Scripture: Ephesians 4:25
So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.
Thought for the Day: It is time! It is time for the church to speak up! It is time for the church to name names (well I’ll be cautious there prior to talking to my attorney)! I just finished watching five minutes of a TV evangelist out of Fort Worth whose entire message was about how the Bible is full of wisdom insights that will teach you how to be successful and make lots of money. Simply put, he and others are preaching a purposeful deceit (‘falsehood’). It is okay to have differences of opinion in regard to how we translates a certain passage or how some Biblical concept is to be enacted within our current circumstance, but the prosperity Gospel is garbage! No serious Christian can reconcile the life and teachings of Jesus with a Biblical view that says its all a financial plan for personal prosperity. It is time to call these folks out! It is time to live the radical message of Jesus who gave it all away for the sake of others.
Prayer: Lord, help us dream your dream where money and power are no longer the currency of your kingdom. Instead, help my life show love, mercy and service as the real means by which your work is done. Amen.
2 thoughts on “Ecclesiological Etchings: 09-27-12”
Bruce, thanks! You know, you share the same first name with a prosperity writer/preacher who wrote some garbage about Jabez. Related?
What does it look like to call out those in “error”? Jesus saw fit to call out those in “error” from his time by overturning tables. I’ve often asked, What would that look like today? Would it be standing in front of the local mega-prosperity “temple” with a sign saying, “GARBAGE Ahead!”? Maybe raspberry-ing from the back row during their worship service? How about this: instead of dropping some change in the offering basket as it passes by, lob rolls of quarters at the one up front who asked for it?
Eric, your suggestions have me rolling quarters as I type. I remember in both undergraduate and seminary having professors who basically stated that we did not need to worry about these idiots. These professors seemed convinced that these nonsense preachers would eventually be overshadowed by good theology presented in the old traditional way. I am reminded of the great line from the movie, The American President, where the character Lewis says “People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they’ll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water, they’ll drink the sand.” I would add my own take on the quote and say that people hunger for a sense of purpose and meaning, and when someone doctors-up a pile of crap with some Biblical quotes and pithy religious words, those folks will feast on the crap…never quite awakening to what it is they are eating.