I’ve made numerous derogatory comments about those television evangelists I like to call prosperity pimps because their primary goal is not to preach the Gospel of Christ but to line their own pockets with the hard-earned money of their followers.
For example, I’ve criticized Joel Osteen quite a bit because he’s probably the most famous example of these inspirational speakers disguised as pastors and preachers, but Osteen is hardly the worst example of a greedy entrepreneur posing as a man of God.
Robert “Bob” Tilton might take the cake as the sleaziest prosperity pimp of them all with an insatiable greed for your money, but Diane Sawyer of ABC’s PrimeTime famously kneecapped him while he was still (allegedly) making more than Madonna and Michael Jackson combined.
Even so, Tilton and Osteen have some stiff competition from the likes of Mike Murdock of Inspiration Ministries. Earlier this morning I watched Mike Murdock attempt some verbal gymnastics that might make Simone Biles jealous.
With his first breath, Murdock compared tithing to paying protection money to the Mafia – but why would he do that? Apparently so God doesn’t do anything bad to us. We should pay God (or his substitute, Murdock) ten percent so we don’t get hurt. But then with his very next breath, Murdock talked about planting a financial seed as an investment so later we can reap the harvest as God magically sends wealth our way.
In other words, he whacks you over the head with a stick before offering you the carrot.
Defenders of Joel Osteen often like to say that he doesn’t even draw a salary from his church. Yet Osteen lives in the house pictured below which is allegedly worth $10.5 million dollars — it’s not even a house. It’s a compound.
Coincidentally, Mike Murdock also lives in a multi-million dollar house and yet doesn’t draw a salary from his church. He just gets paid by television and book sales. You’ve got to sell a very impressive number of books to afford a $10 million dollar house.
Osteen may not be getting paid by his church, but I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that he’s getting a hefty salary from the television network broadcasting his weekly performance (I refuse to call it a service.)
If Joel Osteen was truly a man of God, I don’t think he would be living in a house this ostentatious with only a wife and two children. A family of four could probably live comfortably in the pool house. The church I most recently attended could comfortably provide shelter for several hundred people but you could cut the main house at the Osteen residence in half and you’d probably still have a bigger building than that church.
Apparently the Inspiration Network exists so people like evangelist Larry Huch can go on the air and wildly assert “Tomorrow, somebody’s gonna be driving a Mercedes” while also audaciously claiming “Jesus was not poor.”
Who are these idiots, and why has anyone given them a microphone? Jesus WAS poor. Huch’s claim is absurd. Jesus was so poor he even had to get a fish to pay his taxes for him.
Heck, why not kill two birds with one stone and just say as of tomorrow Jesus will be driving a Mercedes? That would make about as much sense as claiming Jesus was a materialist.
“Dr.” Mike Murdock would probably not like for you to know he’s not a real doctor. Even Jill Biden is more of a real doctor than this guy. Murdock dropped out of the seminary and only claims to have an honorary PhD from the unaccredited International Seminary in Florida, but Murdock also calls himself a songwriter and an author.
I think the title that probably suits Murdock best is “con artist.” He’s not a doctor, that’s for sure. He’s not even a seminary graduate. He’s a fraud.
Anyone who thinks if they only give enough money to one of these “ministries” then God will bless them with material wealth are sadly misguided fools. God may choose to bless us with riches on this Earth or He may give us a significant health challenge. We aren’t guaranteed health and happiness, and we can’t buy it, either. Our financial circumstances in life will depend on what God wants us to learn from our life experience.
Prosperity evangelists like Robert Tilton and Mike Murdock are evil people who prey on the weak-minded. Joel Osteen may not be quite as bad as they are, but he doesn’t like to preach about sin and he markets a book titled “Your Best Life Now”, which in my mind preaches the opposite message of the true gospel of Christ. Your best possible life isn’t supposed to be on Earth. It’s supposed to be in Heaven for eternity.
Listening to God is a great idea. Listening to one of these clowns who are glorified motivational speakers pretending to be pastors is not a great idea. Now if you like Joel Osteen and want to buy one of his books, buy it, but I’d caution you against sending the guy your money to support his church that seems to be more of a social club with a pyramid scheme than the body of Christ.
Some people have accused me of being jealous because Joel Osteen is rich and a successful author, and by comparison I am not. Perhaps that’s true, but I’m not asking anybody to send me money because I’m not pretending to have a ministry. If you want to buy my book, fine. But I’m not going to beg you. In fact, if you’re an atheist and don’t want to buy my book, I’ll give you a free copy as long as you promise you’ll read it. I care more about getting my message across than about taking your money. I’m relatively certain the same can’t be said about any of these prosperity pimps.
Frankly, if given the choice between making a $696 donation to the Inspiration Network or giving $696 to YouTube personality Jimmy Donaldson (a.k.a. “MrBeast”) I wouldn’t think twice about handing over my money to Mr. Donaldson. Most recently Donaldson made headlines after building 100 wells in Africa in order to bring fresh drinking water to an estimated 500,000 people, but he’s previously paid for eye surgeries for 1,000 blind people and purchased prosthetic limbs for 2,000 amputees.
The greatest irony of these prosperity preachers is that a guy like Mike Murdock wants you to give your money until you’ve got nothing left to give, but Jimmy Donaldson won’t ask you for a single penny. He might ask his followers to financially support the same charities that he supports, but MrBeast only wants you to subscribe to his YouTube channel.
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