LIES ABOUT FAITH MONEY AND PROSPERITY Matt 6:24 No man can serve two masters:..Ye cannot serve God and mammon. KJV The first part of our series dealt with 6 lies on Responsibility for The State of Nigeria. We are now on our series on Faith, Money and Prosperity. There are 5 lies on this subject, and we will be dealing with each of these lies in our subsequent posts. (Lie No 7-10) It is vital to reestablish the truth about this subject. God declares that if men serve money, they cannot serve God. Mammon contends for God’s position in the lives of men. God’s will is frustrated in the lives of any generation of Christians who fail to preach, teach and deal with money in line with God’s plan. Sadly, this is the situation in Nigeria - mammon has taken over. Money has been elevated beyond its God-ordained place in the affairs of most churches and the lives of most Christians. In several ways, we are serving mammon in the Nigerian church. If we want God’s plan in our lives and nation, we must unseat mammon and return to God. LIE NO 7: Financial prosperity is prime evidence that God is pleased with you. THE TRUTH: While money is useful and valuable, it is not a measure of whether God is pleased with a person or not. There are many poor Christians that God is pleased with just as there are also rich Christians with whom God is pleased. There are many rich Christians that God is angry with, just as there are many poor Christians that God is unhappy with. The weight of our wallet does not determine where we stand with God and should not determine our standing, position and role in church. Sadly, this is not the case. Gain should not be equated to godliness. Three critical truths have been distorted in the bid to make the rich comfortable: The bible makes it plain that the path to great riches is often laden with compromise, and that those intent on being rich MAY be putting their souls in jeopardy. God is not against riches or the wealthy, but He counsels caution in our quest for wealth. These warnings are even more important in a country such as Nigeria where brazen demands for bribes await businessmen at every turn. THESE LIES MUST STOP IS NOT ESPOUSING POVERTY, NEITHER ARE WE DISPARAGING RICHES. But don’t be deceived; it is harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for the rich to be on the right side of eternity. But thank God, Jesus made it clear that though difficult, it is possible. What is dangerous is this unrestrained preaching of prosperity without the balancing counsels of caution and concomitant teachings on integrity, and an emphasis that Christians must live above bribery and corruption. The bible also makes it clear that while welcoming the rich into the kingdom with warm open arms, we should be comfortable if the pews are peopled with simple ordinary people. In the words of the bible, our crowd will often comprise “not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble.” What is the lesson: once we are succeeding in getting an influx of the rich and powerful committed to the Lord such as we experienced in the early 90s, that is the time to be very careful that we do not change the standards of God’s word. Sadly, we have changed the standards with dire consequences. While we are not to turn the rich back, we are not to flex the standards of God’s word to accommodate them. The rich are welcome on God’s terms, not their own terms. Thirdly restitution has been banished from the pulpit. We welcome rich new converts whose networth is powered by filthy lucre from government and private employers. We never encourage them to return whatever they can in the way they can. Brethren will you be happy if someone stole from you, claims to have repented, but refuses to return what belongs to you? This is the subject of Lie 10. SCRIPTURES 1 Tim 6:3-10 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, 4 he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, 5 useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. 6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. NKJV 1 Tim 6:9 But people who long to be rich soon begin to do all kinds of wrong things to get money, things that hurt them and make them evil-minded and finally send them to hell itself. Living Bible Matt 19:23-26 And Jesus said to His disciples, Truly I say to you, it will be difficult for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go into the kingdom of heaven. 25 When the disciples heard this, they were utterly puzzled (astonished, bewildered), saying, Who then can be saved [from eternal death]? 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, With men this is impossible, but all things are possible with God. Amplified Bible 1 Cor 1:26 Notice among yourselves, dear brothers, that few of you who follow Christ have big names or power or wealth. Living Bible (to be continued) Please continue to follow us on Facebook TheseLiesMustStop and Twitter @LiesMustStop; share our Posts and invite your friends to Like the Facebook page.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 03:41:57 +0000
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