John Piper on “Prosperity Gospel”

Transcript:

I don’t know what you feel about the prosperty gospel; the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. But I’ll tell you what I feel about it; hatred.

It is not the gospel. It is being exported from this country to Africa and Asia. Selling a bill of goods to the poorest of the poor, “Believe this message, your pigs won’t die. Your wife won’t have miscarriages. You’ll have rings on your fingers and coats on your back.” That’s comin’ out of America!

The people that out to be giving our money and our time and our lives, instead selling them a bunch of crap called “gospel.” And here’s the reason that it is so horrible. When was the last time that any American, African, Asian ever said, “Jesus is all-satisfying because you drove a BMW?” Never!

They’ll say, “Did Jesus give you that?” Yeah, “Well I’ll take Jesus!” That’s idolatry, that’s not the gospel. That’s elevating gifts above giver.

I’ll tell you what makes Jesus look beautiful. It’s when you smash your car and your little girl goes flying through the windshield and lands, like I was with a little girl on 11th Ave two weeks ago; dead on the street for three hours before the police could let her go. And you say, through the deepest possible pain…

“God is enough, God is enough.”

“He is good. He will take care of us. He will satisfy us. He will get us through this. He is our treasure”

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And on Earth there is nothing that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart and my little girl may fail, but you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

THAT makes God look glorious, as GOD, not as giver of cars or safety or health.

Oh how I pray that Birmingham would be purged of the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel, indeed America would be purged and that the Christian church…would be marked by suffering for Christ.

God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him in the midst of loss, not prosperity.

So here you have it, 10 Ways to Insult and Disrespect Churchgoers:

1. Imply I’m Stupid : So far I’ve kept from writing about the foolishness of church signs. However, there is one local example I want to share. “Pastor Ken Doesn’t Use Big Words Like Mayonnaise So I Can Understand“. Everyone I’ve mentioned this sign to, both Christian and pagan, found it insulting. Dear pastors, just a tidbit of advice; insulting people’s intelligence is a very poor evangelism technique. Unless of course your goal is an ignorant congregation with a shallow theology, who doesn’t understand words like propitiation or Christology or mayonnaise. In which case, nevermind.
2. Demean Singlehood : I know, single Christian church-going men are a rare breed. Being a relatively young one, who intends to marry, have a whole soccer team of kids and a wife unburdened by a job means surely somewhere there is an endangered species poster with my picture on it. When I tell you I’m single, please stop saying things like “oh I’m sorry to hear that” or “we’ll have to change that.” Please, search the Word on singlehood, listen to what Paul Matthies has to say and stop trying to be Chuck Woolery.
3. Slander Other Churches : It really does amaze me how often a pastor I just met will name and completely slander another church. If you spoke to me out of love and laid out scripturally your concerns, I’d be eager to hear you out. However, it always seems to be the bigger, more contemporary church you rail against. That or just any and every church outside of your denomination. It’s bad leadership, it’s divisive, and you come across petty & angry.
4. Disrespect My Boundaries : Let me set the scene for a moment; I’m a first-time visitor, I’m a guy, I have 20 other things I could be doing. What this means to you; I don’t really know any of you, so I’m a bit suspicious of all of you, a solid hand-shake is the only necessary and acceptable form of greeting, any reason to not be here is reason enough. This ludicrous forced meet and greet thing that churches have decided is necessary, isn’t. In fact it’s awkward and annoying. Additionally, if at any point you tell me to hug someone or hold someone’s hand, I’m probably leaving and never coming back.
5. Attack Our City : I love my city. God chose for me to be here. Unless He says otherwise, I have no plans to go anywhere. In fact I already have a burial plot here. By the way, it’s your city too. It should be out of love for this city and its residents that your heart breaks and gets you out of bed in the morning. If you hate it, its residents, and its culture as much as you say, you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Seriously man, you missed a turn somewhere.
6. Belittle My Depravity : I’m a mess. But more than that I’m depraved. In fact I’m so depraved I don’t even know how depraved I am, because in my depravity I think I’m doing okay on my own apart from God. So when you’re talking to me about how to get my life right, it would be great if you didn’t morph into Tony Robbins, give me 5 easy steps to a better life and tell me I just need to try harder. I’m pretty sure the whole point is that no matter how hard I try, I can’t make it happen on my own. So take my sin seriously, tell me about Jesus and what it means to be alive in Him. Because that would be awesome.
7. Try and Guilt Me : Say it with me…”God loves a cheerful giver.” If every week you have to “lay down the law” and use compulsion to fill the coffers or the volunteer sign-up sheet, there are deeper issues at play. Tell me about Godly finances, I really want to know; but not when you are doing a building campaign and need to work me over. Please teach me about true Christian community and doing for one another. Just not when you feel under pressure and have to buckshot it to the whole room hoping you’ll bag a new volunteer.
8. Pretend You’re Perfect : Not only am I a mess, but you’re also a mess. Yes you are. SERIOUSLY, you are. One of the most needed characteristics of a pastor is transparency and humility. I’m not saying share everything, but if you are more concerned with people knowing you sin, than setting the example of how you’re broken by sin or your story of continual repentance, than you’re too fearful for anyone’s good. If nothing else, do it for your wife. She is probably being crushed under the expectation of perfection that is presented from the pulpit. She’ll thank you and your congregation will be better off.
9. Lie To Me Some More : Yes, this was on the first list, but it’s worth revisiting because it’s so prevalent. I continue to discover instances where pastors are simply lying to me about their church. Honestly I think they are lying to themselves as well. Perhaps they really do think their church is outward-focused. Maybe they are blind to the discontinuity of teaching something counter to their own statement of faith. Do they not think when they tell me their weekend attendance is 100 and I show up and it’s 30, that I won’t notice? I know, it’s tough out there guys. But lying to newcomers is definitely high on the list of ways to not grow a church.
10. Steer Me Towards Hell : I’ve saved the worst for last; two words, “False Teaching.” This isn’t the typical doctrinal disputes I’m talking about, but freaky counter-biblical stuff. Things like how someone in one part of a room can receive healing, but not someone on the other side, because the first guy was standing in the angel portal that gave him a healing connection to heaven. Oh it gets worse…Did you know it’s called the “second coming” because ever since Jesus ascended he has been traveling from Heaven, on the other side of the universe, through space “coming” towards Earth? Those are extremes, but frequently I’ve heard how it’s all about me. Oh, the name of Jesus is tossed about occasionally, but no, it’s all about me. It’s about me having an easy suburban life, singing erotic love songs to Jesus, and staying as far away as I can from non-christians cause they’re worldy. Unless they’re in Africa; they’re too poor to be worldy. Otherwise, it’s all me…me, me, me. So..teaching me a false gospel..worst..insult..ever.

Drop a comment and let me know what you think.

Paul Washer on False Hope

Transcript:

I am going to preach a message tonight that has angered many many church men.

It seems we would rather hold on to a false hope, than to hear the truth.

I hear people all over the world, especially in this county tell me that they’re saved and I ask them, how do they know that they’re saved. Well, because they believe. How do you know that you believe? “Well I know in my heart of hearts that I am saved. ” The bible says that the heart is deceitfully wicked. Do you really want to trust a heart that can be wicked?

Examine yourselves. Take the word of God and what the word of God says about a true Christian and if you fall short of the test..repent and believe.

One of the greatest evidences a person is truly a child of God is that they will be sensitive to the sin in their life and they will be led to repentance and confession of that sin. If you don’t have a new relationship with sin, you don’t have a new relationship with God. Let me ask you a question; when was the last time you wept over your sin? We’re not talking about whether or not you need to rededicate your life or not. We’re talking about whether or not you need to get saved.

Do you tremble at His word or do you look for loopholes around it?

Here stands God on the day of creation, He looks at stars and He says, “All you stars, move yourself to this place and start in this order and move in a circle and move exactly as I tell you until I give you another word” and they all obey Him. “Planets pick yourself up and whirl. Make this formation at my command, until I give you another word.” He looks at mountains and says, “Be lifted up” and they obey Him. He tells valleys, “Be cast down” and they obey Him. He looks at the sea and says, “You will come this far” and the sea obeys. And then He looks at you and says “Come” and you go “NO!”

Does anybody have a problem with that?

The greatest evidence that you’re a Christian is the fact that right now you’re in the word and God’s pointing out to you your sin. We have assurance that we have come to know Him, not just because one time we repented, but we are continuing to repent today. And it is not just that at one time we believe, but that we are continuing to believe today. And it is not just that one time we walked with Him; we continue to walk with Him today.

One of the signs of a Christian is that they are not entrapped or enslaved to the things of this present evil age, but they are set free to see Christ in His glory and follow Him and follow hard after Him.

How do you know that you believe?

• It doesn’t tell them much about the regular pastor
• The service flow and timing can be quite different than normal
• There may also be a guest worship team
• The visit may not benefit them in determining much about the church

The bottom line is that visitors usually need to attend a 2nd week to really learn anything useful about what a normal Sunday is like. Most people just won’t even bother to try again; first impressions and all that.

However, I believe that guest speakers can be very beneficial for church visitors (and even regular attenders). They have certainly been helpful to me. This past week, for the 2nd time in as many years, I walked out on a church service because of the guest speaker. Each time I was a relatively new visitor to the church. Both times were my last visit to that church. These speakers saved me a lot of time. Here’s why…

Guest Speakers Often Express Leadership’s Unspoken Beliefs

Most churches don’t dictate to their guest speakers what they can or cannot talk about. But leaders usually have a pretty good idea what the guest speaker will discuss. By inviting a particular speaker and allowing them to speak freely, the church is sanctioning the teaching taking place from their pulpit. This has been key for me. In both instances mentioned above, the guest speaker dished out ridiculous counter-biblical teaching to the congregation that I had not heard a pastor or elder previously mention. For as long as I could, I stayed, stomach churning, waiting for a pastor/elder to step up and end the heresy that was being spewed forth. Both times, the leadership did nothing, except clap and encourage them on. This quickly confirmed for me I would not be attending that church again.

Friends have said “but it wasn’t the pastor”, “you can’t judge them by a guest speaker”, “what were they suppose to do about it”. However, on both occasions eldership was present, encouraging the teachings. If they did in fact not condone the teaching and instead believe as I did, that the speaker was feeding poison to the sheep, then by their inaction they were complicit in that poisoning and grossly delinquent in the responsibility God has given them for that congregation. Either way, it was not a church whose authority I was willing to be under.

So what should a leader do if his guest speaker is doing violence to the scripture in his church? End It! It doesn’t have to be a production, he just needs to simply walk up to the speaker, thank them for their time and take over the teaching. I’ve never seen it happen, but have heard of a few situations where responsible pastors have done just that.

Let us not overreact

Of course, not every word out of a guest speaker’s mouth is accepted by the local church as “the way”. Nor should we go overboard and not allow guest speakers. Guest speakers can be quite beneficial in providing unique perspectives and bringing needed relief to a teaching pastor’s schedule. Talking about non-essential differences in ministry and method are not cause for calamity. The issue arises exclusively when a guest speaker teaches falsehood. For we must “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” and not allow anyone to teach different doctrine within the church.

This latest situation just further reinforces for me the absolute necessity of diligence in determining a local church’s doctrine and ministry practices. I am so thankful to God for these two occasions because it brought awareness to me about hidden beliefs within each church and likely saved me from weeks of ignorant and harmful attendance.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.‘

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Jesus goes on to tell the “righteous” who call him “Lord“, but do none of these things, they “are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Up until recently the thing that was most striking to me about this story was that the cursed proclaimed Jesus as Lord. They are even called “the righteous”. We see this clearly explained to us in James 2 and the mantra that “faith without works is dead“.

But what may be even more striking is the personal nature of the mandate. “YOU gave me something to eat..YOU gave me something to drink…YOU invited me in…YOU clothed me…YOU looked after me..YOU came to visit me.” As Jesus looks upon the peoples of all nations separated to His right and left, He tells those on His right “YOU” did these things I have commanded and here is “YOUR” reward. I’ve never really doubted the personal nature of the command; that each of us is to do these things. But how? Honestly God? Each of us is to visit people in prison? Each of us is to nurse the sick? Can’t I just donate money to someone somewhere to do these things? Isn’t feeding the hungry and nursing the sick the job of welfare and Medicaid? It’s my tax dollars paying for it. So I’m good right?

In his book Irresistable Revolution, Shane Claiborne writes:

I’m just not convinced that Jesus is going to say, “When I was hungry, you gave a check to the United Way and they fed me,” or, “When I was naked, you donated clothes to the Salvation Army and they clothed me.” Jesus is not seeking distant acts of charity. He seeks concrete acts of love: “you fed me, you visited me, you welcomed me, you clothed me.

Nor am I convinced He is going to say to me, “When I was hungry, you organized a food drive and collected canned goods and non-perishables, donated by people who paradoxically proclaim my name, yet shunned me on the street, then you gave those to the regional food pantry to redistrubute to organizations that programatically and dispassionately fed me. Way to go, here’s your inheritence.”

There is more likelihood of me hearing, “When I was hungry, there was a time when you fed me, you welcomed and encouraged me, sat with me, prayed with me and hugged me as a brother, but then you changed. You grew distant. Even though you knew where to find me, you did not come. Suddenly it had become too inconvenient and uncomfortable. From a distance you donated out of your abundance. You spoke diplomatically and proudly about how you were making a difference in the lives of ‘the poor.’ You developed programs and implemented practices that assured a safe barrier from having to personally and radicaly love and serve me. You chose observation over obedience and detachment over devotion.”

I honestly don’t know if the mandate is for every Christ-follower to do each of these things. Perhaps the intention is that as a community, as one body, these things are being attended to in a personal and compassionate way. That there is a unified purpose and servanthood. We know that some are called towards certain areas and away from others. The apostles recognized it wasn’t right for them to wait tables, because they knew it would neglect their ministry duty. But within their community they made certain it was done. The body was united and fulfilling it’s purpose in Christ. They were never detached from the real needs of people or distant from seeing them met.

Even though I have never been without a home and a bed to sleep in, there was a time when I knew poverty and hunger and the guilt and desperation of having to steal to eat. There was a time not so long ago, where God broke through my snobbery and comfort to bring me into friendship and closeness with the homeless, the afflicted, with prostitutes and drunkards. It was during this time, after my heart had warmed, that my eyes were opened to the truth of my own absent earthly father and his last years filled with homelessness and alcoholism. Then I disconnected into that distant and diplomatic place. Into a mindset where the “least of these” are a demographic inconvenience best “dealt with” from afar.

Elsewhere I read someone lamenting about how the rich drop off things they don’t need to be sorted and given to needy individuals who feel entitled to them. Neither ever coming in contact with one another; neither ever being transformed. Each walking away with a sense of pride for what they have done or what they have received.

Most of us feel a warm fuzzy when we pull our cars up to the convenient and overflowing Salvation Army dumpster at K-Mart, depositing our ill-fitting and out-of-fashion clothes. We silently praise ourselves when we write that bigger-than-normal check to that distant charity helping those kids somewhere, because we really feel the pain and sacrifice of having to wait until next month to get that new gadget.

Are these types of giving in themselves wrong? Yes, if we are fooling ourselves that they are all that is necessary. Jesus, during his time in flesh having nowhere himself to rest his head, requires more of us. He requires “concrete acts of love” that are engaging and personal. If we are already living out Matthew 25 locally, daily, and relationally, then by all means let us send support elsewhere and in every way. If we are not, then we stand on the left, confused goats proclaiming with our mouths and forsaking through our inaction.

During this period, James 4:17 was my mantra. “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” Even with something as clear cut as this scenario (the guy confessed to me), there were many times I just wanted to walk away. But every phone call or conversation, revealed a deeper threat. First we thought this was a first and limited to inapproapriate online chat. Then the realization of past behavior. So I alerted his church and local police authorities. The end, right? Then the revelation he was trying to immigrate to the US to work in a church setting. That’s when the state department and a foreign lord high police something or other got involved. This was a month-long process and at every juncture roadblocks where put up in my path to prevent me from reaching empowered people who could act.

In the end he was removed from his role with children in the local church, but there was insufficient evidence to charge him, as there were no witnesses to his past behavior, and he was allowed entrance to the US where I think he now works in some sort of media ministry. It’s a hard reality to accept that we can do what is right and good and yet things still turn out so wrong. I still wonder sometimes if I did all that I could. My only hope is that he has experienced true confession and repentance.

I share this story because over the last few weeks I’ve been thinking about James 4:17. The situation I shared was an extreme example that left little room for doubt about what action needed to be taken. But what about when the dilemma is a friend who’s just being an idiot and ruining his life? Or a parent who is running head-first into hell? Or a boss who’s great in business, but disrespects his wife and kids at company functions? What if the situation is your life and you just wish someone had the guts and love to tell you that you’re screwing up? Doesn’t anyone notice? You try and stop a child molestor and people applaud you. Try and stop a friend or co-worker from ruining their life or someone else’s and you’re a pompous meddling jerk.

Plus we have that whole speck/plank thing. What right do I have to tell a friend that his language is disrespectful and tears down, when I have a reputation for being snappy with retail employees that answer yes/no questions with expository monologues? Why should you listen to a friend revelling in sexual sin who thinks you drink too much? Who does that neighbor think she is spouting the virtues of Christ when her teenage daughter has the reputation of an unrepentant Mary Magdalene?

We cannot let imperfection be the stumbling block that keeps us from doing what is right and reaching out to the people around us. There are all kinds of tricky and messy situations in life and our culture has unfortunately decided to take a live and let live, or rather a sin and let sin attitude. In following posts I’ll take a deep look at the struggles of doing what is right and share scripture and methods that have helped me.

[note: The nature of the opening story that I mentioned was a huge over-simplification. I simply ask that you not let your mind wander to what you think should or could have been done, or why this or that. There were so many more factors and so much more done, than I care to share or ethically would. ]