“Will a man rob God?” (Mal. 3:8, NASB). Of course. It happens all the time.

For most, it happens when they keep for themselves God’s tithes and offerings. However, every year hundreds of pastors go to jail for embezzling God’s money from their churches.

How does this happen? How could a God-called pastor fleece God’s sheep?

Aside from the spiritual considerations, two large things keep me from stealing millions from my church: 1) I would not know how or even where to begin, and 2) My church has structures in place to safeguard the Lord’s money. (My pastor will read this and think, I can tell you another: We don’t have millions of dollars! True enough. But that’s not the point. Smiley face goes here.)

So how do people manage to pull off such grand thefts of God’s money?

Christianity Today magazine for April 2014 tells of the downfall of 78-year-old legendary Korean pastor David Yonggi Cho, who embezzled $12 million from his church. One page over, we read of Barry Minkow, former pastor of San Diego Community Church, being sent to prison for stealing $3 million from his church.

Such instances of outright theft are mind-boggling. These pastors had been given great acclaim, enjoyed incredible success by anyone’s standards, and possessed the opportunity to make a world of difference in the lives of untold thousands. And they traded it all in for cash.

They swapped the pearl of great price for a few bucks at the devil’s pawn shop.

How did such a tragedy happen? I think we know. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that everyone reading this piece knows the answer to that.

1. Grand theft begins with tiny thefts: “This will not matter.” “This is a little thing.” “No one cares.” Exaggerating on my taxes, estimating on my expense vouchers, that sort of thing.

2. Small thefts feed off rationalizations as they begin to grow: “I deserve this.” “I can always pay this back.” “I’ve worked hard.” “The board does not appreciate me.” “God understands.”

3. It moves forward by perceived needs: “This will enhance my ministry.” “This will make me more presentable (or eloquent or effective or something).” “This is for everyone’s good.”  “My life is the Lord’s work too, so it’s all His.”

4. It shifts into overdrive by our self-delusion: “I’m not like other people. The little people wouldn’t understand. But God has made me different.”

5. It culminates in outright lawbreaking: “No one will ever find this out. And if they do, I’ll tell them it was for this other thing.” “I forgot.” “No one is perfect.”

The process—a slippery slope, to be sure—is the same one voiced by Achan to Joshua in the Old Testament after his sin during the capture of Jericho.

Achan confessed, “I saw the mantle and 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold … I coveted them … I took them … I hid them” (Josh. 7:21, paraphrased).

I saw, I wanted, I took, I hid.

We start small and work our way up.

No wonder our Lord said, “He who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much” (Luke 16:10, NASB).

Three steps on how to steal a fortune from God:

1. The Lord’s man begins to dream unhealthy dreams. Long before the small thefts, the would-be thief does something that sets the entire matter in place: He wishes and longs; he fantasizes and dreams. Our Lord Jesus said, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders” (Matt. 15:19).

Before a man commits adultery, he ponders what it would be like, how it would feel, how it would make him feel. He begins to soften his heart against this sin. Then, when the opportunity presents itself, he is ready.

Before he embezzles large amounts of money, he fantasizes about living large. He begins to envision the difference wealth could make. When a way is opened for him to take money without anyone knowing—he thinks—he has already settled this in his mind.

What he does not do is envision the consequences of his great sin: the people who will be hurt, the ministry he will give up, the shame he will bring to those who love him most. The great seducer, he who is “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44), will see that he never dwells on the cost of such sin.

Paul said to young Timothy, “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Tim. 6:9-10).

2. The Lord’s man who is dreaming of law-breaking now begins to change himself. First, he convinces himself that enough money will take care of all his problems. This is a fool’s project, to be sure. “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money,” says Ecclesiastes 5:10. Jesus said, “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15, NKJV).

Second, the man who would embezzle God’s money—the mind reels at such a thought—must first transform himself into a conniver, a schemer. He sets about thinking of ways to do this.

Is there a fund at the church—benevolence, perhaps—to which he has uncontrolled access? A fund for which he is not accountable to anyone? Do people sometimes hand him checks for various church projects? Is there some way he could divert them into a personal bank account? How could he avoid detection?

3. He makes changes in his church. To steal money from his church (or any kind of office), protective structures will have to be removed, giving him access to certain funds and then guarding them from discovery.

This is not done easily. Such a pastor would have to convince people of his integrity, his trustworthiness, and proceed to make an issue of it: “You folks will have to trust me on this.” “You trust me with eternal things but don’t think I can be trusted with a few dollars? What’s wrong with you?” He works on their guilt.

No new pastor can pull this off. It requires a preacher of long tenure as a rule. The ideal scenario is that he pastored the church when it was small and the protective safeguards were few, and now that the church is large, he insists on running the business side of the office in the same way.

Let the church and the pastor wise up. No one is immune to this kind of temptation. We all require money to live in this world, and “just a little more” would help a great deal for most of us.

Therefore, the church leadership must take into account its most basic doctrine in setting up guidelines for handling contributions to the Lord’s work: “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” and will do so again before the day is out.

I just added that last part. But it’s true.

The pastor who thinks he could never be tempted by large amounts of money is fooling himself. The church who thinks its pastor is so godly and spiritual he would never do such a thing is setting itself (and him!) up for trouble.

Let the leadership of the Lord’s churches be smart and strong. Let them challenge the pastor who wants free access to any fund at the church. Let them hold their ground and not be moved, not even an inch.

Let the church get good counsel. Bring in outside financial consultants to study their procedures and recommend improvements.

And one more: Let the pastor constantly keep before the other ministers and office staff the importance of financial integrity. Let him insist on it personally, for himself and his team. In staff meetings, periodically discuss how money is handled and what dangers have been spotted or they may encounter. (Remember, the situation changes every time a new person joins the team or a new bookkeeper is hired.)

Let us do all we can to honor Christ and do nothing to soil His blessed name.

Dr. Joe McKeever writes from the vantage point of more than 60 years as a disciple of Jesus, more than 50 years preaching His gospel and more than 40 years of cartooning for every imaginable Christian publication.

For the original article, visit joemckeever.com.

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