Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me. Job 20:7-16
Last Friday night I tried my hand at being a “prosperity gospel preacher”! I was using satire to let teenagers see how self centered we have become. I was showing them how we have made the Creator the servant and how awesome it is (use again sarcasm). The teenagers responded as expected. Confused, offended, then wanted to rebel against the false mind set I was promoting. What I wasn’t prepared for was the response of two elderly black ladies, who apparently had some charismatic religious background. After the service they told me how much they enjoyed me telling the young people to focus on themselves and not the 3 billion people who need the Gospel. It felt so odd to be complimented as a false teacher.
At first encounter the prosperity gospel is laughable. As I have seen its effects in the heart of the city of Atlanta thanks to people like the Money Changers or World Changers, I forget what they go by, I become very irritated. However, as I have been studying missions in India and seeing the only form of “Christianity” that has been exported to many of the people there is this bill of lies I get infuriated with this movement. Even though it harms people equally regardless of geography the blind sheep of Atlanta can walk out of their misguided churches turn right walk two blocks and find a Gospel preaching church. Many of the people of India and especially Africa only are exposed to ‘Christianity” from the mouth of these false prophets.
This is not a new issue and will continue until our Lord’s return where it will continue for at least seven years without missing a lick. Job dealt with the core values of this movement in his day. If the the Godly prosper by worldly means then it must be true that people who are not materially prospering must be wicked. “Job comes closer to the question in dispute. This was, Whether outward prosperity is a mark of the true church, and the true members of it, so that ruin of a man’s prosperity proves him a hypocrite? This they asserted, but Job denied. If they looked upon him, they might see misery enough to demand compassion, and their bold interpretations of this mysterious providence should be turned into silent wonder.” (Matthew Henry)
This November I pray as we travel India I encounter many men who have the same disdain for the so called “prosperity gospel”. Anyone who thinks they need to add anything to the gospel to help people desire to respond to it does not fully understand the Gospel. The true prosperity the Gospel provides for the believer is so much greater then any BMW the spiritual used car salesmen could offer.
