Prophetic + Prosperity =...

1 Timothy 6:10 "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

"...love of money" = philargyria (Greek): avarice, avaricec.1300, from O.Fr. avarice (12c.), from L. avaritia "greed," from avarus "greedy," adj. form of avere "crave, long for." noun insatiable greed for riches; inordinate, miserly desire to gain and hoard wealth.

"During the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, Walter Rauschenbusch, a Baptist minister, inspired others to fight against the economic inequality of the time with the “Social Gospel.” Social Gospel ministers helped inspire President Theodore Roosevelt to break up business monopolies and abolish child labor, historians say.

"During the Great Depression, Father John A. Ryan built such a national following condemning the excess of capitalism that he was invited to deliver prayers at a presidential inauguration.

"The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spent the last three years of his life focusing on poverty. When he was assassinated in 1968, he was on the cusp of leading a nonviolent, interracial army of poor people into the nation’s capital to demand a fairer distribution of wealth."

These ministers who took on the big economic issues of the day were inspired by the example of Jesus, who angered the powerful by condemning the economic exploitation of the poor, religious scholars say. His teachings are seen throughout the New Testament in parables such as “The Rich Man and Lazarus.” From CNN's Belief Blog.

Jesus himself said: "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house." (Mark 6:4).

According to Judaism 101, "A prophet is basically a spokesman for G-d, a person chosen by G-d to speak to people on G-d's behalf and convey a message or teaching. Prophets were role models of holiness, scholarship and closeness to G-d. They set the standards for the entire community." (from the link, Jews apparently avoid writing the Name of God as Christians would to avoid the written name later being defaced). Women fulfilled this role as well!

Prophets are known for speaking "truth to power."Samuel prophesied to Saul when he used a medium after his death to speak with him; Nathan did to King David about his sin with Bathsheba; John the Baptist personified himself as Isaiah the, "voice crying in the wilderness"; Jesus sent the money changers out of the temple, their main interest profit, not worship.

In America, you will have the development of both archetypes of ministry models. I've often said prosperity is not a tool of the elite: it is what happens when you systemically don't allow it for the masses, and hoard it for the few.

I title this blog post as an equation. The conclusion I leave blank. I think it time we speak truth to power, while teaching our flocks not only to tithe, but how to manage the resources God has given us.

If you are giving your 10%; you're thinking of God first. That puts you into the mindset of thinking of others. In order to give your 10%, you "have to know what the other 90% is doing!" (Pastor Valerie). "There is money in the earth; no one has blown it up or burnt it up." (Bishop Hilliard) That is the result of speaking truth to power and turning away from men and institutions as gods...to the One that Sustains!

28th day...

The worshipers of mammon are clearing out the occupiers of Wall Street.

Crown publishing does a study on money management, practical and spiritual guidance for the church. Tithing is not just a "money scheme." It is a way for God to bless families and nations. Right now, we as a nation are not acting as "the blessed," and have made idols out of secular men and institutions that hoard wealth to themselves.

That's OK by me. According to the Word: they're just holding my money!

Rather than compose thoughts from the text, I'll let the text speak for itself...

Ecclesiastes 10:19 NKJV - A feast is made for laughter, And wine makes merry; But money answers everything.
Ecclesiastes 10:20 NKJV - Do not curse the king, even in your thought; Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom; For a bird of the air may carry your voice, And a bird in flight may tell the matter.

Proverbs 13:22 NKJV - A good [man] leaves an inheritance to his children's children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

Matthew 6:24 NKJV - "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Matthew 6:25 NKJV - "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?


Luke 16:13 NKJV - "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
Luke 16:14 NKJV - Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.
Luke 16:15 NKJV - And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.


1 Timothy 6:6 NKJV - Now godliness with contentment is great gain.
1 Timothy 6:7 NKJV - For we brought nothing into [this] world, [and it is] certain we can carry nothing out.
1 Timothy 6:8 NKJV - And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.
1 Timothy 6:9 NKJV - But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and [into] many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
1 Timothy 6:10 NKJV - For the love of money (philargyria) is a root of all [kinds of] evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.


Malachi 3:1 NKJV - "Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," Says the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 3:2 NKJV - "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He [is] like a refiner's fire And like launderers' soap.
Malachi 3:3 NKJV - He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness.
Malachi 3:4 NKJV - "Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem Will be pleasant to the LORD, As in the days of old, As in former years.
Malachi 3:5 NKJV - And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers, Against adulterers, Against perjurers, Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, And against those who turn away an alien--Because they do not fear Me," Says the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 3:6 NKJV - "For I [am] the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
Malachi 3:7 NKJV - Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept [them]. Return to Me, and I will return to you," Says the LORD of hosts. "But you said, 'In what way shall we return?'
Malachi 3:8 NKJV - "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings.
Malachi 3:9 NKJV - You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, [Even] this whole nation.
Malachi 3:10 NKJV - Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this," Says the LORD of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you [such] blessing That [there will] not [be room] enough [to receive it].
Malachi 3:11 NKJV - "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field," Says the LORD of hosts;
Malachi 3:12 NKJV - "And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land," Says the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 3:13 NKJV - "Your words have been harsh against Me," Says the LORD, "Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against You?'
Malachi 3:14 NKJV - You have said, 'It is useless to serve God; What profit [is it] that we have kept His ordinance, And that we have walked as mourners Before the LORD of hosts?
Malachi 3:15 NKJV - So now we call the proud blessed, For those who do wickedness are raised up; They even tempt God and go free.' "
Malachi 3:16 NKJV - Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard [them]; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name.
Malachi 3:17 NKJV - "They shall be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him."
Malachi 3:18 NKJV - Then you shall again discern Between the righteous and the wicked, Between one who serves God And one who does not serve Him.