Beware the Prosperity Gospel

Beware the Prosperity Gospel For many years now, prosperity theology has been spreading like wildfire. It's based on the idea that if you give more tithes and offerings to the church, God will bless you with great health and material wealth. Here are some scriptures that seem to be the basis of this movement. Malachi 3:10 (New International Version) 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. Deuteronomy 8:18 (New International Version) 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. We should give our offerings to God, but those offerings aren't always money. Our offerings should include our time that we spend doing God's work, such as volunteering to help in the ministry, giving to foodbanks, helping homeless shelters, helping children's homes, helping senior citizens, and so on. It's also the time we spend reading and studying God's Word, our bible, and time we spend praying. It's not always the cash or check we put in the offering plate, which is something these prosperity preachers won't tell you. I'm not telling you to stop giving tithes and offerings to your church. If you enjoy the church you attend, you should help to keep it going, which your offerings do. On the other hand, your tithes shouldn't be used to keep these ministers up in multi-million dollar mansions, driving Bentley's and Rolls Royces, wearing suits that cost thousands of dollars, flying in private jets, and in one case I know of, owning their own airport. This is not what the scriptures tell me. Here are some scriptures that I'm sure these prosperity pimps as a minister I respect calls them surely don't want to remind you of. Psalm 51:15-17 (New King James Version) 15 O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise. 16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise. Matthew 19:16-21 (New King James Version) Jesus Counsels the Rich Young Ruler 16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good[a] Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” 17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good?[b] No one is good but One, that is, God.[c] But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’[d] and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”[e] 20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth.[f] What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Do these prosperity preachers resemble the teachings of Jesus now? In Psalm 51, we are told that God would rather have us have a broken and contrite heart than to give offerings. That doesn't mean broken by the world, but broken in the sense that we have given our spirit over to God. In the scripture from Matthew, the wealthy young man asks Jesus how he can enter into heaven. Jesus tells him to sell all he owns, give to the poor, and follow Him. How many prosperity preachers would give up all of their material possessions in order to follow Christ? I don't like to bad mouth other ministers and I won't name names here, but to me, the prosperity gospel is a cancer on the Christian world. It's nothing more than vultures twisting the gospel to serve their own purposes: To make money and lots of it! To make it worse, I've seen some people who were truely inspired and blessed by some of these minister's sermons and I don't want to ruin those blessings and possibly drive those people away from God by exposing these false prophets for what they are, but I don't want to see these same people throw away their earnings so that these deceivers can live in the lap of luxury while their congregation barely scrapes by either. So, what are we to do? These profiteers make themselves out to be saints, but are swindlers and snakeoil salesmen in reality. Matthew 7:15 (King James Version) 15Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. In closing, the prosperity gospel goes against everything that I believe. The bible tells me that we will be rewarded for living by God's Word and giving our offerings to Him with great rewards in heaven, not with material wealth in this world. In the last few years of my life that have been the beginning of my ministry, I have not accepted any offerings for myself. I have paid for the website of our ministry from my own pocket, paid for all of the supplies that I use in this ministry myself, and paid for all of my travelling expenses myself when I have gone out to minister myself. I have in no way used the gospel of Christ for my own personal gain. So, the next time you see an evangelist on television telling you to send in money in order to 'sow seeds', think about whether they can say the same. Are they trying to help you grow closer to God or are they just trying to help themselves to your bank account? Your brother in Christ, Pete. Pete 5-22-10