In 1st Timothy 6:10, Saint Paul said: "For the love of
money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have
wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs (RSV
Bible)." Of course, this verse is often misquoted as "money is the
root of all evils," which is not the same at all. Before Paul, however, in
the Gospel of Matthew 6:24, Jesus had already spoken about loving money and
material wealth very clearly. Jesus said: "No one can serve two masters;
for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to
the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (RSV
Bible)." This passage, unlike the first, can be misquoted as saying "you cannot serve God and money" because that is in reality a proper paraphrasing
of the text; however, I will let you research the meaning of "mammon" on
your own if you still have doubts. Now, I wanted to share these two verses from the
New Testament because as Christians we should consider both to be of great
value, but I really wonder with great concern if they are well understood by
some televangelists these days.
I recently read a Huff Post article by Russ Pierson titled:
‘War on Faith?' John Oliver and the Televangelists. Below is a portion from that article.
"John Oliver, proved his
mettle with his remarkable expose of the -- ahem -- "seedy" side of
faith: televangelists who are purveyors of the so-called Prosperity Gospel,
reaping rich rewards and very un-Jesus-like lifestyles by preying on the poor
and the weak who are often literally seeking a lifeline in the church. They
manipulate the misfortunate through an intentional mis-reading of the Christian
scriptures sometimes called "seed faith."
This notion, that you "sow a
seed" in the direction of having your own prayers answered, inevitably
requires the followers of these televangelists to send their offerings to these
self-described ministries. But that is often just the beginning, as Oliver
blisteringly exposed through his seven-month long trail of correspondence with
televangelist, Robert Tilton. Posing as a small donor, Tilton's ministry again
and again encouraged--even chided--Oliver to up his giving.
This "seed faith" dynamic
can reach tragic proportions in the lives of the gullible. Oliver relayed the painful
story of Bonnie Parker, a woman who responded with thousands of dollars in
gifts to Kenneth Copeland's faith message rather than seek medical treatment
for her terminal cancer (Huff Post).”
Hopefully after reading this, it becomes a wakeup call to
many Christians. This article was
referring to John Oliver’s recent report on his HBO program Last Week Tonight with
John Oliver. In this report, John Oliver was NOT waging a war on faith,
although I am sure those making the big profits would like to make that case.
In fact, John Oliver said before the report:
"There are roughly 350,000
congregations in the United States, and many of them do great work: feeding the
hungry, clothing the poor, but this is not a story about them. This is about
the churches who exploit people's faith for monetary gain (HBO)."
To close, I personally can probably add much more to support
John Oliver’s findings with relevance to nepotism within these same churches,
and about the huge salaries some make, but I think I will stop here before
things get any uglier than they already are. The Huff Post article ends by
saying: ‘“This is not a "war on faith;" rather, it is time for
Christians of good conscience to wage the "war on fraud."’ My final
thought is that if we focus on 1st Timothy 6:10, and what Jesus is quoted
saying in Matthew 6:24, we may be able to recognize fraud within the faith, and
not become victims of this fraud. Blessings and I hope you enjoyed reading! Oh, also, you can read the full article which I mentioned on Huff Post at the link
below. Bye for now!
'War on Faith?' John Oliver and the Televangelists | Russ Pierson
References:
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, HBO
RSV Bible
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