Creflo Dollar Is Guilty

Post Subtitle : Guilty of preaching a false gospel

Lots of talk the past few days about Word of Faith “preacher” Creflo Dollar. Seems that he is accused of battery and cruelty to children in an alleged attack on his 15 year old daughter. I will not go into the details of the alleged happening, but you can find it all over the internet at any news source. Also, you can find a scan of the actual police report here. My prayer is that this situation will be used to bring interest on Dollar and thus exposing his false gospel, regardless if what the criminal charges are.

First off, I did post the story on my Facebook page along with a comment that pretty much said Creflo was guilty. It is true that in this country we are innocent until proven guilty. So, for that I was wrong and not giving Creflo his due diligence in making his case before a judge and/ or jury. However, I do not believe this will reach that phase of the judicial process, so we may never know if he was guilty or not. Actually, does it really matter anyway? After all he has been abusing scripture and his listeners for decades and people still flock to him.

Dollar has a long history of being a Word of Faith teacher. This in itself is a heresy that has run rampant on the world for a few decades now, with other WoF (Word of Faith) preacher/ teachers like Oral Roberts, Jessie DuPlantis, Kenneth Copeland, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn and Joyce Meyer being some of the more well known. Not that there are actually “bigger” heresies than others, but the more prominent in this movement are the “little gods” statements, name it and claim it speak, your faith is what can cure you, sow your seeds into “my” ministry to receive your blessings, if your not being healed then your faith isn’t strong enough and one I just came across today - that Jesus “grew” into His Sonship and “Godness”.

Actually, I have listened to a few of Dollar’s messages over the past few days, taken directly from his website so they wouldn’t be “out of context”. In those messages I found not one single solitary shred of the true Gospel of Christ. I heard a lot of prosperity and a lot of “me” and “I”, even saw Dollar do a “thus sayeth the lord” as he closed his eyes and proceeded to act as a direct oracle for God. So, what is Dollar’s message all about? It is all about self, to the core, through and through.

I’ll clear the air here. I am in no way against a pastor of God having money. I don’t think it is beyond belief that God could bless His children abundantly. Only thing is, Creflo’s not a minister of the Gospel. Creflo feeds his congregation steady doses of “me” and “I”. He even expounds when preaching and calls what he says THE gospel, but not a single word of the Jesus of scripture, not one word on His blood, not one word about sin, not one utterance of repentance, nothing about sanctification, nothing at all resembling the true Gospel of Christ. Admittedly I did not listen to each and every message the Dollar has preached over his career, but shouldn’t the primary reason to preach to people be to glorify God? I mean I heard a few verses ripped out of context, but other than that it was an all out motivational talk/ sales pitch.

It really saddens me that so many people are on their way to hell because of this type of message. This false gospel has man as its central point, what can God do for me type of attitude. I suppose that is why it is so popular. I know there are a few prominent Christian voices out there that are calling these carlatans out. Justin Peters, Voddie Baucham, Hank Hanegraaff, John MacArthur and rappers IV Hisson and Jovan Mackenzy all speak out against the heresies that are spewed from pulpits every Sunday morning. I praise God that these “voices in the wilderness” are there, but I also pray that all pastors and followers of Christ would also take a stand for the true Gospel and push to expose these workers of darkness and of a false gospel. These workers of iniquity are actually to be anathema/ accursed according to Galatians 1:8-9. Instead they have their wears and false messages peddled on TV networks like TBN and TCT, their books and study guides displayed on “Christian” bookstore shelves and people ingest their poison all the way to the grave. Why is that? It is the human nature of self, the greed factor, the lust of money, the lust of a comfortable lifestyle, the desire to be healthy above all else. It is the “perfect” anti-gospel, relayed by prosperity preachers who flaunt their millions to the poor people they are ripping off.

I get infuriated at the state of what people see as Christianity today. It is not really hard to see why so many people are turned off by what they see on TV and read about in the news about the “church”. The secular world sees the hypocrisy of what passes for the gospel these days. The even sadder fact is that when the True Gospel is proclaimed people shake their heads and want nothing of it. They think it is extreme to actually taking up your cross daily, serving those in need, preaching to others, witnessing to those in your life, talking about being a slave to Christ, actually doing what the bible says a true follower of Christ will do - FOLLOW HIM.

Probably the most troubling part of the current issue with Creflo Dollar is those professing Christians that are saying Dollar is a brother in Christ, a fellow Christian. They see the name “pastor” and see that he “preaches” but beyond that they are ignorant of what Dollar actually preaches. They come to his defense (judging ‘for’) and admonish those that are opposing dollar (judging ‘against’). As I stated, I did unfairly judge Dollar guilty of the crimes he is charged with. I apologize for that and learned I should not, but I will not apologize for using this newfound spotlight in the public eye for Dollar to expose his heretical preaching. I wait to see how this all plays out - who will rush to his defense in judging him not guilty, those that judge him guilty and those that use this as a catapult to expose his lies to the world and use it to proclaim the true Gospel of Christ.

I also would like for anyone that may happen upon this posting and says that Dollar is a true preacher of the Gospel to please leave a comment for why you think that. Please leave any link to any message that is the true Gospel. Please explain how he can preach a heresy so much and still be a true child of God. I am always open for correction and will admit if I am wrong.

God has shown His grace on me. After 30 years as a false convert, willing to call anything and everything “Christian” that professed to be, God opened my eyes to the false messages. God showed me how utterly sinful and how much under His wrath I was. He showed me the true Jesus Christ, His sacrifice, His atonement for my sins, His blood shed on Calvary for me, His death, burial and resurrection, being my Propitiation, my Advocate, my Savior! Know what else? He can be yours as well. All you must do is repent and believe in Him. Turn from your sins and to the Holy God. Cry out to Him and fall at His feet and follow Him, wherever He leads, however the road turns. See God as He is - Holy and how you are not - a sinner. Cling to Christ. Deny yourself. Leave all behind and follow Him.

A Damaged Testimony?

Have you ever damaged your testimony? You know, damaged your story of your walk with Christ? Do you even know what that means or have you never heard of damaging your testimony?

I used to hear that a lot growing up at my childhood church. It seems that was the appeal to the members of the church, don't do something that will make you look bad in front of others. Of course at the time it sounded really good, then again so did the idea of just saying a prayer and getting it “all taken care of”. Now, looking back, I can see why this was a popular saying in the realm of the “modern gospel”. It is directed at “self” just as the “gospel” was directed.

So, what is wrong with this? Why am I now, 30 something years later bringing this up? Because I had an epiphany today about “damaging my testimony”. I don't know why it popped into my head at work today, other than it lead me to write this blog and shed my thoughts on the matter. I've never really thought about damaging “my testimony” before, so this was kind of out of the blue as I was thinking back over how God has worked in my life, through childhood, my teen years, my young adult life and now my middle years. I can see how God has guided me through the years, even when I was not yet His child.

First the phrase, My testimony, is directed at self. Just as the easy-believism message prominent in my childhood and which has grown to the “norm” now, so was this admonishment to not “damage your testimony”. This was said to those rebellious teenagers out on the weekends doing stuff they shouldn't be doing or the person cheating on their taxes or husband cheating on their wife. It addresses a great problem in the world of professing Christianity (churchianity): If you do not preach a message of repentance, new birth, faith, sanctification and holiness then you have to continually address a lifestyle of sin. Of course ,to those that are truly a child of God this idea seems foreign, to have to continually tell people NOT to sin, the same sins... over and over again. To try and reach a mind and conscience that doesn't grasp the idea of sin in the first place.

The cause of this message is the false gospel that creates false converts that give lip service to the name “Christian”. They said a prayer, walked an aisle, have been in church since they were born, their parents are Christians, or any other number of things that lead someone to believe they are “saved” but actually are still under the wrath of God. I have seen it a thousand times, people make emotional decisions, are pressured into saying a prayer, raising their hand, walking an aisle and their name is jotted on a decision card, they are paraded in front of the congregation and the “preacher” pronounces them saved. The emotionalism reaches its peak as the crowd erupts into applause, tears flow and another person has their fate of hell sealed under the guise of making a “public profession”. They are told to write the date in the back of their bible, and show the devil that page any time he comes sticking his nose in their business. Only thing is the devil never got his nose out of their business and was along side the congregation in applause for the false profession. As the days go by, the weeks add up things change. The elation of the applause was gone after shutting the car door in the parking lot. The handshakes and back slaps lasted a few services, but were quickly diminished. Life resumed as normal. The temporary halting of some sins halted itself and the sins came back, even greater than before. After all, you “got saved”, you live under grace now and all you have to do is ask for forgiveness and it's all taken care of.

When the lifestyle of sin rears its head once again, what is a preacher to do? Go back to the emotionalism once again. Set up a meeting with the one living in sin. Address the emotions once again, something along the lines of “Bubby, you know you shouldn't be doing those things. You can't hurt your testimony like that. What's your mama gonna think if she finds out you been drinking again? Does your wife know you've been dancing with those other women? Don't you feel bad about doing those things again?” Appeals to the emotions to not “damage/ hurt your testimony”, just as the emotional plea to “Come to Jesus. All you have to do is say this prayer”. It's a never ending cycle Why? Because it was a false gospel, by a false teacher, making a false convert.

A major issue with the statement “damaging your testimony” is the fact that you don't really have a testimony. A true believer has a testimony to God about what He has done to you, in you, through you. So how could you damage something that God has done in the first place? A Christian that does sin, who repents, will give testimony to how God, once again, graciously pulled them out of sin. It will not be focused on “me” or “my” anything, but on the One that actually did something, God. Which counteracts the whole message of the easy-believism message today.... It's all about ME. When the true Gospel is all about God.

The whole belief structure of easy-believism/ American gospel is based on self. This goes all the way through the life cycle of the false convert of this system. I say a prayer, I ask Jesus into my heart, I cleaned up my life, I stopped drinking, I stopped smoking, I started going to church every Sunday morning, I got baptized, I sang in the choir, I taught Sunday School, I went to Sunday School, I went on a mission trip, I, I, I. When it should be God saved me, God pulled me out of the mire and changed my heart, God took away my vices, God cleaned me up, God used me to teach other about Him, God, God , God. This mentality follows through when the false convert returns to sin and the leaders or friends see that something is wrong. It's often called “back sliding”, but honestly it is just a returning to the sin that never was washed away in the first place. But damage control has to start and the emotional appeals start again.

If the majority of “preachers” today would actually preach the Gospel then they wouldn't have to continually meet with people to appeal to them to stop sinning. Divorce rates would drop, if not completely go away among those professing Christianity. There would be no more “re-dedications”. There would be filled pews instead of only filled membership rolls. False conversions would be the exception instead of the norm. People would have testimonies of God's greatness instead of having “my testimony”. Sinners would repent. God would be glorified.

The remedy? The Gospel. God. Christ crucified. Repentance. Re-birth, a new creation. Sanctification. Faith. The Blood of Jesus.