- Mar 27, 2011
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[FONT="]Charisma magazine[/FONT] link
For the second time in a week I went and checked the Charisma magazine site where I found that another prosperity gospel church had gone astray with a number of its senior leaders including the founding pastor being charged with embezzlement. The first was with Creflo Dollar being charged with attempting to strangle his daughter and now another disaster where this Singapore based church has its leadership facing charges of embezzlement of somewhere around 50 million dollars.
Even though prosperity gospel congregations seem to be prone to charges of financial irregularity I am now coming to the opinion that maybe its time for us to consider limiting our church sizes even though I have no idea if such a concept could even work.
[FONT="]The rise of mega-churches[/FONT]
[FONT="]INSIGHT: DOWN SOUTH
By SEAH CHIANG NEE
[/FONT][FONT="]cnseah05@hotmail.com[/FONT]
Success and freedom, according to Tong's study, are the two most outstanding values that are not merely "advocated to back up the church's agenda" but are "presented as virtues in themselves", often using quotations from Bible verses in the process. According to church doctrine, "God's abundant love" has both material and spiritual payoffs. "Conspicuous success", i.e. being prosperous, is presented as a desirable goal of the congregation. One informant who responded to Tong gave his explanation of church doctrine as follows:
God wants us all to be successful in all aspects of our lives ... I don't see [why] Christians should live a poor, pitiful, and suffered life ... it is not victory that is questionable, but failure ... success is good testimony. Of course people want to join successful people. Is it sensible to join a group of losers?
For the second time in a week I went and checked the Charisma magazine site where I found that another prosperity gospel church had gone astray with a number of its senior leaders including the founding pastor being charged with embezzlement. The first was with Creflo Dollar being charged with attempting to strangle his daughter and now another disaster where this Singapore based church has its leadership facing charges of embezzlement of somewhere around 50 million dollars.
Even though prosperity gospel congregations seem to be prone to charges of financial irregularity I am now coming to the opinion that maybe its time for us to consider limiting our church sizes even though I have no idea if such a concept could even work.
[FONT="]The rise of mega-churches[/FONT]
[FONT="]INSIGHT: DOWN SOUTH
By SEAH CHIANG NEE
[/FONT][FONT="]cnseah05@hotmail.com[/FONT]
There are several mega-churches in Singapore with evangelical fund-raising zeal, posing potential problems for this multi-religious country.
THE city is abuzz with anticipation over the coming trial of leaders of the largest and richest charismatic church on charges of misuse of charity funds.
It is the result of two years of the biggest investigation of a religious institution.
Five leaders of the City Harvest Church (CHC) including co-founder pastor Kong Hee who preached a form of money-generating prosperity gospel were charged with criminal breach of trust.
Singapore is often stereotyped as a society that only worships money.
Now, some pastors are cashing in on it being true, said a banker.
Wikipedia LinkTHE city is abuzz with anticipation over the coming trial of leaders of the largest and richest charismatic church on charges of misuse of charity funds.
It is the result of two years of the biggest investigation of a religious institution.
Five leaders of the City Harvest Church (CHC) including co-founder pastor Kong Hee who preached a form of money-generating prosperity gospel were charged with criminal breach of trust.
Singapore is often stereotyped as a society that only worships money.
Now, some pastors are cashing in on it being true, said a banker.
Success and freedom, according to Tong's study, are the two most outstanding values that are not merely "advocated to back up the church's agenda" but are "presented as virtues in themselves", often using quotations from Bible verses in the process. According to church doctrine, "God's abundant love" has both material and spiritual payoffs. "Conspicuous success", i.e. being prosperous, is presented as a desirable goal of the congregation. One informant who responded to Tong gave his explanation of church doctrine as follows:
God wants us all to be successful in all aspects of our lives ... I don't see [why] Christians should live a poor, pitiful, and suffered life ... it is not victory that is questionable, but failure ... success is good testimony. Of course people want to join successful people. Is it sensible to join a group of losers?