Dear Survival Blog,
Thank you for such a great service as Survival Blog. I am writing to comment on the above captioned article the Blog posted on June 27, 2015.
The problem we have is 501c3 tax exempt status, that is, a tax exempt certification issued by the IRS to the Church in exchange for surrendering certain freedoms. The freedoms surrendered are listed in IRS Publication 1828 on page five. This publication is freely available to anyone with an Internet connection. Everyone should read it and understand it for themselves. The publication title is “Rules for Churches.” Rule five on page five states that the Church cannot “violate fundamental public policy”. After yesterday’s Supreme Court decision, do I need to point out whether homosexual marriage is now a “fundamental public policy” of the United States? Do I need to spell out what the future holds for all “government registered” churches?
So why have very nearly ALL churches in America registered with the IRS (see IRS Pub 78) and surrendered their freedom to preach the Gospel? I can tell you why. It’s to get that last little bit of tax exemption, that last little bit of money, namely the ability of the attendees to deduct their church contributions. That’s it. We gave it ALL away for a little bit more money. The Church itself was never taxed, and can never be taxed so long as the First Amendment of the Constitution still stands.
Let me state it this way; if the Church at large was not registered and therefore beholden to the government, would we be having a vigorous debate in this nation about God’s laws regarding sexual deviancy and the utter corruption of the family through government mandates? I think we would because the Church would be FREE to do so, and in keeping with its duty under the Great Commission, it would do so vigorously. Instead, we have the Supreme Court and politicians for gods.
Okay. So how to fix it? UNREGISTER. Throw off the chains, stand up in freedom, and speak the truth to power. It would cost us though. Standing with the Maker of all things always does.
We need to face this. This is us. We did this, or at least allowed it. We need to get ourselves free again and then fight this evil from a position of strength, not beholden to any government except God’s.
That’s my piece. Thanks for providing your email address, and keep up the good work of the Survival Blog. – D.F.