faith

Seedtime and Horror: The Prosperity Philosophy Built on Genesis 8:22

Lisa Spencer1 Comment

Genesis 8:22 has served as a foundational verse for prosperity teaching with the philosophy of seedtime and harvest.

As long as earth endures,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night,

will never cease

grain in bagThe idea is that our Christian life is about sowing seed to reap a harvest. So financial giving then becomes the indicator of our faith to make this happen.  An entire theology and numerous ministries have been built on this one verse.  If you don’t believe me, do a Google search. Now the promoters of seedtime harvest ministries will say that it’s biblical. But it is an egregious distortion of the Biblical text and the Christian faith.

1) The context: Putting this verse in it’s context shows that this prosperity philosophy has nothing to do with sowing or reaping. In fact, it has nothing to do with our activity at all. The entire chapter is about God remembering Noah and his family. Then he gives a promise to Noah after the flood that he would no longer destroy all living creatures as he had done in the flood (vs 21). Seedtime and harvest is another way of saying seasons and the verse as well as the entire chapter is telling of God’s control over them. In other words, the passage is saying that the earth will always experience seasons. It has nothing to do with Noah’s activity but God’s promise.

2) The canon: It is also significant to note that Genesis is a narrative. It’s telling of what happened as God progressively revealed himself to humanity. We have to examine any verse or passage according to the whole: the whole of what is going on in the OT and how that relates to the NT. To say that seedtime and harvest is central to what is being played out imposes something on the biblical narrative that isn’t there. But in context of God’s covenant promises to Abraham, his selection of a gathered people as a light to the nations, his provision for how these people would worship him through priestly activity, his rulership over them through selected kings and words spoken to them by the prophets, being ‘biblical’ points to this activity.

3) The Christ: All of this OT foreshadowed Christ. As God made promises and provisions, it was telling of the Messiah who would come and fulfill God’s promises made to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; Galatians 3:16).  He is the one who perfectly fulfilled God’s requirements for perfection (Matthew 5:17; Romans 8:1-4) by fulfilling the offices of  prophet, priest and king foreshadowed in the OT. The book of Hebrews sums this up nicely. During his earthly ministry, his mentioning of seed and harvest were related to those who would put saving faith in him because it was an agrarian society and that’s what they could relate to. He is the central theme of scripture.  Our sowing and reaping for blessings is not the central theme of Scripture. Seedtime and harvest puts a corrupt twist on Christian teaching and robs it of its central theme, which is what God does through his Son for fulfillment of promises.

The sad reality is that the seedtime and harvest promoters have pretty much ignored the biblical context, the passages placement in the canon and the centrality of Christ. But this is the underpinnings of prosperity teaching that has spread like wildfire. It does go to what I said in my last post of the kinds of teachers that Paul was addressing in his letter to Timothy. It was those who would distort the meaning of OT activity and infuse speculations and novelty into the Christian faith.

Why does it matter? It matters because how we read the text is how we think about God. And how we think about him will motivate how we approach him. Seedtime and harvest is guaranteed to approach him in a way not befitting of his holiness.

On Judging Shai Linne and His Beef with False Teachers

Lisa Spencer5 Comments

shai linneWell, this is kind of a cap off post from this week’s activities and final thoughts on Shai Linne’s Fal$e Teacher$. If you don’t know about it, Shai is a Christian hip hop artist who is unashamedly Reformed. He blasted what has been labeled prosperity teaching (though there is actually a mix of positions represented)  in this single cut from his album, which was released April 9, 2013. I wrote a couple of articles over at Parchment and Pen here.

On Shai Linne and Judging False Teachers

Does Prosperity Teaching Deny the Gospel?

Having come out of those circles of the teaching represented by those on his list, I expected full well the backlash that many would have against the song. Primarily, I expected it because of a type of discernment that would be employed according to ‘what I feel in my spirit’.  It is a subjective reliance on intuition that in many cases does not submit to an objective criteria. It’s not that this type of discernment ignores the bible but that the bible itself is not the criteria for evaluation.

Of course, those that have embraced the teaching represented on that list and use this type of discernment will have problems with Shai Linne and his song. He is challenging the very thing that that leads to acceptance of the teaching in the first place. Now I’m not saying it is the only reason for opposition, but if this the basis for which his song is evaluated than naturally there are issues. Continue reading →

Transitions, Trust and Trying Something New

Lisa Spencer1 Comment

door_ajarToday was a bit of a milestone and one that I’ve looked forward to for quite some time. I registered for my final semester of seminary, or at least the ThM program (meaning there may be a possibility for the PhD program). Well, I still have to complete everything: this semester, thesis and the remaining 5 classes that will be taken this coming summer and fall. But it signifies that the end of something is near and the transition to a new chapter is on the horizon.

As I’ve wrote about in Cracking the Door to 2013, I approached the flip of the calendar with much hesitation. Unbeknownst to me during the celebratory zeal of my acceptance and preparation for the move to Dallas in 2008, I had no idea how personally trying the next 4 years would be.  Nothing could have prepared me for the intensity of personal trials and stark contradictions. No need to rehash but I think I’m in a far different place then I was that first day in August 2008.

I have suspected for some time that 2013 would mark a transition in multi-faceted ways, a time to turn the corner. Aside from wrapping up the ThM program, I don’t really know much in the way of details. But I’ve suspected that it also meant an employment transition. When I found out I was accepted to seminary, I kind of carried my profession with me. God really opened that door for me to have a good part-time position with a good mission to address the root causes of poverty and placed me among some wonderful people. Continue reading →

Walking the Tightrope of Sovereignty and Hope

Lisa Spencer5 Comments

I spent many years as a Charismatic and Word of Faith adherent. It was pretty common to embrace the notion of speaking life over circumstances (as if God was obligated to obey that) and believing that if one just stood on faith circumstances would work out in their favor. Add to that, being convinced that whatever subjective and often arbitrary “voice of God” led to the right to believe for certain outcomes. Well there are certainly concerns regarding that position, primarily that  these beliefs and practices undermine the sovereignty of God. The idea that we can have what we say in accordance with subjective leadings, smacks of human initiated and self-focused rights that presumes works on behalf of our bidding.

A survey of all 66 books of the bible should shout in our face that all request and desires are subject to the will of God.  Depending on what view of sovereignty you ascribe to, scripture is understood to deem God in ultimate control of his purposes being carried since he “works all things according to the council of His will.” (Ephesians 1:11).  To think that our prayers, desires and verbal proclamations can override what God intends is myopic at least and irreverent at worse.

I am of the conviction that everything happens by God’s sovereign choice, including election of His people (how we are called into God’s family). Yet on the other hand, I wonder if our deep awe and respect for God’s sovereignty can temper our expectations to irrelevancy that is concerned with very little beyond being accepted in the family of God.  Don’t get me wrong, we should be grateful for a deep and abiding grace that can turn an enemy of God into His beloved child and friend.  Regardless of your view of election, the fact is it had to begin with an extension of His grace made available to those who did not deserve it. It should produce a reverent fear that puts our humanity, with all of its wants and needs in perspective. Continue reading →

Faith As Works

Lisa Spencer5 Comments

In Christianity, we put a lot of emphasis on faith. Jesus talked about faith and so did all the NT writers. Before the Law, their was faith and the necessary criteria for believing in God’s promises. That is why the righteousness of God was credited to Abraham, through his faith (Romans 4 anyone?). The writer of Hebrews says that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:1). And how many times did Jesus meet the uncertainty of the disciples with the same retort to their unbelief – oh ye of little faith.

But we can use faith as a work. What do I mean by that? Putting faith in faith. Wielding the faith sword as an accomplishment of our spirituality. Proclaiming that blessings were received because of the mightiness of our faith. I have, can do, am accomplishing because of my faith.   If we say we have worked for what we have because of our faith, then we have put the emphasis on our faith instead of the object of it, which is the Lord. It is boasting in our own accomplishments. Continue reading →