“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”
Isaiah 55: 6-7
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Yahweh Wants You, Not Your Money
I was saved, born again, when I was 8-years-old. We were living in McRae, Georgia at the time. It’s a rural South Georgia town. The Baptist church in which I was baptized was across the street from our house. Mine was a real “born-again experience”. I was too young to understand it, but I knew that something powerful had happened in my life.
Just like everyone else, I went through the adolescent phase. Throughout that phase of my life, I understood that there were things I was not allowed to do. Don’t get me wrong. I made plenty of mistakes. When I did, Yahweh’s Spirit convicted me and brought me to repentance. At times, I felt a little awkward, because people my age were doing things that I was not allowed to do. At a young age, I had to accept the fact that I could not follow the in crowd. They were heading in the wrong direction. Even though many times I wanted to join them, I couldn’t. Now I’m glad I didn’t.
“Many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22: 14)
Cussing was a rite of passage for young boys in South Georgia where I lived, and we learned to use profanity. Yahweh’s Spirit would not allow me to participate. Where Yahweh’s Name was concerned, that was especially true. I didn’t even know Yahweh’s Name at that time. Just like everyone else, I called Him “the LORD” and “GOD”. Even though those are not His Name, Yahweh’s Spirit would not permit me to use “the LORD” and “GOD” in an inappropriate manner, because I was referring to the Person Yahweh.
Yahweh is jealous and protective about His Name. The way we use it is important to Him. Misusing Yahweh’s Name or using it in such a way that we attribute it to false gods is a serious matter. Later in life when I wrote His Name is Yahweh, that became very clear to me. I say that knowing full well that many people today refer to Yahweh as “GOD”, but they have no idea that “God” is the name of a false deity. If you haven’t read His Name is Yahweh, you should. Since that’s not the subject of this editorial, I’ll stop there.
Katie and I were married in August 1972. In the spring of 1973, we visited her parents in Miami, and I saw Paul Crouch on a Miami UHF television channel. He was raising money to pay for a satellite that he used to broadcast his new ministry’s television programming. His ministry was called “Trinity Broadcasting Network ” (TBN). Paul and Jan Crouch were co-founders of the network. That day, Crouch boldly proclaimed that that satellite in particular was referred to in Revelation 14: 6, and his audience would have the opportunity to participate in fulfilling that prophecy. All they had to do was write a check to TBN.
“And I saw another angel flying in midheaven with an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people.” (Revelation 14: 6)
Kenneth Copeland was on the set with Crouch that day. He stepped forward quickly and gave Crouch a check for $100. Copeland said, “I want to make the first contribution.” At that instant, Yahweh told me,
“This is wrong. Don’t have anything to do with them.”
Nothing is happenstance. I was witnessing the launching of TBN. What happened that day has stuck with me through the years. I have watched the network like a hawk since then. I didn’t watch the programming. I watched news items about the network.
Today, Crouch’s message and the messages of others like him are known as “the prosperity gospel”. Crouch conducted “praise-a-thons” on TBN twice a year. They generated in the neighborhood of $90 million a year in donations to TBN. Most of that money came from people who were struggling to make ends meet. In other words, Paul and Jan Crouch were fleecing the flock. See the videos below:
When Paul and Jan Crouch started TBN, Kenneth Copeland already had a thriving ministry of his own. It’s called “Kenneth Copeland Ministries”. He founded it in 1967, and he was wildly prosperous. To prosperity gospel preachers like Copeland and the Crouches, nothing says “I have arrived” like living in the lap of luxury the likes of which most people can’t imagine. See the videos below:
In 1974, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker started Praise the Lord Network (PTL). They used it to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for “the LORD”, but borrowing a line from Hank Williams, Jr., they always told people to send their donations to their address.
Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and their ministry went down in flames. See “New Details About The ‘Bakker Scandal’ Have The Public In Awe”. Also, watch the video below:
That Nightline interview with Ted Koppel was conducted before Jim Bakker was sentenced to 45 years in prison in 1989. Bakker’s sentence was later reduced to eight years, and he was released in 1994 after having served only 5 years. Tammy Faye divorced Jim while he was in prison. She died in 2007. See “Televangelist Jim Bakker is indicted on federal charges”.
Last year, Jessica Chastain starred in a movie about the Bakkers. It’s called “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”. It’s worth watching.
Prosperity gospel preachers are festering sores on the face of Christendom. Decked out in their designer clothes, displaying their big hair, living in luxurious oversized mansions, driving fancy sports cars that cost a fortune, being chauffeured around in limousines or big SUVs, and flying in their own private jets, they flaunt their wealth for their donors to see. This is the message they are sending: “If I can do this, so can you. Just send me your money and expect a blessing from ‘the LORD.’”
Typically, prosperity preachers elongate “the LORD”, so it sounds something like this: “the LOOOORD” with emphasis on the last part of the word as though LORD was a two-syllable word. Sometimes, they refer to Yahweh as Jesus, but they don’t call Him “Jesus” the way normal people do. They elongate that name, too, and it sounds like this: “Jeeeesus” with emphasis on the last syllable. Prosperity preachers who are not too obese enjoy prancing around on stage like Mick Jagger at a Rolling Stones concert.
They really know how to put on a good show. When they add flood lights from the ceiling, potted plants all over the stage, smoke machines, and LED walls, their sermons resemble theatrical performances. They tend to carry their Bibles with them on stage as props. They wave them in the air while they prance around. As far as I know, no prosperity preacher charges for admission. The extravaganza is paid for by donations. If they could charge for admission, though, I think they would.
Their followers enthusiastically donate. They want that kind of prosperity, too. See “The preachers getting rich from poor Americans”.
If you read the Bible and pay attention to what it says, you will notice that only one of the Messiah’s disciples paid much attention to raising and spending money. He was Judas Iscariot, the Messiah’s betrayer:
But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, the one who intended to betray Him, said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the proceeds given to poor people?” Now he said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he kept the money box, he used to steal from what was put into it.” (John 12: 4-6)
Where money and creature comforts in general are concerned, the Messiah left no room for doubt:
“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather crops into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more important than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single day to his life’s span? And why are you worried about clothing? Notice how the lilies of the field grow; they do not labor nor do they spin thread for cloth, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if Elohim so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you. (Matthew 6: 25-33)
I have started paying a lot of attention to the amount of time and energy preachers invest in raising money to support their ministries. It seems that all of them have followed the same approach, and all of them have become excellent fundraisers. They use variations of the same gimmicks to convince their listeners and viewers to dig deep into their pockets and give to support them and their ministries, and they use the Bible to show that they are on the right track.
In the mornings and evenings I listen to FaithTalk Atlanta 970 AM. David Jeremiah is one of the prominent preachers with a radio ministry on FaithTalk Atlanta. He’s the senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California. It’s a Southern Baptist megachurch located in the suburbs of San Diego. Jeremiah is founder of Turning Point Radio and Television Ministries.
I like and agree with much of what Jeremiah tells his audiences, but when it comes to giving, his message leaves a lot to be desired. For example, on January 13 and 14, 2022, Jeremiah devoted two 30-minute Turning Point radio shows to Nehemia 10 to convince his listeners that giving to support ministries such as his was deeply rooted in Scripture. The lessons were titled “Taking a Pledge to Give, Part 1” and “Taking a Pledge to Give, Part 2”.
Click here to listen to Part 1. Click here to listen to Part 2.
In Part 2, Jeremiah focused his attention on the number of times Nehemia said that people are supposed to bring their gifts, tithes, and offerings into the house of the LORD or the house of our GOD. He didn’t mention that “the house of the LORD” doesn’t appear in the Hebrew texts of that chapter. In Hebrew, it says “the house of Yahweh”. “The house of our GOD” doesn’t appear in the Hebrew texts, either. In Hebrew, it says “the house of our Elohim”. The distinction between Yahweh’s house or the house of our Elohim and any other place is crucial. Nehemia wasn’t referring to any place except the house of Yahweh.
Below is the portion of Nehemia 10 to which Jeremiah referred:
We also placed ourselves under obligation to contribute yearly one third of a shekel for the service of the house of our Elohim: for the showbread, for the continual grain offering, for the continual burnt offering, the sabbaths, the new moon, for the appointed times, for the holy things and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our Elohim. Likewise we cast lots for the supply of wood among the priests, the Levites and the people so that they might bring it to the house of our Elohim, according to our fathers’ households, at fixed times annually, to burn on the altar of Yahweh our Elohim, as it is written in the law; and that they might bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of Yahweh annually, and bring to the house of our Elohim the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks as it is written in the law, for the priests who are ministering in the house of our Elohim. We will also bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the oil to the priests at the chambers of the house of our Elohim, and the tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the tithes in all the rural towns. The priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tenth of the tithes to the house of our Elohim, to the chambers of the storehouse. For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine and the oil to the chambers; there are the utensils of the sanctuary, the priests who are ministering, the gatekeepers and the singers. Thus, we will not neglect the house of our Elohim. (Nehemia 10: 32-39)
Nehemia was living in exile and serving as the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, King of the Achaemenid Empire. Nehemia lamented the condition of Jerusalem and the house of Yahweh that the Babylonians had destroyed. He sought and was granted permission by Artaxerxes to return to Jerusalem, to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem, and to rebuild the house of Yahweh or the house of our Elohim.
The house of Yahweh is a specific place. It is not a local church or synagogue. It was located in the City of David. (See “Yahweh’s Temple was not on the Temple Mount”.) The offerings referred to in Nehemia 10 were to supposed to support that place and the Levites and priests who served there.
Yahweh promised to make His abode in Jerusalem in the house built for Him there. Yahweh’s house that Solomon built was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. The rebuilt house of Yahweh was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Eventually, another house will be built for Yahweh. Yahweh will return and reside there. (See 2 Samuel 7, 2 Samuel 24: 18-25, 2 Chronicles 3: 1, 2 Chronicles 7: 11-22, and Zechariah 1: 16.)
The idea that local churches or synagogues are equivalent to Yahweh’s house is a myth that was invented in order to raise money to support ministries of various sorts. I am not suggesting that giving to support Yahweh’s agenda is not important. I am simply pointing out that preachers misuse the Bible to convince people to give to causes that they endorse. If I were a preacher, I would pay careful attention to what the Messiah said:
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve Elohim and money.” (Matthew 6: 24)
Yahweh owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He doesn’t need your money. To Him, worldly wealth is a tool to be used and nothing more.
I have heard people say pridefully that someone they know has more money than God. In our world where conspicuous consumption plays such an important part in most people’s lives, wealth is viewed as essential, and the more of it they have the better.
“Two things I ask of You — do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion. Otherwise, I may have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is Yahweh?’ Or I may become poor and steal, profaning the Name of my Elohim.” (Proverbs 30: 7-9)
Truth is if you have a penny in your pocket, you have more money than Yahweh. He has no money at all, because He doesn’t need it.
We see evidence of the “obtain wealth at all cost” mindset everywhere: on television, at the movies, in magazines, at the mall, literally everywhere. We listen to people brag about their possessions as though having them sets them apart. It’s seems strange when we run across someone who rejects that mindset.
Take a look at just about every university in America today. The football stadium is named for someone, the field is named for someone else, and the field house is named for yet another person. That’s true for almost everything at the university, and there are people at the university who are paid to figure out how name everything that isn’t named already.
What’s happening?
It’s part of a fundraising strategy. University administrators take advantage of the egos of wealthy alumni and others to raise money some of which is used to support the education mission of the university. Most of that money is used to feed the egos of university administrators and the egos of people who give money.
One day, Nick Duke, a development officer at the University of Virginia, told me, “The Development Office runs the university.” At that time, he was right, and I knew it. That was not the case at UVA when I went there. Before I left, it was true. By that time, I understood my mission better, and being a part of a fundraising machine wasn’t it. In fact, being part of it made me feel dirty. I wanted to leave. Before I left UVA, I became cynical. I started joking with other faculty about the possibility of naming urinals in the restrooms for alumni with meager resources.
The “obtain wealth at all cost” mindset has crept into every organization in America in one way or another. Otherwise decent people buy into it and do themselves great harm.
Yahweh wants you. When He has you, He has access to everything you possess including your money. If you think that what you have or don’t have has any bearing on what Yahweh can accomplish through you, you are mistaken. Thinking that way is a sure sign that you have abandoned faith in Yahweh, but most preachers keep saying or strongly suggesting that “it’s all about the money”.
Your limitations are not Yahweh’s limitations. Yahweh has no limitations. That’s what He wants all of us to understand, especially people who are supposed to represent Him. Obviously, Christendom is loaded with preachers who have missed that point.
“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father who sees everything will reward you.” (Matthew 6: 1-4)
Let Yahweh, not preachers, tell you how to use your time, your money, and your other resources. Preachers in general have terrible track records. Some of the highest profile preachers in the world today are going to end up in hell for eternity. Yahweh will accomplish His objectives despite them and without them, and He will do it through people of faith.
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“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”
John 10: 14-18
