The Tetzels of our time

Pastor N Fereira
It is sad to note that over time, the church has brought shame unto itself through weak financial accountability. When we read of such cases, we wonder how this comes about in God’s house. Yet history keeps repeating itself in the church, financial unaccountability persists. We shake our heads in disbelief over and over again. Will the embarrassing practice ever stop? Surely we — who claim to be in the light – should commit to a process that will put an end to all of this.

Perhaps the most scandalous account of financial abuse is that of John Tetzel, a Dominican monk.

Tetzel was put in charge of the sale of indulgences in Germany.

He was an unscrupulous man, willing to make outrageous claims in order to boost sales.

Thus, for instance, Tetzel and his preachers declared that indulgences made the sinner “cleaner than when coming out of baptism”, “cleaner than Adam before the fall” and that “the cross of the seller of indulgences has as much power as the cross of Christ”.

Those who wished to buy an indulgence for a dead loved one were promised that, “as soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs”.

Tetzel swindled many, often the poor and uneducated, to finance the expensive tastes of the clergy and grandiose building projects.

Tetzel’s story is only one of the many that show the greediness of some church leaders.

When church leaders fail at observing financial accountability, they knowingly stray from God’s Word and commission, thus entering another word and mission.

Following such a road results in a new set of pronouncements and declarations, all in the name of church leaders. A new kingdom will begin to take shape through this new movement, using so called enlightened ways to extract money from people.

Money collected to build this kingdom will be controlled and apportioned by the ones who created it in the first place.

This is when we read of the vast wealth collected by the men of God and their luxurious ‘toys’ in the newspapers.

What does the non-believers think of such disgusting acts, will they ever to come to Jesus after hearing and seeing all this?

This reflection leaves us with more questions than answers.

But let us consider Matthew 6:19–24.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

“The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

“If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold onto one and despise the other. You cannot serve GOD and mammon.”

There is more than enough teachings in the Bible to guide church leaders on financial accountability. Why do church leaders dodge financial accountability when they should be serving God and not mammon?

While I could list a number of possible solutions to this problem, a counselling course taught me that a counselee must be able to identify their own problem and come up with possible solutions if they are ready to let go.

Church leaders must admit that there is a problem with regards to financial accountability and agree on the need to change. After that initial step, they must remain committed to the process of correction and restoration.

The ball is in the church leaders’ court but as we consider the way forward, we must remember that the church is the hope of the world and therefore we can afford to lead it astray.

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