Sorry for this departure from normal tech talk. But some things are happen in NZ that I think need to be discussed a little because it is getting a little out of hand at the moment.

First, let me be clear from the beginning. I am not in any way affiliated with Destiny Church. I am not a member of the church, nor employed by the church, nor do I know anyone that is a member of the church or in any way affiliated with it. I grew up in a Christian family but am not Christian myself. My family does not agree with a lot of the things Destiny Church does but considers them no different from a “Christian” church than churches like the Catholic or Anglican churches. That doesn’t mean they share the same or entirely different beliefs, but rather the interpretation each church has of the Bible and the Word of God differs.

Having said all that, things are getting a little out of control in the media over Destiny Church. Especially after the pastor resigned in Brisbane. Now, while I think its great that people like John Campbell have managed to find their own personal cause, I think they need to step back a little from the edge and just reassess their perspective a little.

Whether you like Brian Tamaki or not, whether you agree with his beliefs or not, whether you approve of the methods of his church or not, the Destiny Church does do a lot of good in their communities. Sure, they are a very rich church and they bring in significant amounts of money through tithing, but they also spend a lot of time and money helping their church members.

I find it interesting that John Campbell is putting all this effort into trying to “expose” Destiny Church, yet seems to have no problem with other churches, such as the Anglican and Catholic churches, that do essentially the same thing.

It all comes down to Tithing.

People complain that Destiny Church is militant about tithing. And I agree, they are very aggressive about collecting tithes from their members. But when it comes to their beliefs, and in fact the beliefs of EVERY Christian based church, tithing is explicitly mandated by the Bible.

30 A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. 31 If a man redeems any of his tithe, he must add a fifth of the value to it. 32 The entire tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the Lord.

Leviticus 27:30-32

26 “Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord’s offering. 27 Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress. 28 In this way you also will present an offering to the Lord from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the Lord’s portion to Aaron the priest.

Numbers 18:26-28

24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25 then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice.
Deuteronomy 14:24-26

5 As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the firstfruits of their grain, new wine, oil and honey and all that the fields produced. They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything. 6 The men of Israel and Judah who lived in the towns of Judah also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks and a tithe of the holy things dedicated to the Lord their God, and they piled them in heaps.

2 Chronicles 31:5-6

7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:7

Right, now that we have established that tithing is actually mandated in both the old and new testaments of the Bible, can we please lay off the fact that the church expects its members to tithe. Every church makes that same request. The only difference is that not every church is as aggressive about it as Destiny. Which is where that last verse comes in to play.

“Not reluctantly or under compulsion“

And there in lies part of the PR problem for Destiny. I can’t fix that and neither can anyone outside Destiny. It has become a culture issue within their organisation and amongst their congregation. The only way to fix that is for people to stop paying it when forced.

But quite aside from all that, what has really bothered me, and the reason I’m doing this on Steves Geek Speak instead of my other blog, is that now there is a website setup that is doing its best to defame Brian Tamaki and attribute to him things that re completely untrue and have not been said at all. It is professionally done and looks enough like the real Destiny Church website that at first glance they do appear to be related. But they are not.

BishopTamaki.org.nz Screenshot

Now, this site started getting a fair amount of publicity on Twitter over the weekend and I first noticed it myself on Friday last week.

This website (no I will not link to it, make do with the screenshot) makes some pretty wild claims and attributes them to Brian Tamaki. Now, I’m no fan of Brian Tamaki but I know for a fact that if anyone made a similar sort of website about a Muslim cleric, all hell would break loose. The statements made are not only insulting to Mr Tamaki, but also insult and ridicule every Christian on the planet. That bothers me just as much as it bothers me when people attack Muslims solely because they’re Muslim. Just because Osama bin Laden is the leader of a sect within the Muslim faith, doesn’t mean he has the same beliefs and speaks on behalf of all Muslims in the world. So too with Brian Tamaki.

I was all happy to ignore this site and the mass hysteria that is swirling around it until Cameron Slater decided to comment on it and treat it as if it is real and legitimately belongs to Brian Tamaki or the Destiny Church.

This is an issue for me because he is a very high profile blogger in NZ now days. In his own words :

Brian Tamaki (I refuse to call him Bishop) is mad. Now I’m not really one to talk but Brian actu­ally thinks he is the phys­i­cal man­i­fes­ta­tion of God on Earth.

I don’t know about you guys but I really don’t think some­one as venal as Brian Tamaki would be the Sec­ond Com­ing of Christ, would you?

Mad as a box of frogs – Whaleoil, Beefhooked

So Cam is now stating to his readers that he considers the website to be real and the genuine article, and thereby attributes the contents of the website to Brian Tamaki.

This is an issue for me. I agree with Cameron on a lot of things. I think he’s a little more aggressive in his views than I would be about some things, but by and large I generally think he’s on the right track. Except in this particular case. And it is especially poignant to me given that of late he has started making very loud noises when the mainstream media do not make the effort to present the full story, or to fact check the details of the articles they are writing. The most obvious example being his stance against the Herald’s article about Michael Laws.

So I say it is very simple. Cam needs to start being as honest with his readers as he expects the mainstream media to be with theirs. Especially now that he is getting as widely publicised as he is for his stand against the judicial mistreatment of the suppression laws in New Zealand. (Which, for the record, I fully support him on 100%, even if I don’t have the guts to get the profile he has, the way he has.)

For the record. The Bishop Tamaki website that is being passed around as legitimate at the moment is definitely fake and is in no way associate with Brian Tamaki, the Destiny Church or any organisation or persons officially related to them.

To confirm that, I have attached the WMA recording of my call with Melanie of Destiny Church who clearly states that the ONLY website officially attributed with the Destiny Church is destinychurch.org.nz.

Confirmation that bishoptamaki.org.nz is fake