Chuch Leaders - Called or Collared

It's amazing the kind of things people do when they are afraid.  The most intelligent person will do anything if they decide to act from a place of fear.  Look at what is happening in Zimbabwe for example.  People are falling prey to so called christian prophets who come in the name of God and heal in the name of Jesus.  Miracles are promised of healing, of wealth and abundance beyond believe.   People are told they can make money beyond their wildest imagination and if they ever dreamt of owning a house bigger than Chiyangwa's then they will do whatever it takes to get it.  They will pray day and night, tithe like never before and they will go to church everyday of the week just so when the abundance spirit comes they won't be missed.  A bit like the man the well waiting 38 years to be healed.  There are enough verses to keep people holding on and to keep coming back for more.  There are enough verses to make people convinced enough that God will only give them if they do the right thing but most importantly if they do it they right way.

But there is a catch.  The catch being that they have to have faith.  If they are not getting their dreams realised then they are not praying hard enough and their faith is not strong enough.  They can't get if they forgot to tithe 10% from the $20 they got from their niece
when she came to visit.  God will punish them by keeping them poor.  Their children will go with less and less while they give more and more to God and his disciples, the Church Leaders.  The giving to God turns into a massive competition and people lose themselves in the bid to out-give the other.  

Some churches even now have sitting places for their highest givers.  These people have special sits so all can see these wonderful children of God who are giving more and therefore have to be put on display in church for all to see.  They are used as examples of God's grace on them because they are such givers.  Their lives are said to be better and brighter than the rest of the congregation because they give more.  Everyone is told that they get more because they give more to the church. 

This approach to God which looks at his love as being as conditional as our own has driven many to even end up becoming thieves so they too can be praised in public.  By thieves I am not talking about robbers of money.  I am talking about people who steal.  It could be pick-pocketing, over charging, swindling money from people, using power to take money illegally of people (e.g. road blocks) and from stories some are even prepared to steal other people's lives in the bid to get rich.  These acts of robbery at that are done just so we get a little richer and then on Sunday turn up and pay our ten percent in such a public way is what is giving praise to others.  When the cash is put in a collection box it's not going to look different depending on how it was acquired.  No else will know in that church how that money came to be.  Frankly the church leaders don't seem to care either as long as they have enough to feed themselves and afford looks as expensive as their parishioner who is director in some large multinational.

Every Sunday the preaching will centre on pretty much the same theme.  You reap what you saw.  We all know that if you plant a few seeds you harvest a bag full in the right conditions.  Droughts can come too and so can epidemics that can affect our plants and sometimes we can reap nothing.  We accept that as God's way.  That unfortunately is not acceptable in today's churches.  Losing your wealth is akin to falling from grace.  God decided to punish you for your misdeeds and you have to repent.  Repent by giving more to God as way of saying sorry and if you apologise in the right way at the right time God will give you back all that you lost.  Didn't he do that for Jacob.  The only thing that's never mentioned is that Job was not being punished for anything when he lost all he had.  And God didn't cause it either, He just let it happen.

These church leaders who are said be God's representatives and are believed to be annointed by Him make it difficult for people to question their authority.  They are supposed to be called by God to do his work.  But is it not possible to be collared without being called?  How do you know someone is called or annointed and how do you prove it?  Do you have to prove it or are you supposed to just have faith that your church leader will be kind to you and your soul and that they won't take advantage of fears and leave you in fear of hell every second of your life.  Trust is such an honour to be given by someone but church leaders seem to take it as their priveledge and right.  You can't question them because it would be akin to questioning God and you can't disagree with their message because it is coming from God.  If you are a true believer you should just agree and if you have a questioning nature then it's the devil making you doubt God.  It has nothing to do with you wanting to understand better.  Its even worse if you have a different understanding of God's message, then you need to be exorcised before it's too late.  In the end you either conform, keep quiet or change church.  But which ever way you choose, you are doomed.  Doomed by church.  

What is amazing in all this is that we don't want to accept that at most the bible is very cryptic.  We hear what we hear at various times from the passages we read depending on who we are and where we are with our lives.  Its really very personal and very individual as is our relationship with God.  No one can tell the other what God is saying to them because they don't and can't know.  At times too we hear what we want to hear and sometimes we need to do that for ourselves.  Sometimes we need to be awakened to the truth which is why we go to church and meet as congregations.  Other times we need to hear other people's thoughts and ideas and also what they hear God saying to them because it might help us on our journey.  But the one thing we all can't claim to know is why God gives others one thing and not all of our.  We can't claim to know what system of giving or denying God uses because we don't know.  

Church leaders need to realise like teachers they yield a lot of power and theirs is even stronger because they are 'anointed' and therefore meant to be holy.  Abuse of power amounts to stealing.  Stealing someone's peace of mind.  Stealing someone's ability to make decisions according to their circumstances.  Stealing someone's chance do things differently because they might just become next  week's target for the Sunday sermon.  Even stealing someone's chance to give their 'tithe' in the manor they think their God is telling them to use it.  Mostly stealing someone's ability to believe in themselves and their chance to know that they too are anointed.