Bill O'Reilly Touts Self-Sufficiency

Multi-millionaire Bill O’Reilly, host of “The Factor” on Fox News, the most-watched “news” program on cable TV, wants to let you in on some secrets to help you become a millionaire and thereby self-sufficient.

He claims it all comes out in the book, The Automatic Millionaire, by David Bach.

In an email I received from Newsmax on May 10, over the name of David Cain, I read that O’Reilly “was so impressed with The Automatic Millionaire he stated:

“David Bach’s no-spin advice is beautiful because it’s so simple. If becoming self-sufficient is important to you, then this book is a must-read.”

Cain went on to exclaim:

Your American dream has been stolen.

That’s right, you have been robbed!

Somewhere, somehow, during the past few years, something scuttled the American Dream of owning a home in a good neighborhood, driving a nice car, working only 40 hours a week, and retiring with enough money to do what you want to do when you want to do it.

Many Americans have seen their personal wealth evaporate.

Millions are literally living paycheck to paycheck!

We think you deserve to live the American Dream—you just need to learn the secrets of how to do it!

Together, we can put you back on the path of achieving the American Dream.

Click Here to Reclaim Your American Dream Today.

David Cain

Cain’s email goes on with the enticement that there are tax loopholes revealed in Bach’s book that, if taken advantage of, just might make you a millionaire. And the implication is that becoming a millionaire is a must in the quest for self-sufficiency and realization of the American Dream. Really? The American Dream is to become self-sufficient?

I’ve not read Bach’s book and don’t intend to. O’Reilly and Cain have convinced me not to. I’ll let others review the book; I’m more interested in the concepts that O’Reilly and Cain associate with the book. But there is too much to delve into within the confinements of a single article. So I’ll leave the love of money and the American Dream as possible topics for future articles. For now, I want to limit my focus to the concept of self-sufficiency.

Targeting the weak and impressionable
By “self-sufficiency,” O’Reilly alters the meaning of the concept that plays off the long-cherished virtues of the self-made man, self-reliance, and rugged individualism that are hallmark characteristics of the lofty notion of the American Spirit. Indeed, the target of the pitch is not the strong man but rather the insecure weakling who wants to become a secure and confident strong man—the guy whose self-sufficiency has been insufficient. And now, if the aspiring Selfer will only buy the book, read it and apply it, he will be on the road to reclaim his American Dream—not by hard work and sacrifice, mind you, but by quickly and easily out-foxing the IRS. I guess this is the new American Way.

While O’Reilly, Bach, and Cain promote self-sufficiency, there are pastors, counselors, and others, myself included, who see self-sufficiency from a diametric vantage point. It’s all explained in the preeminent book on the subject that we continually consult, teach from, and endorse: the Bible.

A choice of books
So it’s The Automatic Millionaire vs. the Bible. And O’Reilly has revealed his choice.

I’m weighing in on this because I’ve been writing about self-sufficiency from the biblical perspective for going on 40 years. Click on the image of The Whole-Hearted Christian in the left margin to learn more.

As I’ve noted, self-sufficiency is a concept. And it has many elements. You probably can’t find “self-sufficiency” listed as such in a Bible concordance. But you can find what you’re looking for under numerous related topics, foremost among them: self and flesh.

Self-sufficiency is such an important topic that it’s introduced right up front in the Bible—in the first book, Genesis, chapter three. It’s part of the story of Adam and Eve, who wanted to be Selfers—self-sufficient, independent of God. Further on, we read about their sons, Cain and Able. Cain is portrayed as an evil Selfer and Able as a righteous man, according to Jesus (Matthew 23:35). (No inference here of relationship or similarities between the Cain of the Bible and the David Cain who sent me the email, though they both liked the self-sufficiency idea of doing “what you want...when you want to do it.”

Adam and Eve and their son Cain were duped by that crafty Satan into believing The Big Lie that man can become independent of God and autonomous like God through self-sufficiency. And the deceit continues to this day.

Self-sufficiency is a common pursuit by natural man—as well as most “fleshly,” “carnal,” or “Half-Hearted Christians,” particularly Worldly or Fat-Hearted Christians.

The Worldly or Fat-Hearted Christian
Jesus, in telling the parable of the sower, said: “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.” Further on, He spoke of “the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns.” He explained, “this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Matthew 13:19, 22). Such a believer is a Worldly-Hearted Christian. Scripture also describes him as Fat-Hearted because his heart is fattened by worldliness.

“Fat-hearted” is a very rich metaphor. Heart disease is a major cause of death in America. Obesity is pandemic, and “fatty” foods are the major culprit. Fat forms around the heart, causing excessive strain on it, and cholesterol clogs the arteries and reduces or stops blood flow to the heart. (I know from experience; I had a quadruple bypass.)

There is biblical evidence that the ancient Hebrews were knowledgeable about the damaging effects of an overly rich diet on the biological heart. In the book of James, reference is made to the “fattened heart,” which literally is the “wheat-strained” heart (James 5:5). Here we see a correlation between a fattened biological heart and a fattened spiritual heart. To “fatten” (Greek, trepho) is to “pamper oneself with nourishment,” biologically or spiritually, and not uncommonly both at the same time. There are numerous examples and references in Scripture regarding fatness or self-pampering. Two of those refer to a fattened heart: The one by James, and another in Psalm 119:70. Believers as well as non-believers can have fat spiritual hearts, because the fat spiritual heart is not ontological but the product of flesh-motivated behavior.

The believer’s spiritual heart must be nourished psychologically and spiritually to satisfy certain needs and desires. We “feast our eyes” upon things of wholesome beauty and wonder, “digest” Scripture, “eat” the body of Christ, and “drink the blood” of Christ’s covenant (Matthew 26:26-28). However, the self-indulgent, Fat-Hearted Christian wrongly seeks fleshly and worldly nourishment.

James offers more insight into the soulical condition and behavior of the Fat-Hearted Christian:

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasures! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter (James 5:1-5).

Not all Fat-Hearted Christians are rich, but all pamper self.

The Bible reveals that the Fat-Hearted Christian is, among other things:

1. Worldly. The Fat-Hearted Christian so loves his worldly life-style that his quest for self-aggrandizement and self-sufficiency take him to great lengths to protect his worldly possessions, social standing, and wealth. His dependence on such worldly resources, coupled with fear of losing them, have conditioned him to develop a complex structure of self-protective measures.

He may profit greatly (in worldly terms) from interaction with the world. He depends on the world to help him meet his needs and desires. (If you're wondering, yes, self-sufficiency is an oxymoron that is impossible to attain and therefore is insufficient.)

Indeed, the Fat-Hearted person loves the world and his worldly life-style. And he pampers himself with a rich diet of fleshliness and worldliness—a diet of reaping financial gain, attaining higher social status, a greater sense of self-importance, more controlling power over others, a prestigious reputation and a fabricated self-identity. Through such pursuits he fattens his heart.

But his undoing is in his doing. Jesus said such worldly believers hear the Word, but “the worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22). And “He who loves his life [fleshly, worldly life-style] loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal” (John 12:25).

2. Prideful. The fattened heart is a “puffed-up” heart—a heart that is self-absorbed and prideful. “Puffed-up” (Greek, phusioo) means to inflate, as inflating one’s ego. Paul admonished the Corinthians for being puffed-up (1 Corinthians 4:6, 18, 19; 5:2; 13:4), and pointed out to the Colossians that a puffed-up heart is caused by a fleshly mind (Colossians 2:18).

The prideful Fat-Hearted Christian is self-centered, arrogant and conceited. He places self above others, regards himself as superior, and credits himself for his perception of self-sufficiency. He probably does not know his true identity, and so he proudly perceives who he is in terms of his physical appearance and prowess, wealth, social standing, intellect, and so on. His self-centeredness, arrogance and conceit may well be attempted self-protection mechanisms born out of the insecurity of the transient nature of his pseudo identity and everything else upon which he builds self-sufficiency.

The Bible warns: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling” (Proverbs 16:18.

3. Self-indulgent. The news media often inform us of wrong doings of Christians in high places who have fattened their hearts and feathered their nests with worldly luxuries.

I once met a TV evangelist who lived in a Spanish villa on a vast estate. I learned that he and his gaudily-bejeweled wife drove luxury cars and vacationed at exotic places throughout the world—all in the name of “ministry” and, of course, at ministry expense. Though this wealthy evangelist paid himself extremely well from donated funds to the ministry, his staff were so lowly paid that even his top management qualified for food stamps. This man fits the biblical description of a Fat-Hearted Christian.

This self-indulgent person may have believed his “good works” earned him favor with God over others, for which he was rewarded special worldly as well as heavenly blessings.

Then again, he might just be a charlatan.

Exchanging insufficiency for true sufficiency
Fat-Hearted Christians consider their wealth, possessions, time—their very lives—to be their own to do with as they wish (“to do what you want to do when you want to do it.”) However, we belong to Christ and are beholden to Him. Paul wrote: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20).

The Fat-Hearted Christian, like other Half-Hearted Christians, chooses to live out of his own limited intellectual, emotional, and volitional resources, and shuts out or quenches the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19-24). In short, he chooses to walk according to the flesh rather than to walk in the Spirit. (See Romans 8:4-17 and Galatians 5:16-25)

Since we belong to Christ, then all we have belongs to Him. We are to be good stewards of what He has entrusted to us, whether much or little. Each of us must examine the motives of our hearts and learn to trust Him in all things, to be content in all things and not covet, and to be good stewards.

The Half-Hearted Christian is yet to learn of the insufficiency of self-sufficiency.

The Whole-Hearted Christian has learned that lesson, quite often through brokenness, and has come to experience what God said to Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). And, like Paul, we can say: “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9, 10).

It’s something I suggest that all Bill O’Reillys factor in.

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For further reading: The Whole-Hearted Christian

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©Copyright AD2010 Frank Allnutt. All rights reserved. Content herein may be quoted, subject to the "fair use" doctrine of U.S. Copyright Law.

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