y searchlight remains in my constituent, the Church, as to the probable causes, why inspite of the many Churches in the country, it is not rewarded with the expected moral excellence.And I have been dealing with issues that have been erroneously presented on the pulpits, which might have contributed to the moral decadence in the society.

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Righteously acquired wealth, as opposed to ill gotten wealth or wealth acquired through fraud, deceit or foul means is a gift from God, which He (God) gives to His children (Christians) according to each person's managerial ability, which will glorify His Name and which will be to the benefit of the Christian himself, the body of Christ (Church) and the world at large (I Cor 12:7; Eph 9:12-13; I Peter 4:10).

All the various gifts, be it spiritual (I Cor 12, 13&14) or material, are distributed or given by God to His children who seek Him. Those children who have made God's kingdom their primary concern, are given gifts according to His divine knowledge of the capability of each of His children in such a way that whatever gift each person receives will not stand between him and heaven as long as the child allows himself the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

King David, as he blessed the Lord said:

"Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the Kingdom, O Lord,���.. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all ��� for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee" (I Chr.29:11-14).

Apostle Paul, quoting Ex.9:16 and 29:16 wrote:

"For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth ���.. Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus ? Hath not the potter, power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" (Rom 9:17-21).

The apostle continued in Chapter 12,

"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office; So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one, members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us�",then

When we say that wealth is God's gift, level of which is given to the individual Christian according to his managerial capability, can the Christian then be complacent and be lazy and say that after all it is a gift, which may not depend on whether one labours for it or not? That line of thought alone has disqualified anyone from having the gift from God. Paul said: "Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit; serving the Lord" (Rom 12:11). We must work. We must aspire. The Christian student must take his studies seriously and leave the rest with God.

We buttress the argument that God gives the gift of wealth, according to the managerial capability of each Christian, with a parable told by The Master Himself, which is recorded in St. Matt. 25:14-30. A certain man was to travel to a far country and he gave talents to every of his servant "according to his several ability". Unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one. So, God gives different level of wealth to different Christians according to the capability of each Christian, which he can wisely manage, without constituting hindrance to him from entering His Kingdom.

Esau, the natural heir to the blessings of Abraham lost them to Jacob because God saw in Esau an undependable weak character who could not be entrusted with the gigantic plan (promise), which He (God) had made with Abraham, which should be fulfilled through his (Abraham's) descendants. For instance, Esau was not careful to listen to the instinct from God, neither waited for guidance from his parents but took two local wives of Canaan where they were strangers at the age of 40. This behaviour of Esau grieved the hearts of his parents, Isaac and Rebekah (Gen 26:34-35; 27:46). Esau could have done this in ignorance because he regretted it after he knew that his parents were not pleased with his action (Gen 28:8-9). But ignorance is never an excuse of the law. Not only this, he one time returned from hunting, very hungry; and rather than exercising discipline for few minutes to prepare his own food, traded his birth right to his brother Jacob for bread and pottage of lentiles (peas and stew) (Gen 25:27-34).

I have a relation who is academically successful. The success ran very much into his head and he has regards for only a few, if at all he has for any. He couldn't handle his academic success and this attracts much hatred for him and often leads him into serious life troubles. I had on occassions wished that he had not been so outstanding.

A Christian can certainly covet any gift (I Cor 12:31), but I will strongly suggest to whoever desires the gift of material wealth to first pray for the wisdom to manage it in order that the wealth will not be a stumbling block to him from entering the Kingdom of God. He should also pray for courage and strength to pursue the wealth in a righteous manner, without compromising his faith and ethics of holy living.

Agur wrote

: "Two things have I required of Thee (God); deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies : give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me. Lest I be full, and deny you, and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the Name of my God in vain" (Proverbs 30:7-9).

Yes, it does. But those desires must be in line with God's word. King David said

"Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart". (Psalm 37:4). He will fulfil the desires of them that fear Him (Psalm 145:19).

"and He will give them (your needs) to you if you give Him first place in your life and live as He wants you to". (Matt 6:33).

All these three conditions converge at the same point. How? When one delights himself in the Lord, he will give Him (God), first place in his life, lives as He wants him to, fear Him and make the Kingdom of God and His righteousness his utmost concern. If these are the priorities of any Christian, it is expected that

the motives behind anything he (the Christian) desires will be sincere to his needs, not frivolous, not greedy, free of covetousness and selfishness but pure, righteous and holy.

Unfortunately, however, Christians, many a times are drawn by lust and love for excess of worldly care and are full of desires for accumulation of material possessions and no line of demarcation can be drawn between his pursuits of material possessions and that of any other worldly person. And this often leads the Christian to dip his hands in unrighteousness and ungodly activities, until he is drawn completely into it, thereby losing his Christian conscience and principles completely (ITim 6:9). This informs The Master of His concern and worry concerning riches, which in the process can lead the Christian to hell and the reason why He said

"No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matt 6:24).

In the Lamentation part 4 titled "Confusion of Prosperity Preaching", published on 2nd September, I had identified two heresies coming from the pulpit. Up to now, in 8 write up, I have been dealing with the heresy, which says that all Christians must be materially wealthy. I hope I have been able to correct those errors satisfactorily. The responses I have been having have been overwhelming and encouraging. Henceforth, I plan to address the second error which says that the measure of the wealth of the flock (worshippers) is determined by how largely they give to the Church. Yes, it is true but I plan to show it from the Scripture that the reward may not necessarily be drawn here on earth but in heaven.

Sam Aweda is President & Snr. Pastor, Jesus for the World Revival Mission