Kris Vallotton is the huckster the bible warned us about...

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His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. - 2Peter 1:3-11 (ESV)

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The dictionary defines grift as a petty or small-scale scam designed to "grift" money from someone. In fairness to con men like Kris Vallotton the word grift does not really apply because they are not small scale at all. This devotional will cover two areas. First is the link above to a 30-minute session Vallotton recently did with an alleged "financial counselor" named Samia Pedalino. It is important to understand the overarching grift that fuels the individual attempts to fleece the flock. Secondly, I will show you an actual grift just recently "released" by Vallotton, so we can see one in action. For the video, I will highlight and paraphrase the portions that stood out to me. Let us reason once more and hide your wallet!

"We are called to be partakers of the divine nature of God and His nature is not poverty." - Samia Pedalino

Samia is referring to the key verses today, specifically verse four. The surrounding context however reveals this has nothing to do with wealth, poverty, or anything carnal. It has to do with sin and our promise of eternal life. Only those in love with this world pursue the things of this world over the things of the kingdom. Bethel Church likes to pretend they are called to bring the kingdom to earth but they only teach that false theology because they worship this world. What is richly provided for us is an entrance into the eternal kingdom! Just think for a moment how silly her statement is here. You can always tell a teaching is false if it only applies to one country or area. Can Samia Pedalino bring this teaching to the underground church in China? Can she sell this to the indigent workers in South America? To our martyred brothers and sisters in the Middle East? No, she cannot and that is how you know it cannot be of God. He is the same to all in His kingdom.

"Somehow Bill (Johnson) and I got hit with this prosperity preacher label, but I do not own a plane. Bill owns a picture of a plane. The prosperity gospel is presented as a negative yet you're telling me the kingdom is prosperous." - Kris Vallotton

It is true that Kris and Bill do not own private jets like other hucksters but Vallotton presents this as proof that they are not into prosperity. Latest Google searches place Bill's net worth at ten million and Vallotton at over three million dollars. So, spare me. Not exactly everymen. The reason why the prosperity gospel is presented negatively is because it is a lie. It promises repayment from God based upon giving to the huckster. It claims that God wants everyone rich beyond the dreams of avarice. People like Kris Vallotton have taught that if you are not rich it is actually your own fault because you have what he calls a "poverty mindset." The kingdom being prosperous is completely irrelevant. It means God owns everything. Everything He created is His. We worship Him, not try and figure out how to usurp what He owns.

"We can walk in the blessings of Abraham through our faith in Jesus Christ. Well, what are the promises of Abraham? God said all nations would be blessed through him. So, it is important that we learn how to create wealth and get out of the mindset that poverty is spiritual." - Samia Pedalino

Only hucksters and frauds remain so focused on this world and the baubles they might be able to get. This misapplication is worse than the first one. The blessing of Abraham is indeed that all nations would be blessed through him but that is not in the form of material wealth. Jesus is the fulfillment of the blessing of Abraham. All of the nations of the world are blessed because the gift of salvation is made available through Christ, who can be traced back through lineage to Abraham. I am reminded of the sad rebuke for the Church at Laodicea from Jesus in Revelation when He said that they think they are rich and have prospered, and need nothing, not realizing that they are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. That is how Vallotton and Pedalino sound. Instead of reveling in the eternal promises of God they are on the street corner trying to sell knockoffs and trinkets. Sad indeed.

"There is a poverty mindset in the church today, there really is. That if you prosper you become the rich young ruler and yet Jesus spoke more about money than He did about heaven and hell." - Kris Vallotton

This is a favorite refrain from prosperity pimps and is ridiculously untrue. The entire ministry of Jesus was about salvation, not money. Even when He taught on money it was in relation to salvation and eternal life. That was why He taught about the rich young ruler! The question from the ruler that started the conversation was what he had to do to secure eternal life! The problem was not that he was rich but that his wealth was an idol, more important to him than God. Hmm, sound familiar Kris and Samia?

"Deuteronomy says that God will command His blessings upon us! Chapter 28 is the blessing chapter!" - Samia Pedalino

Another favorite of the prosperity fraudsters is Deuteronomy 28. They rely upon people being too lazy to check the bible for themselves. Kris and Samia even joked here about reading Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Let's do some basic teaching here. Deuteronomy 28 is the culmination of the Law of Moses. The blessings Kris and Samia rave about are tied to something:

And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. - Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (ESV)

Being careful to do all of His commandments. All 613 Mosaic laws had to be obeyed perfectly and then His blessings shall overtake you. How did Israel do with that? No one could keep the law! That was why we needed Jesus! So yes, this chapter does outline twelve verses of blessings, should you faithfully keep the law. Then it is followed, in the same chapter, with fifty-three verses of curses for disobedience. Notice how Kris and Samia forgot to mention that. The wealth in this story is in the salvation offered through Christ, not these material blessings they keep chasing because they idolize this world.

"Vallotton - Where would you start advising a 40-year-old who is spiritual but poor?"

"Pedalino - They have to start dreaming with Jesus. You have to invite Jesus into your finances.

Ah yes, the deep theology of dreaming with Jesus. To prove her point Pedalino tells of when her and her husband bought vacant lots in California at the start of COVID, on "faith." They apparently built homes which they then sold at the height of the housing market and made a killing. This was held up as a success story of inviting Jesus into your finances. Of course, how much money did she start with to be able to buy that much property in California? Please.

On tithing -

Pedalino - "well, you know Abraham tithed four hundred years before the law!"

Vallotton - "yes he gave ten percent."

Pedalino - "You know it is the red print in the bible that shows us Jesus saying to the Pharisees - it is good that you tithe. Think of Jesus as your business partner."

Because most prosperity pimps know the argument of tithing being part of the law is easily debunked as a rationale for giving today, they often go back to this one mention of tithing in the life of Abraham and want to pretend it set some kind of universal principle. In order to pull off that lie though they need to misread this story as well. After war, Abraham did not give ten percent but rather gave 100% of the spoils of war to the king so that he could not claim to have made Abraham rich. So, if they want to hold this up as a principle, we just need to give all of our spoils of war. Abraham gave NOTHING from his personal wealth. He did not give the spoils as an act of reverence but rather to protect himself from the king claiming falsely that Abraham's wealth came from him instead of God. The bible also gives no indication that Abraham ever did this again in his entire life.

As for the correct quote from Jesus to the Pharisees what the hucksters always forget is that Jesus had not gone to the cross yet and thus we were still under the old covenant. The Pharisees were Jewish and thus they were supposed to tithe. That is why Jesus told THEM it is good that THEY tithe! It is not a prescriptive verse for the church. The New Testament states that giving should not be under compulsion and tithing is compulsory by nature and design. Thus, tithing cannot be a model for New Testament giving. In closing Kris asks Samia if she has any closing encouragement and she actually says that she wants people to know they do not have to stay in poverty. How arrogant and heartless. Remember the example of our brothers and sisters around the world. Could you honestly look them in the face and tell them this? Someone once asked me why God doesn't let them win the lottery. My answer was simply - He knows what will happen if you do. We are all not destined for greatness and abundant wealth. Doing all things through Christ means we live the abundant life in lack and plenty. We are rich in Christ even if we are poor on this earth. That is not a "poverty" mindset but a biblical one. We should all strive to be better and money in and of itself is not evil. Loving it however is.

That brings us to a quick word about seeing a grift in action. I am on Kris Vallotton's newsletter so I can keep up on all of his antics. Every August Bethel runs a weeklong class called the school of the prophets where people plunk down stupid money to pretend God has called them to be prophets. Kris sent a summary email this week about how great everything went. As bad as most of this was, what caught my eye was a little further down in the email:

"P.S. - Are you a visionary with a desire to pioneer new territories, unlock scientific mysteries and bring innovative solutions to the world? To operate as a modern-day Daniel, Solomon, or Elisha carrying insight and prophetic interpretations, accessing divine brilliance that impacts an entire generation? I am excited to announce the Spiritual Intelligence Institute's Solutionaries Intensive enrollment is now open for the September 2022 Cohort!" - Kris Vallotton

A short while ago, Kris created this new silly school called the Spiritual Intelligence Institute. I wrote about this back in January when they were charging $2000 for a prophetic report. I guess that grift wasn't too lucrative so now they have created a new one called "Solutionaries!" apparently these people are called to be visionaries, pioneers, unlock scientific mysteries, and bring innovative solutions around the globe! Wow! You too can be a modern-day Daniel or Solomon? Never mind that Daniel was a prisoner in Babylon. So Vallotton is now announcing a new cohort for the fall and if you have this moronic, fake calling on your life and are willing to fork over $1200 for this "intensive" then maybe the life of a solutionary is for you!

It probably isn't though because Kris Vallotton made it up. Please do not fall for the grift beloved. Allow me to be your personal solutionary for $1200 less than Kris would charge you. This is a scam, move along. Nothing to see here.

Reverend Anthony Wade - August 18, 2022

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.