This morning, my wife and I decided to go again to Christos Restaurant for our set meal.
Christos Restaurant has been in the news more and more of late. Its chef was reportedly paid more than half a million dollars.
Yet, when it comes to pastors, why is half a million Singapore dollars in a year such a scandal? Soccer players like Wayne Rooney and John Terry earn that same amount in merely two weeks!!
If soccer players are paid such wages to entertain, should not a man of God, whom He has been using to transform hundreds and thousands of lives, be likewise worthy of his wages? Why begrudge him what the Church's remuneration committee, in their collective wisdom, considers to be an amount fitting for his calling?
The temple that Solomon built cost the modern-day equivalent of US$800,000 million. Does that not make the project at One-North at S$500 million pale in comparison?
God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Heaven's streets are made of gold. The church's standing has been devalued to the extent that even phrases such as "as poor as a churchmouse" have crept into our vernacular.
It is about time we have a paradigm shift in the way we view the things of God. Let us claim back what the devil has taken away. Amen?
Well, it seems to be even more crowded than before :-)
God is causing all things to work for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. And the chef was candid enough to share with the patrons how he felt about the whole thing.
God is causing all things to work for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. And the chef was candid enough to share with the patrons how he felt about the whole thing.
Stanley has rightly pointed out in his blog entry that people do not bat an eyelid when they read of English Premier League players being paid hundreds of thousands of Sterling pounds each week.
Yet, when it comes to pastors, why is half a million Singapore dollars in a year such a scandal? Soccer players like Wayne Rooney and John Terry earn that same amount in merely two weeks!!
If soccer players are paid such wages to entertain, should not a man of God, whom He has been using to transform hundreds and thousands of lives, be likewise worthy of his wages? Why begrudge him what the Church's remuneration committee, in their collective wisdom, considers to be an amount fitting for his calling?
The temple that Solomon built cost the modern-day equivalent of US$800,000 million. Does that not make the project at One-North at S$500 million pale in comparison?
God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Heaven's streets are made of gold. The church's standing has been devalued to the extent that even phrases such as "as poor as a churchmouse" have crept into our vernacular.
It is about time we have a paradigm shift in the way we view the things of God. Let us claim back what the devil has taken away. Amen?
15 comments:
Mal,
tell us what the chef said about how he felt abt the issue.
We who are not in Spore have little opportunity to patronise the restaurant.
Amen.
Just had such a tough time talking to my SIL's SIL man... she asked about PP's pay
And she said the papers say he didnt ask to stop his salary. I am sure they did report. =pp
Worse of all she said there is another church growing fast with no scandal. it worships in Expo/ I asked FCBC? She said no the other pastor kong one. I was like U got to be kidding??? That one has way more scandals than we do lol. But i said lets not judge and let God do the judging.
She is somewhat convinced our church is going to be judged guilty of greed and avarice and it is a matter of God's timing.
Nursing my wounds now. Grace grace grace.
Praise God my parents are cool about it.
Christ Jesus who created the Universe died poor on the Cross so that pastors today can live poor or live rich in fear. Then He had died in vain. Thank you for speaking up for the pastors' salaries. At least Nicodemus who came to Jesus in the middle of the night defended Jesus in the midst of the Pharisees. Let not the spirit of Judas prevail in the hearts of the believers
Not sure how you came up with the cost of Solomon's temple being 800 billion as a premise to compare with One North at SGD 500 million.
You are right in that 500K salary is not much. I explained to a friend that since he brings in the bulk of the 45 Million revenue to the church, the salary seems very fair.
If NCC were to decide to accede to Pastor Prince's request for him to go on a no-salary arrangement with the church, I will start to give free-will offering to him, over and above my regular tithe to the church.
I will do so, not because I think Pastor Prince and his family would suffer financially if he were to go without a monthly paycheck from the church, but because I truly respect and honor the man of God, and I believe in sowing into his ministry. :-)
Hi,Mal,
I like the analogy given by Pastor about the dog that walks on the water. To someone who believes, it is a miracle. But to a sceptic - "your dog cannot swim?". How true.
For many who critise, if they are receiving $500K as a salary, would they think that it is too much? Would they even be willing to give them $50K a year as a tithe to the Lord? I am sure they will have loads of excuses.
Amen Malcolm!!
hi malcolm,
i'm from new crea too, and i totally agree with you. and i think pastor appreciates our support la, was at 3rd service and he looked pretty touched at our cheering. heh. though of course i'm sad that the daggers came out so fast after the news broke, and even sadder that they're from our brethren.
btw i was a bit confused about your restaurant thing for a while. nice one. :P
Hey hungribunni,
the kong one paper reportedly that he & pop star wife owns a few horizon tower units ... which if enbloc would have pocketed several millions sing dollars, so God also got bless him what, right? And I thot someone told me PP did a reverse tithe on his pay? in the amount of $540,000? Is that true? He need not disclose cos this is between him and God, and God honours that, but seems like men wants the man of God to come clean leh .... all want to be police for God, police-ing man of God ... yet most fail to police oneself ...
The monk in scandal also draws $16000 per month in 2001 ... which adds up to $192,000 on 12 months,... I thot monk "four BIG all empty?" (hanyu: si da jie kong) take so much pay for what? hold so many office, do so many stunts....
sigh,...
William
Er.. i think he did a 101% offering.. lol.. $500,000 pay but he sowed $563,360...
Hi William,
JP gave to the one-North project ... he's not doing the reverse tithe.
By the way, The Horizon Tower enbloc deal is off ... the Court of Appeal rejected the sale saying the sales committee was not transparent in its dealings.
It's absurd isn't it that nobody makes a brouhaha over a monk receiving a large salary when a monk (according to their religion) is supposed to lead a simple life?
I think I read somewhere that the courts felt it was dodgy that some people bought a coupla units to try to take advantage of the deal, which was not fair to the rest as the deal they pushed for was not the best deal possible or something.
i agree with stan. we cannot compare apples to oranges. no where in the bible it says pastors should not be renumerated for pastoring. paul even compared it to the renumeration and provision of the temple priests by the people. reading up on that.
monks and pastors signed up for a diff deal. one signed up to give up the world for a austere life as they believe everything is nothing. pastors signed up to save souls because they believe Jesus is their everything - their wisdom, their health, their redemption and their perfect provision.
God is good all the time and all the time God is good.
Hi Peter
Ps Prince said that even ten dollars would be overpaying him. He had asked the council not to pay him a salary but they insisted that they did.
He recalled fondly the days when the church was operating out of a L-shaped 2-room HDB flat with less than 100 members. Never did he imagine that it would become the size it is today.
He ever mentioned before that he was just God's delivery boy.
But my take on this is this: that's the way God operates. You honour Him by being true to His gospel, and He honours you by blessing you exceedingly abundantly over and above what you ask or imagine.
The patriachs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were blessed materially with hundreds upon hundreds of camels, donkeys, manservants, maidservants etc. That was God's way of showing those around them that He was God. In the last days, everything is going back to Genesis and that is going to be God's way of showing the people of today that He is God.
I thot about the issue for a while and God finally settled it for me one morning when I was doing my QT.
I was reading Luke (not thinking about the issue) and I came to this portion:
Luke 10:6-7
6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you.
7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house.
Jesus was talking about labourers for the harvest. At once, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to verse 6 and I basically saw this:
... remain in the same house [CHURCH], eating and drinking [RECEIVING] such things as they [CHURCH COUNCIL] give, for the laborer [PASTOR PRINCE] is worthy [JUSTIFIED] of his wages [500K]...
That settled it for me. It closed a chapter and I could move on.
At some point, we should all move on. This thing about whether pastors should be rich or not (as with any controversial church topic) will forever be argued.
You can camp there and debate till Jesus comes back or carry on doing what God has called you to do.
And I think that when Jesus comes back, He wants to catch us doing what He has called us to do, not debating, criticising and finger-pointing. :)
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