Scripture condoning wealth for preachers, ministers, lay people?

Question

A friend of mine thinks that people like Joyce Meyer are wrong because clergy is supposed to be poor like Jesus? Is he right? I know there is scripture that addresses wealth in both directions. Please send me examples to help me help him see that people and deliverers of the world don't have to be poor.

Specific verse references, please

I agree Joyce is good, but she is currently under investigation (with other clergy) for excessive wealth and money mismanagement.

I agree Joyce is good, but she is currently under investigation (with other clergy) for excessive wealth and money mismanagement.

Answer 1

There is nothing wrong with money it is the love of money that is the root of all evil Now there is something wrong with a good many of the televangelist because most are merely fakes that are doing it for money.

Rent or buy the movie Marjoe and you see how money can attract fakes. Marjoe at least exposed himself to force himself to stop taking advantage of people and deceiving them.


One segment of the movie he is feeling bad about deceiving people and said he wished he could stop but when the movie comes out he will stop because he would have no choice then. That is why he made the movie.

It is an old movie but well worth watching.
BB

Answer 2

The better question is this:
Are there any verses that support the position that clergy are supposed to be poor like Jesus?

The answer is no.

According to scriptures, riches come from God. I take that to be both physical and spiritual.

As for me, I am far from rich, but that was my choice. I hate money. I only want what I need. If I had more, I would use it to benefit those whose lives are a constant shipwreck.

I know a couple right now, that have minimum skill sets, and are always fighting the wolf at the door, and if I had more money than rent and food, I would be sending them to a trade school or jr. college to get more skill sets. That would also mean that I would have to support them while they were in training to take over their life.

I would love to know that I would never have to look poverty in the face, but that would require more investments than I have. I have to be satisfied knowing that it is God that provides riches and that He will take care of me, as He has always done.

grace2u

Answer 3

Friend, Any Ministers that God sends to preach his word will never beg for money, & also this Joyce Meyers is a woman & God has NEVER sent a women to preach his word. Eph. 4:11-17 speaks of the 5 different calling in the ministry, & all is in the masculine term. If God sends a person then God will make a way for that person, God does not need to beg, God owns everything anyway. So those begging preachers is not in God's will. My pastor went around this earth 4 times preaching in his 50 plus yrs, as a preacer, & not one time did he have to beg for money, It was all paid by people like me paying their tithes. Nor do we pass an offering plate around, we have a little slot in the wall for people to put their tithes in.

Answer 4

Your friend is right,she should be aware where did the money of the clergy,ministers came because many are "greedy dogs" according to Isa 56:11,they make their own path for self satisfaction.I know a preacher that your friend want to meet.visit www.angdatingdaan.org

Answer 5

Jesus Christ was as poor as Joyce Meyers, Benny Hinn, the European Pope (Popemobile, jet to travel around the world, marble palaces), Marcus Lamb, John Hagee, Jan Crouch, Oral Roberts, and Rod Parsley.

Old Testament: Rich people included Job, Abraham, Joseph, etc.

New Testament: Rich people included Jesus Christ aka Joyce Meyers.

Jesus Christ told stories about good servants who made a profit. Jesus Christ was also extraordinarily harsh against servants who failed to generate a profit, as in, Jesus would send those unprofitable servants to hell, so to speak, or if they were a fig tree, cuss them out so they died.

Poverty is hell.

I've been rich and I've been poor and rich is better.

- Familiar saying

Jesus Christ was God so think ownership of real estate (mansions), streets of gold, and kingdom gates made of large pearls aka heaven and the one and only grant deed to whole universe.

(The Bible: Book of Revelation)

Jesus Christ wants you to be prosperous (middle class or better), not take a vow of poverty and starve to death.

Answer 6

Poverty is a curse, religions like catholicism has taught otherwise and this is not biblical. The bible says that God has pleasure in the prosperity of His saints, prosperity meaning both spiritual and physical.

When we have enough then we can give to the poor and those in need, we cannot help if we don't have. Jesus said that give and it shall be given to you........ He would not have told us to give something we don't have.

With money we can spread the gospel far and wide, without it we are limited in preaching the good news and helping out in disasters like the tsunami.

Answer 7

Is Joyce that rich? No, it is about how we handle money and what it means to us. Abraham was rich, so was Solomon. God doesn't have a problem with wealth. It is our attitude.Joyce Meyers does a lot of Good work. I have seen her ministry in action in India.

Answer 8

There are crooks in every profession. Greedy people try to get rich any way they can. Fools and their money is going to be parted, if not by one then someone else.
If you are smart you will invest wisely and have enough when you need it.
The goons who collect money on false promise, may be serving the fools by taking their money.
I do not like religious priest, gurus, or Mullaa who collect money for themselves, or for causes that make others suffer..

Answer 9

1 Timothy 6:17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

1 Timothy 5:17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain," and, "The laborer deserves his wages."

Answer 10

No, it's not a sin to be rich, nor to be poor, either, and neither is clergy supposed to be poor, like Jesus, as you said. However, there are many pitfalls in having wealth, and scripture rightly warns us of them.

Scripture enjoins us to 'provide for honest things, in the sight of God and man' (II Cor. 8:21) and this has always been my guide. Also, Jesus said 'how hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Mrk 10:24) and I have to say that Christians are not immune to the temptations of using money and worldly things wrongly.

For, all these things - money, luxuries, fast cars and material abundance (which, I have to say, many of the 'prosperity' preachers rejoice in) are things of the world and, as such, tend to make a 'worldly Christian'. There are many of these kinds nowadays, who do not like the preaching of the cross but prefer to have their 'ears tickled' with this new doctrine of prosperity. It is not difficult to see where the money is going.

I do not say that some of these evangelists do not do some good works - like orphanages and such - but, look at their lavish lifestyles and ask yourself, are they not taking too much for themselves and just skimming off the 'froth' for the needy? Does this really witness to the world of our Saviour; are they like him in any way in this matter, he who should be the model for our walk? Are they not rather the model of worldliness and pleasures of the flesh, which is at emnity with our Gospel?

I like Philophilus' answer, that money should be, for us Christians, an opportunity to give to the needy and that we should let very little of it 'stick to our fingers' as some do. Money has a way of insinuating itself into the heart and it is not many people who can handle it in a godly manner and that is why, for many of us, it is better not to have the problem of wealth, lest our heart move away from its centre in Christ.

The problem with Joyce Meyer is not just her personal lifestyle, but rather her doctrine. Jesus said 'beware the leaven of the pharisees and sadducees ... meaning their doctrine' and this does far more damage than anything else since, as I mentioned earlier, it is entirely at odds with the cross-life and the essence of the Gospel. How do you reconcile 'take up your cross and follow me' with the self-indulgent lifestyle many of these 'prosperity gospellers' have and endorse for us, too?

Mt 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

Mt 16:12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.