"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." —1st Timothy 6:10
One of the saddest commentaries of our time is money-hungry Christians. The sad truth is that most of the professed Christians who have ministries today wouldn't lift a finger for God if they weren't getting paid to do it or selling something to make money. They have their reward.
I thank God for all the sincere Christians, who work secular jobs, and give of their personal time to do God's work. They are the true servants of the Lord, because they do not get paid to serve God. America needs more working pastors, who don't rely solely upon the church congregation, so that they will preach the truth without fear of losing financial support. Sadly, many pastors, evangelists and Christian authors parasite off of their followers. It's all about the money. No where in the world is Christianity more exploited than in the United States. A lot of people won't come to Christ for salvation because all they see are money-hungry religious people. Any time money is involved it brings into question one's sincerity. We are living in a time of insincere religious people, in a time of ministerial quackery. I'm tired of hearing and seeing preachers who are all excited and zealous over their latest book or DVD they've got for sale. Jesus said in John 5:39... SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES!
It is the love of money that prevents the truth from being preached and that causes so many Christian authors to compromise. There are a group of popular authors and speakers in America, who promote each other's books and speak as if we cannot survive without buying all of their books and DVD's. They are as greedy dogs. They are in denial, errantly thinking that they're serving the Lord, while always selling something to make a buck. The truth is that they are serving themselves more than anybody. They own millions-of-dollars worth of real estate. They vacation frequently. They eat the best of foods and dress in the best of clothes. They stash their money in numerous bank accounts and have hundreds-of-thousands of dollars saved, and some millions. This is NOT Biblical Christianity.
1st Corinthians 9:14 states, "Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel." Notice that the Bible says a Gospel preacher should only “live” of the Gospel; not parasite off the Gospel, nor thrive off the Gospel, nor get rich off the Gospel. 1st Timothy 6:8 is one of the most unpopular Scriptures in the Bible, "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content." If the American people were satisfied to have just food and clothing, the stock market would go out of business overnight. If the American people were satisfied to have just food and clothing, every gambling casino and race track in America would disappear quickly. The credit card industry would go out of business overnight. If the American people were satisfied to have just food and clothing, every sinful enterprise in our nation; such as, Walt Disney, Hollywood and “Sin City” Las Vegas would go bankrupt. If pastors were satisfied to have just food and clothing, money wouldn't be the primary focus in their preaching.
I hate money. I hate it with a passion. You'll never see a PayPal or VISA link in my ministry. I don't sell anything nor do I accept donations and never will. Many people have kindly offered. I always say, "Thanks, but no." It costs me $120 a year to operate this website. That's it! Yet the internet is filled with liars who say their ministry can't survive without your donations. Oh please, stop making me sick! I don't need nor want anyone's money. I am sincere and want everyone to know it. I do promote other websites and ministries of people who sell things, but it bothers me when then go overboard and continually beg for people to buy their items. It's like they're going to starve if you don't buy their things. The only reason why I even bother to promote them is because I believe that their materials are beneficial to people, otherwise I wouldn't waste my time promoting them. It's just getting to the place where I want to go vomit when I visit so-called Christian websites and it's so obvious that they're all out to make a buck. Selling books and DVD's is one thing, but when you can't even preach a sermon or make a presentation without continually promoting the sale of your materials, it shouts out to people that you are only serving God for the money. I am glad that I do what I do for free, as a labor of love for the Lord to help others.
My advice to all my web visitors is to spend more time in the King James Bible. Religion has become a racket in the United States and beyond. Too many people are exploiting Christianity to live high-on-the-hog. If you want to buy a few books or DVD's fine, but don't let these online greedy dogs take all your money. Something is wrong with preachers who live extravagantly and always have something to sell. I know that a lot of professed Christians who have things to sell will be upset with me, just as Alexander the coppersmith was angry with the Apostle Paul (2nd Timothy 4:14). You see, Alexander made idols out of copper for the heathens to worship. Paul's preaching from God's Word was leading lost sinners to Jesus Christ and they forsook their idols. Paul was costing the idol makers a lot of money. This is why the booze cartel repeatedly threatened to kill Billy Sunday, because he preached against the sin of drinking booze and they were losing money. People get their angriest when it comes to money. I remember when I used to live in Chicago, that the news reported a man had been murdered just to steal his $7. Some people will stab their own family in the back for money. It is evil. Women strip naked to make pornography and sleep with strangers in bed on camera just to make money. The men and women involved in such wickedness will be terrified when they stand before God on Judgment Day. They won't be celebrities in Hell. Sin City, that hellhole called Las Vegas, is a cesspool of fornication, strip clubs and every sin imaginable because of the love for MONEY. Sodom was a nice place to live compared to America today.
Money is like the magical golden ring in the heathen movie, The Lord Of The Rings... it possesses people and brings out the evil nature in them, causing them to betray friendships, and even to commit murder because they have become obsessed by the very presence of it. Most people today, including professed Christians, and most internet so-called ministries, view money as being PRECIOUS. God said that the love of money is the root of ALL EVIL. Is money precious to you? If it is you need to either get saved or get right with God. Money is filthy lucre.
As is always the case with sin, there is the element of denial. Most money-hungry people, especially professed Christians, would never admit their love for money. While professing that money means nothing to them, it's their favorite subject to talk about. While claiming that money means nothing to them, they are continually trying to figure out ways to make more money, even evil ways; such as, selling booze, pornography or being a loan shark. These are evils ways to make money. The entire credit card industry is evil. They produce no products nor goods. They lend out money to make money. That is unbiblical. Psalm 15:5 states, "He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved." Psalm 15:5 plainly teaches that those who are eager to make money apart from good old fashioned HARD WORK are people you can't trust. Never trust a covetous person.
I didn't write this article to be unkind. I wrote this article because we are supposed to SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES as Jesus said in John 5:39. Money should never be an issue. It's ok to buy Christian books, videos, and such; but the amount of secular and religious greed nowadays is unprecedented in American history... money, money, money! There's nothing Christian about any of it. Religion and Christianity couldn't be any farther apart nowadays. You don't need to learn about the occult as much as you need to study the Bible and learn the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). It's ok to read some books on the occult or the Illuminati, but some people get totally consumed with this stuff (which is not good spiritually). Our main focus must be upon God's Word and preaching the Gospel. As Christians we have a duty to fight against evil in all its forms, but our main duty is SOUL-WINNING (Matthew 28:19-20). It will not matter 100-years from now how much money you made in this temporal life. It will not matter how popular you were. It will not matter how many books you wrote and sold. All that will matter is how many people you took with you to Heaven, because you witnessed to them concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they got saved.
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