And the Stars of Heaven shall Fall, and the Powers that are in Heaven Shall be Shaken

My wife and I keep praying for God to destroy ministries, including prosperity ministries, that keep people from getting close to God. Whether or not our prayers have anything to do with it, he is doing what we asked. Tony Evans and Robert Morris are in trouble.

I don’t know much about Tony Evans, but he has a megachurch and tells Christians to tithe. Robert Morris teaches a lot about the Holy Spirit, but he also has (had) a megachurch, and he tells people they will be cursed if they don’t tithe.

I discovered Morris years ago. I saw him on some religious network, and I started watching. I bought a couple of DVD sets.

He talked a lot about giving and how God had rewarded him. He said God told him to give away all he had on at least one occasion, and he also told him to give away a new car. He said God restored more than he gave.

I actually corresponded with him via email for a while, until he quit responding. I was asking about the Holy Spirit. As I recall, he said water baptism had to precede tongues, and I sent an email saying it didn’t work that way for me. I spoke in tongues before I was baptized. I asked him about it. Prior to that email, he always responded, but when I sent him my question, he stopped with no explanation.

I believe it was only this week that I heard he believed non-tithers were cursed. I guess he’s just another prosperity preacher.

Tithing is not for Christians. It was never required of anyone but Jews. Morris says we are grafted into Israel, and that is true in some ways, but it does not make us Jews. Christianity is not Judaism. It’s not modern rabbinic Judaism, which is full of catastrophic error, and it’s not the Judaism of the ancient world. We don’t have to keep kosher. We don’t have to observe the feasts. We don’t have to sacrifice animals. Tithing is part of a set of laws we are not expected to observe.

Preachers who teach that we are supposed to tithe are either ignorant or trying to swindle us.

I don’t know whether Evans and Morris are swindlers. They may just be confused due to lack of exposure to the Holy Spirit. But it certainly looks bad when a preacher gets rich from offerings.

Evans hosts cruises. You pay 4 figures, and you get to hang out with him. That’s creepy. Imagine Yeshua charging people for, well, anything.

Evans won’t say why he resigned from his position. He just says he sinned. Someone will out him soon enough. Morris made out with a 12-year-old girl when he was in his twenties. When he discussed this with his church’s elders, he did not exactly admit it. He admitted he did something with a minor, but his church says he didn’t say she was 12.

The girl tried to get money from him after she grew up, and he threatened her with prosecution. Then she went public. This certainly appears to be extortion, but somehow she and her lawyers thought it was a good idea.

I am not interested in condemning anyone for doing something gross many years ago. If we condemn everyone who has done slimy things, nobody, myself included, would be allowed to become a Christian and move on. We let murderers preach to us, knowing what they did. I suppose we should have the same attitude toward people who commit other sins, as long as they repented and changed their ways.

Is a man who made out with a 12-year-old worse than a murderer, an arsonist, a Satanist, or a terrorist? You tell me. I have no problem accepting those types of people. After all, I am pretty bad, and other Christians have accepted me. Sometimes I lie awake thinking about my past. Things I can’t undo.

The world is full of sex offenders. Can we really say we don’t want them to repent and become God’s children? That wouldn’t make sense.

I think he should have been a little more specific with his church, though.

My big issue with him is the prosperity stuff. A person’s past sins generally are not harmful to the church, but the prosperity gospel sends people to hell and causes them to live cursed lives.

He also seems to be proud, which is the worst fault a person can have. My own pride scares me, and I say that sincerely. I spend a lot of time talking to God about it and cursing spirits that drive it. God is giving me revelations which improve me.

Pride is a habit, like heroin addiction, and it’s very hard to drop a habit instantly.

There is always symmetry in the supernatural. If pride is connected to curses and humiliation, which it most certainly is, then humility brings blessings and exaltation. If pride keeps God far from you and brings demons closer, humility grieves demons and brings God close.

Who teaches these things? Nobody. I’ve never heard anyone but me say them, and I have nearly no platform. I should have been hearing these things all my life. But you can’t watch 10 minutes of TBN without seeing some wealthy, unsaved grifter tell you God will make you rich for giving him money. They should call TBN “Future Residents of Hell Network.”

The proud can’t learn. Stupid people learn faster than the proud. If you can’t listen and learn, you can’t receive salvation. How does faith come? By hearing.

The sad thing about Morris, to me, is that he was right about giving money to other people. He didn’t just preach tithes and offerings. God really will make you prosperous if you give other people things at the behest of the Holy Spirit. He promised it in Psalm 41, and it’s not just for Jews. You’re not going to assure your prosperity by supporting rich preachers, but God says he will repay you if you give to the needy.

Maybe people who see the prosperity gospel debunked will decide giving alms is also pointless. That would be terrible. We don’t give enough as it is.

You’re supposed to give, and you’re supposed to be quiet about it.

I hope he and the lady he wronged will get past this, get closer to God, and move into lives of blessing, but it doesn’t sound like they’re making much progress at the moment.