Making Merchandise of You

By Daniel Roberts Ph.D

Why are we short on honest holy men in the ministries in this generation?

Is it the will of God for the believers in Christ to seek after riches?

The truth is, God wants us to be happy. He said to Moses Happy are thou, O Israel who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord the shield of thy help and who is the sword of thy Excellency! And thy enemies are found to be liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places Deuteronomy: 33:29 (KJV). God is the source of our happiness.

We have all heard the testimonies of miraculous financial blessing. Can we trust them? Why are few financially delivered and many are not? Why are not all Christians rich?

I humbly recommend this book to pastors and ministers and all Christian workers to find peace and joy and contentment as they deal with financial stewardship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490821566

Daniel Roberts Ph.D

Daniel Roberts is a retired New York City high school teacher, teaching mathematics to pregnant teens for nineteen years. One of his deepest passions is to minister to teachers and students. The focus of his ministry is designed to work in support of building the kingdom of God, touching one soul at a time to encourage believers to invest more time in the process of sanctification, intercessory prayer and personal evangelism. Daniel Roberts holds a doctorate in church history and an MBA. He is the author of Never Alone and Always Being Ready.

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Copyright © 2013 Daniel Roberts.

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Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scriptures quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-2155-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-2157-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-2156-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014900083

WestBow Press rev. date: 7/2/2014

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Prophecy of Merchandising

Chapter 2 The State Of Mind Of A Merchandising Minister

Chapter 3 Corruption and Greed: The Root Cause of Merchandising

Chapter 4 Honest Wealth: Blessing by the Will of the Almighty

Chapter 5 The Testimony of the Righteous Destroys Merchandising

Chapter 6 Only the Almighty God Can Rebuke the Devourer

Chapter 7 Merchandising, Tithing, and the Law of Faith Giving

Chapter 8 Keeping the Purity of the Church by Resisting Merchandising

Chapter 9 Merchandising Is the Antithesis of Faith Giving

Chapter 10 Begging vs. Trusting the Lord

Chapter 11 Merchandising vs. Tithing

Chapter 12 The Sovereignty of God and the Money Supply

Chapter 13 The Chief Agent of Merchandising Is Satan

Chapter 14 The Wealth of the First Church

Chapter 15 Choose Blessings over Financial Slavery

Chapter 16 The Anointing Destroys the Spirit of Poverty

Chapter 17 Wait on the Lord

Chapter 18 God Is Never Embarrassed

Notes

Bibliography

About the Author

Foreword

I have known Daniel Roberts for over twenty years. He is a dedicated, responsible, and caring person. He is a servant of God and entrusts his wisdom to everyone he comes in contact with, even when traveling abroad to share God’s Word. This book is written in a simple, reverent style and reveals a powerful message while remaining faithful to the Scriptures. This book is evidence of Daniel’s own simplicity, wisdom, and sincerity.

Making Merchandise of You will enhance the reader’s knowledge of the Bible. It is a work resulting from diligent research and spiritual meditation. It manifests the deep, personal, devotional understanding and genuine humility of Dr. Daniel Roberts.

If you are seeking God or you have a hunger and thirst for righteousness, hope is available to you in this extraordinary and amazing contribution of biblical truth.

—Minister Patricia Lowhart,

St. John’s Baptist Church, Brooklyn, New York

Acknowledgments

Many pastors and ministers were a source of encouragement to me as I labored to complete this publication. Their steadfastness and perseverance as servants fulfilling their assignments of the Most High, humbled me to do what I was called to do. These men and women of God have worked unselfishly to please our Lord. I offer my gratitude to every one of them. Their examples and words, provided godly direction that has helped me in my desire to achieve excellence in writing as a testimony and praise to my God.

Introduction

The wickedness of bondage and the hopelessness of slavery are the worst form of merchandising human beings that evil men throughout the ages have inflicted on the human race. Men, women, and children in this condition suffer untold misery. Even more painful is the experience of being bound in chains, and shipped from one geographic location to another without any hope of freedom.

The children of Israel suffered this fate for 430 years. Their fate was subject to the evil of the depraved human heart of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, around 1706 BC.¹

The Holy Spirit revealed to me that merchandising may be defined as the objective that follows the exploitation of the minds of Christians through domination and manipulation. This type of merchandising was used by Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, and the emperors of Rome during their reign of terror. Christians who were either merchants or slaves, up to the third century of the Christian era, suffered continual trials from day to day and were subjected to the worst type of humiliation. Most of them had only their lives and very little in the way of earthly possessions.²

Since trade flourished, travel was constant. Thus Christianity often reached new regions, not only through their work as missionaries or preachers but through traveling traders, slaves, and others.³

The missionary task itself was undertaken, not only by Paul and others, whose names are known, (Barnabas, Mark, and so on) but by countless, nameless Christians who went from place to place, taking with them their faith and their witness. Some of these, like Paul, traveled as missionaries, impelled by their faith, but mostly they were merchants, slaves, and others who traveled for various reasons. This travel provided the opportunity for the expansion of the Christian message.⁴

The apostles Peter and Paul did not see the misery that followed their ministries. However, God revealed to them, through divine revelation, what sufferings the church would experience in the future. Because of this, Paul warned believers to put on the whole armor of God, and Peter reminded us not to think it strange concerning the fiery trials that would try believers, as though some strange thing was happening to us.

There are other forms of merchandising to which millions have become slaves. Their minds are locked with chains that we cannot see with the naked eye. Such men and women are in spiritual bondage, as shrewd, evil men use manipulation, domination, intimidation, and gimmickry to turn them into merchandise for financial gain, superiority, and power. Today, we find millions follow these false bishops, apostles, and prophets. These followers become locked in their minds, unable to unravel the demonic, spiritual web in which they find themselves trapped.

Merchandising that the Apostle Peter was talking about began in the early church, continued through the centuries, and is with us today. One thing is sure, men have become more brazen as they develop more subtle ways to deceive.

Among the various manipulators, the worst are those who have been transformed from ministers of righteousness into servants of Satan. Today, believers have to guard themselves against these financial predators. This is the warning of the apostle Paul: For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ; and no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works (2 Corinthians 11:13-15 KJV).

The objective of this book is to reveal the evil