The Prosperity Gospel: I Am God.

Before we get to today’s article, I just want to mention that am writing from the perspective of a man that has experienced many of the challenges of which I write…. and those spiritual battles continue daily. The articles are implications of what it means to obey the commandment to raise your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. They require some reflection and are particularly for Christians who, as Peter would say, are diligently seeking to confirm their calling and are making every effort to supplement their faith. Said more succinctly, serious Christians. If you know other believers who desire to walk more faithfully with the Lord, please forward an article to them and tell them to sign up for future articles. Thanks so much!

The Prosperity Gospel: I Am God.

Happy New Year! It’s that time of the year again when we make numerous promises to ourselves and others that we are going to make changes. We are resolving to stop some bad (even sinful) habits and create ones that will, Lord willing, prosper our lives! And who doesn’t want to experience prosperity? We all do and there is nothing wrong with that.

But what is prosperity for the Christian and how do you get it? I did a brief but telling Bible study on prosperity to find the answers. But first, I went to Webster’s dictionary to get the definition. Webster says: the condition of being successful or thriving, especially economic well-being. Well, that seems to work well for those preachers who preach what is commonly called, “The Prosperity Gospel.”

What is it? If you pull a search on Google, you get a fairly succinct explanation of this teaching:

Prosperity theology views the Bible as a contract between God and humans: if humans have faith in God, God will deliver security and prosperity. The doctrine emphasizes the importance of personal empowerment, proposing that it is God’s will for people to be blessed.

Ligonier Ministries is helpful here: “The prosperity gospel is one of the most prominent false teaching movements of our day. Prosperity gospel preachers and televangelists have deceived multitudes around the world with a false gospel, teaching that individuals who exercise true faith in Christ will surely attain physical, material, and financial prosperity in this life.” (From Ligonier: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/field-guide-on-false-teaching-prosperity-gospel)

When did it begin?

Again, Ligonier adds: “The Apostolic church had its fair share of false teachers who perverted the truth of the gospel by turning it into a tool for monetary profit or into a way to manipulate God for power (Acts 8:9–24; 19:11–20). Throughout church history, there have been many forms of this sort of false teaching. The modern-day prosperity gospel movement began in the 1950s as a post–World War II Pentecostal movement through the ministry of Oral Roberts, an American televangelist. Roberts’ books helped disseminate the message of the prosperity gospel movement. If You Need Healing Do These Things and The Miracle of Seed-Faith were among Roberts’ more popular works. The movement was carried forward by Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart, both of whom led massively influential televangelist ministries in the 1980s. Other key figures in the history of the movement include E.W. Kenyon and Kenneth E. Hagin.”

OK, I appreciate that information but what does the Bible say? Now, I am pleased to announce that once again, you do not have to be a Bible scholar to figure this out. We just have to do a little homework and apply some simple logic to get the answers to our questions. So, here is one of the foundational scriptures one preacher cites to support the Prosperity Gospel:

In Genesis 12:1-3, God makes an initial promise to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

This passage is one of the greatest passages in the Bible and has many things to teach us, but the one thing I can’t find in it is any teaching that says God promises to make all Christians wealthy if they simply believe it and demand it from God. So, let’s just go to the back of our Bibles and do a word search for prosper or prosperity. There we will find that the word appears in many places, but nowhere can it be found to instruct God’s people to believe and claim from God a promise He made to make them wealthy. What we do find is this:

• Jacob’s prosperity- Genesis 31. He did not ask for it. God gave it to him.
• Prosperity is not always about wealth- Gen. 24:21; 24:56; 2 Kings 18:7.
• God promised to bless Israel- Deuteronomy. 28:11; 25:9.
• God’s gracious blessings to Solomon- 1 Kings 10:6-8
• Blessing from the Lord to Solomon- 2 Chronicles. 7:8
• In some cases, worldly prosperity is now, but their end is hell– Job 21:13-34.
• God prospering David- Psalm 30:6
• Prosperity led to their disobedience- Jeremiah. 22:20.
• People prospered because of their obedience to God, not God’s obedience to them- 2 Chronicles. 22:13; Zech. 26:5; Psalm 1:3.
• People prospered because they confessed their sin- Proverbs 28:13.
• Sometimes God prospers the wicked for His purposes-Jer. 12:1; Psalms 73 and 37:7; Mal. 3:15.

How about the New Testament? One Prosperity Gospel preacher said, “2 Corinthians 9:8-10 has the New Testament definition of prosperity: And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”

Again, let’s look at this passage and try to find anything that says God has made a promise to make all Christians wealthy and to heal all of their diseases if they will believe that false promise and claim it from God. It’s just not there- not even close.

Let’s go back to Webster’s Dictionary again but this time, let’s not use the modern version, but instead use the version from 1828: PROSPER’ITY, noun [Latin prosperitas.] Advance or gain in anything good or desirable; successful progress in any business or enterprise; success; attainment of the object desired; as the prosperity of arts; agricultural or commercial prosperity; national prosperity. Our disposition to abuse the blessings of providence renders prosperity dangerous. The prosperity of fools shall destroy them (Proverbs 1:32.)

As you can see, the passing of time has changed many things. Here, Webster gives an expanded explanation of the word prosperity, and even adds a comment about the destructive power of wealth! And that leads us to think a bit more and apply some logic.

Question: Does God encourage us to make the pursuit of health and wealth a priority?

Let’s look at the great Apostle Paul, the Apostle who gave us more doctrine and truth than any other apostle in the new Testament. Did he believe in the Prosperity Gospel? “He prayed fervently to the Lord for personal healing, only to have Jesus tell him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians. 12:7–9). This was not a lack of faith on Paul’s part. God has not promised complete healing in this life. He promises complete healing for individuals only in the resurrection on the last day.” (Ligonier Ministries)

Paul also experienced both lack and plenty, did not have a problem with it and by his example taught us to be content in all circumstances (Philippians 4:11-12). God would provide what was needed to continue to minister the gospel. In fact, the Bible clearly teaches that there is great danger in possessing wealth. It was Jesus Himself who warned against the focus of obtaining wealth (Matt. 12:15) and the difficulty that a rich man has to enter the kingdom of God (Matt. 19:23-24). Why? Because man is a fallen sinner and, in his flesh, even for the Christian, he is prone to make money and material things an idol. Instead, we are commanded to be free from the love of money and to trust God to provide for our needs (Hebrews 13:5).

In fact, Paul makes it abundantly clear in 1 Timothy 6:8-10 that the love of money can destroy our souls. He writes, But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

So then, does God encourage us to make the pursuit of health and wealth a priority? As Paul would say, “May it never be!” In fact, if God were to encourage us to claim wealth based on a promise He made, He would be leading us towards a temptation to sin, something that He cannot do (James 1:13), and contradicting His own teaching, also something He cannot do.

Now, after all that I have put before you, I have not yet addressed the thing that makes Prosperity Gospel teaching most repugnant to me and that is the attack on the absolute majesty and sovereignty of God. What is man that we could make any claims on God’s will in our lives? Who has given God counsel on what to do? Who is wiser than God as to what each of us need in our lives? Who has the wisdom to know what every possible outcome would be in response to us getting what we think we should have from God? When does the clay pot tell the potter what He should do? Where was I when He fashioned the universe? Where in the Bible do we learn that we arrive at any point in the Christian life where we can replace the  unmerited favor of God (that is grace) with the merited position that makes claims on God’s will? If anyone can answer these questions with a positive answer, know that YOU ARE NOW GOD. Think about it- if the all powerful being of the universe can be made to do things by another being (you), the one who controls the other is now the most powerful, in essence, god.

Many fine people have fallen into believing this demonic teaching and have subsequently become confused at the least, and devastated at the worst, when they do not get the response from God that they have claimed. It is an easy trap to fall into as it appeals to two of the most desired wishes for a person- the desire for financial comfort and the desire to be cured of disease. If you are exposed to this false teaching, you should run from it as fast as you can.

How do you know you are listening to a false Prosperity Gospel teacher? In an article written for the Christian Post by Anugrah Kumar on May 25, 2018, he writes, “Influential evangelical John Piper, the chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary, has also spoken about ways to identify prosperity gospel churches. Piper said to look for the absence of a serious doctrine of the biblical necessity and normalcy of suffering, the absence of a doctrine of suffering; the absence of a clear and prominent doctrine of self-denial; the absence of serious exposition of Scripture; the absence of dealing with tensions in Scripture; exorbitant lifestyles of church leaders; and preachers’ prominence of self and a marginalization of the greatness of God.”

For the sake of your soul, run, run as fast as you can from the Prosperity Gospel.

Thanks for listening, see you next time.

THIS WEEK’S SPOTLIGHT! Unfortunately, how we run a business is often driven by a love for money.  Does God have something to say about money? Check out “Choose Your Master: God Or Money”and you will be greatly encouraged. The links are directly below-

Choose Your Master: God Or Money. The links are immediately below-

Description: This is one of the most written about topics in the Bible because it is one of the most dangerous to the Christian. Listen in on the good and bad experiences of the author and strongly consider the Bible’s teaching on stewardship.

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cherish-ephesians-6-4-presents-choose-your-master-god/id1683382182

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAh2MVKU1VQiHoB3-tBm1qDDbxxpQAvTl

Title: All Things For Good Written By Thomas Watson And Read By Michael Lee

Title: Critical Considerations For Christian Parents About Your Child’s Education, By Michael Lee

Description: As we search the Bible for answers to the question: How shall we raise our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord,” we can see that the system for educating children was done primary by the parents in the home. However, the world in which we live now is quite different and the vast majority of parents use an educational system that is outside of the home and is that system is called the public schools, or the government schools.

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cherish-ephesians-6-4-presents-critical-considerations/id1678162250

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAh2MVKU1VQjnvjc7QuytT2V3lVr53oqa

Title: From Religion To Christ, Written By Peter Jeffery And Read By Michael Lee

Description:  Tired of the many systems of religion that you have observed or been part of in the past? Are you ready to say goodbye to religion? The author Peter Jeffery, agrees! Doing “religion” is empty and will not get you to heaven. There is something more-something much greater. Take a careful listen through this podcast and discover what a real relationship with God actually looks like.

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cherish-ephesians-6-4-presents-from-religion-to-christ/id1687134464

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAh2MVKU1VQg_lCngBTcjs_dXT1VYvYWA

Title: Rediscovering The Lost Treasure Of Family Worship. Written By Jerry Marcellino And Read By Michael Lee

Description: Family Worship was once the normal practice that most Christian parents led in their homes. Led by either parent, the children would be taught daily from the word of God, pray and sing songs. It was considered to be a vital part of the Christian life.

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cherish-ephesians-6-4-presents-rediscovering-the-lost/id1692401602

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAh2MVKU1VQgNq7asslVBsKyq0FC3arMs

A Call To Prayer By J. C. Ryle.  Although these words were penned more than 100 years ago, the need and application for today’s Christian is greater than ever.

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cherish-ephesians-6-4-presents-a-call-to-prayer-by/id1672880807

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAh2MVKU1VQjaXXgO8P1U-bBFkEMCwdYR

Title: Why Should I Believe Anything About Jesus Christ? Written By Various Authors And Read By Michael Lee

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share on Facebook

Last modified: January 6, 2024