The church needs to keep watch over the church!
I have been reading about various ministries that have fallen under investigation. Congress has stepped in to police charges of ministry corruption. I believe Congress needs to back away from this role. This is church business.
We do not live in Hitler's Germany. This is not Red China. We should not hand the church over to government by any means. Unless we want to live in Stalin land, we need to protest calling on our government to kick in doors and ask questions.
The members of any church should pay close attention to what is happening. They should care about how ministry leaders spend money. If a pastor lives extravagantly and abuses church funds, it is up to those God places as overseers to confront the misuse of church income. If the overseers look the other way, members need to unite and confront those in leadership positions. If they continue to neglect their charge, remove them from office.
Imagine the early church calling upon King Herod to police corruption in the body. The Apostle Paul did not ask Caesar to clean up the church in Corinth. Paul dealt with the church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The world does not understand the church. If most worldly leaders saw legitimate church mission organizations spending offering money, they would say, "Why are they wasting money that way?"
God did not call upon government to police the church's activities. Men and women of God are responsible for the governance of the church. Unless what is happening is a violation of law, the church is responsible for cleaning up the church's house. If individuals or groups have violated the law, then we need legal intervention.
We must be careful here, too. Some are claiming that preaching certain Bible passages is a hate crime. For government to intervene in what people preach in the house of God and from the Word of God is extremely dangerous. Locking pastors up for delivering clear biblical exposition is what they do in North Korea. Do we really want to Gestapo the church?
Romans feeding Christians to lions seemed right in the eyes of government at the time. If that is not proof that we cannot trust the government to do the right thing with the church, I do not know what is. If there is any validity to separation of church and state, it is that the state need not persecute the body of Christ. Rome stands in ruins and the church continues to breathe! Figure out the math.
This is America, land of the free and home of the brave. We claim America for God. Faith in God makes this land strong. It is the land of the Great Awakening. If all we had were politicians, lawyers, judges, secular humanists, conservationists, environmentalists, news people, movie stars, athletes and other worldly types, this nation would collapse. Our nation would begin to stink. There would be no salt. Christians, according to Jesus, are the salt of the earth. Let government take us out and this place would rot to the heavens.
"But we just want to help," says the politician. How can people walking in the dark help the ecclesia? What possible improvements can Congress make to God's house?
The church has a way to deal with sin. It is not calling the local news and exposing the person. It is not sending a message to Congress for help. We go to the person and try to deal with the wrongdoing one on one. If that is to no avail, we get another brother or sister in Christ and go to the wrongdoer.
If the person doing wrong refuses to repent and make things right, we take it to the church body. If that does not go anywhere, we relieve the person of his or her position. The church deals with church issues.
I love my country. I love it because the church has a say in how we run the government. I love it because we afford the church great freedom.
God and His assigned leaders are the ones who should deal with church matters!
Wayne Harris
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