Saturday, March 7, 2009

Excesses in the Message by Rodney Howard Browne

God’s servants should be blessed according to the
scripture. He takes pleasure in the prosperity of His
servants and those who labor in the Word should be
worthy of double honor. But instead of being moderate,
many parade themselves like Hollywood stars, flying
around in corporate jets, indulging in lavish lifestyles.

Now I have no problem with a ministry that is in
demand having a plane. But there is so much waste in
many ministries with giant mailing lists and crises letters,
fleecing the Body of Christ, using every available
gimmick from anointing oil to holy water. I personally
think those days are over in the Body of Christ.

The tithe should go to the local church and the
local churches should get behind the traveling missionary
or evangelist. This would solve many of the excesses that
have arisen in the Body of Christ.

Some ministers have adopted the erroneous
modus operandi of “find a need and fill it” which has
given birth to giant Ishmaels in the Body of Christ. They
will forever speak of man’s ability to dream and create,
but that does not mean it was instituted by God.

The Clash of the Titans

The battle has been for many years between
pastors and evangelists fighting for their piece of the pie.
In many instances, it revolves around money. How many
times I’ve left a church knowing that I was ripped off in
the offerings. They played Ananias and Sapphira with me
and kept back part of the offerings, telling me there were
a lot of expenses.

Instead of going for a full-out revival, and
working together as one powerful force for God, the
evangelist and the pastor are working against each other.
In many instances the evangelist is ripped off and says
nothing. Or he goes para-church and begins his own
crusades, at least knowing that the expenses were his.
Then he is shocked to find the extra money is there to pay
the expenses and move ahead in the ministry.

Many are critical of evangelists and make them
out to be money-grabbing charlatans. Yet in some cases,
they were forced to resort to questionable tactics in order
to survive.

Rodney Howard Browne feels that God has called them to teach the body of Christ, by example, how to create an atmosphere in the church, through the worship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so that the presence of God can be made welcome and so that He can touch His children as He sees fit. Jesus said that if He is lifted up then He would draw all men unto Himself. Our job is to lift Him up and not be ashamed of the Word of God or the Spirit of God.

Read more Rodney Howard Browne and the Revival Ministries on his other websites and blogs:

Rodney Howard Browne on Blog
Rodney Howard Browne on LiveJournal
Rodney Howard Browne on Friendster
Rodney Howard-Browne on Facebook
Rodney Howard-Browne on InsaneJournal

Posted by Rodney Howard Browne at 04:52:43 | Permalink | No Comments »