Some may say but wait a minute preacher! Jakes just wants to build a youth center! Terrific but that is a carnal argument that has nothing to do with God. If the vision is from God then God will provide the resources and you don't have to lie to the sheep He has entrusted to you in order to obtain the resources.
So in the end I am unsure what the big fuss was about. A carnal man who plays the role of preacher allowed a carnal man who plays the role of cross dresser to play the Sunday morning preaching game in exchange for a million dollars. People got their hallelujah hop on and then wrote their checks for $113. Then they couldn't pay the rent or buy groceries. Hey the kids had to go a little hungry but God says fasting is good right! Besides I just bought me some divine payback! God is going to give me back that $113 plus interest. That preacher in the thousand dollar suit said so and look that nice man who makes all those funny movies gave a million! God must be in this!
But He is not beloved. God is into holiness. He is into making us more and more like His image daily. He does not care for nor value the things of this world. He doesn't want a youth center as much as He wants the youth to have Him at their center. He is into us bearing fruit for the kingdom of God. He is into us reaching the lost with the uncompromised Gospel of Jesus Christ. For those who are unsure still, read the key verses and compare it to what Perry and Jakes tried to pull off here.
"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 (NLT)
This was a staged and arranged show put on by two great actors. They wanted this good deed aired publicly, in violation of Scripture, so that they could bilk $113 out of as many people as possible. But lazy Christianity laps this stuff up. They feed off of it. They fail to see the abused Scriptures and poor people cheated out of their money and out of the real God. Instead they see famous people building youth centers. Anyone who points it out is either a legalist or a "hater" for the less biblically inclined. And the lazy Christians will go back to their lives devoid of the power of God. Tyler Perry will go back and make another movie and TD Jakes will move onto his next interview with Oprah (yes she was part of Megafest as well). Meanwhile however the devil is laughing because we cannot get out of our own way when it comes to reaching the lost with the true Gospel. We don't even know what it is anymore. We think it has something to do with money. Or that the man in the thousand dollar suit is justified in his excess despite claiming to be a representative of God. Or that the cross-dressing Hollywood mogul must have been sent by God to the man in the thousand dollar suit because Psalm 113 says so. Forget the Gospel beloved. We cannot even think of wrapping our minds around that as long as we fail to be able to see that this entire carnal debacle between Jakes and Perry was nothing more than a con job pulled off by great actors and hucksters, to rob people of their money - all in the name of Jesus.
God help us.
Reverend Anthony Wade - September 4, 2013
