Dr. Thomas C. Anderson
"How did they know where He [Jesus] lived? Cause it was His house. He was a carpenter, why would he be house-less? If He couldn't afford one He could build one. And then it says He went out and sat by His house by the lake. He had a lake home [Laughs and claps]. I mean this is good! I mean, these strange ideas [That Jesus was poor] that we have developed in our minds concerning wealth."
(Dr. Thomas C. Anderson, "Praise The Lord," TBN, August 21, 2004)
"They cared about all levels. So, the church ought to try and like maybe reach all people instead of just poor people which keeps the church poor, the pastor poor, and everybody poor."
(Dr. Thomas C. Anderson, "Praise The Lord," TBN, August 21, 2004)
"But it tells us he was rich, so it's talking about money here [Luke 19:1-10]. And he sought to see Jesus and when he was in the top of the tree in verse 5, it says, 'Zacchaeus, make haste. Come on down, today I'm going to stay at your house. Cause you got bucks and a place for me to stay. You're gonna feed me good.' They called Jesus a winebiber and a glutton because He ate good. Come on now! I'm trying to get you to think a little bit just past your religion. Stretch, just a little bit."
(Dr. Thomas C. Anderson, "Praise The Lord," TBN, August 21, 2004)
"Then when Jesus is looking for His disciples, just think about it. I mean, He's looking for his disciples, right? So, Jesus is, got His shopping cart, it is filled with aluminum cans that He's been collecting [Laughs], some bottles, broken glass and some stuff. He's got His homeless outfit on. He's poor, rags and kind of dirty. You know, long shaggy ratted hair and He just kind of walking along by the Sea of Galilee. You know, and He looks over and there's the wealthy fisherman. You see, if Jesus was poor He would have went over to the unemployment line and got some people to be His disciples! But no, He went to the wealthy and found some people that had a business! And so, He said, 'Hey guys, come follow me [Laughs].' Like right! Yeah, sure, we'll follow you to the city dump! Man anything you say [Laughs]! Now, how dumb is that? That is all Jesus said to them is, 'Come follow me and I'll make you fishers of men.' They went, 'Wooo, right!' And they followed Him! Why? The boy was dressed in an Armani Suit! He was wearing Berlini shoes! Come on now! Why do we know that? Because He hung on the cross at Calvary they gambled for His clothes. They tossed dice for His underwear! You think anybody here would gamble for your underwear [Laughs]? You could have some pretty fine DNKY underwear, but you ain't got anything that I'm gambling for [Laughs]! He was dreesed fine! The rich will always follow the rich. The poor will follow the rich. But the rich will never follow the poor! So, how do we get these strange notions and these strange attitudes? Where does that come from except religious stupidity! Religious attitudes that kept the body of Christ poor! Amen?"
(Dr. Thomas C. Anderson, "Praise The Lord," TBN, August 21, 2004)
Note: Hear the words of Jesus: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also...No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" Matthew 6:19-21, 24-24.
"Traditionally we're all taught that Jesus was poor. But now just look how stupid it is. Let me just give you some examples how stupid that would be."
(Dr. Thomas C. Anderson, "Praise The Lord," TBN, August 21, 2004)
"And I believe that every person has to change. I remember when I taught that Jesus wasn't poor and I think you guys were probably in the church when I first taught it; 10, 12, 14, 15, years ago and the whole church went, 'Huh, heretic!' I mean, it was rough, it was really bad. We sold no tapes."
(Dr. Thomas C. Anderson, "Praise The Lord," TBN, August 21, 2004)
"Anyway, it wasn't that they didn't have money. The poor people of the day did not register for the Census, so they could be taxed. They ran away and hid. So, we know that Joseph and Mary registered in their hometown. So that tells you that they had money."
(Dr. Thomas C. Anderson, "Praise The Lord," TBN, August 21, 2004)
"So Jesus was poor before? Poor Joseph and Mary, they went on vacation to Egypt for a number of years. They didn't even build any houses over there. They had bucks! Then they came back. Are you following me?"
(Dr. Thomas C. Anderson, "Praise The Lord," TBN, August 21, 2004)
"Do you know that when Sheba came to Solomon the minimum she would have brought to a king would have been close to a 100 million dollars worth of gold? So, now here's not three wisemen but a whole herd of wisemen. I mean, how could it have made if they just brought a little bit to Jesus, why would it have made Herod so mad? Because they stopped and talked to him first to find out where he was. But it made Herod so mad he killed all the two year old children. Because this new king [Jesus], oh, cause they called Him king? Like, whooptie do! You could have called anybody king. It was over the money honey!"
(Dr. Thomas C. Anderson, "Praise The Lord," TBN, August 21, 2004)
"He [Jesus] takes the money from the one who has one and goes over and He gives it to the one who has ten. That's not how the church works. You got ten, take it [the church] over here and give it to the poor person. Is the church backwards or what? You ain't doing nothing with it [poor person]. You're doing something with it, here you take it cause you're building something, you're multiplying something [rich person]. We're going to invest in you. We're not going to invest in the poor. Cause the poor you're going to have with you always. We're going to invest in the rich because they're doing something with it. That doesn't mean we don't help the poor, Jesus helped the poor. We need to help the poor. But, there's going to be poor that are always going to be poor. Not everybody that's poor wants to stop being poor. Amen?"
(Dr. Thomas C. Anderson, "Praise The Lord," TBN, August 21, 2004)