Dear friends:

It is surprising someone else hasn't mentioned this.  I hate to be the first one but someone needs to do it.  So, since I am not known for cowardice, here goes!

For some time I have been very concerned about the way some otherwise excellent TV ministries raise money.  During their telethons, at least two major Christian TV networks bring in high-powered fund-raising experts who psychologically twist the arms of the viewers, lately using what I consider an approach so unbiblical that I consider it heresy.

First, at Passover, they pleaded for a special "Passover offering," boldly promising that God would grant the "seven blessings" of Exodus 23 for anyone who would "plant a seed" in their ministry of $200 in one case, and $58 a month in another.  Now, one network is also using this for a special "Pentecost offering" appeal, with the exact same promises.   The slick fund-raising experts go from one ministry to another, plying their trade.  You will see them on one channel, then on another.

One of the TV ministry Web sites describes it this way:

God told us in Exodus chapter 23 that if we come before Him with an Offering in our hand at this special time of Pentecost, He would do seven very special things for us:
An angel will be assigned to you to keep you and lead you to your miracles.
God will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.
He will bless you and give you prosperity.
God will take sickness away from you.
You will not die before your appointed time.
Increase and inheritance will be yours.
What the enemy has stolen from you shall be returned.
Make your Pentecost Offering today!

Have these ministries conveniently forgotten that under the new covenant Christ is our Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7), and Jesus already purchased all those benefits for us by the offering of His own body on the tree?  Those benefits do not come by pledging $200, or $58, or anything.  Jesus paid it all, and we receive from Him by faith, based on His own Passover sacrifice, and not our donations.  The same is true for the Pentecost offering and any other offering.  In my opinion, they are not only perverting and misusing the Law of Moses for their own purposes, but they are denying the power and provision of our great Lord's sacrifice, which is an abomination.  And either by ignorance (inexcusable) or intent (more inexcusable), they are also disregarding the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant.

The practice grieves my spirit, and its perpetrators literally give me the creeps.

If they want to put people under Exodus 23, let them put themselves under all of Exodus and see how far they get.  They won't get far because the key ingredients, the Tabernacle and the Levitical priesthood, no longer exist, nor would some of the practices be possible today.

Yes, the New Testament makes it clear that giving is important, we are commanded to give, and we are blessed in return when we give (Luke 6:38).  But it has nothing to do with the Passover or Pentecost offering in the Law of Moses.  It has everything to do with our love for Jesus and our response to His love.  That's the new covenant way.

Another TV ministry fund-raising technique that bothers me is the incessant "challenges" for pledges.  I know that the challenges   are not based on actual challenges from people who called with that intent, but with the ministry call-taker asking pledgers something like, "May we use your pledge as a challenge?"  Then they collect many of those, add them together, and make a combined challenge to psychologically manipulate the viewers into giving.  The ministry would have received those original pledge amounts anyhow!

I believe this is deception, and I know at least one large ministry that is almost entirely built upon this deceptive practice.

The various TV ministries I refer to do good work, bear much fruit, and I thank God for them.  However, it dishonors God to misuse His Word or to use deception to obtain His provision for themselves.  I suspect it sickens Him.  He deserves better.

In my experience with one major non-TV ministry, Campus Crusade for Christ International, I learned that they never use such practices.  They simply describe what God has done, what they are doing, state their need, and trust God for the results.  I think that is the way it is supposed to work.

We need a spiritual revival in ministry fund raising.

Jim