Jesse Duplantis says if Jesus lived today, He wouldn’t be riding a (borrowed) donkey. I agree. He’d walk, take the Metro or subway, ride a Greyhound bus, or fly coach. You NEVER see Jesus hanging out with the elite in the Word, except when He was comparing them to snakes, vipers, and whitewashed tombs. He hung out with commoners…..hookers, tax collectors, lepers, the undesirables of the day. He most certainly would not be found luxuriating in a $56,000,000 private jet.
The line between need and greed is clear to anyone not blinded by the lies of the “prosperity gospel.” The Bible exhorts us to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, give shelter to the homeless, bless the widows and orphans; it never mentions holding yourself up as being higher or better than others. We are to walk in humility and integrity, not selfishness and materialism. Jesus sent His disciples out to preach the good news, admonishing them to not even take an extra shirt (Luke 9:3)……what makes modern day prosperity gospel advocates think He changed His mind between then and now, to the point of endorsing accumulating wealth at the expense of others, including those in need?? A private plane isn’t a necessity. It’s a luxury, and a wasteful one.
Multi-million-dollar mansions, Bentleys, private planes, designer suits, Rolex watches……no wonder unbelievers see modern-day Christians as greedy and unfeeling. How many of us stop and give a couple dollars to the homeless man on the corner or stop at a fast food joint to buy him a meal instead of ignoring his plight? Which speaks louder — meeting a person’s need or letting them watch you pull up in your luxury car to your fancy house in a gated community while they can’t even find a full time job that pays enough to survive? Talk about a wealth gap — it’s as bad in many of today’s churches as it is in any city on the planet. God gives us blessings not so we can hoard them, but so we can share them with others.
You cannot effectively pastor large numbers of parishoners. The Word mentions the good shepherd, who knows his sheep so well he leaves 99 of them to go search for one lost lamb. If you “pastor” a church with 2000 attendees, you can’t even know all their names, much less what their financial or home situation is like. People at these churches who don’t qualify to belong to the inner sanctum (rich, exclusive, deemed good enough to fraternize with the leadership) come and go like raindrops, and when they leave nobody even notices. The leaders heading up these “congregations” are no more pastors than I am. Not only don’t they know who comes and goes…..they don’t care as long as the money keeps coming in. If you are struggling financially, you’re told it’s because you’re not giving enough. If you’re sick, it’s because you need to make a special faith offering so you can be healed. It goes on and on….all to the benefit of those in receipt of the tithes and offerings of people who have been deceived into thinking God wants us all to be rich.
“Forgive us our trespasses”…..our greed, lack of compassion, judgemental attitude, and feeling like we deserve any more than anyone else…..Remind us, Lord, we ALL live in daily need of Your forgiveness and mercy. Without You, our accomplishments, possessions, and everything we build our image on is nothing. We are just as lost as a drunk sleeping on a bus stop bench without the redeeming blood of Jesus. Help us remember that and look on the less fortunate with His eyes……eyes that see every human being as valuable, precious, and worth dying for.
emergingclarity 