On Perry Stone’s Manna-Fest program entitled “The DNA Blessing That Creates Wealth”, there were NUMEROUS misrepresentations and errors which were spoken by Perry and his guest Walter Hallam. I will deal with a few very quickly…then I want to focus on one misinterpretation of Scripture which is OFTEN used by prosperity preachers.
Here are a few teachings/misrepresentations/errors which are spoken during this program:
1. God DNA - Walter Hallam called it “spiritual DNA”. There is no Scriptural basis for this exegesis of Scripture. Any teaching which has no basis in God’s Word MUST be considered FALSE TEACHING. Hallam gives no references for this teaching…so I cannot assess the invisible passage from which he gleans such a teaching. His reference to being made “in the image and likeness of God” is referring to our existence as a SPIRIT being. Being made in the FORM of a man (according to God’s Word), we possess a spirit. Our spirit will exist FOREVER…our body will die. It is this fact…that we are truly spirit in our existence throughout eternity…that God’s Word is referring to when it speaks of our creation. Only PHYSICAL MAN…HUMANITY…has DNA. God is NOT man…thus, God does not even HAVE or possess DNA. We are children of God by ADOPTION…not by BIRTH…according to the Word of God. Our DNA will not MATCH God’s DNA…even spiritually. God’s Word tells us that there is NONE like Him in all the universe! NONE means NONE! Far from our “God DNA” existing to make us “like God”, as Hallam puts it…it is in our acceptance of Jesus as our Lord and Savior which begins to mold us to be MORE like God…but, even then, it is ONLY in spiritual attributes which are noted by the “fruits of the Spirit”. It is then in our WILLINGNESS to be “transformed by the renewing our minds” that we continuously and earnestly seek to be as Christ. Yet, we are NEVER truly “like God” in our EXISTENCE. God is God: we are simply His children…by adoption. He loved us so much that He adopted us into His family. No adopted child receives the DNA of the adopting parent. If we actually received DNA from God…we would then be equal to Christ…who IS the very SON OF GOD in total EXISTENCE.
2. Hallam says “Every person has wealth in their DNA.” Again, there is simply no Scripture to substantiate this claim. It is simply an invented theological teaching which has no basis in God’s Word. This is just MADE-UP theology. The example by Hallam which says an ANIMAL would kill the child…and a human seeks to PROTECT the child…is simply utter nonsensical exegesis of a HUMAN thought. Even ANIMALS…in most cases…protect THEIR OWN! Some animals DO eat their young…or kill their young. But…some HUMANS do the same thing! Does ABORTION sound familiar?
3. Hallam’s statement “There is not going to be a poor street in heaven” is actually true. But…WEALTH IN HEAVEN IS NOT MEASURED BY EARTHLY STANDARDS! Face it…he uses “streets of gold” and “walls of jasper” as signs of wealth. Yet, God says that love and peace and joy are WEALTH in heaven. Actually…gold and silver and jasper and pearls are simply BUILDING MATERIALS in heaven! Those EARTHLY materials are no better than ASPHALT and STONE and BRICKS and LUMBER in heaven! BLESSINGS and WEALTH in HEAVEN are not the same as those here on earth! Gold and silver have PURCHASING POWER here on earth…but they have NO purchasing power in HEAVEN! Only THE BLOOD OF JESUS has PURCHASING POWER in eternity!!!
4. The unbelievable misrepresentation of the story of David is INEXCUSABLE. To present that story as “David brings a gift”…thus making some erroneous analogy of “giving” is just preposterous. This is what I call “spiritual exaggeration” for the purpose of MANIPULATION. It is taking a Biblical story and applying FALSE truths to the story. Read the story of David for yourself. Hallam takes GREAT LIBERTIES is his version of the story. I will simply let the Bible speak for itself…allowing you to read the ACTUAL version which is in God’s Word. Please…read the story of David as he takes food down to his brothers (by the instructions of his father). Read it for what it is…without spiritual manipulation which is seeking to use the Word of God to ENTICE you to GIVE based on a FALSE PRINCIPLE. The emphasis on the story of David was not on GIVING…it was on a small young boy being willing to take a stand when no one else was willing to STAND UP FOR GOD! It is NOT a story on GIVING! And David did NOT see an opportunity “where he could become a prince, marry a princess…” as Hallam suggests. This is twisting Scripture to make David out to be an OPPORTUNIST…where David is USING situations to INTENTIONALLY exalt himself! This is NOT Biblical. David simply TOOK A STAND! He simply DID WHAT NEEDED TO BE DONE! And David did it with NO THOUGHTS of “what can I get out of this”! David was OBEDIENT and FULLY DEVOTED to God. That ALONE is why God used him. The resulting EXALTATION of David was simply a RESULT of David’s determination to defend his God! It was NOT due to ANY plans and intentions of David himself. David’s rise was due to GOD…not some PRINICPLE OF GIVING which David followed which he INTENTIONALLY PLANNED and EXECUTED to perfection! Simply put….Hallam’s exegesis of this story in Scripture is UNBELIEVABLY distorted and perverted, making claims that are NOT the purpose nor the intention of God to be gleaned from this portion of God’s Word.
5. Hallam’s assertion that you have to have money to be a blessing: simply UNBELIEVABLE! I will answer that this way: I guess poor people can NEVER be a blessing. If you cannot see through that lie…nothing I can say will EVER be enough to convince you. Listen to me: prosperity preachers tell you that it takes MONEY to minister. I dare you to try this: think of someone in your neighborhood who does not know Christ, and go witness to them. DO IT! Then…tell me how much MONEY that it cost you to do that! Can’t you see? What these prosperity preachers are ACTUALLY telling you is that it takes money for THEM to minister!!!!! Their words reveal their heart: THEY MINISTER FOR MONEY! Prosperity preachers…TV preachers…will tell you that it takes TV to get the message out! Do not buy that lie! If every Christian would simply WITNESS in THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES…whether in America or in Africa (Africa is no longer the biggest mission field: America is! That is not hyperbole…it is fact!)…then the lost would be won…and the lost would be won WITHOUT TV ministry! This whole thought process is to get the people to believe that A CERTAIN MINISTRY is NEEDED and NECESSARY. Yet…God will use a DONKEY if he needs to! No MINISTER nor MINISTRY is a “NECESSITY” to God! If one falls…God can use ANOTHER. No one is irreplaceable! God wants to reach YOUR COMMUNITY though YOU…not a ministry which has OVERHEAD that eats up the very money given for the purpose of winning the lost…much less a ministry that spends its time teaching on every other “principle” which has NOTHING TO DO with ETERNITY! This video…”The DNA Blessing That Creates Wealth”…has NO ETERNAL emphasis AT ALL! It is time that ministry returns to ETERNAL FOCUS and ceases this push for EARTHLY FINANCES!
Now, I want to deal with the misrepresentation of passages in Deuteronomy…specifically Deuteronomy 8:18. Here is the background for the Book of Deuteronomy.
The Children of Israel have been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. As Scripture shows us, the short trip from Egypt to the Promised Land had been lengthened due to DISOBEDIENCE. Most of Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell to the people. The period covered in Deuteronomy is only about one month. Moses knows his time is short, and God gives him DIVINE REVELATION to speak to the people. It was time for the Children of Israel to “possess the land”…and God, through Moses, reminds them of their PAST…the reasons why they wandered for 40 years, the difficulties they faced, and the miracles that God performed. Moses reviews the TEN COMMANDMENTS and cautions the people against DISOBEDIENCE. In Chapter 7, we read of the COVENANT of God with Israel…and His promise of BLESSINGS on them if they live in OBEDIENCE in the PROMISED LAND. It is then that we come to Chapter 8...and the portions of Scripture which are SO OFTEN misinterpreted and misrepresented by PROSPERITY PREACHERS.
Moses, speaking under the authority of God, reminds the people of how God provided for them during their time in the wilderness. He speaks that God “allowed you to hunger” (verse 3), then fed the people with MANNA…a supernatural “feeding” which taught the people that they “shall not live by bread alone”. The people are then reminded of this: during the 40 years in the wilderness, their clothes NEVER WORE OUT! God, again, provided SUPERNATURALLY. God wants to remind His people of all He has done for them…so they will NEVER forget!
Then, in verse 11, we begin to see the reason for the reminder! God exposes the REAL reason He is speaking these words through Moses, saying “lest--when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart if lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end---then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’”
First, we must note some truths regarding this passage: all of this is in DIRECT reference to ISRAEL. We must learn to distinguish the difference in portions of Scripture which speak to HISTORICAL issues and promises which were for ISRAEL ALONE and Scripture which is for the Church. Every word in Scripture is for our CONSUMPTION…to learn and to glean from…but not all is ours in actual RECEPTION.
Abraham received a promise…that HE would be the “father of many nations.” That promise was for ABRAHAM ALONE…and no one else! We cannot apply a promise to OURSELVES which was NOT to be UNIVERSAL. Everyone CANNOT be the “father of many nations!” Just one example.
If you follow Scripture in its totality, you will learn that God provided for Israel in ways he does not provide for us today! It is that simple! God had a NATION which He was building through Abraham. Therefore, God blessed that lineage for that purpose: TO ESTABLISH A NATION. Last time I checked, God has instructed none of us to do the same. God blessed Abraham and his descendants for a specific purpose: so they would be SET and READY to inhabit the PROMISED LAND. God wanted the nation ESTABLISHED. From the outset, they would be set and blessed. Yet, God plainly recounts here in Deuteronomy that it was for a specific purpose that He had blessed them…and God did not want them to forget that the blessings were from Him…NOT from themselves.
Moses would speak for God, telling the people that they needed to REMEMBER…because, in a time of plenty, they would easily FORGET that it was GOD…and GOD ALONE…who is the source for all that they have…or that they EVER WILL have. EVERYTHING is attributed to GOD!
That takes us to the specific Scripture which is spoken by Hallam in the video “The DNA Blessing That Creates Wealth.”
Deuteronomy 8:18 says “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”
In context, this passage says NOTHING like anything ever taught by PROSPERITY PREACHERS. This passage comes after Moses…by instruction of God…reminds the people of all God has done for them, and that God is telling them to REMEMBER or else they will forget that truth once they have settled into life in the PROMISED LAND. This passage CLEARLY makes reference to the “covenant” made by God with Abraham…the promise that a NATION would be birthed through him. And, the context in which this passage is written is ONLY to verify that NOTHING the people will have as they reside in the PROMISED LAND will be due to ANYTHING that they have done: it will ONLY be due to the PROVISION of God.
This passage is NOT some Biblical “promise” on which we can establish a UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE…especially ANY reference to “GIVING” and “PROSPERITY”. For one…there was NOTHING “given” by the people. God made it clear: it was ALL HIM! God provided in the wilderness IN SPITE OF the people…not BECAUSE OF any “giving”.
In this passage, God is REMINDING the people of this: ANY wealth which you have in the PROMISED LAND was given by ME. God is saying this: “I am honoring my covenant with Abraham. But do not be fooled. It is not in YOUR POWER that you will prosper. It is because I want My nation established forever: the nation of ISRAEL.
God blessed Abraham and his descendants for the EXPRESS purpose of BUILDING A NATION! He did not EVER intend on this blessing of Israel to equate to PROMISES OF PROSPERITY FOR EVERY BELIEVER!
You are not convinced? Then let me convince you.
Go back in Deuteronomy 8. Again notice how Moses reminds the people of how God provided for the Children of Israel. He provided water out of rock…food out of the heavens (manna)…and supernatural sustaining of clothing!
So…if we are to take verse 18 as taught by PROSPERITY PREACHERS…then that truth would have to apply even in those instances. Yet…I have never eaten manna from heaven: have you? I have to buy clothes regularly. My clothes wear out! Don’t yours?
PROSPERITY PREACHERS claim verse 18 is something for ALL Christians to claim because we are “under the same covenant as Abraham.” Yet…none of us are to be the “father of many nations.” None of us are called to “establish the nation of Israel” in the PROMISED LAND. None of us receive manna from heaven for our daily sustenance. None of us have clothes that never wear out.
The fact is…if we examine the entire covenant as given to Abraham…we do not have MANY THINGS which God promised Abraham and his descendants. We are the CHURCH…but we ARE NOT Israel. And…at the time of Deuteronomy…Israel was preparing to enter the PROMISED LAND. And…even then…they were warned what would happen if they DISOBEYED. And DISOBEY is just what they did! And…Scripture was fulfilled…and they ceased to be a nation!
Let me put it together like this: Deuteronomy 8:18 is not some FUTURE promise for every Christian to build WEALTH principles on. Deuteronomy 8:18 is a call for the Children of Israel to REMEMBER that it was…and is….GOD ALONE who has blessed them…and to GOD ALONE they owe their gratitude…not to THEMSELVES. And it is a WARNING of what will…and did…happen if Israel EVER forgets that it is GOD who sustained them in the wilderness, allowing them to BECOME the nation that He had promised!
Not only is Deuteronomy 8:18 not some “principle” established which proves we have “God DNA” within us…this passage has NO INFERENCE to the prosperity preachers’ FALSE TEACHINGS which tell you to “give” to their ministry. This passage is IN NO WAY discussing GIVING…nor subsequent RECEIVING due TO that giving.
This passage is about OBEDIENCE and/or DISOBEDIENCE…and the warning to “REMEMBER”!
And even in reminding the Children of Israel of GOD’S PROVISION…God (through Moses) already notes that, once in the Promised Land, the seduction of WEALTH will EASILY cause people to forget God! God is actually distinguishing between SEEKING GOD and SEEKING WEALTH…and the flaw of man to TAKE CREDIT for the works of God!
40 years Israel had wandered…and now God was about to let them enter the PROMISED LAND. If they obeyed God there, they would be established forever. If they disobeyed God there, they would be driven out and scattered. We know what happened, don’t we.
Our PROMISED LAND today….as the Church…is not an EARTHLY NATION. Our PROMISED LAND is heaven. We are NOT promised EARTHLY WEALTH here on earth. When our journey is over…if we have obeyed God…we will enter the PROMISED LAND…and we shall receive our INHERITANCE.
If anyone has any thoughts our questions…feel free to comment. There is MUCH more that can be said and shown from Scripture to renounce “The DNA Blessing That Creates Wealth”…but I will end this for now.
God wants us to seek HIM…not WEALTH. There are MANY other passages which PROSPERITY PREACHERS take out of context. I only wanted to deal with those mentioned in the video here…and it STILL took many words. I pray that each one will seek WISDOM and DISCERNMENT on this issue.
In Christ,
Ron
(Here is the link to "The DNA Blessing That Creates Wealth")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxG_-ldLDUA
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