501(c)3 and the Prostitution of American Churches
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Boy, this is a difficult article to write. It's difficult because literally every Christian I know attends a 501C3 church, so I realize that writing this article will offend many. However, we are not (as Christians) to be concerned with offending the many at the price of offending God. Nevertheless, I know that I am walking into volatile territory.
What is a 501C3 church? The term 501C3 means that as a church you sign up for a tax exemption status. That tax exemption status, however, comes with strings or should I say muzzles. In order to maintain a tax exemption status the church must not violate terms of their non-profit contract with the government by involving itself in politics. It may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates. In other words, in exchange for keeping your mouth shut regarding anything political, the church gets a tax exemption or hush-money! Nice huh! Sounds like compromise to me, sounds like Spiritual Prostitution if you ask me! And that's exactly what it is!
Have you ever wondered why pastors don't preach against the atrocities of the government? Have you ever wondered why your pastor avoids talking about political issues or even the wholesale slaughter of millions of unborn babies? Maybe you haven't noticed? I have. They are afraid of getting their meal ticket taken away, they are more afraid of that then they are of God!
Now, you might say well God isn't really political is he? Many Christians think politics is a dirty business (and it is) but because of this they think that it is more Christian to be apolitical, to be above all that. Well, there are many examples in the bible of prophets and saints standing up for righteousness against unrighteous leaders and practices, standing up for righteousness and against unrighteous is a political act, some were even killed for their trouble. Let's take a look at some examples:
John the Baptist stood up to Herod for sleeping with his brothers wife..and what did he get for his efforts? Was he successful? No, he got his head chopped off. I can't tell you how many times Christians have said to me what good is resisting the New World Order, it's better to do good works and read your Bible and in other words hide your head in the sand and keep your mouth shut. Well John the Baptist didn't shut up, he didn't hide his head in the sand and he wasn't even successful but he did it because he was a follower of God and God loves courage and truth. God is against the cowardly and he is against injustice and lies, when you look the other way in the face of injustice, in the face of lies and evil do you think you are following God!
Elijah was another man who bucked the system. He fought spiritually as well as practically against Ahab and Jezebel, the King and Queen.
Moreover, even Jesus' actions were considered radical and dangerous to the political elite. Both the Jews and the Gentiles were threatened politically by him. It's one of the main reasons that they crucified him.
Joh 11:47-51
Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both and nation. And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;
Joh 19:12-13
And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
Make no mistake..EVERYTHING IS POLITICAL!
Now I realize that there are a lot of fine churches and organizations that have 501C3 exemptions and many of them have never thought twice about it. However, now is the time to start thinking about withdrawing from this exemption. Our country and our world are becoming increasingly evil; at some point (and I would argue that we have now arrived at that point) the churches and Christian organizations will have to stand up against this onslaught of evil or we will be participating in it by acquiescing and appeasing evil, for to stand silent in the face of injustice is to commit injustice.
During World War II Hitler sought out the religious leaders, and many were more than willing to go along with him. At first there were just minor infractions but as the atrocities grew the church (for the most part) stood silent. We now condemn those actions but will we make the same mistakes? I call on all you pastors to trust God and separate from the state by refusing the 501C3 exemption. I call on you Christians to educate your pastors and support churches who are not 501C3 exempt!
Additional Articles by Brie Hoffman
Do you think American Churches should accept the 5013c Exemption
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Thanks Kristine, I have too but so many don't know about it. Please repost on your facebook page.
Well this is an interesting hub, I think its perfectly fair that a church has to pay taxes if they are politically involved because I dont want to use my tax money to pay for what would effectively be a lobby. Having said that firstly in many churches (I have seen this) ministers with the exemption still urge their flock to vote republican, that is very wrong. Also it should be noted that priests my very well not be political experts nor is part of their training to be so they may well not be the best to dish out political advice. In conclusionwhat you are suggesting is that the church use the faith of its followers to influence their votes, and that is wrong, for what you are saying would be this is what god wants, and no one can presume to know what party god or jesus would want. (Indeed I think God would vote Republican and Jesus would vote democrat being all abouit helping the poor and that.)
Hi Brie, yes I'll repost on my FB page. Cheers!
Utterly ridiculous Josak! We DO know what God wants,it's written in his book! And, we should vote, act and use all of our influence to bring HIS WILL about.
Thanks Kristine, much appreciated!
Your seriously presuming to know which way god wants you to vote? So tell me which way is it?
Ron Paul Baby, Ron Paul! The others are just posers, bought and paid for by Corporate Criminals.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAA I think you are trying to use the church to further your own agenda, thats not right.
whatever!
Brie, you have done what a courageous daughter of the Most High would do ~ EXPOSE the god of money in the 'churches', meaning they ARE HUGELY compromising the stand they are supposed to be taking AGAINST the world and its ways. THIS tax exemption is WHY we see homosexuals ordained into ministry, and yes ~ abortion not addressed, crosses removed and flags set up, etc. etc. etc. No doubt, it's lagely responsible for the birth of 'Chrislam', too! They CAN'T do anything against what the state considers to be adversarial to the 'main stream world'. This is the worst type of harlotry!!!
Thanks Judah's Daughter, I hope it doesn't fall on deaf ears as so many admonitions seem to do these days.
Just stumbled across your blog not too long ago, and this is an excellent post!
Thanks Tony, I appreciate your comments especially on such a difficult matter as this.
Hi Brie! Good Topic! FYI: In your Hub title it reads: 5013C instead of 501c3! Blessings, Earth Angel!!
Thanks so much Earth Angel, I corrected the typo too (much appreciated on that one too)!
Well, the Demican and Republicrat party both enjoy tax exempt status, so It could be a church, that is also a political party.
Good point, Portamenteff.
I noticed you are from Manhattan. If you lived in the South you wouldn't have this problem. Our pastors use their pulpits far too often to direct their flocks in how they should vote, what they should and should not approve of politically, and basically negate their 501c(3) status on a regular basis. Which is fine with me if that is what they feel led to do. But then pay your taxes, I say. I know Jesus was born into very political times. His country was occupied by an invader for heaven's sake. I remember he said to render to Ceasar what was Ceasar's and told soldiers not to complain about their pay. Beyond that, I beleive he had other concerns. But I enjoyed your hub. Up and interesting.
Brie - Excellent writing. I have given up on organized religion per se. I am a believer but I don't believe in politics entering the church or the money aspect of the whole atmosphere that sometimes invades churches.
Great Hub
The Frog
Yes, it can be difficult to find a good church these days but I still think we should try to find a community as it can be very difficult to live the Christian life on ones own.
Good pastors are very often speaking about the very issues you say they avoid, what I think you are missing is that they do so by using the language of Faith, and not that of the culture, to confront beliefs and behaviors they see as being in opposition to their understanding of Biblical truth. Those few clergy that think you have to be a bomb thrower to make a point don’t seem to me to trust religious people to come to their own conclusions on what they believe in relation to the major political issues of our times and their faith. I for one greatly disapprove of clergy that use their position to advance personal political agendas, and would argue that they ought to be held accountable for their violations of the tax laws and not the people in their congregations who may or may not be in agreement with them.
Church members need to take responsible for what their leaders are saying in the political arena on their behalf and be willing to confront them when they disagree. A pastor or other clergy’s authority to speak publicly on behalf of a local congregation, or any larger level of church organizational structure, ought to be limited by his or her religious tradition to which they are held accountable, and if they are not then I would advise looking for another church. Each church member ought to be aware of the credentials required for their tradition’s pastoral leadership and what level of education and experience their pastor has before they place any more credence in what they say politically than they would their favorite uncle.
Taxation ought not to be used to control how a population thinks and the positions they hold, religiously or otherwise, but only to meet the necessary needs for the wellbeing of the community. Would taxation of our nation’s churches solve our financial problems or make communal life better? Would taxing the churches shut-up the noisy gongs that stand in some of the pulpits in this country? Hardly, but what it would do is cause a lot more for-sale signs to spring up in front of empty church buildings that use to house congregations that had been contributing to their communities in many ways often overlooked. But maybe it is empty church buildings that are just what those who advocate taxing churches really want to see anyway.
I am in NO WAY encouraging a taxation on the church...what should happen however, is there should be NO STRINGS on the tax exemption. I also believe that a clergy member should be able to talk about politics and if the membership doesn't like it they are free to either band together to get rid of the leader or to find another church.
Most pastors understand the conditions of their tax free status, and on the basis of personal ethics if nothing else, they should honor those conditions. There is a fine line between preaching morals and preaching for or against legislation that is based on a moral issue. Yes, members need to hold their pastors to account when they cross the line. My concern is America becoming like other places in the world where "pulpits" are used to incite people to all kinds of misconduct. We place limits on our churches for a very good reason.
I totally disagree Kathleen. If it wasn't for the pulpits there would have been no America, no Revolutionary war and we would all be part of the Church of England right now.
I understand your point of view. I know many good people who agree with you. I doubt churches in America are in any danger of losing their tax free status. And I doubt many pastors worry about that when they plan their sermons. I think it worth noting though, that when the colonists revolted, one of the first things they insisted on was separation of church and state. Countries that don't have it, do a lot of harm in the world.
The separation of church and state was to ensure that we didn't have a state church like the church of England, NOT to exclude all biblical influence from the state. This is evident in the very laws and customs of the times. For decades the "state" paid for Christian Missionaries, had paid chaplains and often referred to God and the Bible in lectures and laws.
There is no such thing as "the state" having no religion at all because "no religion" is a religion.
I don't think we are that far apart in what we are saying. The only way a church could lose their 501c(3) status would be if they gave money to a candidate or a political party.
And DOLiestra is right about finding a church where you agree with their point of view. My problem is, I don't think one exists that I could agree with 100% of the time (probably even 50%). And if I started my own, I'd have a membership of 1 - no 2. My husband would probably go with me, but nobody else!
He made a good point, also, that we keep hearing in the realm of political contributions: money is not speech. I think that point can be argued, but if I don't want money to be speech in my church, I may have to live with money not being speech in politics too. And in politics, money buys the opportunity to get your message out and often results in getting elected. (I think I may have changed the subject.)
Very interesting about that tax exemption thing!
I think it's a totally bad joke that American's make prostitution illegal, that's nothing other than mixing church and state, except that never in the N.T. does anyone say, "go forth and make bs laws legislating morality in the name of Jesus!"
Jesus made it plain that things would go on just as they always had, and that the church should not be a part of such things, but he never said to try to impose Christian morality on anyone.
But he did say "Be Perfect as my Father in Heaven is Perfect". Christians are to be salt and light, salt preserves things and light illuminates things. We are supposed to preserve good things and illuminate the darkness. We are supposed to be a good example in the world.
Yeah, he's talking to CHRISTIANS. He's not saying, "impose Christianity on people that aren't interested in it or willing to be Christian" - and that's what a big problem with such laws is....people trying to MAKE people accept Christian teachings, and Jesus well knew you couldn't force anything upon anyone.
Actually he said that if you go to a town and they refuse to accept Christianity to shake the dust off your feet and that it will be better for the people of Sodom & Gomorrah than for those people..then go to the next town. We were given the great commission to go and make disciples of all men..I think that pretty much says what Jesus wants us to do.
Yes, that's right - NOT impose Christian morality upon anyone, but offer it to all. Total agreement.
Obama is stepping up his campaign to bring Christian churches under state control. The first to be attacked is the Catholic church, which will be forced to provide free contraceptives. This is also mandated in Obamacare. Satanic minions like Sandra Fluke will carry the message.
Second, the 501 exemption is being closely scrutinized. Obama WILL get another four years as Republicans are too busy attacking each other. Because of this Obama will have another four years to lay the groundwork that forcibly repeals the 501c(3).
So, can Christian churches survive without the exemption? No. You paint a romantic picture, Brie. "Fix bayonets and charge! Follow me!" But the ugly truth is, that without the tax exempt status Christian churches will topple like dominoes for lack of money. Obama is directing his NWO mind control toward the young and the illiterate, and so is born the state-controlled church and blind obediance.
When the dust settles the true Christian church will be a mere shadow of its former self, with fearful Christians forced to worship in dark places. And this will be in your lifetime, Brie.
After Obama lays the groundwork for the destruction of true God worship, then comes the antichrist. You'll probably live to see that as well.
And this is good, you say? Prepare for the hardship that follows.
The gates of hell cannot prevail over the TRUE Christian church! Let the others fall!
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20Govern This site does a good job also of telling the mistake of having 501c3 status. to quote:" And your henpecked pastor legally cannot say a word or else he'll risk losing the church's 501C3 exempt status. It should be very clear to you Christian leaders why such tax-havens for churches were invented in the first place, that is, to silence the churches!!! No wonder God hates wicked inventions. Proverb:14:17, “...and a man of wicked devices is hated.” I simply couldn't accept a 501C3 state-sanctioned license, because I would be exposing their crimes from sun-up to sun-down as any concerned U.S. citizen should do."
Thanks for the comments and the site reference Kristinite.
Kristine Manley Level 4 Commenter 4 months ago
Nice Brie, I have known about this for years, and so agree that churches should give up their 501C3 status. Voted up!