Damnable Heresies & Pernicious Ways

Growing up without TV has some huge advantages. One of those advantages was being tele-evangelist free for all my formative years. I only recall seeing the odd one from time to time whenever we happened to stay at a motel where there was a TV readily available. It wasn't until I was in my early to mid twenties before I really sat down and watched a tele-evangelist in action.

I wasn't impressed.

There's one big-name dude (who shall remain an un-named dude in this blog) that has been making a lot of waves. I actually know a woman who was healed of cancer at one of his crusades, and so, naturally, I became curious to learn more about him. I checked him out on youtube. The bottom nearly fell out of my stomach. I've never been so embarrassed to be a Christian in all my life! It was all foolishness and money grubbing. Now I know why atheists say Christians are delusional; after a performance like that we deserve it! What still mystifies me is how on earth so many thousands of people are attracted to that person's "ministry." All I can say about my friend who was healed, is that, in all likelihood, it was her faith and not the shenanigans of said "faith healer" that brought about the miracle. (There's more to be said on this point, but it will keep.)

What has this got to do with stars and celebrities, you ask? Well, simply put, there's been some who have made very scorching comments about tele-evangelists. One well-known figure, commenting on the frequency with which these religious stars claim God spoke to them, said, "If God was going to come down and talk to somebody, it wouldn't be somebody with a fleet of Cadillacs." Another referred to "that B-s- preaching." All of this is like a sword through the heart for me. If money-grabbing, blow-dried, posturing tele-evangelists are the only examples of a Christian that these artists know, then I want to endeavor to set the record straight.

First of all, let me say to anybody out there reading this, if you think classic tele-evangelism is what Christianity is all about, let me hasten to assure you that that is far from the truth. There are many, many in the world of faith who view such behavior with horror and shame... such as myself. If a crate of apples stinks, it doesn't always mean that all the apples in the crate are rotten. One or two will do the job nicely.

Secondly, I would like to point out that God hates the money-grabbing as much as you do. Christian author, Max Lucado, put it this way, "Mark it down, religious hucksters poke the fires of Divine wrath." Amen, brother. Remember, it was the money changers Jesus drove from the temple with a small whip, and it was the tables of the money changers that He turned over in His fury with the corruption of the religious system of His day. And His hatred of bilking people in the name of God has not abated.

When I first became a Christian I will never forget my amazement when I read Second Peter chapter two. I never knew such a passage existed in the Bible. You see, I knew enough about tele-evangelists before I was a Christian to have taken a scunner at them myself; so when I read the first three verses of that chapter, I was all agog. I would like to share them here with various and sundry thoughts, in hopes that I might clear God's name in this matter.

Verse 1: But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily (secretly/subtly) shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction."

St. Peter is reminding the relatively new Christian community that there have always been false prophets - those who talk glib in the name of God, those who love gold more than they love the God they profess to represent. He is warning them that the new Christian era will be no different. He's also sounding the alarm that their teaching will be subtle - sneaky, if you please - as preposterous at is my seem, they will deny even the Lord Jesus Himself - His true teachings, His person, and what He truly stood for - and they will seem to get away with it. But it will only seem that way. Destruction will come... swiftly. There are those that will take exception to the word swiftly, since many tele-evangelists and "false prophets" seem to have a long and prosperous "ministry," but from the perspective of eternity, even a lifetime is short, and the destruction that follows upon its heels comes surely and swiftly.

Verse 2: And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.


If ever anything was timely and bang on target that verse is. Many shall follow, huh? Just do a video search on some big-named evangelist, and you'll see the definition of many. Pernicious ways means, causing injury, destructive, or causing injury by insidiously undermining or weakening. I don't need to tell you how destructive the teachings of false prophets have been to the cause of Christ, how insidiously the testimony of God's people has been weakened and undermined by the greed and absurd behavior of those same false prophets, or how "turned off" the unbelieving world has been by the followers of those infamous individuals. Truly the "way of truth" has been "evil spoken of."


Verse 3: And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you:


There's more to that verse, but that will suffice for the moment. When people say "religion is all about money" they aren't far off the mark, at least with regards to false religion. With unerring precision, God puts His finger upon the motivation on these false prophets - greed, materialism, the love of money, filthy lucre. Like it or lump it, that is the plain, ugly truth - it is all about the money. Without attempting to soften the facts, God calls their message exactly what it is: feigned words - false show. I saw a tele-evangelist pull a snake out of the back of some poor arthiritis sufferer. Or, rather, he told us/his audience that he pulled it out, and, like blind sheep, we believed him, and whooped it up, praising God for such a demonstration of His power. Poppycock. And, boy, with their feigned words do they make merchandise out the poor, gullible, souls that they suck in! "Oh, send, me a dollar, and God will give you a hundred!" "Sow a seed, brother" - translation: write me a cheque. Bah.

I have been rather blunt on this blog, but I think the topic calls for it. It's high time Christians call a spade a spade. I just hope that this little soap box rant has cleared the air a bit. You don't like the outrageous behavior carried on in the name of God? Well, you are in good company. God has a mighty poor opinion of it, too. Unless that behavior is repented of, God has made it clear that it will end in no less than damnation.

So if you've been using tele-evangelists as an excuse not to be a Christian, please reconsider and give the real deal a chance. I promise you will never regret it... not now, not for eternity.

With love,
Pastor Chelle