Chapter 8: Understanding God’s Word

Page 22

Pastor Rod Parsley’s instructions to his congregation and television

viewers were to “cross out the word accursed and change it to the word sanctified.” Here is what Rod Parsley says the Bible verse should look like.

“And you, by all means abstain from the accursed sanctified

things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed sanctified things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.” Joshua 6:18

The Second College Edition of The American Heritage Dictionary4 defines the word sanctified as follows:

Sanctify (fied) 1. To set apart for sacred use; consecrate. 2. To make holy; purify.

Take the time now to compare the definition of word accursed with the definition of word sanctified. Would you consider them of equal value? Absolutely not! It is bad enough that pastors would teach opposite of what

the Bible clearly states. However, for a pastor to change something that was abominable to God into something that is sanctified to God is absolutely evil and I cannot put it in any less than that terminology. Those who seek to alter the written word of God with their teachings are engaging in evil works

whether they are consciously aware of it or not. In the case of Rod Parsley, I believe he knew specifically what he was doing with this errant teaching.

Pastor Parsley’s instructions continued on as he stated: “Jericho was a

kind of first fruit. A kind of seed and you don’t mess with God’s seed.” Of course this dialogue now involved money. That is always the meaning of a “first fruits” message from a charismatic pastor. The implication is to “bring in the money to the church and anyone who doesn’t is in big trouble with

God.” This is a twisted tithe theology that perverts and contorts God’s Word for personal gain. The tithe mythology will be discussed in a later chapter.

Parsley has twisted a collective punishment of Israel when one person

“took of a cursed thing” into a message on giving money.