DONATIONS FOR THE PROPHETIC?

We minister to all who come to any of our meetings whether they make a donation or not, but when someone requests that we set aside time from our schedules to minister to them, we ask for a donation. I occasionally get someone who makes a statement or asks a question about asking for a donation to receive a prophetic word online. They usually cite the passage in Matthew 10:8 about freely we have received, freely give (we freely give to hundreds who attend our meetings every month). They usually leave out the passages in Luke 10:7 that states the workman is worthy of his wages. We have two individuals that minister to each person and their time is valuable. The workman is worthy of his wages. He who plows should plow in hope. If we have sown spiritual things is it a great thing to reap your material things?

Here is what the Scripture teaches on the workman.

Luke 10:7 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house. NKJV

That word wages misthos (some versions say hire) means pay for services, hire, reward and is the same word used in Matthew 20:8 where the laborers are paid their wages.

1 Corinthians 9:8-14 8 Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.”* Is it oxen God is concerned about? 10 Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. 11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? 12 If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? 14 Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. NKJV

1 Timothy 5:18 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,”* and, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”* NKJV

Then you have the following passage in the Old Testament where giving a donation (gift) for visiting the seer or prophet was a common practice that was not condemned in Scripture or practice. How did people know this? Why is it a problem today or why is it not practiced?

1 Samuel 9:7-12 7 Then Saul said to his servant, But if we go, what shall we bring the man? The bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no gift for the man of God. What have we? 8 The servant replied, I have here a quarter of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God to tell us our way — 9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, Come, let us go to the seer, for he that is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.) 10 Saul said to his servant, Well said; come, let us go. So they went to the city where the man of God was. 11 As they went up the hill to the city, they met young maidens going out to draw water, and said to them, Is the seer here? 12 They answered, He is; behold, he is just beyond you. Hurry, for he came today to the city because the people have a sacrifice today on the high place. AMP

You always went with a gift for the seer or prophet. You honored the prophet or seer with a gift. Were you buying the word from the Lord? No, you were honoring the prophet and the Lord with your gift. Did the seer or prophet not receive their revelation from the Lord freely? Yes, and yet there are numerous Scriptures that admonish us to give to those who labor in spiritual things. We are not to muzzle the ox, we are told the laborer is worthy of his wages. It is also written that If someone has sown spiritual things is it a great thing to reap material things? And he who plows let him plow in hope, etc. Haven’t we freely received? Yes and yet that doesn’t nullify any of these directives.

A little about us. We travel all over the state of NY, Baltimore and DC. As a result we get many requests for prophetic ministry. We wanted to be a blessing and see God’s people encouraged and so we began to pray and seek God’s wisdom on how to do so via the internet for those unable to attend our meetings. We came up with a plan to accomplish our goal of ministering encouragement to those unable to attend our meetings. Our plan was to do an offering based ministry to people all over the world. Anyone can come to our public meetings and receive prophetic ministry from us and our teams, free of charge, but there were clearly multitudes who could not. As a result we have chosen the donation model as a way of reaching people we would not normally be able to reach. We have been able to travel via internet ministry to many nations, states and locales. The feedback we get is incredible. You can read their testimonies on this site.

Recently there was an article someone wrote stating why they do not charge for prophetic words. I believe their arguments were weak at best and made very general statements with the conclusion that they were right. The amazing thing to me was how blind they were to their own practice of the very thing they condemned. On their website they asked for a donation which I do not have a problem with, but then they also sold books, faith kits, audio CDs and making of a prophet megakit. I do not have a problem with the selling of their products. What I am amazed at is their own blindness of the practice of the very thing they condemn, the so-called selling of a gift. Does God not give the gift of writing, teaching? But we require a cost for the gift? How about counseling? On their website it is not even a donation but a purchase. Again, I am not opposed to selling books, CDs, etc. I am merely pointing out the hypocrisy of criticizing others for what you yourself practice. Do they require payment for their work for the magazine or other work? Are not all of our gifts and talents freely given to us and therefore shouldn’t all of us freely give and work related to ministry? I know the technology is available to make all of their products available for free. We have YouTube for video, mp3 downloads, e-books, etc. Why do they not make them all available for free? Isn’t one of the five fold gifts Teacher as well as Prophet? Why come down on one without coming down on the other? If they offered all they sell for free they would be able to have a more effective argument. Just a thought. How about a Christian carpenter who works on a church? Should he get paid? Where do we draw the line? Does a speaker that has been requested by someone to come and minister have the ability to ask for a donation or to have their expenses covered? If those expenses can’t be met do they have the right to refuse or should they take all the risk and bear all the expenses? Just some thoughts=) People also get caught up in the term buying or selling. Are we buying and selling the services of pastors, teachers, worship leaders when we pay them for their work? No, we are blessing them. Do we not receive donations to cover those expenses when we gather? Yes.

Do you buy Christian CDs, books, DVDs? Do you pay staff for ministry in the local church or para-church ministries? Do you go to concerts and purchase a ticket? Do you go to worship events and pay a cover charge or ticket price? Are not all of these are gifts? Did you purchase your Bible? There are many more analogies I could use but you get the point.

The Bible states that the 5 fold ministry gifts of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher are gifts from God to the church. Do we pay them? We should according to the scriptures above. Are you purchasing their gifts? The Scripture teaches that a workman is worthy of his wages. How far are you willing to take this? Are not your gifts and abilities given by God? Do you charge or sell your services to your employer? Just some food for thought.