PAUL ADEFARASIN, HOUSE ON THE ROCK, AND THE GOSPEL OF MORE MONEY

By Akin Ojumu

Let us be honest about Paul Adefarasin and his House on the Rock.

Paul Adefarasin increasingly resembles a motivational chief executive rather than a shepherd entrusted with the care of Christ’s flock. House on the Rock, likewise, often appears less like a Church devoted to the proclamation of the Gospel and more like a corporate enterprise in which financial seminars, success principles, and wealth-creation strategies are wrapped in religious language and delivered from a pulpit.

Seen in that light, his persistent emphasis on making money—and then making even more money—is hardly surprising.

A true pastor should be consumed with preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified, faithfully teaching the whole counsel of God, calling sinners to repentance, and nurturing believers in sound doctrine. Temporal wealth creation must never be permitted to eclipse the eternal riches of the Gospel.

When sermons become business lectures, the pulpit becomes a corporate podium, the pastor becomes a motivational CEO, and the Church becomes little more than a financial seminar accompanied by worship music.

At approximately the 02:02 minute mark of this video clip, Paul Adefarasin says:

“Stop hating money. I’m not saying you should worship money… And if you try to give me that Scripture that says, ‘The love of money is the root of all evil,’ go and read it in the Greek and read its context. ‘The love of money is the root of all types of evil.’ That simply means that because of the love of money, people go and do evil so that they can get money. When you look at Nigerian politics today—it is evil. When I say today, I’m talking about the last 63 years, you understand—because the main reason they go there is not to serve others. They go there to serve themselves. The majority…there are some exceptions.”

The biblical passage to which he refers is 1 Timothy 6:10.

1 Timothy 6:10 (KJV)

“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

1 Timothy 6:10 (ESV)

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”

Whether the passage is translated as “the root of all evil” or “a root of all kinds of evils,” the warning remains fundamentally unchanged. Consulting the Greek does not neutralize Paul’s message, soften his condemnation, or transform the passage into an endorsement of aggressive wealth accumulation.

Apostle Paul’s warning is unmistakable: a covetous, consuming, excessive, and insatiable craving for wealth is spiritually destructive.

The text does not teach that money itself is inherently evil. It teaches that the love of money—the craving for it, the pursuit of it, the obsession with obtaining more of it—opens the door to all kinds of evil.

That is precisely why Jesus warned:

Matthew 6:24

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Money is a useful servant but a merciless master. Once the acquisition of wealth becomes the controlling ambition of a person’s life, money ceases to be merely a possession. It becomes an idol.

And Mammon is never satisfied. It never says, “You have enough.” It always demands more.

More income. More investments. More properties. More influence. More status. More power. More applause. More evidence that one is supposedly walking in “dominion.”

That is not Christian contentment. It is covetousness baptized in religious vocabulary.

The love of money is not the sole cause of every individual act of evil. Paul’s point is that it is a root from which many forms of evil grow.

History and ordinary human experience confirm this. The pursuit of wealth has produced corruption, exploitation, fraud, oppression, betrayal, dishonesty, graft, injustice, violence, and even murder.

Paul Adefarasin’s own example of Nigerian politics proves the biblical warning rather than weakening it. If politicians enter public service primarily to enrich themselves, and their love of money leads them into corruption and evil, then they are demonstrating exactly what 1 Timothy 6:10 teaches.

The love of money has led them into all kinds of evil.

That is the point of the passage. The Greek text does not rescue the prosperity preacher. It condemns the covetous heart.

The destructive power of greed is vividly illustrated in the story of Achan.

Joshua 7:1, 19–21

“But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel…Then Joshua said to Achan, ‘My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise to Him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.’ “And Achan answered Joshua, ‘Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.’”

Achan saw. Achan coveted. Achan took.

His downfall began with a desire for possessions God had forbidden him to take. The silver, gold, and beautiful garment captured his heart, overruled his obedience, and brought judgment upon him and his household.

That is what covetousness does. It promises gain while concealing the destruction attached to it.

The same sin manifested itself in Judas Iscariot.

Matthew 26:14–16

“Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver Him over to you?’ And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray Him.”

Judas placed a price on the head of Jesus.

His question was not, “Is this right?” It was, “What will you give me?”

For thirty pieces of silver, he betrayed the incarnate Son of God. His love of money did not merely produce poor financial priorities. It contributed to treachery, apostasy, despair, and destruction.

Such examples demonstrate why Scripture treats covetousness so seriously. Greed is not an innocent desire for personal improvement. It is a form of idolatry that displaces God and places material gain at the center of human existence.

The New Testament does not teach believers to despise God’s provision. Neither does it condemn wealth merely because a person possesses it. But it repeatedly condemns the desire to become rich and the relentless craving for more.

Paul writes:

1 Timothy 6:6–8

“But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”

This is the direct opposite of the prosperity message of more and more money that Paul Adefarasin traffics.

The prosperity preacher says:

“Do not be satisfied. Desire more. Pursue more. Acquire more. Increase more.”

The Apostle Paul says:

“If we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”

Paul does not condemn the lawful possession of wealth. In 1 Timothy 6:17, he acknowledges that God may richly provide some believers with material possessions to enjoy. But those who possess wealth are commanded not to become arrogant or to place their hope in the uncertainty of riches.

The issue is not whether a Christian may possess money. The issue is whether money possesses the Christian.

Christian contentment means receiving God’s provision with gratitude rather than living in a state of perpetual dissatisfaction. It means refusing to measure God’s goodness by the size of one’s bank account, the number of one’s properties, or the profitability of one’s investments.

Godliness with contentment—not godliness as a strategy for material accumulation—is great gain.

Paul’s warning becomes even more explicit in the preceding verse:

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.”

Paul does not merely warn against obtaining money through criminal means. He warns against the desire to become rich.

That desire is a trap. It produces temptation. It generates foolish and harmful cravings. It captures the heart, corrupts judgment, and plunges people into ruin and destruction.

This is where Paul Adefarasin’s message becomes spiritually dangerous. By repeatedly urging his followers to reject contentment and pursue increasing wealth, he cultivates the very craving Scripture condemns.

Teaching people to make responsible use of money is one thing. Encouraging them to become consumed with acquiring more of it is something entirely different.

Financial stewardship can be taught without turning wealth into the central preoccupation of the Christian life. Believers may work diligently, provide for their families, save wisely, give generously, and manage resources responsibly without being discipled into an endless craving for riches.

But once the message becomes “make money so that you can make more money,” wealth is no longer being treated as a tool. It has become the purpose.

That is not stewardship. That is Mammon wearing a clerical collar.

Proverbs issues the same warning:

Proverbs 28:20

“A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.”

The contrast is significant.

Scripture praises faithfulness, not frantic wealth accumulation. The faithful person trusts God, acts with integrity, works honestly, and receives God’s provision with gratitude. The person who is desperate to become rich is vulnerable to compromise, deception, exploitation, and moral collapse.

The pursuit of rapid riches often convinces people that ordinary faithfulness is insufficient. 

Patience becomes weakness. Contentment becomes mediocrity. Integrity becomes an obstacle. Other human beings become customers, financial opportunities, or instruments of personal advancement.

The Bible warns that such eagerness will not go unpunished.

Proverbs offers a further warning:

Proverbs 11:28

“Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.”

Money makes promises it cannot keep.

It promises security, yet it can disappear. It promises happiness, yet it cannot satisfy the soul. It promises significance, yet it cannot reconcile anyone to God. It promises power, yet it cannot prevent death. It promises freedom, yet the craving for it enslaves millions.

Those who place their hope in riches will eventually discover that they have trusted in something fundamentally unstable and eternally worthless.

The mission of the Church is not to manufacture millionaires. It is not to turn worshippers into wealth strategists. It is not to provide religious validation for material ambition.

The Church exists to proclaim Christ crucified for sinners, call the world to repentance and faith, administer the means of grace, teach sound doctrine, make disciples, care for the suffering, and prepare believers for eternity.

A pastor’s primary task is not to teach people how to become rich. It is to feed Christ’s sheep with the Word of God.

When messages about money, business, success, investment, influence, and wealth creation dominate the pulpit, the congregation is gradually trained to interpret Christianity through the lens of material gain.

In such settings, Christ becomes a means to prosperity. Faith becomes a financial technique. Prayer becomes a strategy for upward mobility. The Bible becomes a manual for personal advancement. The Church becomes a marketplace. And the Pastor becomes the CEO of a religious corporation.

That is not the Christianity taught by Jesus and His Apostles.

The Gospel does not say, “Christ died so that you can make more money.” The Gospel declares that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again so that all who repent and believe in Him may receive forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and eternal life.

John 3:16-18

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

Paul Adefarasin is correct that Christians should not worship money. But the relentless glorification of wealth accumulation does not lead people away from the worship of money. It trains them to desire, pursue, admire, and organize their lives around it.

The cure for the love of money is not a sermon on how to make more of it. The cure is Christ. The answer is contentment in God, trust in His providence, generosity toward others, and a heart fixed on treasures that neither moth nor rust can destroy.

A Church that continually urges people to pursue more wealth while neglecting the biblical warnings against the desire to become rich is not liberating them from Mammon. It is discipling them in its service.

And no amount of Greek word study, motivational rhetoric, corporate language, or religious theatrics can transform the worship of wealth into the Gospel of Jesus Christ.