If T.D. Jakes said, “If you obey GOD you will never be broke another day in your life,” in the same spirit and meaning as Leroy Thompson, Peter Popoff, and Creflo Dollar, suggesting that all Christians should be rich, drive a Bentley, and live in a big, fine house on Pork Chop Hill, he is wrong. However, we do not know of any conservative, Baptist pastor who won’t tell his people that if they trust God, love God, fear God, meditate on the Word of God, obey God, pray to God, be faithful to God, and give to God through tithes and offerings, that God will supply all of their needs (basic needs).
When we first learned of this statement, allegedly attributed to T.D. Jakes, we did not run a story about it because, although we have included charismatic Christian leaders such as Jakes, Joyce Meyer, and R.T. Kendall on our site, we do not see them as being in the same category as prosperity gospel preachers such as Leroy Thompson, Peter Popoff, Creflo Dollar, and Rev. Ike. Otherwise, we would have never put them on BCNN1. Now, do we disagree with some things that T.D. Jakes and these other charismatic teachers believe? Yes. But we do believe that they are saved, that they love the Lord, and that they have a gift from God to minister to others. Infact, there are some charismatic preachers who are envious of T.D. Jakes because he is respected in most Christian circles, even conservative, non-charismatic ones. Besides that, the truth of the matter is that T.D. Jakes does not need a salary from his church or his ministry because he is a hard working businessman who probably makes just as much money through his business enterprises as he does from a church salary, if not more. And we believe that if a preacher is working, he can earn as much money as he wants to earn, live in whatever kind of house he wants to live in, and drive whatever kind of car he wants to drive. But if a man is getting rich off of preaching the Gospel and living an extravagant lifestyle, then we have a serious problem with that. And we have a more serious problem with them telling the lie of the prosperity gospel to people living in the projects — that if you give money to their ministry, “money will come to you,” and they can be rich too — when, in reality, they will never achieve that.
We believe that, based on his background and track record, Bishop Jakes would agree that, while obedience to God does not guarantee wealth, it does guarantee that all of your needs will be supplied. In a follow up tweet, Jakes quoted David’s words in Psalm 37:25: “Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” The opposite of not having to beg for bread is not living in a million dollar mansion with stockpiles of food. Rather, it lines up with Philippians 4:19 which says, “God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” God may not supply steak for us to eat every day, but He will supply beans and rice. We believe that Bishop Jakes, who suffered poverty as a child and who struggled through years of faithful service in West Virginia before God, by his grace, blessed him with the success, fame, and wealth he has today, meant this.
We hope that T.D. Jakes will take the time to clarify this statement. The Christian Post says it has reached out to him but has not heard back from him.
–BCNN1 Editors
BCNN1 WP 