Flipping Tables

Flipping Tables

Sometimes when I scroll through my feed and see some of the things ministries are pushing for those that think they are on the cutting edge of spiritual things, I can't help thinking about the only time I can recall in scripture when Jesus seemed furious - a 100% righteous anger that so many deny peaceful Jesus even is capable of.

What single thing did religious people do that made Jesus so furious? It was when He came into the temple and saw the corrupt money changers and those who were price-gouging the poor who had come to the temple to make a sacrifice to God as they were instructed His Word to do.

It was one thing to sell them a dove to sacrifice at a reasonable price and an entirely different thing to over charge poor people so the seller could live in prosperity. If you don't think Jesus still thinks like this, you sure don't know the God you serve. You have no idea how much God hates this because so many have been doing it for so long, you have come to think of it as normal. It's normal for the worldly, but not normal for the kingdom of God.

Jesus said to them, "My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers."

All true ministries need resources to continue to minister, but those who use ministry as a get rich scheme really do not understand that God sees exactly what they are doing and Jesus doesn't take kindly to it.

I hope you understand that I am not talking about just the richest or the famous names who have become wealthy in ministry. I am ALSO talking about those ministers who are trying to build their brand using spiritual gimmicks that appeal to both the uninformed and believers with ears always itching for something brand new that no one has ever heard of before. It appeals to those who love the latest name of a demonic spirit they can command against - with a result of doing nothing for anyone of any spiritual value!

Don't waste your time following this people who are leading you off the paths of God, or those who are more concerned about the money they keep than the ministry you receive from them.
Unfortunately, Google will not allow me to share the Grok AI picture. You can find it at this link: https://x.com/i/grok/share/f8ee9bf29d5348cbbdcf142502a152e1

When I was telling Grok how I wanted this depicted, it showed what I always see from AI generated scenes about this - Jesus with an enraged facial expression. I don't think that is what Jesus expression was. How I told Grok to refine the depiction of the scene is instructive, not only to Grok but to us:

Righteous anger is a different expression than evil wrath as the first picture Grok made for me expresses. Jesus is not out of control with his face contorted in anger. He is flipping tables of merchandise over to show how displeased he is. Tone down the look of rage in Jesus - that's not what this was about. He was removing the things that corrupted the merchants.

Then Grok understood more of what I wanted: "controlled righteous indignation and purposeful authority."

Finally, this instruction gave me the picture below about the crowd: Some are merchants and some are the poor people the merchants are taking advantage of, so not all would be angry with what Jesus is doing, the poor would be marveling that he stood up for them.

Now, the final word I have on this is that the merchants-ministries that take instruction on this do not need a crowd like Frankenstein had - peasants with pitchforks baying for blood! Those who will take the flipping over of their 'merchandise' and quit acting like money is their god, will take the rebuke that Jesus intended that day when He flipped over the tables in the temple. We are His temple, and He is overturning the 'merchandise' mentality we have in our own hearts. We call it ministry when it is often the drive for riches and fame. It doesn't belong. And the poor people who have been taken advantage of are going to be grateful for the change to truth in the lives of many ministries.