Here on the myRevRadio blog, we will be starting a new thing that we like to call “Think on This”. These are posts intended to get us talking. We look forward to hearing your comments and maybe sharing a few of them on the air!

We have all seen it before. TV evangelists such as Robert Tilton taking money to support his lavish lifestyle, while throwing away prayer requests before they are even read.  When we hear these stories we wonder how a monster like that could ever have risen to such prominence. How such a person could gain countless followers is kind of scary.  What’s even more frightening is the realization that he, and others like him, are just the tip of the iceberg.  We know this isn’t a new thing, corruption and false teachers have always been in the church.  The ones hurt the most, are the followers that genuinely believe and the unbelievers who desperately need a relationship with God.  That’s because while the names of shady televangelists will forever live in infamy, the true leaders of God will never receive such media and attention as those who have brought shame and disgrace to the church.  That leads to important questions for us to consider;  How do we call out the fake and how do we know what is real?  How do we know that what we hear and see is truly from the Word of God and not the ranting of a twisted soul?

1.) You can pray.  You can pray that God puts you a church where you can truly hear His Words and it can help you to grow in your faith.

2.) You can ask, “is God moving where you attend?”  When the leader of the church is following his own agenda instead of God’s will, God will remove His hand off that church. It blows my mind that in some churches you go to, the core congregation is the only one that ever shows up. The vibrant church that it used to be has now become a “museum for saints, rather than a hospital for sinners.”

However, as we go after these horrible people that take advantage of others, we too need to be held responsible for how we live.  We need to examine our own walk with the Lord, and ask, “are we fake like the Pharisee who prays out loud to get his treasure here on earth, or are we genuine like the women who gave everything she had?”

These are questions that shouldn’t be asked lightly, because as we all have heard we might be the only Bible someone will ever read.  If that’s the case, which version do you want them to see?  A Robert Tilton who preys on the desperate for financial gain, or the woman that gave everything she had in service to God?  You decide.

– Zach Harper, Marketing Intern