A Twisted Crown of Thorns ®

There was a time when Christians rejoiced when they read the newspapers and heard of great things that God was doing in far away lands. Things like missionaries giving thanks that despite being in constant threat from the wild beasts and hostile cannibal tribes lives were being changed by the gospel. God was doing mighty things through his divine providence and supplying all their needs and despite the present troubles they were waxing stronger and bolder for the cause of the gospel till the work is done. It seems such courage and zeal for the things of God has been long forgotten. The supposed men of God these days hardly break into a sweat carrying a Bible, let alone preach from it.  The name of the game is ‘Get rich or die trying.’

With mega churches at every street corner, the age of the celebrity pastor has seen many entrapped by flitting cares of this world. But wait, at what cost have mega churches been living large? This week one mega church had its laundry washed out in public. Even the world found this kind of opulent living repurgnant.

Property owned by Living Word Christian Center has gone into foreclosure, according to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s office. On July 28, four parcels of land owned by the Brooklyn Park mega-church was bought at a sheriff’s sale for $5.1 million. Pastor Mac Hammond, who preaches a “prosperity gospel,” has been plagued by financial problems over the last few years. The church took millions from a man who was later convicted of fraud, and the IRS opened an investigation into the church’s finances stemming from favorable financial dealings between the church and Hammond….

In early 2008, the church began to fall behind on its budget by $40,000 to $70,000, prompting Hammond to sell off his jet and forcing the church to cut its hour-long television broadcast to a half hour.

In May, the church was served with papers demanding the return of $2.2 million in money it received from Gerard Cellette, who had been convicted of fraud. Cellette ran a Ponzi scheme and lawyers for the victims were attempting to collect the money from Living Word for remuneration.

The church said in a statement in May that it felt it shouldn’t have to give the money back to the victims because of its status as a church….It’s not the first time the church has invoked religious privilege following questions about its finances. ~Minnesota Independent

I am in mourning. No not because they are being foreclosed.  Nor because the pastor is losing his beloved Gulf steam jet. I am mourning because here was a church that was commissioned to preach the gospel of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ but again they seemed to have settled for a superficial scheme to have their best lives now. The name of Christ has come to great shame. Who knows Minnesota could become another burnt over district of false converts. A district that then waxes  cold and hard hearted to the gospel.

Such people usually become apostate and seven times harder to reach. For they “tried it and it did’t work” when they gave their money to God so as to become richer.  Mourn with me Minnesota. Mourn and pray that the Lord of the harvest shall send to you labourers who will see that the day is far gone and the fields are white and ready for harvest. Mourn that the gospel shall be preached one more time on your streets and from the remaining church houses to your public houses.

Gone with the wind are the days of Adoniram Judson (one of America’s first missionaries) who wrote this letter to his father-in-law to be.  To ask him  for his beloved daughter’s hand  in marriage:

I have not to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next Spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of Him who left His heavenly home and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing immortal souls, for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God? –To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson

Mourn for the perishing souls of Minnesota.