Financial Church Abuses stopped by Whistle Blowers

There are many people who do not understand the effects of the abuses of the modern-day church have not only on their congregants but also on society. Many congregants feel that there is nothing they can do if a pastor or minister is egregiously abusing the funds of the church in the many ways some do for their own personal passions.

However, it was reported last week that an Apostolic Church minister in Chicago and a Catholic Church minister in another city had a rude awakening.

A number of congregants saw the abuses that were being perpetrated against the congregations in the name of God and blow the whistle on them. In some churches, a number of pastors have preached the idea that only God can correct any wrong behavior they may do. Well, not all congregants accept that corruption of Bible teaching.

After seeing the pastor in an Apostolic Church take the church's money and buy himself new cars and houses, and calling it the blessing of God, one member went to the IRS and reported what he/she felt was an abuse. Likewise, in a Catholic Church, a congregant saw the minister take the dinner money raised for the church and use it on himself and he/she too went to the IRS and reported this abuse.

The IRS came in and did an audit and observation and charged them with tax evasion and other federal offenses. That put an end to the misuse of church funds for the preacher's personal lifestyle.

According to the Whistle blower law, one who reports financial abuse can claim a certain percentage of the money recovered. The law has these teeth to encourage potential whistle blowers to report crimes. This becomes an interesting approach to ridding the church of much of the financial corruption some ministers are engaging in and calling it the blessing of God. I wonder whether this will be a method applied to change a behavior that many pastors are attempting to say is a Bible teaching.

[Article published in Gibbs Magazine, with a 250,000 monthly readership, May 17, 2004.]

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