SOMEBODY SHOUT HALLELUYA! PART ONE

Edward Tedson Sesay – London, UK.

“Is it not written, my house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But you have made it a den of thieves.” Mark 11:17
Our modern world is experiencing a massive growth in churches set up by charismatic preachers many of whom could be fraudsters, tricksters, or simply put, magicians. There is a plethora of dead- beat ministries on the radio and so called “Christian” TV broadcast networks.

Of course in almost every corner in our towns and cities, houses built or rented in the name of the “propagation of the word of God” can be seen. The truth however is that, the simple, decent gospel of Jesus is being polluted with teachings about “sewing seeds” for financial gains and divine faith healing. Like in the time of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem when he observed that the temple of God was being used for corrupt commercial practices, God’s house has been turned once again in our times, into a den of thieves.

While there are many well meaning churches that actually contribute to peace and security in our nations, many others are formed with the sole aim of amassing riches by fooling poor, vulnerable congregations who are encouraged to make generous financial contributions with false assurances that they would be blessed, healed and become rich. All of a sudden, a “mighty, powerful, gifted” preacher emerges and establishes a church which he cleverly gives a name that is so attractive that even the most skeptical person will be tempted to register in.

You must have heard of churches such as, “ House of Healing”, “Zion Charismatic Church”, “Destiny Church”, “House of Redemption”, “Rock of Ages”, “Soul Savers” to name a few? Like in choosing the names they give to their churches, these phoney church leaders also smartly choose the most attractive titles such Prophet X, Apostle Y, Dr Z. Some are even Bishops. Only God knows how they got ordained.
With no formal training in Religion or Ministry, they set up these new churches falsely claiming that they have been called, touched and anointed by God to spread the “Good News”. Sadly, the Gospel of Jesus, the “Good News For Modern Man” becomes the “Gospel of Wealth, Good News for Gold Diggers and fortune Hunters.”

The encyclopaedia of American Religious History explains that the “Charismatic Movement” got its name from “charismata” which is Greek for “spiritual gifts”. The leaders of the charismatic churches around us claim that the spiritual gifts exhibited by the apostles of Jesus can still be manifest in modern day Christians. This is why they claim gifts of spiritual healing, prophecy and speaking in tongues.

In James Chapter 5, the Bible makes it very clear that it is the “prayer of faith” which heals the sick-not the presumptuousness of a false prophet. If anything, the world is yet to witness a single credible miracle since the time of that great Man Jesus when crowds witnessed water being turned into wine or thousands being fed with 5 loaves and the blind regaining their sight. We are yet to see a single true prophet since the days of Moses, Amos, Joshua, Elijah or Elisha. Yes, we are yet to witness the presumptuous, cunning, charismatic “faith healers” of our times cure a headache, not to mention making a blind member of their congregation regain their sight or restoring life to a dead rat.

WHY DO THESE FALSE PROPHETS THRIVE?

If no legitimate faith healers exist, why do all these new churches overflow with crowds of followers? The answer is simple. The owners of fake ministries live amongst us and before becoming “prophets,” they experience human hardship and feel the pinch of the economic crunch like any of us.

They clearly know what the crowds love to hear. In short, they know the areas to exploit to touch the minds of their very needy congregations: job acquisition and job security, business success, visas and immigration, relationships, personal success and fame etc

They exploit the vulnerability of followers all of whom are deceived by false assurances that their problems will be solved without any doubt. Indeed, while true Christianity will preach faithful prayer and repentance for the healing of souls, our charismatic preachers emphasize the need for God’s people to generously “give to God” to gain salvation and human happiness. “Give now because God loves a cheerful giver. Give now because the need is great.”

It is without doubt that many of these charlatans are making God look like a destitute, desperate and needy gatekeeper who requires the gifts or bribes of followers in order for Him to open for them the gates of His kingdom. God’s blessing has been turned into merchandise that can be purchased with silver and gold.

THE MAGIC TRICKS OF SURVIVAL

The “church business” like every business faces stiff competition and the leaders have therefore got to do everything to remain in operation and make their daily profits or gains. The preachers have a daily need to assure their followers that they are one or two steps ahead of the others and to achieve these, many tricks come into play.

Amen and Halleluya: These are the magic or code words you will hear every second in any charismatic congregation. The preachers ensure that the followers are hypnotized to such an extent that they believe that whatever they say comes directly from God and therefore must be believed. To assure themselves that the people believe what they say, they keep asking them to reinforce what they say: “somebody shout halleluya. Somebody shout amen.” Indeed if you watch these sermons on TV or visit these churches out of curiousity, you will hear the conned followers screaming, “halleluia,” “amen” and looking up the ceiling as if expecting God’s hand to descend and drop down riches or the favours for which they have come to the “house of worship.”

Promise of Financial Bonanza

The false prophets exploit greedy minds by promising a financial bonanza that comes with “giving to God”. On 11.10.09, I watched a so called religious broadcast on TV by a preacher called Mike Murdock. The whole sermon which I listened to for a whole hour was all about financial blessings and the need for followers to pay tithes to his church. He emphasized the need to give in order to receive and he was very clear that what you will receive from God will be proportionate to what you give.
Below are a few things said by this preacher that I managed to scribble down while I watched and listened to the sermon:

1. “May God bring you miracle money. But remember, nothing leaves Heaven until something leaves the Earth” (Do the millions collected ever leave the house or bank account of this pastor and go to heaven ? )

2. “Any time God blesses me, He tells me to bless you”. ( He wants his worshippers to believe that he has direct contact with God. )

3. “At age 21, I posted a cheque for $50/00 to a church for a good cause. A week later, while playing the organ in church, a couple walked up to me and gave me a cheque for a £100/00 saying, “God has asked us to bless you with this gift.” (He wants worshippers to empty their purses, starve themselves and their families in the name of “good causes” in the hope of receiving a double reward. )

4. “I will pray for God to give you a thousand dollar seed to sew, to create the harvest. God answers my prayers.” (Again, empty your wallets. I am favoured by God and I will plead on your behalf )

5. Give generously now for everything God touches multiplies. People need the harvest more than they need the seed.” ( People should give everything they have, for the more you give, the more you receive )

6. I will pray for you to experience 90 days of perpetual blessings-a financial bonanza. Take out you wallets and cheque books to be blest. Draw a picture of your wallet or cheque book if you do not have it now and I will bless it. Give generously. If you keep what you have, that is your harvest. In order to multiply, what you have must go. You have to trade your present for the future.” ( His hands and mouth are blest. Only he alone will God listen to )

7. “Jesus said whatever you give me will be multiplied a hundred fold” (Was Jesus a beggar and was he actually referring to money or material things?)
At the end of every sentence of this foolery, the passionate crowds cheered, “Amen, Halleluya.”

THE TRICKERY OF THE “HOLY SPIRIT”

It is not uncommon to see these pastors call members of their congregations to come forward to be touched and be blest. They pretend to have the power of the holy spirit and the followers who are touched can be observed trembling as if shocked by an electric current.

They go backwards and pretend they are falling down and the trained apprentices of the preachers stand by to hold them and prevent them from being knocked down by the “holy” spirit. Sometimes the preachers blow towards the audience and whole sections fall over in their seats.

This to me is a trained emotional response that has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit. Please read the piece below which I extracted from an article in the internet titled: Uganda Based Pastor Denies Miracle Scam

“A Uganda-based preacher has denied charges he tried to import an electric shock machine to make people believe he could pass on the Holy Spirit. "This is a toy. It was sent for my daughters' birthday," Ghanaian Kojo Nana Obiri-Yeboah told the BBC. The machine was seized at Entebbe airport and police are investigating. The pastor told the BBC that during his prayers, members of the congregation "act as the spirit comes in them". The website of the company Yigal Mesika, which makes the "Electric Touch" machine, among other magic tricks, says: "Charge a spoon, keys or coins and watch as it shocks a volunteer! "They will believe you have supernatural powers!" The person doing the trick wears the machine and gets an electric charge, which they can transfer to people or objects. Uganda's Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo has asked police for a report into the activities of churches, such as Mr Obiri-Yeboah's”.

TESTIMONIES

To attract more followers or tithe payers, the rogues arrange for people to give false testimonies of having been cured of an illness or being saved from trouble by the miracles of the false prophet. Several times you would have witnessed an old lady coming up to say, “I suffered from aching limbs for 15 years. All medicines failed to cure me until I came to this church.” The examples of false testimonies abound.

If faith healers are put to the test, they will fail every time. There is a big difference between saying and doing. Faith healers point to testimonies to support their claims, but testimonies are really cheap things. Some people will testify to anything. We need these faith healers to enter into the hospitals and empty the beds of its patients. This is where miracles are badly needed. Imagine the millions of HIV sufferers around the globe that need miracles. Certainly, this will not happen because our faith healers are only con artists, liars and false prophets that are “possessed” by a craving to possess.

Tongues – Our faith healers want people to believe they can perform miracles. To build this false impression they imitate as often as possible the gifts of the Spirit given to the early church. This is done to show that they are legitimate because they have the "anointing."

It is quite common to hear many false prophets babbling like a one-year-old imitating speaking with the gift of tongues. These are only putting on an act. Indeed these preachers are actual actors: drama kings and queens whose theatricals in the pulpit, or should I say on stage, will qualify them for an Oscar award.
The Biblical gift of tongues is the ability for people to hear the gospel in their language when someone else speaks in their language. This gift helped the Apostles spread the gospel around the world. I do not believe anyone has the gift of tongues today.

LESSON TO LEARN
All of us whether at home or abroad have needs we desperately need to meet: jobs security, visas, immigration/Green Cards, relationships, business, health, power, fame etc. The need to meet these needs make us vulnerable and easy prey to rogues who are keen to exploit our vulnerabilities to their advantage.

Making easy wealth and ruining helpless people’s lives has become the preoccupation of con artists who thrive in their business by using religion and the name of God. Beware of these wolves in sheep’s clothing whose tongues are coated with sugar and honey up and down.

We must NOT compromise or water down the truth. These people are all about making filthy-lucre. It takes more than a loose tongue and a few "hallelujahs" to fool a Christian who is familiar with his or her Bible (1611 King James Bible). Faith healers masquerade as "God's Anointed" yet they turn the gift of salvation into a charismatic infomercial with the goal of getting their hands on your money. They should be ashamed, but they are not.

The true Christian God is not a poor man who will ask his people to give a hundred dollars in order to be favoured with two hundred dollars. God cannot be bribed and His blessings are not for sale. Do not desert your traditional church in the hope of finding quick fixes to your health, social and material problems in the charismatic churches headed by charlatans. Are you destined to be next victim of determined shameless rogues that will ask you every second of their sermons to shout halleluya?

They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Be warned.