Have you ever been at the checkout at a major store, and been asked to make a donation to a charity? I live in Canada and pretty much all of the major retailers do it here, and even some of the restaurant chains.
Usually they put your name on a piece of paper and paste it on the wall, or a window. So you walk up to the cash, and they ask you for a donation to a worthy cause, and you see all the names all over the wall, and you feel shamed into donating? I have.
Did you ever wonder what happens with that money?
The truth is, they are not lying to you; The money actually goes to the charity they specify.
Some times it has been to Sick Kids Hospital, in Toronto, or to the “Jump Start Program”, or to a school lunch program. I am sure that down in the USA it will be to some Hospital or other similar charity. All worthy places to donate to.
Did you ever get an income tax receipt for your donation? The truth is that no one gets an income tax receipt for a $1 or $2 donation. Its just too small and not worth the paperwork, but these small donations add up to some large sums of money, and someone gets a charitable donations receipt for this money. Guess who?
That’s right; these small donations add up to hundreds of thousands, or millions of dollars, and the corporation which collected the funds is the one to get the tax receipt. They then can apply this receipt to their bottom line, as if it was they who made the donation.
What it amounts to is that you are giving free money to these corporations!
I have a beef with some of these “charities”. In Canada we have a socialist system where our taxes support our hospitals. So how come these corporations need our charitable donations at all? Our firefighters are supported by our taxes as well, so why are we accosted, every year, as we leave our shopping malls and stores? I already gave when I payed my taxes!
In Ontario nurses make somewhere around $45.00 per hour, and firefighter’s salaries approach $100,000 per year. So why should someone making less than half the wage, be making donations to these rich people?
The unions have a lot of power, and the government negotiators are not highly motivated to save the taxpayer’s money, so they give in to the union demands, and the cost of health care just keeps on going up.
There are lots of charitable organizations that do research on various diseases, such as heart and stroke, cancer, Alzheimers, etc. Have you ever heard of any of these researchers sacrificing for their work? Do they donate their time for free? If they develop a cure for cancer will they give it to you for free, if you have donated to their cause? Somehow I doubt it. I think they will charge exorbitant prices to your insurance company, or to you if you are not insured!
Jobs that were once done by Canadians are now being done in China, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia, etc., because our government keeps on opening our borders to cheaply made foreign goods. As a result Canadians have difficulty finding work, so now we have to donate to school lunch programs to feed their children!
When I was a kid, everyone had jobs. There were very few homeless people, and those who were had issues that made them unemployable, but as we are opening borders, our companies are closing their doors, or moving overseas! Our governments who have done this are not protecting Canadians!
We need tariffs to protect Canadian jobs. Cheap goods made overseas will only be cheap until all the wealth is transferred offshore. Then Canadians will not be able to afford Chinese, or Indian goods! The Canadian (and American) governments are in the process of giving our jobs away, and now they want us to give what little we have left to charities!
This is what socialism does. It takes money from those who work and gives it to those who will not. Those who protest are called “evil”!
Jesus said “Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.” (Luke 6:30)
Now, I have to ask, does this mean that I must give when asked at the local Walmart? No. He didn’t say that we should give to corporations, to help their bottom line. What He meant was that we should help a neighbour who truly is in need. To give to persons who are desperate, especially those of the same faith.
Should we give to Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, T.D. Jakes, or Creflo Dollar, because they ask for donations, and after all, aren’t they doing the work of God? Absolutely not! We should not support false teachers in any way, and each of these guys is a certified false teacher. These guys are not doing the work of God! They are actually lining their own pockets, while building the kingdom of the Antichrist!
All of the big-name evangelists, and ministries, are false teachers. They run their “ministries” like multi-million-dollar corporations, because that is exactly what they are! Even our local Independent Baptist Church pastor told me, twice, that “the Church needs to be run like a business”!
For example, I used to listen daily to Chuck Swindol, but then I noticed that he started using “The Message” bible perversion. He also associates with false teachers like Beth Moore, and doesn’t warn of their errors. In hindsight, even his earlier use of the NASB is a problem, but I was more naive in those days, and didn’t catch on until later.
James McDonald used to preach some good sermons, but then he too started associating with false teachers like T.D. Jakes, and Stephen Furtick, and acting like a dictator in his own Church. At one point he fired the entire board of elders. A biblical pastor does not have that kind of power, and should have been fired himself!
For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. Matthew 24:5
These guys use a Christian testimony to gain a following and then they start slipping in the occasional false teaching. The smarter ones go more slowly until you find yourself in the church of a raging heretic, and are wondering how we got here? Don’t donate to such “ministries”!
God has given you a ministry, and that is where you should put your money. Don’t just put your money into it, but put your body and soul into it as well. Every Christian is called of God, not just to salvation, but to service.
You are not called to wash people’s car for free, nor to do oil changes for free, as Saddleback church does. Anyone can do that.
Finding a cure for cancer is a good thing, but everyone will die anyway, even if they live an extra twenty or thirty years. The most important thing is that they hear the gospel. An extra twenty or thirty years spent playing golf, or feeding the poor, will not help anyone when it comes to judgment day! It is what you do with the Son of God that counts!
(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) II Corinthians 6:2
It truly is better to die today, with Jesus, than to live for an extra thirty years and to end up in the lake of fire!
You are called to be a witness for Jesus Christ! People need to know about the judgment to come, and the fact that the only way of escape is through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This appears to be the most difficult task of all, and it is the one thing the world can’t do for itself!
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! Romans 10:13-15
These things are all symptoms of a man-centered society, a society that is ripe for the wrath of God!
housetops 