False Teachers and Prophets, Part 6

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

In part five of this series, we discussed problems associated with Contemplative Prayer and some of the Christian leaders who espouse it. In this particular article, I’d like to do two things. First, I’d like to discuss the “name it/claim it” error within Christendom along with some of the folks who espouse and profit greatly from it. Second, I’d like to compare that to the way we should actually seek the Lord’s will.

Most are familiar with the Word of Faith movement or what’s known as “name it, claim it.” They teach, using a variety of Scripture verses as “proof” texts to support the idea that God is just sitting there waiting for us to ask Him to provide our heart’s desire. The bigger it is, the better the result will be…IF we have the requisite faith that allegedly causes God to act on our behalf. Our “faith” brings about God’s “will” (which is really just our “want” list).

Matthew 10 reveals the names of the apostles that Jesus personally chose to be part of what would become the Church. In Matthew 10, Jesus sends out the 12 apostles (vv 5 and following). He instructs them where they should go, what they should say and how they should act as they go to spread the Gospel message about the Kingdom of God. Jesus also told them to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons” (v 8)

Jesus then further told them “You received without paying, give without pay” in that same verse. What He meant by that of course is that helping people or preaching the gospel should not be for sale. There were some folks during Jesus’ day who would cast out demons or do what they could to “faith heal” people for money. Jesus was saying that since they received the truth free of charge and with it the authority to heal, raise the dead and cast out demons, they should not charge anything for that service because ultimately, they should simply want to help people see the light of the Gospel. They were allowed to accept freewill gifts though.

Today’s “name it, claim it” leader will deny that he or she charges anything for their “services.” They will say the reason they propose sending them money is not to “buy” something that is free, but to help a person strengthen their faith. I recall Robert Tilton saying many times that when someone gave to his organization, they were planting a “seed” of faith that would grow and return a great harvest for the person sending that money.

People like Tilton (and Kenneth Copeland, Paula White, Ernest Angley and so many others are enriching themselves off of the backs of people who are often poor and gullible. They so want to get out of their broke state that they will often take a chance on sending their last few dollars to some religious organization that promises them that God will return the favor bigger than ever. This is the same type of person who plays the lottery every week. They are hoping to win huge one day.

So, the folks who are able to convince people to send them money by telling them they’re actually planting seeds so that God, in seeing their little faith, will turn around and reward them with greater faith that will allow them to “believe” God for anything. I’ve seen the same type of thing at work in secular organizations that are nothing more than pyramid schemes, where the person on the top is the one who gets the majority of the money by having a ton of people working underneath him or her.

Another variation of this line of thinking is this one from Tyler Perry himself as seen and heard on this YouTube video.

As I read through many of the comments under the video, I was saddened to see so many agreed with this man’s thinking. Then I read some that were completely opposed to his thinking as they should be. God does not have “dreams” for our life. He has plans and a will for us. That includes first and foremost, gaining eternal life. Once we’ve been renewed by that, we are to begin living in a way that Jesus modeled for us. We are to daily die to self, allowing God to work in and through us to reach others with the Gospel that will set people free from sin and death (ultimately). Tyler Perry is one of the richest men outside of Hollywood, worth a reported $800 million plus.

I can certainly appreciate where Perry might have come from and how hard he has worked to get where he is, but it also includes a full compromise with the “ideals” of Hollywood that prop up homosexuality, promiscuity, and all the other things that have helped create the ills in society. There is nothing godly or glorifying about any of that.

To be clear, God does not want us to “wish” ourselves into receiving big things in this life. This life is temporary at best. As Jesus Himself said we should be storing up for ourselves treasures in heaven, not here on earth where moth, rust and thieves can take those treasures away from us (Matthew 6:19-21).

Most of us agree that “finding” God’s will can be difficult if not frustrating. Why is that? It is because we often don’t know where to start or what to look for when we begin “seeking” His will. The truth is though that I believe God reveals His will to us often in very mundane ways. I’ve discussed this in detail before in this series starting with this article: Knowing God’s Will: A Better Way than Signs and Wonders There are actually several articles I wrote in that series and readers can find them here: Knowing God’s Will

The “Word of Faith” movement ultimately believes God is there to be our celestial Genie, who literally cannot fulfill our requests big enough and fast enough as long as we are using the required faith. If we’re not using faith, God cannot do anything, they say. This is where the “seed faith” gift of money to them comes in because money represents what is often most important for average people since you cannot buy anything without it. It also shows you just how important money is to these word of faithers. When you consider people like Kenneth Copeland who lives extremely high off the hog in Texas, has the best of everything and even has an extremely expensive jet plane that he uses to fly around the globe whenever he wants, people who follow him believe God has “blessed” him mightily. Therefore, Copeland must have tremendous faith, right? Either that or he’s just a great salesman or maybe con artist.

So those within the Word of Faith movement have their idea about how to get God working for you (they call that His “revealed will”), but the Bible seems to say something completely different and this difference is proven by the lifestyle of Jesus Himself. Remember, Jesus had no place to lay His head, meaning He had no permanent home (Luke 9:58).

But let me provide a current example from my own life about how God appears to be leading us. I provide this example only because it’s current and I believe it shows how God cares about all aspects of our lives.

Recently, my wife and I have begun thinking about buying a camping trailer. We approach this the way we approach everything. We spend time praying about it and discussing it. Neither one of us want to rush out and do something stupid because we have no clue what tomorrow holds.

At any rate, depending upon the price, we could probably pay cash for it. We’d like to avoid going into debt. What has been interesting is that so far, we’ve looked at three and tried to see them. On one occasion, the item sold before we could set out to look at it. On another occasion, even though we liked the item, we realized it was too far away to “run over” to see it. The third try came the other day. We drove an hour and a half to get to the home where the camper was waiting. My wife and I talked about it as we were not sure if we would be buying it or not. We both agreed that the asking price was too high; more than we wanted to pay so we would offer less if we liked it.

As we arrived, we noted another couple was there. The owner came over and I asked, “Did you just sell it?” She answered in the affirmative but said we could look at it in case it fell through. We took a quick look and then said our good-byes and headed back home.

In each case, God closed the door and we understood that this is what He was doing. So the natural question is this: is God closing the door because He doesn’t want us to buy a camping trailer at all or because it’s not the right time yet?

Honestly, I have no idea at this point, but both my wife and I believe that what we are doing is fine, taking it one step at a time. While we could go out and force the issue by buying a newer used or even new model at a dealership, to do that would mean taking out a loan, which neither of us want to do. We do not believe that going that route would be good stewardship of what He has provided.

So why are we even thinking of purchasing a camper? When we were newly married, we enjoyed tent camping quite a bit in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Our kids enjoyed it as well. However, as we’ve gotten older, sleeping on the ground isn’t the most pleasant thing to consider. Moreover, showering and going to the bathroom in some public place at a campground is also not something to look forward to while camping. We’re not thinking about spending 20 or 40 thousand dollars or more. We’re talking about spending somewhere around two thousand dollars or so.

But all of this searching has also helped me realize that I need to have a brake controller installed in our SUV because the law says that any camping trailer that has electronic brakes on it must be connected to a vehicle with an additional brake controller for that. Since that’s the law (and it only makes good sense), then for a few hundred dollars, my wife and I believe that we should have that done anyway. This will mean the car is ready to go for the time IF we decide that we’ve found a good deal. If not, we can always rent camping trailers in the meantime for excursions. Ultimately, we will likely either rent or buy, but we don’t know which it’ll be.

God knows and I believe He will “reveal” it to us as time goes by. The right doors will open allowing us to purchase the right trailer (just like we purchased a backup car with cash at the right time), or the doors will remain closed to a purchase and we will simply rent a pop up camper for the times we go camping.

As I look back over my life, I realize that God has done this type of thing many times. He has always either opened or closed doors. It’s not “name it, claim it,” but simply pray, wait and trust. Try the “doors.” If they open, great. If not, great. God leads those who rely upon Him. He doesn’t do so by responding to our “faith” evidenced by sending money to a name it, claim it con artist.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective