Friends,
Sorry about not sending out anything in the last few days.
I've been fortunate to have spent a lot of time with my family over the
holidays.
The following is a good summary on America's churches and why
they are not taking a leadership role for freedom and traditional family values.
You might ask your pastor why the Master of your church is government instead of
God. And, don't bother sending me anything from Romans because I offer tapes
from Pastor Weaver at The Freedom Page Store that explains very well the role of
government and it's relationship to Christians.
Jim Hardin
The
Freedom Page
http://www.freedompage.ws/
To receive Freedom Page mail,
put "Subscribe"
as subject to freedompage@mindspring.com
To be removed,
put "Remove" as subject.
Restoring America
http://www.restoringamerica.org/
From: kenkeller@mindspring.com
Subject:
Indianapolis Baptist Temple - The Trumpet
Ken Keller
http://www.indianapolisbaptisttemple.com/trumpet/irs.htmlhtml
Home :
The
Trumpet : IRS: PASTORS
MUST BE ORDAINED BY THE IRS
IRS: PASTORS MUST BE
ORDAINED BY THE IRS
Unregistered Baptist Fellowship Meetings
Internal Revenue Service: PASTORS MUST BE
ORDAINED BY THE IRS
by Dr.
Greg J. Dixon
The most prominent and successful certified
public accountant firm in the nation today, that specializes in keeping churches
out of trouble with the Internal Revenue Service, is now boldly saying to the
pastors of America that they not only have to be "ordained by God, but also
the IRS."
They also say that the IRS is dictating terms
to the churches by declaring in clear and no uncertain terms that, "The
government doesn't want your Bible, they want your checkbook!" In seminars
all over the US, Chitwood and Chitwood of Chattanooga, Tennessee, is repeating
this startling announcement to pastors and church leaders. Without so much as a
blush, Michael Chitwood, the main speaker, says, besides the above quotes,
"Pastor, if you don't get your house in order, get ready, you are going to have
a jail ministry" as he practically screams out to those present as to what
pastors and church leaders must do to avoid jail time and the confiscation of
church property by the federal government.
Besides giving the
pastor his job description, which is based on the Roman Catholic model of
worship and polity, the IRS is demanding many other things that are clearly
designed to make the IRS Commissioner the new head of the churches in America
Some of these demands are as follows: The church must collect a Federal ID
(Social Security) number from visiting evangelists, missionaries, preachers and
singers before they invite them to the pulpit. They must give a Form 1099 to any
minister who receives up to $600 in a years time, which includes missionary
support. If the ID is not received, the church leaders must withhold a jeopardy
assessment of 39% on the spot and send it to the IRS. They must agree to the IRS
definition of benevolence. They cannot deal in cash at any level, but must
deposit all offerings into a checking account and write checks for every
purpose. This means, of course, that the church, in order to conduct its
ministry, has to have an Employer Identification Number which must be provided
by the IRS by filing Form SS-4 which a true New Testament church could never do
and remain obedient to her Lord. In fact, church leaders would have to
misrepresent the church as a religious organization rather than a N.T. Church to
do so. Other things that pastors and church leaders are required to do are to be
an informer against their members and also to preach only IRS prescribed
sermons. Also, all fund raising material must be submitted to the IRS for their
approval.
The job description for pastors is a list of nine
specific sacerdotal duties which again is a Roman Catholic definition meaning
sacred. The Catholic church teaches that these sacraments, when administered by
a priest, are essential to ones salvation. This is totally opposite to the Bible
definition which states that baptism and communion are memorials of the death,
burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that they follow
salvation. The nine duties are: baptisms, weddings, serving the Eucharist (the
Catholic sacrament of communion), teaching , spiritual counseling, christenings
or baby dedications, administration of church affairs and the regular conducting
of worship services. If the pastor does a substantial number of these things, he
will receive very lucrative tax breaks. This is in clear violation of the
scriptures concerning the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes which the Lord Jesus said
that He hates (Rev. 2:6, 2:15). It is the setting up of a privileged class of
clergy with benefits from the state that lay members do not receive. Others who
minister to the church in the area of music, youth, children, education and
other areas of responsibility don't qualify.
This is
consistent with what officials of the IRS told Attorney David Gibbs of the
Christian Law Association (CLA) in 1984 when they said that their definition of
church is "once per week adult worship." They said that they did not consider
such ministries as Sunday school, Christian school, busses, youth camp, vacation
Bible school, nursing home, etc., to fall within their definition of the word
"church". This Gibbs/IRS meeting took place in Washington, DC at the time that
the so called champion of Christian liberty was hammering out a compromise with
the Dole Committee (Sen. Bob Dole-R-Kansas) in the US Senate to bring the
churches into compliance with the FICA tax (social security) laws. This was the
deal that would eventually cause the raid and seizure of the Baptist Temple 17
years later. It's too bad that Gibbs didn't sound the alarm at that time and
call the Bible believing pastors together for a summit meeting to map out a
strategy that could have possibly saved our churches and ministries. The
unregistered church pastors tried, but unfortunately our words fell on deaf
ears. The so called "big" preachers were too busy receiving their tax deductible
gifts and building their empires to be concerned over the future of God's work.
Now the enemies of Christ have sprung the trap and it is too late.
These requirements should be intolerable enough by just the
fact that the IRS would even dare to suggest duties for pastors, but to impose
under the penalty of imprisonment and confiscation of property the same
responsibilities of Roman Catholic priests is nothing short of naked tyranny.
Obviously, the inquisition has returned and the pastors and churches of America
are not even aware that it has arrived. The raid and seizure of the property of
the Baptist Temple is the direct result of the pastors and church refusing to
bow down to this new wave of Catholic terror that has come upon our land. The
issue in the Baptist Temple case isn't taxes as the IRS, with the help of the
media, has led the people of Indianapolis and nation to believe. The issue is
very simple. Will the churches of America bow down to the IRS in violation of
the first commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," or will they
bow down to the Lord Jesus Christ? Our Lord said, "No man can serve two masters:
for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the
one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24). The
purge is now on as we hear of churches and ministries being closed on a regular
basis. But there is still no evidence that the pastors have awakened from their
stupor.
The benevolent requirements for churches are beyond
atrocious. They are five in number: food, clothing, housing, medical emergencies
and utilities. The church cannot help with transportation or auto repairs and a
myriad of other things that churches have historically done on a regular basis.
The church cannot make loans to the pastor, members, or others which churches
have always done. Obviously, they want to make sure that the money lenders get
their profits even from the poor. Can you imagine the government of the US
limiting a church as to its duties in regarding charitable activity? There is no
subject in the Bible that is nearer to the heart of God than charity. According
to the apostle James, it is the test of pure religion (James 1:27). Paul the
Apostle declares that charity is of higher value even than preaching and
sacrifice (I Cor. 13:1-3). For the churches to debase such a high and noble
service to Christ by submitting its administration to the wicked IRS is beyond
belief. How will the preachers of America give an account of caving into this
coercion by an abusive Bush administration who is continuing with the policies
of those before him? How will church leaders face the Lord Jesus at the Judgment
Seat of Christ when He asks them why they violated His clear commands concerning
alms giving? He said, "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen
of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the
hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of
men, Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms,
let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in
secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly."
But now the churches are required to get the permission of the IRS before
helping someone other than in the manner and purpose that they approve. Then
records will have to be kept for the IRS so that the publicans can make sure
that the church is in fact following their guidelines. And, of course, they
expect church leaders to report this alms giving to the IRS so that they can
even gouge the poor for more tribute. And all of this so the churches can keep
their tax exemption and the people can get their precious tax deductions for
their tithes and gifts. As James Dobson's organization said when challenged,
"It's just good stewardship." Thievery, good stewardship? How sad.
It may be that the churches have now gone too far. When they
begin building their dynasties on the backs of the poor our Lord, no doubt, will
be swift in His removal of their candlestick. He said to the church at Ephesus,
"Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first
works: or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick
out of his place, except thou repent" (Rev. 2:5).
All
Churches Now Required to Join IRS Super Church
Two other
developments concerning IRS control of churches has risen recently that should
literally send shock waves through the religious community. First, while the
churches are arguing doctrinal positions among themselves, and won't even spit
on each other for the most part, the IRS has now developed its own super church.
Independent Baptists in particular pride themselves in their anti-ecumenism. No
fundamentalist preacher worth his salt would be caught dead at the local church
federation meeting where he has to rub shoulders with a charismatic or liberal
preacher. However, they don't think twice about paying a large fee to go to a
Chitwood or CLA seminar and sit next to one of these religious outcasts to learn
how to be a good IRS approved church and pastor.
It is now a
fact that in order to get and keep the tax-exempt status a church must agree
that all religions are equal. The new Application for Recognition of Exemption
Form 1023 Schedule A for Churches (Rev. September 1998) demands a declaration to
this effect with the following words at point #3: "Does the organization require
prospective members to renounce other religious beliefs or their membership in
other churches or religious orders to become members? Yes__ No__. If "Yes,"
describe."
It doesn't take much intelligence to figure out
where they are going with this. In order to be considered a legal church (tax
exempt) in America, the church or religious organization will have to declare
that all religions are equal. They will also have to declare that they do not
believe that their doctrinal position only results in converts to their faith
having eternal life. They must renounce this narrow inclusivist position. Maybe
we now know why Billy Graham, Robert Schuller, Pat Robertson, and other TV
preachers have been making such fuzzy remarks about adherents of other
religions, though sincere, going to heaven without receiving Christ. In that tax
exemption is government subsidy, according to the Supreme Court in the Bob Jones
University case, it is now clear that the US government will not support any
religion that clings to the narrow minded belief that salvation is in Jesus
Christ alone. Remember? "Come Shekels, Come Shackles." The world church isn't
coming; it is already here, and the preachers don't have a clue as they go
merrily along hand in hand with the Great Harlot to the wedding with the
anti-Christ. (Rev. 17).
US Government Through the IRS
Outlaws Preaching on Second Coming of Christ
One of the
reasons the IRS gave to Texe Marr's Living Truth Ministries for removing their
tax exempt status is as follows: "Much of the material you disseminate promises
to address possible conspiracies or threats, either from individuals, groups or
various agencies, against Christianity, freedom or other rights. This is evident
from a review of your newsletters and order forms. The titles and promotional
materials are designed to sensationalize and grab the readers attention. They
usually imply that the works will expose certain prominent groups, individuals,
politicians or government agencies as being part of or linked to some threat or
conspiracy." One of the titles that the IRS gave as an example included "Bible
Prophecy and The Conspiracy."
Any grade school child in
Sunday School knows that you can't teach or write on Bible prophecy without
dealing with the second coming of Jesus Christ. But just as the Russian pastors
under communism were forbidden to speak on this subject, we are now coming to
the same place in our beloved land. It is obvious that if one believes in the
literal return of the Lord Jesus Christ that they will be considered a domestic
terrorist. In that the Lord Jesus will destroy wicked government upon His return
in great glory and break the back of Gentile world rule, this message isn't
popular with the in-for-hells and the high-heeled-belles that run our country
today. Of course, they don't believe that He is coming, but they believe that we
who do will be involved in what they call self-fulfilled prophecies and try to
hasten His coming by blowing up everything in sight. Further evidence of this
type of anti-Christ thinking surfaced recently when a brochure put out by the
FBI in Phoenix, Arizona, named "potential domestic terrorists" that law
enforcement should be aware of. One of those groups is "Doomsday/Cult-Type."
Obviously, this would include all Bible believing preachers and churches in
America. We not only believe that there will be a literal doomsday, we believe
that the Lord Jesus Christ will bring the doom when He comes (Rev. 6:12-17). It
won't do any good to claim that your church is not a "cult". The IRS definition
fits the average Bible believing church to a tee.
Many have
asked if we can actually show them this in the law. Our answer is no, we can't
because you won't find a specific law that says that you can't preach on the
Second Coming of Jesus Christ in America today. That's because they don't have
to write a law to gain the same effect. All Congress has to do is to give an
outlaw agency like the IRS a carte blanche privilege of making up their own
so-called laws as they go along. The churches agreed to this when they signed
their tax-exempt contract. They said that they would obey all laws, federal,
state and local, presently and in the future. But they apparently didn't read
the fine print. The new churches filing for tax exemption must agree to the
following: "The Corporation or organization shall have no power to take any
action that would be required for a tax exemption under Internal Revenue
Code Section 501(c)(3) and related regulations, rulings, and
procedures." It is now the "procedure" of the IRS to refuse tax exempt status to
those churches that will not agree that all religions are equal and who refuse
to join through tax exemption, the world church. Also, preaching on Christ's
coming is taboo.
For those churches which are foolish enough
to believe that Sec. 508 of the IRS code allows an automatic exemption for
churches, need to read it again. It doesn't say "exemption," it says,
"...churches have a mandatory exception." The exception is from filing a Form
1023 to make application for not for profit status. Here is the kicker. Churches
have to abide by the same rules that those that do file for this privilege. And
if they do not, the IRS can, and most assuredly will, remove their tax
exemption. The only thing missing is the annual Form 990 that other religious
organizations have to file. When this is required, the churches will be under
total control of the IRS with no wiggle room.
In the Baptist
Temple court case, the church learned that a New Testament Church does not
legally exist in the US today because there are no longer any First Amendment
protections left. The genius of the First Amendment and various religious
freedom clauses of the fifty states is that, for the first time in history, a N.
T. Church could exist legally without having in the words of the IRS a "distinct
legal existence." Now even a N.T. Church will be assigned by force the legal
status of an association and will be expected to meet the same standards that
the not for profits have to meet. But, they still won't have their God given
right of a non-taxable status. This status is in contrast to an exempt status
which is a privilege not a right.
IRS Agent Says That
Churches are Trapped
The evidence as to what we are
saying, though denied by most preachers, was made clear on January 24 this year
in Tampa, Florida. IRS agent Melvin Blough testified in federal court that "once
a church obtains the status of 501(c)(3) under the IRC they are trapped. The
only way to be removed from a 501(c)(3) status is if the IRS chooses to remove
the exemption. So if you dissolve the corporation and continue on as ABC church,
an unincorporated church, you're still trapped in their web and under their
control." He further testified that a church is automatically exempt under
federal law without a 501(c)(3) designation. He also stated under oath that
churches request the status just to get the governments stamp of approval. Even
though Blough used the word "exemption" rather than "exception," he is
essentially correct in his assessment of the plight of the churches of America.
It is obvious that, regardless, the result is the same.
For
more information on how to pastor a N.T. Church contact The
Trumpet.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interested
in Constitutional Issues? Checkout The Freedom Page
radio show audio
tapes. Just click: http://freedompage.home.mindspring.com/store.html