Skip the Sideshow and Enter the Big Tent

I have been trying to gather info on the Jewish feast offerings, because my church is promoting Steve Munsey’s “seven blessings” craziness. The idea is that you give your church a pile of money on Passover, Shavuot, and Yom Kippur, and God gives you seven blessings as a result.

So far, only one Jewish source I’ve contacted has responded. I leave it to him to identify himself in the comments. The Jewish law concerning offerings and feasts is very complex, and it would be pointless for me to try to learn all of it and try to explain it, but I can give you the highlights, with considerably more authority than the “seven blessings” guys.

1. Gentiles did not take part in Passover, Shavuot, or Yom Kippur.

2. Munsey relies on Deuteronomy 16:16-17 to justify asking for money, but that passage refers to “gifts,” and it means things like excess livestock, not cash.

3. It is unlawful to bring produce (fruit, grain, etcetera) tithes or firstfruits as offerings, if they come from outside Israel.

The New Testament teaches us that we are not required to obey the Jewish law. It also says that if we rely on part of it, we have to practice all of it in order to be saved. Clearly, we are not doing that. Steve Munsey can’t even get the holidays right; he confused Yom Kippur with Sukkot. There was no gathering of Jews on Yom Kippur. It makes no sense to try to put us under the law, and even if it did, it would make no sense to do it incorrectly.

I have heard other Christian teachers talking about this kind of thing. Larry Huch is famous for it. He says we should wear prayer shawls and have shabbat dinners and so on. Totally wrong. The New Testament makes it clear that we obey the Holy Spirit, not the Jewish law. Paul rebuked Peter–a Jew–for pretending to follow the Jewish law and for trying to make Gentiles follow it. What more does a Christian need to know?

Jews believe our ideas are completely wrong, yet even they agree that we are not required to live under their law. If the Jewish law says Gentiles don’t have to obey the Jewish law, why on earth would we want to live under it? To pretend to live under it is to ignore it!

My church is also telling people to pay “God” (the church) before paying their electricity and car bills. I asked my Jewish source about this, and here is what I was told: “[I]t’s utterly inappropriate to donate if one has debts. That’s using the property of others. Better to pay off a debt than to bring an optional offering. This refers to unsecured debts. Someone who carries a balance on his credit card has no business making donations.”

This is exactly what I figured. If you take money you owe Macy’s and give it to your church, Macy’s should get God’s blessing.

Why be so critical of this silly teaching? So what if people want to give money to their churches? Won’t God bless them for it, even if they’re wrong? Won’t it be a blessing to others? Won’t it go to the poor and to good causes?

First of all, I don’t think God will bless you for giving stupidly, especially when the truth is easy to learn. Jesus told us he approved of people who searched the scriptures to test the teachings they heard, and the Bible is full of examples of well-meaning people who were punished for trying to please God in the wrong ways. See Saul and Uzzah. Second, if your church is teaching craziness, is it really a good thing to endorse and facilitate it? Third, a church that teaches greed-based doctrine is not too likely to use its money in ways that please God. I would not count on seeing your misguided donations reach good causes.

Those are comparatively trivial concerns, though. The main reason to criticize is that this nonsense distracts people from God’s power and help. The only way you’re going to get help from God is to pray, a LOT. Daily. This is the single most important thing you do. Everything else flows from it. If people believe they’re pleasing God by funding Steve Munsey, what motivation will they have to pray and humble themselves and get to know God? None. In fact, in their minds, the wrongheaded things they do will justify living apart from God and ignoring his commands. As long as you make your pointless offerings, you can go to the clubs, fornicate, smoke weed, and live it up, because God is going to make you rich!

Jesus told us misguided leaders would not only miss the point; they would prevent others from finding the way. That’s what the church has been doing since about 300 A.D. God wants us to get baptized with the Spirit, pray, and be transformed. The church wants us to do everything BUT.

The old churches told us we were not smart enough to read the word and deal with God personally, so we had to go through priests and saints. The Protestant churches told us we were to sit around suffering and losing until we died, and that God wouldn’t do much for us, and that it would be made up to us in heaven. The charismatic churches teach us God wants us to have perfect lives here on earth, and that it all revolves around money. This stuff isn’t “second best.” It’s not even acceptable. It comes from Satan himself. God wants us to know him personally and to live by faith, with his power and character flowing through us into the world. This other nonsense prevents us from living that way. It cripples the body of Christ. It’s not a small problem. It’s THE problem. Churches are actively blocking people from becoming what God wants them to be.

I don’t participate in the wacky offerings. My faith keeps increasing, supernaturally. My life gets better and better. My character keeps improving. I get more and more answers to prayer. I spend more time in prayer every month. I am healthy. I have no debt, except for the debt I owe God. I have no mortgage, and the properties I stand to inherit have no mortgages. It seems to me that my way works, and that it came from God. Meanwhile, my church has crushing debts, internal strife, and plenty of godly people who are looking for other churches. I believe the evidence shows that what I believe is better than the “seven blessings” mess. I got it for nothing. I do give, but the real giving was done 2,000 years ago. That’s when the price was paid.

If you’re a charismatic, look around you. I promise you, you know people who give to ministries and still fail financially. What does that tell you about the empty promises of the TBN preachers? I know someone who gave a great deal and ended up destitute. Maybe instead of giving money to Kenneth Copeland, she should have paid off her gigantic student loan, which she ignored. I wonder what Kenneth Copeland’s phone operators would say if she called and told them she was indigent. My guess: they would not offer to send her a check.

The body of Christ must surely be like any other body. Surely it expects its parts to obey the brain. If you’re not in line with the will of Jesus, why would you expect him to make you strong? If you had an arm that did as it pleased, and you knew you could grow another one, you’d have the first arm amputated. You wouldn’t look for ways to increase the blood supply.

I guess it seems like I do nothing but criticize, but so much is being lost, and there is no good reason for it. The land of milk and honey is right in front of us, but we persist in walking in circles, in a dry place where nothing satisfies. Our leaders are like the ten spies who kept the Jews out of Canaan. They have no faith, so they can’t teach faith to anyone else. And they have no vision. When there is no vision, the people perish. Proverbs 29:18.

People think I’m not a team player. That’s a huge lie. I’m on the Holy Spirit’s team. The other day I realized God is the only authority I’ve ever been able to trust and to give myself to without reservation. If you’re waiting to exhale, God is what you need. But if you follow him, powerful men who don’t know him will argue with you for the rest of your life. Fortunately, they will lose.

Everyone else can sit on the deck of the Titanic and listen to the band. I’m going to stay in the lifeboat. I may be a fool, but I know the difference between salvation and doom.