Prophet Motive

You false prophets are leading my people astray!

You promise peace for those who give you food,

but you declare war on those who refuse to feed you.

Micah 3:5, NLT

I've heard them, and so have you. They get on TV, or stand in pulpits, and they say, "If you will give to my ministry, God is going to bless you. If you give $10 in tonight's offering, you can expect $100 back from God! If you give $100 tonight, you can expect $1000 from God! But if you don't give in my offering, don't expect to receive anything from God." I've heard preachers cajole crowds with guilt trips about the money they spend compared to what they've given in his offering. I heard one guy get up one time say, "I know how much you gave the speaker last time, and your offerings haven't come anywhere close this time!"

I've heard them say that if you give to their ministry, you're entitled to receive a portion of their anointing. As if the gift and calling that God has placed upon them is transferable at will, for a price. I'm often reminded of Simon Magus (otherwise known as Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8) who wanted to buy from the apostles the power to fill people with the Holy Ghost. Peter said to him, "You and your money can go straight to hell."

I saw an evangelist stand a young man in front of a crowd and announce how much money that young man had given in the offering. Then he announced that he was personally going to impart a blessing to that young man because of the offering he had given. He also proceeded to call that young man into full-time ministry, and promised that he would personally help that young man fulfill the call. To my knowledge, once the check was written at the end of that meeting, the evangelist never did one single thing to disciple, equip, educate, instruct, mentor, or in any other way help the man he had called into the ministry. I'm not even certain that young man felt the call of God on his life. He gave out of obedience to the Lord, out of a generous heart. And then he was made a public spectacle, so that (I suspect) others would be inclined to give if they thought the evangelist was going to bless them in the same way.

And I've heard so-called prophets tell crowds, as if they themselves were Abraham in Genesis 12, "If you bless me, I will bless you. And if you don't bless me, I will curse you." I mean, really, who do they think they are? Do they think they are the only valid ministry ordained by God, and that they have in and of themselves the power and authority to bless and curse people according to how they give?

Through the prophet Micah (who I am quite certain never got rich preaching the message God gave him), the Lord said, "You false prophets are leading my people astray." Jesus might have said it like this: "Blind guides leading the blind. You don't lead people through the gates of life, and you don't go in yourself." The mark of false prophets in Micah's day are the same as they are today. And I've personally been on the receiving end of both. I've been blessed by prophets who thought I was a blessing to them, and I've been cursed by prophets who thought I was opposed to them.

If a preacher of any kind tells you what you want to hear so that he can get your money, he's a false prophet. If a preacher shortchanges you on truth, on doctrine, on the Word of God, he is likely shortchanging you on power too. If he doesn't preach like the prophets of old, proclaiming an unadulterated message of repentance and reconciliation to God, but rather promises you all the good things in life if only you'll give more money, he needs to be run out of town (since we can't stone them anymore). And if he threatens everyone that is not for him, not supporting him, not giving in his offerings--if he pronounces judgment on churches and pastors who don't come flocking to his big tent to hear him flap his gums together--he is not the man of God he claims to be.

To borrow a phrase from Monty Python: Run away! Run away!