KJV 1° Corinthians 9:1 Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?

Paul was blinded on the road, and could not see anything. What did Paul mean by the words, "have seen Jesus Christ our Lord"? I believe he is referring to a personal experience with Christ whereby Paul accepted his as his Lord and Savior.

• What happens when you send out an unsaved missionary? - First he represents you, so all the damage and horrible destruction to the work of God goes back against you in God's eyes. Secondly, the people that he ministers to often get a view of Christianity as being hypocritical. The abuses and sins that he allows, his people see, and they do not understand why there is a double standard. Next he doesn't get the job done simply put.

What is your stand, doctrine, and practice?

What is your ministry?

Today missionaries boast of two things, souls saved or churches planted.

Souls Saved - When these numbers climb into the atmosphere, there are proper questions that should be asked.

First of all, if a church or missionary boasts of thousands saved each year, then are these thousands entering into the church as productive members? Are the majority of these people getting baptized, discipled, and becoming tithing, participating church members?

Secondly, if the above is true, then why is the missionary asking us for money? Is he not teaching his people to tithe and give offering above their tithes?

Example - A pastor was boasting to me of one of his missionaries in South America that had a church of 10,000 people. I asked if he was turning it over to nationals, no, but he has assistant pastors that are nationals. I asked if he still got funds from the US? Yes, and actually that pastor and church channeled all his funds for him, so the pastor knew he got $10,000 a month missionary support. I asked the pastor, did he think poor people where this guy lives could sacrifice a coke a month for their pastor? "Well, yes". Well a Coke costs about $1 anywhere in the world. That would provide that missionary $10,000 in income per month, and he would free up $10,000 for 2 missionaries back in the states to go out. The pastor didn't know what to say. I said that I fully believed him because I have seen such things, and probably the missionary lives very simply on the field. He has 10,000 people because he uses his income to give away things to keep people coming. This is call "rice Christians" in missions studies.

Thirdly, are there more independent Fundamental churches springing up from this work? By independent, I mean that those churches are sending out missionaries without having to go to the states to raise money? This is New Testament missions, teaching God's people who were won to the Lord on the mission field to do the work of the Lord themselves, completely and without intervention, help, or economic support from the United States.

Churches planted - I know a missionary that has labored some 40 years in the foreign field. He used to be identified with one specific country, but now he is "God's missionary to the world" as he identifies himself. In this country he says he has planted more than 200 churches. Investigating, I find that he is Baptist Bride in his doctrine, and for him, planting a church also includes running off the current pastor and putting his own man in that church. He considers that a church plant.

Another missionary I met on his first furlough. I had at that time been a missionary 20 years. He said that he had started 3 churches in 4 years, in a country that does not speak English. I asked him how he did it. He told me about how pious he was and how God has blessed him because of his dedication and hard work. We lived near them while on furlough and our families got to know each other somewhat. I later learned that he never learned the language as of yet, and that his starting of churches was paying the national pastors' salaries each month in a monthly meeting (the only time he saw them). He seldom if ever preaches or teaches while in that country, and the extent of his activities there besides being a money channel was to give out tracts with an address for a free Bible correspondence course. The national pastors he found through another missionary who has a Bible institute. My question is, how can a man say he has planted a church when the people there barely know him? Having had bad experiences with national pastors I personally picked and tried to train ourselves, I do not know how a missionary can judge whether a national is fit to be pastor without knowing him and working beside him for years. To me, it is just impossible.

But this examples point up the fact that churches in the US haven't a clue as to how the Lord's work really works. Churches were lining up to have these missionaries and take them on for financial support. Yet this doesn't work in the US, so why should it work in other countries? It doesn't, but it is a good trick to get support from less discerning churches.

What is your economic situation?

It is amazing how we have come to the point where it is wrong for a missionary to financially accountable to those who are giving him his money. We are sold a bill of goods that mission boards have to be the only ones who know the missionaries finances. Yet at the same time, the mission boards are living off of the income of their missionaries, often getting their "tithe" up to even 15% of their income skimmed off the top before they even see it.

A simple thing for pastors and churches to do is to ask for an accounting from the missionary or their oversight organization, and see how much they are getting from all sources. Astutely many separate their income into "personal" and "ministry", in order to not hide their true income. Once that is ascertained, ask for a justification of where the money goes.