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Is Gain Evidence Of Godliness (1Tim. 6:5-6)?
Give until it hurts, and it will. Warning, warning, read this before you give any more of your money. You owe it to yourself to read the following Bible article before you blindly give away another penny to a religious organization or ministry. Do the math, if a sincerely wrong preacher and a dishonest preacher are both preaching and teaching wrong doctrines, the consequences are the same. The people in both congregations have nothing to gain doctrinally, because both congregations are being taught incorrectly. When Christians physically and/or financially support either of them, we are doing wrong, regardless of our sincerity (Rom. 16:17-18; Eph. 4:14; Col. 2:20; 1Tim. 4:1-9,13; Titus 2:7,10). Think about it, the sincere preacher's good intentions will not change his bad doctrines. He may be exceptionally moral, have a nice building for the meetings, have it furnished appropriately, faithfully pay the mortgage or rent on time, faithfully pay the utility bills on time, maintain the church building and grounds and only accept a reasonable salary and benefits. This is all very good stuff, which begs the question, "What is the problem?" The problem is the doctrinal errors. Christians should not compromise God's instructions for the Body of Christ today (2Tim. 2:15; 1Thess. 5:21). Remember, our service (correct preaching, teaching and evangelism) for God will be evaluated (1Cor. 3:9-15).
On the subject of dishonest preachers, during early morning and late night TV, you will find no shortage of health and wealth preachers (the name-it-and-claim-it types). This teaching is also known as the prosperity gospel. To support their health and wealth doctrines, they generally use out of context Bible verses, along with ridiculous and unsubstantiated claims and testimonials. They also sale their religious items (books, cds, dvds and various trinkets) for personal gain. Lately, some of them have included things like healthcare supplements, (pills, liquids and powders). Sadly, the line between God honoring Christianity and ungodly merchandising has definitely been blurred.
This health and prosperity movement has no official leadership, denominational structure or official doctrinal statement. Generally speaking, they teach that for you to be financially blessed by God, you must first give generously ( a seed-faith-offering) to those who preach this ungodly gospel. Similarly, a number of these crooked preachers and teachers claim that sickness generally or always is the result of sin and/or a lack of faith (giving$$$) on the part of the person who is ill.
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The secular counterpart to these religious frauds would be individuals like Bernard Madoff who wrongly made off" with money from lots people. Similarly, examples of religious fraud can be found in the news as well. More and more people are losing their life's savings, homes and sometimes their confidence in the Bible and God. This last loss is the most serious and the most preventable (1Cor. 2:15). The primary objective of religious frauds is to separate you from your money and other possessions. The favorite strategy used to separate you from your money in particular, is something that the dishonest preachers and the sincerely wrong "good preachers" have in common. They both, for different reasons, (one good and one bad) make regular appeals to you for tithes and offerings (e.g., love gifts, love offerings, seed-faith-offerings and to basically financially partner with them).
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There is hope for sincerely wrong "good preachers" (e.g., Acts 18:24-26). A "good preacher" (1Tim. 5:17-18) is worthy of necessary financial support and esteem. Nonetheless, among the "good preachers", some of them stand head and shoulders above the rest, because they have wisely followed the apostle Paul's example in 2Thess. 3:7-15. In these verses, we read how the apostle Paul and his companions set a marvelous example of self-sufficiency. With God's full approval (1Cor. 9:11), they had the legitimate authority to receive financial support for their ministry service (preaching, teaching and evangelizing). Instead of taking that option, they chose to be self-supporting instead (1Cor. 9:12). They took care of their own needs in order to avoid being stumbling blocks to fellow Believers and nonbelievers (2Cor. 6:3; 1Thess. 2:9).
Today, even among the "good preachers," you can easily find a number of them working livable wage secular jobs on the side. Some of them simultaneously have several lucrative streams of income (such as a pension, investment dividends and/or monthly social security checks). How many streams of income is enough? Just one (working with his own hands 2Thess. 3:8) was enough for our apostle Paul. You will only find a few "good preachers" today with one or more personal streams of income that do not request or accept an additional income from their congregations. That is certainly not the case for most of them. This nonessential practice of receiving additional income from the local church just because you can, not because you need it, does not line up with the apostle Paul's God honoring example (2Cor. 6:3; 2Cor. 12:14-18). This practice also looks bad to outsiders (would be Christians). Compared to our apostle Paul's example, this practice looks more like legal corruption by deceitful workers (2Cor. 11:9-14). Come on "honest preachers", when you know better, do better (1Cor. 10:23-24). Remember what our apostle Paul asked the Corinthians about himself and his ministry companion Titus, "...Did I or Titus make a gain of you?..." (2Cor. 12:17-18). The obvious answer was no!