[aron]

Originally Posted by awareness

Come October if nothing happens everyone that donated to Shemitah can get their money back. Put your requests in now....

It's okay; I still have my money. But thanks for asking.

Originally Posted by awareness

No money back from Jim Bakker ... you should know better.

That's essentially been my message on Jonathan Cahn, as well ... you should know better.

Originally Posted by Nell

you can't always choose the messenger. Check the message with the word. Take the message to the Lord and take the answer from Him. Something we didn't do with Lee. I get it.

True - God sends us messengers, occasionally, who are slow of speech and stammering of tongue. He sends messengers like Peter who were "unlettered" in the Pharisees eyes. He sends messengers who had no form or outward comeliness that we might esteem them (cf Isa 53:2); I get that also.

But we are to have standards. The herald of righteousness can't be unrighteous, and the messenger of sobriety can't be a drunk. Etc. One of the NT commands is to watch out for those who are addicted to base gain. (1 Tim 3:8; Titus 1:7). We didn't pick up on that with Lee. Our spiritual antennae should be tuned by now.

Having said that, I add two qualifiers: first is that I often participate in the marketplace of Christian merchandise. My home is full of all sorts of Christian stuff which I've bought. Secondly, I have perhaps arbitrarily singled out someone like Cahn, for a (figurative) beating, when I allow others in my home, and access to my wallet. So my complaint may be very poor, here. In other words, unjustified; this thread has been an opportunity to reveal who I am, which is snide and judgmental. I'm just hard of heart and closed of mind. My "warning from God" antennae are dull. I can't hear the prophet.

But still, at some juncture the stench of "being greedy for base gain" should turn Christians away from the Christian merchandiser. With the LSM, the "One Publication" policy was a wake-up call for many of us, more clear than any Blood Moon. And for me, seeing Cahn and Bakker rubbing elbows and selling trinkets together confirmed my suspicions, rather than dispelling them.

I actually like Cahn, and Bakker, and Hagee. They're Christians. They are my spiritual neighbors, if not brothers. I really like them; their energy, their enthusiasm, their boldness to speak. We can learn from them. I'd rather hang out with them, so to speak, than with an unbeliever. But I strongly suspect that their fixation on lucre has distorted their ministry.

But the message itself, of course, may have validity. I don't know because I've not examined it. I will admit that. But I've been examining other things which Nell and awareness have not. So in that I don't judge another's servant, nor will I be judged by another. Each of us has a portion, and we all complement one another. God has given various gifts, and we shouldn't spurn one another - the greatest commandment is love.