Evangelicals Fail At Evangelism
On Easter it is important to remember the meaning of the day and the sacrifices made by Jesus and those that have over centuries evangelized his words to a frightened world.
Evangelicals Fail At Evangelism
By Anna Hessel
Health And Wealth “Gospel”
The evangelical pastors have failed in evangelism, and appear to be promoting health and wealth. Forget humility and poverty.
Evangelical pastors, who’s goal should be to teach faith and humility, are doing just the opposite. In the name of God, they take Biblical content out of context to breed a “health and wealth” gospel. This is in direct opposition to those who serve God faithfully in poverty with humble hearts. Far right-wing “evangelicals”, such as Joel Osteen, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson, tout the idea voiced by Osteen’s sister Lisa Osteen Comes, “planning a financial vision and working with God guarantee a profitable return.” Ms Comes quotes Proverbs 21:5, “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity”. This truth is followed by verse 6, neglected by Comes, which says, “A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare.” (NIV) She goes on to say, “it starts with the decision to change”
More To It
I need to stop here. As a follower of Christ, I ask you, can one change the onset of a debilitating illness, which more often than not, brings upon undue financial hardship? The collapse of a corporation that leads to unemployment cannot be blamed on the employee. Can anyone, other than God, stop a natural disaster, or a pandemic?
Lavish Lifestyles
Hurricane Harvey left many people homeless but there was no help from Joel Osteen.
The Bible clearly teaches us to give to the poor – Proverbs 19:17 “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done” (NIV); Joel Osteen, who drives a Ferrari 458 and makes no apologies for his lavish lifestyle, yet claimed in an interview with Oprah that, “money should never be the focus of your life”, calling it “shallow”. Osteen faced criticism in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey for not opening his Lakewood Church, in Houston as shelter for those left homeless. Church officials claimed the building had flooding issues. Yet pictures showed the parking lot to be dry as a bone.
Woe To You
I am sometimes inspired by comments from Osteen, but I cannot condone his behavior. As Jesus said, in Luke 6:24, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort”, and “Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:25, NIV).
A Sin To Be Poor?
Mother Theresa spent her life living a humble life serving God and the poor.
Motivational speaker, Randy Gage, in his “success and prosperity blog”, says “First I should clarify, I don’t think it’s a sin to be born poor. But it is a sin to stay that way.” (www.randygage.com/is-poverty-a-sin) This outrageous and blasphemous claim is in direct contradiction to Jesus. Luke 6, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (verse 20b, NIV). I wonder, does Gage really believe the enormous contributions made by Mother Teresa, for instance, and others like her, is not blessed by God, doing His divine work?
Coronavirus On Campus
Jerry Falwell, Jr.’s Liberty University has many students frustrated and concerned by his decision to keep the school and residence halls open during the COVID-19 crisis. When questioned, Falwell, Jr., stated, “Our thinking was, let’s get them back as soon as we can – the ones who want to come back”. Despite the health risk, he expected that there would be a return of 5000 students to the campus. He also conjectured, without a shred of evidence, that COVID-19 is part of a plot by North Koreans against the United States and the media is intentionally exaggerating the coronavirus in order to, “hurt Trump”.
Graham Rings Wrong Bell
Franklin Graham hates what is happening on the U.S.-Mexican border but blames everyone but President Donald J. Trump.
Franklin Graham, a known ally of Donald Trump, praised him for being the “first president that has tried and is trying to resolve this issue”, meaning improving relations with North Korea, thanking God for Trump’s alleged efforts. Graham also commented about the U.S.-Mexico border situation, “I think it’s disgraceful, it’s terrible to see families ripped apart, and I don’t support that one bit” but he then pinned blame on “the politicians from the last 20, 30 years that have allowed this to escalate to the point where it is today” and went on to say, “the situation that we have today is a result of our lawmakers in Washington over generations ignoring this.”
Years Past
May I point out, over this time period there have been leaders who professed faith in God, both Republican and Democrat, many of whom were counseled by Franklin Graham’s father Billy, and none of them separated families or caged children. Franklin staunchly affirmed that we are a country of laws, and the law must be followed. However, the Bible calls us to not agree to that which contradicts God’s precepts. I believe that Graham is displaying one of the many signs that he is following “Trumpianity”, not Christianity. (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/10-signs-youre-actually-following-trumpianity-instead-of-christianity/).
Trumpianity vs Christianity
Benjamin L. Corey is disturbed by the acceptance of what he calls Trumpianity among the Christian right. In a widely read essay, Corey outlines 10 signs of Trumpianity. I will not list them all, but several are worth noting. One such sign of “Trumpianity” is the difference in how they talk about Barack Obama and Donald Trump. When Obama was president the evangelicals criticized every move he made. Often in quite demeaning terms. Yet today, with Trump in office, they claim, “Christians should respect the President”, and if someone disagrees with him, or his policies, they are “spreading hate”. The most alarming one, to me at least, is the claim that Obama’s election resulted from evil, while Trump was chosen by God.
Trumpianity Exposed
Evangelicals have decided they are following Trumpianity instead of Christianity.
Trump obviously lacks Christian mores. Yet the evangelical leadership vehemently support him. Trump and his false pretense of Christian faith is transparent. He clearly lacks the spiritual fruit detailed in Galatians 5:22-23a, “…love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” In the Left Behind series, Corey points out, many were deceived and fell in line behind a worldly leader and that led them to follow an entirely new religion. Trump’s speech reveals the man. A man of immorality, adultery, coarse language and violence. The Bible admonishes to not covet the neighbor’s wife, yet he has and brags of it. Trump insults or threatens violence nearly every day. While the Bible admonishes us not to repay evil with evil, and commands us to love our enemies. Those who believe in the gospel according to Trump suddenly trumpet, “Whom am I to judge?”
Love Is A Feeling
Joyce Meyer tells us, “Our feelings are unreliable”; she goes on to say, “The sooner we learn feelings are fickle, the better off we are”. My response to this, as a woman of God, is that love is a feeling, the strongest of feelings and should be shared with all.
Have a Blessed Easter.
