Yesterday we discussed the premise of the prosperity gospel, which is based on misinterpreting and twisting Scripture. Today we continue with the biblical teaching on the same concepts:
1. Wealth. Our Lord warned that life does not consist of being wealthy, in direct contradiction to the claims of the PG proponents:
• Lk 12:15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Ultimately, the prosperity gospel is greedy, and greed is idolatry. It is a root of all kinds of evil, leading men astray as evidenced by the financial scandals of the leaders of the Word-Faith Movement:
• Eph 5:5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
• 1 Tim 6:9-10 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
2. Health. Although God wishes us well, Christians are not exempt from sickness, because we live in a fallen world cursed because of sin and subject to decay:
• Rom 8:20-21 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Lazarus, the one whom Jesus loved, (Jn 11:3) fell sick and even died. Epaphroditus was ill and almost died (Phil 2:27). Paul left Trophimus sick in Miletus (2 Tim 4:20). These people did not lack faith, as accused by PG proponents. It is they who are self-deceived, for to redefine sickness as unreal and only a lie of the devil is to be like an ostrich burying its head in the sand and refusing to face reality. James even left instructions as to what to do when someone is sick:
• Jas 5:14-15 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.
I would take the words of Paul and James anytime over those of PG proponents.
3. Word-Faith. Our words can be powerful, but only in the context of prayer meeting God’s conditions:
• Jas 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Our Lord taught us to ask for anything, but only in His name:
• Jn 14:14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
• Jn 16:23-24 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
In His name does not mean tagging a “in Jesus name” at the end of our petitions. It means asking as if Jesus Himself was making the request, and we know He will ask only for what is according to the Father’s will.
• 1 Jn 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
And we will do that when we keep His commands and do what pleases Him:
• 1 Jn 3:22 and receive from Him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases Him.
This is exactly the opposite of the prosperity gospel, which wants to manipulate God to give us what we want, to please ourselves. God becomes our servant, a giver of gifts, a vending machine. When we insert our “seed faith” offering, God is obligated to return our investment many fold. Ultimately it is man-centered and a denial of the cross, the narrow gate and the narrow road. Don’t even go near it, and warn others about it.
RayKLiu 