Category Archives: Blog

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Is Greed Only an Attitude?

Author’s Preface: Feedback from last month’s e-teaching, Silver and Gold Have I Quite a Large Sum, was largely positive. One person said I was too easy on the high-income ministers I named! Another sent me the satellite photo of the 26,000 square-foot home of a well-known prosperity preacher. Yet another expressed her shock at the financial truth about several ministries she had been regularly supporting. A pastor wrote to tell me that housing costs were very high where he lived, making it difficult for him to make it on the average U.S. household income. (I therefore mercifully granted him special indulgences in order to shorten his time in purgatory.)

On the corrective side, one person pointed out that some of the high-paid ministers whom I named have made worthwhile contributions to God’s kingdom. I certainly agree, but that was not the point of my article. Those high-paid ministers could have made even greater contributions had they taken more reasonable salaries. And the negative impact of their high salaries certainly has mitigated their positive impact. How many unbelievers, knowing something about the opulent lifestyles of the people I mentioned, have rejected their message?

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Silver and Gold Have I Quite a Large Sum

Author’s Preface: In the article below, I’ve omitted the names of the ministries, the names of those who head them, and most of the source links that are in the original article. The reason is to avoid criticism from anyone who might object to my revealing such information (all of which is public information, by the way, and much of which the U.S. government morally believes you are entitled to know). Those who do not object to my revealing such information can scroll down and find the unedited article below the edited version. Please keep in mind that if it is wrong for me to publish the unedited version, it is also wrong to read the unedited version. And because of this fair warning, please don’t send me any criticism for having reported names, salaries, and other public information if you’ve made the decision to read the unedited version!

Some years ago I was admonished by one of the wealthiest men in my city, a retired CEO of a huge multi-national company, with the following words, “It is the responsibility of guys like you to tell guys like me what God expects of us, lest we not be ready to stand before Him one day.” It seemed, he elaborated, that too many preachers patronized “guys like him,” fearful of offending and hopeful of gaining something—and in the process ultimately sealing the eternal doom of “guys like him.” Sobering words to a patronizing preacher like me (at the time).

Emboldened by that old admonition, I’d like to address the subject of stewardship in the next few issues of HeavenWord. This month I want to focus specifically on the questionable example of stewardship being set by some spiritual leaders—because the church follows its leaders. There isn’t any doubt in my mind that Jesus would address this issue if He were personally preaching on the planet today, because when He was preaching on the planet, He quite often made sobering statements about stewardship, and He also exposed the money-loving spiritual leaders of His day (see Matt. 23:14; Luke 16:13-15). Imitating Christ, Paul also lamented that many in his day were “peddling the word of God” (2 Cor. 2:17). He required that spiritual leaders be “free from the love of money” (1 Tim. 3:3). Peter, too, warned against false teachers who, motivated by greed, would exploit believers with false words (see 2 Pet. 2:1-3).

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American Idol

Imagine a person taking a block of wood and carving it to look like a bearded man in a robe. At the bottom of his wooden figurine, he carves the name “Jesus.” Finally, each day he bows before it in worship. Does that make him a Christian?

No, that makes him an idolater. He is worshipping something that he has named Jesus but who is not Jesus at all. His wooden god is a grave insult to Jesus.

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What God Wants

The amalgamation of all that comprises contemporary Christendom sometimes obscures the one thing that is by far the most important. Hidden underneath all the clutter is something that is supposed to be preeminent. Without it, all else that is done under the banner of Christ becomes essentially worthless and meaningless, and even counterproductive.

Yet once the mound of ministries and men, teachings and traditions, programs and personalities, fads and frauds have been scraped from the table, there it is, a golden key. It opens the most important door. It reveals the one thing that is of supreme interest to God. It is the answer to the question, “What is God after—what does He want—above all else?”

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Deception is an Election

In last month’s e-teaching, There’s a Sheep Born Every Second, we considered what we should do to avoid being deceived or misled by false spiritual leaders, those wolves in sheep’s clothing of which Jesus warned us. Obviously, God doesn’t want us, or anyone for that matter, to be deceived regarding spiritual and eternal matters. He wants everyone to know and believe the truth (see 1 Tim. 2:4). For that reason we might ask, If God doesn’t want anyone to be deceived, why doesn’t He just put an end to deception and deceivers?

The Bible’s answer to that question is quite interesting, and it opens a vista of insight into the very purpose of life itself.

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A Little Leaven…

Some years ago when I was a pastor, I walked into my church office after a Sunday morning service to find a sandwich bag on my desk containing three chocolate brownies. Some thoughtful and anonymous saint who knew my love for chocolate had placed them there, along with a piece of paper that had a short story written on it. I immediately sat down and began eating the first brownie as I read the following story:

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The Inward Voice

Although the Law of Moses was given to the descendants of Israel sometime around 1440 B.C., God had already given the entire human race another Law that predated the Mosaic Law by at least 2,500 years—a Law that He wrote upon every human heart. To that Law He held every person accountable, and against that Law every person sinned, which is why people died from Adam until Moses. As Paul points out:

So death spread to all men, because all sinned—for until the Law [of Moses] sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses (Rom. 5:12b-14a).

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“Judge Not!”

Anyone who holds to any standard of righteousness in our “culture of tolerance” is in trouble. If you say, for example, that homosexuality is a perversion, abortion is murder, sex outside of marriage is a sin, or that Jesus is the only way to heaven, get ready to be labeled. You will be categorized as “intolerant,” because intolerance is not tolerated in our culture. You may also be branded as close-minded, because our culture is not open-minded to anyone who is “close-minded.” You may be criticized for being critical. And you will probably be branded as unloving, because our culture just hates people who aren’t “loving.” They really should start putting bumper stickers on their cars that say, “I Do Not Tolerate People Who Are Intolerant.”

Quite often, those who are are not tolerant of “intolerant” Christians even cite the Bible to prove how wrong intolerance is. “Judge not!” they quote Jesus as saying. They construe Christ’s words to mean that no one has the right to make a moral appraisal of anyone else. In so doing, however, they make a moral appraisal of those whom they accuse of making moral appraisals. If you say,”Homosexuality is wrong,” they say, “Don’t judge!,” and in the process they commit the very crime of which they find you guilty.

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Hurricane Jesus, Part 2

This month’s e-teaching about Hurricane Katrina and God’s wrath elicited quite a few e-responses, and the encouraging ones outnumbered the not-so-encouraging ones by about fifteen to one. (Read Hurricane Jesus, Part 1)

picture of sign, 'Hurricane Jesus,' in front of blowing palm trees

With the ratio of favorable to not-as-favorable responses being so lopsided, I debated if I should address, in another e-teaching, the objections of those who disagreed with me. In the end, I decided to respond for at least three reasons. First, because the letters of disagreement were for the most part written by sincere people who graciously shared their objections. Second, at one time I would have agreed with quite a few of the objections that were made. That certainly motivated me to be merciful toward my detractors. And third, although only a few people who wrote disagreed, I happen to know that their objections are shared by many others, having heard them for years around the world. What is at stake is eternal salvation for everyone who might hear an explanation of Hurricane Katrina that effectively nullifies the fear of God and His call to repentance. And with Rita now bearing down on Texas, it seems the Lord Himself is repeating His message.

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A Silly Gospel

Last month’s E-Teaching, God’s Love/Hate Relationship with the World, about God’s love/hate relationship with the world drew some mixed response from sincere people. Some of the questions that were asked and objections that were made were so good that I thought it would be beneficial for everyone to answer them in this month’s E-Teaching. Most of the questions naturally revolved around the concept of God’s hatred of sinners (rather than His mercy upon them), as that concept is so foreign to our ears. Below I’ve paraphrased some of those questions and objections (and added a few of my own) and then done my best to answer them.

If you are a new subscriber or didn’t read last month’s article, God’s Love/Hate Relationship with the World, it would be good to do that so you have a reference for what follows . You might also read the article before that one as well, Christian Clichés that Contradict Christ, as that is where I first introduced the topic of God’s approving love and His merciful love. In those two articles, I tried to explain how God loves and doesn’t love people, and my primary concern is that God’s love for the unrepentant is often greatly misunderstood—to the detriment of His holiness and righteous wrath. If we misunderstand God’s true character, we are likely to misunderstand the gospel.