Some believe if they choose the right causes to support, they are doing the will of God and will be rewarded for their choice. Some reject the concept of God, but in so doing also believe their support of the right causes will make them the more valued in society and their good works will be rewarded. It is as if they don’t understand that causes are the public face of those who seek or wish to retain power.
Causes are the means to gain wealth to do something or perhaps just to give the illusion of doing something while gaining wealth. There isn’t any great mystery to this and you can choose almost any “cause” you want; to see the truth in this statement. It could be as obvious as the Clinton Foundation, or as subtle as the World Wildlife Foundation. Some causes do great work, but most actually enrich a few central characters.
Atheists love to point out the wealth schemes of the churches. Schemes ranging from the megachurches of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, or now The Lakewood Church of Joel Osteen; to the Roman Catholic Church of Rome, but we Americans have so much disposable wealth we seek to find forgiveness of our sins by contributing to the right causes.
The American Red Cross is a great cause. Its volunteers are there to assist in times of disaster and provide aid and assistance when it’s needed. But let’s look at what Charity Navigator has to say about the organization and some of its franchises.
The national organization, headquartered in Washington DC commits almost 90% of its donations to organizational programs (this is a good thing), while 3.7% goes to administrative costs and 6.3% of its funds are rolled back into seeking new donations. It has an annual revenue of almost $3 billion. But other organizations within the ARC family are not quite so stellar. The American Red Cross of Washington (state) and Seattle have both been indicted by the state’s Attorney General for ties to organized crimes.
How about the Black Lives Matter Foundation? Subject to a cease and desist order by the California Attorney General it has raised millions but is supposedly not affiliated by the BLM cause.
You can certainly use your personal wealth as you wish, but remember contributing to the right cause will not gain you one iota of benefit beyond a sense of personal satisfaction. As we learn in Ephesians.
“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works so no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.”
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