Pastors for Profit Are Teaching the Heretical Doctrine of Balaam

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As I was doing some Bible reading today - I felt that I should write about the very dangerous doctrine of Balaam. The influence of Balaam goes beyond Numbers 22-24 which talk about the prophet for profit. He knew that Israel was God's chosen nation yet he chose to go against it for the sake of money. Balak means devastator and Balaam means not of the people. As a soothsayer and an unsaved man - it's obvious that he would care more about money than God.

The New Testament has these to say about Balaam:
2 Peter 2:15 
Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Bosor (Beor) who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 
Jude 1:11 
Woe unto them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam and perished in the gainsaying of Core (Korah).  
Revelation 2:14 
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac (Balak) to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication. 

The very truth of Balaam is that he taught people to participate in unequal yokes and to commit sexual immorality. What is so sad is that God showed Balaam the truth. Balaam even prophesied the arrival of the Messiah. Yet God also warns that there are times that God allows false prophets to predict the right thing! Here's what he had warned the people of Israel.
Deuteronomy 13:1-3 
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, [2] And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; [3] Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Yes, Balaam's prophecy concerning the Messiah came to pass. Then again, so did Caiaphas' prophecy that Jesus will die for the nation. However, just because these prophecies came true didn't make them real prophets of God. A real prophet of God would never lead a nation astray. What was really interesting to know was that Numbers 26 actually involved Balaam as revealed in Numbers 31:8-16.
And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. [9] And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods. [10] And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire. [11] And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts. [12] And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho. [13] And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. [14] And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. [15] And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? [16] Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.

Sadly, we have pastors today who are following the very way of Balaam. They are pastors by profession but these men aren't even saved. It made me think about how the way of Balaam is really taught in many ways. You have pastors with unholy alliances that they should have not been done. Some pastors are involved with religious ecumenism with the Vatican - hence it already creates fellowship with idolatry. Other pastors also teach the dangerous doctrine of Antinomianism which can be taught that anybody can be saved and still remain the same or that salvation is indeed a license to sin. Such teachings are indeed dangerous as they try to use God's grace as a license to sin.

These pastors don't care about the Gospel because they aren't saved. They only care about profit. Can you consider the situation between a God-ordained pastor and a quack pastor. It had me thinking about the situation where a God-ordained pastor is bound to get so little support in contrast to a quack pastor. In fact, Paul already warned Timothy about it.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; [4] And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. 

Besides, you can go back to the Book of Jeremiah and think about the whole miserable existence of the man of God. Who had more followers? Jeremiah who spoke the unpleasant truth or the false prophets of his day? Jeremiah 5:31 even displays the sad truth that people just love having false prophets around. The true prophets of God were always at the risk of martyrdom. Some even say Isaiah was tortured by being sawed in half. Jezebel put away the prophets of God for the prophets of Baal. Ahab would later throw Miciaiah into jail for telling the unpleasant truth. The same likewise would be that the pastors who preach the doctrine of Balaam are bound to get more respect with the world than the pastors who preach the very message from the Bible. 

Just think how did Balaam create the stumblingblock? He used beautiful Midianite women to get the Israelites to sin. Today's pastors who adhere to his doctrine will always use whatever means just to get the money they want. There's even a saying that religion makes good profit. Yes, religion makes good profit but that is if you are the type who doesn't endure sound doctrine. Want to be a pastor who doesn't get hated? Don't preach the truth and preach a sugar-coated gospel. Oh, you better make sure that you're not saved to. Being a Christian means that you can't love all these false doctrines. Not to mention then you must make sure you con people out of their money too.

This is also the prosperity gospel. To make a quick buck then you've got pastors who teach the stupidity of give your money and God will return it to you a hundredfold. They misquote Malachi 3:10-11 to make a quick buck. What was the purpose of the tithes? To provide food for the storehouse and the ministry of the LORD. If a church today asks for tithes and offerings - the money must be used to support the LORD's work such as missions and paying bills to keep the fellowship going on or to help others in need. A faithful tither should not expect to become a billionaire and live life always in ease and abundance. In fact, Jesus warned in Matthew 16:19-21 that we must not lay up treasures on Earth or that is don't hoard temporal wealth. If God promises you a blessing that there's no room enough to receive it then these are mostly eternal rewards - not temporal rewards.

The reality is also that the prosperity gospel is all about enriching the pastor and not you. How can that be? It's simple. A pastor who wants to tell people to invest by giving them money so God will bless them financially is like a Ponzi scam. Can you imagine how some banks offer promises that are too good to be true like getting high interest in such a short amount of time? What happens is that when these banks get the money then they close their offices and make a quick run for it. It's the same with prosperity pastors - when they get the money then they may easily make a quick run of it. The next thing you know this evil pastor has so much filthy lucre compared to the pastor who is truly serving God. That too is the doctrine of Balaam and it's all about enriching the pocket of the fake pastor. In the end, it's all about being a prophet for profit!

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