A new article dredges up an old heresy. That if we just think of ourselves as princes, God will make us rich beyond our wildest greed...

::::::::

For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. -- Titus 1: 10-11 (ESV)

Kris Vallotton is a senior leader at one of the most heretical churches on the planet; Bethel Church in Redding California. He is also the co-founder of the Bethel School for Supernatural Ministry. This abomination is where the adherents of senior pastor Bill Johnson; teach people the gifts of the spirit. This despite clear biblical proof that they could not possibly do any such thing:

All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. -- 1Corinthians 12: 11 (ESV)

All these, refers to the gifts of the Spirit, which are not something we can teach. They are given, as gifts typically are. The Holy Spirit decides who, where, and when -- not Kris Vallotton. This is how Bethel operates though. They are the chief proponent of the false signs and lying wonders heresies in this country. They claim gold dust, gemstones, angel feathers and glory clouds. Anything to distract from God and make people "ooh and ahh." Johnson also teaches the unbiblical notion that God always wants to heal us, despite the fact that he wears corrective eyeglasses. Bethel is where the wildly heretical Jesus Culture band and ministry come from. The primary worship leader of that outfit claimed a waking visitation from Jesus who whisked her away to the throne room of God where she met the Father face to face. This despite the fact that the bible assures us she would be dead if that were so. What's a little biblical illiteracy anyway? The latest round comes from an article recently published by Vallotton entitled, "Do You Struggle with a Poverty Mentality?"

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/56052-do-you-struggle-with-a-poverty-mentality

This is a common teaching amongst prosperity preachers. That Christians are poor because they think they should be. That if they could just correct their "stinkin thinkin" that suddenly they would see riches overflowing in their lives. We see Vallotton touch on the usual heresies surrounding this false doctrine. That we are "king's kids" or princes. That as such we have all that God has, which is everything of course! That we fail to see ourselves properly as heirs and as such, we remain poor. Of course this flies in the face of all the teachings from Jesus on money:

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. -- Matthew 6: 24 (ESV)

Vallotton tries his best to pretend this is not about being ruled by money but his stretches simply do not add up. This entire article is about money and greed, pure and simple. The reality however is that the Bible teaches the opposite of what Kris Vallotton and Bethel believe so all we have to do is look at how he abuses Scripture to try and prop up his false teachings. The primary abuse in this article is from the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which literally has nothing to do with money. Here is Vallotton on this parable:

The story of the prodigal son from Luke 15 illustrates this point clearly. Having squandered his inheritance, the youngest son came home seeking refuge. His father was so excited to see him that he threw him a party. He had been saving the fattened calf for such an occasion, and finally it was time to celebrate. Everyone came to the festivity except for the elder brother; he stayed out in the field. When his father didn't see the older brother at the party, he went looking for him. He found him outside alone. "Why aren't you coming to celebrate?" the father asked. The older brother yelled, "You gave him the fattened calf, but you haven't even given me a goat!" His father was stunned. He looked at his son, staring into his soul with the eyes of a loving father and said, "I gave him the fattened calf, but you own the farm" (summarized from Luke 15:11-31). -- Kris Vallotton

The first thing that should give us pause is that this is not Scripture. This is a summary according to Vallotton but why summarize when you could have actually gone to the text? Because in summarizing he gets to frame the story as he wants it to read instead of how God meant for us to understand it. It also allows him to draw absurd conclusions that the text does not support:

Why in the world did the older brother hang out waiting for his father to give him a goat when he owned the whole farm? He failed to recognize that he was a son and not a servant. -- Kris Vallotton

No where does the text even remotely suggest that the other son viewed himself as a servant. Vallotton is so busy trying to shoehorn this story into his pre-determined false teaching about poverty mentalities that he misses the bigger picture about this parable. It is presented in the context of two other parables. The lost sheep and the lost coin. Neither of those parables have anything to do with riches either. They have to do with salvation. They have to do with a loving God who scours the horizon waiting for us wayward children to come back home. It is a picture of His unbelievable grace and mercy but Kris Vallotton wants to turn it into something ugly. To take the beautiful picture of the grace that is available to us all and turn it into a pitch for having more material wealth is beyond disgusting. But preacher! What about the other son? Good question. Jesus could have allowed the story to end with the party but instead we see this exchange at the end. Why? Well if Kris was interested he needed to go back to the start of the chapter and see why Jesus started telling this series of parables:

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." -- Luke 15: 1-2 (ESV)

He then proceeds to tell them the three parables highlighting the importance of every individual to God and the path to salvation. The older son in the prodigal parable however, represents the Pharisees themselves. In the other son we see all of the judgmentalism and self-righteousness the Pharisees possessed. That he felt that the prodigal did not deserve the redemption he was receiving. Much like the Parable of the Vineyard Workers, where we saw those that had worked the entire day resent the fact that those who only worked the last hour received the same wage. The wage in this case is salvation. We see this Pharisaical spirit in the church today as many veteran believers often resent younger converts. That is who the elder son represented and the lesson would not be lost on the Pharisees, who were the audience of these parables. Vallotton had a tremendous opportunity to preach about any of these fantastic theological lessons but instead he butchers the entire parable to pretend it has something to do with money.

He goes on to claim that many in the church today have the poverty mentality of the other son. That we have to learn how to tap into "heaven's resources." How absurd. The next verse he obliterates is Philippians 4:19

Paul said it best, "My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19). Did you get that? He said, "God will supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory!" He is not supplying according to my need but according to His riches. -- Kris Vallotton

Yeah, I got it. Too bad Kris didn't. The riches this text is referring to are spiritual riches. The needs God is referring to are our spiritual needs. We also should remember that very often God has a different opinion regarding what our needs are. What Vallotton does is confusing wants and needs and conflating temporal riches with eternal blessings. Once again, this is quite common amongst people who preach this brand of false doctrine. Kris wants the wealth of this earth but what he needs is a better understanding of Scripture. This is not to say that God wants us poor beloved. That is not the point. When people ask me if I think God wants them poor my answer is simple. If that is your question, then the answer is yes. If your primary focus is material prosperity then it has become an idol for you as it was for the rich young ruler.

What is worth more than money? Spiritual riches! To be able to have peace during the most trying times of our lives. To be able to forgive someone who has done the unthinkable to us. To endure all things with joy in a world that sells false happiness. Knowing that we are secure in our salvation. To have the hope of glory. Beloved, these are the very things Paul is writing about here when he says that God will supply us according to His riches in glory. Not a new car and a hefty bank account. How badly does Kris Vallotton miss the bigger picture here? Sadly however, he was not quite done. He has one more set of Scriptures to eviscerate:

The promised land of princehood is filled with the Father's blessings. He wants to lavish His love on us, pour out His blessings in us, and give more than we can contain. The Psalms put it best, "How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever" (Ps. 112:1-3). -- Kris Vallotton

The promised land of princehood? Say what? This of course is nowhere in the Bible and comes to us straight out of Vallotton's wickedly deceptive heart. Notice the skewed thinking. That God always wants to lavish us, pour out His blessings, and give us more than we can contain. If that is not happening then we just must not be thinking the right way. I guess when Peter was crucified upside down he was just suffering from a "poverty mentality." I guess all of the Christians in poverty stricken countries or being martyred today in other lands just need to straighten out how they view themselves. I am sure once they realize they are princes that will stop their persecutors from killing them. How patently absurd.

What about his usage of Psalm 112? Well this is the prototypical example of proof texting. Vallotton had a premise he wanted to make appear biblical. That God wants us all rich. So he combed through the Bible to find any verses that when standing out of context, can be misconstrued to support his premise. Psalm 112 is a Psalm about righteousness, not money. Even the one verse he quoted is not referring to material wealth. It is again referring to spiritual blessings. Here is an excerpt from Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible regarding this verse:

Wealth and riches shall be in his house,.... In his family; if not possessed by him, yet by his posterity: though rather this signifies spiritual riches, the riches of grace, the unsearchable riches of Christ, durable riches and righteousness; seeing it is connected with an everlasting righteousness, as in the next clause. -- Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Riches of grace. The unsearchable riches of Christ. Riches in righteousness; yet Kris Vallotton wants us to believe that what is more important is thinking like a prince so you can break a poverty mentality. What can we expect from the author of "The Supernatural Ways of Royalty?"

Beloved, I present this not just as an exercise in proper biblical exegesis but as a warning. Bethel Church and their heresies are growing each day in popularity. We have to start discerning better when people use the Bible for shameful gain and teach the things that they ought not. That is what our key verses today warns us specifically about. The circumcision party referred to is regarding those Jews who tried to distort the Gospel by claiming that you needed works and grace for salvation. Similarly today we have many different sects infiltrating the true Gospel and distorting it. Kris Vallotton represents just one. He is however insubordinate to the Gospel. He is an empty talker, spewing his personal greed and desires rather than properly handling God's Word. He is a deceiver of the highest order who thinks he can teach the gifts of the Holy Spirit and that we can all be rich if we just think of ourselves as royalty.

Jesus teaches the opposite of this narcissistic selfie gospel. It is all about humility and servant-hood to Jesus. He teaches that it is very difficult for a rich man to enter heaven. That anything we idolize must be sacrificed to put God first. That our inheritance is a spiritual one. That our blessings are spiritual in nature. Kris Vallotton is a used car salesman leveraging God to sell trinkets and baubles. The prodigal son is about the enormous grace and mercy of our loving Father. Let no man corrupt it into a ponzi scheme as Bethel Church tries to do. As so many others today try to do. Discern beloved. Discern.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- March 26, 2016

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.