Jude 1:3 MSG  Dear friends, I’ve dropped everything to write you about this life of salvation that we have in common. I have to write insisting—begging!—that you fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish.

Growing up we had a pastor, late Reverend Harold Cracknell, who believed that a pastor should not live below or above the people in the congregation.

While I pastored I made it well known where I lived, how much of a salary I was provided.  One time I decided to have everyone over to have a pizza party for the children of the Sunday School.  I lived in a two bedroom apartment in a 3 storey walk up building.  My congregation was always welcomed to stop in and visit, also they could find my phone number in the local phone directory.

Prosperity Over Power

I have become troubled in what I hear and see with pastors who no one knows where he lives and cannot be contacted by their very own congregation.

It would seem that pastors have made pastoring a way to enrich themselves in North America.  Many have a net worth of tens of millions of dollars at the lower end of the scale and other have a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars.  I do not begrudge anyone for making a living wage.

The problem stems from a corrupt doctrine that they spew from their pulpits and also on their tv broadcasts, the doctrine of “prosperity”.

The doctrine main verse that is used it this:

3 John 1:2 KJV  Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

On the surface this verse seems to imply that prosperity is for every believer.  On further investigation this verse is similar to that of one saying to a traveller, “Gods speed”.

The prosperity doctrine goes against all the precepts of the Gospel that Christ taught and preached while walking here on earth.

The gospel of denying yourself and picking up your cross and follow Jesus is no longer the creed being taught in the pulpits of North America.

Christ taught his disciples that we should not worry about tomorrow, only take one coat.

Luke 12:13-21 KJV
13  And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.
14  And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
15  And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
16  And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
17  And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
18  And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
19  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
20  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
21  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

While I travelled with an evangelist who preached the prosperity gospel sometimes I would talk to ladies and men who would tell me that they gave their rent money to the preacher believing that God would return it to them in a great financial miracle.  They would tell me that they gave their food money and the only thing they had left to eat “cat food”.  Yes, I know that sounds far fetched but that are some of the things I have been told by many coming to the meetings.

I do know that there are some pastors in pulpits who do not subscribe to the prosperity message.  Many of these pastors live an honest living wage, some supplement their income by working a secular job also.

The prosperity gospel has stripped many in the body of Christ from the message of the cross.  This message gives a false security to those who follow it.

Somewhere the message of the cross has been taken away and in its place this damnable doctrine the “prosperity gospel”.  They have abdicated power for prosperity.  Their faith is misguided.

As I have mentioned in past articles there is coming a day where their money will be worthless because of a man that Scriptures call “the anti-christ”.

His reign will be world wide, he will implement a cashless society and demand full loyalty and demand everyone receive his’ mark.  If one takes this mark they can buy and sell, those without will not.  Those who have this mark have sealed their judgment and will be thrown into hell.

Research will tell you when the markets crashed in the late 1920’s many men committed suicide because they had all lost their worth, they were multi millionaires who became penniless in the span of one day.  This scene will repeat itself in the tribulation spoken by the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation.

I would challenge you to learn how much the pastor/preacher/evangelist’s net worth.

My personal opinion, I do not support these preachers who are many times a millionaire, own multiple pieces of real estate and live in palaces surrounded by gates and fences.

I would like to say to those spread this message, “one day your millions will be no more, people will be shouting at you because you led them astay, calling for your death.”

Yes, many have abdicated power for prosperity.  May God have mercy on you!