While struggling to be let of our prison on parole, Jim Bakker says, "I WAS WRONG" in preaching the prosperity gospel. #iwaswrong

THE LOVE OF MONEY

The Federal Medical Center, Rochester (FMC Rochester) is a United States federal prison in Minnesota for male inmates requiring specialized or long-term medical or mental health care.

During my time at F.M.C. Rochester, I observed something that it seemed to me had gotten nearly every inmate into trouble.  It was something insidious, pervasive, something that I too had tried to cover and push aside in my own life -- the love of money.  The underlying reason why some of the bankers, Wall Street businessmen, doctors, and others are in prison is because of something they did to get more money.  I realized that of the 60 percent of inmates who are in prison because of drug-related crimes, most are not there because of an addiction to drugs; they are there because of an addiction to the drug of money.  It was their insatiable desire for more money that led them to selling drugs in the first place, not a desire to ruin someone else's life by getting him or her hooked.  Unimpeded, that lust for money carries the potential to destroy both the buyer and the seller.

Most of Jesus' statements about riches, wealth, and material gain are in a negative context

About the time of my parole hearing, I completed my study of all the words of Jesus in the New Testament.  To my surprise, after months of studying Jesus, I concluded that He did not have one good thing to say about money.  Most of Jesus' statements about riches, wealth, and material gain were in a negative context.

"Give me!  Give me my part of the inheritance"



The Return of the Prodigal Son is an oil painting by Rembrandt.

Even "The Prodigal Son," one of my favorite stories told by Jesus, took on new meaning as I read it for the first time with an overview of Scripture in mind.  I quickly noticed that the story began with the younger brother saying to the father, "Give me!  Give me my part of the inheritance" (Luke 15:12).  He didn't even say, "Please give me."  He simply demanded.  Before long that young man landed in the pigpen.  I began to see that the fastest route to the pigpen begins with "Give me" ... and the fastest route to the "big pen," the federal penitentiary, often begins with the same phrase, "Give me!"

I was wrong.  I was wrong!

I was amazed at this "new" revelation, but beyond that, I was deeply concerned.  As the true impact of Jesus' words regarding money impacted my heart and mind, I became physically nauseated.  I was wrong.  I was wrong!  Wrong in my lifestyle, certainly, but even more fundamentally, wrong in my understanding of the Bible's true message.  Not only was I wrong, but I was teaching the opposite of what Jesus had said.  That is what broke my heart; when I came to the awareness that I had actually been contradicting Christ, I was horrified.

The Prosperity Gospel

Solomon at his throne, painting by Andreas Brugger, 1777

For years I had embraced and espoused a gospel that some skeptics had branded as a "prosperity gospel."  I didn't mind the label; on the contrary, I was proud of it.  "You're absolutely right!" I'd say to critics and friends alike.  "I preach it and live it!  I believe in a God who wants to bless His people.  Look at all the rich saints in the Old Testament."  And the New Testament clearly says that above all, God wants us to proper even as our souls prosper.  If your soul is prospering, you should be prospering materially as well!"

Instead of praying 'Thy will be done' when you want a new car, just claim it

Philip Hermogenes Calderon - "Lord, Thy Will Be Done"

I even got to the point where I was teaching people at PTL, "Don't pray, "God, Your will be done," when you're praying for health or wealth.  You already know it is God's will for you to have those things!  To ask God to confirm His will when He has already told you what His will is in a matter is an insult to God.  It is as though you don't really trust Him or believe that He is as good as His Word.  Instead of praying 'Thy will be done' when you want a new car, just claim it.  Pray specifically and tell God what kind you want.  Be sure to specify what options and what color you want too."

Such foolishness!

An Allegory of Folly (early 16th century) by Quentin Matsys

Such arrogance!  Such foolishness!  Such sin!  The Bible says we are not to presume upon God, but we should say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that" (James 4:15).

I may not always have been so blatant about it, but I often preached a prosperity message at Heritage USA and on our PTL television programs.  But when I began to study the Scriptures in prison, something I am embarrassed and ashamed to admit that I rarely took time to do during the hectic years of constant building and ministering at PTL, I was very distressed at what I discovered.

Shouldn't the King's kids have the best this world has to offer?

I realized that for years I helped propagate an impostor, not a true gospel, but another gospel -- a gospel that stated "God wants you to be rich!"  Christians should have the best because we are children of God.  "King's kids," as I often put it.  And shouldn't the King's kids have the best this world has to offer?

The Disobedient Prophet by Benjamin West, 1793

The more I studied the Bible, however, I had to admit that the prosperity message did not line up with the tenor of Scripture.  My heart was crushed to think that I led so many people astray.  I was appalled that I could have been so wrong, and I was deeply grateful that God had not struck me dead as a false prophet!

I had fallen into the snare of the Deceitfulness of Riches

How could I have taught and even written books on the subject of "how to get rich" when Jesus spoke so clearly about the dangers of earthly riches?  One of the statements of Jesus that kept echoing in my head and heart was in the parable of the sower, where Jesus said that "the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful" (Mark 4:19).  The deceitfulness of riches.  The more I thought about it, the more I had to admit that I had fallen into that snare.  I had allowed the quest for material possessions and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts for other things to choke the Word of God in my own life and in the lives of my family members and coworkers.  As PTL grew larger and our ministry more widespread, I had a financial tiger by the tail, and just coming up with enough money to meet the daily budgets dominated my thoughts and my time.

In prison, I decided to dig into the Scriptures

In prison, I decided to dig into the Scriptures further to see what else Jesus had to say about money.  I noticed that He said,

Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in an d steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt. 6:19-21 NIV)

You cannot serve both God and Money 

1909 painting The Worship of Mammon by Evelyn De Morgan.

Another Scripture that seared into my heart was Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Money" (NIV).  IN that same passage, I discovered that God's priorities were much different from what mine had been.

Jesus said,

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ... So do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?"  For the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and  his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. "Matt. 6:25, 31-33 NIV)

Other teachings of Jesus scored direct hits upon my heart, as well: "But woe to you who are rich, / for you have already received your comfort" (Luke 6:24 NIV).

The stark contrast between what Jesus taught and what I had been teaching

The parable of the Rich man and Lazarus depicting the rich man in hell asking for help to Abraham and Lazarus in heaven by James Tissot

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me'" (Matt. 16:24 NIV).  This verse dramatically illustrated the stark contrast between what Jesus taught and what I had been teaching.  I had taught that Christians could have the best of both worlds, the best that this world had to offer and heaven too.  Jesus said, "Deny yourself."

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

A church portal relief in Dortmund referencing Jesus's use of "camel through the eye of a needle" aphorism

Jesus taught, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!  Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Luke 18:24 NIV).  Unwittingly, I had tried to explain this verse away with the help of modern scholarship.  I had taught people that the "eye of the needle" of which Jesus spoke was a low arch in the Holy Land.  Supposedly, a camel carrying a heavy load had to get down on its knees to slip through the "eye of the needle."  This was the explanation that I had heard from other prosperity teachers whom I admired and respected, so I simply passed on their explanation as facts without really examining the verse carefully, especially in the original Greek.  Nor had I consulted any Bible dictionaries or encyclopedias.  If I had done so, I might have found that not a shred of reputable archeological or historical evidence supports the camel-through-the-arch theory.

It may not be impossible for rich man to enter heaven, but apart from a miracle of God, he doesn't stand a chance

A dromedary camel passing through the eye of a needle, as a symbol of the improbable Peace of Westphalia. Engraving, Johann Vogel: Meditationes emblematicae de restaurata pace Germaniae, 1649

In prison, however, when I took time to study the meaning of Jesus' words in the original Greek language, I discovered that Jesus was not talking about camels walking on their knees at all.  The word He used was one commonly used to describe a sewing needle, not an archway.  IN other words, the verse meant exactly what it said: It may not be impossible for rich man to enter heaven, but apart from a miracle of God, he doesn't stand a chance!

I had been preaching false doctrine for years and hadn't even known it

The Devil whispers to the Antichrist; detail from Deeds and Sermons of the Antichrist, Luca Signorelli, 1501, Orvieto Cathedral

In my cell, I studied the Bible long hours into the night.  Often as the sun rose in the eastern sky, I was still poring over the Scriptures.  The more I studied, the more I had to face the awful truth: I had been preaching false doctrine for years and hadn't even known it!

At PTL I had been doing just the opposite of Jesus' words

Bakker and then-wife Tammy Faye during a PTL broadcast, circa 1986.

Tragically, too late, I recognized that at PTL I had been doing just the opposite of Jesus' words by teaching people to fall in love with money.  Jesus never equated His blessings with material things, but I had done just that.  I had laid so much emphasis upon material things, I was subtly encouraging people to put their hears into things, rather than into Jesus.

Source: Bakker, Jim with Ken Abraham.  I Was Wrong.  Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.  Pages 531-535.  1996.