Should This Church Lose Tax Exempt Status?
Anyone who heard that a church had lost its tax exempt status might think that it had something to do with a stand they took against homosexuality. And while that might happen in the near future, that is not the case in this instance. The controversy surrounds a group known as The Life Center: A Spiritual Community, based in Panama City, Florida. It touts itself as a “drug and alcohol free community.” So why was this group denied tax exempt status, according to news stories dated March 12, 2015? Was it for being offensive in the way it went about preaching the “gospel”? Was it for taking a strong moral stance? No, the reason is quite the opposite.
The Life Center was hosting naked paint parties and co-ed “slumber-party Sundays.” Unfortunately, these activities are only the beginning. Covering naked bodies with paint is not a new concept. Magazines have highlighted the practice in the past, and probably no one needs to know what is available on the Internet in the way of pictures. No descriptions need to be offered; suffice it to say that lurid designs are used to inflame the imagination. Such practices would be evil enough by themselves, but then to sponsor co-ed “slumber parties” is nothing more than an invitation to commit fornication with anyone who might be willing.
And willingness might not be that difficult to find since the claim of “alcohol free” was phony. Asking for a $20 donation at the door, apparently, “The Life Center” was competing with the usual club spots that students on spring break are seeking. In fact, they were ordered to quit serving alcohol. Claiming they had the “sexiest ladies on the beach,” they had wet t-shirt contests, lingerie parties, and held twerking competitions. As if these were not vulgar enough, t-shirts were available with obscene acts and language on them.
“Church Status”
The civil government has usually been generous toward churches because what they do has generally been regarded as good for societies. They have historically taught in favor of good citizenship, as well as encouraging their members toward moral and ethical behavior. One of the reasons church property has been tax exempt over the centuries is that they offer positive principles to all. Sometimes they give away clothing or food, and they might offer their facilities and the time of their members for the good of the community, even assisting in disasters.
Taverns do not receive tax exempt status because they are in business to make money. According to one website, Sheriff Frank McKeithen calls the party atmosphere a “blatant slap in the face” to taxpayers. He says church officials are “trying to get around the laws.” It certainly sounds as though this were the case. Open a “church,” and operate it as a business, so that no one could tell one from the other.
Who Qualifies?
How does the government decide to grant tax exempt status to a religious group? Generally, they expect proof, such as meeting times, attendance figures, a statement of purpose, copies of church bulletins, etc. Even more interesting would be to find out how a church can lose the privileged status it has received. What if it went into business—not to compete with various clubs, as The Life Center did, but maybe to manufacture a product for sale on the market—or buying and selling property? Surely, these activities could not be considered as the function of a church. Or what happens if a group smokes marijuana as part of its “religious” experience?
The government needs to have some means by which to determine whether someone is adhering to those things that a church does or not. The obvious answer is to compare what any religious group teaches and does with what the Bible describes. Now in the case of The Life Center, it would be easy, and here is the way it could be done.
First of all, the New Testament does not promote (and neither did the Old) nudity but rather modesty: “In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation…” (1 Tim. 2:9-10). What was described in this “church” was certainly no description of modesty. Even God clothed Adam and Eve with more than fig leaves when He forced them to leave the garden. At the time He did so, we have no evidence that another soul was around to see, but wearing clothes was a pattern God established during the normal activities of life.
Second, all of the college males who were drawn to these sexiest of “ladies” were in violation of Matthew 5:27-28:
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
If both the young man and the young woman are single, then he has committed fornication with her in his heart—and in actuality during the “Sunday sleepover.” Do the practices encouraged by this “church” sound anything akin to “Flee fornication!” (1 Cor. 6:18-20)? Do they sound like even a 42nd cousin to possessing one’s vessel in sanctification and honor (1 Thess. 4:1-7)? Is this “church” encouraging people to walk according to the flesh or according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:1)? What this group of degenerates ought to take heed to is: “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6). Christians must “abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11).
Furthermore, a “church” that promotes drinking alcohol and drunkenness is opposed to the sobriety that Jesus commanded (Matt. 24:42). It is difficult to “watch” when one’s goal is to get sloshed. But come to think of it, there are religious groups that allow beer and wine to be consumed on their premises; so the civil government might have a tough job on their hands wording this one properly.
Obviously, however, “The Life Center” has no spiritual life to offer whatsoever—only debauchery and defilement that lead to the Lake of Fire. Neither are they “A Spiritual Community”; they are a fleshly community that has no spirituality whatsoever and could not rise above carnality if they tried. Perhaps a question has been forming in the mind of the reader: “Who would have anything to do with the operation of this shameful place?”
Markus Q. Bishop
This may not be a pseudonym, but it sounds like one. The first name calls to mind the name of the evangelist who wrote the second gospel account in the New Testament. Since he wrote to the Roman population, they probably referred to him as Markus. The last name is an office in the church—equivalent to an elder or pastor. The middle initial coincidently is what many modernists refer to as the Q document (Q standing for quelle, meaning “source”)—an alleged source that Matthew, Mark, and Luke copied from that no one has ever seen and for which there is zero amount of proof. So who is this guy?
At one time he was the leader of a megachurch in Panama City, but then he went through two bitter divorces. What? Did we suppose that a man who would operate such a shady business would be a moral pillar of the community? One of the popular responses on the Internet is a story from March 27, 2008. At that time Bishop was operating the Faith Christian Family Church in Panama City; he was arrested for punching his wife. That must have been before the divorce.
Somewhere in the mix was a filing for bankruptcy and a court case over whether he should have to pay taxes on his “parsonage”—a multimillion dollar home in a gated community. Actually, this “parsonage” is a 10,000 square foot mansion. Most people probably have figured out that this is not a typical preacher’s house. Like so many other religious “leaders,” he claims to have evolved and arrive at new “truths” that he did not always hold to. Really? Who knew? Of himself he says:
“It's not about what label you wear or title you carry, it's about what goes on inside you,” Bishop said. “I am a follower of Jesus. I practice Buddhism. I am a student of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and I am a student in miracles and more than anything I am passionate about a path of reality that manifests in love and peace.”
Love, peace, and sex—judging from this year’s spring break activities. The article this material came from is probably two years old. It closes by saying he has just opened The Life Church and that there are “no rules, no religion, just love.” Okay, we all see what that has resulted in. Certainly one would have to abandon all rules and all religion to arrive at the destination where he is.
He claimed to be a follower of Christ, but that it false. Jesus never led in the direction Bishop is going. And in case the thought has not yet been grasped, what this man does and is doing is blasphemous! Some of his “parishioners” wear t-shirts that say, “I hate being sober,” which is diametrically opposed to what Jesus and the apostles taught. Bishop promotes nudity and lasciviousness and claims to follow the Lord. It is Satan who tempts people by the lust of the flesh (Gen. 3:1-6; 1 John 2:15-17). Bishop is not following Jesus anywhere that He led. Such a claim is contrary to the truth, and even to claim it with the example he has set is to blaspheme the Lord.
The claim to be a Buddhist and a student of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is something their adherents will have to embrace or deny. Bishop is a student of miracles? Which one—turning water into wine? He probably is unaware that the wine Jesus made was not alcoholic. If it was, it violated His own teachings on sobriety. Does Bishop, the student of miracles, claim to do any? If so, what? The only path he is passionate about is that of the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes.
In fact, we have an inspired description of those like Bishop. Because of their destructive ways, the way of truth will be blasphemed (2 Peter 2:2). He will receive “the wages of unrighteousness,” because he and his “church members” have “eyes full of adultery,” and they “cannot cease from sin” (vv. 13-14). They have “a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam…” (vv. 14-15). They are “wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, to whom the gloom of darkness is reserved forever” (v. 17).
Such men speak “great swelling words of emptiness,” and they “allure through the lusts of the flesh, through licentiousness” (v. 18). They may promise Life and Liberty, but they are “slaves of corruption,” helping others to become the same (v. 19). They are “raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 13).
Yes, they should lose their tax exemption status because they are bringing corruption to the community—not life, health, and good works. They have brought moral pollution and degradation to town in the guise of religion. The Life Church is no more than the pagan temple was in Corinth, which promoted illicit sex and drunkenness—in the name of their goddess, Aphrodite. Unless such “worshipers” repent, they shall perish.