Tag Archives: riches

Kong Hee: A Word Of Faith Heretic (Part 1)

18 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Many people are led to believe that Kong Hee is a pastor. After hearing a number of his sermons, what he does, what he confesses and what he claims to be, we beg to differ.

We have managed to collect a number of videos of Kong Hee which are no longer available online. In these clips, ask yourself some of these questions:

      1. Is Kong Hee behaving the way a pastor should behave?
      2. Is Kong Hee teaching what the bible actually says what Christians should believe?
      3. Is Kong Hee teaching how Christians should properly live out their spirituality?
      4. Is Kong Hee offering a different version of Christianity that orthodox Christianity has held steadfast too?

The second last video shows Kong Hee teaching that Jesus was rich… and died to make Christians rich with the wealth of this world. In response to Kong Hee’s sermon, we are looking at writing an article that exposes his ‘Jesus’ for what it is: a lie.

We have published on C3CW in the past that Phil Pringle spoke at the “Asia Conference 2010, a bi-annual conference organized by CHC”. The last video is an advert for Asia Conference 2010 where famous financial hucksters John Avanzini and Steve Munsey were invited to speak. This was an event that Phil Pringle helped Kong Hee organise. Therefore – it is no surprise to see and hear some disturbing things emerge from this advert.

Here are the videos…

Down the track, we will also be explaining why C3 Church Watch is examining Kong Hee. We are keen to do articles that expose Kong and Pringle’s close associations. We also wish to provide people with Kong Hee’s personal testimony in how he became a Word of Faith heretic. So stay tuned.

Resurrection Rort (Part 1) Transcript

14 Monday May 2012

Posted by in C3 Spirituallity, C3 Teaching, Church Sermons, Pringle's Beliefs, Pringle's Doctrine/Gospel, Pringle's Jesus

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Before reading the transcript, you can watch the video in our below article.

Pringle’s Resurrection Rort (Part 1)

Below is the transcript of Phil Pringle’s Sunday morning resurrection offering talk.

“Well we’re going to receive our tithes and offerings right now. A resurrection offering. And if you look on your seat, you’ll find a card. And obviously we’ve put out more seats this morning. So if you haven’t got a card and you need one to record credit card details to put in the offering bag, please raise your hand. And an usher will look after you. Just raise it up and wave it around and an usher will make sure you got one. That will be great. Thank you.

There’s an Eftpost machine people use at the end of the service as well. Thank you.

Hebrews chapter eleven and verse one says, ‘Now faith is the substance of things we hope for and the evidence of things we haven’t seen’. James also says that, ‘Faith without works is dead’. So to say, ‘I believe’ but not do anything about that faith is- it’s a faith that doesn’t have any effect on your life or for anybody else’s for that matter. When we come to an offering, that is one of the great acts of faith that you can get involved in.

The Bible talks about giving in exactly the same way as sowing seeds. When Paul talks about giving he talks about sowing seeds, he’s not giving an agricultural lesson, he’s talking about the giving of our finances is exactly the same as putting seeds in your garden out the back. Now if you put no seeds in there, put no seeds in your garden and you say, ‘Lord, I’m praying that I’ll have a great harvest of tomatoes over there and potatoes of here and carrots over there, it doesn’t matter how hard you pray, nothing is going to happen, because there are some basic laws that you’ve got to observe when you’re sowing seed. And that is, number one, you’ve actually got to sow the seed. Put it in the ground. And you can lay hands on it, you can speak to the ground, you can do all kind of things. But faith steps out and actually does something. It actually puts seed in the ground.

Now here’s the thing. That scripture we looked at said, ‘it’s evidence of things not seen’. When you go up to Bunnings Hardware store and you buy a packet of seeds, you say, ‘I want to grow some apple trees’. Okay, so you open up the packet and inside you see all these seeds, but on the outside you see the picture of a tree. And you can say, ‘I thought I was buying a tree’. But you look inside and all you’ve got is seeds. You’re saying, ‘I’ve got ripped off. Bunnings ripped me off’. They didn’t rip you off. They said, ‘You’ve got the potential of that tree inside this packet’. There’s the evidence. You’ve got a vision – evidence, visual evidence – of what’s going to happen in the future if you plant the seed.

And so when you and I step out in faith – and faith is measured, often by the level of our stepping out. Paul goes on and says, ‘Look! If you just plant a few seeds here, that’s all the harvest you’re going to have. But he says, ‘If you sow so abundantly, you sow without restraint, no holding back, you’re going to find yourself reaping a harvest of abundance in your life.’

And I know we live in a world where lot of negative news about finance, economy and housing and jobs today. But we live under a different economy. As soon as you ask Christ in your life, as soon as you put yourself under the government of God, you’ve entered into a totally different realm of economics. And his realms are obviously higher than anything earth’s got [scripture please?]. He’s risen from the dead for goodness sake. If He can beat death, He can beat a GFC. If He can beat death He can beat any debt you’ve got in your world. All you gotta know is that it takes the sowing of a seed.

Even Jesus said about Himself when he died, ‘Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it’s going to remain alone. But if it dies it’s gonna bring forth a lot of fruit’. The reason you and I are here this morning is because one seed was sown. That one human life died in the ground and it’s risen again. That exact same principle applies to our giving here this morning. God has such a longing in his heart to bless you, to liberate you from a lot of the anxieties and stresses that come in a world of economics like we’ve got today. And so right now, why don’t you and I get involved in a resurrection offering? A victorious offering! One that rises from the dead!

You might say, ‘My finances are dead’. Well here’s a moment to resurrect them. Here’s an opportunity to take hold of a principle that God’s put in our hands. Step out in faith. Trust Him that that’s going to work just as surely as you putting a seed in the ground at home. This is going to be like that for your life right now. Don’t miss out on the opportunities God puts in our way every week at church. We can take a hold of this and say, ‘You know what? I’m going to break through this week in Jesus name’. Let’s take what we’re giving and get ready to give.

Heavenly Father, right now, what a privilege, what an honour, to celebrate the birth, the death and the resurrection of the greatest life ever lived: Jesus Himself. And we pray here today Lord that as we follow your ways, not our ways, as we opt for obedience, rather than just staying outside in the desert world of people who have never subscribed to the ways of God.

Heavenly Father right now, we come to you with this offering – a generous offering, an offering of faith for a breakthrough in our financial world, for breakthrough in our economics, in our family, in our housing, in our jobs – and we’re believing here today Father that nothing can hold us down in the grave but by the power of your grace, you’ll raise up every area that’s been killed, every area that’s been crucified , every area that’s been dead in our world today, with a mighty victory. In Jesus name.

And everybody said, “amen!” – Phil Pringle, John Bevere, http://www2.myc3church.net/videos/john-bevere, C3 Church Oxford Falls, Morning Service, 08/04/2012.

C3 Balmain Scandal? (Part 1)

02 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by in C3 Balmain Scandal

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

From: http://www.christianchurchbalmain.info/

Important Information about Christian City Church Balmain

Booted After Asking About Money
After years of attending C3 Church Balmain, four weeks after asking the Senior Pastor Ward Lucas for financial information, the church punished my family and I by hiring a security guard to expel us forever.
After six years of attendance my wife and I had reluctantly heeded the biblical call to ‘test everything’.
We tested this church by privately questioning the use of money and resources, little of which appeared to be spent on taking care of those who went. We should have followed the bible and tested this group in the first year. Instead we accepted its claims to follow the bible and the teachings of Christ.
In fact it is selective about the things in the bible it adopts. The bible is certainly used on a weekly basis to ask people for money. But more important words in it like justice and mercy are ignored making it easy to throw out people who have broken no bible principle or rule, but have questioned the use of that same money.
The Love Ran Out
 
It all began when my wife and I disagreed with Pastor Ward Lucas.
How someone uses their absolute authority to expel powerless people in their care with whom they’re in conflict is a good test of their character. Conflict is when you find out if some really ‘loves’ you, or is just pretending to get emotional leverage.
It started when we legitimately questioned what they were doing with church resources.  Pastor Lucas made out all was well, but when we did not agree refused to speak to us about church problems.
Pastor Preaches About Issues
 
Weeks before throwing us out, Pastor Ward Lucas preached about things he was in conflict with us over, self-promoting himself and the church. In these sermons he claimed God wanted him to ‘take possession’ of people to ‘see them come into the Kingdom of God’.  This was a special ‘revelation’ given direct by God to Pastor Lucas.
He exaggerated church attendance numbers at C3 Church Balmain to make things look better than they were, claiming the church that had an average weekly adult attendance of about 80 had ‘grown to 200 people’.
He added to the recorded words of Jesus to suggest that sometimes Jesus wanted people Pastor Lucas called ‘doubting Thomas’ (my name just happens to be Thomas) thrown out of his presence (see Senior Pastor Preaches).
The Boot
 When we complained to Pastor Lucas’s C3 Church superiors and asked for a financial account he denied the preaching and hired a security guard to throw us out.
We were said to be purveyors of untruth that people needed to be protected from.  But if we had truly held and expressed untruths, because no one pays attention to a demonstrated liar, expulsion would hardly have been necessary.  Pastor Ward Lucas and C3 Church could have just published the details for all to see and left us sitting up the back, pitied by all.
No, it was a slander of my wife and I to cover up some truths that we had recognised (see Slander).  The love for us had ended.
How Do They Get Away With It?
C3 Church Balmain has some special characteristics to make it all possible.
In my opinion these characteristics are inherently un-Christian.  How you assess them is up to you as is your decision to put yourself and your family into the power of C3 Church.
1. Set Up To Discriminate
 
It is set up by the leaders so it can unfairly discriminate against most people who go.
Sometimes principled practices could be called discriminatory and still be fair.  But at C3 Church, church goers are deliberately stripped of any mechanism to protect them from abuse of authority by the paid servants of the church.
No-one who goes has any legally enforceable entitlements except the church leaders who are effectively the church owners.  They are the pastors Ward Lucas and Anthony Grant, their wives and a person called Mark Kelsey who is one of the key leaders of the body known as C3 Church (see The Church that Discriminates).
No-one else gets to join C3 Church Balmain’s legally incorporated body.  And there’s no other binding system of governance.  So everyone else is disenfranchised from basic rights our society holds dear.
Giving no legally enforceable commitments to people, not even a commitment to follow the bible, creates an environment of zero accountability.  Zero accountability is an obvious characteristic of an authoritarian system (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism).
Does it say to do this in the bible?  Not really.  But if one of the powerless sheep asks what you’ve done with the money, it sure makes it easy to boot them out.
2. Happy to Use Kangaroo Court
They are prepared to use the discriminatory environment they set up to expel people who have broken no rule or bible principle using a process with no characteristic of fairness.
The use of such a process reveals that when the ends (here presumably to conceal information from people) justify the means, the bible is put away and some other set of rules comes into play.  The act of expulsion of my family and I was explained here by a ‘judgment’ involving the senior pastor, and according to him, two senior C3 Church leaders, Mark Kelsey and Steve Janes.
Even if we were so bad we had to be thrown out to protect people (which I strenuously deny), you can see the process here by which they punished us and it does not lie.  It was a classic kangaroo court with no element of justice or fairness.  Read about it here, and you be the judge (see Kangaroo Court).
3. It is Covered Up
They won’t tell you about it.
Little information about their operating practices is made available as a matter of course to church people or the public.  Not much is recorded so you can’t assess for yourself why things are done.  No financial budgets or accounts are prepared and given out.  Legitimate questions can be met with a security guard.
Hiding information from you takes away your ability to make informed choices about participating and effectively conceals the true mission or purpose of C3 Church.  I went for seven years and was never told they selectively apply the bible to their conduct, and that they deliberately give church people no legally enforceable commitments of any kind.
They certainly didn’t tell me if I asked about their use of the money, or did any particular thing, they’d boot me out having broken no bible principle or church rule.  Not telling me about this took away from me my choice to end my participation.
You won’t read about any of this on the many, many internet based advertisements or website of C3 Church Balmain.  Check it out at www.c3balmain.org.au/.  You will see smiling happy faces, and words like ‘fun’, ‘friends’, ‘God’ and also the word ‘tithe’ (give us your money and ‘open the way for financial blessing’).  I only found out these things after seven years of attendance when I legitimately asked about how the money was used and complained.
Then it became clear the commitment to bible principles was a thin veneer.  Behind it was an iron clad commitment to controlling the flow of certain information at all costs.  No rules broken. No bible principles broken. But we don’t want people asking about money or discussing the facts, so out you go.
No Protection For The Powerless at C3 Church
Jesus isn’t reported as speaking of the unforgiveable sin of asking about money, or questioning or disagreeing with religious leaders.
Instead he blasted religious leaders who neglected justice and mercy and threw those making money out of the temple.  And then the religious leaders crucified him. Pastor Lucas claims that this same Jesus ‘built’ C3 Church Balmain.
But at C3 Church Balmain there is no enforceable commitment to be treated fairly.  No commitment to be allowed to have free access to the financials, an essential legal obligation of all secular charitable organizations in NSW (see www.olgr.nsw.gov.au/charitable_home.asp).  Not even a commitment to follow the bible.  Let’s just keep it nice and loose, like a private business.  So we can do what we like.
Senior Pastor Ward Lucas worked diligently to remove us.  The assistant pastor Anthony Grant helped put it into effect. Their ‘love’ for us proclaimed so often before we asked about their use of other people’s money had become something else entirely.  I’ve had more genuine enemies who at least didn’t pretend for years to ‘love’ me.
The C3 Church overseers Steve Janes and Mark Kelsey did not even speak to us before reportedly judging us to be liars, and recommending our forced removal.
No one protected us, or our kids.  Why would they protect you?
c3 Balmain Scandal

c3 Balmain Scandal

NOTE: ALL SCREEN GRABS WERE TAKEN BEFORE 03/04/2012

C3 Canberra Scandal? (Part 1)

01 Sunday Apr 2012

Posted by in C3 Canberra Scandal

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

From: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/HansArt.nsf/8030b900e51e8fcdca256cfd000dcf1c/ca256d11000bd3aa4a256451002ea163%21OpenDocument

About this Item
Speakers Cochran Mr Peter; Phillips Mr Ronald
Business Private Members Statements
CHRISTIAN CITY CHURCH, CANBERRA

Mr COCHRAN (Monaro) [5.30]: I raise a matter on behalf of Bernie and Linda Cabone, constituents of mine of Queanbeyan, which has arisen as a result of their experience with an organisation called the Christian City Church, which moved into the Canberra region some years ago. Under the leadership of Pastor Paul Whittaker the church approached its parishioners to construct a new church in Canberra, calling on the parishioners to raise $1.2 million for that purpose. The parishioners borrowed the $1.2 million from the State Bank using their family homes as security.

Bernie and Linda Cabone, who are average working people in my electorate – they are certainly not wealthy – offered their home as security, as did other members of the parish, as well as contributing $17,000 in cash, a considerable sum that they could ill afford. They had a very strong commitment to the church and, having pledged the security of their home, the contribution of the cash demonstrated their absolute dedication and conviction that the church would be of benefit to the parish and its parishioners.

Needless to say, the church went broke and the parishioners were left with the debt. Pastor Paul Whittaker flew the coup and moved to Sydney. The church disowned the debt, leaving the parishioners to deal with it. Pastor Whittaker should be found and called upon to explain what happened. The church has changed its name, very conveniently, and is now known as the Capital Christian Church, administered by Pastor Carl Cremer, who should also be called upon to explain why the church changed its name and why Pastor Whittaker was not called on to accept responsibility for the debt.

The debt of the church now stands at $2.4 million, but is in the name of the original church and is, therefore, the responsibility of its former parishioners. It might seem confusing to honourable members of this House, but to my constituents Bernie and Linda Cabone it is an absolute catastrophe. The security on their house to safeguard the debt was in the vicinity of $80,000. The State Bank has foreclosed on that debt, but it has been generous
Page 2478
enough to reduce to debt to $60,000. Obviously the Cabones do not have that money. They are able to raise about $20,000, but they intend to use that money to fight a legal battle.

The behaviour on behalf of the church is totally unethical and immoral. I question the morality of the church, Pastor Paul Whittaker and all who were involved in the administration of the church. I call on the Minister for Police to assist me in referring this matter to the appropriate authorities for a thorough investigation to establish, first, how a church could con a bank into providing the security of people’s homes – an absolutely extraordinary state of affairs. Bernie and Linda Cabone freely admit that they made an error in judgment. They are Christian enough not to want to criticise the church, but they are very hurt and offended because they have been deserted and have been left with what could be a personal disaster.

One can only wonder what sort of people would become involved in such a ploy: people dedicated to a cause, with Christian values being deserted so as to leave them with personal tragedy. I call on the Minister for Police to assist me in raising this matter with the appropriate authorities, to have it fully investigated and to undertake whatever steps are necessary to restore to the Cabone family the security of their home.

Mr PHILLIPS (Miranda – Minister for Health) [5.35]: I thank the honourable member for Monaro for bringing this very important issue to the attention of the House. On the facts it seems to be a very sad case of a minority Christian church taking advantage of the religious dedication of a group of people who have a commitment to their God and to their Christ, by getting them to commit themselves to a huge debt. It is a sad indictment of any church that would walk away and leave its parishioners with such a debt. I hope there is a legal way in which the Government can pursue this particular organisation to expose it for what it has done and to do something about the debt. It is an issue of grave concern.

I assure the honourable member for Monaro that I will have no hesitation in drawing this matter to the attention of the Minister to ensure that an investigation is undertaken so that consideration can be given to what action can be taken.

NOTE: ALL SCREEN GRABS WERE TAKEN BEFORE THE 03/04/2012.

The Presence of Folly?

29 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in C3 Culture, C3 Ministry, Pringle's Behaviour, Pringle's Influences, Pringle's Issues/Events

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Phil Pringle gives this good advice,

“We need to distrust those who flatter us. Ingenuine praise has mixed motives behind it. Insincere admiring strokes your ego and blinds judgment. Being ‘charmed’ suspends discernment. Be wise. Know the difference. Fools fall for flattery.” – Phil Pringle, The Leadership Files Vol 2, File 48. The Real Thing.

So how should C3 leaders members feel when Pringle and his church staff send out emails and adverts like this? Should they take Pringle’s good advice? Or should they fall for his marketing schemes?

(From: C3 Church Events <events@myc3church.net>
Date: Tue, Mar 6, 2012. . .
Subject: 4 Days of Presence: Register TODAY to enjoy Box Seats at Opening Night!)

Why does C3 advertise this event as the “ultimate Presence experience?” Wasn’t the point of Presence (according to Phil) to have a God encounter?

By the way, don’t forget how awesome Furtick is. His voice will equip and inspire you! You should already know Furtick’s message and voice is going to preach the gospel and glorify Jesus equip YOU! (Maybe if you touch the hem of his suit, Furtick might heal you.)

(From: “C3 Church Events” <events@myc3church.net>
Date: 07/03/2012 . . .
Subject: 4 Days of Presence: Register TODAY to receive Steven Furtick product arriving on your doorstep!)

Why does C3 think they are “privileged to be the first to host Steven in Australia?” Claims are being made that Steven and his church are a cult.

(From: C3 Church Events <events@myc3church.net>
Date: Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 10:55 AM
Subject: 4 Days of Presence: Day 3 – YOUR friend on US)

The worst thing ANY family can do is share “the experience with friends and family.” Do you want your friends to have Pringle fleece them of thousands dollars or encourage them to empty their bank accounts to buy miracles from God in their unbelief? He has done this also in 2010 and 2009 at his miracle offering ‘sermons’.

(From: C3 Church Events <events@myc3church.net>
Date: Fri, Mar 9, 2012. . .
Subject: 4 Days of Presence: Day 4 – Dining Voucher!)

Clearly the Presence Conference is all about YOU. No? What else would C3 use to convince people to come? Surely all this indulgent-Christianity has gone too far? Surely they would advertise that it’s all about Jesus… Right?

C3 says,

“The first 200 people through the Expo will receive a Conference show bag jam-packed with discount vouchers, a free message DVD and other goodies. If you have never been to Presence before or you are coming alone, our TLC Team would love to meet and look after you. We have a dedicated meeting spot right near the Info Desk for you to connect with our friendly team over coffee before being guided to a reserved seat!”

Don’t you wonder this Presence Conference is God centered? Don’t you question who is paying for all these indulgences and freebies? What are the chances that people who empty their bank accounts to buy a miracle from God, will be the one’s paying for all the freebies, enticements and indulgences?

The way that C3 has marketed this event under the leadership of Pringle, haven’t they used “ingenuine praise” with “mixed motives?” Is the event about God or you? Or is this about C3 and Pringle’s desire to see churches be branded into the C3 movement?

Hasn’t C3 used the above marketing to “flatter us?” If you were a delegate, don’t you think hero treatment, “strokes your ego and blinds judgment” whether the admiration is sincere or not? If C3 has gone at lengths to target Christians like this in their marketing, how can Christians prevent “being ‘charmed’?” How can they “be wise” and “know the difference” when C3 is treating them like “fools” to “fall for flattery?”

Take Pringle’s advice, “Distrust those [Phil Pringle and C3] who flatter us.”

Pringle Believes It’s Gods Will That Jesus Died To Make Believers Rich

28 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by in C3 Scripture Handling, C3 Teaching, Pringle's Beliefs, Pringle's Doctrine/Gospel, Pringle's Laws

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

After reading the below blurb, these quotes of Pringle should make sense,

“There is a direct correlation between the measure of God’s Word in our lives and the measure of prosperity we enjoy.” – Phil Pringle, Faith, 2001, pg 14.

“When we have no room for the Word of God in our lives we have no room for success.” – Phil Pringle, Faith, 2001, pg 14.

How can this ‘truth’ comfort any believer who faces poverty daily? Isn’t a believer to live by faith and not by sight? If a believer fails in his job, is the Word of God absent in his life? What is the secret to remain in salvation that promises wealth and success?

We’ve got commend Phil Pringle for ‘researching’ this first before claiming everyone he looked up to be misinformed. However, here are some verses he clearly hasn’t considered.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

So is the kingdom made up material things? Is the kingdom in this age?

“My kingdom is not of this world.” John 18:36

Truly Jesus has blessed us when he died, ascended and gave us his Spirit. But did Jesus bless us materially through this cross-pentecost process?

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3 (Emphasis mine)

If there was any place Paul could have said, “Jesus has blessed us with every material blessing,” that would have been it. Paul makes it clear that Jesus ONLY shared the “Jews’ spiritual blessings” to the Gentiles.

“For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.” Romans 15:27 (Emphasis mine)

With this in mind, read the below blurb from Pringle’s book ‘Dead For Nothing? What The Cross Has Done For You’ (2000):

“2 Corinthians 8v9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that enough He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”

Paul is referring to the fact that Jesus Christ died without one possession to his name, without one stitch of clothing on His body without any money at all so that he could take poverty to the cross and secure its defeat for those who embrace the saviour.

The Scripture is couched right in the middle of two chapters written to the Corinthians dealing almost exclusively with the subject of money. Many commentators have great difficulty admitting that this passage is actually dealing with money. In fact, I don’t think I’ve yet found one who agrees that Paul is speaking regarding finances.  The most common comment is that it is a reference to spiritual riches. The Thompson Chain Reference Bible is a wonderful resource and study bible, but at this point he too in the margin describes what Paul is referring to as ‘spiritual riches’; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown comes the closest saying, ‘ …in the heavenly glory which constitutes His riches, and all other things, so far as is really good for us’, Matthew Henry interprets it as, ‘rich in the love of God, rich in the blessings of the new covenant, rich in the hopes of eternal life.’ The Word Biblical Commentary, claiming a team of respectful international scholars who were a ‘showcase of the best in evangelical critical scholarship for a new generation’, states regarding this verse; ‘Here, surely health and wealth are ciphers, not for material prosperity and penury but for spiritual exchange as the Incarnate Christ became what we are, so we could become what He is.’ For that to be consistent, the scripture would have to read, ‘Christ…became (spiritually) poor, that you might become (spiritually) rich.’ This then becomes an absurd, almost blasphemous proposition. To say or even intimate that Jesus Christ was a spiritually poor person is ludicrous.

Here is a person who raised the dead, healed the sick, displayed complete prowess over demons and the devil, revealed truths regarding God, man and the entire purpose of God that have withstood every kind of test and scrutiny. This person was not a spiritually poor person. Rather it was because of His spiritual wealth that he was able to go to the cross and bear away the curses that afflict mankind. Even if we limit His poverty to the time He was on the cross, claiming it was our poverty He took, are we to conclude that the ‘hope’ (Acts 2v26) he entered into was a spiritually poor position!? To maintain and kind of hope, and faith through His ordeal demonstrates an extraordinary spiritual richness. In our effort to read more into the statement than is actually there we make fools of ourselves and prevent God fulfilling His great promises in our lives. Jesus became poor regarding the wealth of this world on the cross, that those who receive Him may become rich with the wealth of this world.

Right at this point many people, (mostly Christians) have a terrible amount of trouble accepting this fact. The scheme of the devil has been to deceive the Church into believing that it is far more pious to be poor than it is to be rich. Suspicion is cast upon those who have accumulated wealth. God is seen as one who would rather his people be poor than enjoy abundance in their world. Abundance has always been the will of God for His people.

Getting over a poverty mindset however, is a lot more difficult than most realise. A spirit of religiosity is at the root of this consciousness. Paul encountered it as early as the first century when dealing with errors of the Colossian church.

Colossians 2v18 “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind…”

The religious spirit enjoys being ascetic because it draws pride from the effort. This spiritual indulgence actually only severs a person from Christ. As Esau was cheated out of his inheritance so the believer can be cheated out of theirs. Ascetism, (self inflicted austerity and poverty) posing as spirituality cheats believers out of all the blessings Christ has won for them through the work of the cross. The thinking that says high spirituality is at the expense of physical blessing defrauds the believer of their inheritance, whereas the Word causes us to gain it (Act 20v32).” – Phil Pringle, Dead For Nothing? , 2000, pg. 53-56. (Emphasis mine.)

We encourage you to read his later edition here as well:

Google Books: Dead For Nothing? What The Cross Has Done For You (2007)