Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
“Sowing and Reaping”, “The Widow’s Mite”, “30, 60 and 100 fold return”, “The Cheerful Giver”, “Don’t Eat Your Seed” and even tithing taught in some forms, are just some of the topics that have been twisted and manipulated to extract more and more money from trusting congregants.
On the surface, all of these messages seem valid. But, you have to go a little deeper to fully understand the reason money messages are being preached more than others, and what their effects have been on the masses. The motivation to give and/or tithe should be out of obedience and not with the intent of what you get in return, which is what the emphasis is for most of these messages.
During the first two years of my ministry, my budget was fifty dollars each week. By the time I lost PTL in 1987, I had to raise a million dollars every two days . . . and it wasn’t enough. The more money I raised, the more we spent, and the more we needed to raise. I should have listened to Solomon, who gave us the key to true success. He said, “Now all has been heard; / here is the conclusion of the matter: / Fear God and keep his commandments, / for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccl. 12:13–14 NIV). That’s what really matters, not the accumulation of material things. Financial gain is no indication of God’s pleasure. As Paul wrote to Timothy, “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim. 6:1 NKJV). Unfortunately, few people I have ever met are truly content; most of us have an insatiable appetite for more, more, more.
I will be eternally grateful to God for apprehending my life and drawing me into the valley so that He could teach me what He really thought about money. In searching out the scriptures, I concluded that Jesus didn’t have one good thing to say about money! The “Prosperity Gospel” I had taught was a complete misrepresentation of the messages taught throughout the scriptures.
It was a course-correction I will never forget.
Today, much of the “Prosperity Gospel” is still being preached in lieu of the Revelation Message. Even with everything that is happening in our world that screams from our daily headlines about the Second Coming, this perverted message of money often pre-empts it. Why? I believe it’s because people don’t want to hear a message of what they perceive as “gloom and doom” and the preachers know this. Stay tuned for my next blog on that point. Having itching ears, they heap up teachers that will tickle them. If they preach about Revelation, they lose some people and their income drops. If they talk only about how people can be blessed, blessed, blessed – everybody wins!
So, it’s good for the preacher (keeps money flowing in) and good for the people (tickles their ears), and everybody stays happy in “Happy Church.”
Or do they?
In an effort to extract more and more money from their listeners, preachers teach all of this money gospel with the promise of the return of a multiplied MONEY blessing. This has created what we refer to as a “give to get” gospel. This is a false gospel and when it doesn’t come through for the giver, it sometimes shipwrecks their faith!
Many people have left the church, broken and disillusioned with what they believed to be a spiritual truth, but what was, in fact, false teaching. This isn’t a ‘Santa Claus’ god we serve, but a God who is worthy of all our worship, in the good times and in the bad, in valleys as well as the mountaintops.
Jesus wasn’t against men having money, He was against money having men. It’s a heart matter. Money is not the root of all evil; it’s the LOVE of money that is the root of all evil.
Thankfully, many people are now beginning to wake up to the deception of this (and other) false gospels and rejecting them altogether! But there were some who believed with all their hearts what they were taught and were virtually destroyed in their faith when the promise of monetary prosperity did not materialize! Some left the body of believers and scattered like frightened and skinned sheep!
Those who have taught this false gospel will be held accountable for those sheep who were destroyed and scattered – unless they repent! I used to teach this doctrine, until I studied the Word of God and found the truth. I love ALL pastor’s and I have made this mistake too. Let’s all stand together believing for eyes and ears to be opened, and for hearts to be changed. None of us want any of our leaders to experience the “woe” that comes unto those who would ignore the correction.
Jeremiah 23:1,2 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away , and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
