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Judgment of the Prosperity Gospel
Living under God's blessing is NOT the same as the prosperity gospel that is being taught in today's world. There will come a day when God will judge the prosperity gospel. In following such teachings, we are letting the Light of Jesus grow dim. Consider this: The devil knows how to bless too. America is being blinded . The churches are blinded. Men are refusing to hear the council of God. Why is this? Where does the believer stand spiritually? Where do we stand with Jesus?
We must call the church (the body of Christ) to repentance because we have hid the Light of Christ.
1 Samuel 3:1-3
1And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
2And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see;
3And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;
1 Samuel 2:29
29Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?
God will judge sin. The light IS going out in the church.
We have allowed wrongs. We've failed to keep the light burning. The dead don't worship God. Our light is not shining. Somebody has got to turn the light back on. We must be watchmen to stand against such nonsense. To stand against the gospel of greed. It seems we want to take the best and give God the rest.
The benefits of God are far greater than the benefits of sin. We must preach the truth that the Light of Christ will shine and darkness will be exposed. Woe to you who are blind, naked, destitute. It's time to Rise Up, turn the light back on. You are the light of the world.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Lemmon on
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Hi All,
OK...thought I should add my two cents worth on this & offer a biblical perspective to some of the issues. The information following I have copied from my website (www.freegiftfromgod.com) which relates directly to the matter in this discussion. I hope it helps.
In recent years some churches have begun preaching that it is God's will for his people to be rich. They say that it is the will of God that his people should have a lot of money. And we see these ministers who preach wealth ministry set the example with expensive clothes, big houses, jewellery and fancy cars.
But is this really the will of God or something else? To answer this question we need to look at the scriptures.
Jesus tells us that we should not be concerned about the things of this world. That we should not worry about what we shall wear or what we shall eat. For he says that our Heavenly Father knows that we need all of these things and he will supply them, but we should first seek his kingdom and all these other things will be provided. (Matthew 6:33) The promise here is that if we first look to God then we will have what we need. Will we have wealth? It is possible but certainly not a promise or a requirement. The focus of our attention is not wealth but seeking Gods kingdom.
The apostle Paul wrote that, "...those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs." (1 Timothy 6:9-10) Now if the love of money is the root of all evil, and if it is a trap and a temptation for God's people, would it be God's will for his people to be brought to a place where this evil could wreak havoc in the church? Surely God would want his people to focus their love towards him and each other rather than the pursuit of wealth.
When you consider all of the evil in the world today, greed and the seeking of wealth motivate much of it. The love of money has caused great destruction to many people in this world and also has caused great destruction in the churches.
We see also a rich young man came to Jesus asking, "What good deed must I do to have eternal life?" He was told to keep the law, which the man said he had done since childhood. After some discussion he was told to go and sell all that he had and give it to the poor, and to come follow Jesus. The man went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. Jesus then made the point, "How hard it will be for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." He likened the difficulty to trying to pass a camel through the eye of a needle. (Matthew 19:21-24) So if it were going to be that difficult, would God be suggesting that his people seek riches and possibly exclude themselves from his kingdom?
Money is not of God so why would it be in his will for his people to accumulate something that is not of his making? Jesus showed this when asked by the Pharisees whether he paid taxes. He asked them, "Show me a coin," and when they produced the coin he asked, "Whose likeness is on this coin?" They answered, "Caesar." And Jesus responded saying, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." (Matthew 22:19-21) In this statement he clearly showed that money is the invention of man, not of God. So again, why would it be in God's will for man to seek after the things that are not of God?
The apostle Peter also wrote of the holy women, "Let not yours be the outward adorning with braiding of hair, decoration of gold, and wearing of fine clothing, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." (1 Peter 3:3-4) Does this sound like a ministry that suggests it is God's will for you to be wealthy? Obviously not: For the true wealth here is not physical but spiritual.
In all of these things it is evident that it is not God's will for his people to accumulate great wealth. This teaching by some of the modern churches is quite wrong, and in fact quite destructive to people. Some of this ministry is based on teachings of tithing, which is wrongly applied and only serves to increase the wealth of the church. There is a free paper on my website that discusses the issues of tithing in the modern church in more detail.
In the final analysis what can be said about those churches promoting this wealth ministry was best described by the apostle John. In Revelation 3:15-19 he shows that churches such as these say, "I am rich, I have prospered and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked." He then counsels them to obtain the true riches that come from God and clothes of righteousness to hide the shame of their nakedness.
Finally we see who actually controls the wealth and the power of the world in the temptation of Christ. When the devil took Jesus up on a high mountain he showed him all of the kingdoms of the world and all the glory of them and said, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will." (Luke 4:6) It is evident that all of the wealth of the world is in the hands of Satan to bestow on whomever he desires. So if Satan who is the enemy of God controls all wealth, would God seek for his people to be wealthy?
From all of this it is clear that this wealth ministry being taught in some churches is wrong and should be avoided at all costs.
Your brother in Christ,
John
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Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on
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Permalink Reply by littlesheep88 on
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I found that the prosperity gospel is just what it looks like, an exaggeration of the true, plain Gospel. I tried it. I named it, claimed it, waited for it and IT didn't happen. Why? Because God doesn't want people giving to just receive, but by their hearts convicting them to. Not by man wisdom, but by God wisdom. I'm not saying that Christians aren't supposed to be prosperous, no, just the opposite. The poor can not help the poor, we need men and women of God to fund what God is doing. I believe that God is in the 'prospering business' as it is spelled out by John "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." 3 John 1:2 God wasn't saying be health in the body only as some translations permit, but [John] outlines prosperity and health seperately in the KJV.
We are Abrahams seed and obtain the promise through our adopted sonship through Jesus Christ and live God promise "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing."
God Bless!
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Girl - you rock! Blessings beloved.
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Your pretty awesome too! lol
God Bless!
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Permalink Reply by Prophet on
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Amen both of you, God never called anyone to be Successful, only to be obedient, and a lot of people twist the Jeremiah 39 word where God says that He has a plan for our future a plan to prosper us and not to harm us to mean that we will be rich in the worldy way, but it in fact means that He will take care of all our needs and make sure we are safe and protected. ALL these "prosperity buffs" are already getting their reward here on earth, i would rather wait to get my reward from my Lord. WooHoo! can you just imagine how awesome that will be, even if we cannot stand in His very pesence, just to hear from HIm "Well done good and faithful servant'
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When one favors material things and posessions above God then we fall into sin, The word specifically tells us that God will prosper us and that He will supply ALL our needs beyond what we can hope for or imagine, this is true as I have experianced this first hand. I have not worked in formal employment since God called me to the ministry and neither does my church support me, and yet I have a place to live and I have clothing and I have enough food everyday, however, when these things become the focus of our following Gos then there is a serious problem.
God in his infinate Grace supplies ALL my needs and some extras when I ask and when I have a need without me having to beg and plead, He Knows my needs because I follow closely after HIm and when He is first in our lives He takes care of us.
He supplies these needs to the extent of knowing what kind of tea I drink and what brand of toothpaste I use and He supplies these as soon as I use up what I have. If I use my last tea bag in the morning, sometime during the day someone will bring me a box of my favrorite brand before I go home in the evening and likewise with all the needs I have. If I need new shoes I go into a shop and try on the shoes I like and by evening I either have the shoes or the money with which to buy them.
He is The God of Miracles and Provision and He never stints on the needs of those who truly follow HIm and put HIm first
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Amen Prophet. Well said.
Love you
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What an Awesome God we serve, just blows me away. And every day there are new surprises, revelations and blessings.
You to Bro David, with your bible knowledge.......... always straight down the line as it should be
Luv yah too
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Permalink Reply by Carla on
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Hi Michelle,
These words in your initial post really stood out for me
Living under God's blessing is NOT the same as the prosperity gospel that is being taught in today's world. To that I say a big AMEN!
I was studying this scripture yesterday.. Luke 16:1-13
Parable of the shrewd Manager
Luk 16:1 Now He was also saying to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was [fn] reported to him as squandering his possessions.
Luk 16:2 "And he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.'
Luk 16:3 "The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do, since my [fn] master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg.
Luk 16:4 'I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.'
Luk 16:5 "And he summoned each one of his [fn] master's debtors, and he began saying to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'
Luk 16:6 "And he said, 'A hundred [fn] measures of oil.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'
Luk 16:7 "Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred [fn] measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'
Luk 16:8 "And his [fn] master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own [fn] kind than the sons of light.
Luk 16:9 "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the [fn] wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.
Luk 16:10 "He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
Luk 16:11 "Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous [fn] wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?
Luk 16:12 "And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?
Luk 16:13 "No [fn] servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and [fn] wealth."
Jesus was commending the shrewd manager... Verse 9 gives us the lesson:
Luk 16:9 "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the [fn] wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.
so what are the Eternal Dwellings? The Eternal Dwellings are where we go when we die. As we preach the gospel, and people receive Jesus as Savior because of what we have told them about Jesus, those people will greet us when we die if they have died before us.
Some interesting points came up....
First of all, people of the world tend to know how to manage their money and possessions more shrewdly than children of the light.... (verse 8)
Secondly, we can use material things of this world to win people to the Lord by means of material wealth...and when their wealth fails them (as it always does) we let them know that true riches can only be found in Christ--we'll meet them in the Eternal Dwellings. (verse 9)
Thirdly, if we handle what-ever wealth God blesses us with well, than non-believers will respect that and be more apt to listen to what we have to say... even though we may have wealth...we don't rely on our possessions because they only bring disappointment..and they break easily and will become worthless....we show this by our example..that our joy does not come from what we have, but from who we are in Christ. We are content with much or with little.
Verses 10-12---he that is faithful in little things will be faithful in larger things...but dishonest in little things, won't be honest with greater responsibilities... If we are faithful with the unrighteous mammon (mammon is hebrew for all the world offers materially) we will be faithful with the true riches (The Kingdom of God)
I believe the Lord wants us to handle our money well, and HE wants us to know how to prepare for our futures.. Yes God does provide all our needs..but our loving Father wants us to take some initiative AND distribute our surplus to the poor.
Some points to consider:
The physical is a training area as to how we handle the spiritual as well.
If a non-believer respects how we handle our finances, they are more likely to listen to the Spiritual Wealth that we as believers can share.
True wealth is the message of Jesus---this is ultimately where we want all believers to rest in the truth.
If the unbeliever we are preaching to accepts the message of Jesus they will be part of the company who will greet you when you die.
Believers can use material things of this world to win friends for the Lord.
The issue is 'who are we serving'? What's our inner motivation? Are we subservient to money or to the Lord? If we are subservient to the Lord we will know how to deal with our things.
proverbs 10:22
Pro 10:22 The blessing of the LORD makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.
I'm also trying to find in scripture where Paul says that he is all things to all people... sigh..where is that verse?
some thoughts to ponder...
Blessings, Carla
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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on
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Carla,
The verse you are looking for I believe is 1 Corinthians 9:19-23:
1CO 9:19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
Lord Bless,
LT
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