Upon this rock, I will
build my church, and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it. - Jesus
A few years ago, I remember
reading the legal notices in my local paper, which was
listing the names of state corporations that were declared by
the Governor to be delinquent in complying with their annual
charter reports, and therefore, no longer in existence.
Included in those names was "The Body of Christ,
Inc.", and I marveled that the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ had ceased to exist by a declaration of the Governor.
Oh, I know. It was the
incorporation of a certain visible and local congregation
that disappeared, not the "spiritual" Body of
Christ. That spiritual body is the sum of individuals who
confess their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. If
Christ is the Lord and Savior of the individual Christian,
why can He not be the Lord and Savior of a collective body of
Christians, as well? That is what the issue of incorporating
churches is all about: Is Jesus any less Lord of the whole as
He is of the parts? Many believers would never think of
asking the state for permission to become Christians, or to
carry on with their Chrisitan walk. They would rightly
recognized such a requirement as a blasphemous abridgement of
God's sovereignty. Yet, they do not hesitate to consult the
state when they do anything collectively, like organizing and
operating a local church.
Now, I only have the Wyoming
State Constitution and corporate statutes before me.
Nevertheless, from the reports I get from sources abroad, the
corporate status of the church in Wyoming is not dissimilar
from most other states.
The state has assumed the
right to judge in church disputes, to settle points of
doctrine, declare a church not a church, reverse
excommunications, decide pastoral appointments, and to
regulate, control, prohibit, permit anything and everything
and incorporated church does. That the state does not
intervene frequently is the virtue of self-restraint and the
fear of public opinion, not the lack of jurisdiction
That jurisdiction is acquired
when a church is incorporated. The state assumes the status
of creator to that body and thereby acquires sovereignty.
Since the state does not acknowledge the Lordship of Christ,
by point of definition. It is apostate. Church officers of an
incorporated church are agents of an infidel soverieng, not
the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The societies we call
"churches" in the United States are not the
embassies of the Kingdom of Christ, but merely religious
social clubs. We have a civil religion, not a Biblical
religion. We have a church whose creed is Public Policy, not
the Word of God.
There are two kinds of
churches forming in America. There is the compromised and
state-controlled church which enjoys all the trappings of
religious freedom and social acceptance; and then there is
the true church, the Bride of Christ, which is now tolerated,
but is increasingly coming under attack and will soon be
forced underground.
The matter of incorporation is
not one of idle curiosity. Christianity is a religion of
confession, confessing the corporal reality of Christ and His
Lordship. Incorporation is the denial of that confession. If
you are a member or an officer of an incorporated church, you
will be forced to make a decision in a few years: either to
compromise and serve Baal, or to leave and serve Christ.
- James Stivers
Next is a more current piece
on how this status corrupts what the Church teaches about
money:
Modern Churchianity requires Christians
to disobey the Bible in how they handle their money.
But when thou
doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right
hand doeth.
- Matthew 6:3
God’s Word
requires that His people pay tithes and offerings. This
is one of the ways that a redeemed people show their
gratitude to God and finance His work in the earth. Because
they are required, it is appropriate to refer to them as
God’s taxes.
The recipient
of the tithes and offerings has changed over the years.
At one time, they were paid to the Old Testament priests and
Levites. In New Testament times, they were paid
presumably to the five-fold ministry of apostles, prophets,
evangelists, teachers, and pastors (Ephesians 4:11-12).
In the Early Church, they were paid to the bishops of the
local churches, who were considered the successors of the
apostles (Didache 15:1-2). In modern times, the local
pastor is generally looked upon as the church’s
spiritual leader and a successor to the apostles as a
representative of Christ to the community. For this
reason, he is considered as the primary recipient of the
tithes and offerings.
The first
striking contrast between the standards of God’s Word
and the practice of modern Churchianity is that of
accountability. In the Bible, while the tithe is
required, there is no provision for recording it. There
were no reports, no bookkeepers, and no records.
Now, Israel was
not so backward that it did not know how to engage in
commerce. There was bookkeeping for private business.
We have archeological evidence to show that ancient Israel
was a sophisticated culture in terms of trade, business, and
property. It’s just that when it came to the
Lord’s work, no records were kept.
To explain this
anomaly, recall that the numbering of the people – that
is, taking a census of the population - was forbidden to Israel’s
leaders (Exodus 30:12; 2 Samuel 24:2; 1 Chronicles 21:1). The
violation of this obscure law was considered an infringement
on God’s sovereignty. This fact may explain why
there was no record keeping of the tithes and offerings paid
to God. God reserved to Himself the prerogative of
enforcing this law and punishing those who disobeyed. Only
He has the omniscience to know whether the worshipper has
cheated Him or not and to judge justly.
As one Bible
scholar of the Reformed tradition has explained it,
Scripture is
silent in regard to which human agency has the power to force
payment of God’s Levitical or Social taxes. It is silent
in this regard, because Scripture does not acknowledge any
human agency has such power. The Word of God does not
give any human agency the power to force
compliance to God’s laws of taxation, because whoever
claims such power is virtually claiming to be as God on
earth.
-
Tithing & Dominion, R. J. Rushdoony, p. 135
Had God left to
man the responsibility of recording and enforcing these laws,
it would have led to deception, statistical trickery, and
fraud. Human authorities would have had to make
frequent inspections of a man’s property, his harvests,
and his books to determine whether the tithes were accurately
paid. In other words, it would have produced a
bureaucracy and all the evils associated with it that we see
today. God never intended for human authorities to have
this kind of power; for it leads to tyranny.
During the time
of Christ, the practice of keeping track of tithes and
offerings was blasted by Him in numerous rebukes. His
discourse on almsgiving in the Sermon on the Mount is an
example of His teachings, where He taught us to do it in
secret (Matthew 6:4). In His day, the Pharisees were
trafficking in religion. That is why He overturned the
tables of the moneychangers in the Temple. Remember, He often
directed His rebukes to “the scribes and
Pharisees” (Matthew 23). The scribes were
bookkeepers.
Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe . . .
And have
omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment,
Mercy and
faith:
v. 23
But that was
not all. The Pharisees measured their worth according
to a merit/demerit system. It was a works religion in
which everything was reduced to a monetary valuation. Their
pompous displays at the Temple treasury were done to make
sure their giving was properly recorded and publicized.
Jesus commanded His disciples not to let your right hand know
what your left hand is doing. In other words, Jesus
did not want His people to keep monetary records for the
Church. And thus, in the earliest Church we do not
find church clerks which kept track of these things.
As we approach
the Middle Ages, however, the Church had become closely
aligned with the State. The records of Church finances
became a State concern and the Church leadership found a new
way of generating income: penance and indulgences.
The Bible
teaches the principle of restitution and the doctrine of
penance began as a valid form of restitution. But over
time, the merit/demerit idea overtook Christian theology.
Sin became viewed as a debit requiring a credit to balance it
out if the believer ever hoped to make it to Heaven. Thus,
a new works religion emerged in the Church which provided a
way for people to buy their way into Heaven.
Indulgences
were worse and finally led to Martin Luther’s revolt
against the Church. Indulgences were like vouchers that
could be bought to excuse the sinner for the sins which he
might be contemplating in the future. It produced
widespread corruption as murderers, rapists, and all kinds of
criminals paid for their sins in advance and received
absolution before ever committing them!
The Protestant
Reformers continuously resisted the notion of works religion
and sought the simplicity of the New Testament Church. Tithes
and offerings were paid directly to their spiritual leaders
without fanfare and without records being kept. That
practice continued until the 20th Century, when
once again, charitable giving became a State concern.
With the
passage of the federal income tax and tax deductions for
charitable giving, churches sought to encourage giving by
acquiring tax exempt status. Once again, the scribe
appeared in the church. No longer gifts of love
and gratitude, the tithes and offerings became a calculated
economic decision. The Church became a business and
most churches incorporated themselves so that they could be
run like businesses. And thus, we have the modern
spectacle of Churchianity trafficking for gain in the name of
Christ.