by
Michael Clark and George Davis
But there also arose false prophets among the people, as among you also there
will be false teachers, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying
even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. Many
will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be
maligned. In covetousness they will exploit you [KJV- make merchandise of you] with deceptive words: whose sentence
now from of old doesn't linger, and their destruction will not slumber. (2 Peter
2:1-3 WEB)
There is a great problem among
Christians today because most of us do not know that in the mind of God there is
a distinct dividing wall, a great gulf
fixed between the kingdom of heaven (thus His Church) and the systems and
intelligence behind the kingdoms of this world.
Paul wrote to the Romans, "How
shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many
of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore
we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life" (Romans 6:2-4, NKJV).
In the early church, when you
were baptized into the faith, baptism was not only an outward sign of your
belief, trust in Jesus and becoming a Christian, but it was also a sign that you
were being translated form one kingdom allegiance to another. We are dead to the
things of this world and alive unto Christ and His kingdom alone. Nothing of
this world system can be translated or used in the kingdom of God or vice versa.
We are to be dead to the one and alive to the other.
In his book
The Normal Christian Life, Watchman Nee wrote:
But in order to bring us into His New Kingdom, God must do something new in us.
He must make of us new creatures. Unless we are created anew we can never fit
into the new. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh"; and, "flesh and blood
can not inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit
incorruption" (John 3: 6; 1 Corinthians 15:50). However educated, however
cultured, however improved it be, flesh is still flesh. Our fitness for the new
kingdom is determined by the creation to which we belong. Do we belong to the
old creation or to the new? Are we born of the flesh or of the Spirit? Our
ultimate suitability for the new realm hinges on the question of origin. The
question is not "good or bad?" but "flesh or Spirit?". "That which is born of
the flesh is flesh", and it will never be anything else.
That which is of the old creation can
never pass over into the new.
Watchman Nee wrote another
book that should be foundational reading for every Christian along with
The Normal Christian Life. This second
book is Love Not the World. The
following paragraphs from this book sum up what it means to be a Christian in
this world system and just how important it is to be in the world, but not of
it.
While it is true that these definitions of "the world," as (1) the material
earth or universe, (2) the people on the earth, and (3) the things of the earth,
each contribute something to the whole picture, it will already be apparent that
behind them all is something more. The classical idea of orderly arrangement or
organization helps us to grasp what this is. Behind all that is tangible we meet
something that is intangible, we meet a planned system; and in this system there
is a harmonious functioning, a perfect order.
Concerning this system there are two things to be emphasized. First, since the
day when Adam opened the door for evil to enter God's creation, the world order
has shown itself to be hostile to God. The world "knew not God" (1 Cor. 1:21),
"hated" Christ (John 15:18) and "cannot receive" the spirit of truth (14:17).
"Its works are evil" (John 7:7) and "the friendship of the world is enmity with
God" (James 4:4). Hence Jesus says, "My kingdom Is not of this world" (John
18:36). He has "overcome the world" (16:33) and "the victory that has overcome
the world" is "our faith" in Him (1 John 5:4). . .[thus] the world is under
judgment (John 12:31-32).
God's attitude to it is uncompromising. This is because, secondly, as the same
verse make clear, there is a mind behind the system. John writes repeatedly of
"the prince of this world" (12:31; 14:30; 16:11). In His epistle he describes
him as "he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4) and matches against him the Spirit
of Truth who indwells believers. "The whole world," says John, "lieth in the
evil one" (5:19). He is the rebellious
kosmokrator, world ruler--a word which, however, appears only once, used in
the plural of his lieutenants, the "world rulers of this darkness" (Ephesians
6:12).
There is, then, an ordered system, "the world," which is governed from behind
the scenes by a ruler, Satan. When in John 12:31 Jesus states that the sentence
of judgment has been passed upon this world He does not mean that the material
world or its inhabitance are judged. For them judgment is yet to come. What is
there judged is that institution, that harmonious world order of which Satan
himself is the originator and head. And ultimately, as Jesus' words make clear,
it is he, "the prince of this world," who has been judged (16:11) and who is to
be dethroned and "cast out" for ever.
Scripture thus gives depth to our understanding of the world around us. Indeed, unless we look at the unseen powers behind the material things
we may readily be deceived.
Both Paul and Peter wrote of
the death of the cross and the symbolism of baptism.
"But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world"
(Galatians 6:14, NKJV). ". . .who formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of
Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons,
were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not
as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear
conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 3:20-21,
RSV).
Salvation, then, is being
translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's Son. "Giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light; who delivered us out of the power of
darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love
(Colossians 1:12-13). John exhorts us,
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love
the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15).
The problem is that this line
of separation has become non-distinct and blurred in the minds of too many
Christians. Man thinks that he can take the best of both worlds, using the
values and methods of this world system for the glory of God. Nowhere is there
greater confusion about God's disdain for the things of this world order than in
the area of marketing and merchandising in the Church.
So Where Is the Church Heading Today?
In a recent publication of
Forbes magazine entitled "Christian Capitalism, Megachurches, Megabusinesses,"
1 author Luisa Kroll
wrote, "Maybe churches aren't so different from corporations." After that she
listed a number of the Megachurches of today, noting the similarities between
them and corporate America. "Welcome to the megabusiness of megachurches" writes
Kroll, "where pastors often act as chief executives and use business tactics to
grow their congregations. This entrepreneurial approach has contributed to the
explosive growth of megachurches."
It should not surprise us when
a publication such as Forbes recognizes megachurches as big business. That is
exactly what they are and who better to confirm this fact than Forbes, the
nation's premier business magazine? As we read on in this article, it became
apparent that what we thought at first was a scalding expose was in fact a
commendation, praising churches for finally coming around and doing things the
right way. Kroll went on to show how
helping churches grow has also become big business. In fact, there is one
company called Kingdom Ventures that
does nothing but "help smaller churches become big with technology." Their new
book entitled PastorPreneur, which
teaches pastors to think like entrepreneurs, is soon coming to bookstores near
you.
Anyone who has ever had a
relationship with the living Christ must ask, "Since when has Jesus become
dependent on world business methods and technology to promote the gospel of the
kingdom and grow His Church?" Is this the
rock He told Peter that He would build His church on--common business
practices? Where once the Lord added to the Church daily as many as should be
saved, now we see a church growing itself by appealing to the world's sense of
taste. Where once the Spirit of God drew people, now people are enticed with
sensationalism and entertainment. Such grand productions and the advertising to
promote them cost big bucks. Enter
PastorPreneur, the best pastor money can buy, who will more than balance the
bottom line.
On a web site entitled
Outreach Marketing, we were introduced to a new church growth concept called
"Outreach Comedy." We see the future of Christian evangelism in an article
entitled "Outreach Comedy Puts A New (Smiling) Face On Christian Events." We
quote:
"Outreach Comedy offers a fresh and culturally relevant solution to reach a
diverse audience with the message of Christ. Comedy events not only provide a
fun and 'invite-able' event, but one that people will want to bring their
unbelieving friends to. Outreach Comedy General Manager, Dionne Petitpas,
states, "Outreach Comedy equips leaders to both reach the unchurched as well as
edify believers in a unique and enjoyable way - by providing a host of
top-quality, hilarious performers with an effective Christ-honoring message."
2
Gone is the appeal of Jesus to
deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him. Gone is the gospel of His
Father's kingdom that turned the world upside down. Now we see a Church that has
been turned upside down by the world and its practices, that no longer needs the
power of the Holy Spirit. How did the early Church ever make it without "a host
of top-quality, hilarious performers with an effective Christ-honoring message"?
Have we fallen so far that we prefer a form of godliness without the power of
God? Has it become acceptable to resort to the methods of the world because we
have lost the power of heaven? Are we laughing all the way to hell? How can we
so freely incorporate the world's principles and pleasures and call it church
growth?
The American Society for
Church Growth (ASCG) gives us a clue. "Church growth. . .is a spiritual
conviction, yet it is practical, combining the eternal principles of God's Word
with the practical insights of social and behavioral sciences."3 The practical philosophy of
evangelism today mixes the spiritual with the practical and dilutes the eternal
with societal and behavioral sciences. As a result of this unholy mixture, a
typical gathering of a megachurch is like a Broadway show, complete with stage
band, lighting to set the mood, special singing, dancing, oration from a master
of all the marketing skills of Madison Avenue, and the latest computer aided
overhead presentations. Who is affecting whom? Today we see a church that is so
dead it has resorted to the world's marketing strategies in an attempt to grow
numerically. Might makes right. It is the bottom line that counts.
True spiritual growth in
Christ has become passé. The Church today looks more like the Bazaar of Annas
that filled the outer courts of the temple 2000 years ago, than the body of
Christ. It resembles a marketplace more than a loving community, and is more
like a den of thieves than a house of prayer (Matthew 21:12). The noise of the
moneychangers' tables crescendos above the muted prayers of the few that "sigh
and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof" (see
Ezekiel 9:4). As it was in the time of Ezekiel's prophesy, judgment is on it
way.
It Is All
About Marketing - The Way of Cain
As we look out at Christendom
today; marketing is the name of the game. This marketing-mania we are seeing is
more a meter of apostasy rather than progress. Sorry, American Church, but your
merchandising is a sure sign of spiritual deadness. How could we say such a
thing? Merchandising is as American as apple pie, and from our youth we have
heard the praises of capitalism. Merchandising is both a spirit and an exact
science of carnal man. It does not belong in the True Church, or the kingdom of
God. In fact, if you look at the subject in the scripture, it is rarely
mentioned in a positive light.
Some of the most idolatrous
and brutal societies and people were given to merchandising. The most notable of
these were Cain, Tyre, Sidon, and Babylon. One of the definitions of Canaanite
is "merchant or trader." It was a band of Midianites that bought Joseph from his
brothers and sold him as a slave in Egypt. The family of Annas, the high priest
during Jesus' years of ministry, plotted to have Him killed after He turned over
their money changing tables in the temple and disrupted their commerce. Jesus
warned, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love
the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve God and mammon." And what a perfect love of money and hatred of Jesus they
had, so much so that He told them that they were of their father the devil, who
was a liar and murder from the beginning.
The Father
of Merchandising
Now let's look at the roots of
mercantilism. Let's go back to a
gentler time--a time when a gold nugget was only a pretty rock, a time before
money, building, buying and selling, a time before theft and murder, a time of
greater innocence and generosity. No, this is not the introduction to a
fairytale. It is a true story about the dawning days of mankind.
In these early days, before
governments and corporate greed, two brothers came bringing their offerings to
the Lord. One came with a heart filled with gratitude for God's generous bounty
in his life. The other came with an evil heart out of a sense of religious duty.
The eldest was named Cain and the younger was Abel. God, who sees the hearts of
men, showed favor on Abel's offering. This angered his elder brother. God,
seeing the anger in Cain's heart, warned him, "Sin crouches at the door. Its
desire is for you, but you are to rule over it" (Genesis 4:7). It was well
within Cain's power to resist this sin, but he did not. In spite of God's
warning, Cain plotted to draw his younger brother out into the field, then rose
up and killed him. The judgment of God on Cain is as follows:
"And now you are
cursed more than the ground which opened its mouth to receive your
brother's blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it will not again give
its strength to you. And you shall be a
vagabond (a rover or wanderer) and a
fugitive in the earth." (Genesis 4:11-12 MKJV)
When Adam and Eve first fell,
the ground was cursed. "Cursed is the ground for your sake" (Genesis 3:17). Now
a new and greater curse was placed on the descendents of Cain. Cain was not just
cursed; he was bitterly cursed. By the spilling of innocent blood, he was cursed
more than the ground. Cain's act of violence brought a great acceleration of
sin--a new expression of sin that was unknown in God's creation before that
time. While it might be argued that this development was simply the logical
outgrowth of Adam's sin, it is clear from scripture that this sin can be traced
back only to Cain and not to Seth, the younger brother who replaced Abel.
Something terrible was
crouching at the door, poised to spring on an unsuspecting humanity, bringing an
increase of iniquity that would so pollute the human race that God would regret
ever having created them. Alfred Edersheim wrote regarding the fruit of this
sin, "Cain. . .built a city, which has been aptly described as the
laying of the first foundations of that
kingdom in which 'the spirit of the beast' prevails." (For a look at its
final form see Revelation chapters 17-19).
The Jewish historian, Flavius
Josephus, described the changes that occurred in the earth after Cain unleashed
the sin that was crouching at the door.
"And when Cain had traveled over many countries, he, with his wife, built a
city, named Nod, which is a place so called, and there he settled his abode;
where also he had children. However, he
did not accept of his punishment in order to amendment, but to increase his
wickedness; for he only aimed to procure every thing that was for his own bodily
pleasure, though it obliged him to be injurious to his neighbors.
He augmented his household substance with much wealth, by rapine
(plundering or theft) and violence;
he excited his acquaintance to procure pleasures and spoils by
robbery, and became a great leader of
men into wicked courses. He also
introduced a change in that way of simplicity wherein men lived before;
and was the author of measures and
weights. And whereas they lived
innocently and generously while they knew nothing of such arts, he changed the
world into cunning craftiness.
He first of all set boundaries about lands:
he built a city, and fortified it with
walls, and he compelled his family to come together to it;
and called that city Enoch, after the
name of his eldest son Enoch. . .Nay, even while Adam was alive, it came to pass
that the posterity of Cain became
exceeding wicked, every one successively
dying, one after another, more wicked than the former. They were intolerable
in war, and vehement in robberies; and if any one were slow to murder
people, yet was he bold in his profligate
behavior, in acting unjustly, and doing injuries for gain."
Out of Cain's rebellion sprang
a system of merchandising that gave rise to the oppressor, the raiser of taxes,
and the taskmaster. Without doubt, the exactor and the gold gatherer are
responsible for every form of slavery and oppression in the world today.
It was this compounding of sin
that finally brought on the judgment of the flood. Isn't it amazing how much
this sounds like hedonistic America today? We see greedy men amassing great
wealth gathered by plundering, theft and violence. The unjust measures and
weights of Cain are still in use today to facilitate and legitimize open theft.
The way of simplicity, living innocently and generously with one another, has
been lost in America and most of the world because of the spirit of
merchandising. The sin that was crouching at Cain's door is still working its
corruption in families, cities, townships, states, nations and yes, even
churches, changing them "into a world of cunning craftiness."
The whole meaning of
community has been lost, especially in
today's commercialized church system. Once church leaders took up offerings to
benefit the poor and needy (see Acts 4:32-37). Now, the money received in church
coffers goes for pastoral staff salaries and church buildings, a thing unheard
of in the first two centuries of church history.
Jesus prophesied that before
the coming judgment it would once again be as it was in the days of Noah, when
the earth was filled with the feasting, drinking and hedonism of Cain. It would
be as it was in the corrupted society of Sodom where it was business as usual,
"They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built."(see
Luke 17:26-32). Can anyone look around western culture and its churches and not
see this prophecy fulfilled?
Without doubt, the prevailing
conditions on the earth today are identical to what existed before the judgment
of the flood and the judgment of Sodom. The export of American hedonism has
infected the whole world, and the church has been privy to it in its evangelism
of the heathen. It goes forth converting men to its corrupt American ways,
convincing all that this is true Christianity. The lust for wealth has found a
home in the gospel of prosperity, and gain preached as godliness is commonplace
(see1 Timothy 6:1-11).
The lust of Cain has found a
home in the clergy who now rule the church. We read recently where a Pentecostal
minister pleaded guilty to five counts of bank robbery and faces up to 20 years
in prison and a $250,000 fine. 4
Is this the way of Cain or
not? He robbed widows and orphans of their due, so why not rob a bank? Is not
this more noble?
Merchandising
and the Prince of Tyre
By far the most revealing
portion of scripture connecting satanic influence and corrupting power in the
area of marketing is found in a proclamation against the Prince of Tyre in
Ezekiel 28.
Behold, you are wiser than Daniel!
There is no secret that can be hidden from you! With your wisdom and your
understanding You have gained riches for yourself, And gathered gold and silver
into your treasuries; By your great
wisdom in trade you have increased your riches, And your heart is lifted up
because of your riches. . .You were
the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden,
the garden of God. . .You were perfect
in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.
By the abundance of your trading you
became filled with violence within, and you sinned; Therefore I cast you as
a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering
cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of
your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom
for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before
kings, That they might gaze at you. You
defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities,
By the iniquity of your trading; therefore I brought fire from your midst;
it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all
who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have
become a horror, and shall be no more
forever (Ezekiel 28:3-19, NKJV).
There is some debate over the
identity of this prince. Was he a physical king? The prophecy seems to make no
distinction between the city of Tyre with its human prince and Lucifer and his
unseen minions. The visible city of Tyre was merely a manifestation of the
nature, drive and ambition of the prince of this world (Satan). This becomes
clear when we read the entire chapter. Tyre had so taken on the nature and
ambition of the prince of this world that the prophet addressed them as one and
the same.
The maritime cities of Tyre
and Sidon were renown for their merchandising. The ships of Tarshish carried
their commodities throughout that part of the world. They subjugated nations
through their idolatrous trade. At the heart of their merchandising was a design
to conquer the people they traded with, and Israel eventually became one of
their subject states.
The history of Israel shows us
how this idolatry spread and took the nations captive. Tyre and Sidon had no
agricultural base and certainly had their eyes on the fertile soil of Israel. It
was the custom of kings to finalize a covenant by giving their daughters as
wives to other kings. Such a covenant was struck between Ahab, the corrupt king
of Israel, and Ethbaal king of Sidon. The prize was Jezebel, Ethbaal's daughter.
So it was that Ahab took Jezebel, an inhabitant of Sidon, the sister-city of
Tyre, as his wife. This was the beginning of Israel's sorrows!
Jezebel's strategy was to
first dominate the king and then weaken the faith and morals of Israel itself.
She brought her idols with her and constructed temples to Baal. Then came the
priests of Baal who administered the rite of fertility to the wives of Israel by
having sex with them. And there were also the temple prostitutes, who were
sexual predators, assigned the duty of searching the countryside with one
objective in mind--to seduce every man in Israel. The groves of trees were
planted for this reason. Isaiah lamented over Israel's fallen state when he
prophesied, "Are you not children of transgression, offspring of falsehood,
inflaming yourselves with gods under every green tree, slaying the children in
the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?"
Tyre and Sidon also traded
with the people of Israel and practiced usury (lending money with interest) to
lead them away captive. Whole families lost their lands and then their freedom.
Children were taken away from their families to become slaves and the young
girls became temple prostitutes. What land they could not get by usury they took
by deceit and force. Remember Naboth's vineyard in 1 Kings 21? By the abundance of their trading the land was filled with violence.
Many of the prophets of God were killed as they dared to speak out against
Israel's fallen state. It was so bad that at one time, Elijah thought he was the
only prophet of God left and Jezebel hunted for him so that she could kill him.
Before long Israel was all but completely subdued. Things were much worse than
we can convey in so few words, but here we catch a sufficient glimpse of the
logical outworking and development of the principality of Tyre and Sidon.
The Fall of
the Church in America and the West
The growing focus on
merchandising in Christendom today is rooted in the corrupted wisdom of the
prince of Tyre, who desires to once again lead the people of God away captive.
Everything is coming to its full manifestation. Have you ever wondered why the
church in America is so impotent against sin, sickness and the wiles of the
enemy? Why is her divorce rate higher than that of the world? Why are pastors
being sent to jail for all manner of crimes? Why are they suffering from "pastor
burn-out" at every turn?
I, Michael, once asked a
missionary from India why the church over there sees so many signs and wonders
just like we read about in the Book of Acts, while we see so little of God's
power in American churches. His answer was short and to the point. "You can not
serve both God and Mammon. We are a poor nation, and you have the highest
standard of living of anywhere in the world. We in our part of the world seek
first the spiritual. You seek after a minimum standard of living first. You get
what you seek after."
With this in mind, consider
Jesus' words to his disciples as He sent them out. "Heal the sick, cleanse the
lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely you have received, freely give"
(Matthew 10:8, NKJV). Jesus did not teach them to sell the gospel or take up
offerings. A brother quipped the other day how these words of Christ in today's
churches seem to read, "Freely you have received, now write books, make tapes
and sell them for all you can get!" You cannot have it both ways. Seek mammon,
and mammon is your only reward. You will be weak in the face of your enemy and
helpless against all his wiles.
Once Dominic, a contemporary
of Francis of Assisi, visited Rome. The pope gave him the grand tour, showing
him the vast treasures of the Vatican. Afterwards the pope said, "Well, Peter
can no longer say, 'Silver and gold have I none.'" To this Dominic replied,
"Neither can he say, 'Rise and walk.'" Seek first the kingdom of the Father and
His righteousness, and He will see to it that all spiritual things are yours.
Babylon,
Merchandising, and the Church Today
Throughout the scriptures,
Babylon is a symbol of opposition to the Kingdom of God and represents the
oppression and captivity of His people. Babylon stands for everything that the
kingdom of heaven is not. The wedge of gold and the fine Babylonian garment
found in Achan's tent (see Joshua 7) forever stand as symbols of pride and greed
that found a home among the people of God and weakened them before the weakest
of their enemies. Isaiah prophesied to Israel, "You shall lift up this proverb
against the king of Babylon, and say: How the exactor, the gold
gatherer, has ceased!" (Isaiah 14:4 LITV)
The word
exactor (Hebrew-nagas) means
to press, drive, oppress, exact, or exert demanding pressure. In Exodus 5:6,
this same Hebrew word is translated
taskmasters, referring to those who
oppressed the children of Israel during their Egyptian bondage. It is also
translated oppressor (Job 3:18),
driver (Job 39:7), and
raiser of taxes (Daniel 11:20).
Isaiah later prophesied
against Israel about this tendency to
exact their own people when he said, "'Wherefore have we fasted,'
say they, 'and thou seest not?
wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?' Behold,
in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye
fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall
not fast as ye do this day, to make
your voice to be heard on high."
Here we see a direct
connection between the oppression of heathen Babylon and the oppression that is
found among the religious leaders of Israel. Here it is obvious that religion
takes on the way of Cain to get power over the people, and also attempts to get
power over God! As the old saying goes, the tail seeks to wag the dog.
Everywhere we look today, we see men in the church lusting after power over the
faithful. They openly lust after the wealth of the Gentile believers, so much so
that the needs of the widows, orphans and the destitute are only given token
notice at best.
Exacting and
the Tithe
Part of this spirit of
exacting is the demand of leadership that their followers give them ten percent
of their gross income. There is nowhere in the Bible where God's people were
commanded to give so that a handful of religious leaders could live like kings.
What we do find in the Old Testament
is a call for the people of God to bring forth a tenth of the increase of their
crops and herds to the tabernacle of the Lord to celebrate that increase and
feast before the Lord. Nowhere were they commanded to give ten percent of their
gross income or increase to the priests.
In the New Testament it is
even more noticeable that those things given by the faithful were from the extra
abundance and were given to meet the needs of all who were without. Their act of
love was so great that it was distributed to all who had needs and no one was
lacking. Today as we look at the huge buildings, garish decorations and large
salaries paid out to the few in control of the churches, it is all too obvious
that this same kind of benevolence to the least of the kingdom is a thing of the
past. Everywhere, we see the fruit of the exactor and the gatherer of gold, and
once more end times prophecy is fulfilled.
Paul saw the Old Testament as
a parable that instructs us how we should and should not live as the saints of
God. He wrote to the Corinthian church:
Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were
under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the
cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same
spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and
that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for
their bodies were scattered in the
wilderness. Now these things became our
examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also
lusted. (1 Corinthians 10:1-6, NKJV).
The Law of
Jubilee vs. Give Us A King
When Israel inhabited the land
of promise after being judged in the wilderness for their sin, God established
laws to ensure that they would not oppress one another through merchandising
(Leviticus 25:14, 17). He reminded them, "And remember, the land must never be
sold on a permanent basis because it really belongs to me. You are only
foreigners and tenants living with me" (Leviticus 25:23, NLT). God also
instituted the fiftieth year Jubilee to ensure that merchandising would never
take root in Israel. During this fiftieth year, all properties were returned and
all debts were expunged so that all the tribes were once again in possession of
their original inheritance. God intended that the original tribal allotment of
lands given by Him would always be restored. God took extra care to ensure that
the poor were not taken advantage of and that their needs were not overlooked.
We find one such safeguard in Leviticus 23:22. "When you reap the harvest of
your land, you shall not wholly reap into the corners of your field, neither
shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest: you shall leave them for the
poor, and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God." As you can see, God was very
serious about keeping Israel free of the way of Cain and the oppression that it
brings.
Notwithstanding, before long
the people came to the prophet Samuel and asked for a king like the pagan
nations around them. They rejected the God of the universe as their King and
wanted a mere man to rule over them instead. The tragic consequences were soon
realized. Their king restored the way of Cain. Six times God warned them, "he
[Saul] will take." Saul would take their sons. He would take their daughters. He
would take their fields and vineyards. He would take the tenth of their seed. He
would take their men-servants, and their maidservants, and he would take the
tenth of their flocks. (See 1 Samuel 8:11-19). God wanted them to understand
that the price of their request was heavy taxation and oppression.
Nagas --exacting under a human
king--was now in full swing. Here we see the first example of mandatory tithing.
It happened just as God had
warned. Soon "every one that was in
distress, and every one that was in
debt, and every one that was
discontented, gathered at the cave of Adullam (see 1 Samuel 22:2), where the
true anointed of God, David, was also hiding. Saul, like Cain, was enraged that
God had favored another more than himself, and desired to rise up like Cain and
slay his brother. Many of us who have known God's anointing on our lives have
felt this same spirit and seen this very thing acted out by church leadership
where we have tried to find fellowship. Those who are not of the spirit of Cain
and Saul are marked, and those of that spirit know that we are not one of them.
Mystery
Babylon, the Mother of Harlots
Here we see the true power
behind the throne of Babylon. Like Tyre and Sidon, the true king of Babylon is
Lucifer. By the abundance of his trading, he became filled with violence. The
true king of Babylon is he who said in his heart, "I will ascend into heaven, I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on the mountain of
congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north; I will ascend above the
heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:13-14).
This is the most accurate description of the antichrist spirit. He is the real
exactor. He is the trafficker in the souls of men. In Revelation we read:
He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a
mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell
except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
(Revelation 13:16, 17, NKJV).
We find it interesting that
the Great Whore and her daughters, who made the merchants of the world rich with
their harlotries, are introduced only four chapters after the mark of the
beast--the mark that is necessary to buy or sell--is mentioned in chapter
thirteen. They are up to their golden crowns in merchandising. What is even more
remarkable is God's people are caught up in this delusion (see Revelation 18:4).
The whore and her daughters have taken the mark of the beast or there would be
no merchandising among them. This Great Whore and her daughters are a prophetic
type of modern Christendom (Catholic and Protestant alike) and the mixture it
has become.
Taking a close look at
Revelation chapters seventeen and eighteen makes this all too obvious. Why else
would the angel of God be calling out, "Come out of her, my people and partake not of her sins, least you also partake of her
plagues"? Will His people hear this woeful warning? The whore and her daughters
are continuing to wax rich, increasing with goods as they displace Jesus. In
their own eyes, they need nothing, not even Him.
What we see of the fallen
church in Laodicea is the embryonic form of the apostasy to follow. Compare this
church described in Revelation 3:14-22 with the depiction of the Great Whore.
Because of her merchandising and riches, she thinks she needs nothing. Consider
these comparisons:
Spirit of Babylon in seed
form:
Because you say, "I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing."
(Revelation 3:17a, NKJV).
Spirit of Babylon in full
form:
The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious
stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the
filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name
was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND
OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. (Revelation 17:4, 5, NKJV).
For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the
kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the
earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury. (Revelation 18:3,
NKJV).
In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same
measure give her torment and sorrow; for
she says in her heart, 'I sit as
queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.' (Revelation 18:7, NKJV).
And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys
their merchandise anymore: merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and
pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood,
every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood,
bronze, iron, and marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and
frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and
chariots, and bodies and souls of men.
(Revelation 18:11-13, NKJV).
And it all comes to naught.
". . .and
do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked."
(Revelation 3:17b, NKJV).
"I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were
cold or hot. "So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I
will vomit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:15, 16, NKJV).
The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance
for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, "Alas, alas, that
great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with
gold and precious stones and pearls!" For in one hour such great riches came to
nothing. (Revelation 18:15-17a, NKJV).
A divine warning:
I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and
white garments, that you may be clothed,
that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes
with eye salve, that you may see. (Revelation 3:18, NKJV).
And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make
her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. (Revelation 17:16,
NKJV).
A divine bidding to come unto
Him:
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the
door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who
overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat
down with My Father on His throne. (Revelation 3:19-21, NKJV).
And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest
you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues." (Revelation 18:4,
NKJV).
The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of bridegroom
and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great
men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived. And in her
was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the
earth. (Revelation 18:23-24, NKJV). [Note: Not only her lamp stand (see
Revelation 2:5) has been removed, but the lamp itself is now gone. Also the
bride has gone out of here and joined her Bridegroom.
Coming out of Babylon unto
Jesus:
Then a voice came from the throne, saying, "'Praise our God, all you His
servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!" And I heard, as it were,
the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of
mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let
us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has
come, and His wife has made herself ready."
And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the
fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write:
Blessed are those who are called to
the marriage supper of the Lamb!" And he said to me, "These are the true sayings
of God." And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "See
that you do not
do that! I am your fellow servant, and
of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Revelation 19:5-10, NKJV).
Here we see a bride that is
continuing to call out to Jesus and repent of the Laodicean spirit of
self-sufficiency and marketing. The bride is making herself ready, follows the
Lamb wherever he goes, and is not defiled by these women (see Revelation 14:4).
What women? The harlot and her daughters.
Remember in chapter three
where we read, "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne,
as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne"? To rule and reign
with Christ in HIS throne, we must overcome. Overcome what? What is it that
makes a Christian lukewarm? The context has to do with gathering the world's
riches in the name of Jesus. It is the Laodicean mindset that confuses worldly
gain with the spiritual blessing, not the Spirit of Christ.
What did Jesus have to
overcome? At the beginning of his earthly ministry, Satan tempted him to use His
God given power for His own comfort. "If you are the Son of God," Satan said,
"command this stone to turn into bread." Jesus was also tempted to take to
Himself the kingship and wealth of the nations of the world.
Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all
the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things
I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him,
"Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God,
and Him only you shall serve.'" (Matthew 4:8-10)
First notice here how the
devil, as shown in Isaiah fourteen, offers the exceedingly high places that he
wants himself. He is quite content to rule mankind by proxy. How many of God's
ministers start out with the best of intentions to be a lowly servant to the
people of God and hear this same temptation? Satan tempts them to use their
gifts to get gain and the power and to rule over the saints of God. How many
have become unwitting tools in this great Deceiver's hands, and are used to
oppress the people of the Most High?
What Ever
Happened to the Gospel to the Poor?
If we are to have kingdom
power to be ministers of Christ, we too, must overcome this same temptation. If
not we will never be able to stand with Jesus and say, "The Spirit of the LORD
is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has
sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And
recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To
proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." Instead we will become part of the
problem and not the solution.
In his new book, Radical
Revival: The Problem of Wineskins Today," Howard Snyder writes:
There is loose in the church the strange idea that solid self-supporting
churches cannot be planted among the poor, at least not without heavy subsidies
and leadership from richer churches. There is truth to this--if we mean churches
modeled after the traditional institutionalized pattern of expensive buildings
and bureaucratic organization. But if our concern is to plant new Testament
churches, we had better take a second look at the New Testament gospel. And what
it says about the poor.
Today church planting is all
about ministry to the rich. Church planters study community demographics and
avoid the poor and the needy. They soon drive away any sheep with real problems,
seeing them as "high maintenance" people. Today, church growth and church
planting is all about material success and the needy make poor grist for the
machines of church planners like these.
How opposite all this is from
the counsel of James when he wrote:
My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into
your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come
in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the
fine clothes and say to him, "You sit here in a good place," and say to the poor
man, "You stand there," or, "Sit here at my footstool," have you not shown
partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my
beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world
to be rich in faith and heirs of the
kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the
poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? (James
2:1-6, NKJV).
We give honor to the rich who
are poor in faith and exploit the poor who are rich in faith. It's all about
honoring the techniques of modern marketing.
Consider these warnings of
Jesus for a moment as you ponder the merits of merchandising and the Church:
And [Jesus] said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my
Father's house an house of merchandise.
(John 2:16, KJV).
Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold,
I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things
are ready: come unto the marriage. But
they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm,
another to his merchandise: (Matthew
22:4, 5, KJV).
I, Michael, once worked in a
factory that supplied retailers with their wares. Almost every production push
was aimed at a "Christian" holiday season. In December they started their
Valentine's run. In February they started their Easter run. In March they
started their July 4th run. In July they started their Halloween (All Saints Day
eve) run. In October they started their Christmas run, and then it started all
over again. The Fourth of July was the only holiday that wasn't "Christian" (but
not scriptural) in origin. The apostate church has prostituted herself and is in
bed with the merchants of the world, pure and simple. Why are we so blind that
we can not see it? Once again the Lord's house of prayer has become a den of
thieves.
Will we
all with one consent begin to make excuse as the Spirit bids us to
come to the marriage supper of the Lamb? Will our belongings and business
endeavors and church planting mean more to us than heading His voice? Will we be
those who stand before Him, insisting that we have cast out demons, healed the
sick and done many great things in His name? Will we hear, "Depart from me, you
who work iniquity"? Babylon's fall will come right out of left field--in
one hour. People will not see it coming. Once it happens it will be too late
to repent. We must make our choices now to follow the Lamb wherever He goes. We
must come out of her before we partake of her plagues.
Not one stone was left on
another with Herod's temple that housed the bazaar of Annas after Jesus
prophesied its demise. Neither will there be one stone left on another in the
house of Babylon the Great and her daughters who make merchandise of the people
of God. Father is separating the wheat from the tares, the holy from the
profane, the sheep from the goats, the just from the unjust, and the wise
virgins from the foolish.
The Father will have many
mature sons unto His glory, the Son will have a glorious bride who is completely
dedicated to Him, and the Spirit will have His glorious temple made of living
stones. There is the Church and there is the church. There is the whore and
there is the bride. Everyone may appear to be in the same boat at this time, but
not so for those who have come out of her (Revelation 18:4). Remember it is the
pure in heart who will see God as He is. It is the bride of Christ who makes
herself ready for His kingdom, refusing to be influenced by the wealth of this
world. Will we seek a kingdom for ourselves on this earth, or will we heed the
advice of the writer of Hebrews?
Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood,
suffered outside the gate. Therefore let
us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have
no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. (Hebrews 13:12-14, NKJV).
The Gehazi
Effect
I, Michael, recently received
an invitation to an up and coming conference. To attend you were required to pay
$45 at the door. An old friend was one of the guest speakers and the folks
putting it on were previous church friends. Here is the letter I hoped would
appeal to their reason:
As much as I would like to see you and my friend _____ _____ once again, I can
not help him prostitute his gift by paying to see and receive from him, so I
guess I will have to forgo. Please tell him "Hi" for us.
Here is part of the reason why I can not do ministry the way it is done in the
American church today.
When the Spirit first started moving through me in the prophetic, He warned me
not to run after any kind of worldly gain by the use of His gifts or I would end
up like Gehazi, the servant of Elisha (see 2 Kings 5).
Last night I was talking with some guests and fellow saints from Alaska, telling
them about my experience with physical healings. I told them about one lady with
cancer that my wife and I prayed for. Part of the requirement that I laid down
before praying for her was that she was not to know my name or where I lived and
that I wanted absolutely nothing that she had or could give. This sister owns a
large ranch that had once been a Christian retreat center until her husband
died. Now it is used for boarding horses and has a large guesthouse with studio
apartments that is her means of support.
Her cancer was in advanced stages when we prayed for her, and her son-in-law
brought her out of the bedroom in a wheel chair. She looked near death. After
praying, we saw no immediate results, but we heard later that she began to get
better at that point and in a few weeks she was totally healed and gave all the
glory to God. She was not only completely free of cancer but Jesus even healed
her failing vision, so that she no longer needed glasses!
I found out that many pastors and ministers from the surrounding area had been
to her place, wanting to pray for her, but they all wanted to be in her will so
that they could get hold of that facility when she died. When we went back to
see her six months later, she was the picture of health and vitality. But she
had a question for me. She said, "How is it that the pastor of the largest
church in our area can come up here to pray for my cancer, go home, come down
with it himself, and die six months later?"
I had no answer until I was telling our friends from Alaska about what happened
with her and then mentioned the warning God gave me years ago. The light finally
came on! Pastor Megachurch, who went up to pray for this sister with an ulterior
motive, was a victim of the Gehazi effect!
When Elisha's servant ran after Naaman to get the gifts that Elisha refused
after the Syrian was healed, Gehazi got Naaman's leprosy and had it until he
died. The same thing happened here with cancer. God is not playing games with
our lust for the things of the world when we minister in His name using His
gifts.
One other thing seems to apply. When we show ourselves faithful in that which is
little, even more shall be given to us. But it all is curtailed when we seek
temporal rewards instead of waiting on the Lord in His rest for our provision.
How is it we can seek the rewards that are of the world during this mere 70
years and put it up against an eternity of God's heavenly rewards?
I am afraid that my earnest
appeal to these old friends fell on deaf ears. Will we heed Jesus' warnings or
will we end up like Lot's wife?
In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him
not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let
him not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose
it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. (Luke 17:31-33, NKJV).
Could
Ownership Be Our Source of Trouble?
There is a curious observation
made about the early church relating to ownership and the power it once had.
They continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the
breaking of bread, and prayer. Fear came on every soul, and many wonders and
signs were done through the apostles. All who believed were together, and had
all things in common. They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed
them to all, according as anyone had need. Day by day, continuing steadfastly
with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food
with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all
the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being
saved. (Acts 2:42-47 WEB)
The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul. Not one of them
claimed that anything of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had
all things common. (Acts 4:32 WEB)
This first century community
of believers lived out, by the Spirit of God, the values of the kingdom and
lived the words of Jesus, "Sell your possessions." Jesus left everything He
owned, His trade, and His family to be about His Father's business. He left all
privileges and gave up all possessions. When asked where He was staying, he
answered, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the
Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." Jesus was a homeless person (Matthew
8:20 WEB). The believers were of one heart and soul, and because of this
oneness, none of them clung to their possessions. Instead, they viewed them as
belonging to the entire body of believers and God Himself. Constant watchfulness
was required to preserve this heavenly economy, protecting it from the greed of
Cain.
God was very serious about
this, so serious that he struck one couple dead over it (see Acts 5:1-11).
Ananias and Sapphira, his wife, sold a piece of land, but they kept back part of
the price. Ananias brought the rest and laid it at the apostles' feet. Peter
said to him, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy
Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While you kept it,
didn't it remain your own? After it was sold, wasn't it in your power? How is it
that you have conceived this thing in your heart? You haven't lied to men, but
to God." The Greek word for lied here
is pseudomai. There is no record of
Ananias saying anything to Peter or to anyone. Ananias was bringing the good
business sense of Cain to the early Church and God would not tolerate it. He and
his wife Sapphira were pseudo or false
in their intentions. Their actions were designed to deceive and mislead others
to believe that they had given all while they were hiding a wedge of gold in
their tent. As a result they fell down dead and the young men came and carried
them out and buried them. We cannot find anywhere in the New Testament where
anyone else was struck dead by the Holy Spirit for lying.
Why did God take this incident
so seriously? We know from Peter's own words that Ananias and Sapphira could
have kept it all for themselves, but they could not keep half under pretense.
God obviously detests those who live a lie in this area. He would have us hot or
cold, going all the way or not at all. He wants us flat out as servants in His
kingdom or totally in the world. Although Ananias and Sapphira may have thought
they were deceiving Peter and the saints, they were lying to the Holy Spirit.
They were being false and acting inconsistent to the Spirit of Truth that
brought the love of God that manifested itself in great overflowing generosity.
God would not allow the corruption that brought judgment on the descendants of
Cain and the citizens of Sodom to take root in His fledgling Church.
Obviously God wanted to drive
this point home and it worked! "Great fear came on the whole assembly, and on
all who heard these things" (Act 5:11). Later in a Samaritan village a man named
Simon who had practiced sorcery came to Christ by the ministry of Philip. When
he saw that the Holy Spirit was given to the new converts by the laying on of
the hands of Peter and John, he offered to buy the gift so he too could give
this power by the laying on of his hands. To this Peter replied, "Your money
perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased
with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is
not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and
pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see
that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity."
Merchandising here is seen as
a bitter poison that was trying to make its inroads into the infant church. It
is evident that Satan finally succeeded once the first apostles were gone.
Today, it is accepted practice to hold great conferences for large sums of
money, where the attendees are told that modern "apostles and prophets" will lay
on hands and impart spiritual gifts and ministries. How is this any different
than the sin of Simon? Does a true minister of God buy his gift, and make gain
from selling it? Does he even own this gift that he has been made steward of?
Not if we read the parables of Christ concerning stewardship correctly. A dear
brother who prefers to remain anonymous recently wrote with rare insight.
The present world-system is based in a conceptual framework where
owning represents investment of our life, our time, our name, our
character, or any other aspect of our being, for the sake of control over the
thing owned. It is difficult to realize the depth of devastation this has
brought to humanity, but every historical record that presently exists attests
to the visible devastation wrought in wars of conquest and subjugation of
peoples for the sake of ownership.
If we own something, we have something
to trade for other things to own,
which takes us further down the path of investing our soul in merchandise. This
concept of ownership and its follow-on, merchandising, is what separates us from
God and our fellow man. The ultimate deception is that we
own our own soul, our being, which is
really just on loan from God the Creator of all. Satan thought he owned
something that could make him greater than God--his gifts, his glory, his
being--whatever it was that caused him to be uplifted in the pride that finally
destroyed him, he thought he owned it. The final straw was when he claimed a
naïve humanity as his own to dominate and control as his slaves.
If we look at the kingdom of God from the viewpoint of what is revealed in the
scriptures, we see an entirely different model being portrayed. God owns
everything and if we need something, all we have to do is ask for it, based on
our relationship to Him. In the parable of the prodigal son, when the prodigal's
return was celebrated by the Father, the son who had stayed home was told, "All
that I have is yours." When Paul was instructing the saints at Corinth, he said,
"All things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life
or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. And you
are Christ’s, and Christ
is God’s" (1 Corinthians 3:22-23 NKJV).
What is mine that God didn’t give me? And what may I take with me when I leave
this world of form?
"God set up the kingdom of Israel to showcase His ways to the nations., and in
the statutes and ordinances provided that the land could not be sold in
perpetuity, debt must be retired every seven years, slaves were to be freed at
jubilee, and so forth. Ownership had limits for the sake of the poor, the
disadvantaged, and the powerless. Although not equal to the kingdom of God, and
only a compromise with what we think of as real-world realities, these things
provide an insight into God's ideas about ownership. The kingdom of Israel could
not survive the idolatry of man, however, and God's ways were sidestepped and
ignored."
Here again we see the meaning
of God's word to Lucifer, "By the abundance of your trading you became filled
with violence within" (Ezekiel 28:16). The movement of God's Spirit brings
believers into a state of great love and generosity, leading to righteousness,
peace and joy. The movement of Satan and his hordes is toward individualism,
merchandising and violence. The Holy Spirit is at enmity with the social
injustice, war, violence and bloodshed of mammon, yet in the same gathering
where the Spirit of generosity is stirred in the saints of God, there are people
who take advantage and lust after gain in His name. What are the implications of
all this? Should we have nothing to do with mammon whatsoever? When looking at
the teachings of Jesus on this matter, one thing becomes very clear. Nearly all
His teachings on money were negative.
You cannot read far in the
Gospels before you realize that Jesus viewed money as filthy and unrighteous.
Jesus approached the subject of money with unnerving indifference. He really had
no time for it. In the one parable where the unjust steward was commended about
his use of unrighteous mammon, it was because he used it to lessen the burden of
debt that others were under, not because he used it for his own worldly gain.
The only correct use of unrighteous mammon of this world is to break every yoke
and let the oppressed go free.
We are not advocating that
anyone should presumptuously go out and establish communities and start having
all things in common. What happened in the book of Acts cannot be contrived by
implementing certain methods and life styles, but is the fruit of the Spirit of
God being poured out on those who are willing to die to their self centered ways
and be filled with His love. We need a personal visitation from heaven that will
make the things of earth grow strangely dim. We desperately need the Spirit of
God to birth an expression of His Kingdom once again. What we see around us
today is not God's kingdom!
In 1970, I, Michael, went to a
Jesus People park-meeting and God visited me there in a life changing way. As a
result I was filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time after a thoroughly
purging time of repentance. At this same time a local county-rock band named the
Wilson-McKinley came to the Lord in these meetings where their peers ministered
to them. As a result of their conversion, they totally threw them selves on
Jesus and forsook their former life-style of drugs, sex and rock and roll.
There was another man I will
call Bob who came on the scene at that time. Bob was an older Christian who had
a background in marketing and was quite the Bible teacher. We all were impressed
with his knowledge of the scriptures and his personal charisma gave him great
leverage over us in a short time. When Bob found out that he had a rock band on
his hands, it wasn't long before he rebuked them for hocking all their
instruments and "wasting their time" witnessing on the streets to the lost youth
of our town. They could have been doing it in grand style from the stage.
It was not long before a hasty
first album was recorded with a hand held cassette machine at one of their live
gigs and the die was cast. Marketing this group became the goal, as they were
booked with their new Jesus songs to play all over the U.S. and parts of Canada.
More albums followed and Bob finally conformed them into the image of what he
wanted. Trouble was, the Holy Spirit in them was totally quenched and they had
lost all their former appeal as simple saints who just loved Jesus and wanted to
serve Him with all their hearts.
This is so typical of what
caused the decline of the Jesus Revolution of the early 70s. Men found a way to
harness and market the energy and talents of these young people and build
churches and businesses out of them. What once was a move of the Spirit that
converted thousands of street kids to Christ and all but shut down the drug
industry in many cities in the U. S., became another spirit-numbing commercial
venture of businessman and clerics alike. The resulting abuse of these young
believers caused many to turn and fall away from their faith. Once again the
woman with a crown of twelve stars (see Revelation 12) gave birth into the mouth
of the Great Red Dragon. A move of God that was turning the world upside down
for Jesus was quenched by greed.
Jesus'
Attitude Toward Money and Worldly Gain
Christians everywhere agree
(in principle a least) that the example and teachings of Jesus are the ultimate
authority in all things having to do with the kingdom of God. He always did the
things He saw the Father doing and spoke the things He heard the Father saying.
His doctrine was not His own. To see Jesus was to see the Father and to hear Him
was to hear the Father. This makes the words of Christ the supreme authority on
all matters. We are exhorted to have the mind of Christ in all things. If we are
to take this to its ultimate conclusion, Christ's attitude toward money should
also be our attitude.
The Sermon on the Mount
(Matthew 5-7, Luke 12) is rightly referred to by theologians as "the preamble of
the kingdom." Jesus introduced basic kingdom concepts to the poor. You do not
have to read far to realize that this kingdom and its economy are not of this
world. In fact, nearly everything that Jesus taught about money is considered
irresponsible in today's society. Anyone who dares to obey Christ's teaching in
this matter may be accused of having his head in the clouds and of not being in
touch with the realities of the current financial situation.
Men tend to measure their
successes and failures by the time invested compared to the yield, always
looking at the bottom line and the immediate returns. Jesus begins by addressing
this false standard of success, the matter of rewards, payment made in return
for a service rendered. Even when giving to the needy, you can be seeking the
reward of being known among men as a philanthropist or giving person. Let's
listen in on the Master as He teaches the proper kingdom attitude toward money.
Be careful that you don't do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by
them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Therefore
when you do merciful deeds, don't sound a trumpet before yourself, as the
hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from
men. Most assuredly I tell you, they have
received their reward. But when you do merciful deeds, don't let your left
hand know what your right hand does, so that your merciful deeds may be in
secret, then your Father who sees in secret will
reward you openly.
When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and
pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen
by men. Most assuredly, I tell you, they
have received their reward. But you, when you pray, enter into your inner
chamber, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and
your Father who sees in secret will
reward you openly. (Matthew 6:1-6,WEB)
Jesus continues, "In praying,
don't use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be
heard for their much speaking. Therefore don't be like them, for your Father
knows what things you need, before you ask him." The vain repetitions of the
Gentiles were incessant requests for the material things of this life. They
hoped that by repeating themselves and nagging, like a child begging for a treat
in the supermarket, they could get all they desired. They were like Aladdin
rubbing his magic lamp.
This doesn't work with the
Living God. He is a Father who is well acquainted with the needs of His Children
and cares for them. He knows what we need before we ask. The knowledge of His
great love changes the way we approach Him. Rather than coming with incessant
requests for things to consume on our own lusts, we come in faith, with open
hands, trusting that Father knows best what is required for life and that He
will give us our daily bread, as He
determines that to be.
God is not a Father who spoils
His children as some doting, wealthy parent who buys the affection of His
children, but rather meets their needs
from His riches in glory. So how do we approach our Father? Jesus counseled,
Pray like this: "Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. Let your
kingdom come. Let your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us today
our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Bring us
not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory forever. Amen."
Jesus makes prayer a family
matter. He reveals childlike trust in a Father who provides daily for His
children in contrast to the vain repetition of pagan Gentiles, who were pleading
with distant and indifferent gods who serve themselves. A good father is
attentive to the needs of his children and is eager to meet them. The words,
"Give us this day our daily bread" are perhaps the greatest statement of faith
in the entire Bible. "Father, you know what we need today, and we trust you to
provide it. You are our Father! We are
your children. Give to us today those things that you determine to be our daily
bread."
Jesus went on to show God's
faithfulness and provision even to the least of His creation. How much more this
holds true for His most beloved creation, man himself.
"See the birds of the sky, that they don't sow, neither do they reap, nor gather
into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you of much more value than
they? Which of you, by being anxious, can add one cubit to the measure of his
life? Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how
they grow. They don't toil, neither do they spin, yet I tell you that even
Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. But if God so
clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into
the oven, won't he much more clothe you, you of little faith? Therefore don't be
anxious, saying, 'What will we eat?' 'What will we drink?' or, 'With what will
we be clothed?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, for your heavenly
Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first God's Kingdom, and
his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well."
(Matthew 6:26 -33)
Compare Luke's account.
"Consider the ravens: they don't sow, they don't reap, they have no warehouse or
barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds! Which of
you by being anxious can add a cubit to his height? If then you aren't able to
do even the least things, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the
lilies, how they grow. They don't toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you,
even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if this is
how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is cast
into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith? Don't
seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious. For the
nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that
you need these things. But seek God's Kingdom, and all these things will be
added to you. Don't be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good
pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Sell
that which you have, and give gifts to the needy.
Make for yourselves purses which don't
grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn't fail, where no thief
approaches, neither moth destroys. For where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Luke 12:24-34)
Notice that Jesus is not
condoning any selfish prayers here. This is far from the self-centered prayers
of the "Prosperity Movement." In the early 1970's Janis Joplin sang a song that
became an open mockery of the self-centered TV evangelists and preachers of that
time. We can still hear her gravelly voice as she sang,
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Then there was the song by Ray
Stevens, "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex on His Television Show?"
Woke up this morning, turned on my TV set.
There in living color was something I can't forget.
This man was preachin' at me, yeah, laying on the charm.
Asking me for twenty with ten thousand on his arm.
He wore designer clothing and a big smile on his face.
Selling me salvation while they sang amazing grace.
Asking me for money when he had all the signs of wealth.
I almost wrote a check out, and then I asked myself.
Would He wear a pinky ring?
Would He drive a fancy car?
Would His wife wear furs and diamonds?
Would His dressing room have a star?
If He came back tomorrow, there's somethin' I'd like to know.
Would Jesus wear a Rolex on His television show?
Would Jesus be political if He came back to earth?
Have His second home in Palm Springs but try to hide His worth?
Take money from those poor folks when He comes back again?
And admit He's been talkin' to all those preachers that say they've been talkin'
to Him?
The world might not be
spiritual, but they ain't stupid (Luke 16:8)!
In the Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus cuts to the heart motivation behind man's preoccupation with reward.
Don't lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth,
where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don't break through and
steal; for where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also.
Coveting the things of this
world is deeply rooted in the heart of fallen man, and he truly believes that
the one who dies with the most toys wins. This leads to the inequity of
hoarding. It was in answer to this very ambition that led Jesus to teach as He
did. In Luke 12:13-21 we discover the reason why Jesus taught on these things at
that time.
One of the multitude came to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, tell my brother to
divide the inheritance with me."
That sounds reasonable doesn't
it? What was so wrong with this man's request? Shouldn't his brother have shared
the inheritance with him? Shouldn't Jesus be concerned about fairness and
equality? Jesus responded, "Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"
Against this backdrop, He turned to the crowed and exclaimed,
"Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man's life doesn't consist
of the abundance of the things which he possesses."
Speaking in a parable, Jesus
went on to make the connection between covetousness and storing up wealth. "A
certain rich man's land brought forth plentifully so he asked himself, 'What
will I do, because I don't have room to store my crops?'" It never once entered his mind that the bumper yield might be God's
blessing to the poor. No. His answer to the problem of surplus is the same as it
is today. He said, "This is what I
will do. I will pull down my barns, and build bigger ones, and there I will
store all my grain and my goods. I will tell my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods
laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.'"
You can almost hear the indignation in Jesus' voice as He continues, "But
God said to him, 'You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The
things which you have prepared--whose will they be?' So is he who lays up
treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
Often a man will plant a
church and soon it grows beyond the size of the building they have been meeting
in. Then they build a greater building to contain all the faithful. Does it ever
occur to them that this might be a great time to decentralize and send the
faithful out into the mission field, taking the gospel to the poor third world
nations, fulfilling the great commission? This could be an opportunity to
further the real kingdom built from living stones instead of squandering the
money on a kingdom made of bricks, wood and stubble. Because of greed, they tear
down their old barns and build bigger ones that they might get their increase
under one roof, more money and a reputation for having the biggest church in
town and the largest salary!
Our hearts will be where our
treasures are. If we store up for ourselves, our hearts will be focused on this
earth and our riches that are stored here. So how do we become rich toward God?
We find the answer in Luke 12: 33-34:
Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves
purses, which don't grow old; a treasure in the heavens that doesn't fail, where
no thief approaches, neither moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also.
We become rich toward God by
selling what we have and giving to the poor. There is no other way to exchange
earthly currency into heavenly currency. These are not our teachings, but the
teachings of our Lord.
God made our eyes in such a
way that unless we are deformed, where one eye goes the other one follows. We
cannot look at one thing with one eye and another thing with the other at the
same time. This is singleness of eye and where the eye is single, the whole body
is filled with light. Neither can we focus on God and money at the same time.
One or the other will fill our eyes and our eyes will be good or evil as a
result, filling the body with light or leaving it in darkness. Jesus explains,
"The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole
body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be
full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great
is the darkness!
"No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the
other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve
God and Mammon." (Matthew 6:22-24, RSV).
Both the Father and Mammon are
referred to as masters. Both ceaselessly expand their kingdoms in their
worshiper's hearts until they possess all affection, attention, and dominion.
One is the rightful Lord of all. God the Father of spirits desires to reign
within the souls of men, turning their affections to things that are eternal.
The demonic force of Mammon appeals to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life (1 John
2:16) and spawns a love for this present evil world system that is antichrist in
its very nature.
For Jesus' warning to have any
impact in our lives, we must further identify the master named Mammon. Mammon
was the name of a Babylonian god. Worshipers gathered around and made offerings
to him in hopes of getting worldly gain. Their focus was on the things of this
world. The pursuit of success, fame, and wealth filled their attention. In
short, they desired a kingdom for themselves that was totally of this world.
In contrast to this we see
another kingdom, a kingdom that is not of this world. This kingdom comes not
with outward observation, and it was this kingdom that Jesus came representing,
the kingdom of His Father. The currency of His kingdom is selfless love for
others. You store treasures in heaven by selfless acts of love toward the needy.
There is no compromise in this matter among those who are of His kingdom anymore
than there was in His Son. These two kingdoms and their masters are
diametrically opposed--love versus hate, devotion versus spite. Man cannot serve
both; in choosing one he is rejecting the other.
Which of these masters do we
serve? Which one holds the affections of our hearts and occupies our waking
thoughts? Which one claims our time and energy? Is it God or mammon? Or are we
foolishly trying to placate both of these masters in an endless effort to prove
Jesus a liar?
Everywhere we look, men are
seeking gain for their own kingdoms, all in the name of the Christ who spent a
lifetime focused on the one eternal kingdom of His Father. Someone once quipped,
"Keeping up with the Jones' is the act of buying things you don't need with
money that you don't have to impress people you don't like."
If worldly gain is our goal,
we will be proven the liar. Everywhere we look we see churchmen storing up
treasures here on earth. They build large buildings, organizations, bank
accounts, 401K's and great mansions. They gather fine cars, expensive jet
planes, and riches of every sort as if this world is the only reward they will
ever have. Is this the life that was demonstrated by Jesus and His disciples as
they laid down their lives in devotion to the Father and His kingdom? Is it the
life of those who "dwelt in caves, wearing the skins of animals, of whom the
world was not worthy"?
In Sedgwick County, Kansas,
where Wichita is located, nearly $100 was spent on new church buildings and
renovation for every man woman and child in the county, or almost $40 million in
a single year! Search your county records and you are very likely to find such
wanton waste as this, while the poor and needy go begging. Here in our county,
Children's Village, an emergency shelter for youth, was forced to turn away
needy children while just around the corner a new million dollar church was
being built "for the glory of God." What an affront to the gospel of the true
and Living God!
So How Are
WE to Live?
Jesus was born to a poor
Jewish couple in a barn and laid in a feeding trough. He spent his first thirty
years working for his stepfather as a lowly carpenter in a back woods town in
Galilee. He once said to a follower, "The birds of the air have nests and foxes
have holes, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head." He rode into
Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey and went into the temple to turn over the
moneychanger's tables, accusing the Jewish leaders of making His Father's house
into a den of thieves. He died a criminal's death because of His stand for the
kingdom of God and His body then was laid in a borrowed grave. What a contrast
to many of those who claim to represent Him today! Have they never read His
word, "A servant is not greater than his Master"?
After making the definitive
statement, "You can't serve both God and Mammon," Jesus went on to describe how
we should live if we truly believe in Him as Lord.
Therefore (because of this) I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what
you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall
put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? (Matthew
6:25)
Our heart's focus determines
what kingdom we are truly of. The god that occupies the largest space is the one
we worship and serve. As one teacher once pointed out, "You are what you
believe." If our time is spent thinking about our lives, what we shall eat and
what we shall wear, wanting a bigger and better house, its furnishings and car,
we are worshiping Mammon.
The Attitude of th