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Making Merchandise of Christians - Prosperity Gospel Blight
And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make
merchandise of you: 2 Peter 2:3a. The Apostle Peter makes this
statement in his second epistle concerning those who will come
to rake and deceive the believers into giving up their wealth,
their goods and anything else they may possess. This warning is
available to Christians the world over in their own Bibles, so
why are so many of them still falling prey to the ravishes of
every charlatan and modern prosperity gospel preacher that pops
up on the circuit?
Anyone who has read their Bible would have to concede in
principle at least that it does say that God loves to bless his
children. It also does promise that if we are giving individuals
we should expect to have many wonderful blessings returned to us
as a result. These promises are unquestionable. Christ said that
if we gave that men would give to us good measure pressed down
and running over, Luke 6:38. The principle here is not in
question; it is the use, and or rather the misuse of this
principle that causes all the trouble. Anyone trying to prove
that the Bible does not promise Gods blessings to the generous
giver would come up woefully short. So how does this doctrinal
new kid on the block, the abundant life gospel, succeed in the
wake of its highly suspect proponents and their methods?
The first thing todays prosperity gospel lacks is universality.
Can this gospel be preached to everyone in any place throughout
the world? The answer to this question is a simple, no. Other
than in the United States and Western Europe this gospel is
impossible to preach and in large part it is mocked. Americans
make up about one sixth of the entire worlds population yet they
consume almost fifty percent of the worlds food. Even in the
burgeoning economies of Europe, China, Japan and South Korea it
Words Have PowerHow many times have you heard or read that words have power? Maybe it was in the context of working 'magic' or 'positive affirmations' or ..... is common knowledge that America is still number one in wealth
and waste. Why has the country that already has the most, become
the birth place of a gospel that says we should be getting even
more? As two thirds of the world sends its children to bed each
night with hunger pains, we are asking God to give us the money
to go to an expensive spa to lose weight. One prosperity gospel
preacher was recently called out on the carpet for spending ten
thousand dollars a night for a lavish hotel suite in Indonesia.
By contrast a missionary magazine tells of the humble pastor in
some third world country who is rejoicing over a new bicycle he
has been given. Now he can pedal around to make his visitations
that cover an area of about twenty five square miles. Prosperity
then, is figuratively in the eye of the beholder. That the
prosperity gospel cannot be preached in every place is proof
that it is not the real gospel. The real gospel is that Jesus
Christ came into the world, spoke words that give life, died for
the sins of the world, rose from the dead and promised to return
to the earth and judge the living and the dead. This can be
preached everywhere, at anytime throughout the world and it will
produce the same effect that it has now for twenty centuries.
In seminary an old professor once told his class that his church
was praying for him that God would keep him humble while they
would help by keeping him poor. This is one extreme and another
is a new book offered by a TV evangelist entitledHow to be Rich
and Have Everything You Ever Wanted. What is wrong is that
something is missing. The missing element in the pop Christian
doctrine of the abundant life isbalance. It would be hard to
balance the book just mentioned against the well known saying of
Christ derived from the beatitudesBlessed are the poor Mt 5:3.
Balance nevertheless is what this doctrine is calling for. That
God has not always promised a blessing in kind is balance John
14:27. That much of the promised blessings were not a material
Food For ThoughtWe all love picnics. They represent a fun time as we prepare the food, the entertainment ..... blessing at all is balance Romans 14:7. Carefully checking the
motive of our giving is also balance. Are we giving to get? You
may as well keep it! God does care why youre giving. He may
notice the figures scribbled on a check but He is still checking
the hearts and trying the motives of believers.
America is a success worshipping society that thinks that being
rich, powerful or famous is the sign that one has made the
heights. That this notion is so pervasive is reflected in our
preoccupation with those who have achieved these lofty goals. In
India a Guru is a Gandhi like figure, in America they could be a
Wall Street investor. Regardless of what they actually are is a
matter of perception which is often given precedence over
reality. What is clear is that we are continuously questioning,
prodding a probing our success icons for information about the
keys to their success. From late night television to the New
York Times Bestsellers list the line breaks forth replete with
all the memoirs, tips, secrets and how to manuals of the rich
and famous. Now Christianity has its own success gurus who seem
ready to tell us their secrets as well. Unfortunately that
secret usually comes in only one flavor. Send me, my ministry
and my programs your money to get God to bless you. Many of
these ministries are indeed doing wonderful things for the poor
and the promotion of the gospel so we cant put them all in one
big heap. What we can do is be a lot more prayerful about where
we send our funds and why. While we are praying let us not
forget that someone as close as next door may need our help
right now.
About the author:
Rev Bresciani is from New Orleans La and the author ofHook line
and Sinker or What Has Your Church Been Teaching You,
PublishAmerica 2005 andAn American Prophet and His Message,
Questions and Answers on the Second Coming of Christ, Xulon
Press 2005. His website is http://americanprophet.org
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