Former Pastor Says “God Doesn’t Need Your Money,” Exposes Prosperity Gospel Culture
Reuben Armstrong, a former minister turned best-selling author and activist, is stepping into one of the most controversial religious debates in America with his bold new book, God Doesn’t Need Your Money: God Isn’t Collecting, Your Pastor Is. He says that every Sunday, millions of Americans who are struggling financially are being victimized as they place both their faith and their money in the hands of churches across the country, especially Black churches.
Armstrong is confronting what he describes as a culture of pressure, guilt, and blind giving, where believers are encouraged to give faithfully but discouraged from asking honest questions about how their money is used.
He comments, “As a former minister myself, I’ve seen how this system works from the inside. Congregations are often made to feel guilty if they don’t give, pressured to hand over money meant for bills, rent, even food for their families, all while being promised a blessing. That’s not faith. That’s a system taking advantage of belief.”
Armstrong says the conversation is especially urgent in the Black church, where faith, loyalty, and financial sacrifice have long been deeply connected – but emphasizes that the issue extends across all modern megachurch systems. With trust in major institutions continuing to decline across the country, he believes churches cannot remain beyond scrutiny simply because the subject is uncomfortable.
https://blacknews.com/news/reuben-armstr...l-culture/
Reuben Armstrong, a former minister turned best-selling author and activist, is stepping into one of the most controversial religious debates in America with his bold new book, God Doesn’t Need Your Money: God Isn’t Collecting, Your Pastor Is. He says that every Sunday, millions of Americans who are struggling financially are being victimized as they place both their faith and their money in the hands of churches across the country, especially Black churches.
Armstrong is confronting what he describes as a culture of pressure, guilt, and blind giving, where believers are encouraged to give faithfully but discouraged from asking honest questions about how their money is used.
He comments, “As a former minister myself, I’ve seen how this system works from the inside. Congregations are often made to feel guilty if they don’t give, pressured to hand over money meant for bills, rent, even food for their families, all while being promised a blessing. That’s not faith. That’s a system taking advantage of belief.”
Armstrong says the conversation is especially urgent in the Black church, where faith, loyalty, and financial sacrifice have long been deeply connected – but emphasizes that the issue extends across all modern megachurch systems. With trust in major institutions continuing to decline across the country, he believes churches cannot remain beyond scrutiny simply because the subject is uncomfortable.
https://blacknews.com/news/reuben-armstr...l-culture/
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
