Page 6 - 2023 March-April Newsletter

FAR Reach Ministries Faith. Action. Results. An occasional newsletter heralding
education for the Church of the Brethren in the Africa Great Lakes region The so-
called “Prosperity Gospel” manifests itself in so many ways that, at least for me, it

often pops up with an aspect that I haven’t heard before. I suppose that it takes us
back to Satan’s lies starting in Genesis 3 that are continually circling back around
with a new twist. It must be pointed out that the word gospel in this context is used
quite loosely, since gospel means good news. These prosperity teachings can hard-
ly be considered good news. They are, quite frankly, lies from the devil. A few ex-
amples: - A pastor preaches that his followers will be struck dead by God if they
don’t bring their tithe. - It is claimed that the sick child will not be healed unless

the parents give X number of shillings, francs or dollars. - A message of “tongues”
(unintelligible gibberish) is “interpreted” (by the tongues-speaker himself) saying
that so-and-so will die and the tongues-speaker will marry his widow. - When the
pastor comes to visit and expects not only a meal (common hospitality) but also
demands a chicken, goat or other “gift” from the host - and if it’s not received,
goes around the village, as well as exclaiming from the pulpit that the person lacks
Christian faith. Pastors are men and women called of God to be shepherds. They
are ones that lead by faithfully teaching the truths of Scripture, not the lies that
they might manage to wrest from it or the lies that they have come up with on their
own. They are ones that lead by nurturing - showing by example the way of Jesus.

They are ones that might well enjoy some benefit from their flock, but not from
butchering them! I’m certainly not opposed to butchering/meat eating and it’s not
my purpose to get into an argument today on the subject. But I will argue that the
farmer’s role is to nurture those animals - to care, feed and provide for them. The
Bible in both the Old and New Testaments draws the analogy of the pastor’s role to
that of shepherd. In the King James Version the old English word husbandman ap-
pears occasionally. It is largely unused these days; Deloris and I have Batchelor of

Science degrees from Delaware Valley College in