FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART / OP-ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
Some people can be truly brazen. They seem to have no fear of God or high regard for their fellow human beings. They will rob and kill, even in church.
A story written by Dale Chamberlin and published on a blog site called Church Leaders on February 23, 2022, is not unique but is still very chilling. It tells of an elderly member of Hilldale Baptist Church in Clarksville, Tenn., who was robbed in a place that she likely least expected: the sanctuary of her home church.
In the precise words of Chamberlin: “Before a Wednesday evening Bible study on February 9, two female suspects entered the sanctuary of Hilldale Baptist Church after being directed there by the pastor, Larry Robertson. The suspects were considerably early to the event, and so the pastor said he would see them there soon, as he was finishing up another ministry engagement before heading to the Bible study.
“Upon entering the sanctuary, the two suspects came across a 78-year-old member who was also early. One suspect asked the woman to pray for her, taking the woman’s hands in her own. While the two had their heads bowed and eyes closed, the second suspect began emptying the contents of the woman’s purse, including cash and credit cards. The second suspect closed up the purse before the prayer ended, and the two made their exit from the premises shortly after that.
“Some moments later, the elderly church member noticed the contents missing from her purse. In relating the story to the members at the beginning of the Bible study, Pastor Larry Robertson expressed his concern that such a bold robbery happened even in church.”
Likely the story is not as surprising to you, and neither to me, but as I said, it is brazen, for it happened at the Church of the Oranges, New Jersey, while I pastored there several years ago. It was a Saturday night, and we were having a social upstairs in the fellowship hall. After the social, we cleaned up and stacked the tables and chairs to prepare for an event the Sunday afternoon. A man we did not know joined us during the social, and we welcomed him. He stayed back to help us with the cleaning. In the end, we all left the church and went home.
On Sunday morning, the custodian who went to clean the sanctuary called me with chilling news. “Pastor,” he said, “the large keyboard is missing from the church. I have checked around, and no door is broken.” I asked how comes the alarm did not go off, but the custodian didn’t understand either. On Monday morning, I reported the theft to the Police.
On my way back, I stopped at a garage to check on my car and saw a man with a large black garbage bag on his shoulder. He came to the garage to ask if anyone wanted to buy a keyboard. As soon as he put down the bag and began to open it, I realized that it was the one stolen from the church. I confronted him, and he insisted that it was not. He tried to put the bag on his shoulder, but I held on to it with the help of another man standing by. Finally, the guy let go of the bag and began running. I ran after him for a little and then turned back. I opened the bag, and surely it was the missing keyboard.
I will suspend the rest of the story, with the comment that when I shared the find with my church family they cheered, but scolded me for running after the guy.
If you are cursing the two female robbers in the Baptist church and the man that took our keyboard, let me ask, “How is it with you and God?” I am thinking of a question the prophet Malachi asked to the people of God:
“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3:8-10 NKJV)
I don’t want it to seem that I am bringing down judgment on anyone, but the truth is that those who rob the tithe and offering are cursed. And think about this, one cannot steal tithe or offerings. No, one can only rob it, for it is taken under the eyes of God. Yes, it is robbery, for as I have heard it said, it is “holding up God in broad daylight.” Anyone who does so is under the curse of God.
Take a look at the Covenant curses in Deuteronomy 28:17-19: “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. “Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.” They are the result of failing to do what is asked by God.
We are not only to think of the big bank robbers, and pansy tricksters, or pickpockets and shoplifters on the streets, and such as the church burglars I have described as robbers of those who take the means that belongs to God and use it as their own.
The point is very simple. If anyone expects to receive the divine blessings, such ones will have to stop robbing God and return what belongs to him.
