Prosperity?

I had to write this blog because there is a growing movement in the modern church which is most dangerous. It is sometimes called the "prosperity gospel" or "word of faith" movement. I'm also going to pick on one leader in this movement because judging by the size of his flock he is leading many astray. Simply put this movement teaches that God wants believers to be wealthy. It teaches that the price Jesus paid on the cross not only brings spiritual, but material prosperity as well as physical healing. Leaders in this movement encourage believers to pray to the point of demanding that God give them financial success. You'll sometimes hear them say "name it and claim it". Some will even go as far as to say Jesus had a nice house, and was wealthy himself. They teach if you just have enough faith then your faith is a spiritual force that will cause you to obtain your wealth and healing. If you do not prosper you simply don't have enough faith.

Let me be perfectly clear. Jesus Christ did NOT die on the cross to give you a big house, an SUV, or designer clothes. Jesus Christ died to take the punishment for your sins so that you may be saved. If Christ died just so you could have THINGS then he paid much to high a price for your STUFF. Sure God chooses to bless some believers with more financially, some he chooses not to according to HIS purpose.


Now, I said I was going to pick on one of their leaders. That leader is Joel Osteen. He stands on his stage with his big smile and teaches exactly the false gospel I described before. Then, he gets on national TV, and when faced with the question that any truth teaching pastor should jump at the chance to answer YES! to, he waffles. Observe:



(by the way, here is the CORRECT answer from the bible:
(John 14:6) Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
(Acts 4:12) And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.)

He was even given more than one chance to say yes, and he did not. My wife use to watch him now and then. I watched him once, and the one time I watched him he altered the bible to fit his sermon. A good pastor will pick a scripture and expound on its meaning. This joker writes a feel good sermon and shoe horns the bible to fit it. I showed my wife the above video and she no longer watches him. Why should he want to say Jesus is the only way though? He wants people to buy his door stops he calls books. He doesn't want to offend anyone.

Be very careful. The bible gives a strong warning:

(Galatians 1:8-9)
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

This is the danger of the prosperity gospel. It's a feel good movement meant to fill seats and fill offering plates and sell books. But there is no substance to it.

This I proclaim with great importance! Jesus died on the cross to give you much more than a big house or a fancy car. He died on the cross so you could have a mansion in Heaven, not on earth. He died on the cross so that you may be clothed in HIS righteousness not designer clothes. Most of all he did it because he LOVES you! Trust in him, acknowledge that He alone is Lord, Repent of your sins and he WILL save you!

I wrote a blog in 2007 that fits this topic well:

http://super-hampster.blogspot.com/2007/04/parable-of-parachute.html

Things that don't work.

Sometimes God lets things happen to show human beings that it won't work.  As humans we gravitate on wanting to do things on our own. I believe that was what most of the Old Testiment was all about. God set up a system to where if they would obeyed His laws He would be their God and they would be his people. The problem with that is His standards are too high for us to acheive. This system of doing to gain favor with God does't work. He knew it wouldn't. He had to show us that so when He gave us a system of grace we'd get it. The same goes now for why I think God let Obama win in 2008. America had to see that liberalism doesn't work. Judging by all the elections since he took office I'm hopeful that we're getting the hint.