About what she originally said, I have to respond with the Word…“What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” Matthew 15:11
And to double down with James 3:10, I don’t care if she is a legendary gospel singer with the voice of an angel because it is also stated that “praise and cursing” should not come out of the same mouth. Some people may say she didn’t actually curse, but you don’t have to use official “curse words” to curse somebody out. And if she was trying to be a comedienne, it just wasn’t funny…
But hopefully, she has learned a few lessons from this, and even if you’re a woman of God, you are always growing…
I never thought I would see the day that World Changers Church International Pastor, Creflo Dollar, would have a different philosophy about tithing…See, World Changers is located in College Park, and College Park is where I spent most of my childhood. I remember when World Changers was not there. In fact, I remember when the church campus was simply a shopping center on Old Nat L, College Park residents’ beloved nickname for Old National Highway, a main thoroughfare in the city. So to have seen a simple shopping center become an internationally known megachurch was something to behold, and I imagine all of us CPK or Collipark (two more nicknames) residents were stunned by the spectacle. And I imagine we were all curious about the black man who built the empire. All I knew was that I went to high school with one of Pastor Dollar’s cousins, and her last name was Dollar too. So if you’re wondering if he changed his last name to Dollar, unless his cousins changed their last name too, that’s highly unlikely. But it was kind of funny to witness a man whose last name was Dollar build a megachurch that must have cost millions of dollars.
I imagine that out of curiosity that almost every College Park resident has visited World Changers at least once. I have. Years ago, I dated a member of the church, and I attended with him at least once. And then some years after that, I attended a Yolanda Adams concert there. But back to the lone service I attended, I remember there was a heavy emphasis on tithing, and it made me uncomfortable. I cannot lie about that. At my church where my father was the senior pastor for many years, while he preached on tithing and believes in it, it is not emphasized in every service. Tithing is encouraged; however, tithing is just one of many biblical principles that were preached about over the course of time. And while I have tithed since I was a teenager due to my father’s encouragement, I never felt pressure to do so. But during that one service, I got the feeling that compulsory tithing was a core tenet of World Changers.
That being said, as I was never a member, I wasn’t familiar with his other teachings. I would imagine that members of Pastor Dollar’s church have learned many principles from him that have nothing to do with money. Despite whatever else he taught, however, it seemed that nearly every story I’ve heard about him and World Changers over the years had to do with money. The jet story comes to mind. People have speculated that he has amassed wealth due to his teaching about compulsory tithing which I cannot confirm or deny. All of this to say, I wonder after all of these years, what was the impetus for his change of heart around tithing. In his recent sermon “The Great Misunderstanding,” Pastor Dollar begins his sermon saying, “I want to start off by saying to you that I’m still growing, and that the teachings that I have shared in times past on the subject of tithing were not correct. And today I stand in humility to correct some things that I’ve taught over the years and believed for years but could not understand fully because I was not yet confronted with the gospel of grace which has made the difference. I won’t apologize because if it was not for me going down that route, I would have never ended up where I am right now. But I will say that I have no shame at all at saying, throw away every book, every tape and every video I ever did on the subject of tithing unless it lines up with this.” Whoa, right?!!! That’s a beyond bold statement to make all of these years in…Me being who I am, I would have been like before I throw away everything, can I get a refund? Even if I only got back a fraction of what I spent, something is better than nothing has been said…LOL…But I digress…
There were many interesting points throughout the sermon that was preached in two parts on two different Sundays starting on June 26. Firstly, he establishes that his former approach to tithing was based on the Old Testament (in which tithing was mandated) and not the New Testament (in which tithing or giving was encouraged but not mandated) and that it was based on fear and guilt.
at 15:33, Pastor Dollars references 2 Corinthians 9:7 “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” He goes on to say that Malachi 3:10 caused him to feel fear and pressure regarding tithing. He recounts in the early days of his marriage, he was 26 cents short on his tithe and could not give it. Shortly afterward, a brick was thrown through his car window, and he wondered if the incident occurred because he was short on his tithe.
at 23:54, he discusses the self-righteous Pharisee in Luke 18 who boasted about being a tither.
at 23:09, he encourages his congregation to read 2 Corinthians 9 to learn about Paul’s approach to giving…
And there were many other interesting points that he made… If you’re interested in seeing the totality of “The Great Misunderstanding,” the videos are below…
I wonder if there was a Q&A session at any point after these sermons because I have so many questions now…Three of them are below…
The verses that he mentioned have been in the Bible the whole time he has been preaching, I wonder why he didn’t take them into account before now?
Is there any concern that the ministries of the church will not be supported in the same way if tithing is no longer compulsory?
Will there be some sort of refund in place? Before, when I referenced a refund, I was joking. However, even Uncle Sam gives refunds so why shouldn’t church members be given refunds when they have given based on incorrect teaching…I don’t know how that would be handled, but the idea is not incomprehensible…Even $25 a member would be a nice gesture going forward…
What say you?
Finally, I do applaud Pastor Dollar for being audacious in his admitting his mistake…
In honor of Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday as of last week, I wanted to share an excerpt of an article I wrote for Urban Faith about Juneteenth. It’s particularly sad that Rev. Ronald V. Myers Sr., chairman of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, who I interviewed for the article in 2016 did not live to see this milestone in African American history in this country happen…See “National Observance of Juneteenth Still a Struggle”…
With the release of films such as 12 Years a Slave and The Birth of a Nation and the re-make of the “Roots” mini-series in 2016, we have seen our fair share of the history of black slavery. However, the past few years may have marked the beginning of a burgeoning interest of millennials and younger in exploring slavery, the eventual emancipation of slaves and beyond.
While the official date of the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves was enacted on Jan. 1, 1863, it would take two years for slaves in Galveston, Texas to learn of their freedom on June 19, 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in the city and told them they were free. In years since, June 19 began to be celebrated across the country as Juneteenth and in 1980, the Texan legislature established Juneteenth as a state holiday. Still, the celebration of Juneteenth, which has been inconsistent throughout the course of history, has yet to achieve the recognition and popularity of other official American holidays.
Rev. Ronald V. Myers Sr., chairman of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, has been working since 1994 when he helped organize the foundation that is working to have Juneteenth recognized as a national American holiday. “Forty-five states recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday or a special day of recognition or observance. We’re still missing North Dakota, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Montana, and Hawaii,” says Myers.
Myers learned about Juneteenth through celebrations in his hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “We had one of the largest celebrations around and it was then that I began to understand the history of our freedom in America, and I took that with me wherever I went.”
