Sid: I have Charles Vance on the telephone and Charles Vance went from total poverty to being in the to 1% of the wealthiest people in the world and he used Kingdom principals. Many, many Bible believers actually think it’s a sin to prosper. What is God’s will in reference to money? I can’t think of a better person to answer that question than Charles Vance. Charles, what is God’s will according to money?
Charles: Sid, when I was a kid growing up in school, they had us to do the pledge of allegiance, we did by the way, One nation under God and we also did the Lord ’s Prayer as we started our daily studies.
Sid: Things have changed.
Charles: Yes, they have changed a bunch. I read that prayer literally thousands of times, the Lord’s Prayer, probably didn’t have a clue what I was saying just learned to recite it.
Sid: Listen, as an unsaved Jewish person growing up in schools that used to do that, the big thing was to be able to read from the Bible. And sometimes I would read from the Bible and I wouldn’t have a clue of what I was reading. I just wanted to get up front and to read from the Bible.
Charles: (laughing) Well, I remember this Lord’s Prayer and a few years ago spoke to me and said, you really should read that. So I started reading the Lord’s Prayer and I read Our Father which art in Heaven, hallow it be Thy name, which mean Holy is Your name. Your Kingdom come Your will be done in earth as it is in Heaven. And boy something stopped me and got me right there. Jesus just said, this is the way, he told his disciples, this is the way you need to pray guys. He didn’t say you need to pray these specific words but after this manner therefore pray. Thy will be done, God’s will be done in earth as it is in Heaven. Well, I had to ask myself a question. How are things in Heaven? I started asking myself this. Is anybody lost in Heaven? Well, the answer to that is obvious, no. Is anybody sick in Heaven? The answer to that is obvious again, no. Is anybody poor in Heaven? The answer to that is obviously, no. Well then, God’s will be done in earth as it is in Heaven, it caused something to come alive in me.
Sid: Let me add one more, is any one fearful in Heaven. Absolutely, not.
Charles: You can go on and on and on Sid. But what it did for me is it gave me a parallel to what God wanted actually going on on the earth. He wanted things on the earth to be like they were in Heaven. And I’ve heard people say, you know I grew up in a real traditional church and I’ve heard people say, well bless God when we get over in Heaven everything is going to be all right. Well, Jesus said pray that it is going to be like Heaven in the earth while you’re here in the earth. That gives me a standard to start living by. And I can take you to scripture after scripture that God is not a Man that He should lie. The Word of God is settled forever in Heaven. The Word of the Lord doesn’t change. God doesn’t change. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. And then I had to ask myself the question, well God created man in His likeness and after His image. Was God poor when He created man? And the answer to that would be obviously, no. So He created man to be a person of prosperity that would prosper because He told him, He blessed them and told them to multiply and increase and take dominion over everything that he had created.
Sid: You know, the greatest graphic example I can think of is Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before the fall.
Charles: Oh absolutely. To me it is another standard of understanding God’s will for mankind. When I do that I can look in Revelation Chapter 21 when God restores everything. When satan is put in the bottomless pit, when the Anti Christ and the beast is stopped from their activity on the earth. We see there is no more crying, there is no more sickness, there is no more death. There is no more pain. There is no more want and it’s all restored. That word Eden, means pleasure. It was a garden of pleasure. God’s will has not changed. It’s almost as if the church lives in some sort of time warp thinking that, yeah I know that it was God’s will back then, and I know that it is going to be God’s will because He promised that we are going to have streets of gold and walls of jasper and gates of pearl why it is not going on now if God doesn’t change? My answer to that question is, we’re not following the principals and operating the laws of God’s word in our lives every day.
Sid: But isn’t it true Charles, that if people follow these laws and get a lot of money they may take their eyes off of God. And so maybe it is to their best interest not to get a lot of money.
Charles: You know, I’ve heard people say that Sid, we must have grew up in the same town together and not knew it. (laughing)
Sid: Washington, D.C., no (laughing)
Charles: No, I remember hearing people say that and if that’s true why doesn’t the devil just back a dump truck load of money in your yard and dump it there? If that’s all it took to get someone out of the Kingdom of God was for them to get money, was for them to backslide, to turn their back on God. Why isn’t the devil prospering everyone? Well, I can tell you why. Because the Bible says prosperity comes from God. The Bible said, 3rd John verse 2, Beloved I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul doest prosper. It is the Lord, Deuteronomy 8:18, It is the Lord thy God, not satan that it’s the Lord thy God that giveth thee the power or the authority or the ability to get wealth. So God wants to bless us. He want us to prosper. He wants us to increase. If we don’t know that, I’m convinced if we don’t believe it, it is going to be impossible for us to work His laws and principals so that we can actually access the prosperity that He has for us.
Sid: There is a great deal to talk about tithing and you know, I’m reminded of a young man that saw his parents, and the young man was a Christian and his parents were Christian. And he saw his parents go bankrupt and he said they tithed faithfully and they loved God and they went bankrupt, so I’m not going to tithe. What would you do have said to that young man.
Charles: Well, I’ve heard very few stories like that, but on occasion I’ll hear a story something like that. But, most of the stories that I hear about tithers are blessings that come into their lives because of it. You know, I have to be cautious. If I’m on an individual bases because I don’t want to hurt people’s feelings. It is not my intention.
Sid: Well, that is why I didn’t mention names.
Charles: It is probably because you are not believing God to give you the promise that you have that He has already placed in the Word of God for you as a tither. And if you don’t believe God, the whole Kingdom of God works by faith. The just shall live by faith the Bible says. So, if I’m not operating in faith. I can walk through the motions, Jesus sais that there’s all kinds of people that say, Lord Lord or call Him Lord that will not enter into the Kingdom of God. Why won’t they enter into the Kingdom of God? It wasn’t done by faith. They weren’t doing something out of their heart. You can walk through the motions of doing, following the instruction of the Word of God. You can follow them to the T. But if doesn’t come out of your heart and if you’re not operating by faith, the principals of God will not work in your life.
Sid: You know what I have found? And I was telling you this before we went on the air, that most of my family and my friends operated in Kingdom principals not even realizing we were operating. It came from generation’s back who did realize what Kingdom principals were and God’s prospered us. I like to say, I had a Jewish mother that took care of everyone of my needs. She was a good Jewish mother and then when I came to know God, He takes care of all of my needs. I just kind of expect Him to.
Charles: Oh, absolutely, and it is a faith issue. You know, you probably didn’t go to your mother when you were four or five years old and start crying and say, Mommy I’m afraid we are not going to have anything to eat this evening.
Sid: No, the thought never touched my radar.
Charles: And, it’s because you had faith in her and you’d been trained to have faith in her. There are a lot of folks that get into church now a days that have not been trained to have faith in God and it’s like their starting from ground zero. The Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing. It’s a repeating of a process. The things that we hear the most we will eventually believe. If we are hanging around people that say that doesn’t work or this doesn’t work or that principal. I knew somebody that did that and that didn’t work. If you hear that more than you hear the instructions of God’s Word and the promises of God’s Word, you are going to believe that over top of God’s Word.
Sid: Tell me about this teaching seminar, four teaching CDs entitled “Prospering in Hard Times”
Charles: Well, I’m very concerned about the economy and the state of the United States’ government right now. I’m really concerned that some of this is actually being manipulated to control people and it bothers me. If I think about it or talk about it a long time my voice gets a little deeper and a little stronger and a little more powerful and I almost feel like getting up on a soap box. But, we don’t have to operate on the principal’s of the world. If I’m in the Kingdom of God and I have faith in the principals and in the laws of God, God has given me promises that will surpass anything or anybody on this planet. We teach these laws and principals from God’s word that have changed people’s lives literally all over the country and really believing all over the world. Because as you teach the laws of God when people hear them enough, just keep hearing them. They will develop faith in them and as they apply these principals to their lives, their life is going to change financially.
Sid: I’m curious, do you know if people use this in third world countries, they would prosper?
Charles: We are teaching this every time we have an opportunity. I just went to Haiti last February and when we got to Haiti. I thought I’m going to teach on faith. We were doing a Pastor’s conference.
Sid: Oh, will you continue on Tomorrow’s broadcast.