The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ that started about 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem was the first ever recorded Mega-Church in the 2,000 years of Christianity, Church history or Church existence on earth since the ascension of Jesus Christ from mount Olivet. The Church of Jerusalem recorded one-day membership growth of about 3,000 new converts at its onset according to the account of Book of the Acts of the Apostles 2:41:"Then they that gladly received his word (gospel of Jesus Christ) were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls."
This Church in Jerusalem continued to grow daily and in membership through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ only as it can be seen again in Book of the Acts of the Apostles 4:4:"Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand." This Church even expanded more and more im membership as it is recorded again in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles 6:6a-6b:"in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied".
This early Church in Jerusalem was unique and totally different from the Mega-Churches of our 21st century human universe in terms of its entire operations for a number of reasons:(i) The Apostles in charge of this Church focused primarily on the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ (word and prayer) and never on materialism. (ii) This Church did not own any known money-making businesses at all. (iii) This Church did not collect any mandatory tithes from its members. (iv) The members of this Church practiced voluntary givings as the way they gave. This Church met the daily needs of its poor members. (v) The leaders of this Church (Apostles) were not super-rich and did not own businesses, did not set up businesses, did not start businesses or controlled businesses and controlled the Church incomes or finances personally or for their own personal uses. (vi) This Church did not also preached the today's popular prosperity gospel that promises health and wealth for every Christian who tithe mandatorily, give offerings regularly, have faith in God and do positive confessions as a way of life.
The Mega-Churches of today are light years away from this biblical pattern that is in the Book of the Acts of Apostles. The Pastors and Bishops of the 21st century Mega-Churches act as the "CEOs" and use "secular business and ponzi scheme tactics" instead of the "sound biblical principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ" to grow their congregations in terms of money, materialism and membership. Many mega-churches now own music studios, publishing houses, schools, universities, computer graphic design suites and their own record labels, daily radio talk shows, satellite networks and special effects 3-D Web sites that offer videos-on-demand.
The pastors and bishops of today's mega-churches are super-rich, drive the most luxurious automobiles, live and own mansions, fly in their own private jets, eat the best, wear the best, vacation in the best holiday resorts around the world, enjoy tax-free and unregulated incomes, own fat bank accounts and big businesses that are highly profitable. In the United States at the moment, the prosperity gospel is now a $3 billion yearly business that is left unregulated and as well as tax-free.
No comments:
Post a Comment