needy to feed the vision.
Jared Brian is the author of www.tithing.com. There are over 300 articles written on research and reviews about tithing information.
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