MONEY
We are not sure how it is in other countries, but it is a well-known fact that religion in the USA is deeply connected to government through the formation of religious, 501 C 3 corporations. The primary feature of a 501 C 3 designation by the IRS is tax exempt status which provides that donations to a qualified 501 C 3 organization are considered to be exempt from federal taxes. This means that the financial well-being of religious organizations (e.g. churches, synagogues, independent ministries, mission organizations, etc.) is dependent on the government’s willingness to exempt donations to such organizations from taxation.

If at no other time of the year, religious people who make financial donations to religious entities (churches, synagogues, ministries, etc.) are reminded of this fact when they file their income tax forms for the IRS. Then, if they have positive income for which a tax is due, and if they have made donations to religious entities, they will most likely claim those donations as deductions for tax purposes. In other words, the government gives those people a kick-back for their donation in the form of a reduced tax.

There is much that is wrong with this practice. One problem that is quite obscure but spiritually significant is that it involves deception. Consider the story of Ananias and Sapphira:

Acts 5:1-14: But a man named Anani’as with his wife Sapphi’ra sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Anani’as, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” 5 When Anani’as heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. 7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Hark, the feet of those that have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and died. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all who heard of these things. 12 Now many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And held them in high honor. 14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women,

COMMENTARY: The problem here is with creating a public impression that does not line up with the private facts. Ananias and Sapphira gave the public impression that they had given the entire amount of the sale of their property to the apostles but in fact held back part of the value for themselves. This was considered to be lying to God.

The application of this story to government is in the fact that donors of tax-deductible money to a church or ministry appear to have given a certain amount, but if they take a tax deduction for that amount, the amount actually decreases by the value of the tax deduction. In God’s view, according to Acts 5:1-14, this constitutes a lie.

Government is an accomplice to this lie by establishing laws that create the opportunity for donors to recover part of their donations by reducing their taxes. It can be said, therefore,  that the government has provided the opportunity for people to stumble by establishing laws and regulations regarding donations to religious organizations.

It can also be said that government uses this favorable tax status to keep religion in check. Tax deductions for donations to religious organizations are very important to the financial life of those organizations. Therefore, tax exempt status is the carrot that government offers in exchange for limitations on political activism that government places on religious organizations. It is a good deal for both religion and government, but it is not a good deal for God because people who claim to follow him have sold a bit of their freedom for a tax deduction.

It is hard to say how this practice of tax deductions for donations to religious organizations (e.g., churches, synagogues, ministries, missions, etc.) is to the financial solvency of those organizations. Nevertheless, it seems fair to speculate that donations would decline precipitously if government tax laws did not allow for the deduction. Furthermore, it seems fair to speculate that many, if not all, religious organizations would close their doors because of the decline in donations. When and if this would happen, we would have clear evidence of the dependence of religion on government. Such dependence, of course, shows evidence of lack of trust in God who wants his people to be dependent on him for everything. And government, of course, is the willing accomplice to this sin also.

Government’s influence on religion through taxes appears in several other ways.

All this activity shows clearly that the separation between church and state in the United States is very blurred. It is not so blurred, however, in other countries where the state actually endorses a particular religion. All this evidence suggests that the time for judgment is slowly advancing because God’s people have made treaties/covenants with unbelievers in government.

Every time a religion asserts itself, whether violently or peacefully, it meets with resistance or even repression by government. Even in the United States, government will tolerate a little religion and even partner with it to a degree through certain tax benefits and grants to run social programs, and through laws that guarantee religious freedom.

COMMENTARY ON GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION: Because religious organizations are directly accountable to government, and must satisfy government rules in order to stay legal, they must function like a business in every respect. That means these corporate structures must have Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, and various policies and procedures to govern the operations and finances of the corporate entity according to the rules of government. This means they are governed by corporate, institutional laws — not by God’s spiritual laws.

The connection between this association between government and the episode in the Temple is the fact that religious leaders created the association, and they did it for their personal gain — just like Balaam.  Religious leaders who do not directly receive monetary income were also guilty of making this unholy alliance. We see this alliance represented in the New Testament where the Jewish temple system is under the thumb of Rome. They may instead receive intangible benefits (i.e. status, position, authority, etc.) by virtue of their association with the corporate entity, and those who make tax deductible donations to religious organizations receive the financial kick-back.

Despite all this government vs. religion activity, a growing number of religious movements and legal challenges on religious issues indicate that the relationship is strained. And there are non-religious organizations advocating to hasten the separation between church and state. We don’t know how it will play out, but, the way we see it, these conflicts indicate that God has good reason to bring judgment.

The main reason is that religion is yoked to government through money. Churches and ministries understand that they need to be legally organized as charitable, non-profit, religious organizations if contributions to them are to be tax deductible. The thinking of religious organizations is that members will not pay tithes and offerings unless they get a credit from the government for their donations. And the religious institution will be required to pay property taxes if they are not legally organized as a charitable, non-profit religious organization. So, in order to sweeten the incentive to belong to a church or to make a donation to a ministry, religious organizations yoke themselves to government so that they and their members/donors can legitimately receive these financial benefits from government. Thus the organizations have willingly submitted to government authority for financial security. They have chosen to trust man’s institutions for security instead of God. That decision will surely bring judgment sooner or later.

While this relationship with government has financial advantages, it also has disadvantages. IRS rules limit activity of religious organizations regarding political activity. These rules do allow some room, however, for a certain degree of lobbying. As a result of this allowance for lobbying, religious organizations have increased their lobbying activity radically in the past forty years. Over two hundred groups collectively employ at least 1,000 people in the greater Washington area and spend at least $350 million a year on efforts to influence national public policy on about 300 policy issues according to a recent PEW research report.

While the religious organizations obviously believe it is good, even righteous, to spend time and money on public policy lobbying, we think God takes a much different view. The way we see it, such efforts show that the religious organizations put more trust in their own efforts and on government than they do in God. It is just another example of being unequally yoked.

God considers such legal associations equal to being yoked to a pagan god. Remember that the Baal of Peor, was the god that Balaam taught Israel to worship, and that Balaam was in the business of prophesying for money. The story of Balaam is prophetic of this unholy alliance with government as well as religious institutions. Balaam taught Balak to entice Israel to worship at the altar of Ba’al. Thus Balak created the attraction of altars and sacrifices that were familiar to Israel for worship because God had told Israel to build altars and make sacrifices. This is the infamous Baal of Peor event which angered God.  Israel did it again in its relationship with Rome, and the result was the destruction of the temple and the dispersal of the Jews.

The American church is in the same situation as Israel, and it is gradually suffering destruction and dispersal. And a major reason it is happening involves mixing money with religion.