THE NOBLE
BEREAN: Volume Fourteen - November 2006
“The Daystar Share-a-Thon Fundraising Report – Fall 2006 – PART TWO”
By
Michael C. Gaudiosi - The Noble Berean
IS
IT REALLY ALL ABOUT THE GOSPEL? In Part one of the Daystar
Share-a-thon report, I pointed out a few quotes from some of the
elite TV preachers, mainly Paula White. I will also feature a few
more quotes from the Daystar fund raiser. As I mentioned, I have some
unbelievable quotes from Larry Huch to share with you, but I’ll
get to that in a moment. One of the things Paula White kept stressing
was that your contribution to Daystar would go to preaching the
Gospel to the lost, in other words it’s “all about
souls”. But, is it really all about souls??
What type of
programming does Daystar sponsor with your hard earned “seed”
contribution? Is it really for the Glory of God? Is the programming
really dedicated to preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Well, to find out I tuned in to Daystar during the week of October
16th, right after the Share-a-Thon, and there was Paula
White on her TV program Paula White Today! I was extremely surprised,
even to the point of being shocked, when her guest was none other
than the Donald himself! Yes…Donald Trump on Paula White
Today!!
The Donald was
on the Paula White show promoting his new book: Why We Want You
to Be Rich. Entrepreneur businessman Robert Kiyosaki, who
co-wrote the book with was also Paula’s guest along with Trump.
Now you may be thinking…wow! Donald Trump is a Christian! He’s
on Paula White Today; he must be saved!! Hold on a minute. I waited
to hear his testimony of salvation…and waited, and waited, and
waited. It never happened. Instead The Donald was there to tell me
why he wants me to be rich! Not once during the two days he was on
the show did he ever mention salvation! I watched and waited, but
nothing! Never once did The Donald say he was born again, in fact,
those two words were NEVER mentioned at all!
Did Paula White
ask Mr. Trump of his testimony of how he was saved? Did she ask him
how long he’s been a believer? Did she even pray with him for
lost souls, or even mention to Trump and Kiyosaki about their burden
for lost souls? Absolutely not! Was there any mention of the cross,
the blood of Jesus, the Atonement? How about sin, repentance,
judgment, hell and damnation? Nope, not once were all these essential
topics of the Christian faith ever mentioned on this “Christian”
program that aired on this “Christian” network!
Now you may say,
but this is Donald Trump, he’s a wealthy businessman.
He’s not there to talk religion, he’s there to talk
wealth, because that’s a subject he knows very well and he just
wants to share his secrets of success with the world! So what if
Paula White didn’t say anything about Christ and His finished
work at the cross! It’s not a big deal; stop criticizing Mike,
why don’t you just leave Paula White alone and mind your own
business? Well, you can say that if you like, but my point
is that all the money raised on the Share-a-Thon goes to support such
programs as this, which say nothing of the Gospel at all! Paula White
is just one example of many similar programs on Daystar, and most of
“Christian” TV for that matter, so it’s not always
about the Gospel. Most times, it never is!
Now that I've
got that out of my system, I have a few more quotes to share from
this event!
Larry Huch, of Larry Huch Ministries, author of
“Breaking Family Curses” took his “deliverance”
ministry to the airwaves of the Daystar Share-a-Thon. This, however,
was a repeat of a broadcast several years back, I would guess mid to
late 90's or so. Huch had made some statements regarding what he
believed to be what it means to be born-again. I say it that way
because it is not the biblical definition! Here is some of what he
stated:
“But
Christians don't realize, every Christian comes to Jesus and they say
Father forgive me and immediately the burden or the wages of your sin
is gone. But, they're still carrying around a yoke, they've still got
a yoke around their neck” – (Daystar Share-a-Thon
9/20/2006)
This
is flat out WRONG!!
When any person, not just a Christian, comes to Jesus and says Father
forgive me, their sins ARE
FORGIVEN IN
FULL, not partially! They are
no longer under the yoke of their sin! They ALREADY HAVE
BEEN DELIVERED...set free! No
more yoke around their necks! Here is what Jesus says happens when
you come to Him:
Matthew 11:28-30 - Come unto
me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in
heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light.
Jesus
says to take HIS easy
yoke of rest in exchange for your heavy yoke of sin! Does this sound
like bondage to you? Yet, Larry Huch seems to think that salvation
and deliverance are two separate things! He even has Marcus Lamb
convinced! Here is how Lamb responded to Huch's statement:
“Ok,
so now let me see if I can understand. You're saying that a person
can come to Christ, they can ask Jesus to forgive them of their sins,
ask Jesus to come in their heart, so they're forgiven, but, if they
haven't received deliverance...There's a difference between salvation
and deliverance”.
Then
Marcus Lamb goes on to say:
“So
a person can be saved, but they can still be bound by anger, they can
still be bound by lust, they can still be bound by alcohol or drugs”
– (Daystar Share-a-Thon
9/20/2006)
So what is being said here is the Atonement work of
Jesus Christ at the cross...His death, burial and resurrection from
the dead is simply not enough to free people from the bondage of sin
and death. There needs to be more. According to Larry Huch and Marcus
Lamb, when you are born again, you are saved, but you are still a
prisoner, bound by sin! You still need deliverance from the yoke of
bondage in your life, whatever that may be. This is an insult to the
sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ made at the cross in which He gave
His own life!!
Let
me make it perfectly clear: WHEN A PERSON IS BORN AGAIN,
THEY RECEIVE THE FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT UPON CONVERSION AND ARE
NO LONGER CAPTIVE TO THE YOKE OF THEIR SIN!!!
Romans 8:9 - But ye are not
in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is
none of his.
2 Corinthians 5:17 -
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things
are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Now,
I do not deny that there are times that we are tempted to sin and may
give in to it, however, we no longer HAVE TO
sin and give into it! We now have a means of escape from the
temptation to go back into our sin. In other words, because of what
Jesus did at the cross, we no longer are captive to the yoke of sin
and Satan!
Salvation is a free gift, and the next step after
salvation is sanctification, not deliverance! We are no longer of
this world, but are set apart from this world's system of sin, in
order to be used in His service!. Sanctification is a process that
takes a lifetime! I know this firsthand! The difference is that I no
longer am a captive to the sin that held me hostage for so long! So
when I am tempted, I know that the Lord has provided a means of
escape!
1 Corinthians 10:13 - There
hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is
faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are
able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye
may be able to bear it.
Now to make this clear, sanctification is not the same
thing as deliverance. In salvation there is deliverance,
sanctification leads to holiness. It is by God's grace that we are
sanctified and can live a holy life before Him daily, in accordance
to His Word, refusing to give in to sin when tempted. This is the
reason why I believe it is wrong for Christians to be involved with
“deliverance” churches and/or ministries. If you are a
true believer, born again, washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, then
you are saved and delivered...period, end of story!! There should be
no room for doubt!
Jesus Himself made this very clear in the Gospel of
John:
John 8:31-32 - Then said
Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word,
then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free.
The word “continue”, in verse 31, means to
abide or to dwell. The response from the Jews is interesting.
Consider the fact that they were unbelievers, but did not admit to
being in bondage to anything or anyone simply because they were
Abraham's seed:
John 8:33-34 - They answered
him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how
sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of
sin.
Notice Jesus' reply? He was showing them that even
though they were Abraham's seed, they were still sinners bound by the
yoke of their sin, not believers that were in need of deliverance!
Next Jesus makes it very clear that there is no room for argument:
John 8:35-36 - And the
servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Enough said! I rest my case!! In Christ Jesus you are
not just free, but FREE INDEED!!!
Moving on, another speaker on the Daystar Share-a-Thon
was a man by the name of Mark Gorman or Mark Ministries Inc. out of
Franklin Tennessee. Mr. Gorman is not a well know TV preacher, but if
he continues on the Word of Faith path that he is on, he should
become a star televangelist!
I wanted to share a few of his quotes from the
Share-a-Thon, because I found them to be quite erroneous in nature,
and sadly, the people in the audience had embraced his statements
with open arms! We have already pointed out Daystar's version of
salvation and deliverance. There is one more thing they tell you is
needed, and that is influence! This is where Mark Gorman comes in!
Mr. Gorman points out that God wants us to have money so
that we could be generous, and actually, I can agree with that part!
Nothing wrong with being generous! What I don't agree with is the
other reason why God wants us to have money:
“My
argument is God's purpose to have wealth is two things. So we can
have influence and so we can be generous” - (Daystar
Share-a-Thon 9/27/2006) Like
I said, I agree with the generous part, but not with the influence!
Here's why:
“A
wealthy man has more people listen to him than a poor man, like it or
not, that's a fact” - (Daystar Share-a-Thon 9/27/06)
Actually, Mr Gorman is correct...by the world's standards that is!
“If
you had a rich Christian and a poor Christian and a rich sinner and a
poor sinner, which one of these two Christians has the best chance of
reaching both of these sinners for Christ? The rich one! Now we don't
have to like that, but that's the way life is” - (Daystar
Share-a-Thon 9/27/06)
So now we are old that the rich Christian would have
more of a chance to reach both the rich sinner and the poor sinner
for Christ than a poor Christian. So according to what Mark Gorman is
saying, if you're rich, and a Christian, more people will listen to
you! Sounds good to the world's ears, however this idea is dependent
solely upon your financial status, not the indwelling power of the
Holy Spirit!
I know this is what he is saying because he never once
mentioned the power of the Holy Spirit enabling a Christian, rich or
poor, to go out and fulfill the Great Commission! Again, Mr Gorman
would be correct, that is if you looked at this from the standpoint
of the world...question is, is this biblical?
SOLA
SCRIPTURA – THE SCRIPTURE ALONE!
In 1 Samuel chapter 16, the Lord instructs the prophet
Samuel to go to the house of Jesse to anoint a king over Israel.
Jesse presented his sons before Samuel and Samuel looked at one of
the sons and said, this has to be the one!
1 Samuel 16:6 - And it came
to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said,
Surely the LORD's anointed is before him.
Eliab, was a handsome rugged looking fellow, most people
would surely think he would be God's choice because he looked the
part! But did God see it that way?
1 Samuel 16:7 - But the LORD
said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of
his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as
man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD
looketh on the heart.
As you know the story, the youngest son, David became
king. Although the Bible states that David was good looking,
scripture also states that David was a man after God's own heart! God
looks at the heart, not the bank account of a believer! What matters
to God is that a person is willing to be used by Him. God is looking
for obedient servants, and it does not matter how much, or little,
they have in the bank! If God wants to send a poor Christian to reach
a rich sinner for Christ, then that poor Christian will reach that
rich sinner for Christ!
Zechariah 4:6 - Then he
answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto
Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit,
saith the LORD of hosts.
It's all done by the power of His Spirit! If you are
going to look for any kind of influence, then that's the kind you
want! The power (and influence) of the Holy Spirit is all you need to
preach the Gospel, not a big bank account!!
The bottom line of these fund raisers is they want your
money! That is why money and prosperity is preached more than the
cross and the Atonement work of Jesus Christ at Calvary! I spent two
weeks of my time sorting through all the video of this fund raiser
that I taped, and the Gospel was never mentioned! In other words I
did not hear anything remotely close to this:
1 Corinthians 15: 3-4 - For
I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how
that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that
he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the
scriptures.
I did not hear that once! I waited and waited, hoping to
at least hear a quick mention, but not once! That was never the
primary topic! Daystar had two weeks to mention the Gospel, but they
never did, and as I mentioned earlier, they're not even doing that
throughout the year! If anything, it's only mentioned in passing!
That is truly sad! If there's anything a worldwide Christian TV
network should be doing is preaching the Gospel 27/7/365! Not a
watered down, fluffy message, but rather the true biblical Gospel in
accordance to 1 Corinthians fifteen!
Brethren, I have said this may times before. If you are
going to give of your finances, give it first and foremost to your
New Testament, Bible believing local church, and if you're not in
one, then I suggest you find one and give of your time, finances and
service! I have yet to hear on any “Christian” TV fund
raiser the plea to give first to your local church! Instead it's
always a plea, or in many cases, a demand to give to their global
multi-million dollar TV networks first!!
Please don't squander your hard earned money in giving
to these so-called “Christian” TV networks! The local
church has done, and will continue to do more effectively the
preaching of the Gospel than any big-time “Christian” TV
network! Especially those local churches whose heart is for winning
souls and sending out and supporting missionaries around the world!
I know most people will not be happy with this, but then
again, I don't have to give an account to most people at the end of
my life! Preach the Gospel! Preach it no matter who gets offended!
Better to offend many people here on Earth, than to offend the One
Holy and True God in heaven!
Missionary Paul Washer stated - “When you
walk in to a group of people who know absolutely nothing about the
Gospel, you stand there as a man absolutely helpless. Or, you stand
there as a man armed with armaments of the flesh. You know we think
we can put up a media screen, and do all kinds of things and have a
few movies, and we can somehow emotionally manipulate people into the
Kingdom. That is not true, and when we try to do that we're no longer
going to see the power of the Holy Spirit.
What we have to do, and I always teach my men this
on the field, I say give me one man, who believes God with a Bible in
his hand, stick him in the middle of the town square and let him
preach until he is stoned to death or till someone's converted cause
God will bless that type of preaching.”
Oh, if only we had more preachers like that in the
pulpits of America's churches!!
1 Corinthians 1:18-21 - For
the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but
unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I
will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe?
where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world
by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe.
Let's do what pleases God, not man!
Search the
Scripture for yourself! SOLA SCRIPTURA! The Scripture ALONE!
May the Lord bless you!
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