There’s the story about a soldier who was in the midst of a battle. Bullets were flying, bombs exploding all around him, and he’s digging a foxhole for all he’s worth. Suddenly (as he’s digging) he feels something metal and he grabs it. It’s a silver cross! Just then, another shell explodes nearby and he buries his head in his arms. He feels someone jump in the foxhole beside him and he looks over and sees an Army Chaplain. The soldier looks at the cross and then looks at the chaplain. He hands the cross over to chaplain and says “I sure am glad to see you. How do you get this thing to work?”
For the next few weeks we’re going to be talking about Fake News. Now, we’re not going to be discussing POLITICAL fake news, that might be spread by certain folks in the media (that’s not what we’re here for). Instead, we’re talking about spiritual fake news spread by false teachers, and charlatans. Satan uses that fake news (called false teaching) to get us sidetracked in our faith. Now, how would we know if something is fake news? What source could we look to, to check out whether or not someone is lying to us? That’s right… we’d look to the Bible. It’s the only reliable source of truth that we have. And if we don’t know the Bible as well as we should, we become easy prey for false teachers who would spread fake news.
This morning we’re going to talk about something called the “Prosperity Gospel.” It goes by other names like “The Word of Faith Movement” and “The Seed Faith Movement.” A common phrase these folks often use is “Name it and Claim it.” That statement - "Name it and claim it" - is code for the idea that if you want a specific blessing from God all you need do is VERBALLY declare the blessing, then claim it… and it will be yours.
One man put it this way: “As part of the ‘God class,’ (as Word of Faith teachers say) I had absolute authority to create my own world through positive thinking and FAITH-BASED CONFESSIONS. “Faith based confessions” is another way to say “name it and claim it”. (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-god-saved-me-from-the-prosperity-gospel/)
The reason this type of Spiritual Fake News is called the “Prosperity Gospel” is because the promise of prosperity from God is the core of their teaching. You want to have money? Basically, you just name it and claim it… and you got it!!!!
Creflo Dollar (a leading preacher in this movement) taught: "Some people come to me and say, well I came here to get some peace, not money, and I tell them, you NEED money, otherwise you ain't gunna get no peace."
"Some people say it's about peace, joy and love. NO!! It's about MONEY!... God is trying to put material wealth into your hands.”
In an interview with a publication called “The Christian Post, Joel Osteen said “I believe God wants you to prosper in your health, in your family, in your relationships, in your business, and in your career. So… if THAT is the prosperity gospel, then I do believe that.” “If you are struggling financially, then you have NOT got the victory. God didn't create you to be average or poor.”
Now that sounds pretty good to me! Where do I sign up? Exactly how can I become healthy, wealthy and wise?
Kenneth Hagin (1917–2003) taught that the Holy Spirit could make you rich, healthy, and anointed with spiritual gifts IF YOU WOULD JUST HAVE ENOUGH FAITH to "name it and claim it.”
Joel Osteen stated: “If you want success, if you want wisdom, if you want to be prosperous and healthy, you’re going to have to do more than meditate and believe; YOU MUST BOLDLY DECLARE WORDS OF FAITH and victory over yourself and your family” (From Your Best Life Now, p.132). The term “Words of Faith” is another code phrase for “name it and claim it.”
Creflo Dollar declared “When we pray, believing that we have ALREADY RECEIVED what we are praying, GOD HAS NO CHOICE but to make our prayers come to pass.... It is a key to getting results as a Christian.”
God has no choice? Seriously??? Sounds like I’ve become the master… and God has become the slave. This is heresy, false teaching, and a lie from the pit of hell – can I be any clearer about my distaste for this teaching?
ILLUS: This teaching is so pervasive that a common tactic for many of these preachers is the “Seed Money” appeal letter. They’ll send letters to people saying that God wants to bless them. If you’ll just send in a donation called "seed money" you are promised that God will reward you financially in proportion to the size of your "seed". (THE MORE YOU GIVE/THE MORE YOU GET!)
One man told of receiving one such letter. The letter said that God would reward him 100 times over for any money he’d send to ministry. It declared that - if he would give $10 God would bless him with $1,000 and if he gave $1,000 God would bless him with $100,000.
Immediately, the man sat down wrote the preacher this letter. “I fully understand and believe in what you’re saying. But I believe if I just sent you this money I would be robbing you of a blessing. If I send you money… all you’ll receive is my paltry $10 or $20 and I believe that God wants to reward your ministry a more powerful way. Therefore, if you’ll send a donation to ME, I believe God will bless you 100xs over. Enclosed you’ll find a stamped/self-addressed envelope. If you send me $10, you’ll receive from God $1000. If you send me $1000 God will give you $100,000.”
IT’S CALLED - A HOAX – FOLKS. Don’t encourage these guys!
Now, as I was working on this sermon I struggled with this idea because I believe in a mighty God who can do mighty things. I believe that WHEN WE PRAY - if God wants to make us rich… He’ll make us rich; if He wants to heal us … He’ll heal us; if He wants to make us important… He’ll make us important.
The problem with the Prosperity Gospel, the Word of Faith movement and the Name It and Claim It theology is that warps the teachings of God. It’s like that soldier in the foxhole wanting to use the cross like a magic wand. This teaching tries to turn faith into a magical incantation. All you have to do is say the “Word of Faith” and “Presto-Chango, Alacazam” … God pops out, like a genie from the lamp, willing to grant your 3 wishes
THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS!!!
Our text today says “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” James 1:2. Some of the best Christians are going to suffer. Some of the most faithful brothers and sisters in Christ are going go through trials and tribulations and persecutions.
Peter said: “Dear friends, DO NOT BE SURPRISED at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” I Peter 4:12-13
Jesus said “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:11-12
ILLUS: One of the stories I read told of a couple who lost their first 2 children some time shortly after birth. The husband wrote: “In 2003 my wife and I lost our first child... Turmoil ensued for me and my equally Word of Faith-filled wife. How could God let the Devil overrun us like this? Well-meaning church people suggested our calamity could be due to sin in our lives, or to a curse, or, as I firmly believed, to a lack of faith. My grieving wife and I spent months repenting of possible hidden sin. We also sought answers from our families in case of a generational curse —a dominant teaching in the Word of Faith movement.” (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-god-saved-me-from-the-prosperity-gospel/)
Too often, in these “prosperity gospel” churches – folks are taught to believe that poverty or suffering of any kind - is caused by a lack of faith. It’s THEIR fault that they are poor or struggling.
(PAUSE) So why do people flock to these false teachers? What could cause folk to follow a teaching that blamed them for all their own difficulties? Well… these preachers promise their followers that God wants to make them healthy, wealthy, and wise. All you have to do follow their advice, send in your seed money, And It’s All Yours!
That’s a highly motivating promise!
One person put it this way: “Lord, give me the strength to change the things I can, the grace to accept the things I cannot, and a GREAT BIG BAG of money.”
Now, granted, God’s People ARE often wealthier and healthier and wiser than others around them. That’s just what happens when you live your life obeying God. It has nothing to do with saying a “word of Faith” or “naming it and claiming it.” It has everything to do with being loyal to God.
One of my favorite verses says “the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9
GOD IS LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO REWARD FOR THEIR FAITHFULNESS!
He’s looking for someone like you. Someone like me. He’s looking for any man or woman who is willing to make Him first their lives to strengthen and encourage.
But when it comes to being successful in this world, that’s really NOT our goal. How successful we are is not how God wants us to measure our standing with Him. You see… the followers of the Prosperity Gospel have fallen into the same trap everyone seems to fall into.
Remember in the Old Testament - the story of Job? Job lost everything that he’d had… and then 3 friends drop by to “cheer him up.” They’ve all decided that Job’s suffering has been caused by a secret sin. One of those “friends” named Bildad said “if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him, if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent THEN you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear.” Job 11:13-15
You see, Job’s friends thought that successful people were successful because they were righteous… and righteous people deserved to be blessed by God! Therefore, righteous people don’t suffer! It just can’t happen.
The disciples had the same problem. Jesus tells them that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. And do you remember what the disciples asked?
Well then, who can be saved? Why did they ask the question? They asked because rich people were rich because God had blessed them. If the RICH can’t get into heaven… well, WHO can???
In the book of James, Christians were warned about that kind of thinking. “If a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place," while you say to the poor man, "You stand over there," or, "Sit down at my feet," have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not GOD CHOSEN THOSE WHO ARE POOR in the world to be RICH IN FAITH and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” James 2:2-5
Jesus said it this way: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21
For those who preach the Prosperity Gospel… where is their treasure? Well, they teach that their “Word of Faith”/ “Name it and Claim it” theology brings them health, wealth and great success. Their focus is on storing up treasure on earth… not in heaven!
You know, some of the most impressive Christians who ever lived were the Apostles. Paul, Peter, James, John, Matthew and all the rest - they were great men whom God used to do great miracles. In II Corinthians 12:12 we’re told “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you… with signs and wonders and mighty works.” These apostles healed people, raised folk from the dead. They did all kinds of things that you and I can’t do! It’s hard to imagine anyone who was a greater follower of Christ.
But now, tell me – do you think that Peter, James and John rode around in an expensive chariot or lived in an huge mansion. No… I don’t think so!
But Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer – they do stuff like that! Not that I necessarily begrudge them their great wealth. But when they try to tell me that their wealth is because they were more favored by God than the poor and suffering of this world… I get really annoyed.
Do you think life was easy for the Apostles? Do you think they made a lot of money - money selling lots of books and DVDs about their teachings? No… I don’t think so! The books and letters they wrote were paid for with their blood and martyrdom.
Did you realize that, with the exception of John, every one of them died as martyrs for Christ? Paul was imprisoned and ultimately beheaded for his faith. Peter was crucified upside down because he didn’t feel worthy to die in the same way Jesus did. Thomas was run through with a spear. James was beaten, stoned and then clubbed to death. And on and on and on.
But, Prosperity Preachers will rarely tell you about that part of the Scriptures. It doesn’t fit the mold. It doesn’t fit into their theology. But the majority of the Apostles were martyrs because they believed it was an honor to die for their Master.
CLOSE: Years ago, I studied Greek, and I learned something really cool about James 1:2. The ESV says “Count it all joy… when you meet trials of various kinds.” But I learned that Greek is a very different language than English, and it can be a little awkward to translate a verse literally. But (in the Greek) James 1:2 literally says “Go before all things with Joy…” NO matter the suffering, the trials the persecution: “Go before all things with Joy…” because YOU KNOW the life is only for a while.
“This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue…”
ILLUS: Fanny Crosby was a prolific songwriter. During her lifetime she wrote more than 8,000 hymns and songs. In fact, she wrote so many hymns that she would often submit many of them to hymnal companies… under a different name (hymnal folk were a little close-minded about having a hymnal totally filled with songs by one writer). Among the hymns Fanny wrote were these well-known songs: “To God Be the Glory,” “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross,” “I Am Thine, O Lord,” and “Blessed Assurance.”
But the amazing thing about her skill was that, when she wrote all those songs, she was blind. When she was only 6 weeks old she had a minor eye inflammation and the doctor who treated her was careless. As a result she totally and permanently blind all her life. Someone once asked her if she was bitter toward that doctor. She answered: “If I could meet him now, I would say thank you, over and over again for making me blind.”
She felt that her blindness was a gift from God to help her write the hymns that changed so many lives. And she said that her greatest joy was going to be that when she made it to heaven… the 1st face she’d see would that of Jesus.
INVITATION
