I am a young lady of 26 years. I attend a church and during a fundraising, the pastor asked me to pay 2000 in our currency. I got 500 to pay him and promised to pay the rest later. He mentioned we should not cross the end of the month without paying our balance. I couldn’t make the money before that time. From that time my pastor claims it was an act of disobedience and that God should bring an affliction on me so that I will know he’s a man of God. He has stopped praying for me when we all congregate. I am so much in fear and depression. What do I do?<\/p>\n\t
Find a real church with a godly teacher. Both Paul and Peter warn of false teachers who use members of the church for profit:<\/p>\n
“If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth,\u00a0who suppose that godliness is a means of gain<\/strong>. From such withdraw yourself<\/em>” (I Timothy 6:3-5).<\/p>\n
“By covetousness<\/strong>\u00a0they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber<\/em>” (II Peter 2:3).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Giving is an act of free will and not because you are being forced. “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver<\/em>” (II Corinthians 9:7). It has to be based on what a person has. “For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have<\/em>” (II Corinthians 8:12).<\/p>\n
You are in a church operated by a false teacher. It is past time for you to find a true church.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I am a young lady of 26 years. I attend a church and during a fundraising, the pastor asked me to pay 2000 in our currency. I got 500 to pay him and promised to pay the rest later. He mentioned we should not cross the end of the month without paying our balance.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[157,478,159],"class_list":["post-46921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-contributions","tag-false-teachers","tag-giving"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":39044,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-prophecy-cease-when-people-claim-to-be-prophets-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":46921,"position":0},"title":"How can prophecy cease when people claim to be prophets today?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: First, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to address my questions because it has been bothering me for a while now. I am a born-again Christian and still relatively young in faith. I read on this site that an end to all prophets was declared by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44677,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-have-to-marry-my-brothers-widow\/","url_meta":{"origin":46921,"position":1},"title":"Do I have to marry my brother’s widow?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please help. My pastor told me that God spoke to her that I should marry my elder brother's widow with four children. I have a fiancee whom I dearly love but my pastor says she is being used by devil worshippers to capture me. My dad joined in devil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38944,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-pastor-in-the-church-we-are-in-slapped-my-wife-and-called-her-a-derogatory-name-what-should-we-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":46921,"position":2},"title":"The pastor in the church we are in slapped my wife and called her a derogatory name. What should we do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have a problem. The church that I am attending is very disrespectful to women and people of color, calling them second-class citizens and that God put them on earth to serve men and nothing more than that. They say women cannot be saved unless they give birth,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14988,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-pastor-says-god-told-her-that-i-shouldnt-marry-my-fiance-what-do-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":46921,"position":3},"title":"My pastor says God told her that I shouldn’t marry my fiance. What do I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi! I am 19 years old and I have been a Christian all my life. I am a Pentecostal. I have fallen in love with a man the same age as me and we both agree it's better that we get engaged and seek the Lord in everything we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50275,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-leave-this-church-where-the-pastor-drives-a-luxury-car\/","url_meta":{"origin":46921,"position":4},"title":"Should I leave this church where the pastor drives a luxury car?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello. Thank you so much for taking the time to consider my question. I've struggled with the decision of whether to leave my church. The congregation is very loving and over the past two years, I have developed several good friendships. My dilemma is with the pastor. She is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43199,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-pastor-told-me-that-god-wanted-me-to-be-his-wife\/","url_meta":{"origin":46921,"position":5},"title":"My pastor told me that God wanted me to be his wife","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When I was 35 years old I was introduced to this church where the pastor is also a prophet. He is married and we called him daddy and his wife mommy. I was going through a lot at that time and I was helped through that man of God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}