This preacher says he's Jesus... and people are buying it!
This is precisely why it's so important for us to follow Christ in simplicity and poverty. If today's Christians better understood gospel frugality, perhaps they wouldn't be tempted to follow false prophets who lead such extravagant lifestyles.
Mark Shea links this article as well, with an admonition to the 100,000 followers of "Jesus Christ Man."
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2 comments:
I don't think de Jesus' lack of poverty is the most dangerous aspect about his ministry. While to us his obvious flaunting of wealth is sign that he's a nutjob, if he is in fact Jesus he could do whatever he wants. The question for us then is how were these people sucked into the lie that he was Jesus? What did Satan do to bring them in?
I think the answer is in the same article when it discusses briefly the beginning of his ministry. It says that, "Instead, he worked as a pastor spreading his doctrine: that under a new covenant with God, there is no sin and no Satan, and people are predestined to be saved." It's that doctrine that sucked them in. Sheen has another name for it: the Crossless Christ. All of a sudden everything is easy; everything is good. Do what you want because you will be loved and saved. This is so dangerous b/c it capitalizes on the truth of the immensity of Christ's love so much that all of a sudden we can't see the rest of the immense landscape that was Christ. Christ gave us an example to love that is certain but the Christian example is also to endure a life of suffering and persecution because of the immense growth it allows for us. C.S. Lewis, in a Grief Observed, theorizes that suffering is designed to show us that our faith is really a house of cards that needs to be on firmer and firmer soil. Eliminating suffering then elimnates self-perspective that allows for growth and change in faith. People don't want to change however and so seek doctrines that are confirming and thus become easy prey for de Jesus and his kind.
So while his lack of poverty is certainly a warning to us, I wonder if the lack of suffering he presented at the beginning might be the more dangerous.
Like some kind of Hispanic Joel Osteen or something...
Which reminds me: people really are dumb as sheep and therefore need good shepherds. Sadly, there aren't many to be found even in the Catholic Church today. Throw into the mix the wonderfully "diverse" teachings of so-called Christian preachers in the protestant/evangelical/pentecostal realm, where to teach with spiritual authority one merely needs a bible and a microphone (although multi-media presentation abilities are preferred), and it's not hard to see how some people's understanding of Christianity could become so warped as to think this guy might be the real deal.
Another example from Rod Dreher's blog concerning the infamous Rev. Ted Haggard:
"'You know all the surveys say that evangelicals have the best sex life of any other group,' Mr. Haggard waggishly told a documentary filmmaker a few months before his secret came out. On "Friends of God: A Road Trip With Alexandra Pelosi," which will be shown tonight on HBO, Mr. Haggard coaxes a member of his congregation to say how often he has sex with his wife ('Every day. Twice a day.') and how often she climaxes ('Every time')."
Now, can you imagine St. Dominic or St. Francis de Sales coaxing a member of a congregation to divulge in front of a gathered assembly the most intimate details of married life? Somehow I can't. Yet there are those who mistake this, and the whole bogus prosperity gospel, as somehow Christian. We must work to make sure the Truth is not obscured by this mendacity.
As a wise man who did happen to be (is?) Evangelical said, "the enemy I see wears a cloak of decency,
All non-believers and men stealers talkin' in the name of religion...and there's a slow train comin', up around the bend."
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