The best lies come with a bit of truth.
In the Genesis 1 story of Adam and Eve, the devil disguised himself as a serpent and convinced the woman to do the one thing the pair were told not to do.
Genesis 2: 15-17 says, “…The Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.'"
In Genesis 3, we see how a slight twist makes a big difference. The serpent asked Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
“We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die," she answered.
“You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to Eve. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Like Eve, a lot of people today are listening to some real snakes. And like the serpent in the garden, snakes today use some truth to make their lies sound true.
The Prosperity Gospel is a name for the message these snake oil salesmen push on gullible, well-meaning people. They misinterpret and over-extrapolate a small number of scriptures to convince people to give them way too much money for all the wrong reasons.
Creflo Dollar, whom you've probably seen on TV, isn’t alone in his taste for the finer things paid for by parishioners — who can barely afford anything — but he is among the worst.
Dollar recently said that God informed him that a fleet of Rolls-Royces and a private jet weren’t sufficient to preach the gospel. He needed a new $65 million jet. He is currently waiting for his congregants to find a way to make his faith become a reality.
The more these hucksters mislead and misappropriate money from people who mistakenly place their faith in them, the fewer people find true faith in God, who needs nothing from us.
I love the metaphor of God as our father. As a father, I love my sons. When they do nice things for me and with me, I truly appreciate it and I feel the love they are showing me.
But I don’t need anything from them. At 11 and 7 years old, anything my children have is because I gave it to them in the first place.
So why do people forget the “God as a father” metaphor and choose to believe he is a genie in a bottle? If you give some megachurch preacher a few bucks, somehow this God who created the entire universe owes you money?
God is all you need — unless you need a $65 million jet. Then you need a lot of gullible people to send in cash.
Otherwise, find a local church and discover what God has to offer. It's worth so much more than money can buy.
Kent Bush, publisher of Shawnee (Oklahoma) News-Star, is a nationally syndicated columnist. You can reach him at kent.bush@news-star.com.
What's your view? Write a letter to the editor or tweet @cnbeditor on local issues that you are passionate about to news@crestviewbulletin.com.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: BUSH: Snakes are still fooling people