I received an spam email from Bishop Eddie L. Long inviting me to a conference and other ways their church makes money…but this really caught my eye. I can’t believe how much Eastern thinking has infected these preachers…they have been watching too much Oprah.
Enjoy -
The universe has laws. There are a lot of “new age” philosophies these days, but as believers of Jesus Christ, we are given the divine opportunity to co-create (our reality) with God. The things you believe and expect are the things you will attract. That is why it’s important to guard your thoughts and make sure they align with The Word. Ask yourself: What do I believe and expect of myself and others? Do I believe in and expect the promises of God? These answers will dictate what you attract. We all write our own life story. It’s up to you to decide if it will be a horror, drama, mystery, fiction or inspirational book. Your choice.
I love how he even talks about “new age” philosophies, then goes on to promote on as Christian. Jesus talked about the “blind leading the blind”.
We’ll see if it takes another year for a post, but things have been busy.
I was directed to John MacArthur’s blog where he has been discussing the prosperity gospel, and the absolute fraud it is. I thought I would link to the articles he has posted. If you follow the prosperity preachers, you might want to check these out. It is a 5 part series (so far), and he shows how this deception is not new. Even Paul Crouch’s son has gone onto the blog to leave comments. I may not agree with John MacArthur on all points of Theology, but we definitely agree on this one.
“There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishlyevery day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.” Luke 16:19-21
However some professors may seem to differ from the world–they are not easily distinguished upon many other points; particularly at their meals. The people of the world can scarcely exceed them in the cost, care, profusion, and variety with which their tables are covered.
Perhaps there is no one circumstance in the history of our Savior so little laid to heart, so generally overlooked, by those who acknowledge him as their Master and their Lord–as that state of poverty to which He submitted, while upon earth. He had no home. He did not even have money to pay His tax. He was hungry when He went to the fig-tree. He wrought no miracle solely for His own relief; but He felt for the necessitous, and miraculously fed them by thousands; not with dainties, which would have been equally easy to Him–but, finding a few loaves and fish among them, He satisfied their needs with plain food. Yes, after His resurrection, when He had taken possession of all power and authority both in heaven and in earth–He condescended to dine with His disciples upon broiled fish and bread, which He likewise provided for them.
Alas! the rich followers of this poor Savior have more reason to be ashamed of . . .
their gorgeous apparel,
their fine houses,
their elegant furniture, and
their sumptuous feastings
–than to value themselves upon such trifles!
They are unavoidable appendages to people in some situations; but, I believe, those who have drank deeply into our Lord’s spirit, account them rather burdens than benefits!
We must be watchful of that sinful, shameful conformity to the world, which spreads like a gangrene, which is the reproach of the gospel, and threatens the utter extinction of vital religion in multitudes who profess it.
“In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him–Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire!” Luke 16:23-24
Below is an article I found on Sermon Index written by Greg Gordon. In a time when ministries and pastors seem to preach that God needs your money, I found it very fitting. I liked it and thought I would share…
God Doesn’t Want Your Money! by Greg Gordon
Never in the history of Christianity has there been so many sermons and preachers begging for money. Is God broke? God says “blessed are the poor” we say in our twisted days “blessed are the rich”. God says “godliness with contentment is great gain!” we say in our materialistic age “godliness is great financial gain!”. Right now as I am writing this article there are 1000’s of T.V. preachers begging for money. There are 10,000’s of people opening envelopes and emails as we speaking right now of ministries pleading for financial support. What a travesty that the first impression of the mind of unbelievers in North America is that Christianity is about money.
I admit personally in my life and ministry there were times where I asked for financial support and went against my conscience in that matter. I do believe there is reason and balance and it will vary from ministry to ministry of making some need known. But I do feel the best and most excellent way is to serve God and ask the Father in secret for your needs.
Judas was the money changer and it is surprising so many pastors want to follow in the steps of Judas rather then Jesus. Never has so little been done with so much money for the Gospel. The Gospel work of Jesus Christ requires little money but much men. It requires little financial begging but much knee work before God in prayer. If we were prevailing with God instead of pleading with men for our needs they would have been met overabundantly by this point.
Zac Poonen said this: “The early Christians were humble enough to acknowledge their lack of wisdom in such matters. That was why they gave their gifts to the apostles to be distributed to the poor. But those apostles never touched any of that money themselves.” Their are needs for money to be given for the poor, helpless, and to some workers of the gospel “the workman is worthy of his hire.” But what a contrast we see between these Apostles in the Scriptures and the modern day pastor.
This is a challenge to all Christians to stop giving to these ministries on T.V. who are fleecing the sheep and making themselves rich. Give to ministries that are humble, small, that don’t beg. Find modern day prophets to give to. Don’t give to the slick sleek pastor who just says “nice” things to comfort you.
I close with a very profitable list from Zac Poonen which he calls the “Ten Commandments” on money for Christian workers:
1. Never make your financial needs known to anyone but God (Phil.4:19).
2. Never accept money from unbelievers (3 John 7).
3. Never expect any gifts from anyone (Psa.62:5).
4. Never allow anyone to control you or influence your ministry by giving you money.
5. Never accept money from those who don’t receive your ministry.
6. Never accept money for your personal or family needs, from anyone poorer than you.
7. Never be dependent on any man for your financial needs.
8. Never handle God’s money in a way that would cause others to suspect mishandling (2 Cor.8:20,21).
9. Never be excited when you receive money.
10. Never be depressed when you lose money.
Eat the Meat, Spit out the Bones has always been a statement that bothers me. It is thrown out to say we should not worry about some false teaching mixed in with the bible, but just be mature enough to “Eat the Meat, Spit out the Bones”. I have a friend who asks, would you eat a bowl of ice cream if you knew there was a little dung mixed in, even if you knew you wouldn’t taste it? Of course not, and false teaching is like dung. Below is an article that I tend to agree with:
EAT THE MEAT, SPIT OUT THE BONES
There are a lot of clever-sounding sayings that make the rounds among Christians, and one of these is “eat the meat, and spit out the bones.” Many have written to exhort me to do this, and they mean that I shouldn’t worry so much about exposing error. They wonder why I can’t just “eat the meat, and spit out the bones.”
There is a bit of truth to this saying, in that God’s people are always to exercise biblical discernment when hearing sermons or reading Christian books. We are to “prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
But the Bible also twice warns that “a little leaven leaventh the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:7; Gal. 5:9) and exhorts us to mark and avoid those who teach doctrine contrary to that which we have learned in Scripture (Rom. 16:17). There is great danger in eating the wrong spiritual meat!
What if the meat is rotten or poisoned or hasn’t been cooked or properly stored? The U.S. government regulates how restaurants must cook meat, because undercooked meat is dangerous. When I worked in a restaurant in my youth, I was taught to handle the meat very carefully and to store it properly, because it spoils easily. If you eat meat that is spoiled or poisoned or undercooked, even if you spit out the bones, you will be in trouble. The writings of men like Brian McLaren and Richard Foster and Chuck Colson and Rick Warren contain plenty of rotten meat. Those who advise God’s people to “eat the meat, and spit out the bones,” must explain to us how they know that this “meat” is safe.
Also, what if the bones have splinters or what if you get a bone stuck in your throat? When I was growing up in Florida, I went fishing often with my dad and granddad, and they were careful about which fish they kept and which they threw away, because some had too many bones to eat safely. And Mom was very careful to keep an eye on us when we were eating fish because of the ever-present danger of getting a bone stuck in our throats. This happened from time to time anyway, and it was a very unpleasant thing and, in fact, can be fatal. Likewise, very few Christians are able to wade through sermons or books by compromising preachers on their own and expertly spit out all of the “bones” of error.
And what if you don’t know the difference between meat and bones? A toddler doesn’t know the difference, and if it tries to eat meat and spit out bones, it will quickly be in trouble. Likewise, the average Christian today is far too biblically ignorant and carnal to distinguish properly between truth and cleverly presented error.
My friends, beware of clever sayings that aren’t supported by Scripture.
We live in a shallow, apostate, carnal age, and it behooves us to study the Bible diligently and to think biblically!!!!
Clifton forwarded me an article titled “The Bankruptcy of the Prosperity Gospel:An Exercise in Biblical and Theological Ethics” by David Jones M.Div.; Ph.D. The article outlines 6 major systematic flaws of the prosperity gospel as preached at The City Church and other rapidly growing prosperity churches.
The six major areas he covers are:
The Theology of the Prosperity Gospel
Prosperity Theology and the Abrahamic Covenant
Prosperity Theology and the Atonement
Prosperity Theology and Giving
Prosperity Theology and Faith
The Biblical Interpretation of the Prosperity Gospel
As you can see, these are not minor areas of misuse or error…these are the very foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ being messed with, let there be no mistake about it. Below is the section regarding the Abrahamic covenant (see my article on the subject):
Prosperity Theology and the Abrahamic Covenant
The theological basis of the prosperity gospel is the Abrahamic covenant. While this is good in that prosperity theologians recognize that much of Scripture is the record of the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, it is bad in that they do not maintain an orthodox view of this covenant. Prosperity theologians hold an incorrect view of the inception of the Abrahamic covenant; what is more germane to the present study, however, they hold to an erroneous view concerning the application of the covenant.
Researcher Edward Pousson best stated the prosperity view on the application of the Abrahamic covenant when he wrote, “Christians are Abraham’s spiritual children and heirs to the blessings of faith…. This Abrahamic inheritance is unpacked primarily in terms of material entitlements.” In other words, according to the prosperity gospel, the primary purpose of the Abrahamic covenant was for God to bless Abraham materially. Since believers are now “Abraham’s spiritual children,” they consequently have inherited these financial blessings of the covenant.
Prosperity teacher Kenneth Copeland wrote, “Since God’s Covenant has been established and prosperity is a provision of this covenant, you need to realize that prosperity belongs to you now!” Referring to the prosperity theology of Kenneth Hagin, author Harvey Cox wrote, “Through the crucifixion of Christ, Christians have inherited all the promises made to Abraham, and these include both spiritual and material well-being.†To support this claim, prosperity teachers such as Copeland and Hagin appeal to Gal. 3:14, which says “that the blessings of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus. . . .” While it is not an understatement to say that the problems with this argument are legion, two glaring problems need to be addressed. First, in their appeal to Gal. 3:14, prosperity teachers ignore the second half of the verse, which reads, “That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” In this verse Paul clearly was reminding the Galatians of the spiritual blessing of salvation, not the material blessing of wealth.
Second, prosperity teachers claim that the conduit through which believers receive Abraham’s blessings is faith. This completely ignores the orthodox understanding that the Abrahamic covenant was an unconditional covenant.That is, the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant were not contingent upon one man’s obedience. Therefore, even if the Abrahamic covenant did apply to Christians, all believers would already be experiencing the material blessings regardless of prosperity theology.
I was sitting in my living room visiting with a friend who is a member of the City Church when we got to talking about prosperity and healing in the Bible. I would bring up scripture showing a biblical view of money and the sovereignty of God in healing, but the response I got was that God is a good God and wants to take care of us like an earthly father takes care of his children. I realized this is the theology of Pastor Wendell, Pastor Judah and the City Church. I coined this theology the “Earthly Father Paradigm”. They read the Bible and view God with their “Earthly Father Paradigm” glasses on.
During pastor Wendell’s sermons he often says things like “what earthly father would put sickness on his children to teach them a lesson” or “what earthly father wouldn’t buy good gifts for their children”. He says this in support of their view that God wants to please us.
I have a few questions for the prosperity idea of the “Earthly Father Paradigm”…what earthly father would allow:
Satan to take away all of Jobs things, put boils on him, kill his children and then torment him with some lippy friends?
What earthly father would send snakes to bite and kill his children who disobey in the desert, or open the earth to swallow them up?
What earthly father would tell the neighbor boy to come beat up his kid, destroy all his toys and take him captive for a while to learn a lesson (Israel in Babylon)?
What earthly father would kill 2 of his children for lying to him about money?
What earthly father would curse his children to die for only disobeying once (garden of eden)?
What earthly father would send his own son to die and take unimaginable wrath for deserved criminals (Jesus Christ)?
What earthly father would stand by and watch 11 of his son’s 12 friends get killed for being a friend of his son?
God did all these things. God’s goal in our life is not to please us and make us healthy and rich, His purpose in our life is to shape and mold us in the image of His Son and to present to His Son a spotless bride. The “Earthly Father Paradigm” shapes and molds God in the image of man and displays a god who is serving mankind…not vice-versa.
As even earthly parents send their kids to chicken-pox parties so their kids will get sick, I believe God allows sickness, poverty and other bad things in our lives to build up our immunization against sin and our flesh. God is not sadistic, but all things work for good for those who love God and are called according to His purposes. The more trouble and sin there is in this would, the more we should have our eyes on eternity and the return of Christ. Unfortunately, the “Earthly Father Paradigm” puts our eyes on ourselves and this life. How can I get blesses, how can I get healed, how can I…
I think the “Earthly Father Paradigm” is a self-serving representation of what some wish God would be for them. God has our eternal best interest in mind, not necessarily our temporal best interest.
I am thankful to God for taking me out of the atmosphere of scurrying around looking to “position myself for blessing” or looking for “the next breakthrough” and rummaging through the bible looking for promises I can lay hold of. I can finally rest in the salvation given to me freely by God through Jesus Christ. The only promise I really care about, I pray God help me to fix my gaze to heaven and not earth.
It causes me to wonder what ways I have tried to mold God in my own image, or to my own liking…I pray for humility to recognize and love God as He has revealed Himself, not how I want Him to be.
I have listened to several sermons by Pastor Wendell and their doctrine on healing has been pretty well laid out in the healing series. I agree with them that healing is for today and that God can miraculously heal today just as Jesus during His earthly ministry. I believe all healing comes from the Lord.
In listening to their sermons and it seems they feel a need to give God a PR job regarding healing. While giving their sermons they say God is a good God, and because He is good he wants to heal everyone in this life and because He is good He will never put sickness on anyone. It seems to me that they have said if God makes people sick, then He is not good. Also, if God does not desire to heal everyone in the here and now, then He is not good. Below are the reasons I think their definition of good needs to be conformed to the bible.
STATEMENT ONE: God will never, ever put sickness on anyone.
To see this is false, all we need to do is read a little bit of the Bible.
What did God say the punishment for Israel was for not carefully observing His words?
“If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, then the LORD will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues great and prolonged plagues and serious and prolonged sicknesses. Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Deuteronomy 28:58-60
It sounds like God will make them sick.
In Numbers, God sent a plague that killed 14,700 of the Israelite people for complaining against Moses and Aaron.
In 2 Samuel 24 God sent a plague on Israel because David performed a census of the people that killed 70,000 people.
God struck Uzziah with leprosy for burning incense in the temple in 2 Chronicles 26:19-21.
In the New Testament we find Christians becoming sick because of the judgment of the Lord regarding communion. See 1 Corinthians 11:29-31. Paul says if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. The only judge I know of is God.
In Acts 5 we read of Ananias and Sapphira (Christians) who are killed by the Lord for lying to the Spirit. I would rather catch a cold that be killed.
In Acts 13:7-11 Paul struck blindness (through the power of the Holy Spirit) on a sorcerer.
It does not take much time to see that God does put sickness on people in His sovereignty. His ways are higher than our ways, and if we don’t like an attribute of God we should not make up things contrary to how God has revealed Himself to us. I think the 2nd commandment says something about making a god in another likeness.
One analogy they use is that ‘good earthly father’ analogy that goes something like this – “what father would put sickness on their children to teach them a lesson”. The obvious answer to this is – none. But if we think about it a little further, we see that God’s main purpose isn’t to make us comfortable, but to conform us to the image of His Son. Just as parents send their children to chicken pox parties to make them immune so later in life they won’t get the disease and perhaps die, why wouldn’t God let us get sick or injured if the end result is that we are more sanctified and made closer to the likeness of His Son? What is our main goal here? To live a pain-free life or to be more like Christ?
STATEMENT TWO: It is God’s will that everyone be healed.
The main contention I have with this is that the Bible does not say this plainly anywhere. Yes, God is the God who heals us, and yes God does heal today. The problem with the idea that it is God’s will to heal everyone is that not everyone is healed. Many Christians die of sickness and disease, so does that mean God is not powerful enough to heal them? That is absolutely not the case. The only other option we have then is that we are not doing something right to get healed (lack of faith).
I think the statement above is a sad one to make at a church. They do not think through the true ramifications of their doctrine and the faith of many become shipwrecked. Those who are not healed think they do not have enough faith to be healed…do they have enough faith to be saved?
I think the City Church answer to this is comical. They quote Deuteronomy 29:29
The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
They are saying that when Christians die of sickness that since we know it is God’s will to heal everyone that when God does not heal a Christian who is praying for healing that God made a “secret things” decision.
Let me translate what they are saying “IT IS NOT GODS WILL TO HEAL EVERYONE”. They just don’t want to say it. They want a feel good God who is looking out for our health and wealth, so they make contradictory statements to keep the god who pleases them. If God decides in the “secret things” to not heal someone…it is not His will to heal them.
What is our hope then?
Our hope is in the resurrection of the dead. This world is filled with sin, and sickness and death is the result of a sin filled world. There is not condemnation on the sick, they are just dealing with the outcome of sin in our world (disease and death). If we are sick or healthy we need to continually examine our life in the light of scripture to see if we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). If we are sick, we should pray for healing and go to the elders for prayer (James 5:14).
Jesus Christ will come again and abolish all sickness and death. We will have a new resurrected body not tainted by sin, disease and death. We should have our eyes on the prize, eternal life. I think Paul said it well:
Philippians 3:10-12
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Preaching that God wants to heal everyone is a good way to fill the pews and get people riled up, but it is not true to scripture.
I think Cameron did a good job explaining the healing verses used by the pastors of the City Church in the following article, it debunks their use of 1 Peter 2:24 and it explains why healing is not guaranteed with communion.
To end, I would like to say I do believe God still heals today and there are many miracles done by His hand. That is a statement to refute the claim Pastor Wendell makes that I am an “unbelieving believer”.
Worshiping At The Altar Of Success by David Ravenhill
Though you may find it hard to believe, there is an addiction more subtle and more powerful than either drugs or pornography. It’s older than prostitution, more prevalent than alcohol, more addictive than cocaine. It doesn’t discriminate between male and female, black or white, young or old, rich or poor. Its strength is greater than all other addictions combined. It’s as rampant in the Church as it is in the world. It leaves the body unscathed but destroys the soul. The vast majority of people addicted have little if any understanding of its power or perils.
The history of the worship of success dates back to Lucifer, the rebellious archangel who wanted to relegate God to a subordinate role and take the top gun position for himself. This desire for success soon spread throughout the earth like a cancer, reaching its pinnacle with mankind seeking to build a tower and to make for themselves a name. What a contrast in attitudes we find between Genesis 11 and 12. Chapter 11 exposes man striving for recognition, while chapter 12 we find God promising humble Abraham that He would make his name great.
A clear picture of this obsession with success can be found in the story of King Ahaz. His numerous sins had brought judgment upon himself and the nation of Judah. This punishment came through the king of Aram who carried off a great number of his people as captives. Embarrassed and distressed over his glaring defeat, the Jewish king made the monumental mistake of attributing the Aramean victory to their gods. Whatever small faith he may have had in Jehovah was completely discarded in favor of idol worship. Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, he reasoned, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me. (II Chronicles 28:23) It seems that Ahaz was prepared to pay any price for success.
Lamentably, it seems that much of the American Church holds this same misguided logic. Pastors around the nation are flocking to follow the mega church pattern, believing that what worked somewhere else will work for them as well. We now have the mentality that success is purely numerical. Witness what the Barna Research Group stated as the result of a recent study:
The most discouraging study we ever conducted was one in which we attempted to identify churches in the U.S. that consistently and intelligently evaluate life transformation among the people to whom they minister. We found that very few churches – emphasis on very – measure anything beyond attendance, donations, square footage, number of programs and size of staff. None of that necessarily reflects life transformation. (Italics mine)
How tragic! Success is now measured by attendance, donations, square footage, etc. It’s time we stopped worshipping the gods of success and turned our gaze afresh upon the Lord, for beholding we will be changed. I think that is the definition of SUCCESS in the Kingdom of God.
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