There is a woman that I see occasionally at McDonald’s and we have some pretty lively discussions about religion in America. Sometimes she will laughingly remark that she hopes I brought my boxing gloves, because we disagree on many issues.
Once she told me she had been looking for a good church. She visited one that had several thousand members, and she remarked, “They must have something right, because they wouldn’t have so many members, true?” She loves to see what I’ll say.
“Not necessarily,” I said. “Truth isn’t found in the crowds, unless Jesus is there. Kierkegaard said that the crowd will always lead you in the wrong direction, that the crowd is the opposite of truth.” Then I went on about how any great speaker or musician can draw a crowd, and that they need not be spiritual-minded at all. I told her that this is why we must have spiritual discernment, and listen carefully to what leaders are saying, so we will know if it goes against the teachings of Christ.
This same woman told me one day that she visited a church on a Wednesday night, and a fantastic charismatic speaker came, and talked about giving being the key to our blessings. He raised more than fifty thousand dollars that night in a small church by persuading each person to give at least a thousand dollars in order to be prospered by God. After counting the money, he said he wanted to come back on Sunday so more people could be blessed. The woman told me how wonderful she felt, and that she wished more people had been there to get their blessing. She often says that she thinks people are poor because they aren’t doing the right things.
I said that it made me angry that no one in leadership seems to be accountable for what they do with God’s money. She said that it didn’t matter to her as long as she was being obedient. I said, in that case, the next time she wanted a blessing she could just give me enough money to buy a new car. She looked at me in a strange way, as I said that people with money love to give to organizations, but they don’t enjoy giving to people.
I told her that it was no coincidence that the first four words Jesus spoke to the crowds were “Blessed are the poor.” I told her that the only one who got a blessing at that church she visited was the speaker, who twisted the gospel for his own personal gain. Corruption and greed is what I called it, and robbing the poor. I was livid because these silk-tongued con artists are making the poor even poorer. And then they dare to raise the question of who is robbing God!
I met another woman who told me that some people from her church often went out dancing at the local bar, and they persuaded her to come along. When she objected to it, they told her that Jesus wanted us to have fun. She decided to go dancing with them, and that is where she met a man who became an abusive force in her life for many years. She still regrets having listened to the crowd instead of following what she felt in her spirit.
That man set her house on fire before he left her, and it burned halfway to the ground. She has no money to repair it, and insurance won’t pay because it was arson. Her church rakes in a fortune and has never offered to help her repair her home which is freezing cold in the winter because of the damaged wiring. When she gets sick, no one calls or comes to visit her. She says once she saw her pastor open his wallet, and she was stunned by the sight of it, bulging with hundred dollar bills.
I am sorry if any of you are offended by what I’m saying, but I needed to speak my peace. I have learned not to be afraid to walk alone for what is true. If you party, the world will party with you, but if you pray, you will pray alone.
OLIVE TWIST ©2012
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