The Gospel of Greed

What has Jesus Christ and a TV evangelist have in common? It would appear 'not much'. Jesus lived in poverty while the TV evangelists live in luxury. It is reported that John Hagee is paid $2 million annually as the highest paid pastor. Joyce Meyers has five homes worth at least $1 million each. Pat Robertson is reported to be worth over $140 million. The list could contain many more. Now not all TV evangelists are fakes but those that live in luxury while asking for more should repent.

A. W. Tozer

There are factors that are changing the church. Not necessarily for the better. The three main factors are entertainment, marketing and psychology. A. W. Tozer said, "If I see aright, the cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. It is, rather, a new bright ornament upon the bosom of a self-assured and carnal Christianity. The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned, the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it."
Rob Bell, one of the neo-evangelicals said that when Peter was walking on the water and then began to sink that Jesus did not rebuke Peter for his lack of faith in Christ but his lack of faith in himself. I wonder what Tozer would say to that?

Heart stirring Stores

When we lived in the Philippines we found that religious broadcasting to be very entertaining. It seemed to me that many of the prosperity preachers saw that as a market to be exploited. These people were poor so a message that said that if you come to Jesus then you will be rich was a message they wanted to hear. Maybe this was a way that they could break out of the poverty cycle.
These teachers often had stories that pulled at your heart strings. A widow who was down to her last dollar sent it to their ministry and then very next day an unexpected cheque arrived for $100. Then they would turn to the example of the poor widow from the Gospels to show that this is what they could expect. However, we do not know what happened to that woman. Did she receive one hundred times her gift or did she die in poverty. That is not the point of Jesus' teaching. The point is that God received glory.
2 Peter tells us that false teachers are marked by greed. Look at the lifestyle of these teachers and then draw your own conclusions.

Coming to a bus near you

The above is an ad that is running on buses in some major cities. It says, "There is probably no God so now stop worrying and enjoy life."
Is that the best that they can do? Probably. They are not sure there is no God. Maybe it is not such a bad thing. If it gets people thinking then it can open the doors for an intelligent conversation.
We need to show that believing in God is not a cause for worrying but rather it brings joy and peace. I believe that only one who truly knows God can enjoy life and stop worrying.
Why do the atheists have this misunderstanding about believers? Are we the problem. As Pogo said, "We have seen the enemy and it is us."

Humanism

The most dangerous false teaching in my opinion is humanism. The reason I think it is so dangerous is that it takes the focus from God and puts in on man. Humanism is evident in the church when we look at the methods that are used for evangelism and worship.

Nooma

Yesterday my wife and I brought a couple of Nooma videos home from our church library. Peter warns about false teaching but false teaching is hard to detect sometimes because it is close to the truth. I believe from what I saw that Rob Bell's Nooma videos fall into this category. He sounds scholarly with his deconstructive teaching but on closer examination it is nothing but humanism. Humanism is the most dangerous of all false teaching as it sounds close to the truth but it takes God from the center and puts man there. I wonder if we should be concerned that we are exposing our youth to this teaching? I think we should take a closer look at Rob Bell's theology.
One reason we fall for this kind of teaching is that we don't really know the truth. We all need to know the truth so well that we can smell heresy coming.

Happy Birthday

Today I would like to wish three special people Happy Birthday. Two I know well the third I have never met.
My granddaughter turned six today. She is a special, sweet young lady who was born while we were on the other side of the world.
My friend and fellow Bible teacher turned 53 today however he likes to celebrate his birthday on February 14 as it was that day, 41 years ago, that he learned that he was going to live and not die. For 41 years since that day he has lived cancer free and is a testimony not only to God's mercy and grace to to how God can redeem the what someone else may consider of no value and make it beautiful. Last night he reminded us again from the lessons of 2 Peter that not only we should continue to proclaim the Gospel while we are alive but even after we have died.
The beloved Gospel singer George Beverly Shea turned 100 today. What a testimony he has been over the years.