In the first two parts of this series, we examined the corruption of the so-called evangelical Christian movement (self-professed Judeo-Christianity) by deliberate sabotage of its doctrine. This final part examines political compromises that have all but completed the destruction of America’s churches, corrupting every denomination. A case in point in this 21st century growth spurt is a church I shall refer to, with some affection, as “The First Church of the Pierced Navel.” There are few rules to crowd ones style in the FCPN, in dress code, lifestyle, or Christian doctrine.
FCPN is part of what may be the last convulsive growth spurt of so-called evangelicalism, which began innocently in the US near the end of the 19th Century with a few people praying and waiting for the “rapture.” It climaxed with millions supporting serial war (modern evangelicals number some 70 million in the US, according to their celebrity leaders). In Parts One and Two, now published as a report, this writer explained why Judeo-Christian leaders cannot choose peace, and how and why they are trained to answer to an Israeli war god that beats a steady cadence for conflict. Parts One and Two explain why this is modern Pharisaism.
There is a litmus test for Judeo-Christianity. Almost every evangelical will readily affirm that in his mind the State of Israel is, without a doubt, a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
The second reason why very few America’s churches and Celebrity Christian leaders will stand for peace is purely financial. The leaders of the Church of the Pierced Navel may never have thought about it, but they are committed to supporting our national political leader’s policy as a condition of staying in business! Most assume it was always this way. Each one has individually pledged not to resist or oppose national “public policy.” And each has pledged not to attempt to influence elections or to attempt to pass or defeat legislation, no matter what it is. In other words, almost every leader of the congregation and cult has given up his most basic constitutional rights of free speech and expression.
By agreeing not to see, hear or speak, even when political acts or legislation is unspeakably evil, Judeo-Christian leaders (as they call themselves) give up their ability to exert moral leadership. Christ demands that those who call themselves by His name, lead. One can’t lead if one has already surrendered. What would we say of Paul, who was probably beheaded, if he had signed a pledge to uphold Roman and Pharisee rules, in exchange for his life? What of Peter, who was said to have been crucified upside down, or Jesus himself, if he had capitulated to Pontius Pilate for money?
Let us examine the insidious pledge of “tax exempt, non-profit” organizations, which includes most churches. They are committed not to violate our political leaders? public policy of endless serial wars. Public policy also permits selective abortion on demand. Notice how few oppose it.
Present public policy is not confined to that ordained by law; it is every executive order and decree; it is currently the annihilation of Israel’s enemies, including Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan. Judeo-Christianity is not alone. Strangely enough, many mosques and synagogues are falling into the grips of the same trap–accepting tax exemption for a price. Most have apparently yet to realize it.
In the past we have presented Parts I and II of The Source Of Our War Problem in the form of a small booklet that explains in detail how and by whom most Judeo-Christian churches have been seduced into using false, heretical study bibles, first published by the Zionist-influenced Oxford University Press and referred to as Scofield?s Bible. It has created a totem pole god with the Star of David hanging over it.
We will explain line by line how these churches are chained to this public policy by their unbreakable commitment to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The IRS Role in Controlling Churches
The Internal Revenue Service’s instructions tell taxpayers they may deduct contributions “to most churches or religious organizations.“ Tens of millions of Americans do so sacrificially every week. The IRS then provides lists of organizations that have applied for and been granted tax-exempt status. Before there was an IRS, no such list existed. All churches were excluded from taxation.
The IRS admits its list is not complete. It contains only churches and a vast array of other charities that have made a certain compromise. Churches and organizations that do not compromise do not make the list. The result is that churches are influenced to apply for tax-exempt status to improve their comfort level. There was not such comfort level for those apostles and disciples on whom they claim to pattern themselves.
It is bizarre to learn from the IRS rules that all legitimate churches already “qualify” for tax-exempt status by acts of Congress and under shelter of the U.S. Constitution without registration; the process of registration attaches the strings. Those who apply, including the First Church of the Pierced Navel, must give up the God-given birthright of free speech if they want the IRS’s manufactured blessing, which is to get their name on its favored list. We find this explained in the rules from the IRS instructions to taxpayers.
‘Sec. 508. – Special rules with respect to section 501c3 organizations
(a) New organizations must notify Secretary that they are applying for recognition of section 501(c)(3) status
(c) Exceptions
(1) Mandatory exceptions
Subsections (a) shall not apply to
(A) churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches?? (emphasis added)
So churches are a “mandatory exception” to the IRS rule that requires application for tax-exempt status. Why? The IRS comes right out and tells us in the instructions in Publication 1828 – Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations which states:
“Congress has enacted special tax laws applicable to churches, religious organizations, and ministers in recognition of their unique status in American society and of their rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. Churches and religious organizations are generally exempt from income tax and receive other favorable treatment under the tax law;”
So we learn, churches are excluded from taxation because Congress passed a law exempting them, and the Constitution guarantees these rights. And on page 2, we find another amazing IRS disclosure:
“The term church is found, but not specifically defined, in the Internal Revenue Code (IRC).”
So the IRS seeks to register, monitor and control churches, but has not seen fit to define what a church is! There is always a reason when government forgets to define something; it’s because they wish to include everything. On page 3 it states:
“Churches that meet the requirements of IRC section 501(c)(3) are automatically considered tax exempt and are not required to apply for and obtain recognition of tax-exempt status from the IRS.”
So Churches that meet certain requirements do not have to apply, but who decides if they meet the requirements? The church! Why would pastors apply if they need not do so? Let us listen to the IRS:
“Although there is no requirement to do so, many churches seek recognition of tax-exempt status from the IRS because such recognition assures church leaders, members, and contributors that the church is recognized as exempt and qualifies for related tax benefits.”
Now let us examine how the trap is sprung:
The church gets it “assurance” from the IRS? In exchange for registering when it need not register; its name goes on a “good guys” list. So your church and religious leaders find it worth their while to agree to do business with the IRS, even though Congress and the Constitution excuse them from having to do so.
And what do they agree to? IRC Section 501(C)(3) describes charitable organizations, including churches and religious organizations, which qualify for exemption from federal income tax and generally are eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. This section provides that:
?1. An organization must be organized and operated exclusively for religious or other charitable purposes,
2. Net earnings may not inure to the benefit of any private individual or shareholder,
3. No substantial part of its activity may be attempting to influence legislation,
4. The organization may not intervene in political campaigns, and
5. The organization’s purposes and activities may not be illegal or violate fundamental public policy.?
The strings become a chain
The rules say a church must stay out of the politicians realm. A church (or any sham charity for that matter) that applies can get a certification that the contributions made to it by taxpayers are indeed tax deductible. But look at the price extracted.
The church that applies must agree not to organize to influence those who represent its members in public office; it must agree not to try to influence legislation; and most amazing of all, it must agree to abide by and not “violate public policy” no matter what that policy may be.
This is not about lawbreaking; there are plenty of criminal statutes to take care of lawbreakers. Violation of “public policy”, especially in this age of executive orders and serial wars, means a clergyman who declares the bombing and occupying of Iraq is morally wrong even if he does nothing about it. However it follows that he is perfectly free to support bombing and killings because serial war is “public policy.” The constitution allows and encourages dissent, but not the IRS rules for your church.
The rules are devoid of morality, and Number (2), which prohibits profiting from churches, is not even a good joke. No wonder we have sham charities by the scores of sharks raising money to feed non-existent tribes, free non-slaves and carry out countless other greater and lesser frauds. So long as pubic policy is not challenged, the door is open. These organizations rarely hear from the IRS; and you will not see many in conflict with political leaders. Never in history have there been more flagrant charity scams than now.
Congress, the Constitution, and Free Speech
Registration with the IRS means a church may never again actively object to anything that political leaders say is in the public interest. It means a church or its leaders must not object to the president’s policies of bombing Vietnam, Iraq and Yugoslavia, must not object to funding Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and must not seriously object to a pro-abortion judgment by the Supreme Court.
You might ask yourself, what moral influence has the tens of thousands of prosperous tax-exempt churches exerted in each of these issues? As we showed in Parts One and Two, churches and charities have exerted little, if any, positive influence for life and against death. Religious leaders are committed public policy sight unseen.
Today’s leaders are a pathetic shadow of the pastors who took up arms against the British in the American Revolution, or who spoke out from pulpits against slavery in the 19th century when it was public policy; or who joined the civil rights movement, or who opposed the drafting of Americans to die in Vietnam (there were only a dwindling few by the 1960s as most churches were then already “registered”).
It is little wonder most churches have done little, or nothing but talk, against abortion. Church leaders have one hand tied behind them while the other passes the collection plate labeled “approved by the IRS.” No wonder G. W. Bush has the support of the Judeo-Christian churches for his serial wars? their tax exempt status commits them to the support of the Bush/Cheney/Wolfowitz policy of serial wars and the racist ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the destruction Islamic nations!
Jesus recruited the apostle Paul on the Damascus road; Paul did not tell the Master that he would follow so long as he did not have to violate Roman and Pharisee public policy. Jesus told the twelve to render unto Caesar (only) what is Caesar’s. And Jesus declined to say a word at his own trial before either the Sanhedrin or the court of Pontius Pilate. He refused to even recognize their authority over him, saying “my kingdom is not of this world.”
Why didn’t Jesus compromise like every Celebrity Judeo-Christian millionaire today? The Pharisees might have paid his taxes for him if he had made a few concessions. Shame on you, Pharisees of today, preaching nonsense and singing inane choruses about eternal love and perpetual forgiveness to the tattooed crowd. A church that calls itself by His holy name, but compromises with politicians and agrees not to violate public policy in exchange for their tax status, is not His church.
Consider the words of Catholic Bishop John Botean of the American Romanian Catholic Church, who defied public policy and stood almost alone among Catholic Bishops in opposing the bombing of Iraq; obviously he was not thinking about his tax-exempt status when he made the following public statement last March before the first Iraqi mother was left grieving over the first dead child:
“(T)he United States government is about to initiate a war against the people of Iraq. For Romanian Catholics who are also United States citizens, this raises an immediate and unavoidable moral issue of major importance. Specifically stated the issue is this: does the killing of human beings in this war constitute murder? ————-“
And:
“Therefore I, by the grace of God and the favor of the Apostolic See Bishop of the Eparchy of St. George in Canton, must declare to you, my people, for the sake of your salvation as well as my own, that any direct participation and support of this war against the people of Iraq is objectively grave evil, a matter of mortal sin.”
And:
“My people, it is an incontestable Biblical truth that a sin left unnamed will propagate itself with lavish zeal. We must call murder by its right name: murder. God and conscience require nothing less if the face of the earth is to be renewed and if the salvation offered by Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ is to reach all people, including us. We have no choice before the face of God but to speak unambiguously to the moral situation with which we are confronted and to live according to the Will of Him who gazes at us from the Cross (Catechism 1785).” – entire speech at https://whtt.org/whtt.shtml?rpr/BishopBotean_Lent.htm
Whenever churches agree to abide by “public policy” they are no better than Henry VIII’s private Church of England where warriors and politicians? statues are grotesquely enshrined in what are supposed to be God’s sanctuaries. No wonder the Churches of the Pierced Navel support George Walker Bush’s occupation war on Iraq. “Public policy” is war policy. So are the perpetual grants of billions of dollars to corrupt and immoral Israel.
American churches are granted unique freedom in the U.S. system
Nothing could be clearer than an early Supreme Court decision that “the power to tax is the power to destroy.” But efforts to control and manipulate religion in America are as old as government itself. The IRS mechanism of persuading new religious organizations to voluntarily qualify for “tax-exempt” or “non-profit” status creates confusion and offers a seemingly cheap way out of the morass. Churches should renounce so-called 501 status and demand their historic exclusion from all taxation.
The powerful forces who would control religion have encouraged the incorporation of churches, persuaded them to seek IRS status, and intimidated them into impotence and immorality by denying them the freedom to take positions on anything of political or legislative significance in the community. Public policy is made off limits to the very people who God tells us should be providing moral leadership and guidance.
Church leaders are frightened by the vagaries of the IRS language. Many are honest and well meaning and have no idea they have been duped by paid lawyers and celebrity leaders who whisper of easy prosperity and multimillion dollar buildings. Churches will not change; the arrangement is too comfortable and well established; fortunes have been accumulated. The strands will not be easily broken. We must not be fooled by the false, often well meaning use of distorted scripture in the name of “supporting our leaders” to contribute to a public policy of murder, as Bishop Botean bravely put it.
The twin threads of control over America’s churches render most of them as worthless as the salt Christ talked about that lost its savor. These threads are first, the penetration of the Scofield Study Bible into the seminaries of America 75 years ago, as is examined in previous issues, and second, the sale of “tax exemption” to the churches.
The recourse must come from church supporters, not its leaders. We should withhold all funds from each and every organization whose leaders will not stand for peace, and who shackle themselves to “public policy.” Church members should not withdraw from the church, but instead should work for a reform. While doing so, they should provide money to the church only as they judge the value of the entertainment and recreation provided. The apostate church should be paid for its value as a babysitter, or a session with a psychologist. The best way to get the attention of erring leaders is to withhold sacrificial support, and not to give to the building fund.
The fourth and final part in this series will be a study of the most often abused Bible passages used to justify acquiescence to abhorrent public policy of serial war.
Part 1-2, A Special Report
The Source of Our War Problem: Why Judeo-Christians Do Not Demand Peace
Related stories: by Charles E. Carlson
In the Realm of Judeo‑Christianity, Some Lives are More Precious than Others
Why the Pro-Life Movement Need Not Fail,
Referenced IRS Code:
Sec. 508. – Special rules with respect to section 501c3 organizations
Sec. 501. – Exemption from tax on corporations, certain trusts, etc.
Sec. 7611. – Restrictions on church tax inquiries and examinations
IRC 1828. – Rules for church and religious organizations
