South African Christianity II : The Issue Is Worship

Prologue

For this post to make sense, dear reader, you have to have read the first part of this discourse, which can be found here. Otherwise, this is going to sound nonsensical and out of place. So, we continue from the aforementioned post.

Why does any of this matter?

By now you might be asking yourself why really does it matter if some people are preaching the prosperity Gospel? I mean honestly, these people have a relationship with God, they live decent lives (in that I mean they are not "immoral"), they speak against sin, they stand for Christ, they say that only in Jesus Christ is salvation found, and generally, they are Christians and we should love them. So what if they preach some creature comforts while they're at it? So what if these ministers drive private jets and all, they are still faithful to Christ, right? Aren't they?

Let's go one further. What about the 'easy believism' crowd? I mean surely, these guys go all out to preach Christ and they genuinely preach Him crucified, the only issue is they don't put such an effort to teach Biblical doctrine and they make people pray prayers and tell them they are saved without seeing any biblical fruit or evidence of faith, and, well, sure a lot of people might be walking around thinking they they are Christians when they are not but hey, its not our job to separate the wheat from the tares, right? Right?

A Story..

To answer the above interlocutors, let me reenact for you an event that happened to one of the sisters in our ministry. Her sibling, a working young black lady, was the first one to believe in Christ in the house. She accepted faith in Christ in one of these prosperity Gospel movements in the black community. As time unfolded, eventually faith came to the whole house, when even our sister received Christ. Indeed, so far we've ourselves a wonderful testimony.

The effects, however, of the prosperity preaching which this family was now subjected to every week were soon to unfold themselves. They were taught principles and things, and as sheep to shepherds, they readily applied them. So what do you get? A couple of weeks ago the sister tells me of a very sad episode that happened between her and her sister. At 1AM in the morning she was counseling her sister, who was teary and angry and bitter towards God, because she had applied the principles she was taught (such as giving large sums of money to a famous preacher's account monthly) but God had not blessed her as He blesses others. She felt God does not love her, and she was completely hopeless.

The very fiber of her sentiments towards her loving Saviour were ransacked. Why? She had no proof she was loved by Him. Think about that. She had no proof that God loved her. How come? Because she is told that if God loves you, He will bless you financially. And this is not just about saying hey, God will take care of your needs, no, this is saying, God will extravagantly make you exceedingly rich, because His favour is upon you.

The Issue is Worship

Now the main reason why these heresies are damnable is, apart from the fact that they are unbiblical, which is enough of a reason itself, is that they negatively affect the way Christians worship God. The Lord Jesus said in John 4:24, "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."It is not worshiping God in truth when you need more proof that He loves you. See what this does, it makes the important things unimportant. How can someone, who believes that Jesus Christ came and paid the debt she would never be able to pay in a million years, need more proof of God's love? Did not God shew His love to us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us? Is Christ not enough? 

Easy believism also contributes to false worship, because, simply, without the true doctrines of God taught to you every week you'll end up nothing but an idolater, worshiping a false view of God. Easy believism doesn't tell you the hard truths of God, you are pulled in, and enticed by eloquent words convincing you that nothing will be required of you but some fickle faith. Repentance is a word you'll never hear. You are told that if you can close your eyes and imagine you're in a conversation with God, somehow that conversation will save you. That is fake. Christ calls us to repentance and faith. The Apostle Paul said this "First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds." Acts26:20. Christ said a man must count the cost if he is to be His disciple (Luke 14).


For His Own Glory did God send His Son (Rom 9,Ezekiel 36:22-24). For he wanted true worshipers, who value things of the Spirit more that any materialistic thing this world has to offer. And that is why the prosperity Gospel, that so enamors our country, and easy believism, are despicable. Even if some people truly do get saved in these movements, it is not an excuse because they do not worship God properly until God takes them out of those movements. If God saves someone he saves him for God. He doesn't save him just to save him from hell, and he certainly doesn't save him to make him rich, but He saves him so he might be reconciled to God, in right relationship, and worshiping Him in spirit and in truth. 

O Lord, let these, Thine Holy words, inspire us and lead us toward Thee:


"and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised." II Corinthians 5:15.