Obscene Pay for Church Pastor

Though the AFP report did not mention who was the one employee paid between 500,001 and 550,000 dollars in the financial year ended March 31, 2008. I feel it was a dead giveaway when New Creation's honorary secretary, Deacon Matthew Kang, said that it was the church's policy to "recognise and reward key contributors... and Senior Pastor Prince is the main pillar of our church's growth and revenue."

Coming from a Christian church that so often loves to accuse mainstream Catholicism as an erroneous religion, I find Pastor Prince and Deacon Kang's non-adherence to basic biblical following rather disturbing.

According to [Lk. 18:18-23]: "A certain ruler asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus said to him, 'Why doyou call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.' He replied, 'I have kept all these since my youth.' When Jesus heard this, he said to him, 'There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me. Jesus looked at him and said, 'How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!'"

While Jesus did not condemn wealth (He had MANY rich friends), He did feel rather strongly about the possession of wealth. Christ constantly pointed out the danger of riches, which, He says, are the thorns that choke up the good seed of the word (Matthew 13:22).

Not to mention [Acts 4:32-5]: "Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need."

Sure, I don't begrudge charitable organisations the T.T. Durai standard of self-serving high salaries (hey, if the leader can craft new ways to milk millions for charities, they do deserve that amount of pay for the greater service performed). But really, when a church leader starts to get paid like a private sector employee, I really wonder as to his principles and "virtues" stand.