While researching a book on black televangelism, says Jonathan Walton, a religion professor at the University of California Riverside, he realized that Prosperity's central promise -- that God would "make a way" for poor people to enjoy the better things in life -- had developed an additional, toxic expression during sub-prime boom. Walton says that this encouraged congregants who got dicey mortgages to believe "God caused the bank to ignore my credit score and blessed me with my first house." The results, he says, "were disastrous, because they pretty much turned parishioners into prey for greedy brokers."Others think he may be right. Says Anthea Butler, an expert in pentecostalism at the University of Rochester in New York state, "The pastor's not gonna say 'go down to Wachovia and get a loan' but I have heard, 'even if you have a poor credit rating God can still bless you -- if you put some faith out there [that is, make a big donation to the church], you'll get that house, or that car or that apartment.'" Adds J. Lee Grady, editor of the magazine Charisma, "It definitely goes on, that a preacher might say, 'if you give this offering, God will give you a house. And if they did get the house, people did think that it was an answer to prayer, when in fact it was really bad banking policy." If so, the situation offers a look at how an native-born faith built partially on American econoic optimism entered into a toxic symbiosis with a pathological market.
If the Prosperity Gospel could be widely discredited, then perhaps whatever pain America has coming because of our greed and profligacy might be redeemed. Is it right to pray for the bank to foreclose on Jan Crouch's wigs?
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Mark Said: "Just further proof that Born-Agains remain the single easiest group from which to take money in America. Never met a Born Again with an ounce of common sense. Never will. If Born Agains had common sense, they wouldn't be Born Agains.
Katherin Said: "It's very refreshing to hear a Christian conservative denounce the prosperity gospel. It's completely unbiblical - the Gospel, if anything, is downright hostile to the wealthy. "Woe to you who are rich, for you have already recieved your comfort," (Luke 6:24) among others. A doctrine that outright endorses greed and materialism is contrary to every principle of true Christianity."
You all need to check out wwww.citybusinesschurch.org/blog. Here you will find an entire underground movement of born-again, conservative Christians who are anti-prosperity and ready for a change. God is starting a new reformation in the American church and it's time we all got on board and fought back against these false prophets and false teachers that the bible warned us about.
I would advise sincere christians to read the book
by Jesse Penne Lewis "War On the Saints" the unabriged version and you would understand a bit more about what is going on in the End times
I don't think that God is against us having money & material things, He just doesn't want those things to have us. For the LOVE of money is the root of all evil; w/ that said, I think that these modern day charlatans' distorted view of prosperity is what has everybody sour about prosperity, and when you think about it, if salvation is all-inclusive, then prosperity couldn't just be money in exclusivity. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all of these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:33). All these things would have to include money, but the FOCUS should be on seeking God, not the money that we think we'll receive by planting. We don't see monetary prosperity often, because most of us want to consume it w/ our own lusts, instead helping the less fortunate. If we had the mindset of "If I have 2 billion dollars in my possession, I'm not going to buy a 200 dollar used car w/out consulting God first", God wouldn't mind blessing us at all. Look at all of those in the bible that had riches: Abraham, David, Solomon, Joseph. All were excellent stewards money wise & none of them were greedy. Solomon had one of the richest cultures that the world has seen, but he was NOT STINGY w/ what God had blessed him with. The problem w/ the prosperity gospel is that it focuses on planting & harvesting more than it does the One that gives the increase. It bypasses God & focuses more on the money bringing the blessing. I could go on, but I'll reiterate the fact that God isn't against us having money. He's just a jealous God (Exodus 34:14) who won't have ANYTHING or ANYBODY before Him.
The Prosperity Gospel is a fact. The modern church prosperity gospel is the lie. The modern church likes to teach give or sow money and get a return. In other words your works will bring you prosperity. Wrong, the Bible clearly teaches that God owes you money because we have a Blood Covenant. It's because of Jesus that we have the right and privilege to enjoy that truth.
God has committed himself to prosper and heal you extravagantly. The only reason why true believers don't enjoy this truth is because of a lack of faith. Rather than believe what God has demonstrated and said in His word, believers have except the lie promoted by the religious hypocrites. Those hypocrites who would twist and pervert common sense and invent new definitions for words so that they can push their perverted and demonic views of what God has said in His word.
Anyone who would stand against the fact that God wants you prosperous and healed is despicable. Such a people are a disgrace and not worthy to be called a Christian. God is a God of covenants and prosperity and health was in the Old Covenant. How much more would it then be in the New Covenant. In the Old Covenant you enjoyed prosperity and healing based on how good you where. In the New Covenant you enjoy prosperity and health based on what Jesus did.
When you go to work for someone, you do so to earn money, but is that the only reason. In other words do you go to work to get cash and than just display it all on your coffee table or some other furniture - No. You got to work to be able to afford a place to live, food, clothing, transportation, etc. Likewise, real salvation is not just about going to heaven, it is not singular. Salvation is plural in that salvation in Jesus is more than just about heaven, it is also about health, prosperity and protection.
The Lord Jesus rebukes you, you hypocrites.
If we were sold out to Christ, we wouldn't even be concerned with or interested in material wealth, but would count all things rubbish, but Christ. Our preoccupation with material blessing shows our lack of Christ. Everything that we would purchase, we would do for the service of the Lord. Everything we would forego, we would disallow, for the funds to be used for much higher purposes. Let the rich say I am poor, let the poor say I am rich, because of what the Lord has done. Let Christ be our all in all. If God chastens our for our greed, it is so that we will come to know something of far greater value and satisfaction: Him and the joy and suffering of living for Him.
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