Using Good to Promote Evil

USING GOOD TO PROMOTE EVIL

Eph.5: ¹⁰ Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

¹¹ And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

A minister named James Robison has a television show where he interviews guests and sometimes has people like Beth Moore to preach. His guests include Joyce Myers, Creflo Dollar, and T. D. jakes. There have been many others of the Word of Faith variety. So by their appearance he lends his support to their ministries and is quite adept at taking their teachings and smoothing out the rough doctrinal edges. He seeks unity regardless of how diabolical the teachings and lifestyles of these men and women are. He suggests that he used to be harsh and judgmental many years ago until he had an epiphany which changed him and has now allowed him to promote heretics. He also is an avid patriot and shares event stages with men and women, some of the unregenerate, calling America back to God. Yes, sheer nonsense.

But he also has an ingenuous way to raise funds. Yes he offers books and CDs from his guests for a donation, but he takes it a step further. His ministry helps poor Africans. I have no doubt his ministry does provide food and water to many underprivileged Africans and especially children. And yes he shows much footage of that help being offered in spite of Jesus’ own words about not trumpeting your giving of alms and not letting your left hand know what your right hand is doing. That is a teaching which warns about making public your good deeds and especially as it pertains to the poor.

But television time is expensive since it is the conduit to people’s pocketbooks, and an above average American lifestyle also needs monetary fuel. So helping the poor is also helping the preacher and it is quite the effective system. Leave it to the Americans to create an evangelical system which raises money while also presenting itself as philanthropists. It is very creative even though it is remarkably unscriptural. I can live in luxury and still pat myself on the back for being so mindful of the poor. Of course raising money in an air conditioned television studio and taking a short excursion once in a while along with much television equipment is not exactly what Jesus had in mind. And James Robison is hardly the only offender in that kind of system. In the movie "The Godfather" the owner of a casino asks Michael Corleone if he thinks he is skimming off the top. That is exactly what many preachers are doing. In fact if it were not for Africa and Haiti where would many preachers get their Mercedes payment?

But in the case of James Robison his method of ministry goes further than just lining his own pockets which probably also has a touch of nepotism as well. But because he helps the poor and provides pictorial evidence of that help with some very effective and emotional appeals, that also provides a platform for many heretics to come and seem very nice and doctrinally normal. It is quite the spectacle to watch as Joyce Meyers and Gloria Copeland and Creflo Dollar smooth over their prosperity message while on his stage in order to reach his audience and assure them that they are not all about money. And the reverse is true as well. Robison gets to dip into their followers as well. And Robison himself is very adept at looking into the camera and smoothing everything over and suggesting that what these people really mean is something other than we all know is a reality.

So in essence he is using good deeds, which I am sure they do to some extent, to not only support his lifestyle, but also to bring in damnable heresies.

There can be no doubt that God does not approve of such spiritual manipulation and doctrinal skullduggery. And to use poor children as a platform for false teachers and damnable heresies and out in out lies is unconscionable. The Word clearly tells us that after a few admonitions we are to reject heretics. That means we still speak out against their heretical teachings but also have no fellowship with them or even worse present them to the flock as profitable teachers. This kind of Trojan Horse is diabolical and works against the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is little doubt that all of us could and should do more to help the poor, but to use the poor to advance the ministries of heretics is a monstrous sin. Has truth been sacrificed upon the altar of fund raising? In fact, is there such a thing as absolute redemptive truth and if so does it really matter anymore? Has feeding a stomach become much more important than saving a soul?

And therein lies the question which seems to be fading away as quickly as cotton candy in our mouths. I have often spoken out against arrogance and doctrinal hubris. I have heard men whose doctrine seems impeccable but who show little personal humility and little pathos for the plight of lost sinners. In fact by their own admission they only witness because God said to do it. But still the issue of absolute truth, especially as it pertains to Christ and the gospel of redemption, must never fade from being a foundational commitment.

And that is exactly what has happened through men like Robison. His ministry has done good works to the poor, and he has publicly documented them for all to see, and he has raised much money through those videos and his persuasive personality, and then with the platform he has paid for he has invited heretics to come on his show and be on their best doctrinal behavior. And he himself uses his linguistic skills to present them in the best light by putting words in their mouths which do not possibly accurately represent what the teach and live. And in that he is a partaker of their evil deeds.

That, my friends, is another way in which the church continues to walk in apostasy.