LET…. MY…. PEOPLE…. GO !!

Chapter thirty-three

When your colleagues turn on you for speaking Bible truth to your congregations in an effort to set them free from the religion you imposed on them – believe me, they most certainly will! – remember the words of your Lord and Saviour and Teacher and Rewarder, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” Yes, rejection hurts. You may be startled to discover just how paper-thin is fellowship that is based on “commandments of men”.

PART THREE of an imaginary sermon delivered to an imaginary congregation Jesus warned against love-of-money. (Jesus: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”) Money buys things and money buys prestige and money buys power. And love-of-money swells proportionately to love of things, prestige and power. Love-of-money can make honest men thieves. I know, because that is what I had become – a thief, an embezzler, a racketeer.

And you were my victims.

I say again that we are all good at what we do, and I became expert at prying money from your wallets and purses to be deposited into my supervision. The more I collected the more I wanted. The more I wanted the more devious I became at twisting God’s Bible to justify collections that the Bible never endorsed. Love-of-money blinds the lover of money; he simply cannot see the embezzler he has become.

It was love-of-money that created the evangelical tithe. The teaching that God wants evangelicals to blindly entrust a tenth of their income to a local church is false. More than false it is fiendish. More than fiendish it is theft. Is there a Bible precedent for surrendering a tenth of your income to a salaried pastor (or to anyone)? Did Jesus endorse such a practice? Did Paul or any other New Testament writer? Check it out for yourselves. Come to your own definite yes or no conclusion.

Jesus (Mat. 6:21): “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” I embezzled more than your money, much more. I devalued the most precious possession you have – your relationship with Jesus. That relationship was weakened every sunday morning when you surrendered a substantial portion of your income to a religious thief.

Read Matthew 6:21 again and again until you really get it. The Amplified says it this way: “Where your treasure is, there your heart [your wishes, your desires, that on which your life centers] will be also.” One of life’s treasures is your income that cost you so much of life to attain. When you surrendered a portion of that income to me you surrendered a portion of your heart to me and the religion I represent.

Your heart follows your treasure.

I taught you that giving to me was giving to God. In fact, giving to me was giving to me and giving to yourselves. This beautiful church is financed by you for you. Also you pay me to care for you and do the work Lord Jesus called you to do. I was never worthy of a salary. The Bible you and I claim to honor does not speak of one salaried christian. Not one. Contributions, yes; salaries, no.

Love-of-money and the power it purchased had captured my loyalty. Money, not Jesus, had long ago become my “first love”. As the pressure to meet financial commitments increased and my need to fulfill my religious ambitions soared, the more time I spent strategizing how to get more of your money. I thought I was being responsible, but no, I was being driven by a lust for money. Again, love-of-money blinds lovers of money.

Successful salesmen have learned that enthusiasm increases sales, and pastors have learned that enthusiasm increases collections. There cannot be the slightest hint of pessimism. A good salesman sells himself first, and after capturing the potential buyer’s trust it is easier to sell his product. I used this powerful pulpit to likewise capture your trust and after gaining your loyalty it was easy to sell my adopted religion.

I was a skilled profiteer. I knew how to exploit your need for acceptance. That need incrementally increased as I incrementally drew you further and further from the comforting reality of Christ’s acceptance. The warmth that I doused over each of you was proportional to your donations. I was adept at making the chintzy nervous – and thus less chintzy – by withdrawing my warmth. I held much leverage over you, and was skilled at applying it.

I learned many years ago to always collect your money after praise and worship. That’s when hearts are softened. The more passionate the worship onto Jesus, the more successful the collection. And to prompt your generosity I quoted a Scripture or two that suggest God will enrich your finances to the degree you give.

Never, never, never did I suggest you ask Lord Jesus for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as to where to direct your generosity. You may have

thoughts of financing an evangelist or directing your givings toward third world outdoor crusades or supporting one of many worthwhile ministries. Can’t have that. “We are a team”, I often exhorted. “We can do more together.”

To put it as bluntly as possible, I was a man-appointed shepherd that fleeced Christ’s sheep. I used my position and experience and my genius to embezzle you. I was a heartless control freak and you were my prey.

Not encouraging you to be Spirit-led in your givings is teaching you to not be Spirit-led. Drawing you away from dependence on the Holy Spirit is drawing you away from the One who sent Him to you. Allowing yourself to be managed by me was detrimental to your relationship with Jesus. You can’t have two lords. You can’t have two shepherds. If Jesus is not lord of your finances He is not Lord, not completely, not even mostly. Can you see that?

I suggest you open your own bank account. Call it a Jesus Account. Into this account “let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” You may decide to give a little each day. A little every day equals a lot in a month or a year. From this account dispense only as the Holy Spirit guides.

You may find this difficult – you have always allowed others to allocate your money – but this you must learn. If you do not learn you will “suffer loss”, eternal loss.“The Spirit of truth” will guide those who welcome His guidance.

You have been coerced by me and others to forfeit the governance of the Holy Spirit, not only in money matters but in every aspect of your christianity. To be free from man and man’s religion you must repent of exchanging the lordship of Christ for the lordship of man. (The lordship of man is only a small step away from man-worship.)

And now my brothers- and sisters-in-Christ, I have an announcement to make. As of today I am no longer the pastor of this assembly. I ask you to never again call me Pastor or any other appellation. I have renounced all false authority. I release you from the atrocious stronghold I had fashioned on your christianity. I recently applied to myself that reprimand God spoke to wicked Pharaoh, through Moses, thousands of years ago: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.”

It is not God you are serving. How can anyone who calls a brother Pastor assume they are serving “that great Shepherd of the sheep”, the Lord Jesus?Serving God is obeying God. Serving man is obeying man. I urged you to walk lockstep with each other so that I could better control you. I strongly insinuated that serving me and the religion that credentialed me was serving God. My precious brothers and sisters, that’s catholicism!

Because I have sincerely repented of my betrayal to Jesus Christ I therefore….

I therefore break that cursed stronghold I have had over your christianity in the name of Jesus Christ! I set you, Christ’s beloved saints, free to serve Christ! I renounce all ungodly leverage. I declare myself to be what I am…. your equal. Not above and not beneath. but equal. I renounce all prestige that I have illicitly garnered from this assembly and past assemblies. I have shredded the seminary diploma I once highly valued. I disavow all false denominational authority over my christianity. I commit myself solely and exclusively to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

I repent of all the money I have taken from this assembly through my non-biblical salary (the amount which I always kept secret). I should have worked at secular employment to provide for my family. I repent of a christianity so unlike that of Paul. I will never again sell my christian service.

(Part 4 is chapter 35)

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Before telling of Richard’s vision of the judgment seat of Christ, I will tell of Richard….

Richard was my elder brother-in-christ. No, not an institutional church elder, but the real thing. We spent many hours walking and talking, talking and walking. He loved the Lord and was captivated by the Bible. Richard was seasoned, serious and sincere, and this brother affected my christianity more than all other friends combined. One day Richard had a vision of the judgment seat of Christ. This is his story….

The Judgment Seat of Christ

by Richard Crocker

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good of bad.(KJV)

A Vision

I was at the Evangel Tabernacle one Sunday about fifteen years ago, in the old church on Bertram Street, listening to a guest speaker. This speaker was exhorting the people to use the gift of tongues to press into God. He reasoned that if we ignored what many consider the least of the gifts, the gift of tongues, how could we expect God to give us any of the greater gifts. It made sense. I took this message home with me and prayed in the spirit with new fervor.

Suddenly I was thrust out into another dimension. I was given a vision. This vision is not what I expected a vision to be in the sense that it did not leave me feeling joyous. On the contrary, it upset me to the point where I became ill and remained so for days.

I was shown the Judgment Seat of Christ.

A great multitude of Christians were bowed low on their knees facing Christ who was seated on the judgment seat. Each was dressed in a white robe. Each had his face hidden, almost touching the floor. A sea of white robes. None could look up. None could face their Judge. It reminded me of the verse, “[only] the pure in heart… shall see God (Mat.5:8)”.

In my vision of the Judgment Seat of Christ Jesus was grieved. Deeply grieved. Perhaps it was grief mixed with disappointment. Or grief mixed with anger. Of this I am certain – the Judge was not pleased.

This was the day that these Christians were to receive rewards for their obedience on earth. Jesus ached to give His beloved many precious rewards, the rewards that a Christian was meant to receive on this day “when each one of us will give an account (Rom.14:12).” But Jesus could not give them out. He ached to, but he could not. His justice would not allow it.

Three times Jesus spoke, “I told you not to do it! I told you not to do it! I told you not to do it!” Jesus was emphasizing the “I”. It was like He was saying, “Yes, I know you heard many voices saying different things. But I, Me, the Eternal One, I told you not to do it!”

What was it that Jesus told them not to do? What command had they disobeyed? The Spirit gave the answer, bringing to the mind the words

of Jesus in Matthew 6:19: “DO NOT LAY UP TREASURES ON EARTH.”

There was silence. No one had anything to say. Not one could look up.

“He shall suffer loss (1Cor.3:15).” That is what these saints were now suffering: loss. They would be eternally poorer than what they could have been. If only they would have been obedient during their life on earth, how differently this scene would be. But they forfeited their rewards for earthly gain. They had not looked upon the unseen (treasures in heaven) with the eye of faith, but that which they could see (worldly treasures) with the eye of the flesh. They had hungered for the temporal, the passing, the useless. And now they were in deep remorse, embarrassed in the presence of their righteous Judge.

Oh, what agony. Oh, what remorse. Oh, what losses.

I do not believe that for every Christian the day of accountability will be the day of remorse. Certainly not. For some of it will be a time of great rejoicing whereby their cups will be overflowing with praise and joy and thanksgiving. Their rich rewards will never fade away. They will hear their Master say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” But this is the vision I saw, nothing added, nothing deleted. This was the vision of the Judgment Seat of Christ that God chose to give me that day about fifteen years ago. Do with it what you will.

(To be continued)