You didn't really think that the water of life came without a price tag, did you? What kind of business, could survive by giving away free stuff? Fair enough. I can see how you might think that the inviting "Living Waters" week was anything but a week strategically planned for the purpose of extracting your money. I can see how you would be led to believe that this week was sincerely for you, the viewer, to draw you closer to the one true source and meaning of life. Just read this excerpt from the Miracle Channel website:

            Living Waters will be a week of transformation for men and women, for husbands and wives,

            for the divorced and for the abused as we come to the well of living waters which never runs dry.

            Join us May 25-31 in another powerful partner week as we celebrate the living water that is

            available to all who are thirsty.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see any reference in that statement to indicate that their primary objective is to raise money for the station. Is the objective to raise money or is it to bless viewers? Or is it to raise money BY blessing viewers? Is the transformation that they mention, initiated by a call to sow a seed as a demonstration of your faith? Every time the Miracle Channel wants to "celebrate" something spiritual on a partnership week, it really means they just want your mammon and you can hold to any delusion you desire.  Seriously, I don't see anything in that statement to indicate that the living water they're celebrating is available to ALL who thirst and not just all the thirsty paying partners/clientele of TMC. Such deception. In the biblical story, Jesus came to the woman at the well directly, not through some toll-collecting middleman, broadcasting to all around what the Lord had for her! It cost her nothing but her pride for a transforming, life changing encounter with Christ.

So, once more, the Miracle Channel needs your money. You need a blessing or at least a spiritual pep rally to revive your “inner man.” Quid pro quo. The televangelist business is truly an amazing enterprise because it makes gullible donors think they're actually getting a good deal! Take people's money in the name of Jesus one prayer at a time while leading them to believe they are the winners in the end…. Secular charities - eat your heart out! YOU have to play by rules named ethics! You can't get a donation by promising the public something intangible that you can't deliver. And, you certainly can't claim "FREEDOM OF RELIGION!" even if you could.

Here's how this weeks going to go. With guest James Goll, the seer, you're all going to get some nice ear-tickling words from god on how he loves you and wants you healthy and wealthy. You're going to hear how God's time of favour has come, how this is a new season of miracles and wonders. Don't be surprised if he does the funky chicken occasionally; as the spirit moves of course. Just remember to take the words of this prophet with a huge grain of salt, as confirmed by TMC's fundraising disclosure, which states, "Individual results may vary". (What it should state is "For entertainment purposes only.") They have to provide that disclosure because they know that these prophets seldom, if ever, are accurate with the particulars that really matter in a person’s life. After all, in Lakeland, with such an overwhelming saturation of the spirit, such a massive move of god, Goll and his cohorts couldn't use his "seeing" gifts to perceive or discern what was happening with Todd Bentley's personal life, let alone the healing/resurrection scams that added further scandal and controversy for an already sceptical world.

Guests, Russ and Mave Moyer, like Goll, are part of Peter Wagner's Super Apostles Club, the group that wants to take over the world one country at a time.  The Moyer's are also of the pro-tithing, financial prosperity club, which should come as no surprise as Mr. Moyer formerly ran a successful business for many years. (Ministry is like a magnet for businessmen who find God) He also mentions in his bio that one of his mentors is Ruth Heflin, a pioneer of "gold dust" fame, gaining notoriety for delivering a message from Jesus to Benny Hinn about Jesus’ coming appearance on stage with Hinn, and sadly in the end, proving to be a delusional false prophetess. To have Ruth Heflin as one’s mentor is telling.

The Moyers are big defenders of tithing (the good ol' staple revenue source for pastor's wages) and state that if we refuse to acknowledge tithing as a principle of God, then we cannot claim the promises within the Old Testament either. In other words, obey the laws of the O.T. and receive the blessings of the OT. They go on to say, that we must take the bible as a whole and equally observe God's laws and statutes: "if we choose not to accept tithing because it’s O.T. we can’t claim anything else in O.T. 

    * Blessings (Abrahamic promise/blessing)

    * Head and not the tail

    * Deutoronomy [sic] 8:18 God gives you the power to gain wealth

    * Prosper/prosperity

    * Prayer of Jabez"

Alrighty then. That actually makes sense. If we want to claim the blessings, we have to also obey the laws and statutes of God such as the tithe. In other words, we can't pick and choose which laws and statutes we want to obey from the Bible, including the Old Testament, just as we can't pick and choose which blessings belong to us - we either apply it all or apply none. Using Russ Moyer's own Eagle Worldwide Ministry logic then, we must also put into practice the following since in his website's own wording, "God is the same yesterday, today and forever - and so are His laws and statutes." And I like this one - "The only thing that really changed was the sacrificial system of animal sacrifices." I guess every other statute of the O.T. still stands.

            * Put to death rebellious children (Ex 21:17, Lev 20:9)

            * Put to death witches (Ex 22:18) (This IS taken literally in many parts of Africa, thanks to the wacky gospel of prosperity that has                 infected the continent in the last decade. But that's another story.)

              * Put to death anyone that has sex with animals (Ex 22:19)       

            * Put to death anyone who sacrifices to another god (Ex 22:20) (That would 

               include approximately the other 4 billion people in the world.)

            * Put to death anyone who does not keep the Sabbath (Ex 31:14,15, Ex 35:2, Num 15:32-36)

            * It’s okay to sell your daughter to a man. (Ex 21:7)

I could go on an on. Heck, I only touched on a few points in ONE book of the O.T.! Every one of these are God spoken, God instructed, and God mandated statutes.  And there's so many more, like male circumcision. How come the church doesn't mandate THAT one today???  In their own words, "To do so would make us hypocrites." That's right. They said it. Hypocrites! Cherry picking bible verses to suit their agenda makes them hypocrites. And that also means that you can't claim the blessings either, UNLESS you play by ALL the rules of conduct the OT outlines for God's people, which at the time, happened to be Israel, not you dear Christian. 

If that's not bad enough, the Moyer's website goes on to advocate giving above the tithe,Western church-ianity style, twisting the principles of giving as instructed in the New Testament. The giving mentioned in first and second Corinthians was strictly focused on giving aid to the impoverished saints in Jerusalem. The collection was not - I repeat, not, taken to keep Paul financially able to keep preaching the Gospel and plant churches. He was not asking for money to keep Corporate Christianity alive. If you really believe that you will reap according to what you've sown, then sow to the poor, underprivileged or disadvantaged of society who need it and may actually experience in a real way,  the "love your neighbor" principle Christianity is supposed to have. (Though beware, the poor are not usually able to issue a receipt for tax purposes.)

Though the global economic recession has left many Canadians feeling the pinch, I just know that the Miracle Channel's next fundraiser is going to call on even those hardest hit financially, to give to the station out of their lack in return for God's blessings. But according to the New Testament model, shouldn't it be the other way around - shouldn't the church be “giving out” to relieve the suffering of those in need during a hard time, rather than asking those in need to give to them? The Miracle Channel is part of the church, or at least claims to be. While saints throughout the country go without, ministries whose aim it is to enlarge themselves, carry on business as usual, focused primarily on their own capital growth - with the advantage of not having to pay taxes on their growth. Taxes that could be going to help alleviate the pressure on low-income families during this tough economic time. This is so messed up.   

As compensated guests on Living Waters partner week, Eagle World Wide is just like every other business ministry telling people to give to their or other similar organization because God will prosper them, but they don't practice what they preach. Under their finances link, they quote, "We, as children of God need not beg." Why, then, doesn't Eagle World Wide and the Miracle Channel Association for that matter, stop the beg-athons, just give all their ministry's assets away to another kingdom ministry, and watch while God supernaturally prospers them under an "open heaven" according to the theology that they preach to everyone else?

              Answer: Because deep down, they know the formula doesn't really work.