Philadelphia International Outreach Ministries

I watched on ABC news recently one Televangelist asking for donations to buy another private jet​. Of course, this ha​s become a common news and perhaps a nuisance nowadays. Here is what he said; “If Jesus was physically on earth today, He wouldn't be riding on a donkey. He`d be in an airplane preaching the gospel all over the world” Dear prosperity preachers, in order to justify your lusts, you always claim that “If Jesus was on earth today, He will do this, He will do that and not this and that” What an insult! Do you not know that our Lord Jesus is a sovereign God, infinite God, that is not and cannot be limited in time, in space and power?

In fact, statements like these are not only misleading but mischievous because you yourselves and every Christian know exactly how Jesus lived when He was physically on earth. Jesus Christ humbled Himself, His disciples and the early church lived their lives just like Him and they were worthy of Him. The arguments and the conspiracy theories you put forward to justify your ostentatious lifestyles are contrary to the gospel of Christ. We hear from you; that Jesus will fly around the world in private supersonic jets, He will cruise on custom made Limousine or Rolls Royce, He will live in royal palaces built with gold, and guard Himself with marines and navy seals.

Dear prosperity preachers, this is not funny, it is no longer a joke, you are contradicting the person and the purpose of Jesus as well as the very foundation of Christianity. May be, you need to be reminded of what Apostle Paul said:

“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, ………. But even if we, or an angel from heaven if anyone preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians1:6 – 9)

Dear prosperity preachers, your exploits have implications and consequences too dangerous to ignore. Is it nothing to you? That many Christians are sitting at home on Sundays; their love have become cold partly because of your lawlessness. (Matthew 24:12). I am therefore writing to you warn you or admonish you to stop insulting our Lord and savior Jesus. You may ask “in what way” are we insulting the Lord, then I will answer you like prophet Malachi. You are insulting the Lord and the gospel of His kingdom in the following ways:

1. By Limiting God:

You know so well, much more than anyone because you are Masters of the word, that Jesus Christ our Lord is God and by Him was everything made (John 1:3). You know so well that He cannot be limited in time and space (Isaiah 9:7) You know that He is the first and the last and that He is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. You know that He left His throne in heaven and came to this sinful world, in the form of man, and humbled Himself in order to redeem the fallen man. Even by doing so, He was fully man and He never ceased to be God. So, knowing all these things, it should have occurred to you that Jesus Christ did not need to wait for the Wright brothers to discover the Airplane or the supersonic jet you are lusting after. If He had wanted it, He could have spoken it to existence then. Even now and at any time. He could also choose not to fly on any man made jet today or tomorrow and He will still be able to reach every planet with His gospel. Remember Philip the Evangelist, he was miraculously transported, and he was found at Azotus. (Acts.8:39-40). All the Apostles and the early church left their lucrative businesses and luxuries to become fishers of men following Jesus; they all lived very humble lives. Then comes Philip the Apostle, he was talking about 200 denarii, limiting Jesus to the natural. (John 6:5-13). Unfortunately, many of you may not pass the Philip`s test today, because you will tell Him Sir, even if You patronize Marriot and Hilton Hotels, McDonald`s and KFC, they will never be able to supply enough food for the millions of people here. Then He will turn to you and say “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matthew16:23). We should never limit Jesus our sovereign God to the natural. With or without your supersonic jet Falcon 7X, this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations in Jesus mighty name.

2. By Contradicting The Message Of The Cross:

The central message of Christianity is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God came from heaven, making Himself of no reputation by taking the form of man, He humbled Himself even to the point of death of the cross for our salvation (Philippians 2:6-8) In other words, Him who was rich made Himself poor, Him who knew no sin became sin, for the salvation of man. Then came the disciples and early church believers, following what He said: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”  So, the Apostles and the early church at the inception of the church said goodbye to luxuries, they left their lucrative businesses, their vocations and many sold their possessions to become fishers of men. Following the footsteps of Jesus, they humbled themselves and devoted themselves to the course of the gospel of the kingdom even to the point of martyrdom.  Dear prosperity preachers, by your lifestyles, messages, and cravings you contradict the central message of the gospel of Christ. Let me remind you that the Apostles and the early church operated in this same dispensation of grace, yet your indulgences and their dedication are poles apart. In fact, it is so difficult to reconcile the grace of the early church with the church you are misleading today because you have turned grace to lavishness. Seriously, I urge you to go back to the Acts of the Apostles, then you will see how far you have deviated and realize how much you are hurting the message of the cross. Indeed, for many missionaries particularly, those of us ministering in the Middle East, you are not making the work easy to say the least. Today we see many coming to Christ from diverse religious backgrounds, in different countries fully aware that in making that decision, their fortunes will be gone. They lose their houses, jobs, businesses, families, friends, and freedom. I relate with them, eat with them, pray with them in their places and I learn from them. All around them, the joy of the Lord is palpable, the beauty and glory of the Lord is visible. These are the persecuted church, the church in Smyrna (Revelation 2:9) To this church Jesus said; “I know your suffering, and poverty but you are rich”. Interestingly, there are millions of believers who still chose this path of suffering. I, myself was persecuted and jailed for preaching the gospel even though I had the opportunity of escaping from that country.

3. By Rejecting The Mind Of Christ:

Dear prosperity preachers, I wonder what this scripture mean to you; “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”. (Philippians 2:5)

Having the mind of Christ translates to living your lives for His purpose. There was a time in Jesus ministry that the Jews were so impressed by the teachings and miracles of Jesus that they wanted to take Him by force to make Him their king, but He escaped. (John 6 :14-15). He focused on His purpose. In contrast, many of you are comfortable with being celebrities and worldly kings. This same Jesus, standing before Pilate was enticed with clemency, but He refused. He kept to His purpose. (John19:10-11). This same Jesus told Peter to keep the sword that He could command legions of angels to defend Him. He kept to His purpose. (Matthew26:51-54) He chose the path of suffering; to bear the cross, for that was His purpose. You too need to remain on course at any cost. The world today is not more or less dangerous for preaching the gospel than it was when the Apostles and first century Christians were changing the world. They were being threatened and persecuted, yet they continued, asking the Lord to grant them the boldness to speak His word. That is the mind of Christ. But today you live in denial. With you the world does not need to look further for false teachers and prophets. I watched one of you on television teaching on 1Corinthians 6:9-10 emphasizing on those who will not inherit the Kingdom of God but he deliberately omitted homosexuals. Sir, remember that the cowardly will partake in the second death. I read in the Newspaper, about another Televangelist who said he would not fly a commercial plane because of “bunch of demons in the plane”. Sir, these are not demons as you suppose but people wonderfully and beautifully made. Even if you know that there are a few demon possessed persons in the plane, is that not exactly why you are called? To seek for them and set them free. Honestly you do not need to waste money on private jet just fly commercial and do your work. That will be the mind of Christ.

4. By Your Exaggeration:

Dear prosperity preachers, your argument that you need more sophisticated supersonic jets to enable you preach the Gospel all over the world is deceitful. Your globetrotting round the world is not making remarkable impact. The truth is that many of you are not on the ground in many countries where many of the Christians, and unbelievers that you are supposed to reach. They do not know you. Many of you come back to show us on Television, pictures of innocent children in South Sudan. We see the same pictures circulated by different ministries for many years. You hold career talks or motivational speeches in heavily guarded 5-star hotels in some capital cities. Your targets are the wealthy. Ordinary people cannot attend your events because you require advance registration and fee. Even when they do, you tax them heavily in the name of tithe and offering. In your humble beginning, you taught that tithes should be paid to the local church, now that you`re Televangelists you ask people to send their tithes to you. You disregard, the command of Jesus; “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons: freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8). Dear prosperity preacher, you said you needed the private jet so that you can talk to God on the move as if you were not talking to Him or cannot talk to Him in a commercial airplane. Please remember that before your supersonic jet age believers were sober, meek, compassionate, bold, full of grace and power. You really need to return to your first love.

5. By Calling Yourselves Prosperity Preachers:

About 2000 years ago, people of the world looked at followers of Christ, the people of the way, they saw Jesus Christ in them and called them Christians because they are Christlike. The same world looked at you today and call you prosperity preachers and you shamelessly accepted this label. I break it to you that you are not in any way a true resemblance of Christ. You have fully conformed to the world. Dear Pastor, when you call yourself, prosperity preacher you ridicule yourself. Partakers of the Kingdom are much more than that. In fact, you are worse than the people who labelled Jesus as the king of the Jews. You are so wrong as they were because He was not, and He is not just the king of the Jews but the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords from the beginning. Even in your craftiness, you argue that your so-called prosperity is about the spirit, soul, and body, but your argument holds no water. Simply because your lifestyles and message are obviously all about materialism. I can hear the voices of many believers saying to you “you stole our hearts away.” “We believed you, we trusted you, but we have no regrets because we have grown up.” You might have started very well but you may not end well unless you repent now. Remember, King Uzziah. (2 Chronicles 26).

So, please stop preaching materialism and preach the full gospel of the kingdom.

For we are not called to serve the Lord in the comfort of the flesh but in the comfort of the spirit.

Remember therefore the first love, repent and do the first works. (Rev. 2:4-5)