Compromising for the sake of money, fame, or notoriety is never a good thing. In the body of Christ we have a serious epidemic of people selling out for the sake of selfish gain. Some that desire record deals will close their eyes to sin, turn away truth, or do sinful things to get in a certain place. Many that desire large ministries will sell out their youth by adopting fleshly and carnal vehicles to reach them at the expense of their spiritual condition. They will also in most cases preach untruths, half truths, and do all kinds of tricks to gain large memberships and keep the mega church rolling along. I know Gospel singers that have slept with folks to get record deals or production for their music! I know pastors that invite false prophets and preachers that they know are no good, for the sake of being connected with the system! Folks turned their heads away when Megafest happened and even paid money to see this major compromise of the church. I know pastors that paid thousands of dollars to preach at megafest to boost their ministries! Yes, paid Jakes to preach! This is getting sad people. How can that preacher ever feel right about anything that was gained from that?
There is an aspect of compromising for gain that people in the body of Christ need to remember. When you use compromise to get things, you forfeit God's blessing on your progress. In other words, when you don't use God's way to get it, you don't get God's blessing over it. God won't bless your mess and he won't condone devilish or selfish methods that are used even when it's for a greater good. There is no greater good that requires a small compromise to receive. If compromise got it for you, then it wasn't from God. In the bible, Song 2:15, it talks about the little foxes that destroy the vine! A person that will compromise even a little to get something is a person that will eventually sell out totally for more. If you will do it on a small scale when you are small, then you will do it on a larger scale when you blow up big! That's the way it is and many are falling prey to this situation and going so far from truth that they can't find their way back.
I remember talking to a friend of mine who was working with a so called "minister" of Gospel Music. This minister was living with his girlfriend, sleeping with other women on the side, and still making church music. This person was using people to gain fame and fortune and yet pretending to be spiritual in the process. As I spoke with my friend I wondered how they could stay with this person and still claim to be a strong believer. Their response was "God knows my heart!" But my question is, what about your heart does God know and how does that change your actions in his eyes? If you will compromise for the sake of money or an opportunity to break into the music business, then when you do "blow up" and there is an opportunity to get bigger if you do something else underhanded, will you not do it? If you will do it on a small scale, that means that when the stakes are higher, you will do it! And how do you ever think that the money gained from compromising is a blessing to you? Aren't your hands dirty and isn't the money received, bad money? That's like robbing a bank and paying tithes from it.
This is why Lucifer was not allowed back into heaven after he was kicked out. God knew that his desire to be like a god was not going away. When he said he wanted to be like a God, that desire in him destroyed God's trust in him. You see, you can't trust a person that is trying to make it big because they will sell you out in a heartbeat for fame and fortune. They will do whatever they have to do to make it because they feel that making it makes them. The desire to be famous is not from God, but an antichrist desire because Jesus said to come to him you must deny yourself. Jesus did not come to make a name or reputation for himself. Yet the works God performed through him made him famous. He even asked people not to tell of him, or spread his works abroad, but he got famous anyway because he did what God lead him to do! He never promoted or marketed himself because that would have been pride and vanity. Those are 2 characteristics of Satan, not Jesus. Satan is proud, Jesus is humble. Satan promoted himself to be famous but Jesus denied himself and became famous.
God knew that Lucifer could not be trusted and never let him back into heaven. And now what do we have? We have a nation full of musicians and entertainers that will do anything for the applause of the crowd. They sleep around, perform all kinds of immoral acts just to get roles and sales. They sell their souls to the devil for a sale of their product. They leave their spouses and children for the sake of selfish gain. This came from Lucifer and has now entered our churches and gospel music industry. Singers will ignore a persons homosexuality for the sake of performing. They will look the other way for the sake of fame. They will sing anywhere, any time, for any reason just to be on stage and like Lucifer, they desire fame at any cost. These are industry whores. They don't care what you live like, or whether God is even with you, as long as you can get them a platform to perform and sell themselves!
But the saddest part is, that if you are in a compromised position, you can't pray! God is not listening to you praying from a state of compromise. Just like he refused Lucifer reentry into heaven, he will refuse to hear what you are saying about why you did what you did. If you sell God out for some money or fame, how can you pray and make that gain Godly? If you had to give up your booty to get it, blackmail someone to get it, lie, cheat, or steal to get it, or use any underhanded method to get it, you can't pray about it! If you had to ignore sin, or keep quiet to get along for the greater good, then you sold out! If you were placed there by sin, you are a slave to sin. God is not going to intervene and bless your mess. Your mess is your own creation. You must walk uprightly and allow God to open doors for you, not you open doors and then get God's blessing afterwards.
Most famous Gospel singers now will sing on the stage with anyone! They will share the stage with ungodly people that sing ungodly music. They will sit in the audience to get an award while ungodliness is happening right before them onstage. But for the sake of being something and positioning themselves for gain and glory, they stay quiet. Most Gospel artists will partner with anyone that can get them somewhere. They will sing with anyone that can help them be famous. Just look at their friends on myspace. They will embrace anyone that can make them look legit or with the in crowd no matter how much it promotes the other side. They will stay quiet about what they know for the sake of fame and fortune and yet, try to pray to God and believe he is with them? This is ridiculous. You can't believe that God is with you when you used an ungodly method to get where you are. If you are singing behind a person that is molesting young boys and homosexual, do you really believe God is using that person to help get you where he wants you to go? If you are recording with folks that are denouncing God's way in their music, do you really believe God is gonna use that to bless someone? How can you pray to a righteous God when you are using unrighteous ways to prosper? How can you believe that God has called you to do what you are doing, but you used ungodly methods to get where you are? don't you realize you can NEVER thank God for your place when you didn't use him to get there?
We must make sure that everything we do is pleasing unto God. Our job, our call, our methods, and everything should be on the up and up in God's eyes. We can't stand praying before him if we have used the devil for gain. If we are hurting anyone at all with our decisions or actions, then we are not being God driven. God is not going to sacrifice the well being of his people for your gain! He will sacrifice YOU for the well being of his people. And the saddest part of all of this is, that once a person goes down a compromising road, they need the applause of people to affirm them constantly because they have no Godly affirmation. You see, if you didn't use God's way then God's not affirming you. If you can't find your method in the word of God, then you feel insecure and need the approval of man to validate what you are doing! Seeking fame and fortune was never a thing that God's men did in the bible. The only person that sought fame and fortune and promoted himself high and lifted up was Lucifer. So if your only example in the word is what the devil did, then you are spiritually insecure and must seek the applause and affirmation of men to feel validated. God didn't validate Lucifer and he's not going to validate your desire for fame and fortune either. So, this is why most famous and rich folks struggle with immorality, drugs, and suicide because they don't have God's validation in many cases and because they can't find themselves in the word, they seek the approval of men. But at the end of the day, the applauses stop, the accolades are silenced, and you are left to who you really are. And that's when you miss what you could have had. The true hand of God moving in your life.
So whether you are doing something crooked to get a better job, tax return, or promotion. Whether you are a minister seeking a larger audience or more members. Whether you are a singer that is wanting your music to get "out there" and you have opportunities that require a little compromise, don't do it! If you can't do it God's way, then it's not God's way! If you can't hold it up to truth, then it's not true! If it's not the right thing to do then it's not the right thing to do! Come on people, don't sell out God, sell out for God! Delight yourself in him and he will change your desires into his! Die to yourself and your desire to be known and famous. If you seek God, you won't desire fame, but if you seek fame, you won't desire God.
Prov. 1:30 “They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. “So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, And be satiated with their own devices. “For the waywardness of the naive shall kill them, And the complacency of fools shall destroy them. “But he who listens to me shall live securely, And shall be at ease from the dread of evil.”
Heb. 13:18 Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.
1Tim. 6:5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain.
In Jesus Name,
G. Craige Lewis
