Mega Christianity Part Two: The False Prophets

Writer: Jeff

Matthew 7:15 15 Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

2 Billion people around the world cook their dinner over fires made of sticks and dung each night, while these churches store up their wealth in vaults bigger than many homes. Yet, the message is so seductive, so simple, so easy to slip into that people begin convincing themselves that it is all right to do exactly what the Bible tells us not to do – horde wealth. They even convince themselves that the words do not mean physical wealth, it means spiritual wealth, or that what matters is not what you do, but what is in your heart – as if your actions do not reflect your heart. Beware of any message claiming that actions do not reflect the love of Christ being in our hearts – this is most definitely a false teaching.

Matthew 11:7 Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces.

Jesus did not come in a fine 1,500 dollar Armani suit. He did not build great Amphitheaters encrusted with jewels and the best acoustics. And if he were here today he certainly would not come in an SUV and pay for deluxe BOSE sound systems that could feed villages. Of course, Megachurches make it easy on their congregations’ conscience as not a single one of them is even within a long drive of a poverty-stricken area. Meaning: the thousands of attendees do not have to pass any homeless people begging for food on route to Church each week. They do not have to think about their 30,000 dollar SUV that sucks up so much extra gas that it would have fed many meals to the homeless each year if it were a better mileage car. After all, most people that attend these churches never have to deal with worrying about food as 91.7 percent of megachurches report having “none,” “hardly any,” or “few” attendees with household incomes below $20,000. (Thuma)

Read the rest here…

Mega Christianity Part One

Writer: Jeff

Imagine walking into a large stadium-sized building with 402 bathrooms or a food court that seats over 750 people (more than most malls). A building that includes a bookstore with over 10,000 books, has between 500 and 1000 employees, and profits almost 5 million dollars a year that is stored in an enormous on-site safe (not including money that is reinvested). – [MJ] Now, imagine more than 750 buildings just like it popping up all over the country in a little over 20 years. The buildings include cappuccino bars, on-site hotels, state of the art sound systems, media systems with 16-28 foot LED Screens, pools, gymnasiums, shuttle busses, all laid out on enormous amounts of land with their own zip-codes. Imagine movie stars such as Stephen Baldwin, Randy Travis, and Mel Gibson, music superstars, and politicians frequently visiting these buildings. Imagine between two and thirty-five thousand people visiting these sites each week in a parade of SUV’s and Hummers. [WAD]

Is this building the new state of the art Big Box store? A new sports arena? A Mega-mall? I am sure that as you began reading that paragraph above that may have been your first thought, but by the time you reached the end of the paragraph it is pretty obvious what this building is: a Megachurch. Every attribute that I listed describes at least one real Megachurch and in most cases many of them. Many Christians find this exciting, thinking: wow, how exciting that hundreds of thousands are coming to God and that God is blessing them with this tremendous wealth! I question this thought process and would like to examine the following questions concerning this issue: What message does this send to non-believers? Is it better to reach large masses with a watered down, society-influenced message, or reach less people with the real word of Christ? What impact do these Megachurches have on regular churches and believers? And, can a Megachurch stay true to God’s word?

Luke 6:20-21
Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

First, what message does this send to non-believers? Answer: Christianity = Excess. If you believe, you will receive bling. If you do not become rich, then you just do not have enough faith. Why do I think this is dangerous? Simple, it is raising an idol above Christ – money. Then they are using this idol to draw people in. As we are warned in the Bible – beware of false prophets, and the palaces that they are in may be a clue as to whether they are true or false prophets. We are told to imitate Christ and he would be overturning tables in these temples. And what is even more telling is the fact that in many Christian circles it seems to be blasphemous to even question the excess riches in these Churches.

Luke 6:24-26
But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

Second, remember that over the past 6 years the amount of people living below the poverty line increased by five million in America alone, while these churches are storing up their money on Earth. That sound system could have fed a family for a year, each television a few more families, each stadium sized building could have fed a town of God’s children, and the parades of SUV’s could be sold in order end poverty around the world.

To be continued…

[Sources include: Mother Jones Magazine and Works and Days Literary Magazine]