Psalm 35:27 *Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant*
*IS PROSPERITY ALL ABOUT MONEY&MATERIAL THINGS?*
I believe God prosper His own materially for their comfort and expansion of His kingdom. As a missionary, how could we have done the things we did without good money? To do better, we will need more money. That tells you the role finances play in doing the Lord's work.
However, my stand against prosperity gospel stems from the fact that such terminology and its attendant practices displayed by those who preach or teach it cannot be found in the bible. The gospel in the bible is the gospel of Christ. It has no other name.
Romans 1:16 says, *"For I am not ashamed of the GOSPEL OF CHRIST, for IT IS THE POWER of God TO SALVATION for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek*"(NKJV).
*I believe in the prosperity that comes from God but not in the materialistic gospel of our day that shift the focus of men away from the cross and promotes greed*.
Teachers of that error look down on the poor and cast aspersion at their salvation. They equate wealth with salvation and believes only the wealthy are truly saved because the salvation/ holiness of a poor man is not yet tested to be true. When did wealth become a measure of spirituality&salvation?
After studying the "theology" of what is called prosperity gospel by its teachers, I discovered their modus operandi is manipulative and driven by greed not love for kingdom expansion or the poor. That they do freebies for the poor is just a decoy. They are men who build their own empire but paint it with the name of Jesus.
Another problem with the prosperity gospel is that it sees prosperity as having plenty money and material things only. When Joseph was in potiphar's house as a slave, the bible called him a prosperous man.
Genesis 39:2 *"And the LORD was with Joseph, and HE WAS A PROSPEROUS MAN; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian*"
The purveyors of material prosperity in our day will never accept Joseph was a prosperous man because he was a slave. Slaves own nothing and do not have unlimited freedom. They are under a master whose word is law. A man in this condition is whom the bible calls prosperous. How?
In God's sight, Joseph was prosperous yet he had no cars, houses or lands. A cursory look at that text shows something worth considering. The opening line says, *"And the LORD was with Joseph...*". God's abiding presence in the life of any man is worth more than silver and gold.
It was after the presence of God was confirmed to be with him that he was declared a prosperous man: *"...and HE WAS A PROSPEROUS MAN;*". Who could believe that a slave who was a carrier of God's presence was prosperous?
The perspective of God on issues is different from ours. Humanly, I wouldn't call Joseph prosperous too. I'll rather look towards his master, state officials, business men and Pharaoh as the prosperous men of his day but God says otherwise.
He is saying that the man whom my presence abides with, the one who does my will, that very one who desires my kingdom is prosperous. This is where the materialistic gospel collapse under the weight of its own argument.
*The man who carries God in his fullness through Christ is a prosperous man. This is heaven's view on prosperity*.
*Prosperity isn't all about material wealth. Preaching and teaching that money is all there is to prosperity will push people to steal and do all manners of things. Such a message will breed covetousness and greed*.
1 Timothy 6:10 (NLT) says, *"For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows*".
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