Remember! This Ministry is supported by YOU.
YOU are WHO makes this ministry POSSIBLE!
We cannot STAND without YOU and your $$$!
You've heard them begging. Sometimes they hit you up with the guilt trip: "If you don't send us money, we will have to go off the air, and then just think about the millions of people who will burn in hell forever! And it will be your fault!" Okay, so they generally aren't that straightforward in their begging. They usually hint. They promise that this ministry is RUN BY YOU. That God set up this ministry and He expects YOU to keep it running!
Really? How come God never told me that? How come these "Televangelists" and "Radioevangelists" never asked my permission before they set up these so-called ministries? If I'm the one that keeps it running, maybe they should have consulted me FIRST before investing so much time on that snazzy theme song. If they had asked me FIRST, maybe they wouldn't have handed themselves such a spanking big salary!
Don't you get tired of people TELLING you that it is your duty to keep their ministry running? Can you imagine the Apostle Paul running his ministry in the same fashion? My camel needs new shoes! I could reach more people with the Gospel of peace if I had some of them Gucci sandals!
Or you've heard the claim: you are partners with us in this ministry! Really? Partners make decisions together, don't they? Wouldn't we all agree that televangelists over the age of 40 shouldn't be investing quite as much money on dark hair dye? I mean, who do they think they are fooling? I'm 65 and I've got dark hair? Are we supposed to believe that God is zapping them with Holy Ghost hair dye, and that's why their hair is free of gray? Do these televangelists believe that they will get less money if some gray is visible at their temples? I mean,it is obvious, watching a half hour of TBN, these people are AGING, and not in any great flair. They are sagging and drooping just like any other folks beyond the age of 50, or 60, or 70 (and yet these "Christians" are applying the make-up with trowels, the hair dye by the gallon, and the expensive clothes in the range of a new Lexus -- and we won't even discuss the fancy cars they commonly mention in their "sermons," not that there is anything common about their automobiles).
Or how about jewelry? Have you noticed just how much jewelry is visible on these "teachers" of God? The flashy, expensive golden watches, the disco ball earrings that possibly permanently blind the congregation when light is reflected out like laser beams? WHY all the jewelry? Or the grizzly bear fake nails glowing with twelve layers of neon crimson nail polish? Is it a sign that God is greatly blessing them? Then why don't they SELL all their jewelry and flashy watches to further the kingdom of Christ? Maybe they'd have to hit us up less if they hocked some of their jewels?
And what's with the golden thrones? Okay, in heaven, maybe -- but on a religious TV show? Isn't that a little tacky? Are we supposed to imagine that these are solid gold thrones that the people with the bad hairstyles and worse wigs are perched upon? No gold leafing, these, each throne weighs in the neighborhood of 500 pounds.
Where are the teachers in jeans? Would the TV audiences have laughed Jesus off the stage if He showed up in a common robe and old sandals?
Does the paradigm even make SENSE to you? That we need to send them MORE money, so that we can be greatly blessed, so that we can send them more money in order for an even bigger blessing? How many Rolls Royce cars do they have to park in their seven-car garages before we get the point that they are successful? But how did they get successful? Not by honestly trudging to work every day, paying their bills, scrimping and saving -- no, they got all their money by sending out pleas: PLEASE! Send us more money, or God will kill us! Please, send us $50 a month, so that God can bless you! Please, send us a $1000, right now, as a love gift, or our ministry just may go out of biz, and a great light would go out in the world! Please, we need, please, God needs, please!
Make a difference, for time and eternity! Send your moolah to people who REALLY care (because I'm only making $200K a year, and REALLY, shouldn't a man of God be making MORE than that?). We have to pay for all these advertisements, you know, and that costs money, and so we make more advertisements asking for more money to pay for the extra advertisements because it takes money-making extra commercials requesting even more money -- but don't worry, your contribution will be GREATLY appreciated, God will be so happy He'll make it possible for us to make even MORE commercials which you, doing your duty for God, should pick up the tab for, don't you agree? Won't you help out today, Brother and Sister, to feed the hungry children -- send us $100 today, and after we pay the lighting for our 10,000-person ampitheater, pay the ushers, pay the gardeners to cultivate our lawns and golf courses (on which the saints can work out their tension), and after paying the golf pros who help the saints play their golf correctly (in order not to bring shame on the name of Christ) and after paying the interest on the loans we made to paint all our chairs with gold leaf, we promise that a little child in Africa will receive $5 dollars of your contribution, and we promise not a penny less (because we ain't no cheats!).
Is golf bad? Of course not. How about gold paint? Don't be absurd. Electric lighting? How could we survive without it! However, WHAT in the world do these things have to do with the cause of Christ?
Answer: absolutely nothing.
The Apostle Paul supplemented his ministry with the business that he ran (making tents). He was not a beggar for Christ. Now certainly, Paul DID receive help, but it was not in the form of a gold-plated Rolls Royce chariot for him to ride in comfort from church to church.
If they beg for money? Give them a dollar to aid them. Sure, maybe they will spend it on booze, and drugs, but give them the dollar and hope for the best. (I'm talking about televangelists, not homeless people -- you would do much better giving a homeless person $10 even if he spends it on booze, than a televangelist $1 who will spend his ill-proceeds in a much worse way, in the Name of Christ, to make a laughingstock of the Gospel.)
But when they are flashing their Rolex from the third compartment of their Mercedes stretch limo -- my advice is to beg off and invest your dollar in a more likely place that it will actually do some good.
If they ask you for money -- I'd consider shopping around for the best return on your investment. If they provide a way for you to contribute, you might rest a little easier...
...because BEGGING has no place in the Gospel. Not begging for gain, anyway.
If someone needs help? HELP THEM, for God's sake. That is the channel God has opened for us to HELP and also to BE HELPED, when that occasion might arise. There's nothing wrong about needing help, or accepting help, or even asking for help, and especially not GIVING help. But there is absolutely NO provision that we must pay for Benny Hinn's hairstyling or Creflo Dollar's Rolls Royce washer fluid, or Joyce Meyer's huge collection of glow-in-the-dark earrings, or Kenneth Copeland's shoe polish to hide that oh-so-disturbing gray at his temples, or for Jesse Duplantis' cosmetic dentistry (as nice as it is!), or for the legion of St. Bernards necessary to find people lost within the forest of Larry Huch's moustache of twisted theology.
Enough is enough.
Support God's Kingdom, aid the poor, the starving, the homeless, the naked, the hungry, those hit by hard times, the unemployed, the widows, the widowers, your neighbor, anyone in need -- don't buy into the "theology" that you are wicked and that God must take money away from the wicked (hint, YOU) and give it to all the many leering "anointed ones" (hint, those rich guys on TV with the bad hair and the bizarre interpretations of the Bible and the strange eyes that glimmer and flash anger and bewilderment -- hint, another spirit is demanding your moolah, and it is the opposite of the Holy Spirit).
Do good, that's a good thing. Helping rich beggars gain more wealth is not a good thing, especially if you're making less than $40K annual (while they are pulling in millions of dollars from "love seeds").
It's not that people are stupid. It might seem that way. But what is going on is that people have invested their TRUST in these false "shepherds," those fleecing the sheep. And once you do that -- check your intelligence at the door, say good-bye to reason, accept garbled thinking and even worse Scripture twisting -- you pretty much will believe anything. The Bible tells us, if you don't love the Truth, you will be given over to DELUSION.
Someone that is deluded (deceived, beguiled, tricked, bamboozled, blinded to truth) is worse than stupid. They are a tragedy.
These people are false apostles. They have fooled you by disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder his servants can also do it by pretending to be godly ministers. In the end they will get every bit of punishment their wicked deeds deserve.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (NLT)
But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach their destructive heresies about God and even turn against their Master who bought them. Theirs will be a swift and terrible end. Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of them, Christ and his true way will be slandered. In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction is on the way.
2 Peter 2:1-3 (NLT)
These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they don't tell the truth. To them religion is just a way to get rich. Yet true religion with contentment is great wealth. After all, we didn't bring anything with us when we came into the world, and we certainly cannot carry anything with us when we die. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
1 Timothy 6:5-10 (NLT)
Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone. But their trust should be in the living God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of real life. Timothy, guard what God has entrusted to you. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge. Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness. May God's grace be with you all.
1 Timothy 6:17-21 (NLT)
