GRANT COUNTY CHURCH OF CHRIST
November 8, 2009

Gospel of Getting Rich Draws Believers

By Laurie Goodstein - New York Times News Service

FORT WORTH, Texas — Onstage before thousands of believers weighed down by debt and economic insecurity, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland and their all-star lineup of "prosperity gospel" preachers delighted the crowd with anecdotes about the luxurious lives they had attained by following the Word of God.
"God knows where the money is, and he knows how to get the money to you," Gloria Copeland preached.

Even in an economic downturn, preachers in the prosperity gospel movement are drawing sizable, adoring audiences. Their message — that if you have sufficient faith in God and the Bible and donate generously, God will multiply your offerings a hundredfold — is reassuring to many in hard times. But the offering buckets came up emptier than in some previous years, said those who have attended before.

Many here do not trust banks, the news media or Washington, where the Senate Finance Committee is investigating whether the Copelands and other prosperity evangelists used donations to enrich themselves and abused their tax-exempt status. But they do trust the Copelands.

Stephen Biellier, a long-distance trucker from Mount Vernon, Mo., said he and his wife, Millie, came to the convention praying that this would be "the overcoming year." They are $102,000 in debt, and the bank has cut off their credit line, Millie Biellier said.
The Bielliers are among 386,000 people worldwide whom the Copelands call their "partners," most of whom send regular contributions and merit special prayers. The Copelands' broadcast reaches 134 countries, and the ministry's income is about $100 million annually, a publicist said.

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The Bielliers were at the convention a few years ago when a supporter made a pitch for people to join an "Elite CX Team" to raise money to buy the ministry a Citation X airplane. At that moment, Millie Biellier said, she heard the voice of the Holy Spirit telling her, "You were born to support this man."
She gave $2,000 for the plane, and recently sent $1,800 for the team's latest project: buying high-definition television equipment to upgrade the ministry's international broadcasts. Millie Biellier said some friends and relatives would say the preacher just wanted their money. She explained that the Copelands did not need the money for themselves; it is for their ministry.

"I remember Copeland had to once fly halfway around the world to talk to one person," Millie Biellier said. "Because we're partners with Kenneth Copeland, for every soul that gets saved, we get credit for that in heaven."

RESPONSE
By Jerry W. carmichael
“But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8-9).
The article above explains a sinful and dangerous phenomenon in religion in the U.S. today! Such “prosperity preachers” have been around for years. Billy Sunday back in the days of Prohibition, Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart in the 1980’s, Robert Tilton in the 1990’s and now Kenneth and Gloria Copeland.
Every one of them are eventually proven to be charlatans interested in only one thing, separating gullible, biblically ignorant people from their hard-earned money!
God does not promise financial riches in exchange for following Him! He promises necessities (Matthew 6:33) and He promises blessings (Ephesians 1:3) but never riches! In the oft quoted passage in Luke 6:37-38 We read, "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."
The subject here is the proper attitude when making judgments, and being careful about blanket condemnation! In this way we are to give and forgive! There are many ways to give without giving money. Being kind, judging sparingly, forgiving, not condemning, all of these are gifts to be given to one another. When we do this, God in turn rewards us with fair judgment, no condemnation (Romans 8:1) and forgiveness (Colossians 3:12-17).
The last line of the above article though, shows both the misguided motivation for the giving and the level of Biblical ignorance involved! ("Because we're partners with Kenneth Copeland, for every soul that gets saved, we get credit for that in heaven.")
CREDIT IN HEAVEN!! I hate to break it to that poor ignorant person, but Heaven is not attained through a system of merit! “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Even if Kenneth Copeland were to be a sincere, preacher of the truth of the gospel (which he is not), what he does or does not do has nothing to do with my own salvation. Notice: “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12)!
How sad it is that that people like the Copelands continue to prey on the Biblically illiterate. They are not the first and they won’t be the last, but they will pay for their opulence at the expense of the poor and ignorant!
“Take note, you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23-24).