Selling Indulgences |
| by David A. DePra |
| Recently, on a Christian television station, it was fund-raising |
| time. Unfortunately, this means it was time to parade across the |
| screen a line-up of fund-raising experts. These are preachers |
| who travel around to different sites and exhort Christians to |
| give money to various ministries, television and otherwise. Just |
| about everyone of them has the same message. Sometimes the |
| message is approached from one angle, and sometimes it is |
| presented from another. But when all is said and done, the |
| message is the same. |
| The message is actually quite time-worn. The Roman Church |
| of the middle ages used to preach it. It was the reason Martin |
| Luther began his part of the reformation. Back then, it was called |
| "selling indulgences." If you gave money to the church, the pope, or |
| one of his representatives, God bestowed an indulgence upon you. |
| An indulgence was usually a reduction of time you had to |
| spend in "purguatory." In one case, it was a complete pardon. If |
| you gave enough money for the right cause, the pope said that |
| God would actually honor his promise to absolve you of your |
| deserved punishment. |
| Today, of course, this practice isn't called "the selling of |
| indulgences." Purguatory isn't brought into the picture, simply |
| because most of the Christian television stations which practice |
| this don't believe it exists. But many of these fund-raising |
| preachers do sell God's favor. They sell financial prosperity, |
| healing, freedom from depression, restored relationships, and |
| even the salvation of your loved ones. They sell all of these -- |
| openly and boldly. They just don't CALL IT "selling." |
| The Bible is used as the authority for these teachings. These |
| preachers have a whole list of scriptures lined up and tied |
| together. They also rehearse testimony after testimony of how |
| other people have given money to the ministry they represent, |
| and have reaped the promised benefits. They likewise warn |
| you that if you do not heed their message that you will have no |
| way out of debt and sickness. |
| The basic message is that you must "use your faith" by |
| '"planting a seed." The seed, of course, is your money -- or |
| perhaps your faith AND your money. You "plant it" by giving it to |
| the ministry in question. God will then bring you a "harvest." The |
| harvest is what you want from God. |
| Those who teach this heresy have, of course, heard all of |
| the objections to their teachings. They overtly deny that they |
| are saying we can BUY anything from God. In fact, some try to |
| say that the reason you should "plant a seed" is so that God can |
| bless you with a harvest, so that you can AGAIN GIVE by planting |
| another seed. This makes the motive for giving sound like it is |
| nothing more than a desire to give even more. And to some, |
| that might sound legitimate. It might "sound" like a Godly motive. |
| This "seed-faith" teaching has become so popular and |
| widespread, that there are some so-called ministers who do |
| nothing but teach that one message. They go around constantly |
| assuring God's people that it is the Truth. They literially call |
| themselves by the title "the man of God," and tell believers that |
| they must believe "the man of God," and enter into the blessings |
| of God by planting their money and faith in a particular ministry. |
| One of the more telling things about such people is that you |
| would be hard-pressed to find one of them who isn't themselves |
| rich. Afterall, if they convince hearers of their message, THEY |
| are the ones who are going to receive the so-called "seeds." |
| Or in other cases, these preachers simply receive a set |
| percentage, or lumpsum amount, of the money they raise. So |
| while they claim to have become well-to-do as a result of |
| planting their own "seed," it is a hollow claim. Many of them are, |
| in fact, greatly benefited by the money which they tell others they |
| must send in to get God moving on their behalf. |
| Buying Salvation? |
| Perhaps the worst claim of all which some make is that I can, |
| by "planting my seed," cause God to save my loved ones. My |
| giving can either lift from my loved one whatever was blinding |
| them to the Truth, or it can somehow impress God to save them. |
| '"God honors faith," we are told. "And if we plant our seed by |
| faith, then He will do mightly things to honor it." |
| Imagine how terrible this makes God. Here is my loved one, |
| lost and separated from God. And God isn't going to lift a finger |
| to save them until I plant my seed. And if I never plant my seed? |
| Is my loved one lost? Some would say yes. Some would picture |
| my loved one standing before the judgment seat of Christ, being |
| told by Christ, "I wanted to save you. But your brother over there |
| did not write the check. So I'm afraid you lose." And some might |
| add, "And because your brother did not write the check, he is |
| going with you." |
| This is not sarcastic. This has actually been taught, on |
| Christian television, by what appear to be mature, Christian |
| teachers. It illustrates just how ridiculous, no, wicked, this |
| heresy is. It actually denys the Redemption of Jesus Christ and |
| offers a way for us to buy our way into it. |
| It would seem that God's people simply do not want to |
| believe that God is capable of doing anything solely by His |
| grace. We don't want to surrender to Him and leave the outcome |
| of these matters in His hands. We don't want to pay the real price |
| of faith and obedience -- our flesh -- and allow God to do things |
| His way. No, we have to come up with a gimmic -- a way in which |
| we can get God moving on OUR terms. |
| One of the most terrible consequences of this kind of teaching |
| involves unbelievers. Because those who teach this particular |
| heresy are, for the most part, the very ones who control the |
| Christian television networks around the world, they are the ones |
| who are the most visible to the unbeliever. How many people |
| have been given reason to reproach and mock the name of |
| Christ because of those who claim to represent Him? In the day |
| and age when Christainity could be the most visible witness, |
| it is the most visible misrepresentation of God. The flock is being |
| fleeced and misled. And believers and unbelievers alike are |
| being lied to about God. |
| God has never tied a single blessing He offers us in Christ |
| to money. In fact, He has never tied it to anything we do. He |
| offers it one hundred percent free of charge, and beckons |
| us -- not to make ourselves fit for it -- but to allow Him to make us |
| fit for it in His Son. That is the gospel of grace. And any teaching |
| which denys it is not merely a slight departure from the Truth. It |
| is a denial of the very foundation of Christianity: Jesus Christ. |