The Reality of the Prosperity Gospel

The success Gospel is that famous message that we are all familiar with, which basically says Jesus died to give you a breakthrough in the form of cars, jobs and a whole lot of worldly materials a.k.a prosperous life. This is still by far the face of Christianity in our beloved African Church. My concern though; is to the true sheep of Christ who have believed this false idea unwillingly, but because they have been led into it mainly because it’s what their trusted leaders have been teaching throughout their church lives. Below are the main points that are fundamental to the Prosperity Gospel theology, followed by the real truth behind them. I do appeal to my readers to read this prayerfully, humbly, carefully and above all, scripturally.

• God wants Christians to be rich with money, Jesus died to give abundant life.

The reality is that God wants all men to be saved, Jesus died to save sinners. The abundant life Jesus promised to give was actually eternal life – not money (John 3:16-17)

• What kind of a God wants people to be poor and miserable?

The reality is that those who are in Christ are already blessed with every spiritual blessing no matter how poor they are physically. In fact, material goods mean nothing compared to the richness of knowing Christ. Therefore believers are never miserable but have joy unspeakable because the source of their joy is not material goods but it is Christ Himself. (Eph 1:3, 1 Pet 1:8-9)

• If you have no prosperity it means you have no faith or you have not learned the kingdom principles of unlocking riches.

The reality is that true Christianity is not defined by the measure of one’s faith but by godliness which comes from simple faith in what Christ has done on the Cross. And there are no principles you need to learn; you are only required to make disciples and to live your life thriving to please the Lord with all your conduct (2 Cor 5:9).

• There are no poor Christians

In reality, there are indeed very poor believers, however, that does not mean that it is their fault or that God hates them, rather Jesus has gone to heaven to prepare a better home for them where they will neither hunger nor thirst. (Jam 2:5, Rom 15:26, Joh 14:3, Rev 21:4).

• Kingdom children never lack and have dominion.

The reality is that as much as Christians are indeed kingdom children – Jesus told Pilate that His kingdom is not of this world. Therefore, the things of this world in their splendor have been given to the people of the world with Satan as the god of this world. However in the future when Jesus comes He will indeed take the kingdoms of this world and give them to His saints – future not now! If anything concerning dominion we are to have dominion over sin which wages war against our flesh (2 Cor 4:4, Luk 4:6, Rev 11:6)

• If you don’t pay tithe you will be cursed.

The reality is that the word ‘curse’ does not apply to New Testament believers because Christ redeemed them from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for them. Christians are not under the bondage of the Old Testament law which forced the Israelites to pay tithe. Rather believers are under grace and freedom in Christ. Any giving including tithe, therefore, falls under freewill, cheerful giving that God loves (Gal 3:13-14, Rom 7:4-8, 2 Cor 9:7)

• Prosperity is heavily supported by the Old Testament.

According to Deuteronomy 28:1-14, God indeed promised to bless His people Israel with earthly blessings like good rains, good harvests, abundant health and protection from enemies – only on the condition that they kept the law without fail. This covenant, therefore, failed because the Israelites failed to faithfully observe the law. Therefore God established a New Covenant through Christ which is better and with better promises than earthly blessings that perish, but an inheritance that never perishes, rust or corrupt, kept in heaven is now promised for God’s people ( Heb 8:6-13, 1 Pet 1:3-4).

• You need to sacrifice a certain amount of money for God to bless you.

The reality is under the New Covenant, we only look to the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, and by His grace (not our efforts) we are already blessed with every spiritual blessing. In that regard, we are only encouraged to offer our bodies as living sacrifices as a way of worshipping Him (Heb 10:8-10, Rom 12:1)

• There is an anointing of prosperity that you need to get.

The reality is there is nothing like that in Scripture. In fact, Peter rebuked Simon the sorcerer for associating the Spirit of God with money. The Anointing is simply the presence of the Holy Spirit inside believers. All who are Christ have the Anointing equally. There is no special anointed person than others. All are one in Christ (Act 8:18-20, 1 Joh 2:20).

• If you are a believer you will never get sick.

The reality is as long as we have the body of flesh, we are vulnerable to sicknesses and diseases. Scripture records that even the godly believers such as Timothy had frequent illnesses. All because we live on the ground that was cursed in the Garden of Eden. Until we die and get new bodies in resurrection, then we will live in a new heaven and earth that has no curse of diseases (1 Tim 5:23, Rom 8:18-23).

• You need to connect to a certain alter of a certain prophet to keep yourself protected.

The reality is believers to need to connect to nothing, because they are already connected to Christ, the Author and Finisher of their faith who died for them, gave them His Spirit, continually prays for them until He comes in glory to take them home.

The terrible danger of the prosperity gospel

It corrupts the true Gospel of salvation.

It distorts Scripture by taking only favourite verses out of context, ignoring the rest of the Bible that warns about the love of money.

It encourages the love of money, greed and pride.

It attracts worldly people who want to use Jesus for their worldly selfish desires.

It is good with giving people hope by promising abundant prosperity but it never delivers on its promises, in the end, it hurts people’s hearts.

It destroys the joy of cheerful giving by almost forcing people to give the last of their cents.

It takes advantage of poor people who are in desperate situations.

It eliminates a desire for heaven.

It was preached against by Jesus, therefore it is wrong.

Let us end here for today. This was written to educate and open the eyes of those who might have been confused by this issue. After all, the Christian life grows by learning until we all come to maturity in our Lord Jesus. May be Lord bless you and keep you; may His face shine on you. Shalom.

Sinothi Ncube