WOLVES IN SHEEP CLOTHING
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ . . . (2 Corinthians 11:13).
For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect (Matthew 24:24).
David Ravenhill said "Im convinced that the carnal, cunning, conniving, crooked crooks that Jesus drove out of the Temple are still among us today. These modern day moneychangers are forever devising new and deceptive doctrines to defraud Gods people out of His/their money. These masters of deceit have now set up their changing tables throughout the Christian television industry." "Modern Day Money Changers" found at: https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=13686
Today there are many prosperity preachers. While I normally do not comment on other peoples "ministries" I thought these articles were rather note worthy. I know very well that posting this could cause a bit of an uproar.
Joyce Meyers: http://www.myfortress.org/JoyceMeyer.html
Kenneth Copeland: http://www.myfortress.org/KennethCopeland.html
Jesse Duplantis: http://www.myfortress.org/JesseDuplantis.html
Creflo Dollar: http://www.myfortress.org/CrefloDollar.html
Here is just one section of the Joyce Meyers article about her money habits. I wonder what she would have thought of the Apostle Peter who said in the book of Acts "Silver and Gold have I none." Or Jesus who said "The Son of Man has no where to lay his head." :
"Joyce Meyer says God has made her rich. Everything she has came from Him: the $10 million corporate jet, her husband's $107,000 silver-gray Mercedes sedan, her $2 million home and houses worth another $2 million for her four children all blessings, she says, straight from the hand of God..."If you stay in your faith, you are going to get paid," Meyer told an audience in Detroit in September. "I'm living now in my reward."
Meyer is fond of nice things and is willing to spend for them. From an $11,000 French clock in the ministry's Fenton headquarters to a $105,000 Crownline boat docked behind her vacation home at Lake of the Ozarks, it's clear her tastes run more to Perrier than to tap water.
The building is decorated with religious paintings and sculptures, and quality furniture. Much of it, Meyer says, she selected herself.
A Jefferson County assessor's list offers a glimpse into the value of many of the items: a $19,000 pair of Dresden vases, six French crystal vases bought for $18,500, an $8,000 Dresden porcelain depicting the Nativity, two $5,800 curio cabinets, a $5,700 porcelain of the Crucifixion, a pair of German porcelain vases bought for $5,200.
The decor includes a $30,000 malachite round table, a $23,000 marble-topped antique commode, a $14,000 custom office bookcase, a $7,000 Stations of the Cross in Dresden porcelain, a $6,300 eagle sculpture on a pedestal, another eagle made of silver bought for $5,000, and numerous paintings purchased for $1,000 to $4,000 each.
Inside Meyer's private office suite sit a conference table and 18 chairs bought for $49,000. The woodwork in the offices of Meyer and her husband cost the ministry $44,000.
Meyer drives the ministry's 2002 Lexus SC sports car with a retractable top, valued at $53,000. Her son Dan, 25, drives the ministry's 2001 Lexus sedan, with a value of $46,000. Meyer's husband drives his Mercedes-Benz S55 AMG sedan.
"My husband just likes cars," Meyer said. The Meyers keep the ministry's Canadair CL-600 Challenger jet, which Joyce Meyer says is worth $10 million, at Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield. The ministry employs two full-time pilots to fly the Meyers to conferences around the world.
Security is important to Meyer, who says she has received death threats. She has a division of the ministry dedicated to her safety. Her officers wear pistols; they guard the headquarters' front gate, keeping out anyone but employees and invited guests.
The ministry bought a $145,000 house where the security chief lives rent-free to keep him close to the ministry's headquarters.
Since 1999, the ministry has spent at least $4 million on five homes for Meyer and her four children near Interstate 270 and Gravois Road, St. Louis County records show.
Meyer's house, the largest of the five, is a 10,000-square-foot Cape Cod style estate home with a guest house and a garage that can be independently heated and cooled and can hold up to eight cars. The three-acre property has a large fountain, a gazebo, a private putting green, a pool and a poolhouse where the ministry recently added a $10,000 bathroom."
(Article on Joyce Meyers, 11/15/2003, St. Louis Post Dispatch)
"It's amazing to me how many people are jealous of the car I drive or the house I live in or the size of my ministry...Don't be jealous of the fact that I fly my own airplane...But you know what I've noticed? I've never had anybody who drives a car like mine be jealous of my car. I've never had any other minister who has an airplane be jealous of my airplane. So you know we're really not mad at what other people have, we're mad because we don't have it!"
(Joyce Meyer, "Mind, Mouth, Moods, and Attitudes," tape 2 of 4 the "Mouth")
"Oh, shut up! I mean there is not a one of you sitting out there today if you were in full time ministry and you had an opportunity to have your own airplane rather than flying around commercial all of the time that you wouldn't have one too. We are only jealous because we don't have what other people have! And it's a rotten thing on the inside of us that God wants to get out."
(Joyce Meyer, "Mind, Mouth, Moods, and Attitudes," tape 2 of 4 the "Mouth")
Here is another quote from David Ravenhills article "Modern Day Money Changers:
"Stop pandering to these moneychangers. These men and women live like kings while spending your money to buy mansions and jets for themselves. They dine in the finest restaurants, wear the latest designer fashions and then have the audacity to tell you that you can live the same way as long as you give to their ministry. I opened my Bible the other day to Zechariahs wonderful prophecy concerning the first coming of Jesus, our great and glorious King. Listen to his words; Behold your King is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt the foal of a donkey.( Zechariah 9:9 ) What a far cry from the televangelist who comes high and mighty and traveling on his own jet! If you are as sick and tired as I am about this waste of Gods money, then for heavens sake STOP SUPPORTING THESE PEOPLE. Give your money to your local church. There are tens of thousands of needy missionaries who barely have enough support to keep themselves alive. They are laboring long and hard under some of the most difficult and trying conditions. They would rejoice at the thought of an extra $10-30 dollars a month support. These are the real heroes of whom the world is not worthy. Help put these MONEY LOVING TELEVANGELISTS OUT OF BUSINESS and SAVE ANOTHER MISSIONARY FROM EXTINCTION."
Dead while living R. W. C.
_________________ R. W. C.
|