The sermon reviewed here is beyond a horrific abuse of the Bible...

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And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. - Jeremiah 32: 38-40 (ESV)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSmsxADLAM0

I have discovered when you write in a discernment ministry you can tend to start to feel numb to the false teachings you hear day in and day out. You can begin to feel calloused over when you constantly have to hear the most egregious abuses of the Bible used to shred the precious sheep of God. I have heard many people who literally start to blame the people who sit under the false teachings. Who almost excuse the wolves because the sheep are just so stupid to them that they start to believe they deserve it. But when I read the Gospel accounts I do not see a Jesus who does not care when the one sheep is lost. I see a Jesus who goes out and brings him back because as the Bible says, the Lord does not actually want a single person to perish. Yet somehow, when I start to feel this callous developing the Lord always brings to my attention something so abhorrent in His eyes, that it reignites a holy righteous anger inside of me. Not that I am holy or righteous because I am not. I am nothing before His majesty. But there are sheep still being mangled every day. Being led to a slaughter while being promised it is paradise. When I watch and listen to sermons like the one linked above, the Lord reminds me why He instructs those who are charged with truthfully dividing the Word that we must also rebuke those who do not. It is not enough to just proclaim the true Gospel. We must expose that which is false.

The above sermon was given just days ago by Creflo Dollar. While many might simply shake their heads in an understanding fashion and move on, it is important to remember this is a man who claims to pastor 25 different churches. Whose reach is international enough that he recently thought nothing of asking for 65 million dollars in donations to buy the Rolls Royce of private airplanes. This writing however is not about that. It is about the sermon above. The reprehensible lies it contains. The unimaginable mutilation of Scripture it contains. In the hope that just one person sitting under this deception might be freed. All of heaven will rejoice for that one. This teaching from Dollar is 90 minutes long and it is all about you giving him money. In the middle of a series about how the Gospel accounts were technically part of the Old Covenant and therefore obsolete, Creflo realized that his old tithing arguments would no longer stand. The actual time he addresses tithing however is very limited. The vast majority of this sermon is just an obliteration of the Bible to make people feel as if it is our right as Christians to be rich. He even opens the main thrust of the message by calling the opposite notion the "deepest rooted deception in the world." That it is the devil who has devised this plan to keep the prosperity gospel down as a way to "contain the church." Here are some of the ramblings:

"The devil don't mind the world driving new cars but he wants you to keep buying used cars."

"You accept the leftovers of the world - God doesn't want you to have hand me downs!"

"God wants to see His kids operate as kings! I've never seen no poor kings!"

"How can God get anything done when His church is so deceived?"

"Don't let them shame you out of your blessing! I'm a king's kid!"

This is all in a matter of a few minutes mind you. It is all absurd heresy. I am tired of coddling wolves. Beloved, if you truly believe any of these quotes, I fear for your salvation. Now hear me very clearly. I am not saying that God wants all believers poor. That is missing the point. The argument Dollar is making is that it is our right to be rich. In this very sermon he claims this right is part of the redemptive work of the cross! He claims that if you are not rich it is because you have not believed and received it. What damnable lies from the pit of hell. So according to Creflo Dollar, all of our Christian brethren in third world countries living in poverty are simply lacking faith. The next quote he uses as an entree to turn Jesus Christ into Donald Trump:

"Then they have the nerve with their ignorant selves to use Jesus as an example and that's a plain indication of people that aint never read their Bible."

Dollar then uses this as a springboard to mangle several Biblical accounts of the life of Jesus. I will try to briefly go through them to highlight how low this man will go to prop up his premise that Jesus was somehow affluent:

1) "God wanted Him to have some semblance of what he left so He sent kings so they could bring Him some gold, frankincense and myrrh. Money was trying to find Him!"

No Creflo. First of all there is no Biblical support that these men were kings. They were Magi, probably astrologers, probably from what was then Persia. The gold was a symbol of divinity. The frankincense was a symbol of holiness and righteousness. The myrrh symbolized affliction and suffering. These are the grandest theological points here and to Creflo it meant that "money was trying to find Him?" That is how cheaply Pastor Dollar sells out our Savior. Not to mention, the Bible offers zero information on how much gold was actually brought. Most speculate that it might have been used to finance the trip to Egypt to avoid the persecution from Herod. Either way, there is nothing in the Bible to indicate that somehow this made Jesus wealthy. Prior to His ministry He was a carpenter, not a millionaire.

2) "Jesus wasn't poor - tell that to Peter! When they had to pay their taxes they just went fishing! I know Peter was upset when Jesus had to go because Jesus knew where the money was at! That aint poor!"

What blasphemous indifference to what Peter must have been going through when Jesus "had to go." Having just betrayed Him three times does anyone who calls themselves a Christian seriously think Peter was mostly upset because "Jesus knew where the money was at?"

3) "They cast lots for His clothes! If Jesus was walking around in rags, why would this idea even show up?"

Perhaps if Mr. Dollar studied his Bible instead of using it to prey on the sheep he would have known this fulfilled a prophecy from Psalm 22:18. On a more practical level, the Gospel of John explains that the garment was a one piece that could not be divided so they cast lots to see who would get it. Yes it was not "rags" but neither was it riches. It speaks more to the poverty of the times than some secret wealth of Jesus.

4) "Then they going to say Jesus was homeless. Foxes have holes. You got to keep reading! He was talking about the village that didn't receive Him!"

It appears Creflo hopes that you do not check his storytelling here. The verse he references is found in the Gospel of Luke and it is NOT about a village that rejected Him. That occurred in the story prior. This verse is part of three short stories about the cost of following Jesus:

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." And Jesussaid to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home."Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." - Luke 9: 57-62 (ESV)

Dollar abuses two more Biblical portions. He cites John 1, where Jesus invites Peter to spend a couple of days with Him as some proof text that Jesus lived in a palatial mansion. Completely unsupported by the Bible. Lastly in this section he gleefully brags that the donkey Jesus rode on Palm Sunday was not a "used donkey" - referencing back to his insistence that Christians should not have to buy used cars. As bad as all of this has been, the next quote is even worse:

"You giving money proves that you trust God. People say all the time, how do I get healed? Trust God! How do I get blessed? Trust God! How do I get delivered? Trust God! How do I know that I am trusting God? Give money!"

That Bible says a preacher ought not teach for shameful gain but I guess that part Mr. Dollar has not got up to yet in his reading. Then the man who is worth 27 million dollars launches into a sheep beating over allowing money to master you. The man who asked other people to fund his luxury Learjet to the tune of 65 million dollars, berates the people about allowing money to be their master. The man who lives in million dollar homes actually says the following:

"You talk about a pastor who speaks about tithing but you are the ones who love money because you refuse to give it!"

"Here I am anointed to rightly divide the Scripture and you can barely read a book and you won't even trust what I am saying!"

Wow. Besides the sheer arrogance of this sermon the entire point is he has NOT rightly divided the Scripture at all! He has used it and done so deceptively. If it were one Scripture here or there maybe the jury could be out regarding intent but this is simply to pervasive. He has not handled one verse correctly! As if to further cement this point he cites the Amplified Bible for the following verse:

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 by his poverty might become rich. - 2Corinthians 8: 9 (ESV)

For the unaware, never use the amplified Bible because it uses every possible definition for a word instead of what the author intended. Dollar uses it here because the word rich becomes "abundantly supplied." He then uses this to prove that we have a divine birthright to be abundantly supplied and that it is actually part of the redemptive work of the cross! This is where he teaches that if you are not seeing abundant supply in your life it is because you have not believed and received. Please beloved keep in mind that he has never wavered from his original premise. When he speaks of supply he means material wealth. So the argument from Creflo Dollar is that Jesus died on the cross to make you rich and if you are not rich then, like those who are unsaved, it is because you have failed to believe it and receive it. How staggeringly immoral is this teaching? How dangerous is it for the sheep who sit under it? It is clear that not everyone is destined to be rich but now you can be led to believe that it is your fault if you are poor! All of those Christians being martyred in Iraq? I guess they just didn't believe enough. What heretical nonsense is this? Unfortunately, he was still not done:

"You have to change your thinking. It is not God's will for me to live in lack. I have a blood bought right to be abundantly supplied. It is a redemptive work of Jesus on the cross."

Beloved. We do not have a blood bought right to be abundantly supplied. This sermon is absolute and pure heresy. Jesus did not die on the cross so we do not have to buy a used car. He did not have a crown of thorns crushed into His head until His blood ran into His eyes so we could petulantly declare we are a "king's kid." The Bible says we must give up our lives and pick up our cross daily. The Bible specifically warns against this type of greed mongering. It might just be the will of God for you to live a life of lack, especially if it means you will get into heaven. There are Christians suffering all around this world in a life of lack, including in this country. For Creflo Dollar to make the argument that it is their fault is tantamount to a slap in the face with the very Bible he clearly does not understand. All to drive home a narrative of tithing that does not even fit his premise to begin with. He never addresses this disconnect at all. He still refers to tithing even though it is clearly nailed to the cross with the rest of the law. He still finishes this sermon by citing Malachi 3 and threatening people with being cursed by God if they do not tithe. Never mind that Malachi is written to the priests and not the people. Why bother correctly handling Malachi when he has not handled any other Scripture correctly? What we end up with is a big sloppy mess of Jesus actually being rich, His teachings secretly being about wealth, and His death on the cross as a guarantee for material prosperity. Oh and if it aint happening for you, you are to blame. And if you dare to point out that Creflo Dollar is a heretic, you are just ignorant. Beloved, people will end up in hell because of this man. It is time to stop playing games with the Gospel.

I chose the key verses today from Jeremiah because they speak to the true nature of the true church. We are to be His people. He has given us one heart and one way, our Lord Jesus Christ. He has made an everlasting covenant with us beloved. Not that we might see how we can leverage Him to be abundantly supplied. Rather, to fear Him for our own good. We love to hear preaching on half of these verses. That God will not turn away from doing good towards us. The other side of that coin however is that we will not turn from Him because of a reverent fear of the Lord. When I see thousands of people applauding this type of garbage, I worry that we are rapidly losing that fear. It is only a brazen lack of fear that could lead someone to so destroy the Word of God for personal gain. No fear of the Lord to lie about Him. To reduce the sacrifice of Calvary to some kind of lottery ticket. It is time for the real church to stand up and say no more. To not tolerate such wickedness preached in the name of the Savior we claim to love. It is time to fear Him once again. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Our birthright is to share in His sufferings, not use Him as a credit card. Rise up church and say no more.

Reverend Anthony Wade - April 29, 2015

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.