Prosperity Gospel

After a conversation with someone it prompted research into the topic of “prosperity gospel” and of course that means to look in the Bible for God’s word on the matter. Below is what The Lord has instructed to be shared. We would think that believers would know what prosperity gospel is and that it is not good. However it’s apparent that this is not the case. We see evidence of prosperity gospel not only in the world but also among believers. We see some mega churches filled by the work of prosperity gospel teachers. Some who attend have been deceived into believing that this is God’s way. Some in attendance find believing what this teaches to be easier than following God and learning what His word really tells us. We see it in many churches and the concept has infiltrated itself into the thoughts, beliefs and actions of many believers. 

Can you recognize prosperity gospel teaching? Some people have no problem recognizing when a televangelist is teaching prosperity gospel or when a certain person is tagged as being such a preacher. However if it was being shared in a sermon you were listening to, in a speech given where you attended or you heard someone talking about it in a conversation would you recognize it as prosperity gospel?

Prosperity gospel is not something we should label with people, churches or ministries. We need to know what it is and why it is wrong. So we can recognize it in all aspects of our own lives, in our worship and in our Bible study as we live out our Christian lives. It’s about how we approach God. Prosperity Gospel is like a vending machine approach we put something in and expect something in return. That should never be our approach to God as believers. We should never look at it as I believe, I have faith, I go to church, I pay tithes and because of that I am entitled to get something back from God. The problem with this attitude and with prosperity gospel as a whole is that it’s very me-centered. I want something, I expect something, I’m going to name it, claim it, give extra money, sew a seed and expect that God will give us this thing we want. Prosperity gospel is not what we should be focused on. We should say God my life is yours and if you never give me anything. If I must suffer every day for the rest of my life I am yours Lord. Proverbs 3:5; Jeremiah 18:6 and 2 Corinthians 12:8-9. Yes this is hard. It sounds easy to pray a prayer asking for something and expect God will give it. God does not exist to give us what we want in life. This is not His purpose. He is not to be viewed and treated as someone that waves a wand and gives us all our wants. Yes God is good and He wants to give us good gifts and wants to bless us. He has, does and will bless us. He wants us to come to him in prayer with our needs and yes even our desires. That is not what we are talking about here.

We have to realize that we have already been given totally more than we could ever understand or imagine on the cross. Psalms 103:13; Matthew 7:11. If anyone for one second thinks “yea I know that but uhhhh” then they’re missing the whole point of the cross. The cross is so good. Christ defeating death as the substitutionary atonement, perhaps this will explain. Christ was the final lamb sacrifice. He was 100% man and 100% God. He lived a perfect life, died on the cross. He was the payment for sin. So how could we want anything more? We don’t have to fear pain, we don’t have to fear sickness, our suffering here on earth is a time of great fellowship with Jesus Christ. Those times are when we draw closer to Him and He draws closer to us. James 4:8. If we have accepted Jesus into our heart as our Savior and we have made the choice to have faith and follow Jesus then we don’t have to fear the grave when we die here on earth because we have the promise of eternal life. Absolutely nothing can separate believers from Him. Romans 8:38-39. We’ve been given everything. While we do want things at times we must remember that we have everything we need in Christ Psalms 63:3.

If we’re honest we will admit that we struggle with this. We see lots of good people struggle with this. Even in the Bible we see people fall because they struggled with this. We see the fall of Adam and Eve In Genesis 3:6. Eve was being me-centered. So was Adam when he said to God “The woman you made gave me the fruit and I ate it” Genesis 3:12. We see right after the fall of Adam and Eve we see the 1st promise of Jesus from God when He speaks to the evil one In Genesis 3:15. David was also being me-centered when he took Bathsheba and killed Uriah. 2 Samuel 11, 12; 1 Kings 1: 1-53 Israel was me-centered when they built the golden calf. God was silent for a time and they got inpatient and built a calf (a false idol) trying to get what they wanted in their time, in their way. Exodus 32:1–4. Time after time God still redeems them. Israel was still Israel not because of their worthiness but because of God’s constant steadfast love, favor and kindness. The Hebrew word used “Ḥeseḏ” describes specifically God’s ‘love or mercy’ towards humanity. It is not dependent on who we are, how much we fail or don’t fail. It is about who God is, His good nature, His love. Because He is that good Father and wants to give us that good gift. Matthew 7:11. It’s also about more than just not being me-centered.

Prosperity Gospel is also about adding rules to scriptures and following them because you believe you will get things and be blessed by God for following those rules that have been added to scripture. Claiming to believe the Bible is good, that like it says in Hebrews 4:12 that God’s word is the inherent word of God, it’s alive and cuts like a two-edged sword but then to go along with man adding rules to the Bible such as that women can’t wear pants, that we must sew a seed of money and on and on. Can you think of a rule that we have been taught that is not in the Bible?. Adding rules on top of what God felt was necessary to inform us of in His word (The Bible) is as if we are saying God’s Word isn’t enough and we need man to add to it. The concept of ‘I put in this and I get this back. I worship you, love you and believe in you and I get this back from you’. This is not theology. Theos = God which means it is God-Centered. Prosperity gospel is Me-Ology. What we think about this world and our relationship with God should not have us at the center. We exist to glorify God, by knowing Him, loving Him, worshiping Him, obeying Him, praising Him, enjoying Him, learning more of Him. 1 Corinthians 10:31; Romans 11:36.

We must know and understand that our holiness does not depend on us. It is dependent on Christ, on The Cross. Ephesians 2:1-9 says we will fail, we’re messed up, we’re sinners, we’re broken. God is rich in His mercy. While we were dead in our trespasses, if we believed and we were saved then we were made alive in Christ. It’s not about us setting a hedge of rules around us to get blessings. That is misplaced attention. Our focus should be on Christ. Prosperity gospel teaches we have to earn His blessing, earn stuff from Him by putting in. That is not worship. We are a sinner and we don’t deserve anything but death. We are thankful for God’s grace and mercy that His love for us was so great that he sent His only son to earth to live the perfect life, without sin, to be rejected, beaten and to willingly give His life to die on a cross for the sins of the world. He doesn’t owe us anything. We owe Him everything. We worship Him for who He is and what He’s done for us.

So how do we recognize Prosperity gospel? Here are a few red flags to look for. When the teacher/preacher is the primary focus and not Christ, when making money and prospering is at the forefront of why you worship , when you’re not learning more about what God’s word says from the bible, when they’re adding rules that you do not find in the Bible, when what the teacher/preacher says is the focus and not what God’s word says. This also applies to you as a believer. When you are focused more on what you want from God than what Christ did for you, when you focus more on getting rich, or being prosperous than you focus on your relationship with Christ. If any of this is true then you may want to refocus and evaluate where you are in your relationship with Jesus Christ because perhaps prosperity gospel has infiltrated your thinking and your life as a Christian believer.