Soul biz: Is your church a soul business too?

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Soul biz: Is your church a soul business too?

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people” (Matthew 4:19 NIV).

Soul biz simply means soul business. By "soul business" I mean to say the operation of a profiteering organisation using one's spiritual gifts and divine power to win lost souls to Christ. This is different from soul winning. The goal of soul winning is to win the lost to Christ, train them for Christ and send them out to win others to Christ. Soul winning and discipleship are inseparable. 

Whereas some are called by God and given divine power to win lost souls to Christ, to nurture them spiritually and physically, and to make them relevant to God and society, others purchase "spiritual power" to win lost souls to Christ and make money out of them. When soul winning is motivated by gain, it tends to be soul business.

Soul biz is not a new thing in our day. Remember Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8? He offered Apostle Peter money in exchange for spiritual gifts and divine power to assume the apostolic office. Soul biz goes hand in hand with simony - the buying or selling of spiritual or sacred things such as ecclesiastical offices, pardons or consecrated objects. 

In the traditional Ghanaian society, simony is very common. Both educated and uneducated people buy 'spiritual powers' with huge sums of money to operate a business that offers spiritual solution to seekers in the name of a deity. They offer such spiritual services as "for boys", "for girls", travelling favour, sales and marketing favour, favour to win election, favour to win a government office, job position or contract. They also sell favour to locate a wealthy spouse, power to kill a rival or competitor of any sort, charm to attract the attention of another person's spouse and favour to hit a jackpot. All of these "favours" are very expensive to buy. Hence simony is a very lucrative business. 

Besides the 'spiritual powers', simonists use confidence trickery and fraudulent means to extort money from seekers. Simonists are good communicators, clever and smart in their operations. The goal of simonists is to make much money, not necessarily to solve problems. They are selfish and do not care about their seekers' well-being but only theirs. When they bestow kindness or charity, it is to sway people's attention from their evil deeds. Simonists today are notorious for money laundering among other crimes. 

Many simonists have branded their organisation as "church". They are in to deceive the poor and vulnerable Christians. They live a lavish lifestyle at the expense of the needy. 

Upon the advent of the charismatic church and the outburst of the prosperity gospel of North American charismatic churches, many genuine Christian leaders in Africa broke up with orthodoxy to operate independent churches. There's nothing wrong with starting an independent church per the leading of the Lord, but where the church that you've started operates as though it were a sole proprietorship, then beware, you might be heading towards soul business or simony. 

Biblical soul winning was meant to be a corporate, not for profit activity operated under the Lordship (Ownership) of the Holy Spirit. That is to say, the Holy Spirit is the Lord (Owner) of the harvest. He appoints an individual to lead a team for the harvest whilst he heads operations. Soul winning is the Father's corporation. The Holy Spirit owns it. He appoints stewards (ministers) to manage the harvest, not to covet ownership of the corporation. 

What do we see today? Stewards have exalted themselves as sole proprietors of the harvest. Whereas you say, "So-so and so church is mine. I founded it", you make yourself a covetous steward, for no faithful steward will ascribe to himself or herself the honour of being lord (owner) of the harvest. Do you own a church? I'm sorry, the Holy Spirit is the Lord of the harvest, hence the Owner of the church. You are but a steward of the church. 

What do we see today? Shepherds who have been called by God to take care of his flock are controlling the flock as though they were their personal property which they got through hard work.

Simonists have seeped into the church to make profit out of the poor and vulnerable Christians. Branding themselves as experts in offering spiritual solution to social problems, these simonists are not ashamed to advertise their spiritual services on television, radio and social media handles. They are in for profit and not for the well-being of the souls whom they've won to Christ. 

Church! Let's rise up to advance the truth! Who is the truth? Jesus! And what is truth? His word! His word says that we shall know them by their fruit! Simony is a fruit of the flesh!

The church is God's family. The souls belong to him. He purchased them with his precious blood. He won them to himself through the preaching of the gospel. He calls out people to preach and to win the lost. But these simonists, in their quest to amass wealth, exalt themselves as preachers, not having been genuinely called by God. Their fruit gives them out and confirms their disapproval. 

To conclude today's message, I want to ask you, reader, Is your church also into the buying or selling of anointed oil, anointed water, anointed beverages, anointed cosmetic products, anointed costumes, anointed handkerchiefs or anointed mantles? Behold simony!

#SecretOfTheAge

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