501(C)3 Not-For-Profit Organizations Churchs

[Snow4JC]

Greetings~

I heard or read some where, churches that sign up for this status, are putting themselves in a bad position.

Whom do they listen to Government or G-d?

Snow4JC

[ayin jade]

Why do you think they are putting themselves in a bad position? Why do you think it means they are not listening to God if they do this?

[Snow4JC]

Why do you think they are putting themselves in a bad position? Why do you think it means they are not listening to God if they do this?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are we not to give to Cessar's what is his and to give to G-D what is HIS to begin with.

Any time you let the government in your front door, there is going to be trouble.

I do not believe that G-D, would tell them to do this. I believe it falls under the Two Masters Idea and you can only serve one.

Snow

[Iryssa]

Why do you think they are putting themselves in a bad position? Why do you think it means they are not listening to God if they do this?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are we not to give to Cessar's what is his and to give to G-D what is HIS to begin with.

Any time you let the government in your front door, there is going to be trouble.

I do not believe that G-D, would tell them to do this. I believe it falls under the Two Masters Idea and you can only serve one.

Snow

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

K, I'm confused...do you think being a Non-Profit organization is a bad thing or a good thing? Why? What are the benefits of being a non-profit company in your area? What about taxes? Most of the differences here are in whether the company needs to comply with privacy acts and the like, and I don't see how that can go against God's word. *shrug*

[seraph]

Non-profit organizations cannot follow God? I assure you they can and do. I have been involved in inner-city youth ministry through a non-profit organization... monies earned go back into ministry... back into sharing the gospel and discipling others... and of course some to staff and maintenence, etc. Perhaps you should take a visit to a ministry like the one I am involved in and after seeing children, teens, families, gangbangers, drug addicts, murderers, abusers, etc give their lives to Christ, then you can better determine which master they serve.

[ayin jade]

Worthy is a non profit organization. The Lord works through worthy to reach the lost. The Lord has blessed worthy.

Do you take deductions on your income taxes?

[Leonard]

Churches are automatically tax exempt whether or not they file the 501 c3 paperwork with IRS. Yet the IRS 'strongly recommends' churches do so. That way, if the church speaks out a little too much on the important political/moral issues of the day, the government can threaten them with the loss of their tax exempt status.

By filling out the 501 paperwork, churches create the legal fiction that their tax exempt status has been 'awarded' to them by the IRS, and thus create a way the IRS can also take that status away. It is a dicey propostion, and churches would do well to consider whether they wish to get involved with it.

[Trust & Obey]

Churches are automatically tax exempt whether or not they file the 501 c3 paperwork with IRS.  Yet the IRS 'strongly recommends' churches do so.  That way, if the church speaks out a little too much on the important political/moral issues of the day, the government can threaten them with the loss of their tax exempt status.

By filling out the 501 paperwork, churches create the legal fiction that their tax exempt status has been 'awarded' to them by the IRS, and thus create a way the IRS can also take that status away.  It is a dicey propostion, and churches would do well to consider whether they wish to get involved with it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Exactly.

__________

501©(3) Facts

http://hushmoney.org/

Most churches in America have organized as "501c3 tax-exempt religious organizations." This is a fairly recent trend that has only been going on for about fifty years. Churches were only added to section 501c3 of the tax code in 1954. We can thank Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson for that. Johnson was no ally of the church. As part of his political agenda, Johnson had it in mind to silence the church and eliminate the significant influence the church had always had on shaping "public policy."

Although Johnson proffered this as a "favor" to churches, the favor also came with strings attached (more like shackles). One need not look far to see the devastating effects 501c3 acceptance has had to the church, and the consequent restrictions placed upon any 501c3 church. 501c3 churches are prohibited from addressing, in any tangible way, the vital issues of the day.

For a 501c3 church to openly speak out, or organize in opposition to, anything that the government declares "legal," even if it is immoral (e.g. abortion, homosexuality, etc.), that church will jeopardize its tax exempt status. The 501c3 has had a "chilling effect" upon the free speech rights of the church. LBJ was a shrewd and cunning politician who seemed to well-appreciate how easily many of the clergy would sell out.

Did the church ever need to seek permission from the government to be exempt from taxes? Were churches prior to 1954 taxable? No, churches have never been taxable. To be taxable a church would first need to be under the jurisdiction, and therefore under the taxing authority, of the government. The First Amendment clearly places the church outside the jurisdiction of the civil government: "Congress shall make NO LAW respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

Religion cannot be free if you have to pay the government, through taxation, to exercise it. Since churches aren't taxable in the first place, why do so many of them go to the IRS and seek permission to be tax-exempt? It occurs out of:

* Ignorance ("We didn't know any better")

* Bandwagon logic ("Everyone else is doing it")

* Professional advice (many attorneys and CPAs recommend it)

Does the law require, or even encourage, a church to organize as a 501c3? To answer that question let's turn to what the IRS itself has to say.

Churches Need Not Apply

In order to be considered for tax-exempt status by the IRS an organization must fill out and submit IRS Form 1023 and 1024. However, note what the IRS says regarding churches and church ministries, in Publication 557:

Some organizations are not required to file Form 1023. These include:

Churches, interchurch organizations of local units of a church, conventions or associations of churches, or integrated auxiliaries of a church, such as a men

[Guest Zayit]

Just the political part makes this against G-ds word, but you throw in the fact of what they are allowed to preach on, and also their records of "tithe giving" which is reported to the government and blatently violate what Yeshua taught, and that is enough to send you running, but there is much much more. Everyone screams about separation of church and state, and with 501C they have gotten into bed together and.........................

[Guest Zayit]

Do you take deductions on your income taxes?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, I do not, if my own left hand shouldn't know what my right hand is giving, how much more so should the church or especially my government be informed? ( Read Matt 6 if you don't know what I am referring to).