a. s. mathew (May 24, 2013)
contd: 2 my faith in a living god was strengthened as a young boy, by keenly observing the faith life of some of the old time men and women of god in various denominations, especially in the pentecostal denominations. they were strictly living by faith alone. now the religious leaders have plenty of money in the bank, and there is no need of faith for meeting the need of food-clothing-shelter etc. the word "money" was rarely heard in the worship services in those days in any denomination or in the relgious conventions; but god and his faithfullness was repeatedly mentioned. now, when we count the number of times "money" is mentioned, we are greatly surprised. in this world, we can't do anything without money, but if the ministers of the christian churches are constantly clamoring about money like the u.s. electronic propsperity preachers, then what asaph said in psalms 73:9 is a warning sign!

a. s. mathew (May 24, 2013)
since i am totally a non-denominational believer focused on

jesus christ, his love and mercy; i respect men and women of god from

all the way from the catholic church to the other extreme, the pentecostal churches. i do even greatly respect some other old time

non-christian religious leaders who were 99% followers of the teachings of jesus christ.



"their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth" psalms 73:9. there is no question that, this format is practiced now in the religious world of all denominations. when the appointing time of a minister to a rich congreation comes, either in india or abroad, the winning candidate may have a track record of adding more buildings or raising funds for the church; or some other great political leverage. it is extremely rare that a great soul winner has any chance to be appointed in a church of material prosperity. though a senior citizen, my memory is crystal clear and

eliyasar mathew (May 24, 2013)
@ thepraize-- i responded to you in the most dignified way and you don't even deserve that, i know that very well. your arrogance against pastors (men of god) is so evident in your comments, and you steel every opportunity at it. i had been reading that for a while, this time i thought i might respond to it as well in an appropriate manner. its your ignorance that prevails here, when you call me ignorant. why you make judgement's when you are not qualified for it, and the only one qualified is the almighty. i have a clear insight about myself from a very high moral ground, how about yourself? i even doubt that you are a true christian. please, go get sanctified before the wrath of the almighty fall upon you. i am sorry if i hurt you in anyway and think about others when you do so. i just want to plainly tell you that, i do not appreciate your line of thought about pastors, did we insult your priests? may i wish you all best wishes and it was a pleasure talking to you. blessings !

thepraize (May 23, 2013)
@eliyasar mathew :- ur comment reflects a typical sterotype answer from a pentecostal community stemming out of ignorance and i would like to maintain a dignified silence,i am not judgemental on pastors, but highlighted the activities most of them are involved into in the name of god. Your ignorance is reflected on your assumption that i am a nominal christian, what is a nominal christian ?? and if i were to accept your assumption that i am a nominal christian, please look inwards before you speak from a moral high ground,the attitude and language you have used in expressing your thoughts is well below dignity and if this is a reflection of your hi end christianity, i am sure i am better placed. I would not be commenting further on the said topic,blessings brother

eliyasar mathew (May 23, 2013)
@ Thepraize -- you could be nasty or rude,but that has nothing to do my opinion nor going to bother me either!Thanks for the apology! Your research or corroborative evidences has 'no research value' in public either,because everybody in the spiritual world knows that,there is no set fees officially declared by the churches to any of your allegations.If anybody is doing anything illegally in secrecy is considered an outcast by the church,and cannot be accounted for the whole church or community.Having said that,are you trying to tell me that your priests in your nominal churches fair better than the pastors?The reference about commission from the singing team and caterers is a baloney,aimed at tarnishing the image of the church! There might be a struggling one who might have did something,which might be a second-hand information,but that don't mean nothing.Now, you can sit there and punch in some names and that don't mean nothing either.Do you have a problem with PASTORS ???

thepraize (May 23, 2013)
@eliyasar mathew : i am forced to be nasty,please excuse me: to your question how pastors make money during funeral : they have commissions from the singing team : they have commissions from the caterers per plate: they have a straight rate for the funeral ministry, i know top of the line pentecostal pastors from kerala having rates depending on whether u r a NRI or local, and depends on the designations,whether you are a central pastor or a overseer, i am surprised you have no clue to all these developments, if you need names please reach out to me in person i will be more than happy to provide you names. I did not intend to be so rude, but i am forced to and my apologies, i donot blog without substantial research or corroborative evidences. Blessings

eliyasar mathew (May 22, 2013)
to Thepraize- Brother I am yet to come across a Pastor who is begging for money and that too in a funeral. What are you talking brother ? Of course we have to be selective in giving and that's all on the individual who is giving. I have seen Pastors appealing for a donation for a worthy? cause and some are not very trustworthy, all those are facts and true, but you need to be in their shoe's to know their pain at times. Let the creator the "LORD" judge them and he don't make judgements, like us humans. Why you envy them (pastors) for projecting themselves, thats human nature, you would do the same thing if given a chance !!!

thepraize (May 18, 2013)
@ truthteller : sir,please read my comment closely,i did not say,technology is bad, i responded to comments from babu uk & lalachan. and i agree with them completely when they say, that its becoming an event to get in front of the camera more hilarious is the comment from babu uk : about the pastor who never knew the dead person but still he had few words to say. no matter what your thoughts are, there are so called pastors who would grab every opportunity to steal the limelight, that said,every act in good intent will be well recieved and accepted.

blessings !!!

truthteller (May 17, 2013)
Mr. Praize, You say the inntent behind is in questian - the intent is pretty simple - so that well wishers can watch. What part of that do you not understand?

thepraize (May 16, 2013)
readers:- none is opposed to integrate technology to our daily living, the intent,behind is in question,please read my comments closely.

blessings,

a. s. mathew (May 16, 2013)
contd:3 he someway remembered my face. he was the plant manager of a company from there i used to buy certain items 20 years back. when i gave the money, he opened his billfold and showed me $ 12 he had. he told me that he was without work for 2 years and will get the first disability check by the end of the month and they were praying in the car, how to spend 12 dollars. he said, "god is faithful and brought you straight from heaven". to my great surprise, god mutiplied the amount i gave to them exactly 12 times within 24 hours. when we give cheerfully without expecting any reward according to the direction of god in full obedience, god will reward us far greater than we can imagine through the least unexpected way. whatever we have done to the least of the brethren have all done unto our lord. entertaining the famous and top at the religious hierarchy are totally a different event.

a. s. mathew (May 16, 2013)
contd:2 god led me to go and talk to them. i got outside, the rain was instatly gone..surprise. what to talk with these strangers? i did compliment them what i saw in front of their car and shared with talking with them about god's love, and left them. they shook hand with me and thanked me. i keep only a few dollars with me, but that day, i had some extra money. while walking to the store, i heard this mild voice "you did the first thing, but do the second thing, give half of your money to those people because they were praying in the car without money". i said, praise the lord, i will do it cheerfully. went back and they were getting outside the car and when i shared what the lord has told me to do, he said "no, pray for us". i said," no, i will not pray but give what the lord has told me to do". while walking to the store, his wife rubbed at my back and cried.

a. s. mathew (May 16, 2013)
may i share a personal experience happened one year back. god is real and his promises are solid. god speaks to us through the word of god, in silent voice which we only can hear and through other truely

annointed servants of god. please don't believe the soothsayers which can mislead and destroy our faith.



while coming home in a rainly day, i was pompted to stop at walmart to buy something less expensive. i don't want to stop there on a rainy day for that small item. but, something was blocking me to stop, so went to the parking lot, had no umbrella in the car. so, i began to pray and circle in the crowded parking lot to get a nearby parking space. lost my patience and was getting ready to leave the parking lot, but one car pulled out of the lot, and got the parking space. still i don't want to get out due to the mild rain. just across my car, in their old car, husband and wife of my identical age were sitting. in front of their car, i saw one bible vers

a. s. mathew (May 16, 2013)
Contd:3 Some Pastors are of the notion that the Church members don't have any right to question, how the money given to the Church was used. That is poor accountability tactics. Human nature has a jumpy nature in shopping and giving. When we hear about the suffering in some other parts of the world and see the grueling and crying pictures of the suffering, we give through an impulse. We must investigate in any way possible about the organization in their work before throwing away money. There is definitely a blessing in life through our genuine giving, because that is the solid promise of GOD. When we help the helpless children to be taught in schools, our children will be awarded with scholarship. When we serve food to the hungry, GOD will open doors for us to dine with very high level people of this world. We shouldn't be thrifty in giving but be generous, but investigate and pray before investing.

a. s. mathew (May 16, 2013)
contd:2 in the four gospels, to every rich and socially aristocratic person who had pleaded to jesus to be enlisted among the choosen list of the disciples, very affirmatively jesus has given them a very firm and single test to dispose their material wealth and give to the poor. jesus never told any of them to donate money to

mr. judas's bag. we can read that both jesus and the disciples had to suffer hunger many times. even though the disciples had experienced the pain of hunger, they had less concern for the hungry people who came to listen to jesus by the thousands, but jesus was concerned with their hunger. " each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, no reluctantly or under compulsion, for god loves a cheerful giver" 2 cor 9:7. some people will give exactly 10% of their income exclusively to the church, but will not give a dime for some hungry people across the street. is it biblical?

a. s. mathew (May 16, 2013)
thepraize: your comment has to be taken into proper consideration due to the battalion of gimmicks used by some people in the religious outfit. among the fruits of the spirit, the first one is "love". the "love barometer" reading will vary based upon our giving nature.

when somebody gives his or her time-energy and money to some needy person, out of which the hardest object is money; it shows the real love.

i have watched with very keen attention to hear from any t.v. preacher even mentioning a single time to send the money to another minister or religious organization, never heard; but some of them will spend half of the time to send money to them to get blessings from heaven. in giving money for anybody, it clearly shows our wholesome sacrifice. if i make $ 30.00/hour, after the taxes, i may have $ 20.00/hour. when i give $ 100.00 for a minister or ministry, then i am giving away 5 hours of my whole life of energy-pleasure and intelligence, thus a total 5 hour sacri

a. s. mathew (May 16, 2013)
There is nothing wrong with using the modern technology through which we can see events taking place in another part of the world. If the live funerals or marriage ceremonies can be watched by relatives and friends around the world, it must be used. The dispute among the commentators was started due to one key issue. I don't know, how to translate this idiom. When an house caught fire, the neighbours who were enemies took advantage and chopped many plantains of the person whose house was burning. Funerals are not like marriage celebrations, it must be dealt with totally in a different atmosphere of sorrow and restitution. If the politicians and the religious hierarcy are taking advantage of the sorrowful situation to pocket money and to show their face in front of the world, that must be watched very carefully. We shouldn't allow anybody to take undue advantage of any situation, especially the funeral service.

joy chembakaseri (May 15, 2013)
there is nothing wrong in video broadcasting a funeral!the arguments against it shows that some of us are illogical,unethical,unreasonable,unfair,un-courteous and sometimes idiotic. this proves we have knuckle-heads in our midst who cannot appreciate or keep pace with the technology.i recall the communist party in kerala,when they red-flagged pc-computers,when pm rajiv gandhi was trying to introduce them and later on when they became ministers they were all using them,even now.i know all of us are at different iq levels and that our behaviors and thought process may vary,by a mile,but atleast show some wisdom and respect not to hurt others,especially in time of their crisis.i now recall 'something' when one idiot responded to me in a barbaric way,one time,when responding to my comment. please be aware this is not the time to vent your lost ego.this is so cruel to the deceased mother rahaelamma mathew.i would wonder how these same-ones would respond, when its one of theirs.

truthteller (May 15, 2013)
This dear mother is precious for thousands across the globe and broadcasting this funeral is a blessing for many who cannot attend!!Accept technology and use it for good use. Granted there could be some people who may be looking for publicity at any event - just like u are using the same technology you are complaining about - to place untimely comments to fulfill some desire of importance. But this is not the forum for that discussion. These comments are read by all of her family and well wishers! Even at an enemies funeral people find nice thigs to say. Would you like someone to start a controversy at your grandmothers funeral? So in the name our Lord stop this nonsense.

pastor sunny philip (May 15, 2013)
thank you for the candid display of the crudity of modern pentecosals. we agreed to do this live only because of the many people who knew her scattered around the globe now. i was the first person to introduce this concept a few years ago for the kumbanad convention. i am very proud of it. how great is it that the relatives and friends scattered around the globe to be able to watch a wedding, a funeral or any other function that is of interest to them.



this was also our way of paying homage to a mother who was so instrumental in bringing us to the pentecostal faith.



i am shocked to see that we have become so low as to use the funeral of a godly mother to propogate your idiotic nonsenses. god bless you all!

thepraize (May 14, 2013)
technology that was developed for convenience is now been misused by pastors,please understand, pastors are finding news ways of self engagement and during this rough economic times they are trying innovative ways to keep moving :),maricha alline vittum avar paisa ondakunnu, :)



i am not sure how many readers would agree with me,on the thought, that we are responsible in some way in promoting these pastors,by greasing their palms,for duties that they are supposed to be fullfilling as a part of their job role. I am not against giving, but give to those who lack genuinely. I would appreciate a educated comment on,bible teachings on giving, i know bible advocates to bring all tithes to the storehouse, does it speak anything more in the new testament?

Welcome thoughts,blessings

a.s. mathew (May 14, 2013)
leena joy,cennai: exactly said; this sad display of love for money and fame widely spreading among the so called ministers of the gospel is a very dangerous signal to be watched. we will be quite surprised and bewildered about this modern trend, when we study the word of god and read about the great men of god of the olden days, who stood for their faith-lived by faith-suffered pain and humiliation before the world. if we ask the ministes about the number of people came to follow jesus christ through their ministry, many of them will not even get a "d" grade. but the the majority will get "a" grade for the number of places visited, miles traveled and social functions attended. simply observe, those ministers who were very keen to visit us in our days of affluence, will keep away from us when we are caught up in a financial catastrope. what they love? whither bound? these critical questions must be put into test now to measure the true servants of god!

leena joy..chennai (May 13, 2013)
Babu u k paranjathe sariya. Pentacosthukar ippol funaral oru agoshamakki mattukayanu.thikachum thettaya oru prevanathayanu athe.nettil live undenkil pastormarude thirakkane avide . Palarum maricha vekthiye ariyukapolum illa.enthina ingane panathinte kozhuppe kanikkunnu. Pastormar ippol ellathinteyum agentumara.college admission,kalyana broker,car broker,real estate ,funaral live broadcasting agent etc.................... valare dheyaneeyam...karthave vararayi.funaril. live broadcasting stop cheyyanam. Appol prasangikarude thelle kurayum stagil.

a. s. mathew (May 11, 2013)
In the New Testament, both in Luke 10:17 and 1Tim 5:18, it is clearly stated that the labourer is worthy of his reward. While reading the great biographies of Missionaries of all denomination who were landed in India and many parts of dark world to set the light of the gospel, they simply trusted in GOD's provision. And, GOD never failed them in HIS promise of provisions. When a friend of mine told me (I don't know whether he made the story or not) about the monetary tag attached on marriages, dedications of homes and children, funeral and every other special functions have now a set rate, also the rate vary based on the arriving individual (regular Pastor-Central Pastor-District Pastor-Church President etc) and fame of the Pastors; it was very surprising and mind blowing. We need to pay different rates for the services rendered by the Doctors-lawyers etc based on their weight and experience. Applying the same standard and format in the Christian ministry, is it Biblical?

lalachan..adoor (May 10, 2013)
Nalla chele...funaral ennu kelkkumpozh service live kanikkunnundo enna upadhesimarude chodyam.avarkke 2 vakke paranje pattu.

babu. uk (May 10, 2013)
Reji paul. Thankal paranjathe 100% sariya. Panathinte kozhuppe ennallathe enthu parayan ???pande. Bendhukkalum veettukarum okke engane ayirunnu ????.pastormarkke. keri nirangan oru stage allathe entha ithe ..last weekil oru funaral kandu. Oru pastor parayukaya.......maricha vekthiye kuriche enikke oru parichayavum illa ..ennalum vanna sthithikke 2 wakke parayathirikkunnathe sari allallo enne.kashttom..live broadcsting penthacosthukar nirthanam..oru pakshe pastormar ayirikkum ithinteyokke agentumar. Pastor pastorinte pani chaithal pore ..

joy chembakaseri (May 10, 2013)
@ Reji Paul--- We are utilizing the latest technologies which were not available before to our benefit. People at distant places can see their beloved's last journey, when they are at difficulty attending the ceremony. Its also a respectable way of paying our last respects to the deceased. Ofcourse pastors steel the limelight, as they are key-figures in the ceremony.

reji paul (May 9, 2013)
May her soul rest in peace. But why we born again people now a days give much importance to Funeral Ceremony, especially showing it live? This will help to boost Pastors coverage only. Take the opinion positively.