A pimp is “a person . . . who solicits customers for a prostitute or a brothel, usually in return for a share of the earnings”. Dictionary.com. A prostitute, in addition to being defined as someone who has sex for money, is defined as “a person who willingly uses his or her talent or ability in a base and unworthy way, usually for money”. Dictionary.com. The word of the Lord came to me today and He said: “My house is full of pimps and prostitutes! My glory has been exchanged for strange fire and my people have left their first love”.
Back in the day we called them “jackleg” preachers, unscrupulous pulpiteers who operated outside of generally accepted Biblical standards of practice for those who called themselves clergy. See Dictionary.com. They usually came dressed in slick suits, fur coats, and drove Cadillacs. Today they wear business suits, run mega-church corporations and drive European! There’s nothing wrong with prosperity and wealth; God is concerned about how you get it.
God says: “My pulpits are full of those who prostitute the sheep. They seduce my people with flattering words, selling them cheap grace and empty promises of ‘favor’ I will not give. They adorn themselves with religious garb to hide the fact that they have no anointing from me and are self-sent. I did not send them! They are wolves in sheep’s clothes and I am against them. As I declared to Ezekiel, ‘I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves’. Ezekiel 34:10 (NIV). I am against the shepherd who plunders the sheep, who feeds himself at the expense of my house. If they don’t repent, I will strike the shepherds of the land who have exploited my house and brought shame to my name.”
Today’s “pulpit pimps” carry the same spirit the prophet Ezekiel spoke against years ago. These are vile men and women who may have started out right, but got off track, and exchanged the authentic call of God for the pursuit of wealth at the expense of God’s people. They have exchanged a true anointing birthed in prayer and true holiness for the “strange fire” of celebrity and fame. They, like true pimps, allow God’s people to be exploited by those who prostitute their gifts in the church. They open their doors to anyone who can draw a crowd in exchange for a “share of the earnings”. Today, many churches are nothing more than high-class brothels, spiritual whorehouses, run by pimps who exploit their gifts, and the gifts of others, for a price. God is against them!
Pimps and prostitutes dress to get attention, to lure and seduce the vulnerable and unwitting “customer”. “So it is in my church”, says the Lord. “Only in the church they don’t wear fake furs and cheap jewelry, they wear the fake anointing of celebrity and cheap grace. And, when the fake anointing of celebrity doesn’t work, or begins to fade, they draw on others who are running the same game. ‘Look at who I know, look at who I hang with’, they brag! ‘Come follow me and I will give you all the wealth and splendor of the world’. Satan brought this temptation to Jesus (Luke 4:6) and he is now bringing it to my sheep in my house! They are gathering my sheep under an anointing that is not mine. They are seducing my holy ones with lust and the promise of fame and fortune, leaving them to become food for every wild beast of the field. My house has become a den of robbers! I am against them!”, says the Lord.
Take away the celebrity, and who they claim to know, and all that’s left are thieving liars trying to make a name for themselves on the backs of unwitting, hard-working people. These pimps prey on the financially vulnerable and often not well-educated: folks who are sometimes so desperate to improve their situation, or move their ministry forward, that they are willing to believe anything and join the “brothel”. The Lord said in Ezekiel 34:4 (NIV) that these pimps “have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. [They] have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost”. Have you ever wondered why these so-called preachers rarely have altar-calls? They couldn’t care less whether people get saved or not, whether they go to heaven or hell. All they care about is whether they pony up a tithe or an offering on the way to wherever they are going! Healing the sick, delivering the bound and reaching the lost is a secondary consideration at best.
Hear the word of the Lord: “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. . . . Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.” 2 Peter 2:1-3 (NIV) (emphasis added). The King James version says: “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you“. 2 Peter 2:3 (emphasis added). God’s judgment of those who sit in American pulpits is no longer sleeping! “For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household”. 1 Peter 4:17 (NIV). “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient [], not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (NIV).
The Lord says: “Repent now, preacher! Your ways are ‘bring[ing] the way of truth into disrepute’. No longer will I tolerate your wickedness. Your ways have brought judgment, condemnation and destruction to your door. Do not test me in this. My delay in judgment is for your repentance. Take advantage of it. And for the sheep of your house I say, ‘come out of the house of ill repute’. Do not dance in its isles or sing in its pulpits lest you defile your priestly garments and suffer loss. In an instant my judgment upon these houses will come like a thief. In judging the sin of these houses I will uproot, tear down, destroy, and overthrow, so that I may build and plant. See Jeremiah 1:10 (NIV). And to my holy prophets, strike with the sword of my mouth! I am bringing a sword against my own house. Blow the trumpet and warn the people, ‘then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head’. Ezekiel 33:4 (NIV). Do not lead my people astray, saying, ‘peace’, when there is no peace. ‘[W]hen a flimsy wall is built, [don't] cover it with whitewash, [] tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down and violent winds will burst forth. When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, where is the whitewash you covered it with?’. Ezekiel 13:10-12 (NIV). No more whitewashing the sins of those in pulpits! Strike with the sword of my mouth! Strike! Strike! The time is now! Strike!
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Pulpit Pimps!
by Apostle Phil
Back in the day we called them “jackleg” preachers, unscrupulous pulpiteers who operated outside of generally accepted Biblical standards of practice for those who called themselves clergy. See Dictionary.com. They usually came dressed in slick suits, fur coats, and drove Cadillacs. Today they wear business suits, run mega-church corporations and drive European! There’s nothing wrong with prosperity and wealth; God is concerned about how you get it.
God says: “My pulpits are full of those who prostitute the sheep. They seduce my people with flattering words, selling them cheap grace and empty promises of ‘favor’ I will not give. They adorn themselves with religious garb to hide the fact that they have no anointing from me and are self-sent. I did not send them! They are wolves in sheep’s clothes and I am against them. As I declared to Ezekiel, ‘I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves’. Ezekiel 34:10 (NIV). I am against the shepherd who plunders the sheep, who feeds himself at the expense of my house. If they don’t repent, I will strike the shepherds of the land who have exploited my house and brought shame to my name.”
Today’s “pulpit pimps” carry the same spirit the prophet Ezekiel spoke against years ago. These are vile men and women who may have started out right, but got off track, and exchanged the authentic call of God for the pursuit of wealth at the expense of God’s people. They have exchanged a true anointing birthed in prayer and true holiness for the “strange fire” of celebrity and fame. They, like true pimps, allow God’s people to be exploited by those who prostitute their gifts in the church. They open their doors to anyone who can draw a crowd in exchange for a “share of the earnings”. Today, many churches are nothing more than high-class brothels, spiritual whorehouses, run by pimps who exploit their gifts, and the gifts of others, for a price. God is against them!
Pimps and prostitutes dress to get attention, to lure and seduce the vulnerable and unwitting “customer”. “So it is in my church”, says the Lord. “Only in the church they don’t wear fake furs and cheap jewelry, they wear the fake anointing of celebrity and cheap grace. And, when the fake anointing of celebrity doesn’t work, or begins to fade, they draw on others who are running the same game. ‘Look at who I know, look at who I hang with’, they brag! ‘Come follow me and I will give you all the wealth and splendor of the world’. Satan brought this temptation to Jesus (Luke 4:6) and he is now bringing it to my sheep in my house! They are gathering my sheep under an anointing that is not mine. They are seducing my holy ones with lust and the promise of fame and fortune, leaving them to become food for every wild beast of the field. My house has become a den of robbers! I am against them!”, says the Lord.
Take away the celebrity, and who they claim to know, and all that’s left are thieving liars trying to make a name for themselves on the backs of unwitting, hard-working people. These pimps prey on the financially vulnerable and often not well-educated: folks who are sometimes so desperate to improve their situation, or move their ministry forward, that they are willing to believe anything and join the “brothel”. The Lord said in Ezekiel 34:4 (NIV) that these pimps “have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. [They] have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost”. Have you ever wondered why these so-called preachers rarely have altar-calls? They couldn’t care less whether people get saved or not, whether they go to heaven or hell. All they care about is whether they pony up a tithe or an offering on the way to wherever they are going! Healing the sick, delivering the bound and reaching the lost is a secondary consideration at best.
Hear the word of the Lord: “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. . . . Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.” 2 Peter 2:1-3 (NIV) (emphasis added). The King James version says: “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you“. 2 Peter 2:3 (emphasis added). God’s judgment of those who sit in American pulpits is no longer sleeping! “For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household”. 1 Peter 4:17 (NIV). “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient [], not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (NIV).
The Lord says: “Repent now, preacher! Your ways are ‘bring[ing] the way of truth into disrepute’. No longer will I tolerate your wickedness. Your ways have brought judgment, condemnation and destruction to your door. Do not test me in this. My delay in judgment is for your repentance. Take advantage of it. And for the sheep of your house I say, ‘come out of the house of ill repute’. Do not dance in its isles or sing in its pulpits lest you defile your priestly garments and suffer loss. In an instant my judgment upon these houses will come like a thief. In judging the sin of these houses I will uproot, tear down, destroy, and overthrow, so that I may build and plant. See Jeremiah 1:10 (NIV). And to my holy prophets, strike with the sword of my mouth! I am bringing a sword against my own house. Blow the trumpet and warn the people, ‘then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head’. Ezekiel 33:4 (NIV). Do not lead my people astray, saying, ‘peace’, when there is no peace. ‘[W]hen a flimsy wall is built, [don't] cover it with whitewash, [] tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down and violent winds will burst forth. When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, where is the whitewash you covered it with?’. Ezekiel 13:10-12 (NIV). No more whitewashing the sins of those in pulpits! Strike with the sword of my mouth! Strike! Strike! The time is now! Strike!
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