Question: Do You Have To Be Wealthy Or Employed To Lead Others To Repentance?
Donald Bohanon: Was Jesus Christ wealthy? Was Moses employed? How about the apostle Peter was he wealthy? What about Elijah the prophet was he wealthy or employed? Although some of the individuals mentioned above had jobs initially, they abandoned all of that to follow Christ and God and to lead others to them.
Peter was a fisherman who forsook all to follow Christ and later became a profound leader of the Church himself to do all that he was commanded to do by God and Christ Matthew 4:19. Jesus Christ the greatest leader and teacher of them all said he didn’t even have a place to lay his head Matthew 8:20. And was by all accounts a carpenter initially who forsook that to lead his disciples and do God’s will. The apostle Paul forsook everything to do what Christ commanded him to do.
The Bible says Elijah the prophet dwelt in caves. And a type of Elijah, John the Baptist, ate wild honey and locusts for sustenance but yet they are both considered to be some of the greatest prophets who ever lived and were highly favored in God’s eyes and considered great teachers and leaders by God and men Matthew 3:4.
Moses, it’s assumed, forsook his important position in Pharaoh’s government to follow God’s calling and was also considered one of the greatest prophets in the Bible and was considered one of the most impactful and prominent leaders in the Bible. God’s definition of a real man and a true leader is quite a bit different than how men define manhood and leadership.
God’s calling upon a man’s life is the highest calling and supersedes all other callings or responsibilities. In fact, service to God is the most important and impactful job one will ever do. The job of a Disciple, Apostle, or Prophet, is to preach the gospel ( the good news of the coming kingdom of God) and lead others to repentance. Not even the presidency of the United States comes close in terms of impactful importance and responsibility on a physical and spiritual level.
Their sole objective and responsibility is to preach the gospel (the good news of the coming kingdom of God) and lead others to repentance as they are appointed to do. They may at some point be employed on different levels and in varying degrees in different fields to meet their financial responsibilities, but at some point, they must transition into focusing on doing God’s will exclusively because God requires full commitment and all of your time at which point God provides the ability to meet their financial responsibilities through men.
So to answer your question, yes, they would have to have some way to meet their financial responsibilities initially until they transition into full-time work in doing the will and work of God. Work is not necessarily a requirement itself because the times we live in presently are very unstable and unsure. The economy is faltering due to so many factors so there is no guarantee of employment as things get worse as the Bible says they will if drastic changes aren’t made.
Also as a result of persecution for speaking the truth, this can be a roadblock to employment also in this wicked world and age. So it’s not a requirement because there is no guarantee that you will be. Especially in this era. The fact that you aren’t employed can’t inhibit you from doing God’s will or work. Although the Bible says a man who doesn’t work doesn’t eat is true. Their work is to do the will of God. An Apostle, Prophet, or Disciple’s role is to do the will of God, and preaching the gospel and leading others to God and repentance is their full-time job.
But being extremely wealthy is not a requirement nor is it condemned by God as long as you don’t allow it to corrupt you or interfere with your complete service and obedience to God. But to lead others to repentance you must live and understand God’s word and what defines repentance.
Trying to teach God’s word when you don’t obey or understand it can have deadly consequences both physically and spiritually for you and those you are teaching it to if it isn’t fully supported by God’s word. At which point you would be just a deceiver and a destroyer and not a true teacher or a leader. And that carries with it serious consequences. Romans 16:17-18, 2Corinthians 11:13-15, 2Peter 2:1-3, James 3:1.
Teaching the word of God is not something you can just jump out there and do. It requires the individual who teaches it to be thoroughly versed in it and obedient to it. God takes the teaching of his word very, very, very, seriously. Because you are dealing with the souls of men and women. And if you lead them astray by promoting rebellion against God his word and his commandments as a result of ignorance and error-filled teaching because of gross biblical misinterpretation you risk destroying them spiritually for which you will be held accountable.
Leading them down paths of destruction because of your ignorance of his word is no excuse to God Romans 1:18-20. And following the error-filled teachings of ignorant unlearned false ministers who are motivated by greed and governed by their lusts in many respects and who regularly misinterpret God’s word as a result of ignorance and gross biblical misinterpretation and as a means to advance an ungodly biblically condemned agenda is one of the surest ways to get there. Romans 16:17-18, 2 Peter 2:1-3, James 3:1.
Many of them sound like they know what they’re talking about to the unlearned and ignorant but when you really know God’s word you know they are completely ignorant concerning it and are in many respects making the masses ignorant by teaching that ignorance to the masses.