THE DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES
‘He also that received seed among thorns is he that heareth the word;
and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word,
and he becometh unfruitful.’ Matthew 13:22 - KJV.
‘The ground covered
with thistles represents a man who hears the message, but the cares of this
life and his longing for money choke out God’s Word, and he does less and less
for God.’ Matthew13: 22 – The Living Bible.
‘They that trust in
their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches: None of
them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.’
Psalms 49:6-7.
One day the King taught in parables, one of which we all
know as the Parable of the Sower. In the Parable of the Sower he said that when
the sower went out to sow his seeds, seed that fell on the wayside, rocky
ground and thorny ground did not produce fruit although some did germinate.
Only that which fell on good soil bore fruit. It is interesting to note that
the Lord never placed much emphasis on germination or growth but on fruit
bearing. The Lord desires that we bear much fruit and not just any fruit but
the right good quality fruit. He expects his disciples to bear the fruit of
righteousness because we are called to produce such type of fruit. Read Romans
6:22; Galatians 5:22-23 & Matthew 7:17-19.
Satan knows very well that it is the Lord’s desire that we
produce much good fruit and the devil’s greatest mission is to fail as many as
he can from producing that fruit. The devil employs as many tactics as he can
think of to prevent the children of God from bearing fruit and one of those
tactics is the deceitfulness of riches.
The seed that the sower (Jesus Christ) went about sowing is
the Word of God and the soil upon which it fell are the hearts of people. When
a man receives the Word, the first thing that the Word does to him is to
consecrate man to God. The word makes man clean because the fruit of
righteousness can only be produced by a righteous being. This becomes possible
because the sower (Jesus Christ) will live his life through the soil (men) in
whom he died and resurrected thereby producing his own fruit in men. I say the
sower died in the soil and rose in the soil because the seed is the Word of God
and Jesus who also is the sower is the Word that became flesh. John 1:1, 2, 14;
15:1-15; 12:24. In other words Jesus Christ is the seed sown in us, which must
be allowed to produce fruit. If Jesus Christ who is our righteousness is allowed
to produce His fruit in us, we will become producers of the fruit of
righteousness thereby pleasing the everlasting Father.
If everyone in the world were to produce the fruit of
righteousness the world would be the most peaceable and enjoyable place to live
in. Such a state of affairs is not what Satan looks forward to. He therefore
seeks to frustrate it by preventing us from bearing fruit. Even after the seed
has germinated he does not give up. He will only give up when we have borne
fruit, because then, the damage will have been done.
His greatest tool in preventing fruit bearing, after
germinating is the deceitfulness of riches. Firstly men are made aware of the
cares of this life. The pleasures of this life are made to become man’s real
concern. Men are made to believe that without fulfilling the cares of this
life, they are only half accomplished. Over and above the basic necessities of
life secondary and pleasurable wants are made to appear so important that
without being satisfied, a man feels out of place.
To the Bible believer, these worries are elevated to a place
of greater prominence than our salvation and hope. He is made to forget that he
is only a pilgrim and sojourner on this earth. Rather than passing the time of
our sojourning in the pursuit of holiness, the pursuit of wealth is substituted
.The believer is made to see and admire the glitter of gold and not the glory
of he who redeemed us. Avarice slowly takes control of the believer. Greedy and
selfishness renders what little word the believer had left fruitless. When the
believer becomes fruitless, fewer people are led into the kingdom and the devil
considers the battle won.
This is the very process through which The Prosperity Gospel
takes us through since its teachings cloud our vision and most followers of the
doctrine see nothing more than money in their lives or as the reason for their
living. Instead of placing emphasis on our pilgrimage and our conduct as
sojourners emphasis is placed on our permanent residence on earth. Job said we
brought nothing with us into the world and we shall leave behind the world with
all that belongs to the world but the prosperity gospel says love the world and
all that belongs to it. Of cause the language is not that outright, otherwise
even the most hardened sinner would shun such a doctrine, but reading between
the lines of its teachings that is exactly what every sane and sober man would
read. Did it ever occur to you that the prosperity gospel is devoid of warnings
against the vanities of worldly riches? Those many promises of wealth are
designed to choke the good word in you so that you are unfruitful.
Before I explain how this is achieved let me first comment
on the dangers of the treachery of riches in light of Matthew chapter 6 verses
19 to 34 and Luke chapter 12 verses 15 to 34. I beg you to read the two
passages before continuing with the following comments. In both passages, which
I suppose is one event being reported from two different angles by two
different authors, the Lord was contrasting worldly riches and heavenly wealth.
In Matthew he starts by advising us not to store riches where they are easily
corroded or stolen but where they are safe from corrosion and theft. The Lord
further says in Matthew 6:22 that if your eye is clouded your whole body will
be in darkness. There is nothing closer to the truth of what we daily observe than
this statement. If your vision is directed towards making money only, your
entire being will be engrossed in the quest of riches and nothing else. You
will think, eat, drink, sleep and live money all your life. The love and
service of God will rank second to the search of uncertain riches. The Lord
says that at that stage it will be very difficult to serve both God and mammon
because the two have different and opposing demands. You will thus end up
serving the one on whom your eye is fixed.
In Luke chapter 12 verses 16 to 21 he told a parable which
shows that riches are not at all a guarantee for the future. The rich fool died
the night he ended putting together a retirement plan or the night the plan
matured. He never had time to enjoy his wealth gathered over a long period and
possible hard work hence the preacher said all is vanity. How many among us
engross ourselves in the search of wealth not realising that we may never have
time to enjoy that wealth. In Luke 6:21 the Lord advises us to be rich towards
God which is more noble than making worldly wealth. Do not get me wrong here, I
am not saying that wealth is sinful but that engrossing oneself in the hunt of
wealth is wrong and is what takes our vision from the things of God. Paul’s advice
to Timothy in his first epistle to Timothy 6:17 to 18 cocerning people who God
blessed with wealth is that they must not trust in uncertain riches but in the
living Lord who gives us all things to enjoy. He further says that the rich
must be willing to share with others thereby becoming rich in good works. That
is how one becomes rich in God.
Someone might be saying how will we survive if we are not worried
about the concerns of this life? God actually urges us not to be worried
because he cares for us more than other creatures, which he never allows to
starve. When we become rich in God we will not be worried about the cares of
this life and our efforts will be directed towards the advancement of the
kingdom of God. We will not hesitate to give for the cause of God’s kingdom.
Our wealth will be used to promote the kingdom of God. Matthew 6:33 and Luke
12:31 implores us to seek God’s kingdom first. In closing the Lord said, ‘Sell
that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a
treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither
moth corrupteth.’ Every person’s heart and life is always where his wealth is
therefore it is important to know where to place your wealth.
Let me now turn back to how the gospel of making money turns
us from the things of God by chocking the good Word of the Lord. Whilst you are
in the world and lost, a messenger of God comes along with the good word of the
salvation of Christ which you gladly receive thereby becoming a member and part
of the family of God. The righteousness of Christ is imparted on you because
the Lord says, ‘You are clean through the word which I have spoken to you.’
Suddenly you have hope, which you never had before and like Abraham of old you
go about seeking for a city whose architect and builder is God and you consider
yourself a pilgrim and sojourner on earth. 1 Peter 1:3; Heb.11: 8-10, 13-16.
Because you now consider yourself a stranger, an alien, a foreigner or pilgrim
on earth you begin to lose love for the things of this world. The corruption
and greedy of the world becomes your first class enemy and this infuriates the
devil who notices a crumbling of his kingdom in you as is reported in 1st John
2: 15 – 17.
The first thing that Satan will seek to do is to choke your
hope so as to minimise any further damage you may cause to his kingdom. Through
dubious means, he makes you to see and admire the glitter of worldly wealth but
he must do so cunningly so that you will not become aware of the lie but you
will see in your mind's eye that it is God speaking. Paul said in 2nd
Corinthians 11:14 that the devil can transform himself into an angel of light
in order to cheat the people of God. Bible scriptures are suddenly twisted to
promote the corruption, greedy and love for the world in union with avarice
that slowly creeps back into your life and you become a money worshiping
Christian in the flimsy pretext of prosperity. Every scripture that speaks of
blessings is misconstrued to mean opulence or dollars and cents and nothing
else. Where it says you must guard against forsaking your God when your silver
and gold is multiplied since it is he who causes you to be rich, the warning
not to forsake your God is silently removed and the verse is changed to read,
‘when your dollars and cents have multiplied, remember that it is God who gave
you power to get wealth.’ At times it is even made to mean God gives you power
to get rich therefore you must seek to multiply your wealth. Whilst it is very
true that the Lord gives us power to get wealth, it is equally wrong to just
speak of the empowerment and omit the warning not to forsake him by turning to
mammon and it is very wrong to omit the fact that he gives us that power so
that he may confirm his covenant with us and that covenant is a covenant of
love under which we will not allow our fellow men to wallow in poverty whilst
we are swimming on lavishness. Sowing to the flesh and sowing to the spirit is
out of the blue spoken of in terms of money and nothing else thereby rendering
money the core business of your faith
It is extremely true that God gives us the power to get
wealth, but it is absolutely wrong to make the pursuit of wealth your
preoccupation. It is Satan’s vocation to stretch truth beyond elasticity. By
stretching truth beyond elasticity I mean overextending reality. Truth is like
a spring metal. As long as spring metal is stretched, bent or even deformed
within the amount of pressure the spring can withstand, it has the ability to
return back to its original shape. If, however, the force is too much, the spring
may snap or break. The same can be said about rubber or any other material with
the property of elasticity.
If truth is stretched beyond its limitations it may
permanently be deformed or may break into two or more pieces and such type of
truth is falsehood. Impaired truth is not truth at all but outright falsehood
that Satan uses to fool people into believing that it is truth. Bible truths
concerning the Lord’s providence and promises of plenty are daily deformed,
stretched beyond their limitations and are either leavened or halved so as to
fool the people into believing that they are the original Bible truths. I will
now explain one way truth is deformed and distorted to cheat innocent people
who may believe that the warped truth is the genuine truth.
One good example of scriptures that are distorted to mean something
completely different from
what they mean
is Deuteronomy 8 verse 18. The mentioned scripture reads, ‘but thou
shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee the power to get
wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore unto thy fathers, as
it is this day.’ Even taken in isolation from the rest of the chapter, the most
stupid of all fools will testify that the quoted scripture is a reminder of
God’s caring attitude and a warning to men not to forsake God who is man’s
source of blessing and prosperity. It is no secret that it is God who gives us
the power, ability, capacity or means to get wealth. Even the Lord Jesus,
during his ministry on earth, testified that God cares for men more than he is
concerned for the lilies of the valley. So, in simple language, wealth is a
blessing of the lord.
Deuteronomy 8:18 does not say that God gives us the craving
to get wealth but the means, capacity or ability to get wealth. Desire and
ability are not synonymous. They are poles apart. For example, Satan desired to
be like the Most High but failed to attain that lofty status because he lacked
the capacity to be like the Most High. The impotent man who had been ill for
thirty eight years and had been at the pool of Bethesda for a long time desired
to jump into the pool first after the waters had been disturbed by the angel of
the Lord but could not because he lacked the power to do so. Moses desired very
much to enter the Promised Land but did not because God denied him the power to
enter. God gives the power and not the desire because it is the power that gets
things done and not the desire.
Deuteronomy 8:18 is not a catalyst for lust but a warning
against making wealth a god and a defence. To me the scripture is a warning to
those who may become rich to guard against making wealth a god but to remember
that it is God who gave them the means to be rich and therefore they must seek
to use the wealth in a manner that glorifies God. We are warned not to forget
the Lord and are reminded that God gives us the capacity to get wealth so that
he may establish his covenant that he swore to his early followers even as it
stands today.
God does not give us the power to get wealth for the sake of
making us wealthy, big and arrogant. Many people miss this point and that is
why wealth becomes a snare to many and not a blessing. It is the main reason
why it is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a
rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. God gives us the ability to get wealth
for one purpose and that sole intention alone, that he confirms his covenant
with us. God swore a covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that covenant was
a covenant of salvation, love and blessing. He said to Abraham, ‘in thee shall
all the families of the earth be blessed,’ and that statement also formed part
of the covenant that God seeks to substantiate today. In his epistle to the
Galatian church, Paul says that we who walk by faith are children of Abraham.
Now if we are the children of Abraham, we must be a blessing to the families of
the world. Our wealth must be used for the furtherance of the good news about
Christ. By the furtherance of the Gospel I do not mean only sending an
evangelist abroad and nothing more.
Furtherance of the gospel involves assisting an evangelist
to travel to the field of operation, helping meet the local church’s bona fide
needs and also helping the needy. To many the first two items present no
problem but the last one is unacceptable and I will not cease to mention it
time and again because it is as important as the first two. The Lord gave a
certain young man the power to get wealth and indeed he became rich. One day
the rich young man came to the Lord Jesus and said, ‘what shall I do to inherit
life?’ the Lord looked at him and loved him and then answered, ‘sell all that
thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven: and come, follow me.’ It is reported that the rich ruler became very
sorrowful because he was very rich. See Luke 18: 18 - 27. I think I know why he
became sorrowful. His wealth had become his god and he never could serve two
gods, his wealth and the Lord. That is how deceitful riches can be; they can
deny you everlasting bliss.
How does distribution of our wealth further the gospel? What
does the gospel constitute? Sharing one’s wealth with others furthers the
gospel in that when the world sees how caring the church is and how its members
care and love others, the world will see the nature and goodness of the one the
church believes in, serves and preaches. Even when the world sees love between
believers, it will be convinced that Jesus is Lord of the church and who knows
the number of those who turned to the Lord without a word preached but after
seeing the love of Christ in action. To the second question I say the Gospel
constitutes believing God and his doctrines, obeying God, doing what he
commands and preaching it in word and action. Preaching alone is not the entire
Gospel.
I hope I will not be carried away so much that I am led away
from the subject at hand and the point I wish to put across. Deuteronomy 8:18
must not be taken in isolation but must be taken within the full context of the
entire eighth chapter of that book. A closer look at that chapter will reveal
that God was warning Israel against following other gods, which leads to
forgetting the only true God.
It is unfortunate that many today have become followers of
mammon rather than of God for lack of vision and knowledge. I am convinced that
had Christ said to the rich young man of
Luke chapter 18, ‘sell all you have, and give me or the
ministry and I will give you back whatever you give multiplied a hundredfold,’
the young man would have sold everything including the sandals he was wearing
at that time. He would have closed his bank account, if he had any, and
dispersed the money as instructed all in the hope that he would reap extra
money and wealth a hundred times more than what he would have given. The reason
why he did not do what he was advised by the Master is that the Lord had said
that after distributing his wealth among the poor, he would have treasure in
heaven rather than improve his earthly life. How could he dispose off what he
had gathered for a lifetime all for the hope of getting wealth in an unknown
world? I believe that must have been what went on in the young man’s mind. It
also is the reaction of many today.
It is because of this attitude that many have become
followers of mammon turning Jehovah into a mere wealth provider. Our sermons
and literature are full of encouragements to desire money and wealth. We
counsel people to give for only one reason, that they may force God into
multiplying their wealth, because, we often claim, he is a slave to his own
word. We do not give for the love of God but for the love and craving for money
and wealth. Money takes centre stage whilst God is reduced to playing second
place. I term that deceitfulness of riches.
It is out of this background that I call you to think about
Deuteronomy chapter eight. A closer look at this entire chapter starting from
the first verse will make it plain that God wishes to remain the most important
person in our lives. He reminds Israel that he allowed them to suffer hunger
and want so that they would learn to depend on him. He further reminds them
that he preserved their clothes for forty years so that they would appreciate
and acknowledge God’s caring love. After these reminders he goes down to give
them the promise of plenty. The Lord would provide plenty minerals and
agricultural products. Their flocks, herds, silver and gold would multiply and
at that stage, the Lord reminds them in verse 18 not to put their trust in the
resultant wealth since it is God who would have given them the capacity to get
the wealth and for that reason they must trust him always. He then warns in
verses 19 and 20 that should they forget the Lord and follow other gods, the
Lord would forsake them. The most treacherous foreign god in our day is mammon
who is being allowed free entrance into our churches. My heart bleeds when I
see many being trained and conditioned to trust mammon and not God. Paul in his
advice in 1 Timothy 6: 17,18 said, ‘charge them that are rich in this world,
that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living
God, who giveth us all things richly to enjoy; that they may do good, that they
be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.’ The advice
here is that we aught to trust in the living God and not in wealth as it is
something that is uncertain. Preachers constantly tell their congregations that
it is godly to lust after uncertain worldly riches all in the name of the
so-called prosperity gospel. It is rarely mentioned that should God grant us
the means to be rich, it is all so that we may use the wealth for good works.
Instead people are constantly urged to desire wealth with an appetite that is
never satisfied.
The greatest shock that I have come across this decade is
the attack on I Timothy 6:10 and the unjustified change it has suffered at the
hands of prosperity gospellers. This verse in the eyes of prosperity gospellers
now reads, ‘for the lack of money is the root of all evil: which while some
lacked, they erred from the faith.’ The more radical ones make it read, ‘the
availability of money [not God] is the source of all good and success: which
while some desired they have been strengthened in the faith.’ It is no secret
that some readers have read or heard these two statements and to some they
appeared godly and great statements of faith and positive confession. What many
failed to observe is that neither of the two statements is godly and neither is
a statement of faith and positive confession but are both diabolical gimmicks
by the prince of darkness framed with the intention of turning unsuspecting
saints away from the living God to mammon, the notorious god of gluttony. This
is the reason why those who proclaim the two statements over and over again
tell their followers that the first step towards the attainment of wealth,
before they even think of tithing or giving offerings, is to desire money. It
is a great craving and appetite for money that drives them and that is the very
reason why they substituted love of money with lack of money. If they tell you
to love money as a first step towards attainment of wealth whilst the Bible
says that the love of money is the root of all evil I need not tell you the
source of that doctrine. The Lord said that it is easier for a camel to enter
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man, not those who lack money, to
enter the kingdom. If those who lack money stand better chances of entering
heaven than those who have plenty of money, how then can the lack of money be
the root of sin? No preacher has a right to tell you to love money but it is
every preacher’s duty and obligation to urge you to love the Lord your God with
all your heart, soul and mind. Remember that each preacher preaches his own god
whom he desires his congregation to follow and that god can either be Jehovah
or mammon so you must be wise in all your dealings because the god you serve
could end up not being the God of all creation hence whatever wealth you obtain
might actually turn out to be of no value.
One very good example of a church that was very rich in
material goods or monetary terms but miserably poor in the sight of God is the
church which was at Laodicea during the days when the aged apostle John was
imprisoned on the island of Patmos. Laodicea was located some kilometres north
of the city of Ephesus and was a centre of commerce and finance. That town was
famous for advancement in the medication and treatment of eye ailments that
brought great wealth to it. By merely being located in such a famous financial
city, the Laodicean church must have been constituted of wealthy members. A
church made up of wealthy members is itself in turn rich also and that could be
the reason why the Laodicean church was rich. To the modern day believer, the
financial status of that church would have been misconstrued to mean that the
Lord blessed the church. This would have been the epitome of the church
portrayed by propagators and followers of the Prosperity gospel, a
self-sufficient church that lacked nothing. A church so rich that it affords to
send its pastors on expensive holidays abroad. If it was in our day the church
building would have been a state of the art all weather building completely
fitted with high-tech air conditioners and fully furnished with up to date
pricey and comfort laden contemporary furniture. How can such a church have any
unpaid bills? The church’s wealthy members will compete to settle unpaid bills.
What can stop its pastors from driving the most expensive, latest and up to the
minute luxury vehicles? Such a church can operate its own upmarket and classy
play centres.
The Bible says that the Laodicean church lacked nothing yet
the Lord said to it in Revelation 3:17, ‘… thou art wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind and naked.’ Before this verdict, he had weighed the
church’s works and had found them to be lukewarm. This then shows us that wealth
alone is not enough but works that display the righteousness of God are what
matter. His advice in Revelation 3:18 to this rich but poor church was that it
was supposed to buy gold tried in fire, put on white raiment and anoint its
eyes with eye salve. It is interesting to note that from a physical
perspective, Laodicea was famous for eye ointment and for that reason it was
rich in gold which meant that its citizens were well dressed yet the Lord
ordered the Laodicean church to obtain the three items, gold, eye ointment and
clothing which from the human mind the church boasted of having in the flesh.
Gold symbolises godliness elsewhere in many scriptures in the Bible. In this
case I am persuaded to believe that Christ was directing this poor church to
obtain godliness instead of temporary riches it boasted of having. This is the
type of godliness tried and tested in the fires of perseverance and endurance
in the midst of trials and tribulations. He was further urging them to put on
the raiment or garment of righteousness as opposed to the material garment and
to anoint their eyes with spiritual eyesight as opposed the famous Laodicean
eye salve so that they could see properly. In the book of Matthew the Lord had
indicated that eyes with blurred vision could dump the whole body into
darkness. The Laodicean church’s eyesight was fixed on its wealth and goods and
as a result it had shifted its focus from the Lord to its goods. It had thus
been dumped into the darkness of spiritual poverty. It is this very danger that
the modern church risks falling into. Where does the prosperity gospel teaching
fix your eyesight on? Does it fix your visualization on the Lord or on wealth?
The solution to avoiding such dangers or to escape from the
trap if we have already fallen prey lies in the following three ways: -
·
Putting on the godliness of God and his Christ
in all our behaviours, ways of life and our religious convictions.
·
Putting on the raiment of the righteousness of
Christ in our works and lifestyles by allowing him to live his life through us.
·
Shifting our eyesight from worldly goods or
wealth and focussing that eyesight and vision on Christ thereby putting our
full trust and dependence on Christ.
That was the only way the Laodicean church could have pleased
the Lord. If its works had been found to be lukewarm, the church was supposed
to refocus its hope and faith on Christ and start to live godly lives full of
the works of righteousness that will never be indifferent.
Riches can be so devious that they will not only cloud your
vision and service for the Lord but can actually terminate your love for God
therefore each Christian must approach the subject with caution. Never spent
the time of your temporary residence on earth in the pursuit of wealth because,
‘we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing
out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.’ Our time should,
instead be spent in the pursuit of righteousness, love, hope and faith. If at
all God gives us the capacity to get wealth, we must be grateful and use the
wealth to the glory of God. If we are denied that power we must not be
discouraged but must be satisfied with what we have and bless the Lord for all
that we have. The most important thing is that we have treasure where no thief
will break and no moth or rust destroy our wealth. Wealth or no wealth, the
Lord is still on the throne and reigns supreme. Whether mammon loves it or not,
Jehovah remains our God and our love and allegiance remain directed towards the
great God of Israel. Prosperity or no prosperity we still share whatever we
have because of the love of God. With or without money we must press on towards
the mark of our high calling. The Lord Jesus Christ must remain supreme in our lives.
Never allow the word sown within you to be chocked by whatever may so attempt.
This post is an extract from my book Saints-Made-Merchandise-Analysis-Offerings and I encourage you to get a copy for yourself so that you may understand the context whithin which this applies.
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