I want to add a brief P.S. to pastor David Sloane's "Money Grows On Trees" message http://shekinahfellowship.blogspot.com/2008/07/money-grows-on-trees.htmlfrom a while back. There's a certain teaching that I remember as a young Christian back in 1975 that troubled me, even as a very young believer. Well, time has moved on, and this 'teaching' has infiltrated a good portion of the Body of Christ by now, and the saddest part of this whole subject is that once again, the pure glorious Gospel of the salvation message- the message that, for over 2000 years has, by the power of the Holy Spirit been drawing millions of lost souls to the Savior for the forgiveness of sins, and the impartation of eternal life (the only kind of life, by the way, that God gives) has yet again been compromised by a number of slick 'preachers and teachers'........
In the past it was the judiazers, the gnostics, direct demonic attack in various forms (attacks which continue to this very day), cultic influence and the like, but today there is a not so subtle mutation of the Gospel called the 'prosperity doctrine', also known by genuine believers as the 'name it- claim it' or 'blab it and grab it' teaching......
The idea is in truth occultic in essence, yet many people follow it as if it were a genuine biblical doctrine. Sad- very sad. The deception makes me want to cry when I see once Christ-adoring believers fall for the enemy's prosperity lie, but God didn't call me to cry and be depressed, He called me to call out this garbage and point to it's error. Pastor Sloane already gave a beautiful denunciation of it, and so I'll just add a small bit here.....
Matthew 10:38&39 says, "And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it." The 'prosperity' crowd claims that, as believers, we have a right to live like 'king's kids'! Now, where do you find that in scripture? The passage that I just referred to stands in direct opposition to that line of thinking, doesn't it? This kind of heresy is what people will fall for when their love of Christ grows cold. Hebrews 13:5 says, "Let your conversation (behavior, manner of living) be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee' ".
You see? We must continue to pursue and cultivate our love for Christ Himself, or our love and devotion to Him will wax cold and we will cease to love Him out of a pure heart. When that happens, we will begin to look to other things for our satisfaction- things that will never satisfy our soul- never! Because only Christ can truly do that.....
Do you see why the 'prosperity' teaching must be forcefully refuted and denounced by all honest believers? Listen to what 1 Timothy 6:5&6 say- "Perverse disputing of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain." Beloved, do not be fooled- look to Jesus for all things, and avoid the covetous attitude that is encouraged by these people.....
Perhaps the scariest thing about this teaching is the fact that it's followers are told that faith is a force, and that your words are carriers of that force, so that you basically create your own reality- good or bad- with your words. Therefore, according to these false teachers, if you 'confess' positive things, then positive things will happen in your life, and if you confess negative things- well, I think you get the picture. This teaching is pure occult, sprinkled with Christian jargon.....
Christian, believe the Gospel, love Jesus with all your heart, trust Him only, and He will keep you and protect you from such aberrant teaching, which comes from the pit and smells like smoke.
En Agape,
Pastor Jim Ewing
A comment from the late Dr. Walter Martin"You can always tell a wolf by his diet." "A Wolf Eats Sheep
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