I have a confession to make. I have an addiction to watching bad late night preaching, in fact the worse the better. If I see Charles Stanley or John MacArthur I’m changing the channel quick and running straight toward the Hour of Power or Miracle Meeting or whatever catchy name sounds tacky and contrived. I want my late night Jesus to be nothing of substance but a late night infomercial on how I can “plant my financial seed and watch it grow 100 fold”. If my sarcasm is offensive and seems out of line then I am properly stating my point. Channel after channel I am amazed at the teaching broadcasted, in the name of Jesus, with direct revelation from God and with urgency for “such a time as this” to give financially. These charlatans are so persuasive that I have found myself at times wondering if my critical mind is really getting in the way of God blessing me, but then I remember the words of the Apostle Paul.
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4 NIV)
One night recently, I was lying in bed watching the popular nightly program Campmeeting where the host, Dr. Mike Murdock, pretends to teach the word of God but always leads to a financial principle or law that he created which if I am obedient to act upon will unleash blessing into my life. By releasing my faith, in the form of a financial donation to this ministry, God is going to heal my marriage, secure my career and even guarantee me a financial return. According to this preacher, the money in my pocket isn’t enough to fix my situation so it makes more sense to give it to God, through his ministry of course, in order to reap the miracle God has in store for me. Well on this particular night God had spoken to co-host Dr. Todd Coontz (www.rockwealth.org) and told him that God had placed a special anointing on him and if viewers would give $273 God would unleash a special blessing over them. As an aside I cannot find any information on Dr. Todd’s doctorate degree. His website makes no mention of his educational credentials, perhaps because he is humble but more likely, since he likes to advertise the Dr. title, it is because it is an honorary degree. At any rate, according to Dr. Todd I couldn’t wait, I had to act now as the spirit was moving to unleash this outpouring over my life, get up and go to the phone now…don’t hesitate, God is moving. I could feel the urgency in his passion. I think there was a scripture somewhere that matched the numbers 273, chapter and verse, to confirm this message. My first thought was that $273 was a dollar amount most people could afford. Then another thought crossed my mind and I pressed the info button on my remote control. The date of this broadcast was from 2010, it was now 2013, and surely God’s blessing had passed me by. The only way to be sure was to call the toll-free number on the bottom of the screen.
Hi, is it too late to reap the blessing from 2010 by planting my seed of $273?
Sir, God is always ready to bless you for generous giving.
I was watching tonight and Todd said I had to act now. What I need to know is, am I too late for this special time sensitive blessing God spoke prophetically to Todd?
Sir, as I explained God is always willing to bless you for your donation. The $273 breakthrough seed is always available.
Will I still receive a breakthrough if I donate the $273 to my local church?
Cricket…cricket…
So it seems the $273 plan worked so well three years ago that God, or Dr. Todd, decided to keep running the same program with the same urgency and you can now even plant your seed on his website. There are many false teachers out there preying on the spiritually vulnerable and financially desperate. Ultimately as angry as I can get at these scripture twisting charlatans the real burden of defense lies squarely on our shoulders. It is upon us to study and discern between the word of God and the word of man. One leads to eternal life and the other to destruction.
