Keep paying your Church tithes oh foolish child
Tithe money funded Hillsong pastors’ luxury lifestyles: former members
The pastors at scandalized Hillsong Church were anything but humble servants.
As the Australia-based institution continues to come under fire for allegations of “slave labor” and homophobia, ex-congregants and staff are now claiming that pastors used tithe money to help fuel their decadent lifestyles.
At Hillsong NYC, many pastors frequently splurged on fancy restaurant meals, designer clothes and weekly manicures while living in the same Kent Avenue Williamsburg high-rise and zipping around the neighborhood on ATVs, disgusted former members told The Post.
Indeed, it appears once-celebrity-beloved star pastor Carl Lentz — who was canned in November after admitting to cheating on his wife — wasn’t the only one with a fondness for costly kicks and million-dollar real estate.
Pastors and staff apparently freely used debit-like “PEX” — or pre-paid expense — cards for whatever their hearts desired, several former members and staff told The Post. The source of the funds was money donated or “tithed” by members, said former Hillsong LA service pastor Nicole Herman, who personally loaded the funds onto the PEX cards.
“I was instructed to fill them,” said Herman, who helped found the church’s California branch in 2013. “We had a team count the tithes after every service and they would allocate X amount of money for the PEX cards.”
The PEX cards were reloadable and given to volunteers to make purchases for the church and pastors, said Herman, who left the church two years ago. Pastors, including Lentz, got their own Hillsong credit cards in addition to the PEX cards they handed out to their volunteers.
While the pair are now acrimoniously divorced, Herman’s former husband was the CFO of Hillsong LA, “so everything on the PEX cards had to be refilled through him,” she told The Post, confirming that “none of that money was coming from anywhere else” besides church tithes. Herman’s ex did not respond to a request for comment.
Former Hillsong congregant Jenna Babbitt, 27, began attending the church’s NYC branch in August 2011 and soon started nannying for various pastors, including Reed and Jess Bogard, who recently left the church under unknown circumstances. She was given access to a card, for the purpose of buying food for the children she baby-sat.
Recently, lawyers involved in the internal investigation into Hillsong’s East Coast branch — launched after the firing of the adulterous Lentz — contacted Babbitt and asked if she ever had to explain the purchases she made with PEX cards, a typical step for all business card use. She was never told to reconcile anything, she said.
Tithe money is by far the biggest funder of Hillsong, according to the church’s various annual reports: Of the $12.7 million that Hillsong East Coast made in 2019, 88% of it came from “tithes & offerings.” Over 66% of that revenue went to a combination of staff salaries, benefits and expenses ($3.8 million) and operating expenses including venue rentals, staffing and production costs ($4.9 million). And as a church, Hillsong is exempt from paying income tax in the US.
Babbitt recalls tithing thousands of dollars to Hillsong over her years there — even when she was far too poor to be doing so. At the times she gave, she said, it felt like the right thing, but now the recollection makes her “feel terrible.”
“The exploitation of free labor while these pastors are making bank is just crazy to me,” said Babbitt, who spent months working without pay for the Bogards. She left the church in 2017 and today is a director at a faith space Dallas nonprofit.
Megan Phalon also began attending and volunteering at Hillsong NYC in 2011. From the start of her membership, tithing was a very important part of church, she told The Post, with calls to give made twice a service and a proprietary app created to make digital offering easier.
After a year of membership, Phalon, 30, began baby-sitting for Hillsong New York pastors Kane and Karla Keatinge. “All the pastors lived together in this high-rise apartment complex in Williamsburg,” she said. Average two-bedroom rents in the building hovered at $5,600 a month in 2019, according to StreetEasy.
https://nypost.com/2021/01/26/former-hillsong-members-detail-pastors-lavish-lifestyles/
I don't go to church: from a blood bought, born again Christian with over 50 years of going to church
Dear People,
These 501c3 brick and mortar buildings (and even those run under private or limited liability corp) run by apostate trained CEOs called pastors are not BIBLICAL. They are literally making Merchandise of you and your children and your children's heritage. They are cursed by God under both Galatians 1:8,9 and 2 Peter 2:3... In fact 2 Peter 2:3, literally says these false teachers through feigned (study the word feigned: invented. fake. counterfeit. deception. fictitious. ) words make merchandise of you...
I've completed an 800 page Ebook containing over a thousand references, several thousand pages of source documentation titled: " I don't go to church. A 50 year testimony of attending church to say in agreement with Dr. Larkin, that today's churches are building the kingdom of the Antichrist. " see note 1 below... If anyone wants this open public domain book. I will email you a copy for free. Email me your request to vietrandy@gmail.com.
This church-going issue has now become my focus. I'm a retired US naval officer, and finished a career in consulting. and recently retired from teaching High school as a licensed teacher. I also spent years living in other countries, including over 6 yrs in Vietnam sharing Jesus with the Vietnamese people.
Here's my testimony below:
To God be the glory Forever! Amen!
Maranatha!
(1) "I Don't Go to Church: The Church is The Body of Christ not a Building"reading it:
https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Go-Church-Christ-Building-ebook/dp/B07L39BV9L
(2) My 50 year testimony of going to church to know today’s churches are building the kingdom of the antichrist LINK
https://thirdheaventraveler.blogspot.com/2018/01/today-churches-are-building-kingdom-of.html
(3) Brick and Mortar 501C3 buildings called churches run by apostate CEOs called pastors are not biblical LINK
https://thirdheaventraveler.blogspot.com/2018/05/first-and-foremost-all-praise-and-glory.html
(4) Why Bible Translations are important LINK
https://thirdheaventraveler.blogspot.com/2018/10/modern-bible-translations-are-satanic.html
King James Version Bible for Today
http://www.kjvtoday.com/home#TOC-The-King-James-Version-is-Demonstra
Why Bible Translations really matter:
https://www.thethirdheaventraveler.com/2020/08/the-true-history-of-king-james-bible.html
(5) MEGA TRAP CHURCH TRAP Double Bind of the Nicolaitans LINK
https://thirdheaventraveler.blogspot.com/2015/07/keeping-vs-kept-law-keeping-vs-gospel.html
(6) Doing the Math on the Kingdom Parables of Matthew 13 LINK
https://thirdheaventraveler.blogspot.com/2018/08/doing-math-on-kingdom-parable-of-sower.html
(7) Manna and Leaven: How the modern false teachers use it LINK
https://thirdheaventraveler.blogspot.com/2018/10/manna-leaven.html
(8) Nearly 80 % of churches do not discuss Bible Prophecy even though 25% of the Bible is about Prophecy. This includes the importance of the Rapture of the Body of Christ.
The Truth about the Rapture of the Body of Christ BEFORE the Tribulation:
https://www.thethirdheaventraveler.com/2020/09/the-pretribulation-rapture-is-truth.html
(9) Christian, You don’t have to pay tithes LINK
https://thirdheaventraveler.blogspot.com/2018/12/christian-you-are-not-required-to-pay.html
(10) Salvation is secure our Eternal Security is Scripture LINK
http://graceambassadors.com/salvation/can-we-lose-our-salvation
Our Sins (sinful nature before Salvation) are wiped clean at salvation. Eternal Salvation is NOT a process… working out our salvation in the flesh is... Know the difference. False teachers use this against the unlearned..... Be a good Berean... LINK
https://gracethrufaith.com/ask-a-bible-teacher/have-our-future-sins-already-been-forgiven/
Bible meaning of True Salvation LINK
https://thirdheaventraveler.blogspot.com/2018/11/ephesians-28-9-james-version-kjv-8-for.html
Our Gospel for Today for Salvation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mCtzSuUchw&t=2643s
Entitlement = Imputed Righteousness of Jesus Christ our free gift at Regeneration LINK
https://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer's%20Corner/Doctrines/imputation.htm
(11) The Shepherd and The Shulamite
https://www.thethirdheaventraveler.com/2014/01/most-powerful-love-story-ever-written.html
(12) Updates on the Apostate Church of Today
https://thirdheaventraveler.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-flood-of-updates-on-apostate-church.html
The Return 2020 DECEPTION
https://youtu.be/i75BX1HfGMY
Disclaimer on E511
https://www.thethirdheaventraveler.com/2020/09/take-youtuber-e511-with-grain-of-salt.html
The Perfect Storm for American Civil War; Christian strive lawfully
https://www.thethirdheaventraveler.com/2020/11/httpsyoutu.html
Striving Lawfully
https://www.thethirdheaventraveler.com/2020/11/fight-good-fight-dear-christian-strive.html
To understand scripture we must understand the following: 1. There is only one thoroughly proven correct bible translation which is the King James Version also known as the Authorized Version Bible. See links in notes above that substantiate this claim titled: Why the King James Version Bible is the authorized Bible translation. 2. A thorough understanding in Dispensations of the Bible that allows us to “rightly DIVIDE the word of truth” 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV.
FAKE CHURCHES TODAY TRY TO TAKE AND APPLY THE JEWISH RITE OF TITHING DURING THE DISPENSATION OF THE LAW AND MAKE THIS APPLY TO CHRISTIANS TODAY IN THE AGE OF GRACE. A 10 % TITHE IS NOT REQUIRED IN THE AGE OF GRACE. WAKE UP!
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