Pennies from Heaven

If you don't know what's going on, here is one of the many articles about the current investigation being conducted into the spending practices of several nationally known evangelists. Among them are some people my parents have enjoyed like Joyce Meyers and Kenneth Copeland and of course there's the infamous Benny Hinn. I hadn't actually heard about the investigation until I was visiting my parents over Christmas and they mentioned to me that they didn't think Joyce Meyer was guilty, that people were starting rumors about lavish spending and they hoped it was nothing than falsehoods. And they may be right. It may turn out that Joyce, Kenneth, and even Armani-suit loving Benny haven't spent a dollar that wasn't accounted for and earmarked for their personal use. If so, that's great. I don't have a problem with preachers living in nice houses or driving nice cars. But I think it's sort of missing the point. I'm not willing to call any preacher a false prophet or a heretic without doing my homework and having specific evidence to back it up. What I will say though is that there are many evangelists out there who lead people to focus on the wrong things.

The prosperity gospel, as it's often known, is the idea that God wants his followers to be rich. He has blessings ready and waiting to pour out on each and every one of us as soon as we have the faith to believe they're coming. And there are verses to back that up I suppose. There are many places in the Bible that talk about being prosperous and living a blessed life. However, there are also many examples in the Bible of godly men who lived extremely rough lives. The article points out Job and mentions the apostle Paul as another good case study. The Bible never talks about Paul having money or owning nice things. Instead, it tells us how he was shipwrecked and bitten by a snake and repeatedly jailed and beaten. Was it because he didn't have enough faith? Did he just forget to call God up and demand his share of the good life? Or maybe the blessings the Bible speaks of aren't necessarily material. There are Christians that God blesses financially and others that live in squalor. The difference isn't that the rich ones have more faith or "name it and claim it." They didn't get rich by sending 50 bucks to Benny Hinn or Creflo Dollar. They were blessed because they worked hard and they followed sound financial principles. They used the money they had wisely and ended up with more. That's how it works for everyone, believer or not.

Again, the televangelists may be innocent. Maybe they believe that God wants to bless us all with fortunes, but that's no excuse for losing focus. If they're talking to Christian audiences, the people need to hear exhortations, how to live a godly life and why we must reach out to the unsaved. If they're talking to an audience of nonbelievers, they need to hear honest facts about God and what it's like to be a Christian, not pie-in-the-sky fantasies about Rolls Royces and gold swimming pools. If having a permanent relationship with the creator of the universe isn't enough to get someone interested in being a Christian, then they're not really interested. They shouldn't have to be made extravagant promises by some over-the-top TV huckster. I meant to keep the tone of this civil, but it's something that's irked me for a long time. I go to a pentecostal church, but it's one that's fairly grounded and Christ-centered. It seems like one of the few. Everywhere I look it seems like churches are caught up in financial matters or in searching for the next big miracle, endless signs and wonders. It's all about what God can do for me when it should be about what I can do for God. About serving Him and serving other, reaching the lost and discipling the young. You don't always have to be lie to be misleading.