Tebow’s Orthodoxy and False Teaching

Tebow cancels appearance with mega-church pastor, and reveals his orthodoxy. Rod Parsley’s confusion about the Trinity and his prosperity gospel has pushed Tebow to cancel his appearance. Joe Carter summarizes the entire situation:

The Story: Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow is canceling an appearance at a revival organized by prosperity gospel preacher Rod Parsley.

The Background: The year’s most talked about Christian athlete was scheduled to speak at a three-day Columbus event in March led by televangelist Parsley. In a phone interview with the Associated Press, Tebow’s brother Robbie said his brother’s speakers’ bureau hadn’t researched the event before saying yes to the invitation.

“I know for a fact that Tim is not going to be a part of it,” Robbie Tebow said. “That’s being resolved.”

Parsley pastors World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, and heads up World Harvest Ministerial Alliance (WHMA). His church services and personal appearances are telecasted over TBN-TV and Daystar-TV in a program called Breakthrough. Along with his confusion about doctrines like the Trinity (‘The Holy Ghost is no different than Jesus and Jesus is no different than the Holy Ghost. . .”), Parsley teaches that God wants believers to be wealthy. As the AP notes, last year Parsley asked followers to donate more than $1 million to ward off satanic attacks.

Why It Matters: The young quarterback understands that by speaking at the event he would be lending his credibility to men who preach a false gospel. By refusing to speak at the event, he may be able to signal to people unfamiliar with the prosperity gospel that those who believe in the true gospel should avoid publicly associating with these false teachers.