Prosperity preaching Pastor prosecuted, prisoned
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Straw man. Who is envying rich people?
There is nothing wrong with being rich. Many men of God were rich. Abraham, Job, David, and many more.
It's how people acquire their wealth, and what they do with it that can be harmful.
Solomon started out humble before God, with a lot of potential. But his wealth and power got to him.
He made slaves of the Israelites he ruled. He tried to pay for part of the debt for building the temple by giving away some Israelite towns. He amassed horses from Egypt. He married pagan wives, who turned him away from God to the extent he built temples for pagan gods. He heavily taxed everything and everyone.
He wound up doing evil in the sight of the Lord (1 Kings 11:6).
There is nothing wrong with being rich. Many men of God were rich. Abraham, Job, David, and many more.
It's how people acquire their wealth, and what they do with it that can be harmful.
Solomon started out humble before God, with a lot of potential. But his wealth and power got to him.
He made slaves of the Israelites he ruled. He tried to pay for part of the debt for building the temple by giving away some Israelite towns. He amassed horses from Egypt. He married pagan wives, who turned him away from God to the extent he built temples for pagan gods. He heavily taxed everything and everyone.
He wound up doing evil in the sight of the Lord (1 Kings 11:6).
The Prosperity Gospel is the lunatic fringe of evangelicals. But looks like the problem is not entirely one sided. Calvinist John MacArthur is also riding the gravy train, as many have pointed out.
In 2014, Tim Bayly did a blog on preachers and their compensation. A look at publicly availabletax returns for Grace To You Ministries uncovered some interesting information about this anti-prosperity preacher’s income:
2010 2011 John MacArthur’s Income
$47,000 $103,000 (108% one-year increase) 40 hrs p/week at Masters College
$222,000 $402,000 (81% one-year increase) 20 hrs p/week at Grace to You
Add to the above John MacArthur’s other personal income, speaker’s fees, etc.:
$200,000 $200,000 conservative estimate of Grace Community Church salary
$200,000 $200,000 conservative estimate of royalties
$669,000 $905,000 MACARTHUR’S TOTAL ANNUAL INCOME (projected)
https://tictocministries.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/the-john-macarthur-exception/ | URL Wiki
And who knows (other than God) who else is involved in fleecing their flocks. But this is not a new phenomenon. God spoke through Ezekiel against these false shepherds.
In 2014, Tim Bayly did a blog on preachers and their compensation. A look at publicly availabletax returns for Grace To You Ministries uncovered some interesting information about this anti-prosperity preacher’s income:
2010 2011 John MacArthur’s Income
$47,000 $103,000 (108% one-year increase) 40 hrs p/week at Masters College
$222,000 $402,000 (81% one-year increase) 20 hrs p/week at Grace to You
Add to the above John MacArthur’s other personal income, speaker’s fees, etc.:
$200,000 $200,000 conservative estimate of Grace Community Church salary
$200,000 $200,000 conservative estimate of royalties
$669,000 $905,000 MACARTHUR’S TOTAL ANNUAL INCOME (projected)
https://tictocministries.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/the-john-macarthur-exception/ | URL Wiki
And who knows (other than God) who else is involved in fleecing their flocks. But this is not a new phenomenon. God spoke through Ezekiel against these false shepherds.
Because they are not regenerate and the flesh loves to be satisfied by the thought of the flesh having all the money to fulfill that root of all evil, "the love of money" If I can invest a dollar and get a 9 dollar increase with Jesus as the gaurantee of the return, with the idea of Jesus being the hippie God in the sky, that loves everyone and wants them all to be happy, my sinful flesh loves that type of gauranteed investment.
The bad part is these same people would not take that same offer as real if it did not have the Jesus gaurantee behind it, the flesh loves the gods that it makes up. Lots of these people unfortunately are uneducated, in need to money and un-regenerate so they fall for these ticklers of ears. They sway people with every wind and wave of doctrine, the beautiful part for those that are regenerate is we have the apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastors and teachers to build us up so that we can become mature in the Son of God.
Ephesians 4:11-16 “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”