The Truth About Prosperity Theology
A lot of the “feel good” preachers of today love to quote Romans 8:31 to get the people pumped up and ready to go for God. They say, “If God is for us who can be against us?” Then they try to get the people fired up and living on prosperity theology. They shout, and dance, and use all the right catch phrases to get everyone excited. But then the folks leave the church building and the excitement of the moment fades, and they go back to their ho-hum life. And the preacher says, “It is because they lacked proper faith that they did not receive the gifts.” I have a different reason why I think it didn’t work for them though. I believe that it is because the preachers and teachers are not rightly dividing the Word of God. I think it is because they are using a scripture that has nothing to do with worldly prosperity to teach the doctrine of worldly prosperity, which is a heretical doctrine in my opinion.
Please do not misunderstand what I am saying. I know that the Lord wants to prosper His children. However the way he wants to prosper us has nothing to do with the way the “world” understands prosperity. If we want to truly understand the prosperity God wants for his people we need to look at prosperity in the proper context. So let’s look at it properly here in the book of Romans. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:28-31
This is one of the most amazing passages on the prosperity God wants and has for us in the entire Bible. Let’s pick out some key promises to see just how amazing this is. First, for those who love God ALL things work together for good! Second, those who he justified he also glorified! Third, if God is for us, who can be against us? These words are amazing, they are amazing promises that are there for those who would receive them. But these promises are all to often twisted to be about wealth, health, and happiness, and far to seldom are they viewed in the context of the passage of scripture from which they are drawn.
We know that at this point of the book of Romans Paul has been hitting sanctification, or holiness, very hard. He is trying to bring light to the reader’s darkened understanding. And this is a place of amazing height, a pinnacle if you will. Paul is saying this to the Romans and to us. Men and brethren all things work together for your good, if you have been called according to God’s purpose, and here is your good. The people that God foreknew before he laid the foundations of the world were not only to be saved, but they were also predestined to be holy as the Son is holy. This is so that Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers, and not a son of God alone. You see God called us, justified us by Christ’s blood, and then glorified us by giving us a place of honor. We are a part of the royal family. And if this is God’s plan for us, to become holy as He is holy, who can thwart it and stop it from happening?
This is God’s prosperous plan for us. He is going to prosper us spiritually, to not only make us sons by adoption, but to also teach us what it is to live in the family, and to become like the family. A person who is adopted into a family who lived a long time in another family has to unlearn his old habits. Even though he is a part of the new family, the things he did in the old family sometimes come up and happen again. Yet the Father adopted him into the new family BEFORE he lived up to the new family’s standard, promising that he would give all the help the son needed to live rightly in the new family. I want you to be pumped up on prosperity, I want you to be excited about God prospering you, but I want you to be excited about the real promise of prosperity and not a lie that men like to tell. You can live holy because God has already glorified you by giving you a place of honor is his family, and you CAN learn to live in it if you will just believe God, and believe that he wants it for you. This is God’s prosperous plan for your life.
Father God,
I know that I have been adopted into your family, and that you have given me a place of honor as your child. Lord help me to live this out in my life by fulfilling your promise to me to be able to live holy by your power. Father I admit that I have not always believed this, and have thus made you out to be a liar because of my unbelief in your plain word. Forgive me for this and help me as I seek you. In the precious name of Jesus I pray, Amen.
posted by Pastor Jerry at
7:36 AM
4 Comments:
Amen, amen, and amen.
Prosperity Theology (the "Word-Faith," "Name-it-and-claim-it" or "Health and Wealth" Gospel) is - no holds barred - heresy. It is based on a heretical understanding of who God is, who Jesus is, and what faith is. John Byrne, another Alliance pastor, blogs today on how essential it is to teach the core doctrines of the faith. The popularity of the word-faith movement is one key, key example of how important it is.
John's blog is at http://www.pjs-web.net/blogs/2006/11/essential-faith.html
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CrimsonLine, at 8:31 AM
For the sake of argument, what do you make of biblical passages which seem to indicate that God desires to bless His people with material prosperity as well as spiritual prosperity? Granted, most of these are in the Old Testament, and they appear to be a condition of obedience to the Old Covenant (the Law of Moses).
From what I understand, Christians in the Word of Faith Movement believe that the Old Testament promises of financial prosperity are no longer a condition of obedience to the Mosaic Law but apply to all those who are heirs in Christ. These promises, they say, are no longer obtained by works but are ours through the grace of God, along with all the other blessings Christ obtained for us when He died on the cross (this is similar to A. B. Simpson's teachings about healing). Although the prosperity teachings of the Word of Faith Movement have been horribly abused at times, I don’t think there’s any biblical reason to believe that God doesn’t want His people to prosper financially. Several New Testament disciples were quite wealthy, but they used their finances to expand God’s Kingdom and provide for those in need. This is the proper use of wealth; it is a tool to serve God, not a means of benefiting ourselves alone.
Recently in my own church, a guest preacher delivered a sermon on this topic, and he offered some interesting insights. He said the idea that wealth is to be shunned came from Greek philosophy, which taught that the physical and spiritual are completely separate realms. When this idea made its way into the Church (specifically the Roman Catholic Church), piety became synonymous with poverty; the less you had in the way of material possessions and comforts, the more pious you were (this is where Catholic vows of poverty and the monastic movement originated). This same preacher also warned against the opposite extreme, which is the spirit of Mammon and includes greed, covetousness, parsimony, and self reliance (the prideful idea that financial blessings are a result of our own hard work alone and not the grace of God).
I would also be careful about throwing the word “heretical” around too freely. I know many dear Christians who are part of the Word of Faith Movement, and they are far from being heretics. They are Christ-loving people who have a passion to see wealth released for the advancement of God’s Kingdom and the salvation of the lost.
VERSES TO CONSIDER:
"Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers" (Deuteronomy 30:9).
"Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture." (Isaiah 30:23)
"Great wealth is in the house of the righteous, but trouble is in the income of the wicked." (Proverbs 15:6)
“The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.” (Proverbs 10:22).
"The reward of humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, honor, and life." (Proverbs 22:4)
"The LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. The LORD will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully." (Deuteronomy 28:11-13)
"Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, and my yield better than choicest silver." (Proverbs 8:18-19)
“I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor will I satisfy with food” (Psalm 132:15).
"All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God:
Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.
Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out." (Deuteronomy 28:2-6)
“He raises the poor from the dust and the needy from the ash heap” (Psalm 113:7).
"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4: 19).
"You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is alos overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God" (2 Corinthians 9:11-12).
"There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need" (Acts 4:34-35).
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Julie, at 5:46 PM
I don't disagree at all that God does bless some of his children with wealth to advance His Kingdom. Scripture is very clear that if we are obedient in tithing and offering, as well as the rest of our walk, God will supply our every NEED. However the Word of Faith movement would teach that you can name it, claim it, and it is yours regardless of what God wants for you. The Apostle Paul was a man of great faith, yet many times he was without food, and had to make a living sewing tents. Does God bless us financially by providing all of our needs if we are obedient? Yes. Does he make us rich just because we are obedient or because we ask for it? I don't think so. If you look at the parables of Jesus dealing with money each servant is given a different amount. It is what we do with what we are entrusted with. If we could all just "claim" the wealth I think Jesus would have taught it, but what he seems to have taught instead was that each person would be entrusted with what he saw fit to give them.
As far as using the word heretical goes it is heresy in my opinion as I stated before. If someone in the Word of Faith movement is offended by that I am sorry. But calling it heresy is no different than saying that people who deny the trinity are heretics.
Meriam Webster's 11th Edition Collegiate Dictionary defines heresy as an opinion, doctrine, or practice contrary to the truth or to generally accepted beliefs or standards.
I am not trying to start a conversation about Spiritual gifts but I want to use the "if you are baptized in the Spirit you will speak in tongues" false doctrine. So evidence based doctrine of being baptized with the Spirit having to be accompanied by tongues is also a heresy, or heretical belief as defined by Webster's dictionary. We can prove that by showing it the book of Acts four times when someone new was baptized with the Spirit and tongues did not accompany the baptism. There are tons of people who would be offended by that statement. But just because they are offended doesn't mean that the statement is wrong.
I know many good men and women who hold to false doctrines and beliefs and those false beliefs are heresy plain and simple. I might even have some heretical beliefs myself that I am not aware are heresy. For instance I once believed that space went on infinitely, that it had no end. I since have discovered that only God is infinite and so outer space must end somewhere, even if I don't understand it. So my false belief that I used to have about space being infinite was heretical. Does it mean that I was a blatant heretic trying to lead people astray? No it doesn't, but it was contrary to the truth, and so that particular belief was heretical. So while I am careful about using the word heretical, heresy, or heretic I won't not use it just because someone might get offended by it. I think the fact that we are so sensitive to offending people by calling a lie a lie that it is the reason so many cults are running around leading people straight to the gates of hell.
Anyway I look forward to hearing your reply on this. I love working through tough issues and being stretched so please stretch me and help me to grow in my faith by posting a reply.
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Pastor Jerry, at 9:48 PM
Thanks for clarifying your perspective on this issue, Pastor Jerry; I think we probably agree more than we disagree. For instance, I don’t think we should avoid saying a particular belief is heretical simply because we don’t wish to offend people. However, I think heresy is an extremely strong accusation and should be reserved for teachings that are contrary to primary doctrines of Scripture, such as the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, the Resurrection, etc. A belief can be wrong or false without necessarily being heretical (to me, a heretical teaching denies the basic, fundamental truths of Christianity). As far as I understand, prosperity teachings generally do not fall into that category, though I suppose some of the more extreme variations could, such as those that border on New Age mysticism. The Christians I know who would consider themselves part of the Word of Faith movement do not believe you can “claim” something God does not want you to have. They believe we must submit to His will and His sovereignty—to surrender our wishes to His.
I also have a serious problem with Christians who claim that ALL believers should possess financial wealth and that those who don’t lack sufficient faith to receive this blessing. The preacher I referred to in my previous post mentioned that there is a spiritual gift of voluntary poverty—that some believers are called by God to renouce worldly riches in order to identify with the poor. There are many instances in Scripture where the Lord commends believers who are poor yet still share their resources with those in need.
I agree with you that God does not make us rich just because we are obedient, and here’s where I believe the biggest distortion of biblical propersity has arisen. I have gone to several churches where the promise of prosperity was dangled like a carrot in front of the congregation on the condition that they pay their tithe. We should not tithe because we believe we will receive a financial reward; we should always give as an act of worship to the Lord. I’ve heard preachers make absolutely outrageous claims about the so-called rewards/benefits of tithing, and it made me sick. It also made me wonder what covenant they are under: the old or the new.
I’ve enjoyed discussing this with you and being stretched in my own faith. This is definitely a tough issue to work through, but I’m glad we can talk about it as a brother and sister in Christ. :)
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Julie, at 11:35 PM
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