This morning I was watching a television evangelist and was troubled by what I heard. This gentleman was asking the people to sow a seed of a thousand dollars, that in so doing God would bless them. To begin with God does not bless you by how much you give, although we are told to give and take care of each other, we will cover that more in depth in this series, he blesses you according to his grace and your faith. That is not what really troubled me as these false prophets are all around us and after all Jesus warned about them many times, too many to list them all.
Matthew 7:15,16
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
The part that troubled me was the next part when one of his associates started reading quotes from people that had called in with their “donation”. The gentleman went on to say that many of the people were calling in and putting the whole $1,000 on their credit card and that some had asked if it could be put on a stretch pay like HSN has, to take out $100 a month from their card. The gentleman then said, ”Of course I would not want them to miss out because they do not have all the money upfront.”
I believe this sort of thing is what is taking our great nation down the path that it is on. Most of us in America are guilty of running up debt on things we don’t need. I am not condemning anyone as it is so hard not to conform to the world’s system, but it is not biblical and it bothers me to have a preacher who claims to be spreading the gospel so blatantly going against the bible.
I believe one should tithe and support their church and give generously but you should not go into debt to do so. The widow gave all she had but she didn't borrow so she could give more and be blessed according to her gift. As Jesus said,“Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all;" you see we are blessed by what he gave, not by what we give.
We will cover more on what it means to give as we continue this series. Please be a blessing to someone you meet this week.
Deuteronomy 28:11,12
11 And the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
Ephesians 1:3-6
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
No comments:
Post a Comment