Dr. Robert Sumner passed away in December 2016. The Biblical Evangelist newspaper is no longer being published and the ministry of Biblical Evangelism has ceased operation.

The remaining inventory of his books and gospel tracts was transferred to The Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles and may be ordered here.


Off the Cuff! (Part 2 of 3)
Dr. Robert L. Sumner, Editor

WORLD’S WEALTHIEST

PREACHERS

I think it was Forbes, but I honestly can’t say for sure, that listed the 10 richest clergymen in the world (not just the US of A). Most of the “brethren” were strangers to me, which may only prove how far out of the loop I am these days. Nonetheless, I thought you might be interested in who is on the list (you might need a loan from one of them), so here it is.

The very richest? It is David Oyedepo, who has a net worth, I am told, of $150 million. He is the founder of the Living Faith World Outreach Ministry in Nigeria and preaches to three congregations every Sunday at his The Faith Tabernacle.

Coming in at a very distant second with only $50 million is another Nigerian (apparently a great country for a preacher to find wealth), Chris Oyakhilome. He pastors Christ Embassy Church with over 40,000 members. It seems he has a pocketful of interests, including a TV station, hotels, satellite TV,  magazines and newspapers, a record label, and other things making you wonder how he has time to prepare sermons and preach.

Number three is old Benny Hinn, whom we have mentioned a number of times on these pages, never favorably. A wealth and health preacher who claims to have the gift of healing – his healing crusades are a real circus if you are interested in that type of thing. He is even too much for Mrs. Hinn. She divorced him. His net worth is a mere $42 million.

Coming up as number four is another American, Creflo Dollar (he is also one we’ve featured in this magazine – again, never favorably – this evangelist named for the dollar has a net worth of $27 million. Calling himself a Word of Faith preacher who pastors the World Changers Church International, he rakes in the dough with the slogan, “It is the will of God for you to prosper in every way.” (It works, whether you prosper or not, he does with your sacrifices!) In one of our articles on the Dollar, we noted a Charlotte Observer investigation discovered he was “the best paid leader of any religious charity tracked by watchdog groups.”

Number five is somewhat a surprise because he and his team made all kinds of headlines in the early days of their ministerial success about how carefully they were handling finances to protect their testimonies. Be that as it may, our own Billy Graham has a net worth of $25 million. Not very active today – he is in his mid-nineties – Billy  lives in retirement at his native North Carolina mountain home.

Another American is in sixth place, “Apostle”/”Bishop” T. D. Jakes has to make do with a net worth of $18 million. He is pastor of a church of 30,000 members with a name indicating it is for poor folks, The Potter’s House, and we are not sure he should even be called an evangelical. His position on the deity of Christ and the Trinity is suspect, holding the Modalism view that God is only One Person (not Three) and merely manifests Himself as Father, Son or Holy Spirit as the occasion demands. Once a year he has what he calls a revival MegaFest when over 100,000 folks show up.

Coming in at number seven is another Nigerian, Temitope Balogun “T.B.” Joshua (he calls himself a “Prophet” and he has a reputation in his native land as being somewhat controversial. That controversy has helped him build a $15 million nest egg). This “faith healer” is the founding pastor of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, owns Emmanuel TV, and is involved in a number of other enterprises.

Tied for eighth place is Matthew Ashimolowo and Chris Okotie with net worths of $10 million each. Matt is pastor of the largest Pentecost church in the United Kingdom, Kingsway International Christian Center. Chris, originally a pop musician, founded and pastors the Household of God Church (yes, in Nigeria – what a land of opportunity!). He apparently has a fascination with automobiles and he owns such vehicles as Mercedes S600, Rolls-Royce, Hummer and Porsche.

Rounding out the top ten wealthiest preachers is Joseph Prince, pastor of the New Creation Church in Singapore. He has to struggle along on a “peanut butter and jelly sandwich” net worth of a mere $5 million. Joe also hosts a program called “Destined to Reign” and he goes all over the world preaching.

Now you know. Doesn’t exactly remind you of Matthew 6:20, 21 does it: “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

CENTERS FOR DISEASE

CONTROL (CDC)

The CDC originated on July 1, 1946, thanks to malaria starting to run wild in this country. Its job was to wipe out malaria by wiping out the mosquitoes causing the deadly disease. Congress gave it a $1 million budget. It did an admirable job and in 1992 the word “prevention” was added to its name and the door was suddenly opened to include everything under the sun – from venereal diseases like HIV to diabetes and even obesity. If there is anything in the health arena it doesn’t cover today, we don’t know what it could possibly be.

And the budget is no longer $1 million. This past year, 2014, it had a budget of $6.9 billion! Like everything the federal government takes over, it grew like Topsy. And today it has a “small” staff of about 15,000 workers. The director is appointed by whoever is sitting in the Oval Office (Congressional approval is not required – but it probably should be). The current leader (who doesn’t have a clue about Ebola) is Tom Frieden, appointed in 2009 by Barack Obama. Perhaps you heard Tom’s stumbling, bumbling attempts to answer questions when brought before a Congressional committee.

His ineptness caused Congressman Tom Marino of Pennsylvania to call for his resignation. Instead, Obama appointed his nonmedical political crony, Ron Klain, as an Elboa Czar! At least he didn’t appoint his buddy Al Sharpton (which wouldn’t have especially surprised us).

A major distinction between conservative and liberal is that the latter believes in big government and big government control (like CDC) while the conservatives argue for a small government with as little control as possible.

“DOING” CHURCH?

“Queen Victoria,” otherwise known as co-pastor with hubby Joel Osteen at Lakewood Church in Houston, let the cat out of the bag about what their church is all about. In a sermon to the faithful, Sister Osteen declared, “I want you to know this morning: just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy … When you come to church, when you worship Him, you’re not doing it for God really. You’re doing it for yourself, because that’s what makes God happy.”

A pastor of Palm City, Florida, Steve Camp – who is also a songwriter and singer – commented, “She honestly believes that God exists to make us happy rather than holy … She honestly believes that worship is about our fulfillment rather than His glory.”

Pathetic, isn’t it?

THE IMPORTANCE OF A

PASTOR “MINISTERING!”

Let me quote from a book I wrote in 2010, Evangelism and the Holy Spirit. Talking about the fact that when the persecution caused the early church to be scattered abroad (although the preachers remained in Jerusalem) – and wherever they went they witnessed and won people to Christ – we noted: “However, before we leave this truth that laypeople were involved, not just preachers, strangely we need to also emphasize for today’s readers that the preachers were involved: it was not just the laity.”

It seems some widows were being neglected and seven men of honest report and full of the Holy Ghost were appointed by the congregation to take care of the matter, leaving the preachers to give themselves to prayer and “to the ministry of the word.”

Some today are quoting this biblical solution to claim pastors should spend all their time in the study “in prayer, and the ministry of the word” (although most switch the priority to “the ministry of the word and prayer”). That is not exactly what the passage is teaching. We said in this book:

We agree with this two-fold job for preachers, but not the way some interpret it in our day. They argue pastors should spend all their time in the study praying and preparing sermons. It is the deacons’ job to be out beating the bushes and winning souls (good luck in trying to get most of today’s crop out there).

Is that what this passage is saying? Yes, to spending time in prayer. No, to spending the rest of the time parsing Greek verbs and preparing sermons. That is not what is meant here by “the ministry of the world.” The word “ministry” in verse four is the same as “ministration” in verse one. It does not speak of preachers “getting ready to minister the word” by preparing sermons, but the actual ministry of it.

It is the preacher’s job to minister the Word of God. That is not debatable. Part of this is done by ministering the Word in preaching from the pulpit and part of it is out beating the bushes and winning souls through witness evangelism! Preachers are to minister the Word of God daily both “in the temple, and in every house” (Acts 5:42). This ministry is to go on continuously, unceasingly, according to Scripture.

Shame on the preacher who just wears out the seat of his pants in the study, instead of his shoe leather out ministering the Word of God in homes and other soul-winning places. Both (pants and shoes) should need replacing equally.

When you meet God at the Bema Seat it won’t be enough to say, “Oh, sorry Lord; I thought you had it fixed up for everyone to be saved or lost in eternity past!”

RED LETTER BIBLES!

To sum it up in a few words: I’m agin ’em!

As Elizabeth Browning would say, let me count the ways.

1. The print is much harder to read, especially for the elderly (who do most of the reading of Bibles anyway).

2. It gives the reader the wrong impression. How? Well, the reader gets the idea that the red letters are more important than the black letters. Wrong! All of the Bible, no matter the color, is the verbally inspired and inerrant Word of God.

3. If the words of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, are put into red, why aren’t the words of the Heavenly Father put in red? Isn’t not doing so Trinitarian discrimination? For example, take the noted Ten Commandments. The first time they are found, in the opening verse of Exodus 20, we read, “And God spake all these words, saying, ...”

Why aren’t the Father’s words giving the Ten Commandments in red?

And that is only the start. Over and over in the Old Testament we read, “And the word of the LORD [Jehovah] came unto” Abraham, Joshua, Nathan, Gad, Jehu, Elijah, Sheminaiah, Elisha, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Daniel, Zechariah and literally scores of others. Why aren’t those words given by the Father in red?

4. But not only do red letter Bibles show Trinitarian discrimination against the Father, but against the Holy Spirit as well. We are told in II Peter 1:21 about Old Testament men (but it would be true of the New Testament men as well), “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” And again, in II Timothy 3:16, 17, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

Peter’s statement is another way of saying the Holy Spirit inspired [gave] the whole Bible! In short, we would end up having the whole Bible in red, which would be very difficult to read. Why not have the whole Bible in black, just as the ancient divines who went before us decided would be best?

5. There is some disagreement among scholars as to the source of some words, whether Christ spoke them or if the writer quoting Him did. A case in point is John 3. Some think Christ spoke the words answering Nicodemus, from verse 10 through verse 21. Others think the saying of Christ ended with verse 15 in that passage and the rest is what the Apostle John added. Who decides in such cases where the red leaves off and the text reverts to black?

6. Sometimes the typesetter, computer worker or whoever just blows it and some red letters (or lack thereof) are clearly wrong. For example, in a red letter Bible I was reviewing the other day, in the parable Jesus was telling of the evil vinedressers, the first line of Luke 20:13 (“Then the owner of the vineyard said,”) is in black although it is right in the middle of the parable Jesus was telling and were obviously the words of Christ.

Believe me; the whole red letter business is tricky!

Like I said, red letter Bibles – I’m agin ’em!

CRIMINAL INTENT?

Julie Bosman and Campbell Robertson are reporters for The New York Times and following the “no bill” decision of the Missouri grand jury regarding Officer Darren Wilson in the Michael Brown case, they published Wilson’s residential address in a community “about a half-hour drive from Ferguson.”

The Times slogan “all the news that’s fit to print” obviously should be changed to “all the news that will sell one more newspaper even if it endangers the lives of legally innocent people!” It also published Wilson’s marriage license with additional information.

When challenged, the Times not only refused to fire the insolent duo, but also refused to apologize for their incendiary action. Apparently it is not necessary to have character to work for the Times.

While the Times gave only the street, not the number – putting all the innocents living on that street in danger – it did publish a picture of the Wilson residence to be helpful! One Twitter later added the exact address to go with the picture and another Twitter responded, “Good! Now it should be burned down.”

We wouldn’t even accept a “free” subscription to that rag.

Along the same line: At the height of all the burnings, rioting, stealing, assaults at Ferguson, on the final day of November, St. Louis Rams football players Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey, Kenny Britt, Jared Cook and Chris Givens came out of their tunnel and onto the playing field for their game against the Oakland Raiders with their hands up in a police surrender style.

Kenny Britt was able to show his buddies how to do it since he is thoroughly experienced in such police issues. Old Kenny has had a number of run-ins with the law, the latest for DUI in Kentucky earlier in the year. Jersey City police also want to talk to Britt about a stabbing, but say he's ignored their requests. It seems there was a stabbing and Britt took his friend to the hospital and another buddy of his has been arrested in connection with the incident. Kenny doesn’t seem to want to chat at a police station, just smart off in front of thousands of football fanatics.

Naturally the Police Officer Association in St. Louis protested the idiotic and disrespectful action and said it was “profoundly disappointed” in it. It also called on the NFL to apologize and discipline the fickle five. The NFL took neither route, of course – after all, it has to protect its gods if worshippers are going to show up on Sunday with their tithes and offerings.

Believe it or not, one Congressman (Democrat) announced he would honor the players by having five flags flown over the White House to honor them and then present the flags to them. We suggest that Britt’s rap sheet be attached to his flag!

Ferguson, of course, is a suburb of St. Louis with the third highest per capita murder rate of any large city in the United States (only Detroit and New Orleans are higher). Should a cop in that area fear for his life at all times? I think so!

The fire had hardly gone out in Ferguson until another blaze began in New York City, this time in the death of black 43-year-old Eric Garner by white officer Daniel Pantaleo. Garner’s rap sheet showed 31 arrests: assault, driving without a license, false impersonation, grand larceny, marijuana possession, and selling untaxed tobacco (eight times). In fact, he was being arrested this time for selling his untaxed product in front of tobacco and convenience stores upon the complaint of black businessmen who had gone to the police station requesting them to remove Garner from their streets because he was habitually harassing customers – so the black chief of police sent special patrols to the area to help the merchants. Garner, like Brown, was another huge man (estimated at 350-400 pounds) and folks badmouthing the police said: see the video!  

We did! It showed Garner resisting arrest, refusing to be handcuffed, fighting back, and then a mass of officers (five) joining the fray and outnumbering their victim. Pantaleo and the other four officers were following standard police procedure throughout the incident. Cause of death was allegedly a heart attack, not death from asphyxiation.

The victim reportedly cried, “I can’t breathe” some twenty-odd times. Pardon me, but if one can’t breathe, my understanding is that he can’t talk either. Silly me.

All of these deaths are tragic – including those of white criminals by black officers – but making political and racial hay out of the disasters doesn’t solve one single thing. It merely adds to the confusion and adds fuel to the racial flames.

Are you listening, Mr. Obama? Are you listening, Mr. Holder?

Probably not! Neither listens well.

RADIO LISTENERS!

Many of our readers listen to “Christian” radio stations. I am sorry to say that some of those stations are more concerned about whether the sponsor’s checks clear the bank (are cashable) than they are about doctrine and truth. As most of you know, your editor was the first to blow the whistle and sound a warning about Herbert W. Armstrong and his son, Garner Ted Armstrong – along with their Worldwide Church of God and The Church of God, International – first with a small pamphlet of 24 pages in 1961 (Herbert W. Armstrong: A False Prophet), followed in 1974 by a huge hardbound volume of 16 chapters, 424-pages, Armstrongism: The “Worldwide Church of God” Examined in the Searching Light of Scripture). We took the pamphlet out of circulation when we released the larger work, which is still available from our office ($15, postage paid).

Years ago the Worldwide Church leaders announced they were now “orthodox” – and the majority in evangelicalism praised them – so in 2000 we published a small 22-page booklet that had appeared first in our paper, Is Armstrong’s Cult Now Orthodox? (available from our office, $2.50 postage paid) showing the opposite to be true. It is also chapter 13 in the editor’s big 19-chapter, 512-page Biblical Essays ($18, postage paid from our office).

Many of the diehards in the Armstrong empire didn’t like what was going on in the movement under Pastor General Joseph Tkach, Jr. (whose father was the short-lived immediate Armstrong successor), and separated to start their own organizations based upon the original Armstrong teachings. Some of those cults, disguising their real teaching, are heard on numerous Christian stations today.

Here is a list – courtesy of our friend James Kieferdorf – of some of these groups: Born To Win with Ronald L Dart; World Watch Today with Steven LeBlanc; Tomorrows World with Roderick Meredith; The Key Of David with Gerald Flurry; Armor Of God with Bill Watson/Bronson James; Beyond Today with Gary Petty; and The World To Come with David C. Peck.

If any of these programs are on a Christian station in your area, notify the manager immediately that they are cultic and promoters of false doctrine, urging him to remove them posthaste.

LAW OF FIRST MENTION!

One of the familiar laws of biblical interpretation is the law of first use (or first mention), discovered and explained from 50 years of careful Bible study by Dr. A(rthur) T(appan) Pierson (1837-1911) who, among other things, was the immediate successor of Charles Haddon Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle (1891-1893) in London. He had been interim pastor during Spurgeon’s illness, selected by Spurgeon himself, so when “the Great Charlie” died, the Tabernacle called Pierson to be the permanent pastor.

Three of Pierson’s books were the result of addresses he delivered (The Exeter Hall Lectures) to crowds of 3,000 in 1903,1904 and 1907 (God’s Living Oracles, The Bible and Spiritual Criticism and The Bible and Spiritual Life).

All these works emphasized the structural unity of the Word of God, a matter he first began exploring in the 1880s. He also wrote – his final major work, I believe, summing up those 50 years of Bible Study – Knowing the Scriptures: Rules and Methods of Bible Study. It was one of the textbooks I studied when in seminary. “Taken together, these four substantial books represented the heart of A. T. Pierson’s contribution to the international Bible study movement,” so said Dana L. Robert.

An illustration of this law of “first usage” (or first mention) is God’s reference to day (yom) in the opening passage of the Word of God: “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day” (Genesis 1:5). That is a rather clear description of a solar day, is it not? According to “first usage,” yom is primarily a solar, 24-hour day in Scripture. That is not its only use, but it is the primary one.

Pierson was a recognized leader in both the foreign mission uprising of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and Great Britain’s Keswick Convention branch in this country, and was certainly no novice when it came to Sacred Scripture. The noted book scholar, Dr. Wilbur M. Smith (who taught at both the Moody Bible Institute and Fuller Theological Seminary – he was one of the late Charlie Fuller’s first picks for faculty and a charter member of the same when he started the latter school) called him one of three key authors on biblical unity. Theologian J. I. Packer said the same [the other two authors were Adolph Saphir, whose work, The Divine Unity of Scripture I owned and studied; and A. M. Hodgkin, with whom I am not familiar and whose works I never owned or studied].

In the book, Occupy Until I Come by Dana L. Robert (subtitled, “A. T. Pierson and the Evangelization of the World”) the author explained:

 “By structural unity, Pierson meant that the Bible appeared to be built on a plan of symmetry, even in details. Each Testament had historical, ethical, and prophetic elements, and the very arrangement of the books followed a plane. One of the ‘laws’ of biblical interpretation upon which Pierson hung his theories of unity was that ‘the first mention of a number, person, place, or subject usually, if not uniformly, determines its general usage afterward, and its relation to the entire remainder of the book’” (emphasis added). As an example, the first use of seven stood for completed work and subsequent rest, with that usage the same throughout the Bible.

This “law of first mention,” Pierson believed, quoting Dana Robert again, “… proved organic unity,” and Robert offered as an example that God’s laws in nature were the same as in the Bible, “… the number of completeness in the Bible, seven, was the same number of notes in an octave and colors in the spectrum.”)

The first mention of God’s special name was made known to Moses when He told him He would handle Pharaoh “with a strong hand.” Exodus 6:3 says He declared, “I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.” So that was the “first mention” of Jehovah. It is found four times in the Old Testament; none in the New.

According to The New Nave’s Topical Bible, Revised & Enlarged on Jehovah: “English rendering of Hebrew tetragram YHWH, name of God of Israel; original pronunciation unknown, because out of reverence for God’s name it was never pronounced. When the vowel points were added to the Hebrew consonantal text, the Jewish scribes inserted into YHWH the vowels for Adonai, and read Adonai (Lord) instead. The name is derived from the verb ‘to be’ and so implies eternity of God. There are 10 combinations of the word ‘Jehovah’ in the OT.”

Hebrew scholar William Wilson said: “Jehovah, a name applied to God, and rendered LORD in our version, seems to have an especial reference to the purpose of redemption revealed to our first parents after the fall. The promise that ‘the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head’ led to the expectation of a Redeemer to come. Eve gave expression to her faith in this promise on the birth of her first-born in saying, ‘I have gotten a man Jehovah,’ using the future tense of the verb to be Jahveh, or Jehovah; which term became the name used by the Church in future ages of their hope in the promised Saviour. Jehovah in the Lxx is rendered Kúpios, the title subsequently used of Christ in the New Testament – Gen. ii. 4, &c.” (New Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies).

It is significant that our Lord Jesus applied the term “Christ” to Himself on three separate occasions: Matthew 16:16-18; Mark 14:61, 62; John 4:25, 26.

The other times in the Bible Jehovah is used are Psalm 83:18, “That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth”; Isaiah 12:2-4, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted”; and Isaiah 26:3, 4, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.”

Spurgeon, in his Treasury of David, wrote: “‘JEHOVAH’ is one of the incommunicable names of God, which signifies his eternal essence. The Jews observe that in God’s name Jehovah the Trinity is implied. Je signifies the present tense, ho the preter-perfect tense, vah the future. The Jews also observe that in his name Jehovah all the Hebrew letters are literæ quiescentes, that denote rest, implying that in God and from God is our rest. Every gracious soul is like Noah’s dove, he can find no rest nor satisfaction but in God. God alone is the godly man’s ark of rest and safety. Jehovah is the incommunicable name of God, and is never attributed to any but God: ‘Thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH.’”

Try to do that with Yahweh! Incidentally, the term Yahweh is not found even once in the KJV version.

We close this editorial by quoting Pierson:

When one has lived in the atmosphere of certain conviction, under the power of a deep persuasion that this book is the Word of God, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Saviour of men, amid all the disturbing doubts and perplexities of this age of negation and opposition, he calmly sings, like a lark in the midst of the storm:

Let all the forms that men devise

Assault my faith with treacherous art

I’ll call them vanity and lies,

And find thy Gospel to my heart.

Amen to that!