The Sowing Seed Scam

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the seed faith teaching, and rightly so. Many believe that seed faith is a legitimate way to butter up God in return for material benefits. But the Bible says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” – 1 John 4:1, (NIV). As Christians, we are called to examine all teachings in light of biblical truth and ensure that they align with the truth of God’s Word. This will help us avoid being led astray by false teachings and ensure that we are growing in our understanding of God’s truth.

False teachings in the church

Paul’s letters to the Galatians and Corinthians reveal his concern for the purity of the Gospel message and his efforts to combat false teachings. The rise of false teaching was an ox in the ditch in the early church. These false teachings often led to division and confusion among believers, and it was necessary for Paul to address them in order to maintain the integrity of the faith.

This week, we shall discuss this prevalent false teaching of seed faith or sowing a seed. The teaching of seed faith maintains that money given to God will return to the donor multiplied in terms of material blessings, good health, and breakthroughs of all types. The volume of this multiplication is proportionate to how much one gives and how much faith one has. Seed faith is taught as a way the believer can show faith and trust in God’s provision.

The seed faith gospel

This false teaching in its current state was birthed by the late Oral Roberts, who encouraged people to anticipate a miracle when they plant a “seed” out of a “need.”

In his book “Principles of the Seed”, Oral Roberts taught three key principles of seed faith: 1) God is the source—not man, not the bank, and not one’s family. 2) Plant seed in faith, for only what one sows can grow. 3) Expect a miracle from the Lord. In his book Abundant Life, he said, “Solve your money needs with money seeds.”

This seed faith fallacy is nothing more than a fool’s paradise. It is a manipulative tool and a turkey shoot used by unscrupulous preachers to pressure people into giving more money than they can afford so as to enrich themselves. The victims here are vulnerable individuals who are seeking a quick fix to their financial problems and often end up losing more money in the long run. Victims are manipulated into giving money while under the spell of a fictitious future life of luxury.

BBC World Africa recently posted an article titled “Paying for Prayer: I Went into Debt, Trying to Secure a Miracle,” in which they highlighted the following story:

Evarline Okello breaks down in tears as she tells me she is hundreds of dollars in debt, after paying a pastor to pray for her. She lives in a tiny shack in Kibera, a vast slum in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and can no longer provide for her four children. Ms Okello hasn’t earned anything for months, she tells me as we talk on the telephone. So when she heard about a pastor whose prayers could make life better, she wanted to see him. He asked her for $115 (£96; 15,000 Kenyan shillings). This is known as a “seed offering”: a financial contribution to a religious leader, with a specific outcome in mind.

Ms Okello borrowed the money from a friend, who took out a loan on her behalf. She had been told this pastor’s prayers were so powerful that she would see a return on her money within a week. But the miracle never came. In fact things got even worse, she says. The loan her friend took out has ballooned due to unpaid interest. She now owes more than $300, and has no idea how she’ll pay it back. Her friend has stopped talking to her, and she still has no job. “Things have become so difficult I have lost all hope,” she says.

It is important to always seek the truth and critically evaluate any teachings before subscribing to them. Blindly following false teachings can lead to negative consequences in one’s life.

Mammon, the god of seed faith gospel

Jesus portrayed the contrast between the true Gospel and the seed faith gospel in Matthew 6:24. In this verse, Jesus emphasizes that we cannot serve both God and money and that our focus should be on storing up treasures in heaven rather than on earth. This stands in direct opposition to the seed faith gospel, which often promotes the accumulation of wealth as a sign of God’s favour.

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” – Matthew 6:24 (NIV).

The Greek word translated as “money” is the word “Mammon.” The term Mammon is used in a negative context, suggesting that the pursuit of wealth and material possessions can lead to moral corruption and spiritual emptiness. Mammon represents the pursuit of wealth and material possessions at the expense of spiritual or moral values, a lifestyle that is encouraged by the seed faith gospel. The Mammon-led lifestyle is characterized by the pursuit of material wealth and possessions, while the teaching of the true Gospel emphasizes spiritual values such as love, compassion, and humility.

In Matthew 6:24, Jesus presented Mammon as a rival to the true God. While the true Gospel teaches that we receive benefits from God on the basis of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, the seed faith gospel teaches that we receive benefits from God on the basis of our works: how much money we can hand over to the preacher. In this seed faith gospel, God is irrelevant, grace is outdated, and man is the standard by which everything is measured.

A different gospel

The true Gospel focuses on righteousness and holiness as an end goal. Seed faith gospel focuses on material blessings and uses material wealth as a sign of God’s favour. The true Gospel points to the comforts of heaven, while the seed faith gospel points to temporal earthly comforts.

Like an evil twin to the true God, the seed faith Mammon god is susceptible to bribery and financial manipulation. He is only inspired to act when he witnesses the “sacrifice” of “seed money.” This seed faith god is a false deity that is focused on money, and those who worship him are not truly seeking spiritual enlightenment, but rather material gain.

A Mammon believer is not a true Christian

If you believe that you can buy favours from God using your money, I submit to you that you are not a Christian. Christianity is not about buying favours from God but rather having faith in the finished work of Christ and living a life that is pleasing to Him. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is the only payment that is acceptable before God. Our financial resources play no part in our interactions with God.

In Acts 8, an evangelist named Philip arrived in a city in Samaria and preached the Gospel to the Samaritans. One of his converts was a magician named Simon. “Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw” – Acts 8:13, (NIV). Simon was amazed to see that the apostles’ miracles outperformed his own magical powers. He became particularly enthused by their ability to impart God’s Spirit by the laying on of their hands. Just like seed-sowing churchgoers, he offered the apostles money (sowed seed) to acquire this same gift that the apostles had.

“When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”  – Acts 8:18-23 (NIV).

It is interesting to note that though Simon made a profession of faith and got baptized in verse 13, the apostle Peter negated his salvation on the basis of his adherence to the seed faith gospel. In the text above, the apostle lists the following characteristics of Simon that are true of all seed faith believers:

“May your money perish with you.”

In Scripture, the experience of perishing is only associated with unbelievers. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” – John 3:16 (NIV). A churchgoer who sows seed so as to obtain a benefit from God has ideally stepped away from the true Gospel and is now depending on his or her own works (monetary contribution) instead of the finished work of Christ on the cross. This makes him or her a ripe candidate for eternal damnation.

“You have no part or share in this ministry”

A churchgoer who sows seed has no part in the saving ministry of Jesus Christ. Salvation, including material benefits, cannot be earned through works or monetary contributions, but rather is a free gift of grace from Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul writes, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” – Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV). One’s involvement in the saving ministry of Jesus Christ is not established by financial contributions to a pastor in the form of seed money but rather by repentance and faith in Jesus.

“Your heart is not right before God”

A heart that focuses on material, earthly benefits, as is encouraged by the seed faith gospel, is corrupt and defiled. Without repentance, such a heart is cut off from the saving grace of Christ. The apostle John writes, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever” – 1 John 2:15–17 (NIV).

“Repent of this wickedness”

The seed faith gospel is a wickedness that should be repented of. The mere thought that a mortal man can bribe a holy God with perishable wealth is blasphemy. God cannot be bought with earthly possessions or riches as He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. His grace and mercy are freely given to those who seek Him. This seed faith gospel is trumped up by “certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago [who] have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord” -. Jude 1:4 (NIV).

“I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin”

The apostle Peter closes his parlance by painting the true condition of seed faith adherents. They are bitter people who are still captives of sin. They resent their present circumstances and associations. They have no faith in a sovereign God Who works all things for good (Romans 8:28) and resent His remedy of “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience” – Colossians 1:11 (NIV). They believe they are entitled to health, wealth, and happiness and refuse to consider God’s call to Christlikeness. Unwilling to repent of their unbelief, they look for an escape route that bypasses God’s remedy of endurance, faith, and patience. Their bitterness and captivity to sin place them in the grip of the seed faith gospel.

Misused Scriptures

As with all heresies, the seed faith gospel twists Scriptures out of their context to push their false narrative. I will discuss two such Scriptures that fall into this category.

2 Corinthians 9:6-10

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.” Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.”

This passage is part of Paul’s larger appeal to the Corinthians to honour their commitment to making a donation for the needy Jerusalem saints. He tells them that they will reap in proportion to what they have sown. But what exactly are they reaping? The last sentence in the text reads, “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.” The apostle is telling the Corinthian givers that they will have a harvest of righteousness and not money, as is falsely proclaimed by the seed faith gospel. The true Gospel holds that righteous works are the true riches.

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” – Ephesians 2:10 (NIV).

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life” – 1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NIV).

By donating generously to the needy believers in Jerusalem, the Corinthian believers were enriching themselves with good words and not money. Their acts of charity were a way to store treasure in heaven and demonstrate their love for their fellow believers.

It is also worth noting that the donation spoken of in 2 Corinthians 9:6–10 was directed to needy believers, not rich preachers. Indeed, all Scriptural giving that carries the promise of blessings is connected with the poor and needy, not wealthy pastors. “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done” – Proverbs 19:17 (NIV). For all who insist on sowing (giving money) to rich pastors so as to reap riches, the Bible says, “One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and ONE WHO GIVES GIFTS TO THE RICH—BOTH COME TO POVERTY” – Proverbs 22:16 (NIV). True blessings come from giving to those who are in need rather than to those who are already wealthy.

Genesis 8:22

After disembarking from the ark, Noah constructed an altar and sacrificed animals to God. In response, God promises never again to destroy all life on earth by sending a flood. He says, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

This verse is often misinterpreted to promote the idea of sowing money in order to reap financial blessings. In reality, its true meaning refers to the cycle of seasons and God’s promise to maintain the natural order of the earth. It is a biblical verse that talks about the cycle of seasons and how they will continue to occur. It has no relation to financial matters or investment advice.

Conclusion

The “seed faith” heresy is the false teaching that if you give money to a ministry, God will multiply it and bless you with more money. This is not a biblical teaching, and it can lead people into financial ruin. Avoid this false teaching by believing the true Gospel and being wise with your finances.

If you have financial problems, seek financial advice from financial experts. A financial expert can provide guidance on budgeting, debt management, and investment strategies. They can also help you develop a personalized financial plan to achieve your long-term goals. In today’s rapidly changing job market, it is important to continuously learn and develop new skills to stay competitive and increase your earning potential. By investing in yourself through education and training, you can open doors to new career paths and opportunities for financial growth. Relying solely on the concept of seed faith to solve all problems is not practical or realistic. It’s important to take action and make tangible efforts towards achieving one’s goals.