Payment for blessings is not biblical - Pastor

Manchester, Jamaica

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8

THE ACT of paying out thousands of dollars for spiritual deliverance, sustained healing, and overwhelming blessings is fast becoming a popular trend among a number of seemingly unethical pastors who continue to convince congregants that these practices are of God.

However, Everton Tyndale, pastor with the Church of the Firstborn of Jamaica & Overseas Fellowship, says this practice of compensating a pastor for certain services, as it is unethically practised, is not biblical.

“I have searched the scriptures, and there is nowhere in scripture that I am seeing that one has to give or pay a certain amount of money to get a blessing or get healing. That to me is not biblical. We are living in a postmodern era where it seems as though anything goes, and so people use psychology and even stupidity to get people to give, and we lose focus of the purpose of the Church and the purpose of the gospel when we do that.”

He said that the Church is a spiritual organisation that should maintain standard principles that govern how it operates.

“When a man comes for prayer, the pastor offers prayer freely. When a person wants to give to the kingdom of God, he is free to give as his soul desires. But where a pastor, priest, or bishop impose on the people to give a certain amount for whatever blessing, that is not biblical.”

Tyndale who has been in ministry for over 20 years, believes that these practices are eschatological [end time] events that will continue to permeate the space.

“… I believe that people must be called to ministry, but nowadays, some people use it as a way to get money… People use all sort of things - selling oil, selling cloth, scent from Jerusalem, holy water, and all kind of rubbish - that gives the ministry and the Bible a bad name.”

In an effort to highlight the biblical requirement of God’s people, Tyndale said there are some principles, such as faithful tithing, borrowed from the Old Testament into the New Testament.

“You cannot pay God because He owns everything. What you do is to give back a portion of what he has blessed you with …. Back in the Old Testament times, people used to give back to the temple from what they planted. The priest at the time who offered sacrifices to God and prayed to God on behalf of the people had no secular duties and so whatever the people brought to the temple would go in part to the temple and the remainder to the priest.”

He said that that is the accepted practice today, where liberal offerings and tithes go towards the furtherance of God’s work.

“…The monies that come to the church often go back into serving the people. We have what is called a missionary service every year, and when we pool the monies, we give to at least 25 different missions or organiations in the country that are in need.”

But as some pastors continue to allow greed and selfishness to override their true duties, Tyndale said these are signs of end times.

“I believe things are going to get worse. I don’t see it getting better. Even what we see happening in Montego Bay and all over the world, biblically, things are going to get worse. If you are looking forward to the second coming of Christ, there are things that will happen before His coming. People may change their strategy, but it’s not going to get better.”

He added that people ought to become more aware of what they get involved in and understand that the unethical practices of a pastor should not be the ideal for anyone as there are still persons who are truthful to serving the Lord and God’s people.

“…The sheep [followers] will often be gullible, but it is important that the shepherd [religious leader] knows this and does everything in his or her power to secure the life and the livelihood of the sheep … . Every step of the way it is the responsibility of shepherd to protect, provide for the sheep a guide to get them out of danger,” he ended.