And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. - 2Peter 2: 3 (KJV)
It is time for Ronnie Floyd to step down from ministry. The head of the Southern Baptist Convention is no longer fit for the position he holds or to minister to the sheep of God. It is time in these last days to call a wolf a wolf. It is time to stop singing Kumbaya with people who are not in this for the Lord. People who represent the hucksters Paul warned us about. People who make merchandise of the Gospel and of the sheep. In a blog post this week to Baptist pastors, Floyd instructed his preachers to abuse the sheep before the year is out. Make sure you hammer them repeatedly over the head until they pay up. Bad economy? Who cares! Recession and joblessness? Not our problem! Bills piling up, no medical insurance and the mortgage in jeopardy? Hey only one way to rebuke that devourer! Give me your money money money. In Jesus name of course. Disgustingly, here is the blog post:
"The key question we [pastors] need to ask [church members] repeatedly: As you review and understand clearly ALL of your sources of income in 2014, have you honored God by giving at least the first one-tenth to your local church? If you have not, then insure you do so before December 31 so that you can know you have walked in complete obedience to God in 2014 in relationship to biblical stewardship. Write each member a letter and extend the challenge to answer this key question: As you review and understand clearly ALL of your sources of income in 2014, have you honored God by giving at least the first one-tenth to your local church? Weekly, as you extend the offering, ask them to answer the key question above.
This at Christmas time no less. Give us your money or you're not walking obedience to God! Send them a letter no less! Harass them every week at offering time! Only three weeks left to get right with God! Otherwise you can kiss 2015 goodbye! Now this is not unsurprising since Floyd is an adherent to the Robert Morris Heretical Cursed Money teaching. Morris is the charlatan from Gateway Church in Texas who is the tithing hitman on the seeker friendly circuit. Whenever a pastor wants to guilt his members into giving more, he brings Morris in as a guest speaker. Morris believes and teaches that if you do not give your first ten percent of income, before you do so much as buy a pack of gum, God will curse the remaining 90%. I kid you not. If you have medical bills - too bad - pay me! If you are backed up on the rent - too bad - pay me! If you do not pay me, then the remaining 90% is cursed anyway. A more disgusting false teaching there is not out there regarding giving. I do not want to rehash the entire tithing argument here. I have written extensively about it on my website and recently finished a book as well. The only argument I will restate here is to remind us all what people like Ronnie Floyd are really doing spiritually to those they enforce tithing upon. I want you to read this next set of verses and wherever you see the word "circumcision"; replace it with "tithing." This is from Paul's letter to the Church at Galatia. One of the problems they were having is they were being infiltrated by a group known as the Judaizers. This group was trying to mix a portion of the old law into the new grace. Specifically they were saying circumcision was also required for salvation. When Paul addresses this below he is not speaking solely about circumcision but about anything from the law. Let us read:
Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. - Galatians 5: 1-6 (ESV)
Beloved, if you accept tithing then Christ is no longer of any advantage to you. Once you insist on keeping one part of the law you are required to keep all of it. You become severed from Christ who took the law - including tithing - and nailed it to the cross! Pastors who enforce tithing are spiritually making their sheep fall away from grace. They are spiritually severing their sheep from Christ and rendering Him of no advantage to them. How spiritually criminal! Now I know that many tithe defenders will try and say that it is not compulsory but look here at the blog post from the head of the Southern Baptist Convention! Look at the instructions given! Can you seriously tell me that when you threaten sheep to be "out of obedience with God" that you are not enforcing a compulsory system? Can you say that with a straight face? This is the New Testament model for giving:
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. - 2Corinthians 9: 6-7 (ESV)
Not under compulsion! To enforce tithing is to make your sheep violate this Scripture. Do not fall for the lies beloved. Do not fall prey to the hucksters. If you find a church that does not compromise the Gospel then you have found the best source for your money anyway. You should pray with the Spirit and decide what you will cheerfully give into the ministry. God loves a cheerful giver. We are bound by the universal principle of sowing and reaping but to have people in the pulpit abuse the sheep and threaten them is a violation of their calling.
Our key verse makes things abundantly clear. This is Peter warning about the false teachers we see today like Robert Morris and Ronnie Floyd. Re-read the blog post and keep these words in mind - through covetousness with feigned words shall they make merchandise of you. Beloved make no mistake about it. If your pastor is telling you that you have to give him your first ten percent before you even pay your bills you can rest assured that through covetousness with feigned words he is trying to make merchandise of you. If you are getting letters pressuring you into giving you can rest assured that through that through covetousness with feigned words he is trying to make merchandise of you.
Two final thoughts. I have heard people say that "tithing works" for them. No it does not. It cannot or God is a liar. We are not driven by our own personal observations but by the truth of the Word of God. If Jesus nailed tithing to the cross, it cannot work for you. What is working for you is the fact that you are probably relatively obedient and you are giving in nature. Two things that God will bless. Just stop confusing that with "tithing." Secondly, before you are tempted to think the call for someone like Floyd to step down is too harsh for the crime I seriously think it is time that we start calling crooks what they are. I am sure that Floyd and Morris have preached perfectly redeemable sermons. I can live with the fact that they might even be swell guys. Does it matter when they are pickpocketing you? When they are rifling through the pockets of the sheep of God? Spreading lies to the sheep about not being in obedience and informally threatening them with such? Can you ever imagine saying, "I know he held a gun to my head and robbed me but he told me a very motivational story along the way. I like him." Why then would you essentially say something so absurd about someone charged to protect the sheep of God? How low have we set the bar for pastoral qualifications? That someone who abuses the sheep, robs them, and instructs others to as well is the head of the Southern Baptist Convention. How truly sad. It gives me no joy to say it but the sheep have to be more important. The kingdom has to be more important. Ronnie Floyd disqualified himself.
Rev. Anthony.
