Monday, July 16, 2012

FAMILY OF FAITH CHURCH, MINISTRY AND MONEY (SERMON ANALYSIS 5)


May 2011

The message being reviewed this time is the last one in a series that was delivered by Mr. Huizing on the subject of ministry. The series is called, The M’s of Ministry. This message, says Mr. Huizing (and we presume this comment applies to the whole series), is mainly for ministers. We listened by CD.

Mr. Huizing, Family of Faith, Ministry and Money.

Summary: (He introduces the message with a speech on hard work, the balance of graces and talents, character and anointing, and the kind of ‘word of faith’ that should be preached.) Now today we want to talk about money. Money is a huge thing. Amen? But pastors don’t want to leave the wrong impression, as if they might benefit from the tithe. My answer is, ‘Why don’t you get over yourself.’ Both Testaments show that the tithe went to the workers of ministry. It’s not meant to make you comfortable, necessarily. I like what Joel Osteen says, “In order for a preacher not to be money-minded, he has to have lots of it.” You might need some more workers. You might have to get the message out. That’s where the tithe goes. It takes finances to bring some of the ministry gifts in. So it is helpful for you as a pastor to talk about money. Can I hear an Amen or a grunt? (He goes over Luke 16.11, and comments on its context.) The riches here might just involve people. One reason for money is to build relationships. Some people stop at having needs met. But how about using money to build relationships in order to take care of your future? Let’s talk about Abram in Genesis 14. Abram got some riches out of this war. And Mel showed up. He refused what the king of Sodom offered, but paid a tithe to Melchizedek. Why? Because he was building his relationship with God. Some will say that we don’t have to tithe because tithing was before the law. Well I would beg to differ. God did not tell Abram to tithe. It was a pagan ritual to strengthen something with God. Did it work? God shows up big time! for God says to him, ‘I am your shield.’ And not only that, and ‘I am going to be your exceeding great reward.’ Is not the tithe one reason why God was comfortable to make a covenant with Abram? Abram showed God that he was all heart. Then God made tithing a part of the covenant and law. And he said this is how ministers are going to be taken care of. Don’t get me wrong. God is the starter of everything. But he will let you think that you started it, and give you the credit for it. God gets the heart part. He does not need your master card. Why did Jesus go to the centurion’s house? Because the centurion loved Israel and built a synagogue. That’s why his servant got healed. Kind of interesting, isn’t it? Alleluia. Now let’s look at the story of Cornelius. The door of faith was opened to the Gentiles, not just by prayer, but because of alms. One of the reasons why you’re saved is because somebody not only prayed, but gave. Quite something! Praying and giving open doors. Say it with me: money creates relationships. (He quotes Proverbs 18.16, and speaks on the difference between a gift and a bribe.) If you give to get something, it’s a bribe. But when the intent is blessing, it’s an offering. One of the reasons for a service is to collect money. It just can’t be primary. Be honest about it. Get rid of the fear of it. This type of giving brings you grace, blessing, and prosperity. But you don’t buy it. Abraham’s blessing was because of the intent of his heart. Alright, I’m done with my part.

Remarks: In his introductory speech Mr. Huizing speaks on the necessity of a clear, well defined sermon. Too bad he doesn’t take his own advice. This message, or motivational talk, is just one big messy forty-minute blob. He quotes 2 Timothy 15, the verse about the minister’s high work ethic. But then he goes on in the spirit of what the verse after that condemns, “But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.”

Acceptable comments in Mr. Huizing’s message are few. Faith and works do go together. God knows the intent of the heart. Graces and talents must be well balanced in order to bring about a pastor’s maximum expression. But who on earth doesn’t already know such things? And remember, he is addressing ministers mainly. There is no real teaching from Scripture here. There is nothing close to what one might call maximum expression here. This man actually says that there is an element of ministry that has to do with work! To use an expression of his, ‘This is quite something.’ The statement divulges to us just how foreign the concept of work is to this man. You see, ministry is not work, per se, but work is in it somewhere. This is what he means. Mr. Huizing is just another prosperity preacher who doesn’t do his job, and consequently, has such a shallow, narrow grasp of the word that he continually adverts to the same biblical texts to teach false lessons from. Whatever lessons he pretends to get straight from a careful study of Scripture are just careful contortions to teach his unbiblical brand of ‘word of faith.’ In the Bible the ‘word of faith’ (Romans 10.8) is declared to be a confession concerning Jesus that is rooted in the belief of, or confidence in, his resurrection from the dead, which gospel is the way of salvation. Mr. Huizing declares his ‘word of faith’ to be ‘name it and claim it.’ He actually says this. We’re surprised but glad that he’s so candid about it! His attempt to support this erroneous doctrine is as weak as they come; that is, that the animals became Adam’s property after he named them. Adam was commanded to ‘subdue’ the animal kingdom and to give appropriate names. But there is no connexion to be found in Genesis between naming and owning animals. This word of faith of his is not rooted in Genesis and does not exist as a biblical principle. The biblical word of faith involves confession and faith regarding the death and resurrection of Christ for our salvation. Mr. Huizing’s word of faith is a verbal claim on something that you want, which is usually some material thing, most frequently money. That’s ‘quite something.’ One word of faith looks up to Jesus to be possessed of him for salvation from sin; the other looks down to possess the things of earth that sinners are in the habit of indulging in to their own destruction. One word of faith is the gospel to be saved by; the other is nothing but lust that conceives to bring forth sin and death (James 1.15.) Word of faith of the charismatic sort appeals to persons who are easily drawn away when tempted, who then become enticed to launch out into lusty lifestyles. And that is a lusty lifestyle to be obsessed with naming and claiming these things of earth to satisfy one’s base desires on! Furthermore, if a person tries to name and claim Jesus as his Saviour by such an empty avowal, that person will be sorely disappointed on the day of death and at the last day, for faith needs more than a verbal utterance of what one wants in order to be saving. Not all who call Jesus Lord will be saved. Jesus himself teaches this. A person who simply iterates his wants does not get them, not in the spiritual realm anymore than in this natural world. Once you believe in the charismatic kind of word of faith, you will begin to sift every sacred Scripture verse through the funnel of what you want. All teachings, whether from didactic letters or inspirational histories, will then seem good to you only in so far as they are made to speak on and confirm an already decided upon worldview of financing your little kingdom on earth. No text is too sacred for prostitution unto this purpose by men like Mr. Huizing and his ‘word of faith’ idols. The LORD God is ready to ‘trouble’ such men just as certainly and surprisingly as he troubled Achan for taking the Babylonish garment (Joshua 7.) Like the men who ‘rose up before Moses’ and were swallowed up in the earth for it (Numbers 16), these are in danger of being swallowed up in hell for rising up against the gospel of Jesus Christ. The supporters of Korah did not escape judgment for their complicity in Korah’s rebellion (16.35.) It is foolishly optimistic to suppose that supporters of this false word of faith will escape the same wrath of this Old Testament God who is the same today as yesterday. Let the reader understand (and we do not say this except by studious familiarity) that these inferences just made are no different from applications that are commonly found in the works of John Bunyan, who was, it could be debated, more acquainted with Scripture than any other man in his day, which day is now famous for having had so many men who understood the Bible comprehensively. We do not claim one tenth of Bunyan’s genius, indeed none at all, much less a fraction of his dedication, knowledge, and holiness. But in handling the word here we have not gone astray from the very hermeneutic used by him in speaking to the wayward professors of 17th century England. This analysis is not a tirade against anyone. It is a disputation for the good of anyone who may be so misled as to believe in ‘name it and claim it’ religion, which has absolutely no basis from Scripture to commend it. The only basis for it is lust for money, power, and the perks that fall out from being treated like a V.I.P. It always comes down to money with these guys of the ‘name it and claim it’ strain. Even salvation, says Mr. Huizing, is based, at least partly (next to prayer) on whether someone gives or not. So you see what we mean! The gospel to him is a product (and he literally calls it that) to be marketed. This is a horrible blasphemy, for the gospel is not a product to be marketed and sold, but a free revelation from God to be reverently preached. ‘Money is a huge thing’ to Mr. Huizing; and since he believes that salvation depends upon it, it must, must it not, be one of his biggest things? How pertinent that he would trace the tithe all the way back to pagan roots! If the root of tithing is pagan, why would a Christian even participate? We are happy to opt out of Mr. Huizing’s pagan tithe! ‘Word of faith’ tithing is just that, a pagan ritual. God is your reward (or gives you rewards) if you tithe. And this tithe, rather than the purpose and pleasure of God, is what this pastor bases the covenant on! When he says that God is the source of everything, he is just covering his guilty tracks because he knows some people might know better. Everything surrounding that statement is about God being a mere responder on account of man’s tithe. Money, in other words, decides everything. Or just build a synagogue or something, and God will heal your servant! ‘Kind of interesting, isn’t it?’ Yes, kind of like the false doctrine preached by crooked televangelists! What’s interesting is that the Bible could be interpreted in such a carnal way so overtly without protest from other pastors and with the assent and approval of so many professing believers. Mr. Huizing doesn’t even teach well, especially considering this is a message to ministers, and still all kinds of church people will get deceived by the false teachers taught by him! In the face of his verbal caveat to the contrary, this religion is all about giving to get something in return. God is just tacked on in this message in order for it not to look so bad. The gospel is nowhere to be found, except perhaps in a perverted form. We have heard enough of this man to know what his gospel is. Here it is: the trinity must answer to the greedy wants of man.

As is common among prosperity preachers who share pulpits, it doesn’t matter how much their doctrines clash so long as money is kept at the center. Mr. Johnson says you don’t have to tithe; Mr. Huizing begs to differ; but they both stay bent on begging money. You will no doubt find disparity, also, concerning what each believes the doctrine of Christ, sin, and salvation to be. But this matters not one bit to preachers of crooked finance, so long as they have money at the core. Mammon is not only their center, but their first and last, their love, their all. If Mr. Huizing and Joel Osteen are correct, that a preacher must have lots of money in order not to be money-minded, then Jesus was wrong when he said you can’t serve both God and mammon. Most preachers are going to have to be money-minded (which is to serve mammon) in order to have lots of money. You can’t serve both mammon and God together. Jesus was correct. And Mr. Huizing is the servant of mammon. A better rule than Osteens’s would be for each minister to take Jesus’ advice in Mark 10, and “sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor…and come, take up the cross, and follow me” (verse 21.) This would be a terrible cramp in Mr. Huizing’s style and plan, though. But we would be encouraged if he went only so far as to be “not greedy of filthy lucre” (1 Timothy 3. 3.) This verse, after all, is written especially for ministers. (About Mr. Johnson, see our previous analysis for this church.)     

Conclusion: Relationships with God and men are built on monetary influence. In a nutshell, this is the message of Money and Ministry. The ministry of Jesus Christ, in contrast, is all about selflessness and sacrifice, not influence through financial connexions. The ministry of Jesus’ followers is of this humble, modest hue, also, which is particularly evident in the book of Acts. Can anyone imagine the apostle Paul standing before souls in peril of hell to teach on influencing one’s future by financial deals? “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9.16.) A real preacher has too much fear for his own soul to preach anything for his gospel except Christ crucified. Fear of God through fear of preaching ungodly, this is what real ministers experience and what Mr. Huizing is entirely empty of. Hugh MacKail, the 17th century martyr, could say, just before his execution, that “he averred that he was less cumbered about dying than he had often been about preaching a sermon!” (Jock Purve’s Fair Sunshine, p. 21.) Is Mr. Huizing ‘cumbered’ at all about what he preaches? Donald Cargill, another martyr of the same era, declared, “when setting his foot upon the ladder to go up to embrace the bloody rope…’The Lord knows I go up this ladder with less fear, confusion or perturbation of mind, than ever I entered a pulpit to preach’” (Ibid. p. 55.) These men feared the pulpit more than death; Mr. Huizing fears it not at all. They feared even while preaching Christ crucified, the real gospel message; Mr. Huizing fears not to preach babblings and counterfeits. There is no fear of God before his eyes (Romans 3.18.) With his tongue he has used deceit (verse 13.) His great fear is not to have lots of money. The church-growth (marketing) method passed on in this message to ministers is this: preach on money; then by the proceeds ‘gifted’ people can be brought in; and by their influence even more people and more proceeds can be gained. It’s just a clever money-building circle. God gets the heart part, remember that. But guess who gets the master-card part? Conversely, how are churches built up in the Bible? Churches are built up by the grace and Spirit of God when the death and resurrection of Jesus are preached to sinners who must, if they would go to heaven instead of the hell they presently stand condemned to, repent of their carnal, greedy, earthy, selfish, filthy ways. We do not shrink from suspecting that a pastor is unsaved who sins only so much as to call Melchizedek ‘Mel,’ especially since he admits that Melchizedek may be the pre-incarnate Christ! Would a Christian who thinks Melchizedek is Christ call Melchizedek ‘Mel’? But we have so much more on Mr. Huizing than this that we can literally (or ‘clearly and unequivocally’ as the politician would say) pronounce him unsaved, just as if we were ordained to say it. ‘Name it and claim it’ is not the biblical word of faith, and it’s not the gospel of Jesus Christ, nor even a part of it. Persons must be thoughtless about the Bible and stubborn in themselves to believe that a holy God ordered such a system, for according to that system God exists to satiate the lusts of sinful men, which is the same as having God the servant of sin. God will repay for dishonor like this! And it will be a guiltless revenge arising from the same Spirit who decided to no longer tolerate the saucy sins of Sodom! Whoever you are, take the warning! If you believe in this wicked word of greed instead of the word of faith from God, get understanding while you still have your mind and while you still have the time to use it. Get serious about getting the gospel right. Don’t think that you can get it wrong without repercussion. Get off the sinking sand before you fall through to hurt yourself forever!