robert tilton and paying vows?

[stillblessed]

i saw the other night,robert tilton and wife,and saying how their ministry,has opened up doors through the word,for people to have money. he quoted the word,and so i was curious at book he offered,free,to tell you how to do this,i thought i was missing something,and needed to learn more. he gave toll free number to call,and i did,then at end,he wanted to know how much i would vow, $2,000, 5,000,1,000,500? i hung up,and he sent me a dollar to sow my seed,and asked me to send back $39,along with it,and i would receive financial blessings. then,i got my book the other day,a 5 page pamplet,explaing with scripture on vowing with his ministry, the 5 grand,and less,though just sending in 20 or 10 bucks wasnt mentioned. i know you have to tithe,and give offerings,and help others,so do you think you should send money to an evangelist on tv?

 

[New_Wineskin]

i saw the other night,robert tilton and wife,and saying how their ministry,has opened up doors through the word,for people to have money. he quoted the word,and so i was curious at book he offered,free,to tell you how to do this,i thought i was missing something,and needed to learn more. he gave toll free number to call,and i did,then at end,he wanted to know how much i would vow, $2,000, 5,000,1,000,500? i hung up,and he sent me a dollar to sow my seed,and asked me to send back $39,along with it,and i would receive financial blessings. then,i got my book the other day,a 5 page pamplet,explaing with scripture on vowing with his ministry, the 5 grand,and less,though just sending in 20 or 10 bucks wasnt mentioned. i know you have to tithe,and give offerings,and help others,so do you think you should send money to an evangelist on tv?

Any group that has an idea on how to get more bang for your buck but still needs *your* money shows to be liars and hypocrites . If they had the secret to obtaining money , they would alreadr have more that enough . If one is talking about "seed faith" in this manner , they would be asking for everyone's address so that they could give *their* money for their obtaining more and not having people sending *them* money .

 

[Father Rick]

Is Tilton still around? Haven't heard about him since the '80's...

It's true that the Scriptures teach the principle of sowing and reaping. It's true that God wants us to give. It's also true that God wants us to 'sow' to 'good ground', meaning those ministries and avenues that are actually doing the work of the ministry-- feeding the hungry, caring for the poor, visiting the sick, etc. You need to decide for yourself if that is what this ministry is doing.

 

[fromcentex]

I called in for that packet also just because I had heard of all the stupid stuff he sends. He actually sent a poster of himself and I was suppose to put my hadn on his hand and pray some prayer. Two things wrong with this loser (well a whole lot more, but these are the two biggies I have noticed). First, he never preaches any sermon but prosperity. As Christians we are suppose to share the love of Christ and lead others to Christ. If all you ever talk about is how to get rich, how is anyone going to figure out how to get saved? Second, this guy actually has the nerve to ask for your tithe. Even the most crooked TV evangelists usually tell you to give your tithe to your local church and send them the rest. For him to ask for you tithe is sickening. You should be going to church with a local group of believers and you should support that fellowship of believers with your tithes.

 

[9-iron]

i hung up,and he sent me a dollar to sow my seed,and asked me to send back $39,along with it,and i would receive financial blessings. then,i got my book the other day,a 5 page pamplet,explaing with scripture on vowing with his ministry

Same ole, same ole. Boy these guys have down pat don't they. I would hang up, send him his dollar back and never have anything to do with him again.

 

[Dust and Ashes]

I can't believe Tilton is still around. Last I heard of him, he was in some big trouble for defrauding people. I even saw one of his friends on a program saying that Tilton had called him once saying they should get a revival tent, a bus and travel around the country and get rich. I can't judge him or anyone else but I am very, very wary of anyone who only preaches the prosperity message and asks for money.

 

[New_Wineskin]

I thought the same of him . Perhaps , he is back . Or , there is some channel that is showing reruns - as if there was much of a difference between any two episodes .

 

[Theophilus7]

i saw the other night,robert tilton and wife,and saying how their ministry,has opened up doors through the word,for people to have money. he quoted the word,and so i was curious at book he offered,free,to tell you how to do this,i thought i was missing something,and needed to learn more. he gave toll free number to call,and i did,then at end,he wanted to know how much i would vow, $2,000, 5,000,1,000,500? i hung up,and he sent me a dollar to sow my seed,and asked me to send back $39,along with it,and i would receive financial blessings. then,i got my book the other day,a 5 page pamplet,explaing with scripture on vowing with his ministry, the 5 grand,and less,though just sending in 20 or 10 bucks wasnt mentioned. i know you have to tithe,and give offerings,and help others,so do you think you should send money to an evangelist on tv?

I should avoid Tilton, if I were you. Though I have certain reservations about the "prosperity message", I think it is a shame that honest proponents should be tainted by association with the "Tiltons" of this world. If there is any truth in the "prosperity message" (and I believe there is), Tilton has surely provided the body of Christ with the counterfeit, effectively switching a great many people off any of the useful and valid insights that more moderate prosperity preachers do teach.

 

[rooster]

I should avoid Tilton, if I were you. Though I have certain reservations about the "prosperity message", I think it is a shame that honest proponents should be tainted by association with the "Tiltons" of this world. If there is any truth in the "prosperity message" (and I believe there is), Tilton has surely provided the body of Christ with the counterfeit, effectively switching a great many people off any of the useful and valid insights that more moderate prosperity preachers do teach.

Just a question out of genuine curiousity.

In your opinion, where does the truth end and half-truths begin?

Hope this question is not intrusive.

 

[muffler dragon]

i saw the other night,robert tilton and wife,and saying how their ministry,has opened up doors through the word,for people to have money. he quoted the word,and so i was curious at book he offered,free,to tell you how to do this,i thought i was missing something,and needed to learn more. he gave toll free number to call,and i did,then at end,he wanted to know how much i would vow, $2,000, 5,000,1,000,500? i hung up,and he sent me a dollar to sow my seed,and asked me to send back $39,along with it,and i would receive financial blessings. then,i got my book the other day,a 5 page pamplet,explaing with scripture on vowing with his ministry, the 5 grand,and less,though just sending in 20 or 10 bucks wasnt mentioned. i know you have to tithe,and give offerings,and help others,so do you think you should send money to an evangelist on tv?

The only thing I wanted to ask you about was your thought about 'having to tithe'. Are you sure that this is correct?

As for Tilton and those like him, I put them in the same pot as telemarketers.

m.d.

 

[riverpastor]

I would like to testify that Vowing (and paying) does have tremendous benefits when the Lord sparks your heart with Faith.

I would seek out the scriptures about vowing in particular (oh, yeah, it's in there). I have made several vows, and it has been amazing what the Lord has done in response.

Vowing is something that goes above and beyond your tithe and offering. The Lord has provided me with the seed to sow when I didn't have it.

I would ask the Spirit to reveal to you what ministry He would want you to give to in the event that He reveals to you that He wants you to make that vow.

 

[Trish1947]

I think sometimes we have to separate the message from the messenger.. I listened many years ago to Tilton preaching about leaving a 'Memorial' before the Lord. For a future need. That man can really raise your faith level. Well at the time I knew that we we're going to have to move out of our rental, in one year. and we needed enough money to get into our own place. My husband had just had open heart surgery, and was off work for 4 months. But the message really impressed my spirit, so I started a "memorial" before the Lord, for 500.00 to be paid in full in one year. I gave each month the amount that I felt led of the Lord and I figured I needed at least 5,000.00 to get into another place. So a year later, the time came we had to move, about 2 weeks before the move, I "reminded" the Lord of my memorial, and it was amazing.. about 3 different circumstances arose, and money was in our hand..How much? Exactly 5,000.00. A complete surprise where it all came from. But the thing was, I did not give it to Tilton, I felt led to give it somewhere else. The message was true, I just didn't feel led to give it to his ministry for some reason. So I think that sometimes the message is totally true, but you might have some doubt about the one giving the message. But I do like to listen to him.

 

[Andrew]

i saw the other night,robert tilton and wife,and saying how their ministry,has opened up doors through the word,for people to have money. he quoted the word,and so i was curious at book he offered,free,to tell you how to do this,i thought i was missing something,and needed to learn more. he gave toll free number to call,and i did,then at end,he wanted to know how much i would vow, $2,000, 5,000,1,000,500? i hung up,and he sent me a dollar to sow my seed,and asked me to send back $39,along with it,and i would receive financial blessings. then,i got my book the other day,a 5 page pamplet,explaing with scripture on vowing with his ministry, the 5 grand,and less,though just sending in 20 or 10 bucks wasnt mentioned. i know you have to tithe,and give offerings,and help others,so do you think you should send money to an evangelist on tv?

He sounds like a con-artist.

Anyway, you tithe to your local church. Find a church you can settle in and grow. Tithe to that church. You don't tithe to another church or some outside ministry.

As for offerings, give as the Lord leads, whether its to your church or other ministries.

 

[Theophilus7]

Just a question out of genuine curiousity.

In your opinion, where does the truth end and half-truths begin?

Hope this question is not intrusive.

It's a fair question, and not one I can immediately answer. Many disagreements in Christian teaching proceed from our failure to grasp both sides of an issue. The debate between Calvinists and Arminians might be cited as a good example. The nature of Christ (all God or all man?) is surely another one. The origin of scripture (men or the Holy Spirit?) is one more. In all three of these cases, people have perceived what I believe to have been genuine truths and taken sides, but have often failed to perceive the other person's insight as complementary rather than contradictory. And the end result is a 'half-truth' which divides men rather than uniting them. Such is man in his fallen human nature; he sees the world through polarized glasses!

Now how we assess these partial insights is probably a more important issue for Christians than philosophical speculations about half-truths. I suggest that each case should be judged on its own merits, to determine whether or not the partiality of truth (resident in most, if not all, of our doctrines) is actually fatal - as such it constitutes an overall "error" (which, I think, is what you were actually after). So your question may at least be answered in a localised sense. For example, to overlook Christ's deity whilst affirming his humanity is, I think you'll agree, a fatal instance of half-truth. On the other hand, I do not feel uncomfortable about walking hand-in-hand with an Arminian on my left and a Calvinist on my right. I can learn from both of them, and neither one is excluded because he may have only grasped the half of it. I shall continue to struggle to apprehend the whole. I am inclined to put the detractors and advocates of the "prosperity gospel" into this second category, since they both (in my eyes) appear to have genuine insights.

But this classification need not be rigid. Whilst I believe both groups are guilty of using a selective hermeneutic, we may grant that the poverty praisers are on safer ground spiritually, even if we find the same kinds of faults in their arguments and interpretations of scripture as those evidenced in the preaching and writing of prosperity advocates. To what extent a prosperity message, with its affirmation that "God wants you wealthy", encourages greed and a self-deterministic bent in life, will determine how spiritually dangerous it has become. A blinkered view on God's will for our lives may simply produce varying degrees of disappointment (or surprise!). A life preoccupied with the desire for wealth will soon evaporate any authentic Christianity altogether. Obviously, whilst a poverty gospel may rob the Church of its social and missiological power (and make life unnecessarily more uncomfortable than it needs to be!), the same spiritual dangers are not operating.

T7

 

[Duggie]

The thing that most disturbs me about this situation is the fact that a television network will provide a platform for people like Tilton. Surely they must have some integrity. How can one justify promoting a ministry that is quesionable? The network that supplies this man is just as much at fault, in my opinion.

 

[rainbowprism]

Ministry is free!!!! Did Jesus ever charge to help someone in need?! People that take advantage of Jesus' name make me very angry and sad. What if that is the only "christian" a nonbeliever comes in contact with and turns them off to God's goodness?

 

[Andrew]

Ministry is not free rainbowprism.

Money is needed to run ministries.

 

[9-iron]

As for Tilton and those like him, I put them in the same pot as telemarketers.

 

[Suffolk Sean]

Ministry is free!!!! Did Jesus ever charge to help someone in need?! People that take advantage of Jesus' name make me very angry and sad. What if that is the only "christian" a nonbeliever comes in contact with and turns them off to God's goodness?

1 Cor 9:1-13



1 Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 Do we have no right to eat and drink? 5 Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working? 7 Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? 8 Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." Is it oxen God is concerned about? 10 Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. 11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? 12 If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar?

Paul states that it is ok for ministers to get money, however, Paul also says that he did not exercise this with them.

 

[JimB]

Yes, m.d., too many of them are nothing more than telemarketers and their programs are nothing more than infomercials.

In my less-than-merciful opinion, people who send their money to these religious telemarketing infomercials deserve just what they get. But I also believe that they are as guilty of fraud as those who prey on them and other gullible Christians via the airwaves.
Okay, ‘nuff said.

\o/