NOT OFTEN DO I AGREE WITH STUFF ONLINE (sometimes, not even my own stuff), BUT I READ AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY CRUX that addressed the issue of THE PROSPERITY GOSPEL, which traces its origins to the United States in the late 19th century, views wealth and success as synonymous with true religious conviction and consequently, sees “poverty, sickness and unhappiness” as a lack of faith.
This idea of “send ME your seed” and you’ll be healthy, wealthy, and wise is a hoax. Don’t fall for it! The idea that you can pursue the American dream by sending money to someone who lives in luxury doesn’t make Biblical sense. This idea of affluence associated with Christian theology crawls with the snake that deceived Eve.
By the way, those same positive speaking guys and gals, although making us feel good, cannot “heal” everyone; maybe no one. If we simply say that God can heal EVERYONE, no one would ever die. Spiritual vitality is far deeper than anything physical.
Evil is always parasitic! As with Eve, the Evil One will always appeal to those areas of life in which we are most vulnerable; sex as pleasure – lust, money to bring self-gratification – greed, having a physical god – idolatry, pride and arrogance or anything that replaces the goodness of God. Evil resides in our will, our choices. There is nothing in this world more powerful than the power of our free-will. When we give in to those destructive things, those attitudes toward base desires, sin occurs. Sin is much more than holding your little bow and missing the bullseye. Sin was so destructive that it created within the human being a toxic, poisonous mental and emotional stew causing terrifying consequences. It is so bad that it put Christ on the cross!
To consider serving the Lord God a celestial vehicle for prosperity is the height of selfish greed.
God is not a plaything. His church is not to be “used” to satisfy greed. And for sure, the poor and unsuspecting should not be used to purchase someone’s Gulf Stream IV. Oh I know, we have considered old fashioned the idea of Christian theology …; “its boring.” But you know what? It would be wonderful to hear the powerful Word of God preached so that “heaven came down and glory filled my soul.” Most of the time, however, we … “tell [our] spiritual leaders, ‘Don’t bother us with irrelevancies.’ They tell their preachers, ‘Don’t waste our time on impracticalities. Tell us what makes us feel better. Don’t bore us with obsolete religion. That stuff means nothing to us. Quit hounding us ….’”
Isaiah 30:8-11 (msg)
No wonder the popular thing today is a church Rock concert with a “Speecher” telling us how good we are and how we deserve to “think and grow rich.” Oh, and this is after we went shopping in the church mall buying our Starbucks and picking up the latest T-shirt that says, “Don’t Blame Jesus if You Go To Hell” with a big yellow happy face on it. Or another approach is to scare the living daylights out of us predicting when Jesus will come followed, of course, by an exhortation to “give and you’ll get!”
Write It On My Heart 