I ran across a news story today about a Megachurch named the Crossroads
Christian Church in Grand Prairie, Texas. The senior pastor is Barry
Cameron, who has been pastor since 1992. Mel Dietz served as the church's
executive pastor from 1995 to 2015. The news story says that a Texas jury
has unanimously awarded Pastor Mel Dietz a $3,700,000 settlement from the
Crossroads Christian Church church, for supplemental retirement money owed
to him and his wife, that the church wrongfully took from them. It is a
shame when lawsuits happen in churches. I am disgusted with the extravagant
salaries being paid to these pastors at this particular church in Texas.
What a disgrace! That is my humble Christian opinion!!!
I afterwards noticed a disturbing Youtube video by Pastor Barry Cameron, titled, “Seven Secrets To Finances.” I watched the video and was disgusted by what I heard. Kindly, Pastor Cameron is a health, wealth and prosperity false prophet! In the video he makes the statement, “What you pursue determines what you possess!” There are many problems with that statement. As Christians, we ought not focus on earthly riches, which is the essence of the entire video by Pastor Cameron. His basic message is give to get, which is typical of the Charismatic Movement (700 Club, Oral Roberts, Benny Hinn, et cetera). The churches are garbage nowadays! As the churches become more worldly, so also is the world becoming more churchy!!! Mr. Cameron is tricky with his words in the video, alleging that if you seek the things of God first in your life (he quotes Matthew 6:33), then God will give you financial wealth. That is easy for a guy who gets paid each nearly 10 TIMES what the average American earns! Really?
In the video, Pastor Cameron brags repeatedly about giving away $100 bills to people. Again, that is easy to do for a guy making nearly 10 TIMES what the average American earns (which is about $30,000 a year). I am leery of all Megachurches! Every single Megachurch that I know of is a dungheap of apostasy today. Pastor Mel Dietz' most recent annual salary at the Texas Megachurch was $238,667 a year in 2015 when he retired. So what do you think Pastor Barry Cameron gets paid per year? I'll guarantee you it's likely more than $238,667 a year! ...
At the time of their retirement, Mel Dietz's annual salary was $238,194 and Vicki Dietz's was $94,667.
That is unbiblical and repulsive, besides sickening! Pastor John F. MacArthur gets paid $246,868 a year! Servant of God? I think not! I have no respect for high-roller preachers, those rolling in cash and living the good life! I am not accusing Pastor Cameron of anything illegal; but sadly, I am exposing his false teaching on obtaining financial success through giving away money! That is totally unbiblical. There is not one verse in the Holy Bible that guarantees financial success if you give to God. I give away money all the time and it never comes back to me! I am thankful for what God has provided for me, but it doesn't increase (nor has it ever increased) in response to my generosity. Truthfully, it made me poorer, because I had less, because I gave away what God gave to me. Honestly, I would have had MORE MONEY if I had kept it all for myself and had not given anything away!!! That disproves Barry Cameron's bullcrap theology!!!
Nevertheless, I give because I love to give, and I NEVER expect anything in return. In my humble opinion, it is wicked what Pastor Cameron is doing, compelling people to give money so they can become financially successful. Shady pastors use such unethical psychological manipulation to suck money out of their gullible congregations. People are so easily manipulated! I do believe in giving to the poor, the needy, and to soul-winning ministries; however, there is no promise from God that guarantees earthly financial gain in response to giving. Anyone who teaches otherwise is a bold-faced liar!
The
blessings which God promises will be realized in eternity. To give to the
poor is to lend unto the Lord. Proverbs 19:17, “He that
hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given
will he pay him again.” When we
give to God, we are simply letting go of what is already His!!!
Giving a 10% Tithe is Not Taught in the New Testament
In the video, Pastor Barry Cameron pushes the heresy of a 10% tithe. There is not one Bible verse in the Scriptures that requires Christians to give 10% of their income to God! I am preaching THE TRUTH! Granted, everything that we own belongs to God! For that reason, all the more we ought NOT foolishly support ecumenical, deadbeat, lukewarm, shallow, money-based, ministries!!!
I have heard so much heresy squeezed from the Scriptures. One of the most exploited and abused passages in the Holy Bible is found in Malachi 3:10, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” I heard one shameful Baptist pastor teach his congregation that by giving money to the church, God will open a new window of financial wisdom, thereby giving that person the knowledge to get wealthy. That is false doctrine! The tithe was strictly for Old Testament Jews, not the New Testament Church. It is wrong to stretch the Scriptures, trying to connect dots that don't connect.
A popular teaching is that if you tithe 10%, you haven't given God anything, and you are robbing God if you don't also give Him OFFERINGS above and beyond the 10% TITHE. None of that is Biblical!!! There was a time when I ignorantly gave a 10% tithe, and then an additional 5% offering. That is a total of 15% that I gave to the church that I was attending. I was always broke and couldn't even afford to take my family out to eat (but the pastor always could). I was so broke on a regular basis that I couldn't even have a checking account, because it is very easy to hit the bottom of the barrel (i.e., bounced checks), when you're always scraping toward the bottom of the barrel. I used money orders to pay my bills for years, because I was too broke financially, and I was giving 15% tithes and offerings the entire time. That blows Barry Cameron's bogus prosperity heresy out of the water!!! The ONLY people that you'll ever hear pushing the 10% tithe heresy are the PASTORS who profit from it!!! I was lied to for many years by pastors, who twisted the Scriptures to benefit themselves. That is what I had been taught to do, tithe 10%, but it was unbiblical.
America's Bible colleges are getting bigger and fancier, parasiting off of its students and church members, pumping all that money into the church's pockets! The truth is that you cannot show me anything from the New Testament that obligates a believer to tithe a certain percentage to God. Everything that we own belongs to God. The Holy Bible tells us to give as we are able. 1st Corinthians 16:2, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” This Scripture can be applied numerous ways. Clearly, the apostle Paul was being financially supported, in part, by the churches. But please understand that Paul was not living high on the hog, dwelling in extravagance, rolling in cash and parasiting off the churches, as many greedy televangelists are doing nowadays!!! I think is it appalling that ANY pastor would be paid a 6-digit salary per year in America!!!
Again, the Bible tells us as believers to give voluntarily in
2nd Corinthians 9:6-7, “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap
also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not
grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” There is no
direct command to give a certain amount of money; but rather, we are taught
that to sow bountifully will bring bountiful harvest.
Biblically, Prosperity Comes First From God, Then Giving Follows!
The truth is that we ought to give what we can. We cannot give what God has not blessed us with! The Bible teaches that WE GET TO GIVE! Some people could give MUCH more of their possessions to God. 1st Corinthians 16:2, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” Notice that the Bible teaches to give AS GOD HATH PROSPERED us. Carefully notice that the PROSPERITY COMES FIRST! That goes totally contrary to 99% of what preachers tell people. We are always told to give first, and then God will prosper us! But the Scriptures, as I just showed you, teach us to give after God prospers us, according to the amount He has given to us! Most people cannot give much, because God has not financially prospered them, especially in a nation that has been oppressed by banking thieves since 1913, keeping us broke. If you owe anybody money, you ought not give money to any church!!! Pay YOUR BILLS first. God doesn't need your money, your pastor does!
Furthermore, I am so sick of pastors begging like dogs for money, to fund all their building projects. Case in point is the $22,000,000 that the Crossroads Christian Church recently browbeat its congregation for, which fell catastrophically short, and led to the apparent theft of Pastor Mel Dietz's and his wife's retirement funds by the church. I didn't say that, the courts did!
Kindly, I heard Pastor Clarence Sexton pressuring his church congregation in 2016 for $1,000,000 to refurbish their Crown Bible College. I think that is terrible! Money, money, money! Due to the ongoing Federal Reserve Act banking scandal since 1913, and the Globalist's deindustrialization of America (sending millions of U.S. jobs overseas), it has become very difficult for Americans to secure decent careers. Most of the available jobs are low-paying, close to minimum wage. The average pastor is ignorant and totally apathetic of such truths, still financially pressuring their congregation for more and more money. Under sermon pressure, thousands of people make promises that hundreds of them often renege on, and then pastors berate them about their dishonesty and lack of character. In truth, those pastors have their priorities mixed up, so hellbent on growth and building projects, that they needlessly burden their church people, and abuse them!!! Since when did the ministry become about buildings, gymnasiums, dormitories, expansion programs and buying land? I haven't heard any of the pastors at Crossroads Christian Church mention even one word about winning souls to Christ. All I keep hearing is that they need your money. They have a big donation button, but the Gospel is not presented on their church website.
Please, Never Give Money to a Church With a Pastor Getting Paid Over
$100,000 a Year!
I believe in responsible giving, but to give responsibly eliminates helping to pay some Richy-rich pastor's 6-digit salary. I refuse to do it! I absolutely will not give one penny to any church or ministry that lavishes a pastor (a so-called man of God) with a 6-digit salary, when half of Americans earn less than $30,000 a year!!! Why should a pastor, who is supposed to be a servant (which is what minister means), get paid 4, 5, 6 and 10 times more than most Americans earn in a year? It is wickedness I tell you!!! I despise wealthy preachers, because they are exploiting the clergy for personal gain, driving people away from Christ! Just because a church runs 8,000 people doesn't mean a thing if the pulpit is spiritually dead!!! Just because other church leaders are pimping the pulpit for a buck doesn't make it right Biblically! If the shoe fits, GET RIGHT WITH GOD!
The Holy Bible teaches that God has chosen the poor things of this world rich in faith. None of the apostles lived high on the hog. I am sick and tired of wealthy preachers! John the Baptist was about as poor as you can get! In the video, Pastor Cameron attributes the massive financial success of his church to their generosity. Honestly, I can't stand Mr. Cameron's phony type of give-to-get religious bullcrap! He brags throughout the video of giving away money and $100 bills to people, which is easy to do when you get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars each year! If Barry gave away $100 each and every day of the year, that only adds up to $36,500 annually! His personal salary is SEVERAL TIMES THAT! Remember, you are only as generous as WHAT YOU KEEP FOR YOURSELF! Jesus said the widow who gave her last coin gave more than all the Pharisees did, because she gave everything she owned! I am not impressed with the so-called “generosity” of any pastor who gets paid a multiple 6-digit salary! I think it is disgusting, and I know so does God!!! I think I have the mind of Christ in this matter. Pastors ought never live in extreme wealth that far exceeds the average working man's salary. That is not what the ministry is about.
Pastor Cameron goes on to foolishly teach in the video, “Sustained generosity will be the guarantee for your sustained financial success!” That statement is simply untrue! There is NO GUARANTEE of financial success in the Scriptures just because you are generous! Anybody who gives money to any so-called ministry, with the intent of getting more back than they gave, has been deceived and is covetous (which is a sin)! Pastors are spoiled in America! It is no secret that church pastors get spoiled by their congregations. They receive love offerings, they're showered with gifts at Christmas time, free tickets, gift certificates, free meals, people give them cash to do with as they see fit, et cetera. Pastors get all the blessings! People will do just about anything for their church pastor!!! That is why pastors ought to be held to the highest accountability, and thankfully will be judged by God! James 3:1, “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.” Woe unto covetous pastors!
