Money Transfer!!!

"Does the Bible teach the transfer of wealth from the wicked to the righteous?"

by:  Pastor William Shifflett
www.Swordpoints.org

This false but extremely popular teaching has absolutely no basis in Scripture. You may not know that in the New King James version the word transfer appears only in 2ND Samuel 3:10 in reference to the people giving the Kingdom of Saul to David. The word transferred appears only in 1ST Corinthians 4:6 where Paul is drawing an illustration between himself and Apollos. I have heard more than one teacher of this view say that “God says he is going to transfer the wealth of the wicked to the righteous” but obviously He must be using a different word. One of the key verses used in support of this doctrine comes from Proverbs 13:22 which says, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.” From this verse with a few other unrelated verses tossed in proponents argue that God is going to give the church this wealth in the last days. What can we say in response?

First consider the similarity between what this verse says and how Jesus approaches the concept of giving. Jesus says “lay up treasure for yourselves in heaven.” When we give we are storing up riches in heaven. But we won’t have access to those riches until we actually get to heaven. The wicked on the other hand are not setting aside for eternity and that is the contrast we should draw. In Luke 12 Jesus shares a parable that conveys this same idea. Those who are laying up treasure in heaven will benefit in the end. Those who are not will see all they have done pass out of their hands.

“Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." ' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." Luke 12:16-22

The teaching rises from a fundamental flaw that argues that ALL Christians should be rich. It fails to take several other factors into consideration. First wealth is relative. Bill Gates is wealthy to me, but to a Haitian who makes about $90 per year I am Bill Gates. Second it fails to consider that only in America and other developed countries can the wealth we enjoy even be contemplated. The average daily wage on planet earth is $2.

Third and most serious is the absolute mishandling of Scripture to support the position. Larry Huch uses a passage of Scripture from James 5 to validate the claim that ALL Christians should be (not could be which I agree with wholeheartedly), should be rich. Yet James 2:5 says that God chose the poor to be rich in faith (not wealth). Jesus rebukes the Laodicean church which had come to such a place of financial strength that they lost the sense of their need for God. (Revelation 3.)

Finally Larry Huch himself says that this so called transfer of wealth happens when the Lord returns and not before. In speaking of the James 5 passage Huch says;
“Now it is extremely important that you understand what God is saying here, because this is the key to the end-time transfer of wealth. ‘The cries of the reapers [workers/laborers] have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.’ I think many times people mistakenly read this ‘The Lord of the Sabbath’ But the word is Sabaoth which means ‘leader of a great army or mass. In the very last days when the Lord comes for His glorious bride, who will be without spot or blemish, there will be no poverty or sickness. We will cry out to the Master Avenger, and He will take the wealth from the wicked, those who have kept it back wages by fraud, and put it into the hands of the righteous.” ( 10 Curses that Block the Blessing p.98 Bold emphasis mine)

I hope that you can see the contradiction. The whole purpose of Huch’s book is breaking curses including the one that is preventing your financial wealth. Yet in trying to bring this liberty he says it doesn’t happen until Jesus comes.

I could go on but not wishing to be redundant I will conclude with just one more striking question. If the prosperity teachers believe God is going to take the wealth of the wicked and give it to the righteous why do they keep asking the righteous for money????