Does God Allow Gambling and Investing in The Church?

We have started to hear in recent years that many churchgoers are putting their faith in the church. Well, this seems all well and good but what exactly are they putting their faith in?  Is it God or what someone has told them? The correct answer should be having faith in God alone but at some pivotal point in time, church congregants are allowing outsiders who come into the church to persuade them to invest their money into a pipe dream. This, my friends should have never happened.

In recent news, the scandalous Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and others are being investigated for their involvement in a Ponzi scheme like investment funds and gaming machines where they allowed someone to come into the church and have church members 'invest' their life savings. This also includes a mortgage schemes where members have lost their homes because an investor was invited to the church and convinced many they could reduce their home payments.

Let's get the definition of a Ponzi schem:

"A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation because it pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation. The Ponzi scheme usually entices new investors by offering higher returns than other investments, in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent. Perpetuation of the high returns requires an ever-increasing flow of money from new investors to keep the scheme going.

Many of us have heard of this in the business world but it has now crept into the church, but the big question is-why?

Read the entire article here.

Convicted Pastor Michael Wilkerson Used 'Religion & Investing' in Church Ponzi and Mortgage Scheme

When will these people learn: what is done in the dark will come to light. This is one of the first things you learn in church. Apparently, Pastor Wilkerson and associates thought they could use God's name and reputation for their own financial gain and leave the church members empty handed and on the hook and in debt. We, as church people have to stop putting our trust in man but in God alone. The bible says man will fail but God never fails. While the church says gambling is wrong, why are some investing in things other than the church or ministry, to gain wealth? When did it become o.k. for the church to invest and want to reap returns in this manner anyway?
Read yet another crook in the pulpit and his story:

Pastor Michael Wilkerson has a Lexus and Escalade in its garage and his $1.7 million Schwenksville home seemed to prove he was a man of huge faith. Unfortunately, with religion and smart investing, the 45-year-old minister persuaded members of his New Millennium Life Restoration Fellowship that they, too, could follow in his footsteps.

Read entire article HERE