Rich Beggars
Last month we received a letter from John F. Reese of the Fifth and Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas, enclosing a weekly bulletin from that congregation. Brother Reese wrote:
"Inasmuch as you have manifested a great deal of interest in the Highland contribution in the past, we felt that you would be particularly interested in printing the contribution for last Lord's day."
Brother Reese had then circled with a red pencil mark the weekly contribution to which he referred — $13,651.10.
That seems really incredible to us; but apparently it is so! If this is indeed the truth, and Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas, does have a contribution of over thirteen thousand dollars per week, she is clearly one of the richest, if not the richest church in the world. There is not even a hint in either the bulletin or Brother Reese's letter that there was anything special or unusual about this contribution except that it did include two special items for Gus Eoff and the Ricketts Family amounting to slightly over $1,000.00. Aside from that the regular contribution was listed as $12,598.27. The clear implication of Brother Reese's letter was that this was their usual and normal weekly offering.
If so, then why is this fantastically rich church splitting congregations all over the nation, sending souls to hell, discouraging and weakening struggling little groups in the mission fields by begging, badgering, threatening, and pressuring them for their money, when she has plenty of her own to pay for the Herald of Truth broadcasts?
Do you suppose it is possible that this fantastic weekly contribution is really and actually the money that Highland Church has pressured OTHER congregations into pouring into her treasury, and does not represent her own weekly contribution at all?
We can't help wondering! To be perfectly frank and truthful, we suspect Brother Reese's letter was neither frank nor truthful in trying to leave us under the impression that Highland members are contributing over six hundred thousand dollars per year to the church.