Your Money Perish with you!

Simon was a sorcerer who had impressed the people of Samaria with his occultic powers for a long time. But when he heard the gospel and saw the power of God moving through Philip the evangelist - especially in miraculous healing and deliverance from evil spirits, he believed and was baptized. I wish the story had ended there concerning this man, but it does not. The Scripture records that the apostles Peter and John came down to minister the Baptism in the Holy Spirit to the new believers, Simon is impressed again and so he offers money to the apostles so that he could have the same power as the true apostles in order to do this "ministry of impartation". This is what we read in God's Holy Word:

Act 8:18 And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,
Act 8:19 saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit."
Act 8:20 But Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!
Act 8:21 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God.
Act 8:22 Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.

This passage has become very relevant now, since we live in an age where it has become very fashionable to link money with spirituality. It is taught by some that if you only do the right things, money will come your way, even in abundance. Today, money can literally buy you an audience. I wish true preachers of the gospel understood this, because unfortunately many false and corrupt ministers of the gospel DO understand it all too well. They are taking hold of the power of media to misguide lost souls. We need to use media to preach the truth in the fear and love of God, and not for the sake of personal enrichment and building a name for ourselves and our "oh-so-important" ministries.

It doesn't take money to preach the gospel or hold a meeting in someone's home. But to impress people with grandiose buildings, real estate, musical concerts, sound systems and television programmes certainly DOES require money - and often quite a lot of it. These are the things you need in order to enable ONE MAN to minister to thousands or millions at one time. If God so leads, this is fine, but there are pitfalls here, and we need to be sure it is GOD leading us on and not our personal ambition or love of influence, power, money and success. I am involved in starting TV channels and I believe that the medium must be used for God. But it needs to be used RIGHT.

The potential for deception is huge when money is seen as a key element in defining fruitfulness for God - because many people assume that if someone can raise a lot of money in God's name, then surely, "God has raised this person up", and God must be approving of what they are doing. People also tend to assume that if miracles of healing are taking place, or power of some kind is on display in Jesus' name, that God must be endorsing the thing. However, in both cases this is not necessarily so. Many ministers of religion with contradictory doctrines have achieved the feat of attracting followers and money. If God is a God of truth, they can't all be right, and they can't all be sent from God.

I am particularly concerned about teachings that encourage people to receive spiritual anointings that seem to be available chiefly to those who "sow financially" into the ministry of the person "imparting the anointing".
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