Back in the 70s when I lived in Southern California, I got invited to attend one of those

development seminars. The speaker was a very renowned fundraiser who has reputedly raised not only

tens of millions, probably hundreds of millions of dollars for well-known universities.

And one of the points that he made over and over and over again

is that you can use two emotions to raise money.

Guilt and need for recognition.

And I remember sitting there and thinking how contrary this is to everything the scripture

teaches about money and giving, because our guilt is already taken care of under the blood of Jesus

Christ, and we don't give out of guilt.

For the Bible does not speak about guilt giving.

The Bible speaks about the cheerful giver, and the Bible speaks about the

quiet giver. The Bible speaks about the joyful giver. The Bible speaks about the sacrificial giver.

The Bible speaks about the willing giver, and the Bible speaks about the hilarious giver.

But when you hound people with motivations such as guilt and all this

stuff, which is absolutely contrary to the teaching of the Word of God, then giving is only a

business transaction. That's all it is. In fact, philanthropy, as you see it in the media today, an exercise in society at large today, is nothing but a business transaction.

And here's what the Bible said about this type of giving, because, you see, they were doing that during the time of Jesus.

And Jesus said, you know what, those people already got the reward.

They got it all here. You say,

how come? Well, by receiving the praise of men, by receiving public recognition, by receiving

all of the rewards right here on earth. That's it. I've got to be up front with you.

The subject of money and giving in general is a very

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