MOOCH-ANARIES
But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be . . . covetous . . . with such an one no not to eat. -- 1 Cor. 5:11
If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and . . . hath deceived his neighbour . . . Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore . . . the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten . . . he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth . . . -- Lev. 6:2-5
Certain experiences, among the brethren, over the years, have left indelible impressions. Consider the layman, who lost his job, and the church that gave him money for groceries. The preacher just happened to visit the fellow, immediately after grocery shopping. He peeked into the bags, still on the table, containing cigarettes, Pepsi-Cola, etc. The poor fellow quit the church, because he did not feel they were giving him enough help.
Still, there was the lady, whose husband left her, who tearfully presented her tale of destitution to the church, which responded by bringing groceries to her. She took one look, in the bags, and said she was not about to cook dried beans and went out and found her a sugar dandy.
What about the report of the starving family with children, to which the preacher investigated, finding the man unemployed, he gave the man some money and asked him to do some work around the church. The fellow lasted an hour and vamoosed.
Then there was the infamous organ playing musician/preacher from Middletown, Ohio, who boasted that the "Salvation Army" awarded him an "A" for "begging." He blazed a trail through Connecticut, New York, and Florida, ripping off unsuspecting Christians.
And there was the preacher that apologized to a visiting evangelist, for feeding him hot dogs, because of his "keep a preacher poor" membership (soon after buying a side of beef, at a good price, from one of those members).
Consider the letters from those TV outfits that present such soul stirring needs? We copied the exact wording, from one such letter, from a Virginia outfit (a thousand times our size and wealth), and asked them for help with our church's needs. We received an apologetic letter, explaining that they could only help the local needy. We copied the exact wording from the second letter and answered the first. Paul warns unsuspecting Christians, in 2 Peter 2:3,14 and 2 Tim. 3:1-13 and 2 Thess. 3:8-10, about the con men, buzzards, and dirt bags that desire to prey on their tender hearts. How should such deceitful, greedy, covetous brethren be handled? (With extreme caution!) Why not complete restoration of their deceitful gains with twenty percent added, to the top, or else no fellowship and no forgiveness? The scriptures demand that we do not fellowship with them (let alone help them). We must be careful, however, not to allow "Mooch-anaries and scars, from prior wounds, to harden us and cause us to say to those, who are really deserving and needy of help, "be thou warmed." We can make a distinction between the needy and the greedy, and then make it hot for deceitful "MOOCH-ANARIES" and swindlers.
-- by Herb Evans, Plains Baptist Challenger - August 1980, p. 5