Gregg couldn’t understand it. He had been praying for that new car for the longest time, but he didn’t seem any closer to getting it than he had been six months ago. He had been believing God for that new car ever since he saw it in a commercial on TV. Man, was it sweet! Now Gregg already had a perfectly good car, but if he wanted to believe God for that brand new car, why couldn’t he? He had claimed it in Jesus’ name, so he believed he was going get that new car, just like that preacher said he should.
The preacher stood in front of the whole assembly and had told everyone, that for a seed faith offering of $200.00 to his ministry, God would pour out his blessings and prosperity on them. Gregg had been so excited to hear this, that he gave $400.00. Gregg continued to give money to the ministry, and pray for that new car, but still, nothing.
His friend told him he didn’t have it yet because he didn’t have enough faith. Remember what that preacher said. God wants you to prosper. He wants to be able to give you things. He wants you to have that car. You just have to have faith that he will give it to you. Didn’t Jesus say that he came that we may have life, and have it more abundantly? He didn’t mean for us to be poor. You have to speak it into existence. That you are going to get that new car in Jesus’ name.”
Over the years there have been many popular evangelists who preach the gospel of prosperity. The prosperity gospel is the belief that God wants to reward believers with health, wealth and prosperity. It is the belief that financial blessing, and physical well-being are God’s will for believers, in return for faith, positive speech, and donations to religious organizations. We can use the power of faith to create our own reality, and get what we want. In other words, prosperity gospel says, if we have faith in God, God will give us prosperity.
I remember a number of years ago, I heard an evangelist on the radio say, that if you are going through financial hardship, then give more money. This is called a seed offering, where the giver is told that if they give, they will receive a blessing from God. Many times it’s indicated that they will receive a monetary blessing.
The prosperity gospel has it’s origins with the New Thought Movement during the 1800s. The New Thought Movement taught that you can achieve healing and wealth using the power of your mind. There was a baptist preacher, E.W. Kenyon, who was exposed to the New Thought Movement while attending Emerson School of Oratory. He taught that basically, Christ’s death on the cross guaranteed his believers many blessings, and believers have the right to demand what is legally theirs. For example, believers could demand healing because they were entitled to it.
Kenyon was able to develop relationships with some prominent Pentecostal leaders, and they liked his teachings about healing. This is how the prosperity gospel began to take shape.
In the late 1940s, Oral Roberts began preaching the prosperity gospel. He talked about the laws of faith, which he described as a “blessing pact” where God would return donations seven fold. Donors would receive back the money they donated to him, from unexpected sources.
In the 70s, the “blessing pact” was renamed the “seed faith” doctrine. This said that people who gave donations, or seeds to his ministry would receive a supernatural return, above and beyond the amount they donated. This was basically the start of the prosperity gospel.
You may ask, what’s wrong with prosperity? Nothing. There’s not a thing wrong with prosperity. I would think that most of us want to be prosperous with good health, and healthy finances. This is the thing though. The prosperity gospel puts the focus on us. If you do this, God will give you something in return. We do this because we want something from God in return. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen prosperity preachers tell their followers, if they give this seed offering, God will give them a big monetary blessing, or if they pay a certain amount of dollars for this prayer cloth, God will grant anything they ask for in prayer. That’s just simply not true though. All of these things focus on what we can get; what we want. You see though, it’s not about us.
It’s not about us at all. It’s all about Christ. You see, God is not a genie in a bottle who will grant our wishes as long as we have faith. We were already given the greatest gift that can ever be given, when Christ willingly died on the cross to pay the price for our sins, allowing us to be reconciled to God, and have life eternal with him.
Don’t get me wrong though, just like parents love to give gifts to their children, God loves to give gifts to his children. James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation of shadow due to change.” Also, Matthew 7:11 says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
See, God loves to give gifts to us. Here’s the thing though. The gifts God gives to us are to help us to be able to serve others, and build up his kingdom. As it says in 1 Peter 4:10, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
Now, it’s not wrong to want things, but the belief that we can get what we want by having faith in God is in no way biblical. Now God promises to provide our needs, as it says in Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Or as it says in Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
One thing that comes to mind when I think of the prosperity gospel is Christians who may live in poor third world countries. Many literally put their lives on the line for the gospel, but are so poor financially, they don’t have two pennies to rub together. You can see how the prosperity gospel falls apart, when you have people who have such great faith in God, even at the risks of their own lives, but financially, are still dirt poor.
The prosperity gospel, although very popular, is not biblical. Remember, with the prosperity gospel the focus is on us, and what we can receive from God, if we have faith, and in many instances, give money, or seed offerings. The gospel though, is about Christ, not us. It is about what Christ has done for us, by his death and resurrection on the cross. ‘Nuff said.