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Detroit pastor goes viral after criticizing parishioner’s $1,200 donation
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2025
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He went after a parishoner for "only" donating $1,235 when he wanted $2,000.
His excuse is he asked for those donating $2,000 or more to come up first, she came up but without the $2K.
Their Facebook page states they get $150,000 in donations every year.
I say this without a hint of irony; What in God’s name is wrong with him??
Greed mixed with a lack of empathy.
If you need money so badly, I'm sure your god will provide it to you. Just keep praying.
This is unironically the type of preaching that megachurch pastors use to incentivize people to donate. It’s called prosperity gospel. Basically, it’s the belief that God rewards his most devout followers with material wealth. So if you’re not rich, it’s because you’re not a good enough follower and need to keep donating. It’s what pastors like Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland use, to get their followers to buy them new private jets.
Note that this completely contrary to everything Jesus said. He spoke of rewards in the afterlife, that the poor would be rewarded and the rich would not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven.
The "Prosperity Gospel" is a blatant heresy, and far worse so than most of the alleged heresies of the past 2000 years.
You can thank the twisted madman John Calvin for that heresy.
I know I'm technically a Calvinist, or at least the branch of protestantism I'm from is, but there's a lot he said many modern Christians would disagree with, and is frankly nit biblical.
Also, tithe is supposed to be a percentage of your income, not a flat amount. Most Christians will say 10% of your annual income goes to the church as tithe. Asking for a flat amount unfairly burdens the poorer parishioners, in the same way that flat rate taxes unfairly burden the poor.
"Tithe" is an old word for a tenth.
In Islam, the equivalent donation (called zakat) is a twentieth. And you're only obligated to pay it from the money you have left after you've taken care of feeding your family and providing for your housing, though it's a matter of pride to be able to pay it. The reason it's a lower amount is because Islam started in a very poor area, and (I speculate) because Muhammad started as a merchant and really didn't like taxes.
Do they donate their money publicly during the service while being open about how much they donate? That would be completely unacceptable in any halfway respectable church. Donations should be private, and should have no impact on your position in the church.
Any church that focuses too much on donations and money is pretty obviously a scam. An honest church is run by the congregation and the vicar/preacher is struggling as much as the average member. Faith is not a profit-driven enterprise, as Jesus pointed out on the temple square. Yet nobody today is chasing that den of thieves out of our churches. Maybe we should.