It is important to note that God does want prosperity for all of His followers, but in the way of eternal prosperity. Not worldly. I believe that God intends for some Christians to be wealthy with worldly prosperities and I also believe that He does reward some with these prosperities as blessings. But to imply that a completely prosperous person walking in the fullness of God has blessings in all areas including material riches is actually a very unkind and soul - destroying teaching. If a person does not "have it all" then the implication of these teachings is that that person is not walking in the fullness of God. There is something wrong with them if they lack in any material way. This is psychologically damaging to people and it has caused some to depart from the Christian faith. They feel condemned and they feel like failures in their faith. It is important to know that there are tens of thousands of people around this Nation alone that are buying into this scam. It is not only hurting the people who continually give and receive no worldly reward as they has been promised, but it is also hurting the reputation of our faith. Christianity is not about give and you will receive. The continuation of this doctrine will make the Church appear as a scheme for people to make lots of money off of other individual's insecurities. The prosperity Doctrine is not the Biblical Gospel and is a distorted, spiritually dangerous muddle at the very least, and a damning spiritual cyanide at the worst.
Unfortunately it can be hard to spot these teachings to someone who hasn't spent time reading their Bible. For example, I am not going to name the pastor who was quoted saying the next quote, but I will say this person is NOT a pastor that resides here in Alaska. the quote is " If you and I can change our thinking and develop a healthy attitude towards money, I believe we can all walk in the blessing and prosperity that god intends for us. We will NEVER HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MONEY AGAIN. I can agree with some of what was said in the last statement, but to promise that with a basic attitude change, you will never have a problem with money is false. Nor does God intend for us to walk in worldly prosperity. God knew that His most difficult contender for worship was the greed for worldly wealth (money). We as humans will always struggle with money. The fact is - the purpose of giving should be done with a heart for pleasing God. Period. We give to the Church so that we can help further the ministry of the Church, practice the discipline of placing God before money, and entrusting that even if we do not have money to give - we do so anyways because we believe God is the sole provider of everything and that we have faith that He will meet our daily needs. It's about living for him, not for ourselves. The only reward you should expect is the reward of pleasing God. To come before the altar with such a low offering of greed is disrespectful. We pray for our daily breed, not our weekly or monthly breed. We should not distort the meaning of give and ye shall receive. Whether God blesses us financially is unimportant. What is important is our heart.
I was accused on Facebook (posting under a thread of this topic) that to talk about "heart" is cheap talk - "I can't help thinking that it is all beside the point. When it comes to who I want to be and who we are supposed to be, issues of prosperity are not on the radar." I disagree completely. I understand where this person is coming from. Focusing on things like the prosperity doctrine are not important in the grand scope of Christianity. Christianity is about loving God and others. I understand this, but to ignore the issues of false teaching within the Church - that corrupt the very foundation that we base our Faith, and that also allow people to believe in a scam that will ultimately provide them with a distorted view of God is not in my opinion, an example of loving others. We want to exhort our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and give them the true Gospel. Not a twisted example of Christianity that will only provide them a weak foundation in their faith. To stand up and talk about these kinds of issues defends the Gospel of Christ from being misinterpreted. Which I believe is something we are all commanded to do. As far as "heart" goes. I find it fairly annoying when people downplay the value of a Godly heart. It ticks me off. Especially since the very foundation of our Faith is focused on first having a heart for God. Faith without works is dead, but works without a faith based heart can never bring glory to Christ.
I believe God does not intend to make us rich with worldly wealth. Some of the most influential and faithful Christians are/were poor. It is so much more effective when god uses someone who has nothing, to provide aid to someone who is in need. It is less powerful when a rich man buys someone in need - a meal. But much more inspiring when through the grace of God, someone gives the last of everything they have to provide for even the smallest need in someone else's life. God is not concerned with our comfort here on earth. Especially those living in the USA where you are considered poor if you make just $20,000 a year. What many don't realize is that those who are considered poor by our standards are considered within the worlds wealthiest 15 percent!
Don't buy into the Prosperity Doctrine. Focus on what matters: loving God, loving people, and spreading the TRUE undistorted Gospel (good news!) of Christ.
Many Blessings,
Dave Roediger
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