You did not hear about all the Christians who risked their lives and in some cases devastated their own finances to help people in the flood in Texas.  You didn’t hear about it because it doesn’t fit the narrative.  The media wants you to have a warped view of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Why they do this is no mystery—Christianity is the last firewall against their agenda to totally remake America.

The media considers themselves the moral guardian of America.  That’s like hiring the weasel to guard the chicken coop.

The fixation of the media—and leftist Christians—this week was in shaming Joel Osteen for not opening his massive church soon enough to refugees of the flood.  Could he have opened it sooner? Probably.

But, do I believe that Lakewood Church was lacking in compassion?   Absolutely not.  Morphing an organizational misdemeanor into felony callous indifference is a stretch.  But, like I said, it’s all about the narrative.

My issue is not that he didn’t open his doors soon enough, but that he doesn’t open his Bible enough.  Just saying.

There is a need to dismiss all Christianity—except for a few suffering lot who take an oath of poverty—as big business.  Organized Christianity is a pariah?  Excuse me, not nearly as much as disorganized Christianity.  Free-basing faith, lone ranger prophets, and religious pundits with no accountability—who gargle gun powder and then shoot their mouths off—are the real threat.

It is easy to say that for one, bright shining moment, the Christians in Houston forgot their doctrinal differences, their competitive nature, and rose up in a glorious display of practical compassion. That too would be inaccurate, it wasn’t a shining moment—it’s the way we are.  That compassion was always there.  Heroes of faith were always there.  Harvey only brought out what was already in Houston.

Sure, Christians talk smack about each other, (and they shouldn’t) but don’t think it means we don’t love one another.  Heck, all families do that!   Unity exists to a greater degree than we know.  Believers who love and serve Jesus are more abundant than we know.

Now on to another critical issue: Prosperity.  Did you catch my reference earlier to leftist Christians?  It’s an oxymoron, but they exist.  John Pavlovitz in his blog entitled Dear Joel Osteen excoriated Joel.  That, was bad enough, what was worse is that he reinforced the tired image of Jesus the street preacher who lived in poverty—the hippie messiah who ate twigs and went around lovey dovey. Hold on…I have a reason for mentioning this—being a street preacher, I took it a little personal.

Yes, there is a perversion of prosperity in the American pulpit.  It is wrong for preachers, to beg for the widow’s mite while living in opulent splendor.  It is wrong to conflate money with righteousness.  The Bible is clear in condemning preachers who do this: “These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.” -1 Timothy 6:5

Never the less, Jesus was not poor.  Someone who can multiply food is not poor.  Someone who knows where the coins, in all the fish are, is not poor.  He not only owns the cattle on a thousand hills, He owns the hills, the planets—the galaxies.

God will help you pay your bills, provide for your children, and bless you, so you can bless others. That some take it to materialistic extremes, and add new age goobly gook, doesn’t invalidate true prosperity. Jesus said, “Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

Prosperity is a key aspect of the Gospel. Let me illustrate: Once I met with a very famous evangelist who returned from the Philippines.  He told me, “we had massive crowds and I taught all I could from the Word of God but they were so poor I couldn’t teach about prosperity.”  So, I asked him, “were they also so sick, you couldn’t teach on healing?”

When I stand in the ghetto and preach amid hopeless addiction and grinding poverty, I tell them that Jesus will heal, deliver and provide a way out of their poverty.  Yes, it will take hard work…but God provides the miraculous will power, and hope.

Christians used boats, huge trucks and supplies that God blessed them with—that they obtained through the promises of God, giving, and hard work, to save people from the flood waters.