Dr. Oral Roberts vs Dr. Albert Mohler

Here this ought to shake up some of my regular readers......actually that's probably not true. If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll probably just smile and say.....(I'll let you fill it in.)

This is the text of an email exchange I just had with someone I am VERY close to. (Not Michelle - but - very close.)

Thought I'd share it.

Larry,

Here's a section from a long obit on Rev. Oral Roberts written by Dr. Al Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Seminary. Thought you might pick up on a particular point . . .

"In the end, however, Oral Roberts should be measured by his message. Though his claims of visions and healings drew deserved attention, along with both scrutiny and embarrassment, it was the core of his message that is most problematic. In his prime years, Roberts was the most significant agent for prosperity theology.

Prosperity theology teaches that God promises his people financial gain and bodily health. It is a false Gospel that turns the Gospel of Christ upside-down. The true Gospel offers forgiveness of sins and leads to a life of discipleship. Following Christ demands poverty more often than wealth, and we are not promised relief from physical ills, injury, sickness, or death. Christians die along with all other mortals, but we are promised the gift of eternal life in Christ."

Love,

________

My Reply

Hi ______,

There are so many points in there for me to pick up on that they may have clouded the one you were thinking of in particular.

- I think Dr. Mohler would be well advised to go back and review his Greek vocabulary. I might humbly suggest he look up the word "save" as in,

And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. Jn 12:47

A quick glance at a concordance leads me to believe it is more in line with Dr. Roberts message than with Dr. Mohler's.

- I think that if you believe the thousands of people who claim they were "saved", "physically healed", and "delivered from demonic oppression" through Dr. Robert's ministry; then Oral Roberts life seems to model the example Jesus lived in the Gospels more than does Dr. Mohler's.

- I would submit that Dr. Mohler's description of "Prosperity Theology" (a derogatory term coined by those who subscribe instead to a "poverty theology") is both uninformed and inaccurate. Further on this point, I would make the humble suggestion that Dr. Mohler reread2 Cor 1:20 before he teaches further on the "what God promises."

- When one considers the lives of each of these men I wonder whose accomplishments: # of people saved, # of demons cast out, # of blind eyes and ears opened, # of diseases destroyed.....more accurately reflects the words of Jesus when he said,

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. Jn 14:12

- My final thought is that Dr. Mohler could use a good dose of a lesson I learned from my (currently un-believing) Mother a long time ago.

Don't speak ill of the dead.

Chances are I might not have caught the exact point you were referencing....but clearly I'm glad to talk about it!

Much love,

Larry

So there's some food for thought. Wonder if the SBC will come after me? :)

By the way - on a different subject..... If you have gotten your,"signed and personally inscribed by the author" copies of The Second Trumpet yet then by all means click here! They are the PERFECT stocking stuffer this year, they're on sale, and they can still get to your house by Christmas! It doesn't get any better than that!!!

As always,

God Bless,

LM

Motivational Speakers – A house of cards….

Part 1 of the Series: Stolen……or at least borrowed…

I had the opportunity to attend a business seminar recently, and like many similar seminars I’ve attended over the years this one kicked off with remarks by a motivational speaker. If you’ve ever been to one of these meetings you know that the Motivational Speaker is usually not content or industry specific to the actual meeting, but rather is tasked with getting the crowd (attendees) fired up before the “tech-talks” begin. I’ve been privileged to listen to many highly paid and successful motivational speakers over the years (and a few who weren’t). I can say that about 85% of them actually are very effective at motivating you.

I had sort of an epiphany this time though.

The Speaker's comments were nearly as good as her presentation skills – which were excellent! Her multimedia presentation was first class and very engaging, and at the end of the talk I really did feel uplifted, motivated and excited to get-on with the rest of the sessions. I shook her hand during the break and told her how much I appreciated her words of wisdom, and during this brief interaction I noticed two things. First, I noticed the small gold cross she wore around her neck and second, I noticed that during our conversation she had indicated that she was, “blessed.”

Now many of you will recognize those words as the “Underground Code-words" of modern day Christians in the workforce. The words, “I’m blessed”, or “be blessed” are frequently used to covertly communicate, “Hey, I’m a Christian, so if you want to start talking Christian stuff it’s OK – I won’t lodge a formal complaint against you with Corporate HR for proselytizing in the workplace…”

Anyway, I did "coyly" ask, as I was stepping away, if she were a “believer” – another good underground word used in the dangerous world of corporate America that contains within itself - enough plausible deniability to keep even the most devout Christian from being dragged before the Anti-Christian Thought Police Division of many Fortune 500 Company’s Corporate HR departments.

"You asked them if they were a believer didn't you! Admit it!"

"Uh, uh, uh, I meant were they a believer in our latest corporate earnings report!!! Please leave me alone!!!!"

See - plausible deniability...

(Now on a side note - I know many of you are freaking out because you think I’m giving away some of our most closely guarded code words – but fear not!!! I’ll write a different post later coming up with some new code words and symbols that we Christians can use to communicate in the work place. I was actually thinking about maybe drawing half of a fish on a piece of paper and letting the other person finish it in order to prove that they were a Christian….but more on that later – I don’t want to give away all the secrets!)

Well back to my epiphany. After realizing that the speaker was a Christian I thought back to what she’d said. – Here’s a very short, very general, and very un-eloquent version:

Be nice to your customers, be nice to your co-workers, be nice to your boss, be nice to your employees, and be nice to everyone with whom you come into contact. The corollary to all that was be polite to all of these people too, even if they are not polite to you. She then went onto say don’t judge people just because they look different than you think they should look, and then, she ended by saying don’t try to manipulate people to get them to do what you want them to do. She tied all this together by saying that if you act by these tenets you will actually be more successful, get more done, and enjoy it much more while you’re doing it.

Now again – she took an hour to say all that, and she was much more eloquent as she worked hard to get us to believe that even in evil corporate America, this was still the best way to do business. And I will admit – I came away happy, fired up, and filled with the belief that she was right.

But after I figured out - through her secret use of code words - that she was none other than a worshipper of Jehovah! – I began to reevaluate her message. Hmmmmm. Where had I heard these things before? Why did all of this sound so strangely familiar?

And then I hit upon it!

And when I did the whole conspiratorial house of cards that motivational speakers are came crashing down around us both!

Her message came from none other than the Bible!

Not only was her message based on basic Biblical teaching but I began to consider other motivational speakers I’d heard. What had they said????

Be open to the thoughts of others even if you don’t respect them...you never know when you'll get a real gem...

Treat all people with respect even if you don’t feel like respecting them...it will pay off in the end...

Share….don’t be paranoid and afraid…..

If you follow these principles in your business you’ll be successful….

My goodness! I realized that people had written entire books based on these principles that were all clearly enumerated in the Bible, sold them to millions of business people and made tons of money!!!! In fact, find me one “motivational book” that didn’t take it’s major theme from the book of Proverbs and I’ll reward you with a valuable prize!!!!

So the jig is up! I’m onto you motivational speakers! And if you agree to pay me huge sums of money I won’t pass this entire post onto all of the CEOs in the entire world!!!

All right – so now that I’ve established that motivational speakers have stolen their work from the Bible - Stay tuned for more posts about what else has been stolen from Christians…You may be surprised!

God Bless,

Larry

Life Lessons from the Barbershop….

A few weeks ago I went to the Barber to catch up on what was going on in our local community, and to uh, oh yeah, get my hair cut.

To set the scene, we're talking about a real barbershop, (no beauty salon here). It’s located in a local historic building, run by an old WWII veteran and his daughter – except that last year Pete succumbed to complications from diabetes and now it’s solely run by his daughter, Lisa.

You can still get a regular haircut for about $11, Lisa still says an earnest “thank-you,” even if you only leave a dollar tip, (though I always try to keep it at a minimum of $4), and she’s always genuinely glad to see you whenever you walk in, even if it’s right near closing time.

Well we were going through the regular routine.....

“Regular haircut?”

“Please, and block it on the back.”

“So what’s been going on in town lately?”

“Nothin much.”

And then we finally got down to business..... I asked if there were any updates on the County trying to knock off her porch and mess up the sidewalk as part of their expansion plan for our community. She said not really, but then added that the man who owned the building next door had come over and asked again about her granting him a right of way or an easement from his back parking lot - through her property in order to gain access the large parking lot she shared with the post office and the bank.

I asked if she was going to grant it, and she said no.

After a few moments of silence I asked the obvious question. “So, how come?”

“Daddy said not to,” she replied.

Again I let her cut for a while before I responded. “Oh yeah, what’d he say?”

“He told me he’d never grant the easement as long as he was alive, and told me I shouldn’t either.”

“How come he wouldn’t grant it? What was his reason?”

“I’m not sure.”

“So what’s your reason? How come you’re not gonna grant it?”

“I’ve just learned to always listen to Daddy, even if I don’t understand it, or I always end up regretting it.”

I decided to let that sink in for a while as I immediately realized there was some deep wisdom in the comment.

Now on a slightly different (but not totally) subject, many of you know that I’m a big advocate of referring to God, our heavenly Father, Yahweh, and Jehovah….. as Daddy whenever you pray.

Jesus did, (Abba Father) and I’ve personally experienced a much deeper level of intimacy in my own prayer life since I started talking to “Daddy” instead of “Father”. Well obviously, when Lisa made her comment you know what immediately went through my mind, and I was so struck by the wisdom of the comment.

“I’ve just learned to always listen to Daddy, even if I don’t understand it, or I always end up regretting it.”

Something we should all determine to do in our own lives…from now on.

Enough said.

God Bless,

LM