OK, here we go… I will be posting statements made by famous televangelist’s to highlight our “Unmasking the Counterfeits” teaching series and this is where you, the reader, come in. You are invited to tell me why they are right or why they are wrong. Most, if not all of you, will be able to point out the error, but I am interested as to why a given statement is wrong. Let’s try to get concise, thoughtful answers realted to specific statements. Also, feel free to forward this to friends and relatives in order to expand the dialogue and develop critical thinking skills. You don’t need to be a theologian to enter the fray; all you need to join is a concern about people hearing truth. Make sure to check back to get in on the conversation since we will be changing this every other day…
Unmasking Statement #1
“The very first thing on Jesus` agenda was to get rid of poverty! Would you like to know why some people, including ministries, never get out of poverty? It’s not because they aren’t smart. It’s not because they don’t have windows of opportunity. It’s because they’re not anointed. If you’re not anointed, poverty will follow you all the days of your life.”
Jessie Duplantis – Voice of the Covenant magazine (Nov. 1997 p.5).
2 Cor 1:21-22 says that we (all believers) are anointed, established in Christ, and sealed by the Spirit as a pledge. If Jessies’ statement were true, then that would mean that there could be no poverty stricken Christians in the world because all true Christians are anointed according to Paul. However, the Bible states that we can know if a person may be a Christian by observing certain charactersitics in them such as love of others (I Jn 1:10-11), obedience to God’s commandments (I Jn 1:4), a lack of love of the world and it’s passing pleasures (I Jn 1:15-17). There is no wealth test to ascertain wether or not someone is a Christian.
Okay, I don’t have the specific applications of these references, but here’s what I wrote down on Wednesday. Some address the claim that Jesus’ mission was to eradicate poverty; others address the possibility (likelihood, even) of an impoverished Christian.Matthew 8:18-22Matthew 9:11-13Mark 2:2-4John 12:8James 2:2-6,15-171 John 2:27Now, let’s just look at this from a logical perspective. We don’t need a whole lot of references to prove poverty, we just need to find one fact to disprove the anointing –> wealth assertion. This is easily done.
Here’s a premise that Duplantis cannot deny if he also believes the accuracy of the Gospel accounts (and therefore the rest of the NT):
Sounds like an anointing to me. So, if something is included in the NT, then its author had to be under God’s anointing.
Take, then, several of the writers of the New Testament.James: the half-brother of Jesus, and probably not much more wealthy than the Christ Himself.Jude: another half-brother of Jesus (same family as James). And, since Joseph apparently died rather young, these two sons were most likely pressed to provide for their family and mother, much less able to amass wealth for themselves.Paul: he arguably took a downward spiral in the realm of monetary wealth, falling from Pharisee to Roman prisoner. Much of his ministry was spent traveling, staying in others’ homes, being supported by remote churches, and either under house arrest or being held in Roman custody and chains.Obviously, these men were either not under God’s anointing (and, therefore, their writings should not be included in the Bible (whoops, there goes 75% of the NT)), or Duplantis was just plain wrong about the anointing –> wealth connection.
The implication of the Duplantis assertion is that the ministry of Jesus, which we have inherited, is primarily about eliminating poverty. In 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, Paul gives us one of the clearest explanations of the ministry that Jesus has given us:
The ministry is about reconciling sinners to God, not reconciling people and wealth.
As long as we can clearly show what Jesus’ ministry is, we don’t necessarily have to show every possible thing that it is not.