30 Ways the IRS Controls Churches

Should the church incorporate as a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation?

The following is an excerpt from an article written by the pastor of Indianapolis Baptist Temple, after the IRS seized the church property from the congregation for allegedly failing to pay taxes. For more information on IBT you can go here.

1. Church must have a distinct legal existence - it must be incorporated.
2. It must have a recognized (approved) creed or form of worship.
3. It must have a distinct form of ecclesiastical government (i.e.: General Conference, national/international board of governors/trustees, etc., and state/local organizations, etc.)
4. It must have a specific code of doctrine and discipline.
5. It must have a denominational history.
6. Ministers must be ordained by the Church Corporation (in order to serve in a pastoral capacity.)
7. Ministers must be educated at a state-accredited college or university in order to be ordained.
8. Church must have an Employer Identification Number (EIN) assigned by the IRS, in order to employ ministers.
9. Pastor must receive a Social Security number in order to be employed by the Church.
10. The Church must verify that it is a nonprofit organization to be tax-exempt.
11. The Church must be engaged in activities that serve the public trust.
12. Church must be able to answer to IRS as to its' daily financial activity.(ledgers must be open for government review & approval.)
13. Books and records must be available to IRS for inspection at any time.
14. Church must inform IRS as to who serves at the church (Deacon, Elder, Treasurer, Teacher, Janitor, etc.) regardless of compensation (or lack thereof). (IRS wants the names of those who serve the church voluntarily.)
15. Church must inform IRS of identity of almsgiving recipients. (Presumably to ration the amount of assistance that they get, by modifying the compensation received through welfare, SSI, WIC, AFDC, etc.)
16. Church must report to IRS all gifts sent to missionaries ($500 up). Also a taxation measure, as per form 1099.
17. Only use IRS-approved fundraising methods. (IRS determines which methods are acceptable to raise funds.)
18. Must answer to IRS for any sermon or organizational position which is critical of the IRS. (So the IRS can penalize the church/pastor for stepping "out of line".)
19. Must give unreserved submission to the civil magistrate pertaining to all laws, (federal, state and local,) including issues of public policy (abortion, homosexuality, assisted suicide, equal employment, education, gambling, pornography, abortion, et cetera.)
20. Church must actively promote racial mixing in marriage (miscegenation.)
    (This has to do with the promulgation of state marriage licenses. Marriage has historically existed as an ecclesiastical certification, and is supposed to be protected by the free exercise clause of the 1st Amendment. Anything that involved intermarriage was, in the early days of the US, subject to licensure on the grounds that slaves could do nothing without permission. Yet, this was the back door which the government has used to promote the licensure of all marriages. The church has become an accomplice in causing married couples to have a third party to their union, without their knowledge or consent. All forms of licensed activity by the very definition may be regulated by the state, including the "fruits of marriage" - - your children. This is how state child welfare agents get away with "legally" violating people's 4th Amendment rights!)
21. Pastor cannot enter the public debate about the licensure of ministries.
    (Ministers must be licensed by the state in which they intend to practice, unless ordained denominationally, in which case the pastor may preach anywhere the denomination has an established presence.) The same arguments about licensure apply here as with #20; it is a violation of the free exercise clause with regards to Christian ethics. Ministers are answerable to God first; to be licensed is to put the state before God.
22. Pastors cannot enter into any activity opposing public policies on various issues, e.g.: abortion, homosexuality, assisted suicide, education, taxes, gambling, pornography, abortion, parents' rights, et cetera.
23. Pastors cannot solicit church members' participation in any activity opposing public policies (such as the aforementioned.)
24. Pastors cannot support legislation upholding parent's rights (or other measures that would strengthen the sovereignty of the family over the state's interest in the progeny of a licensed marriage.
25. Pastors cannot proselytize against the promotion of homosexual lifestyles, abortion, gambling, pornography, and other "lifestyle options", et cetera.
26. Pastors/Churches cannot advocate state and U.S. constitutions, Bill of Rights as the supreme law of the land.
27. Pastors cannot enter into sermons that criticize national public issue policies, such as the "drug war", POW's & MIA's, increasing federalization of criminal statutes & police powers, etc.
28. Pastor cannot oppose public education, its' policies, or its' shortcomings(Outcome Based Education); or promote private education above public education; or promote particular educational policies and programs.
29. Pastor cannot publicly declare that people should obey God above, or before, the government. (As the apostle said, "We should obey the laws of God above the laws of men".)
30. Pastor cannot publicly criticize the actions of the government in the implementation of public policy. (i.e.: promoting sex education, etc.)

Should the church incorporate as a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation? Well, I guess that depends on the legal and lawful requirements, and who we desire to recognize as Lord?

NOTE: This topic will be discussed in detail further at a later time.