by: Rondy Long aka - The Preacher

I was recently talking to a guy about a well known "Christian" rock group. I had mentioned that I thought they had compromised by performing at the " Ozzfest" Which is sponsored by a well known secular Rock artist which promotes satanism and occultic practices. This guy begins to vehemently disagree with me by asking, "Wouldn't you rather perform for a crowd of sinners than a crowd of christians?" I thought sure I would rather reach sinners than preach to saints. He then asked me " and if they were willing to pay you $1 million to do so wouldn't you take it?" I thought sure I would want to take it and I could do more work for the kingdom. "He said you know the bible teaches "the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous." He further stated, " they (the Ozzfest) don't care about Jesus, they just wanted the "Christian" Band there to make them money...they were right in performing because this was an "opportunity" to do ministry." Hmmm, now doesn't this sound appealing? I began to think this must be the thinking of so many of the Christian artist; no wonder they join with secular artist---they just want a greater opportunity to minister to more people--right? I believe the Lord pointed out three things wrong with this type of philosophy:

1. Jesus said that the world would hate the true Christian! John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

The world's system hates the true Christian. If I was a Christian artist, the day that I was nominated for a Grammy would be the saddest day of my life:

Why? Because that would mean that the same people who voted "Get UR Freak On" Rap song of the year also loved my music. If I win a grammy this means that world embraced my music and my message.

Listen to what Jesus says about being popular with men:

Luke 6:26
Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their
fathers to the false prophets.

I am not saying that the world will never say anything good about the people of God, but I am saying when given a choice, the unregenerate world, as a whole, will not choose true Christianity over Carnality. Individuals may choose Christ but the moment they do; they are no longer considered a part of this world's system, but become Christians. Case and point: Mase, one of P. Diddy's former Bad Boys, was truly saved a few years ago. Before choosing Christ, Mase was in all the major magazines; Source, Vibe, Jet, etc. But now that he is saved it seems as if he's dropped off the planet: No more interviews, no more pictures, no more posters in teen magazines, nothing. Why, because of what Christ said, the world will hate you for my very name sake.

2.Satan's Kingdom is not divided against itself! Satan will never knowingly
do anything that will hurt his kingdom! Jesus says so:

Matthew 12:26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? So whenever it appears that the Satan's kingdom (the world) wants the do something in favor of the Christian, it is always with a hidden agenda. Do you remember when Satan offers the kingdoms of the world to Jesus?

Now lets analyze this: It looks as if Satan is on Jesus' side doesn't it? It looks as if Satan wants to help Jesus out. Doesn't Jesus want to reach the whole world? Wouldn't it be easy for Jesus to sign a deal with Satan and have access to the whole world without any opposition. Imagine a Christian artist who gets a call from a top executive of Warner Bros. Records and the executive tells the artist that their album has been chosen to aired on all the secular station and their videos to be played on BET and MTV. They will have more worldwide exposure than they ever dreamed. All they would have to do is sign the contract. Nothing looks wrong with that. Nothing looks wrong with Jesus accepting the kingdoms of this world from Satan. All Jesus would have to do is fall down and worship one time. He wouldn't have to stop his ministry, or denounce God publicly, or promise not to heal people. Just bow down one time to Satan? Jesus was God in the flesh so he could bow down to whomever He wanted to so why doesn't he? Because He would have been obeying Satan and whoever you obey, thats who servant you become:

Romans 6:16Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

This is very important! When I sign a covenant with the devil, I become his servant, no matter how righteous the act may seem. Satan wouldn't have minded Jesus reaching the world just as long as he could have controlled Him.

3. The Wealth of the Wicked is laid for the righteous, but only as a resultof God's plan not man's plan. See God tranfers the wealth of the sinners into the hand of the righteous through his power and control only. Do you remember when the children of Israel left Egypt?

Exodus 12:35-36And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:

[36] And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.

The Egyptians gave them valuables against their own will. God gave the Israelites favor to recieve from them. Notice they didn't recieve because they were obeying the Egyptians, but rather the contrary, "according to the word of Moses." They obeyed God, so God gets the Credit. THEY DID NOT HAVE TO COMPROMISE TO RECEIVE!!! The term "spoiled the Egyptians" means that they took or snatched away the wealth. In other words they gave without getting anything in return; their was nothing in it for the Egyptians. They only did it because God planned it that way --so God gets the credit. I believe that God is doing this in the Last Days!!! He is tranferring the wealth so that His work will be done. But not through compromise!! You better know you are hearing from God when you do receive favor from ungodly sources or you will wind up in a mess. How do I know I am hearing from God? Because God's-will always produces fruit for the kingdom. Most of these so called " God-ordained" mergers with the world have not produced more saved souls or godly saints but on the contrary, worldly saints and extremely wicked sinners. Another person in the Bible refuses to recieve anything from sinners so that God could get the full Credit.

Listen to what Abram says to the king of Sodom Genesis 14:23 that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, 'I made Abram rich.' from the beginning? Can the secular music industry say that they have made certain Christian artists rich? If so, then who gets the Credit, the glory, and the honor? Not God but Satan -- and is all he ever really wanted!