False Profits of God : Overturning the Moneychangers’ Table

Rarely do I get angry, but even Jesus got angry once when He overturned the moneychangers table in the Temple. There are still modern day moneychangers, and they use God to rake in multiple millions of dollars. “Call in today and you will receive a ten times miracle your offering…today, if you sow a thousand dollar seed, you can expect a financial miracle. If you don’t sow this seed, then you don’t have faith in God, and you are not trusting in God.” So said Mike Murdock recently during yet another fund raiser, disguised as a “Camp Meeting”. Morris Cerullo on the Inspirational Network recently on their program seems to be into religion to receive, not to give.

Morris Cerullo has an estimated annual income of 1.5 million dollars! Plus his 12,000 square-foot lakeside home, and 1,100 square foot garage accommodates his many luxury vehicles. His home has an estimated worth of over $12 million dollars. He has a Gulfstream C-4 estimated at over $50 million dollars, but he still want you to keep sending in your “seeds of faith” at $1,000 per person.

Cerullo once said something that I considered blasphemous, saying “Did you know that from the beginning of time the whole purpose of God was to reproduce Himself?…And when we stand up here, brother, you're not looking at Morris Cerullo; you're looking at God. You're looking at Jesus” (Morris Cerullo, “The End Time Manifestation of the Sons of God,” Morris Cerullo World Evangelism tape 1). If this is so, and God owns all of the wealth on the earth, why would God need $1,000 seeds of faith from a thousand people?

Their “Camp Meetings” are nothing more than a fundraiser. They spend over 90% of their time on the program begging money from viewers. Cerullo, who proclaims to be an Apostle and a prophet, would be better called a for-profit. He sells “blessed handkerchiefs”, begs your money, and makes God out to be a quid pro quo God.

Mike Murdock sells a book that is aimed at getting rich from giving. He entirely misses the point of giving to God. He goes on to say that if you fail to give a ‘seed of faith” of one thousand dollars, you are revealing your weakness of faith and lack of trust in God. When you give this “seed of faith” it is evidence of your faith. But how can giving to get match what Paul says about giving; to give with a cheerful heart (2 cor.9:7) and that we should give according to, our faith? No! According “to what each man has decided in his heart” and not “under compulsion”. But many TV evangelists, not all certainly, are compelling you to give “seeds of faith” in order that you would receive. This is not “out of a cheerful heart, but a quid pro quo in relation to the giver and God. God does not bless us if we are giving to get.

Just like Rod Parsley and Benny Hinn, they predict the future with reckless abandon in order to bilk people out of their money. One former writer and staff member of Cerullo’s said he prophesied that, before 1994, there would be a worldwide depression, “It will make the Wall Street crash of 1929 seem like a picnic.” He was dead wrong…again. Similar TV evangelists have promises financial breakthroughs and miracles from God, but they depended upon the view sending in their “seeds of faith“. He preaches some doctrinal truth, but mixes it with promises that he can not deliver. He brokers your money for promises of favor from God. But if you mix error with truth, like a few drops of poison in spring water, it renders it a deadly concoction. These are gospels all right, false gospels.

On CNN, false prophet Benny Hinn bragged about raising the dead in his meetings.

The anchorman asked: “Did you see it happen?”

Hinn, stammering, replied, “No, I heard about it?”

He said Castro would die in the 1990s and God would destroy all homosexuals with fire by 1995.

You will never, ever hear them read Proverbs 30:8, which says, “Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread“. Otherwise, I might have too much and disown you and say 'Who is the Lord?'”. Ecclesiastes 5:13 says, “I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner.”

Promising riches is not how God works. The eye of a needle” is part of a phrase attributed to Jesus by the synoptic Gospels: “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven“. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Math. 19:23-24, Mark 10:24-25, Luke 18:24-25).

The Apostle Paul talked about those who preach the Gospel for money. In their wake, they leave shattered lives of widows, the poor, desperate, and those who are on their last straw. They leave them destitute, angry and bitter at God for not fulfilling His part of the promise. Paul was very angry at them and exposed them in Titus 1:11, telling Titus of those, “Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.” Filthy lucre is another way of saying dirty money. He insisted that these are those “whose mouths must be stopped”.

The “prosperity or health and wealth gospels” contradict the very Word of God. Remember that Jesus and the disciples took no purse for themselves.

Many of these “ministries” have IRS irregularities, former disgruntled employees who were never paid what they were promised. They have absolutely no accountability with fiscal evangelical associations (1, 2) which monitor financial records of different ministries. If you see the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) or Ministry Watch labels on their websites or on their literature, they are being held fiscally accountable for all of their donations.

The seeds of faith are more seeds of greed may contain some accuracy in scripture, but remember that Satan himself can appear as an angel of light and even 1% of error negates the integrity of the entire message. They may quote scripture, and appear to be firmly grounded theologically and biblically, to the basic principles and articles of faith in the Word of God, and the Holy Bible, but the devil likes to mix error with truth, as during Jesus 40 days in the wilderness during His temptation.

There are many legitimate ministries that you can trust who submit their financial records to the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). Here are just a few of the ministries that have the highest ratings: Billy Graham; Hour of Decision, Dr. R. C. Sprouls; Ligonier Ministries, Dr. Charles Stanley; In-Touch, Adrian Rogers; Love Worth Finding, Dr. James Dobson; Focus on the Family, Chip Ingram; Living on the Edge, John MacArthur; Grace to You, as well as Dr. David Jeremiah, Ravi Zacharias, and John Piper.

The truth is that a lot of TV evangelists care more about raking in the money than they do about their viewers salvation. This includes Morris Cerullo, who care more about his Gulf stream jet, his $12 million dollar mansion, his Mercedes Benz and other luxury cars, and his $1.5 million dollar annual income. Few things make me mad. Anyone that knows me knows that I don’t often get angry, but I am indignant over the abuse of Christian’s generosity. He is taking advantage of so many people in their desperate hope of getting out of debt, with promises he can’t deliver, telling people they can get their homes paid off or out of mortgage. It is nothing less than stealing the widow’s mite, robbing hope, and making God out to be a quid pro quo God.

One Comment

  1. marlon nocete said:

    it’s really true. even here in the Philippines. thousand of Filipinos are giving their money (or i should say; exchanging their souls to Satan) for prosperity gospel of these “wolves in sheep’s clothing”.

    March 2, 2016
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