For Filthy Lucre’s Sake

2018-01-26

For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake. (Titus 1:10-11)

Whenever you find a rich preacher, beware.

If someone is making a wealthy living through religion, there is something very wrong. In this article from beliefnet.com, you will see some examples of some fraudulent preachers, promising health and wealth if you believe in their religion.

Look at some of these proverbs and what they say concerning gaining wealth.

He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live. (Proverbs 15:27)

If you want to be rich and greedy, you not only ruin yourself, but you ruin your whole household. Your children will grow up in luxury, and will likely be lazy, living off riches.

Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase. (Proverbs 13:11)

Real increase should come about by labor, not religion or get-rich-quick schemes.

A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. (Proverbs 28:20)

This is more about get-rich-quick schemes. If you are into these, you are guilty of sin.

Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. (Proverbs 30:8-9)

We do not want to aim to be poor, but neither do we want to be rich. The rich man says, “Who is the LORD?” meaning, I do not need God; I have everything I need!

When we see discussions on the rich in the New Testament, we do not see a favorable picture:

Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. (James 5:1-6)

Let us look at this a piece at a time:

  1. Misery will come upon the rich. We will see why in just a minute, but an example is Luke 6:24: “But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.” This life is the best it is going to get for the rich!
  2. Riches are ephemeral. When you are dead, your wealth means nothing to you. Even in this life, your riches can disappear in an instant.
  3. Riches not invested eternally will testify against you. If you do not invest what you have received for eternal purposes, it will not help you, but God will call you into account.
  4. Hoarding riches in the last days distracts from the coming terror. These are the last days; there is no time to spend on useless stuff like getting rich. We have to look forward to the coming of the Lord and serve Him until that day.
  5. The hoarding of riches leads you to withhold wages due to your employees. If you look to be rich, you will not be loyal to any employees that serve you with diligence. God hears their cries.
  6. The rich live for pleasure. Our Lord did not live a life of pleasure when He came to this earth. Why should you?

Preachers listed there preach the prosperity gospel. Some add to this a “healing” ministry. Some are women preachers.

A lot of Christians praise Mr. Graham. However, he is a preacher that is ecumenical and has mentioned that he believes in salvation outside of Jesus Christ:

I think everybody that that loves Christ, or knows Christ, whether they’re conscious of it or not, they’re members of the body of Christ. And that’s what God is doing today. He’s calling people for eh, out of the world for his name whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world, or the non-believing world uh they are members of the body of Christ because they’ve been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus but uh they know in their hearts that they need something that they don’t have and they turn to the only light that they have. And I think that they are saved and they are going to be with us in heaven. May 31, 1997, Hour of Power: Say “Yes” To Possibility Thinking, program #1426

Many rich preachers will say that they give most of their money away, or something like that. I say to such preachers, why even bother to accept such a huge salary, and let your church distribute to where it is needed? The deacons of Acts 6 distributed the needs to people; there was no one man sitting on a pile of money under his own control.

I write all of these things to say, be careful to whom you listen. Many are out there to make money, and sadly, these are the ones that are famous. Your regular, humble preacher is going to be far better any day over any rich preacher.

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10)