Dave Ramsey Went WAY Too Far This Time!

Dave Ramsey, Stewardship, and the Warning Against False Teaching

Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to the channel where the Bible and critical thinking meet to give you real Christian commentary about the things that matter. Thanks so much for watching, let's get into the video.

So I have personally been helped by Dave Ramsey's content over the years. He's helped many other Christians realize that making stupid decisions with their money is actually sinful, and that Christians are commanded to be good stewards of their wealth.

These are lovely, astute, theologically sound points that I think Dave's done an amazing job with. I'm not making this video to say that everything he's ever done is bad and that he's not a Christian and you can never ever listen to him.

On the contrary, a lot of his content is very helpful, and I would highly recommend it. But with all of that said, and all the qualifying statements in the world being made, I recently saw a video of Dave Ramsey preaching on Sunday at a church before a large group of professing Christians, and what he said was simply much too far.

Moreover, the clip you're about to see has him preaching at Stephen Furtick's Elevation Church, which would explain why the doctrinal standard is so low. And already, this presents a problem. Romans 16, 17 says, quote, I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.

Avoid them. End quote. Stephen Furtick continuously preaches false doctrine and promotes others who preach even more false doctrine. This guy is a fully-fledged, certified false teacher that we're talking about, and we are commanded in Scripture not to help such people in their ministry.

In fact, in the passage, Paul says that we must avoid them and call them to repentance. So Dave, if you didn't know that Stephen Furtick is a false teacher, go ahead and watch any of my videos on the topic, and I'll link a few other videos in the description if you're interested.

The Waffle House Illustration and the Claim About the Holy Spirit

Now let's move forward to the clip of Dave Ramsey talking specifically. In the sermon, Dave recommends that the congregation of Elevation Church do something special on Easter weekend. They should get into their car, grab $300 $400, and go to a Waffle House.

Now for those who don't know, Waffle House is a restaurant chain whose employees are usually going to be in a very low income bracket. That's true enough. But then he says to load your kids and your family in the car, keep it running, and point it at the restaurant.

You get a coffee when you go in, and you leave $300 $400 on the counter under the cup. Then you go out to your car, watch the person pick up the money, and watch what happens alongside your family. Now some of this is really rather questionable already as far as a method of giving to people, but that's not even the worst part.

Now that you know the context, watch this clip of Dave showing the audience how the person will react to the generous tip of $400 that you left.

100 of the time, and even if she's not been in church in her life, or even if she was there last week, 100 of the time, she knows to say thank you because she can smell the aroma of the Holy Spirit that you left dripping there.

You didn't leave a track. You lost. You left $300 $400.

So guys, again, I like Dave Ramsey in many ways, and I'm not trying to be overly harsh, I'm not trying to be nitpicky, but this is way out of line. And again, this is false teaching before an audience of professing believers on Sunday.

So this isn't me nitpicking a financial planner about his unique religious views. This is me comparing the sermon given by a preacher on Sunday to the scriptures. And that is perfectly in keeping with what Paul said to the Bereans as they quote, received the word, that is, Paul's message, with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so, end quote.

That's Acts 17 11. So let's compare Dave's message to scripture and see if these things are so. Dave starts out saying that this poor woman, this impoverished employee, is going to thank God for the money that you gave her.

He literally says that 100 of the time, this person will look up to God and say thank you. Now, I'm not sure if there's just some hyperbole or exaggeration going on here, but remember, this is not Dave's financial podcast.

This is a Sunday sermon in something that calls itself a Christian church. Although at Elevation, neither of those things should be taken for granted. There should still be high doctrinal standards here, although again, it is Elevation Church.

The idea that a poor employee is always going to thank God for a generous tip given to them is simply unbiblical. That's manifestly untrue. Some people are going to thank God, and then again, some other people are going to thank the universe, or sheer dumb luck, or their astrology sign, or whatever other nonsense they happen to believe in.

And you might think that I'm nitpicking Dave on this point, but I'm actually not. This is a very important point given the rest of his statement. After this, he says that she will always intuitively know to thank God for the money she got because she can, quote, smell the aroma of the Holy Spirit that you left dripping there, end quote.

Again, this is seriously untrue. Mormons can give money, Muslims can give money, Atheists can even give money. And if that money was left by an Atheist, would it still have the aroma of the Holy Spirit on it?

And if not, how would the person know? How exactly is the employee going to smell the difference between Atheist money, Mormon money, or Christian money? The idea that this person is intuitively going to know not just that they should thank God, but which God they're supposed to thank is asinine.

It's demonstrably false. Dave seems to be conveniently forgetting that man's natural disposition is not to worship God, but to worship creation, specifically the self. Romans 3 .11 says, quote, No one understands.

No one seeks for God, end quote. And 1 Corinthians 2 .14 says, quote,. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned, end quote.

Giving someone money may make them more apt to listen to what you have to say. The act of kindness may even make them reminisce on something that happened to them in the past in church or otherwise. That's all possible.

But the idea that your generous giving of money is always, 100 of the time, guaranteed to direct a person's heart towards the God of the Bible, regardless of their spiritual state, that kind of statement is very, very dangerous.

That is completely unbiblical. Yet, it is precisely what Dave just said. Regardless of whether or not she's ever set foot in a church, no matter what she believes, she always looks up and says thank you to the God of the Bible, and all because of your financial blessing that you were so kind to give her.

Not only is this untrue in practice, but it also violates the truth of Scripture, which tells us that no physical action can guarantee the spiritual action of the Holy Spirit. And by the way, we haven't even gotten to the worst part yet, unfortunately.

This message from Dave is reminiscent of a passage about Simon the Sorcerer. In Acts 8, 18 -19, it says, Now, when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, Give me this power also, so that anyone whom I lay hands on might receive the Holy Spirit.

Now you might say, come on, Colin, Simon the Sorcerer, I mean, he thought that he could literally buy the Holy Spirit. That's a bit of a stretch to compare this to what Dave Ramsey just said. Really? Is it a stretch?

Simon thought that through money, he could activate the power of the Holy Spirit. Guaranteed. Dave just said that through giving your money, 100 of the time, the poor person you give your money to will thank God because they can intuitively feel the aroma of the Holy Spirit on it and respond accordingly.

In other words, both of these people are definitely saying that you can guarantee the activity of the Holy Spirit with your money. Of course, don't get me wrong. The Holy Spirit can indeed use your money and your generosity to make positive change in someone else spiritually.

That's not what I'm contesting. What I am contesting is the idea that a Christian's money has the aroma of the Spirit on it, and simply by giving this money away, you can transfer this aroma to other people in a way that makes them turn their heart to God 100 of the time.

I know that this sounds like a ridiculous caricature, but it's actually what Dave said, and he's made this point multiple times and in multiple different ways at multiple different levels so I don't think we can chalk it up to a simple slip of the tongue.

Why the Tract Comparison Misses the Priority of the Gospel

But if you have any doubts about the points I'm making, I hope this next part will leave you with no doubts. Let's play the end of that clip again.

Watch this. She knows to say thank you because she can smell the aroma of the Holy Spirit that you left dripping there. You didn't leave a tract. You lost, you lost three, four hundred bucks.

That statement was appalling. He said, quote, you didn't leave a tract. You left three hundred, four hundred bucks, end quote. For those of you who don't know, the tract he's referring to is what's called a Gospel tract.

And a Gospel tract is a small pamphlet that contains the Gospel message, usually with Scripture for every point. So this piece of paper contains the Gospel. But Dave says that you changed this woman's life.

She has thanked the God of Scripture for this gift directly. She has at least in some small way been spiritually changed by the money that you left her. And according to Dave, this stands in contrast with the idea of giving her a tract with the Gospel on it.

In other words, being generous with your money is more likely to change someone spiritually than giving them the Gospel. You say, oh Colin, that's not what he said. No, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what he said.

I'll quote it again for you in case you forgot. He said this, quote, she can smell the aroma of the Holy Spirit you left dripping there. That is, she can feel God and thank him. You didn't leave her a tract, he says.

That wasn't necessary to accomplish that goal. In other words, you left her three hundred, four hundred bucks, which was essential to accomplish that goal. The meaning is clear as day. In this case, your money was essential to this person feeling and responding to the Holy Spirit, and giving her the Gospel message is simply not as effective.

In fact, it's not even necessary. He's clearly contrasting the two and he's elevating one. You can try to justify the statement all you want, but it simply can't be justified because it's wrong and it's unbiblical.

Romans 10, 14 through 15 says, quote, how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. The fact is that the Gospel message, whether it be in the form of a tract or coming from someone's own mouth, the Gospel message is what saves people through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit.

There's a priority to that. Again, I'm not saying that you shouldn't give away four hundred bucks sometimes. I'm simply saying that you should not give away four hundred dollars as a better alternative over and against giving a Gospel tract out or preaching the Gospel.

That's a completely different thing entirely. The heart of this message seems to be that money has more of a guaranteed spiritual success rate than giving the Gospel does. And that, my friends, is clear, outright, obvious, and unbiblical false teaching.

Objections from Matthew 5:16, Misrepresentation, and the Priority of Helping the Poor

So with that said, let me deal with some objections because I know there will be a lot. The first objection that some will offer is a passage of Scripture. They will quote something like Matthew 5 16 which says, quote, In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven, end quote.

Some people are going to say, isn't that exactly what Dave was saying, Colin? How can you criticize him if that's what he's saying? Wrong. If you quote this in opposition to my statements here, I don't think you've understood Dave at all.

He did not say what the passage says. Do good deeds unto the Lord so that people will see them and glorify the Lord. Rather, he said, do a good deed so that you will guarantee the work of the Holy Spirit in someone else's life in a way that spreading the Gospel simply does not have the power to do.

The two statements are not similar in almost any perceivable way. So that argument, it simply doesn't work. The second potential objection is that I'm misrepresenting Dave. Some will say, he never meant to say the Gospel was ineffective.

He was just saying that we should be generous with our money. And my response to that is this, respectfully, if that's what Dave was saying, then why is that not what he's saying? I've actually read his statements several times and explained them in conjunction with the other statements he made.

That's not out of context. That's not misrepresentation. That's just plain old reading, listening, and understanding. I'm not looking at his statements in the worst possible light. I'm simply looking at them in the way he made them.

He contrasted giving money with giving the Gospel, and in his view, giving money is essential while giving the Gospel was not. Where do the writers of Scripture say anything like this? In Galatians 2 .10, Paul says, quote,.

"...only they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.". End quote. Paul does not say, you didn't preach the Gospel. Instead, you actually helped them by giving them money. Paul does not contrast giving help with giving the Gospel, because the Gospel is supremely helpful.

For another example, in Mark 9 .41, Jesus says this, quote,. For truly I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. End quote.

Jesus clearly incentivizes helping others, especially helping other believers. But he does not say, you didn't go preach the Gospel in that town. Instead, you gave them a cup of cold water, and that, that changed everything.

Again, Jesus doesn't bother contrasting the Gospel with helping people, because the Gospel is supremely helpful. There is simply no need to attempt to defend Dave's comments here. They're false, and they are incongruent with Scripture.

Dave says that money works every time, and by contrast, Gospel messages on tracts aren't even necessary. You don't need to give them the Gospel, because as long as you give them $400, well then they'll turn to God no matter what, and they'll say thank you to him.

But ladies and gentlemen, rest assured, the Bible does have a category for the kind of thing Dave should talk about. James 4 .17 says, quote,. So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

End quote. If you are a Christian, and you refuse to help the needy, if you're stingy and miserly and without any compassion, then you might need to ask yourself whether or not you have the Spirit, because you're not demonstrating the Spirit's fruit.

It's that simple. If Dave was preaching through a passage, rather than giving a Sunday TED Talk mostly crafted from his own human wisdom, well then he wouldn't run into this problem. But he's not centered on Scripture, and that's why the falsehood seeps in.

The Bible does not contrast helping people with giving the Gospel. Rather, the Bible assumes that if you're a Christian, you will gladly do both. So let's resolve to never contrast things that ought not be contrasted, and to unite things that ought to be united.

And pray for Dave Ramsey that he would recant this false teaching and turn to the truth of God's Word. Thank you so much for watching. If you liked that video, please like, comment, share, subscribe, and hit the notification bell so that you never miss another one.

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