Article: Jesus Wore an Armani Suit -- Kris Vallotton's New Book Supporting His Theology of Greed

you make the mistake of judging Jesus' net worth by His humble earthly condition, you will misjudge His prosperity and undermine His mission. The apostle Paul put it like this: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9). Wait! What did Paul say? Jesus was rich, but then He became poor so (the reason He became poor) we might become rich. That is incredible!" -- Kris Vallotton

Kris tells this story about when he went to meet the Pope (a topic for a different devotional) and how the airline lost his luggage and he was afraid he would have to meet the pope in the Batman tee-shirt he was wearing. How the Pope would have the wrong impression of him because he was in the Vatican and not home. He then pivots to compare himself to Jesus and say the above quote. That said; what a slaughtering of this verse from 2Corinthians. Does Kris Vallotton actually believe God is referring to money? Gill's Exposition puts it nicely by stating that prior to Jesus birth we were temporal creatures and Jesus was spiritual. Jesus left everything to become temporal so that we might become spiritual. The richness referred to is in now being able to partake of His divine nature in salvation through Jesus Christ. His mission was His Gospel, not to give people more trinkets and baubles in this lifetime. Ugh.

"I want us to stop for a moment while I make a few observations about heaven. First of all, if wealth and riches are inherently evil, what are they doing in heaven? Why would God describe heaven so lavishly if wealth were bad, or even bad for you? For example, can you imagine God describing heaven as a place filled with opium fields and heroin factories? No, because drugs speak to us of evil--bad, addictive, destructive substances that ruin people's lives. In other words, we all know that these substances in themselves are destructive, so we would never use them to describe a positive condition. On the other hand, wealth cannot be intrinsically evil, or the Bible would not describe heaven as a place full of unimaginable riches. In fact, if heaven is God's goal for us, then wealth must be a piece of our prize!" -- Kris Vallotton

Since he apparently does not read the Bible let us start with the obvious. Wealth and riches are not inherently evil. The Bible says the love of wealth and riches is a root of all sorts of evil. Take for instance being an alleged pastor in the church of God and writing a book called Poverty, Riches and Wealth, which places your greed and slavish desire to be rich on display for all to see. That would be considered inherently evil. Perhaps the sadder thing Kris apparently does not know here is that heaven is not about him. We do not get to take the gold from the streets or jewels from the throne. More importantly, we will not want to. We will be too busy worshiping Jesus because it is always about Him! Our riches are found in our salvation! That we are found in the Lamb's Book of Life! Forget the luxury cars and fancy yachts. Jesus is the prize!

"You can put Jesus in a manger, but you can't put a manger in Jesus. Wealth, glory and power seeped out of His pores like sweat on a hardworking man on a hot, humid day. It is important to remember that Mary is the one who insisted that Jesus make wine. How did Mary know that Jesus could make wine from water? Could she have experienced Jesus making wine at home? My point is that if Jesus could make wine from water in two minutes, then it stands to reason that He may have been living modestly on the outside, but wealth flowed out of His innermost being. Mary and Joseph may have been a middle-class carpenter family, but they might have been drinking wine that reminded them of heaven at home. In fact, the wine was so good that the Bible says that when Jesus made wine, He "manifested His glory." Now, that is great wine! I guess He was not kidding when He said that He is the vine and we are the branches (see John 15:1--14)." -- Kris Vallotton

Yes, you can't put a manger in Jesus, ugh. It is almost as if Kris Vallotton has never actually read the Bible for anything except proof texting his false theology. To Kris, his false god has wealth, glory and power seeping out of his very pores. How did the Prophet Isaiah describe what the Messiah would look like again?

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. -- Isaiah 53: 2 (ESV)

As for Mary insisting that Jesus make the wine at the Wedding in Cana, the text does not say that at all. She told Jesus about the problem that they were running out of wine and He chose to turn the water into wine. Either way, this miracle does not indicate that He had "wealth flowing out of His innermost being." The truly telling comment though is that because the text says that this manifested His glory Kris concludes that the wine must have been really great. As if the wine had been average it would not constitute a miracle worthy of saying the glory of God had been manifested through Christ. The end of the verse Kris forgets is that because of this miracle manifesting His glory, His disciples believed in Him. That is the point of any miracle, which always manifests the glory of God! It is to make you focus on Christ and believe in Him. For Kris, he focuses on the wine; the carnal result of the glory. His utter ignorance in inserting John 15 here is not even worth discussing. Next he moves into assaulting the story of the calling of the first disciples in Luke 5.

"These guys are not fishing recreationally; this is how they make their living. Fishing was a middle-class, feast-or-famine kind of occupation . . . that is, until Jesus showed up. He quickly transformed a meager living into a prosperous vocation. - Kris Vallotton

So a one-time event that resulted in a huge catch of fish that nearly sank the boats they needed for their vocation, is turned into a business altering manifestation? More sadly though, Kris once again misses the point. This story is not about their fishing industry. It is about their calling to follow Jesus. The point of the manifestation of His glory this time was captured when Peter exclaims -- "depart from me for I am a sinful man!" This story has as much to do with fish as the last one had to do with wine. Yes there was a carnal result to the divine miracle. For Vallotton it is always about this world, these riches and what he can gain carnally. Prosperous vocation? They left everything behind to follow Jesus! That is the point of the story beloved. Not some get rich scheme. Pathetic. Lastly:

"But Jesus was no homeless transient, traversing the countryside with twelve vagabonds. He actually was a famous traveling rabbi who grew up in a middle-class carpenter's home and had a very well-funded ministry." -- Kris Vallotton

Says no biblical text anywhere. Now I do not believe I have ever heard anyone argue that Jesus was homeless or even transient. His ministry did make Him famous in His region and in many cases infamous. That is not the point though is it? Kris Vallotton loves this world and he loves the money he makes from fleecing the flock of God. Remember, this is just the first chapter of his new book and it reveals all we need to know. It is a purely carnal book that will obliterate the Word of God to sell you a corporate jesus who wants you rich beyond your biggest dreams of avarice. Where every story that reveals the glory of God will be cheapened to sell you the carnal result as something God wants for you too. In order to make this unbiblical premise work, Vallotton needed to turn Jesus into Warren Buffet. He went to great lengths to do so. He even asserted that the one piece tunic He wore was akin to a modern day Armani suit. So according to Kris Vallotton, Jesus Christ wore an Armani suit. What can we do in the face of such wanton, brazen, and willful deception except mark him and stay as far away from his poisonous nonsense as possible.

Beloved the Bible cannot be clearer on a subject than it is on money. The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil and as the key verses remind us it will be extremely difficult for a rich person to enter heaven. Our riches and wealth are eternal -- not carnal. People used to ask me if I thought that meant God wanted us poor and my reflexive reaction would always be, no! The more I grow in the word the more I see that answer is incomplete. If the question that is always on your heart is if God wants you poor than the answer beloved is yes. What you treasure is where your heart will be. Do you seek His glory for Him or for yourself? Do you seek the wine or the one who turns water into wine? Do you seek the glorious catch of fish or the glory behind it? Kris has made his choice. Be careful in yours.

Reverend Anthony Wade - February 16, 2018

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