It is astounding how the Lord is blended with other gods by people. Constantine tried to merge Sol Invictus with Christ, but was corrected at The Council of Nicea. Pope Urban II and Catholic theologians tried to merge Jesus and Baal for the Crusades, but our Lord made sure those enterprises failed miserably. Sadly, there is one caricature and merger that has not yet been destroyed. To this day, many brothers and sisters in Christ merge Jesus with Mammon (god of money). There is a new denomination brewing called Network Christianity, in which power brokers, wall street, and government leaders who are Christian try to take the world for Christ but who do not promote evangelism and discipleship. Their idea is to use money to make a difference, but the deliberately ignore the mandate by Christ to make disicples, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). They also somehow ignore that fact that Jesus Christ himself said, "No one is able to serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and he will love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and he will despise the other. You are not able to serve God and mammon./"No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money," (Matthew 6:24) and "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." (Luke 16:13). Strange, they purport to be Christians, followers of Christ, but ignore the words of Christ himself?
The confusion Network Christinaity creates really is not new, the Prosperity Doctrine taught by Kenneth Copland, Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, and more is rampant in many denominations. The Propserity doctrine in nut shell teaches if you follow Jesus you will become wealthy, get masions, have TV network, and all desires of your heart, citing Malachi 3:10 and Matthew 6:31-33 out of context, while ignoring "Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers," (Matthew 24:9), "And everyone will hate you because you are my followers. But the one who endures to the end will be saved," (Mark 13:13), "And you will be hated by everyone because of My name," (Luke 21:17), "You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death," (Luke 21:16), "You will be hated by everyone on account of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved," (Matthew 10:22), "Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well," (John 15:20), "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be," (Matthew 24:21), "I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have tribulation/suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world," (John 16:33), "This means that God's holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus," (Revelation 14:12), "Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone destined to die by the sword will die by the sword. This means that God's holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful," (Revelation 13:10), "Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus," (2 Timothy 2:3), "And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering," (Romans 8:17), "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death," (Philippians 3:10), "But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed," (1 Peter 4:13), "But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name!," (1 Peter 4:16), "If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you," (1 Peter 4:14), "And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple," (Luke 14:27), "Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me," (Matthew 10:38), "Then Jesus said to all of them, "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me," (Luke 9:23), "Then Jesus called the crowd to Him along with His disciples, and He told them, "If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me," (Mark 8:34). Upon inspection, we discover to follow Jesus is to become outcasts in world, "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you," (John 15:19), "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God," (James 4:4), "Dear friends, I warn you as "temporary residents and foreigners" to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls," (1 Peter 2:11), "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them," (1 John 2:15), "For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world," (1 John 2;16), "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also," (Matthew 6:19-21), "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs," (1 Timothy 6:10), "The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful," (Matthew 13:22), "but the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful," (Mark 4:19), "Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry," (Colossians 3:5), "[An elder of Church must] not dependent on wine, not violent but gentle, peaceable, and free of the love of money," (1 Timothy 3:3), and "Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction," (1 Timothy 6:9). The consensus from Christ and the Apostles is not to seek after treasures, money, and worldly power, but to be disicples of Christ, carry your cross, and follow commands of Christ, Four Loves. But somehow the Mammon doctrine has entered the church and convinced people that Jesus and Mammon are connected. They mistake Jesus' words, "Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble," (Matthew 6:31-34), and "The thief comes only that he might steal and might kill and might destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly." (John 10:10). Firstly, the LORD Trinity does take care of us, but that does not mean he will make you the next William Buffet. Our God does care about your needs, but that does not mean a mansion is a need or driving a gold plated car! Secondly, abundant life (John 10:10) does not mean earthly wealth, it means this, "Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it," (Matthew 10:38-39), and "If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it." (Matthew 16:25), the Apostle Paul articulates this to Church of Philippi, "But whatever was an asset to me, I count as loss for the sake of Christ. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ. All of us, then, who are (spiritually) mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you." (Philippians 3:7-8,15).It means to abandon the world's system of control and weath, and instead seek to serve Christ Jesus, which includes suffering (2 Corinthians 11:3-11). In fact, as aforementioned Jesus said do not store up riches on earth, but store them in heaven, and the Apostle Peter says, "So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin." (1 Peter 4:1).
The Mammonizing of Christ in the church is a work of Satan. For it is the devil who created money, merchandize, and commerce, "Through the abundance of your commerceYou were internally filled with lawlessness and violence, And you sinned;Therefore I have cast you out as a profane and unholy thing. From the mountain of God.And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire." (Ezekiel 28:16). Just as Satan in Middle Ages convicned people to wrongly believe Jesus was a Baal (war god) he has convicned people in 21 Century to believe Jesus is Mammon like. One of elements that is going to shake this up is when Third Horsemen of Apocalypse arrives, in fact he probably already has arrived, "When the Lamb broke the third seal, I heard the third living being say, “Come!” I looked up and saw a black horse, and its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice from among the four living beings say, “A loaf of wheat bread or three loaves of barley will cost a day’s pay.And don’t waste the olive oil and wine." (Revelation 6:5-6). Under this horseman famine, draught, and inflation reign. This will dislodge the Mammonist view of Jesus rather quickly, because everyone will be poor and suffering. It is my belief the first two horsemen have already struck, the first horsemen shoots arrows (Revelation 6:2), which can be symbol of accusation, for Accuser of Brethren (Revelation 12:10) shoots arrows, "In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil." (Ephesians 6:16) which is era we've been living in for eight years in America, where everyone accuses each other and attacks verbally. The Second Horseman is the War, "When the Lamb broke the second seal, I heard the second living being say, “Come!” Then another horse appeared, a red one. Its rider was given a mighty sword and the authority to take peace from the earth. And there was war and slaughter everywhere." (Revelation 6:3-4) which I believe is ISIS, Islamic Brotherhood, and the threat of war breaking out all over the earth (Matthew 24:6).
Jesus is not Mammon. Jesus is God and is Love (1 John 4:7-8, 1 John 4:16 John 3:16, Romans 5:6), Truth (John 14:6), the Way (John 14:6), Life (John 1:1-15, John 14:6), Justice (Luke 18:7), Righteousness (1 John 3:10, 2 Corinthians 5:21), Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:24, 30) Knowledge (Colossians 2:2-3), Peace (John 14:27, Isaiah 9:6), Hope (Romans 15:13), Comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-11), Kindness (Romans 11:22), wrath towards Wicked (Romans 1:18-32, Revelation 19:13-16). God the Trinity (Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit) is not the god of money, He is the God of all creation (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16), Jesus made everything, but Satan who was once the good Cherub Lucifer fell and made money (Ezekiel 28:6) hence why it destroys so many lives (Mark 4:19, 1 Timothy 6:19). So make no mistake, Jesus does take care of our needs (Philippians 4:19) but He is not a god of money, genie, or Santa Claus. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ does not promise wealth or riches or monies, Jesus instead promises eternal life through believing in Him, confessing Him, and follow Him (John 6:40, John 3:16, Romans 10:9-10, Luke 12:8, Luke 9:23, and Mark 8:34 ).
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