Time Magazine asks the question if the Prosperity “gospel” has turned most of its adherents into victims of the current financial crisis:

Has the so-called Prosperity gospel turned its followers into some of the most willing participants — and hence, victims — of the current financial crisis? That’s what a scholar of the fast-growing brand of Pentecostal Christianity believes. While researching a book on black televangelism, says Jonathan Walton, a religion professor at the University of California at Riverside, he realized that Prosperity’s central promise — that God will “make a way” for poor people to enjoy the better things in life — had developed an additional, dangerous expression during the subprime-lending boom. Walton says that this encouraged congregants who got dicey mortgages to believe “God caused the bank to ignore my credit score and blessed me with my first house.” The results, he says, “were disastrous, because they pretty much turned parishioners into prey for greedy brokers.” (more…)

Albert Mohler also weighed in on the issue with Are We Promised Prosperity?, with these sobering words:

Perhaps we all need a refresher course in Christian economics and Christian theology. Niall Ferguson argues from the record of history in looking to the current crisis. Perhaps we should remember our own history lesson — that far more believers in Christ have been and are now among the poor, rather than among the wealthy. We should hear Jesus warn against materialism and Paul remind us that we are to be content when we have plenty and when we have little. We should know that the Christian virtue of thrift is incompatible with the lies of those who push consumer credit.

Oh, and by the way, I learned that the senior pastor of a mega-church in Singapore preached this morning about having to tithe (and give to the building fund) so that your debts will be canceled because God is a “debt-canceling God” and we can chase off the “spirit of debt”.

God sure can cancel debt — our sin the heaviest debt when you repent and put your trust in Jesus Christ, but to say that God will cancel your debt if only you will tithe and give to the building fund… that’s preposterous! Stop feeding these feel-good, engage-the-marketplace, build-a-house-for-God pastors who offer choice passages from the Bible to substantiate their false claims.

The key to overcoming debt which is a result of materialism and greed is not giving more to a church building fund or tithing. Pray God that you will abide in Christ, and He will give you a new heart to focus on His kingdom and not the things of this world which moths and rust can, and will, destroy. In my opinion, that should have been preached, but then again, I never did expect much Biblical sense from a pastor who calls John Avanzini “friend”.

Photo by swamysk.

My good brother Samuel at A Lion Has Roared wrote this thought of his down which also gave me much to think about.

I have often said: “He who thinks little of God in his time thinks very little of God in his heart”; I still hold to that tenaciously. However, I would today, reiterate it with greater potency. Indeed, he who thinks little of God in his life, that is, he who does not pray but now and then; who does not read the Word of his acclaimed Father but under compulsion; who does not ponder the Truth on a daily basis and humbly surrender himself to It; he is a man who will not merely think of God less often than he could, but one who will not consider God correctly when he most desperately needs the God he knows so inconsiderably.

How can I honestly claim a Friend, Father and Savior to Whom I seldom speak, and worse, to Whom I never listen?

That man is me on so many occasions…

HT: A Lion Has Roared.
Photo by massdistraction.

On September 16, 2008, the night was clear and dry when Preston Newby and his wife, Tara traveled along I-5 in Washington State. Suddenly, traffic became chaotic, stopping and swerving so they wouldn’t hit a mighty elk that lay in the middle of the interstate. Along the side of the road was a banged up car with a smashed window.

Preston Newby, 24, a recent alumni of a Portland area Bible college, and Youth Pastor at Lake Bible Church in Lake Oswego, Oregon, knew he had to stop and help whoever was in the car that everyone else was leaving behind. Telling Tara they had to stop, she already knew he would dash to help. It’s who he was, and what he did. There’s no way that he would leave some one behind that might have needed assistance.

When Preston looked in the car, he found a 16-year-old driver who appeared to be injured from hitting the majestic animal. Tara watched as her husband followed the calling of God as he checked on the driver and called 911. Something made her look away at the very moment a car veered from hitting the elk, and instead hit her husband. It’s “by the grace of God” she says, that she didn’t actually see him struck.

What she did see was her husband lying in the road. Tara ran to him, and held him as she screamed to God to save his life. Together in Preston’s last moments, the two of them held each other, prayed together, and Tara sang to him to try and ease the horror that seemed to be swallowing them whole. Preston did not survive the impact of the car that hit him.

Everyone who knew him says that he could light up the room, and that he had a way about him that made people want to be around him. He had knowledge of the Lord that seemed far beyond his years. Tara says, “He had this laugh that was just contagious”.

After the series of events that took the life of her husband, Tara’s faith is holding strong. She doesn’t blame the driver of the car that took Preston’s life at all. As a matter of fact, she has forgiven that driver completely. She also isn’t harboring any resentment towards God. She believes that her husband died serving the Lord, and she will continue his legacy.

The love of God doesn’t dwell solely in the walls of the church, and is not bound by rules, but lies within the souls of his followers, and through Him, we find strength. While Preston was here, he spread the word of God, and through his death, he will continue to touch lives.

Preston Newby is survived by his wife, Tara, their 16-month-old son, Jacob, and Tara is ten weeks pregnant with their second child.

What’s more amazing is this account¹ given on the same station, featured below:

Download audio file (preston-tara-newby.mp3)

If you’d like to send Tara your condolences, support and encouragement, you can visit her blog to do so.

¹ Hour 1, Way of the Master Radio, 25 Sep 2008.

Aimed at delivering Christian bloggers from the temptations of online arguments, the “commandments” include advice to not “make an idol” of their web space, not to misuse their screen name by using anonymity to sin and to remember the Sabbath by taking one day off a week from blogging. In addition, Christian bloggers are “commanded” to honor their fellow bloggers and not to get too upset by their mistakes. They shall not murder the reputation of another blogger, shall not give false testimony against a fellow blogger and shall not steal the blog content of another.

Krish Kandiah, executive director of Churches in Mission, said: “These commandments are virtual rather than set in stone, but are offered to the blogging community as a way to link the Ten Commandments with the art of blogging. In the ever-changing information age, what we need is wisdom for life, and God communicates wisdom to our culture through the Bible on every issue from social justice to social networking.”

The Ten Commandments:

1. You shall not put your blog before your integrity.
2. You shall not make an idol of your blog.
3. You shall not misuse your screen name by using your anonymity to sin.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by taking one day off a week from your blog.
5. Honor your fellow-bloggers above yourselves and do not give undue significance to their mistakes.
6. You shall not murder someone else’s honor, reputation or feelings.
7. You shall not use the web to commit or permit adultery in your mind.
8. You shall not steal another person’s content.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your fellow-blogger.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s blog ranking. Be content with your own content.

Gee, I thought the original Ten Commandments already covered all these points, although I’d say it’s a good reminder nonetheless.

Source: The Telegraph.
HT: LoCTY!.

Is Christ your one true love? Is He the center of your life? Is He truly Lord or are you just paying lip service?

The more you behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the more you will see of your own vileness. The more you grow in holiness, the more aware you will be of your inward corruptions and the imperfection of your duties. More and more, you will feel your need of the gospel of grace and you will realize, even after many years of faithful Christian service, that you are a sinner who has no hope apart from Christ. Never forget that in yourself you are unworthy, and guilty and condemned; only in Jesus are you accepted.

Abraham Booth (1734-1806)

HT: The Bororean.