Your Help Is Needed

In my musings, ramblings, bashings, thrashing, and jousting with windmills I found myself longing for something practical, touchable, perhaps even real. It's not hard to read this blog and discover that I find little, maybe nothing from my church past that is endearing to me. I don't mean the people stuff, I mean the system stuff. Good things have happened, miraculous things have happened but they were invariably in spite of rather than because of the system of churchianity that I was "saved" into.

I'm looking at finances in the kingdom these days and I'm appalled at the prevailing mindsets of sucking the life out of God's people to erect an edifice of brick and mortar, whose only purpose is to make a name for someone's ego. I'm thoroughly tired of people thinking they need to line themselves up to look at the back of their friend's head and proposing that this is the life in the kingdom that Yeshua died to give us. And then I run into these following two contrasts of how we are to handle finances in the kingdom. Enough of my little rant you can decide for yourself what message seems more like what Yeshua would want for you.

I have a friend who's been a traveling evangelist for years and is now starting a church about 30 minutes from me in a small town. Here's something he posted on Facebook.

Just received a pledge for $250.00 for chairs. Only 35 more to go! This will be the only time that members of ***** church will be allowed to sit with no action!! Souls, Souls, Souls. We will then get off our seats and hit the streets!


This next fragment of a letter comes from a financial letter that I subscribe to.

But first, and far more important, is the tragedy that is unfolding in Haiti. Long-time readers know that several times a year I mention in this letter my very good friend Walt Ratterman, who volunteers his time going all over the world to install solar-power systems for hospitals and clinics, along with other relief efforts. My readers have been very generous over the years to Knightsbridge and their relief efforts. Walt and other members of Knightsbridge literally go into places where if they were caught by the government they would simply be shot (as in Burma). In Afghanistan, before our troops went in, the Taliban put a very hefty price on his head as he brought food and medicine to the northern tribes. Pakistan, Sudan, Darfur, Sri Lanka after the tsunami, in rebel-held territory, to bring medicine when no one else could get through - the hell-holes of the world. He and I talk frequently about the wisdom of taking such risks, and he cheerfully replies that someone has to. There are people dying.

Back to me. I know Haiti has captured the world's attention with a devastation that leaves us all dumbfounded. And I hear from people all over the world living in impoverished situations that we wouldn't tolerate for our dogs, saying let's help Haiti. But even while people rally around Haiti, I am aware of the fact that 17,000 kids die of hunger/malnutrition every day. Because this devastation is spread out all over the world, it is easy to adopt the "out of sight/out of mind" philosophy.

It's not that churches have not fulfilled the kingdom mandate of equality, it is that Christians choose every week to give to themselves, thinking God in heaven must be thoroughly impressed with our worship of 3 songs, a prayer and a story.