An In Depth Look At the False Teachings of Prosperity.
Let’s say I were a truly evil man. One day, I decide I want to poison all my friends who attend my church. So I concoct a poison, and I think to myself: “Now all I need is a tasty drink to lace with poison.” So I head down to my local grocery store and I buy a big bottle of – Apple Cider Vinegar. How many people can I poison? Zero.
And that is the metaphor of the prosperity Gospel. The fact that so many people fall under its spell is because, believe it or not, there is a lot of truth packed into that teaching. That’s why it attracts so many people and why so many people remain. I should know: I spent over 20 years seeking that prosperity.
In fact, if you simply take out a few things from the prosperity Gospel, it would probably very much look like what you believe. And I honest think many a preacher started out with the best of intentions: But as my mom used to warn me, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
A Visit From God
My breakthrough came at a most desperate time. I was absolutely beside myself, not having money to do simple things like go to the grocery store, give the kids snack money to take to school, and bigger things like paying the mortgage. One night, I was so desperate, I prayed a prayer: “God, I know prosperity is real, I know it. There are too many passages in the Bible concerning prosperity for it not to be real. What am I doing wrong?”
God answered me, as loud as I’ve ever heard him. “Money is most dangerous thing to your soul that you will ever have anything to do with!”
“What?” I replied.
“Money is the most dangerous thing to your soul that you will ever have anything to do with!”
“Lord,” I said, “I hear the words, but I don’t understand the meaning.”
He said to me: “Imagine a knock at your door. There stands a young couple and they say to you; ‘we just moved in down the street and we’re Satan worshippers. We’re having a meeting tonight and want to invite you to come.’ What would you say?”
“I would say, I’m a Christian and I will not be coming.”
Then he said, “What if they said ‘Congratulations, you just won Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes.’ Would you tell them that you couldn’t accept such a large amount of money because it might damage your relationship with me? Could you turn down a million dollars, even if you knew it would ruin your relationship with me?”
I was speechless, because I knew the answer. I couldn’t turn down that much money. Then while I was thinking on that, he repeated: “Money is the most dangerous thing to your soul you will ever have anything to do with. Sure, you’d turn down the temptation to worship Satan, but would you turn down a million dollars, in order to maintain your relationship to me?”
God had me 100%. Not that I would just wave goodbye to God while on my way to the Bahamas, but I would rationalize it. I would say to myself, ‘no, you’re not that type of guy. You’d be responsible; you’d give some away. You’d pay off your bills, you’d put it away for retirement.’ But that wasn’t all God had to say.
The Love of Money…
God said to me, “When my son was on this earth, he said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man enter the kingdom of Heaven. It’s not that I don’t like rich people, or I detest people having money, but a rich man finds it almost impossible to trust anything except his money. A rich man finds it nearly impossible to love anything except his money. It’s not that I don’t want to prosper you, I just know what would happen if I did.”
He had me dead to rights. I couldn’t deny it, because in my heart, I knew I was hearing the voice of God. I said, “What do I do?”
He was very calm. He said, “First of all, stop looking at everything the world has and saying, “I want one of those.” That’s called lusting after the things of this earth, and Jesus specifically told you not to do it, yet you do that nearly every day.”
The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. – Matthew 13:22 NLT
“Secondly, give some money away every time you get some. Even if it’s $5 or $10 for gas, give a little bit away. It’s very hard to fall in love with money if you’re constantly giving it away.”
“Finally, stop cursing the things you have. Instead of cursing that old car of yours, be thankful you have a car. Instead of cursing that old house, be thankful you have a house. Instead of complaining about that job, be thankful you have a job.”
That was years ago, and nothing happened over night. But as I began realizing that the prosperity Gospel was actually one of the oldest traps in history, as I began to realize that I didn’t really need all these things I wanted, things begin to change. When I quit cursing that old car, it wasn’t a month later until one day, my wife said to me, “I dreamed I bought you a new Jeep.”
I didn’t think much of it at the time, but about 2 weeks later, she said to me, “I think I’ve found you a new Jeep.” And slowly things began to get better. I began to pay off bills instead of accumulating new ones. Things in my life began to improve. As I sit here right now, I seriously cannot think of anything I’d like that I don’t already have. I’m serious: If someone were to walk up to me and say, “I’ll give you $500 with two conditions: 1 you have to spend it on yourself. You can’t save it or pay a bill, you have to spend it on something you want. 2 you have to spend it within 24 hours.”
I would be hard pressed to figure out something that I truly wanted. As I gave up wanting the things this world has, God gave them to me. I really cannot think of anything I want. My bills are paid every month. Now, they may not get paid exactly on time, but I have a whole new approach to paying bills. I pray to God for the money to pay a bill as it comes due. And right now, there are no bills that are due other than this current month’s bills.
Right now, the refrigerator is stuffed to the gills. I had to start reminding my wife, that before she buys a bunch of stuff, to think about whether or not they’ll fit in the refrigerator or our deep freezer. Just today, I was looking through the freezer to see if we had any more frozen vegetables, and that freezer is full to the top.
Can I Tell You A Secret?
You don’t have to, nor should you want to be rich. What is the point? If God is willing to supply your every need, if he’s willing to give you money to get the bills paid, then what is the point of being rich? Having thousands of dollars in the bank, so you can brag about it to your friends? So you can go on a shopping spree any time you want? So you can trust in your money to take care of anything you might need?
And I don’t want to hear the sorry excuse, “I want to be rich so I can have money to help the poor.” Don’t give me that crap! Right now, I could sit down and think of over a dozen preachers out there that have over a million dollars in the bank. And they’re not frantically searching through the internet in order to find people to bless.
No it’s much better to have little, and be able to pay your bills, buy your food, and live on the blessings of God.
There Is No “Needle Gate”
One of the things I have heard with my own ears taught is this myth of the needle gate. The story goes that when Jesus talked about a camel going through the eye of a needle, he didn’t mean an actual sewing needle. He really meant this small gate in the wall surrounding the city of Jerusalem. That gate was supposedly small, only meant for human foot traffic, and if a camel needed to enter it, it would have to get down on the ground and crawl on it’s knees to get through.
The problem is there is no needle gate. In fact, historically, the needle gate story didn’t even appear until around 1500 A.D., when the Catholic Church was trying hard to assure kings who were loyal to the Church that they could get into Heaven despite their wealth.
The Real Truth About Prosperity
The real truth is simple: The Prosperity Gospel is a works gospel. It doesn’t rely on what Jesus has done for us on the cross, but requires people to do things in order to receive from God. Jesus himself warns us against trying to do things in order to please God. The bottom line is this: The reason people don’t receive when they give is because they are trying to earn money from God. The only work God requires of you is to believe on Jesus:
Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” – John 6:28-29 NKJV
You trying to give money in order to receive money is taking Jesus out of the equation. It is trying to earn God’s blessings instead of depending on faith. Like I wrote to you earlier, I spent 20 years trying to give my way to prosperity. It doesn’t work; it doesn’t work because the book of Galatians tells us plainly that it won’t work.
1 Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. 2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3 How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? 4 Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it? – Galatians 3:1-4 NLT
This is what we do by trying to depend on your own efforts. You began a good work in the spirit, that is by faith you received Jesus’ gift of salvation, recognizing that you could not save yourself and that your efforts to save yourself are in vain. But now, as a Christian you cannot perfect your walk with God by trying to earn his love, his gifts and his promises by doing things.
Let me give you an example of what this is like: Let’s say that one day you look out the window and you see a car pulling into your driveway. But not just any car; this is your favorite car of all. It is the color you’ve always wanted, it has all the features you want, it is the perfect car for you. And you see the door open and I get out. You come outside running up to me, telling me how much you love my new car, how it is the exact model you’ve always dreamed of having, and even the very color you’ve always wanted.
I say, “Well I’m so glad to hear that. Because I was driving by a car lot today and I saw this car and thought how perfect it would be for you. So because I love you so very much, I bought this car for you.”
Now you reply, “Oh No! I couldn’t accept such a wonderful gift, but I’ll tell you what I will do: I’ll give you $50 for it.”
How big of an insult would that be to me? I do something just to show my love for you, and not only do you reject it, but you insult the value of my gift by offering me $50 for it. How bad would my feelings be hurt; how angry would I be? Well that is exactly what you do when you reject the gift of God and instead try to earn it by works. Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law of the Old Testament, and you, therefore are heirs to the promises of the Old Testament through Jesus. You do not have to tithe in order to receive God’s promises, because Jesus tithed for you!
Because he perfectly fulfilled the law, we know he tithed, giving a tenth of the first fruits of his labors. And as an heir, we receive the blessings of the tithe, not because we tithe, but because we’re heirs through Christ. But not the follower of the Prosperity Gospel. Because they teach their followers that the tithe was before the law, and it must be kept to this very day. Even if that were true (it’s not), we as Christians would still be exempt due to the fact that we approach God through faith in Jesus. It makes it pointless to tithe, because we already have the blessings of the tithe.
You should give to charities, your church, etc. Not because you’re trying to receive from God, but because you don’t want to fall in love with money, and because Jesus taught us to be kind to the poor, and the Apostle Paul told us we have an obligation to support our church. But with 20 years of experience under my belt, I had to learn the hard way that trying to earn money from God is a dead end street.
The Poison’s Bite
The truly dangerous thing of the Prosperity Gospel is two-fold. Number one, it puts under a mentality that everything from God comes with a catch: We have to do something in order to receive from God. This is a very dangerous thing to your immortal soul!
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” – Luke 5:37-38 NKJB
Jesus was the son of a carpenter. Although the Bible never tells us of Jesus’ profession, we know that it was tradition that a son follow in the profession of the father. So from that, we can safely assume that Jesus too was a carpenter by trade. So why then is he teaching us how to store wine?
He isn’t using this analogy to teach us about wine. This is a metaphor about the New Testament versus the Old Testament. Jesus is teaching us that we cannot try to follow the law of the Old Testament and wrap it as a cloak around the New Testament. He is telling that both will be ruined if we do that! One time I myself was questioning God about the role of the Old Testament in my life, and God spoke to me very simply:
Learn from the Old Testament, but live by the New Testament
That is something that I know was God, because there is no way that I am smart enough to come up with that on my own. That is exactly what Jesus was teaching us, and exactly what Jesus told us about himself:
“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.” – John 5:39 NKJV
We are to use the Old Testament as a means to understand the nature of man, and the trials that the Israelis went through in order to bring God’s Messiah into the earth. But when you try to follow the laws of the Old Testament, you are following rules that never applied to you in the first place, and certainly don’t apply to you now that you are a follower of Jesus. We learn who Jesus is in the Old Testament, and we follow the rules laid down in the New Testament in order to please God.
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” – Hebrews 11:6 NKJV
Everyone seems to know this verse, but very few understand it. Turn this verse around, people! If it is impossible to please God without faith, then what is the only thing that pleases him? FAITH.
Your righteousness is as filthy rags to God. Your efforts are tainted through sin, and God will never accept you unless you come to him through faith in Jesus Christ. That is why you don’t follow the law of the Old Testament. That is why you don’t try to earn God’s blessings. And most of all, that is how you get to heaven.
The Stairway To Heaven
The famous song, Stairway to Heaven was by the iconic rock group, Led Zeppelin. Now, I don’t know if that was intentional or not, but the opening line of the song reminds me of the prosperity Gospel. That’s right. The idea that someone can buy their way into heaven. The very first line of the song tells us what the song is about: “There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold, and she’s buying a stairway to heaven.”
The point is, that you cannot buy your way into God’s blessings. You’re not going to pay your way into heaven, nor are you going to pay your way into wealth. And let’s not forget the main thing God taught us about wealth, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Many, many a person who call themselves Christian are going to be astonished because they will be left behind when the rapture occurs. That’s because their hearts are stored at the local bank, right beside their treasure.
Finally, let me close with a true story. Years ago, in the 1980’s an evangelist went on TV to encourage his followers to give him all of their money. He told them to give their money to him, and then go and write checks for all their needs. He told them that this would be their act of faith, to mail those checks and demonstrate to God their faith. This got a lot of Christians into trouble with the police, as those checks were worthless checks, and writing a check you know to be worthless is a crime.
The love of money is the root of all evil.
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