Wealth
16 Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
Luke 12:13-21 (NRSV)
STORY
Kenneth Copeland is a pastor, televangelist, and lecturer who preaches and teaches what has become known, theologically, as the prosperity gospel. In 1974 he wrote a book titled Laws of Prosperity. In that book he referenced the scriptural passage Mark 4:20, which reads, “And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” This is one of the passages that is most often quoted by preachers who espouse the prosperity gospel. In his book Copeland interpreted the scriptural passage as it relates to an individual’s personal financial wealth, writing, “Do you want a hundredfold return on your money? Give and let God multiply it back to you. No bank in the world offers this kind of return! Praise the Lord!” This is a self-interest interpretation of the scriptures, as the passage refers to evangelism, not stewardship.
Copeland is one of the richest pastors in the world, with a net worth of $760 million. An income from the financial contributions of his 1.6 million followers. This has allowed Copeland to place Eagle Mountain International Church and Kenneth Copeland Ministries (KCM) on 33 acres of land in Texas. The complex of buildings has a television production studio and audio recording facilities, warehouses and a distribution facility. The site also has the Kenneth Copeland Airport. The airport is needed because KCM owns five airplanes. In November 2022, Copeland purchased a jet, paying for it in cash, from filmmaker Tyler Perry. Then the televangelist asked his followers to contribute $2.5 million for upgrades to the recently purchased jet. The reason, according to Copeland, for his fleet of five airplanes, “If I flew commercial, I’d have to stop 65% of what I am doing.”
Copeland, in his sermons and lectures, assures his followers that their financial contributions to KCM will be returned to the contributors “a hundredfold.” Copeland is more than implying this, he is declaring that contributors to KCM will also experience a financial blessing of greater personal wealth. In his lectures Copeland declares that “God does not glory from your poverty.” He even taught that individuals who have lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic should continue to tithe to KCM.
With this promise, with this assurance, people have contributed very generously to Kenneth Copeland’s enterprises.
DEVOTION
With five airplanes and a request for several million dollars for improvements for the most recently purchased jet, one would have to conclude that Kenneth Copeland will never be able to build enough barns to hoard all of his possessions. It is interesting, in the parable that we read this morning, “The Rich Fool,” the aggressive pronouns of “I,” Me,” and “Mine,” are used more often in this parable than any other parable that Jesus taught. Copeland is certainly an “I,” Me,” and “Mine,” individual.
When it comes to your money and personal possessions, how often do the words “I,” Me,” and “Mine,” control you. Please, reevaluate the possessions that are stored in your barns. No one expects you to live in a box under a bridge because having nice things is acceptable; though, the question becomes is your barn already sufficiently large enough?
I have often wondered about millionaires and billionaires and the distribution of their wealth.
Take for example Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. In July 2018 he was declared the richest man in modern history with a net worth of 150 billion dollars. I would surmise that Bezos has more money than he knows what to do with. With that in mind, Bezos built a mega yacht, named Koru, that cost 500 million dollars to construct. The yacht, at 417 feet long, is a huge barn. How many empty barns could float in the place of Koru. Bezos did sign the billionaire’s pledge to give away all of his money before he died; though, as he is waiting to give it all away and as the Koru circumvents the globe, it will pass countries where thousands and thousands of children are starving to death.
Reflect on this – just how big does your barn need to be?