PROSPERITY GOSPEL –
DEALING WITH FALSE DOCTRINE
OPPOSE THE THEOLOGY AND NOT THE TEACHER
The evangelist pranced around the opulent stage urging TV listeners to send a donation and receive a prayer cloth, or send a bigger donation and receive miracle water from the Red Sea. He told them that if they were to give him a $1,000 God would see to it they got back 100 times as much … assuming they had the right faith. The antics of TV evangelists, like this one, can almost cause one to envision grabbing them by the collar of their $2,000 suit and chucking them right off the stage. Not in anger, but in righteous indignation.
Preachers, who are constantly fleecing their flock through deception and/or ignorance, do considerable harm to the validity of Christianity. But, this does not give us the right to thump a few cartoon knots on their head. It is far better for us to remind one another about the time when John came to Jesus and said: “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” Jesus listened to what John had to say, but He did not condone the actions of the apostles. In fact, Jesus said: “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us.” (Mark 9:39-40) It would appear that Jesus is telling the apostles that it is not their duty to function as a “Jesus” police force. In fact, scripture makes it clear that the only authority given to a Christian leader is over his flock. There is no place in scripture where a minister is given authority over another shepherd’s flock or another shepherd, even a false shepherd. Prosperity theology, with its shallow and hypocritical followers, has damaged the credibility of true Christianity but we must leave it to Christ to deal with the false preachers.
The ministry of Christians is to live a life that reflects the love of God toward all of His creation, and to share with all men the message of reconciliation. We should not be discouraged by the flourishing of false doctrine; we need to remember that Jesus said: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23) Dealing with false teachers is Jesus’ business. Jesus will pass judgment on all the lazy, shiftless and false leaders. Yes, we most certainly have the earthly duty to expose and oppose false theology, but we have no right to make a personal attack on the false teacher. Every single human being will one day stand before Jesus, and Jesus will judge the heart of every human. Our mission is not to condemn the lost or to police the kingdom of God! Our mission is to lovingly build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ with gold, silver and precious stone, and to teach others to do likewise.
WHAT IS PROSPERITY THEOLOGY
Prosperity theology refers to a doctrine, which teaches that health, wealth and happiness can be obtained from God by our wanting it and our asking for it. Preachers of this doctrine teach that prosperity in health, wealth and happiness: comes through faith; it is the result of positive speaking; and prosperity is guaranteed by donations to the preacher’s ministries.
Prosperity theology teaches that sickness and poverty are the result of man’s fallen condition, which people are locked into because of a lack of faith. The prosperity preachers go beyond simple bible truth by insisting that we are in a contractual relationship with God. According to this contract, suffering exists because of Adam’s sin; we continue to suffer because we lack faith; and God must end our suffering if we display acts of faith.
It is almost as if prosperity teachers are putting control of our life and our future into our own hands. In the words of a prosperity preacher: we are entitled to health, wealth and happiness, God is obligated to bless us with prosperity; but it is up to us whether we have them or not. They teach that Jesus not only paid the price for our sins: He also removed sickness, poverty, and spiritual corruption from the lives of those who are willing to accept it. According to the prosperity preachers, Christians who make positive confessions about God’s blessings, and believe these blessings have already been granted, will get their blessings because God must grant all faithful requests. According to prosperity theology, this is God’s own ‘law’. Prosperity preachers claim this ‘law’ is an inviolable contract between God and humanity. It is almost as if they want people to believe that we can manipulate the blessings of God by speaking what we want.
As bad as it is to teach people they can manipulate God through faith, it pales in comparisons to the doctrine of ‘faith giving’. Prosperity preachers teach people that giving money to the ministry is a more perfect demonstration of faith. They teach that you can proclaim you have faith and you will have faith; but to prove to God that you really have faith you must give generously to the ministry. The more you give the more it proves you have faith … and, the more you can expect God to do what you tell Him to do. Prosperity theology proclaims that if you have ‘life changing faith’ you will make positive confessions about receiving your desires and you will give lots of money to the ministry; only then will miraculously changes occur in your life, causing you to prosper.
PROSPERITY DOCTRINE - A MISUSES OF SCRIPTURE
Paul constantly labored against the warped and twisted doctrine of false Christian preachers, especially in Corinth. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul reminded them that he and his followers were not like so many of the other preachers who were nothing more than “peddlers of God's word.” (2 Corinthians 2:17) In this same letter Paul also said: “We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word.” (2 Corinthians 4:2) What Paul fought against in Corinth is exactly what we must fight against today: the selling of a false doctrine, which results from tampering with the word of God.
False preachers frequently twist the word of God by removing a passage from its original context and then tamper with it by taking away meaning and/or by adding a meaning to the original scripture. A few scriptures frequently twisted by prosperity preachers include:
• Malachi 3:10 - Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
o FALSE TEACHING: give your money to this ministry and God will bless you 100-fold.
o To start with, when you put this scripture back into context we will find that the real issue is the fact that the people have turned away from God’s instructions and have not obeyed them. Tithing was just an example. Thus the message is: return to God and obey His instructions and God will bless you.
o Second, tithing is a part of the old law and as a part of the law it was fulfilled by Jesus: we no longer tithe. We are also the temple of the Holy Spirit and there is no prosperity preacher who dwells in the “house of God.” We now give to the ministry of Christ and not necessarily to some church organization.
o Nowhere in scripture does it say that God wills the financial prosperity of every Christian. Nowhere in scripture does it say that it is wrong for a believer to be poor. God blesses us with things other than money … the greatest blessing is peace and contentment.
• John 10:10 - The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
o Abundant life is not health, wealth and happiness. Paul said that people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth: “imagine that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 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.” (1 Timothy 6:5-10)
• Philippians 4:19 - And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
o There is a huge difference between ‘need’ and ‘want.’ God knows that we need basic things to sustain our body and to provide some level of earthly comfort; and, if we seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things will be available to us. (Matthew 6:25-34) It is not simply through believing, professing and claiming that God sustains us: it is through our constant obedience to all of the teachings of Jesus, which is the righteousness of God.
• 3 John 1: 2 - Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
o This is John’s greeting in his letter. It is the same as you and I would write: ‘I hope this letter finds you all in good health and joyful spirits’. To claim that this is a promise from God is ludicrous.
• Matthew 21:22 - And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.
o James, the brother of Jesus and leader of the early church, explained to us that it is more than just faith. In fact he said that faith without works is dead. (James 2:14-26) What good does it do to want it, claim it, and believe it, if you are not walking with Jesus in all things? I would challenge all Christians with the statement that ‘works’ is obeying Christ in all things.
o James also said that we need to be asking for the right things, which I again challenge with being all those things that enable us to perform our duties as ministers of the message of reconciliation. (James 4:3, 2 Corinthians 5:18)
• John 14:12 - Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
o Jesus did not perform works that brought Him health, wealth and happiness. Before you go off claiming that you are going to do greater works than Jesus you had best consider what these works cost Jesus: no home, no money, persecution and eventually death. The apostles did great work but look what it cost them: all suffered and all but one was executed.
• Matthew 7:7 - Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
o Jesus is preaching the Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon He repeatedly teaches the difference between the Law and the New Covenant. In my humble opinion, Jesus is telling us that God is the source of all that we need: both physical and spiritual. If we seek to do the will of God, God will take care of us.
o It is also my opinion that the sermon of the mount has an underlying theme concerning the Kingdom of God. I would challenge that it would be more accurate to associate the ‘ask,’ ‘seek,’ and ‘knock’ with finding the Kingdom of God, than it is with finding prosperity.
It should be more than evident that prosperity preachers distort scripture in order to support belief in the existence of some miraculous faith. They turn faith into some magical force that transforms the spoken word into reality. It is not uncommon to hear a prosperity preacher say: “What is the desire of your heart? Name it, claim it by faith, and it is yours!” Or, “If you say it with enough faith it will happen!” Everything in prosperity theology hinges on the belief that we can obtain a magical faith, which turns the spoken word into reality. Some Prosperity Preachers go so far as to define this magical faith as a ‘spiritual power.’ They twist scriptures like Mark 11:22 and Hebrews 11:3 into saying that we can have the ‘faith of God,’ if we have enough faith. In reality, Mark 11:22 and Hebrews 11:3 say that we should have ‘faith in God.’ There in rests the most serious error of Prosperity Theology: it teaches we are the masters of faith and that we can achieve the same faith God used when He spoke the world into existence: prosperity theology is a theology of self-deification.
Note: The only reason prosperity theology prospers is because Christians are spiritually illiterate and can be lead away by demons in the guise of angels.
CONCLUSION
There is just enough truth in prosperity theology to make it spiritually dangerous for anyone to throw rocks at purveyors of this message. It is much like the tares and wheat parable, which serves to point out that our human attempts to police evil, can do more harm than good. (Matthew 13:24-30) For example, if you or I were with Paul, when Simon tried to buy the power of laying on of hand, I recon we might have run Simon off. Paul, however, simply told Simon that he had the wrong intent in his heart and that he needed to repent of this wickedness. (Acts 8:9-25) We need to understand that God does not need a Jesus police force to stop false evangelists; God will separate the tares from the wheat.
The important thing is for us to recognize how prosperity theology seriously misuses scriptures, especially scripture revealing the loving concern God has for His people. We can rest assured that God loves us; but, the fact remains that we live in a world ruled by Satan: who is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). Because Adam relinquished authority over the earth to Satan, all of creation and all of humanity are subject to the effects of Satan’s corruption. (Romans 8:18-30) This means it can be a natural occurrence for bad stuff to happen to faithful Christians, as well as heathens. When a tsunami hits an area you cannot say it happened because Christians in that area had no faith! When the summer weather is perfect for growing corn you cannot say it happened just because Christians displayed great faith. So you see, both Christian and heathen will generally experience natural happenings here on earth. Of course, people also need to be taught that good things can happen on earth because of the influence of God, in the same way as bad things can happen because of Satan’s influence over the earth; and this is true for both the just and the unjust. After all, God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45) Most assuredly God loves us; most assuredly God listens to our prayers; most assuredly God answers our prayers; but, it is a foolish person who believes they can control God’s blessings.
Prosperity theology teaches that God will do whatever you “name and claim,” which is the same as teaching that you have the power to manipulate God. I will be the first to agree that we are saved by grace through faith, for with our heart we believe in Jesus Christ and with our mouth we confess our acceptance of Him as our Lord and Savior. (Romans 10:8-10) But, to turn this scripture into a generic “name it and claim it” doctrine for manipulating God is utter foolishness. I do not doubt for one moment that God will bless us in accordance to our faith, which exists through our faithfulness as ministers of God’s reconciliation. But, to turn scriptures such as Mark 11:23-24 and 1 John 5:14-15 into a ‘faith doctrine’ for controlling God is blasphemous. God did not bless Job because Job named and claimed his blessings! God did not put a hedge around Job because Job named and claimed the existence of that hedge! God blessed and protected Job because Job was a righteous man and lived in accordance with the will of God. Prosperity theology is the preverbal perfection of snake oil; it makes the believer the source of their blessings instead of God.
This prosperity apostasy is the epidemy of human laziness and greed. Who but Satan would teach that you can possess a faith so powerful it will manipulate God into giving you whatever you want? Who but Satan could mesmerize people into believing that health, wealth and happiness are the focal points of their relationship with Jesus? It is just the opposite; earthly blessing get in the way of our relationship with God. Paul writes: “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) When a man asked Jesus to tell his brother to divide their inheritance, Jesus rebuked the man. Jesus went on to say: “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:13-21) Jesus then told the parable about the rich fool, who decided to build new barns to store his wealth but died before he could enjoy any of his wealth. And, when Paul counseled Timothy about the dangers of desiring wealth he told him: “But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.” (1 Timothy 6:6-11) The author of Hebrews also reminded the people that they should not desire earthly wealth, he said: “… be content with what you have, for he (Jesus) has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”” (Hebrews 13:5) It is a dangerous foolishness for a Christian to seek God’s blessings through grand displays of action and speech, especially when scripture makes it very clear that God’s blessing flow upon the righteous as God sees fit.
Brothers and sisters, we stand in direct opposition to prosperity theology and we do not war against preachers of this doctrine. We oppose all teachings that focus faith inward toward self-fulfillment; for these are teachings, which would lead the simple minded to view faith as a tool for manipulating the actions of God. We labor to free brothers and sisters from the prosperity theology spell, which has been induced by charismatic prosperity doctrine vendors. It is our duty to show our brothers and sister the fallacy of thinking faith can be used to manipulate God for personal gain. We expose Satan as the author of prosperity theology and its hidden message of self-deification. We stand in opposition to prosperity doctrine because scripture teaches that God uses the believer: the believer does not use God.
