The Bible Without The Sacrifice of Christ

1 John 2:15-17 '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. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of the Creator abideth forever.'

Question: Why did Yahshua suffer unrighteous persecution and die on the pole?

Look at these claims made by prosperity preachers.

"Life can be as good as you make it, so make it good!" (Crefalo Dollar - Back flap of his book '8 Steps to Create the Life You Want')

"What matters most is what you believe about your own value and significance." (Victoria Osteen - pg 3 of her book 'Love Your Life')

"God wants you to enjoy yourself." (Joyce Meyer - pg 168 of her book 'Approval Addiction')

"If you don't like the way your life is going, redesign it." (T.D. Jakes - Front flap of his book 'Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits)

Are we really listening and weighing the things preachers say on the balance of Christ's sacrifice and our part and portion in it - or are we simply wanting salve for our own personal insecurities?

Luke 21:8-9 'And He said, Take heed that ye be not deceived, for many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ (anointed); and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must come to pass, but the end is not by and by.'

Do you realize that America has been at war for a decade now? People are terrified of terrorism. The instability of the world's economy and the loss of jobs and businesses, as well as homes and lifetime savings, have everyone searching for something - anything - to give them hope.

Luke 21:1 'And He looked up and saw the rich casting their gifts into the treasury.'

I want to show you real hope that runs contrary to the teachings of the prosperity preachers.

Crefalo Dollar has written, 'Every decision impacts our success, happiness, health and overall well-being. . . If we're honest, we will realize that our happiness and success, or lack thereof, are directly related to specific decisions we've made over the course of time.' (pg 4)

Luke 21:2-4 'And He saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And He said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hast cast in more than they all: for all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offering of the Creator: but she of her lack hath cast in all the living that she had.'

Prosperity preachers like to assume that this woman was richly blessed after this but that is an assumption that fits their teachings and has no base in the written word.

Plain and simple, having more does not make you successful or happy. Prosperity preachers pretend that it is not money they luring their followers with - but - they know the image of their success is what keeps people coming in the door. People want to be rich and they want to believe that through "God" they can have everything and anything they want.

Do you think the decision to give everything this woman had to the church treasury was a prudent decision made in the pursuit of success and happiness? Prosperity preachers say it was prudent because in the end, "God" rewarded her by giving her an abundance back. Friends, for all we know, she died later that day; we really don't know anything about that woman after that moment. By assuming what happens next - the prosperity preacher is missing the point of the message - the message of faith that needs no reward in this life.

Prosperity preachers are preaching guarantees.

Hebrews 11:4 'By faith Abel offered unto the Creator a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, the Creator testifying of his gifts, and by it, he being dead yet speaketh.'

When Abel gave what he had been told to give, he had no guarantee of anything. He also did not do it in the pursuit of happiness and success? Remember, in the words of the prosperity preachers, you are richly blessed if you are the one doing right.

Not soon after this offering, Hebel's (Abel's) jealous brother Qayin (Cain) took him aside and killed him. Maybe the more prudent thing to do for the sake of security and happiness might have been offering a lesser sacrifice so his brother would not have been upset? They say they are thinking of "God" but it is really the things they can get from "God", that they are concerned with. "God" is their Santa Claus. "I've been good - so bring me presents."

In Luke 18:20-23, Yahshua tells the rich man to sell all he has and he will have treasure in heaven - and come follow Me.

For a prosperity preacher, the rational choice, the prudent choice, the successful choice would be to do exactly what the young man did - not follow the Lord. Following the Lord would not have led Him to a successful and happy life. Like the other apostles, he would have been running off into the darkness with nothing when the Master was taken in the Garden of Gethsemane. He would have watched the one he sold everything for crucified and buried. He would have been there for the resurrection and the outreach of the gospel to the world. He would have gone out into the world suffering shipwrecks, beatings and jail for the gospel. But all and all, he would have never been as successful in a worldly manner as he already was. I wonder if the prosperity preachers would call it a blessing to be beaten and thrown in jail?

When people go to listen to prosperity preachers, they go to learn how they can prosper in this world. They are not thinking about heaven, or the new earth, or spiritual salvation.

"If you want to be an eagle, you can't stay in the chicken coop." (Crefalo Dollar pg 10)

Matthew 9:11 'And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto His disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?'

For those wishing to succeed in life, marking the path of a successful man is wise - and they are not wrong in that. If you want to be like Donald Trump or Bill Gates, or any other super-wealthy person, mark their steps and imitiate it. You might or you might not make it. But it is an indignity that prosperity preachers try to merge the Word of the Bible with the process of worldly success and happiness.

Christians are supposed to be living for the world to come - not this world.

Psalms 73:12 'Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world and increase in riches.'

Eternal salvation is not their goal and not their message. Eternal salvation is just something they think comes with the territory. The true goal in life is to make money and prosper, to be successful and happy. Prosperity preachers want you to believe that this is not only a message from 'God', but a message from the Biblical "God."

What they have done is removed the great sacrifice Christ made out of the Bible. They have belittled it to the point that His suffering was for our earthly joy and riches. People want to hear that Yahshua suffered and died so they can be happy.

Matthew 10:38 'And he that taketh not his pole and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.'

When you take the sacrifice of Christ out of the Bible, you get the watered down, worldly syrup prosperity preachers like the Osteens, T.D. Jakes and Crefalo Dollar are serving.

"Mixing both sacred and secular insights, he shares a unique blend of practical and pragmatic steps coupled with the sage of wisdom of Scripture for which he is noted." (front flap of T.D. Jakes' book 'Reposition Yourself')

Reposition sounds a lot like, 'Don't carry that pole all the time.'

1 Corinthians 10:21 'Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of devils.'

It is an admitted mixing and blending of the Scriptures with worldly wisdom. What does Scripture say about this?

1 Corinthians 3:19-20 'For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with the Creator, For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, Yahweh knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.'

In a way, the prosperity preachers are trying to convince Christians that success in this life is not possible without "God" - and those who do obtain success without "God", won't have it long or are not happy, and don't feel successful.

There are many people in this world that are successful, happy and living their dream, and the Lord is nowhere to be found in their heart.  People such as Ted Turner, who agrees with a Karl Marx, that religion is an opiate of the people, also doesn't see Planned Parenthood and population control by government institutions as a bad thing.  He even thinks that China has not been Draconian in its approach.

If we take a moment to remember, The Egyptians got real nervous about population control in the first book of Exodus.

Exodus 1:8-11 'Now there arose up a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph.  And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Yisrael are more and mightier than we: Come let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply. . .and fight against us. . .Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens.  And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.'

Mr. Turner is all for punishments and higher taxes to burden those with more children.  Planned Parenthood is supportive of abortion, as was Egypt, instructing the Hebrew midwives to kill male children as they were born.  (Exodus 1:15-19)

If we mark the footsteps of those that are successful in the world, we can see that many are wicked in their thoughts. 

Psalms 73:2-3 'But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nighed slipped, for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.'

Looking ahead, I think I will begin to address some of the teachings of the prosperity preachers directly. The reason is not so much to offend them, but to show that the mixing and blending of worldly wisdom with Scriptual truth is a poison.

I have said in a previous hub that those eating too much of this sugar because addicted and eventually diabetic. They need a daily dose of self-validation to get by.

Yahshua suffered, died and rose again, not only to save the world from its sins - but to be an example of how He wanted us to live our lives. Taking up our own pole is an uncomfortable truth our physical body does not want to bear. It would much rather cast the pole down and believe it does not have to carry it. We have to learn how to be content - not trying to repositon ourselves - but let all we do be the sacred will of the Lord in our lives.

Joyce Meyer has said that if we are critical of ourselves, we are outside the will of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 11:31-32 'For is we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.'

The weight of the pole we carry is the full word of the Lord. We use it to chastise our flesh body, correct it - make sure that it is right with the will of the Lord. We do this ourselves willingly because then we won't fall into the greater condemnation at the end times, at the final judgment. If we don't do it now and judge ourselves, we will be condemned with the world.

As a servant of the Most High, you don't dream selfishly. Our talents and gifts are about honoring the body of the believers, which is not a worldly organization - but spiritual. We - who read one another's words and connect, touching and agreeing, are members of the same body although we be miles and miles apart. Our dream is that Christ will return and begin the New Heaven and the New Earth, and all this sadness, sickness and death will end.

Prosperity preaching believes we can find an inheritance in this fallen state, a right to the riches of this sinful, condemned world. If they have to bow to the wishes of the devil now and then, it is okay.

"The main reason for prosperity is so you can be a blessing to others. You cannot possibly be a blessing to anyone else if you are broke, busted and disgusted!" (Crefalo Dollar pg 20)

He obviously missed the story of the poor woman putting the two mites in the treasury. According to Yahshua, she gave more than anyone else that day and she was broke and busted. (and beware word association - throwing 'disgusted' in there is a way of making the reader miss the other two words - see my hub "Implying Is Lying).

http://hubpages.com/hub/Implying-Is-Lying

In John 6:5, the disciples were not convinced that the amount of food they had could feed everyone. They wanted to buy more. Yahshua showed them that they had enough.

1 Timothy 6:8 'And having food and rainment let us be therewith content.'

No exactly a prosperity sermon is it.

Amen