SNARES & SCARS OF GREED (PART III)

“People Who Long to be Rich Plunge into Ruin and Destruction.”

By Akin Ojumu

Truth matters. Without truth, we are doomed. In a world polluted by the toxic fumes of obfuscation, truth is the oxygen that keeps us alive. Stop the flow of oxygen of veracity, we all suffocate on the carbon monoxide of prevarication.

There’s no truth in a gospel that promises divine health and abundance of material wealth to the listeners. A preacher who comes to you telling you that it’s your divine destiny to be stinkingly rich and permanently healthy is a lying scoundrel. To such, godliness is nothing but a means to great gain.

1 TIMOTHY 6:5

“People who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.”

Those who view spirituality as a business venture or a money-making adventure are false teachers depraved in mind and deprived of truth. These wolves in sheep’s clothing often come to you sounding devoutly godly and looking piously holy. Yet, in their soul is a severe affliction of greed; a cancer of the soul that consumes their whole being.

Call it aura, hallmark, feel, or whatever, greed has a characteristic persona. The sight, sound, and smell of avarice is distinguishable, palpable and unmistakable. Just as we are known by the fruit we bear, a supposed minister of the Gospel who builds his entire ministry on teaching people how to make loads of money, is a man under the influence of the spirit of greed.

The preaching of the Gospel is to save sinners from eternal damnation. It is not to teach people how to acquire material possession. For those who actually understand the Bible, that’s not exactly a foreign concept or something new. Our Lord and Savior Himself makes this explicitly clear in the manifesto of His ministry of salvation. 

JOHN 3:16

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus came to save the souls of men from hell. He did not put on flesh, live as an ordinary man, endure suffering, suffer a shameful death on the Cross just so man can acquire the riches of this world.

Even at the end of His earthly ministry, when He gave the Great Commission to His disciples, it wasn’t that they should go out into all the world and teach people how to become materially wealthy.

MARK 16:15-16

“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

MATTHEW 28:19-20

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Considering all of these unambiguous instructions on what Christianity is about, it should become apparent that the job of a true Pastor, and all Christians for that matter, is to preach the Gospel. A Pastor who spends his time teaching people how to acquire stuff is not preaching the Gospel. Such a person cannot be considered a shepherd of God’s flock.

Value is the compass of human behavior. It’s the basic and fundamental beliefs of a person that shape their attitudes and motivate their actions. The values a man holds dear are best determined by the type of things that make him glad, sad, or mad. What preoccupies a man, is a window to their soul.

Underneath the veneer of hyper-spirituality in which Emmanuel Olumide shrouds himself is a rotten value system of mammonism. You’ll find in this man, and people like him, an ever-consuming passion to get more. What propels him is the greedy pursuit of the riches of this world. His summum bonum is to feed his insatiable lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and boastful pride of life.

Considering that the sinful nature of man always wants to have it all, the corrupting gospel of mammon that promises the hearer that they can actually acquire whatever it is they desire, perfectly aligns with the cravings of human nature. Emmanuel Olumide and his kind exploit this weakness in human nature by perfecting the art of filling people’s ears with exactly what they want to hear. Their message of greed and id appeal to the carnality of humanity.

Fear breeds greed. It’s the terror of not having enough that drives people like Emmanuel Olumide to want to acquire more and more. A morbid insecurity feeds people’s rapaciousness, leading them to hoard to excess above and beyond what they actually need, believing it’s the only way they will thrive and survive.

Beware of ministers of the Gospel who feed your greed. Pastors who believe their ministry is to teach people how to become millionaires and billionaires are driven by fear of lack and not faith in God. Such preachers have a warped value system that’s inimical to the Gospel of Christ. You must mark and avoid them all for the sake of your spiritual well-being.

1 TIMOTHY 6:9

“But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”