LEE GRADY SLAMS the "UNTOUCHABLES"
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
-by J. Lee Grady.
God is shaking His church and removing corruption. But we share
the blame for giving charlatans a platform.
Al Capone once controlled all of Chicago. The notorious 1920s
gangster bribed the city's mayor, bought the police and presided
as king over an empire of casinos, speakeasies and smuggling
operations. He dodged bullets for years and lived above the law
and earned the nickname "untouchable" because no one could
bring him to justice.
Before Capone finally went to prison in 1932, he justified his
crimes by saying: "All I do is satisfy a public demand." He
didn't take responsibility for the pain he caused because he
knew mayors, policemen, community leaders and bootleggers
supported him the whole way.
"There is no way we can know how many unbelievers rejected
the gospel because they saw the church supporting quacks who
swaggered, bragged, lied, flattered, bribed, stole and tearfully
begged their way into our liveswhile we applauded them and
sent them money."
I hate to compare any minister of God to a gangster. But the
sad truth is that today there are a handful (well, maybe more)
of unscrupulous preachers who share some of Capone's most
disgusting traits. They are notoriously greedy. They are masters
of deception and manipulation. They have bought their way into
the charismatic religious subculture and used their uncanny
hypnotic ability to control major Christian TV networks.
And, like Capone, their days are numbered. Justice will soon
catch up with them.
These false prophets probably all started out with a genuine call
from God, but success destroyed them. They were lured away
from true faith by fame and money, and when their ministries
mushroomed they resorted to compromise to keep their machines
rolling. Now, in the midst of the Great Recession, God is closing
in on them.
But before we rejoice that these imposters are being removed from
their pulpits and yanked off the airwaves, let's hit the pause button
and reflect. How did these false preachers ever achieve such fame?
It couldn't have happened without help from us.
We were the gullible ones. When they said, "The Lord promises
you untold wealth if you will simply give a thousand dollars right
now," we went to the phones and put the donations on our credit
cards. God forgive us.
We were the undiscerning ones. When they said, "I need your
sacrificial gift today so I can repair my private jet," we didn't ask
why a servant of God wasn't humble enough to fly coach class to
a Third World nation. God forgive us.
We were the foolish ones. When it was revealed that they
were living in immorality, mistreating their wives or populating
cities with illegitimate children, we listened to their spin doctors
instead of demanding that ministry leaders act like Christians.
God forgive us.
We were the naïve ones. When they begged for $2 million more in
donations because of a budget shortfall, we didn't feel comfortable
asking why they needed that $10,000-a-night hotel suite. In fact,
if we did question it, another Christian was quick to say, "Don't
criticize! The Bible says, Touch not the Lord's anointed!'" God
forgive us.
We have treated these charlatans like Al Caponeas if they
were untouchableand as a result their corruption has spread
throughout charismatic churches like a plague. Our movement
is eaten up with materialism, pride, deception and sexual sin
because we were afraid to call these Bozos what they really are
insecure, selfish, egotistical and emotionally dysfunctional.
If we had applied biblical discernment a long time ago we could
have avoided this mess. There is no way we can know how many
unbelievers rejected the gospel because they saw the church
supporting quacks who swaggered, bragged, lied, flattered, bribed,
stole and tearfully begged their way into our liveswhile we
applauded them and sent them money.
When well-meaning Christians quote 1 Chronicles 16:22 ("Do not
touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm," NASB)
to cover up corruption or charlatanism, they do horrible injustice
to Scripture. This passage does not require us to stay quiet when
a leader is abusing power or deceiving people.
On the contrary, we are called to confront sin in a spirit of love
and honestyand we certainly aren't showing love to the church
if we allow the charismatic Al Capones of our generation to
corrupt it.
-Please comment on this topic at the website below-
http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/
-J. Lee Grady is contributing editor of Charisma and author of the
new book 'The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale'.
SOURCE: http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/fire-in-my-bones