So What About the Prosperity Gospel?

So What About the Prosperity Gospel?

Recently I’ve noticed a bit of chatter about the prosperity gospel. It led me to do a scan of several You Tube videos in opposition to the term and preaching of the “prosperity gospel.” My motive wasn’t to find out who was saying what about it, but it came while I was looking into another topic. Needless to say, I was dismayed in particular over the attacks on the prosperity gospel. Not because there aren’t those who have perverted the perspective on the prosperity gospel for their own purposes of provision, but because of the outright attacking nature and seeming unwillingness to view prosperity in the context of the gospel for what it is, what it can be for us and what it should be to us.

I think I was more disappointed than disturbed by the implications and the overt presentations against prominent proponents of prosperity. I guess my big question is centered on why some feel motivated to clamor for the exclusion of prosperity from the overall plan of redemption God purposed for man.

From my perspective, prosperity is clearly presented in the Bible. In context, it has its place, alongside healing and health, rich, full relationships, a grounded purpose for a man or woman’s life given from the heart of God, a life of service, a life of sacrifice where needed, the willful care of resources in the earth and most importantly, salvation in Christ and Christ alone. As stated in Acts 4:12, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

In regards to the gospel of salvation as a whole, how did prosperity become a side issue of non-significance and irrelevance in some people’s minds? Why and how does healing and health, along with prosperity and wealth, demean the term “gospel?” Does gospel still mean “good news?” When did being healthy and having all your needs met physically, financially, socially, vocationally and relationally become “bad news” or reflect a lack of trust in God, or become contradictory to God’s priorities in salvation?

What does salvation mean? Romans 10:10 presents salvation from a Greek word “soteria” and means “deliverance, preservation, safety, deliverance from the molestation of enemies, Messianic salvation, salvation as the present possession of all true Christians, future salvation, the sum of benefits and blessings which the Christians, redeemed from all earthly ills, will enjoy after the visible return of Christ from heaven in the consummated and eternal kingdom of God; saved from the penalty, power, presence and most importantly the pleasure of sin.” This definition is found as a link through the Crosswalk website (www.crosswalk.com) and lists the Strong’s Concordance definition of this word, soteria.

Have you ever experienced poverty? If you have, do you feel blessed or desire to be delivered from it, preserved from and given safety away from the pain and potential destruction of poverty and lack? Sometimes, opponents of prosperity make being provided for and blessed of the Lord sound like a sinful pleasure from which people need to be protected. What happens when you make being blessed look and sound like a “curse”? It can create cognitive dissonance, or confusion about what’s right in the least. It can generate guilt and condemnation for having anything of value at worse.

In the New King James Version Proverbs 10:22 says, “The blessing of the Lord makes one rich and He adds no sorrow with it.” The word rich in this verse is a Hebrew word “ashar” and means “to be or become rich or wealthy, enrich, pretend to be rich, to gain riches and to enrich oneself.” Pretend means a thing that may appear false but is actually a precursor to what may not yet be tangibly evident.

From this scripture in Proverbs 10:22, and from Deuteronomy 28:1-14, Psalm 35:27, III John 2, II Corinthians 9:6-15, Galatians 3:13-14, Luke 6:38, Philippians 4:19, Galatians 6:7 and a whole slew of other exigetically supportive Old and New Testament passages too numerous to list here, we have clear evidence that being blessed of the Lord is scriptural and a good thing for the loving, giving, qualifying believer. And it’s worth reiterating that no sorrow, guilt or condemnation accompanies the blessing of the Lord.

Let’s consider for a few moments the words of Jesus. In John 10:10, the devil is portrayed as the thief. To be stolen from by a thief is not a blessing in disguise or otherwise. A thief is your enemy. Jesus said the thief or the enemy to the believer came to steal, kill and destroy. Jesus came to give life, or as stated in the Amplified Bible, Jesus said “I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).”

Jesus came to deliver, preserve, make safe, protect and deliver us from the molestation of enemies. Jesus also came so that not only is this Messianic salvation a promise of future benefits, but that this “salvation is the present possession of all true Christians.” We who are in Christ currently have the ticket of future entrance for the full intent, purpose and expanse of salvation forever, and the experience of being saved in the earth, right now, today.

So what does it mean to be saved? In Romans 10:9, the word saved is a Greek word, “sozo.” It means “to keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction, to save a suffering one (from perishing), i.e. one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health, to preserve one who is in danger of destruction, to save or rescue and to deliver from the penalties of the Messianic judgment.” That’s the Strong’s Concordance definition that’s also listed by Crosswalk.

When and why did the promise of God’s love in prospering His children become a deterrent to salvation? If love gives, particularly if unconditional love gives, what is the cut-off point that determines what and how much that love is willing or allowed to give? Does unconditional love’s giving stop at spiritual needs, or can unconditional love transcend and translate into all needs small and great, spiritual, physical, emotional, mental…material and financial?

If the detractors to prosperity really believe that God’s gospel is adamantly opposed to and repulsed by prosperity, why do they not practice poverty? If indeed it’s not God’s will for His children to prosper, why do those who believe against the “good news” not sell all their goods, give it all away and live on the streets?

What’s so difficult about searching the scriptures to establish a harmony of beliefs that rightfully expands the paradigm of what our impossibility conquering God is able and willing to do? Is there not clear and compelling evidence that Jesus, who personally stated that He came to give an abundant life understood that an abundant life includes atonement for our sins, deliverance from our sins, a regenerate nature, eternal life, divine healing, divine health, financial and material provision and prosperity, protection and preservation from our enemies, a defined purpose in life determined from the foundations of the world, a place of dignity and respect in our communities and a fulfilling, satisfying, rewarding life here in the earth and for all eternity. Or am I reaching, perhaps along with Jesus, for more than we get with the gospel as a whole?

If Jesus is the Word made flesh–and He is—then a careful search of all the scriptures of the Old and New Covenant should reveal the fullness of God’s will and the contextual priority that prosperity as a whole plays in the life of the children, the very offspring of a limitless God. If we’re children, offspring of God, then it stands to reason that whatever He has is available to His dependents in some form or another, at some time or another.

Which of us willfully denies our children what they need? What do we call parents who deny their children all their basic needs? How often do we seek to give our children things that bring them joy? Who among us hasn’t at some point yearned within our hearts to do more for our own children? How many have given their children things the child desired and it was done out of a heart of love? Who among us hasn’t given a toy or an item that wasn’t high on our list but it became important to us because it was important to our children?

Where do you think that yearning, that compassion, grace and giving spirit comes from? All good and even doting parenthood—with balance—emanates from the Father of the family both in heaven and in earth.

To go a little further in this, how far down into “pure doctrine” do we have to go to extract out what I guess people would like to call the “pure gospel?” Did Jesus come only and exclusively for our sins to deliver us from Hell? Don’t quote me out of context. Salvation, deliverance from our sins, is the primary purpose for Jesus coming. John 3:16 leaves no doubt about this. But didn’t Jesus come to provide for other things that are “standard features” of His redemptive act? Is it that we should only think in terms of finding a way to make it through life with no hopes of things like provision above just the most basic of physical needs, the most basic of health needs, only the most basic of relational and vocational needs?

Should we have no aspirations beyond scraping by on a meager quantity of provision and live in only the most modest of means to prove our consecration and willingness to sacrifice? Why did God create an earth with such rich provisions, but then on the other hand say we should have no contact with the vast majority of the resources in the earth? Is the primary whole of the earth still looked upon as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which we’re not to touch or eat? Why do people fight over things like having more than enough?

What usually happens when you take and over emphasize, and improperly prioritize any truth to extreme? Excesses and abuses, of course. What usually happens when you dilute any truth to extreme? Ignorance and destruction, of course. What happens when you take poverty to a full extreme? Death. What happens when you take illness to a full extreme? Death. What happens when you take sin to a full extreme? Natural and spiritual death.

What is spoken of in Galatians 3:13? “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us…” Jesus came to redeem us from the curse of the law. What is the curse of the law? Poverty, sickness and death, including spiritual death or eternal death. How would we describe our redemption from poverty, sickness and death, including redemption from spiritual or eternal death? Wealth, health and life, including spiritual or eternal life aptly summarizes our redemption in Christ.

What’s the problem with that depth of redemption and how can this be portrayed as “another gospel?” I’m concerned when factions are created over the “prosperity gospel.” Where’s the disconnect on biblical provision made by a God of love and judgment, mercy and wrath? When did God become so small that He couldn’t provide it all? How did we become so small minded as to think that any one of us, or any one group or denomination has the answers for everything? When did one group become the judge of the world and the judge of all other groups? Where do we find evidence that Jesus died so we could bicker back and forth over things that have a much wider context or greater purpose beyond us feeling we have to police one another–to the potential damnation of so many?

Is there a problem with misguided, even deceived Christians who have taken prosperity to an extreme and gotten the focus off their first love and onto an imbalanced view of prosperity? Sure. But that doesn’t mean you throw the baby out with the bathwater and assume any discussion of prosperity is superficial and manipulative. Are there prosperity attackers whose sole purpose is to follow in the footsteps of Judas of Iscariot and make everything that anyone says about money or prosperity, or healing and health for that matter, sound like heresy. Yes. But it doesn’t justify eliminating the investigation to fully support what we believe and why, and learning how to better communicate these important biblical truths throughout the Body of Christ.

Why are people so set on damning the possession of prosperity and provision above basic needs? In contrast, why are there those who think church and christianity is only about hearing how to make more money and accululate more stuff? What happened to the middle of the road and the solid foundations? What’s wrong with having financial discipline, temperance and biblical balance?

I’ve risked my standing in some places for believing this way and teaching the prosperity gospel, but let me state it for the record: I believe in the biblical truth of the prosperity gospel in the best context of what I’ve endeavored to communicate in this article. Prosperity is biblical and inherent in the nature of God as witnessed by the immensity of His creation and the overwhelming value of the blood of Jesus Christ. I believe there are those who have perverted and prostituted this truth for selfish purposes and ungodly ends. But a great many of the “prosperity preachers” are doing a great deal more to proclaim and support the gospel for material relief and real salvations worldwide than they are given credit for, and I dare say, more than many of their critics.

I finish this article with these thoughts. Why do some think we must rip out entire biblical passages that promise blessing, provision, increase, abundance, multiplication, favor and prosperity to evangelize? It’s clear that the man or woman without Christ has a nature that opposes God and stands in need of salvation from their sins. We know the unsaved man or woman stands in need of the Savior. But is God not big enough to do both, and to do it so as not to neglect the importance and value of either issue? When and where did being blessed of the Lord become a social, spiritual and personal pollutant? How did the spiritual riches of salvation in Christ, and eternal life through the blood and cross of Jesus Christ get so detached from the love of a Father giving His children the very best that His creation has to offer? Who concocted the extremes of prosperity teaching that give it a place of overstated prominence and destroy proper priorities? Who demonized and crafted the dilution of prosperity to a place of irrelevancy in the big picture of eternal life?

In a general sense, prosperity as it pertains to the Christian can be summed up with this thought: “Biblical prosperity is having eternal life, peace of soul and material provision to adequately cover our personal and family needs, enjoy the life God’s given us to live, to be a blessing to many in our circle of influence and to be a blessing to help people in need beyond our circle throughout the world.” All of this leads me to a final question for this article: Are you living a truly biblical, prosperous life that honors, glorifies and pleases God?

About Lance Ivey

Lance Ivey graduated with a B.A in English/communications from Siena Heights University in 1986, and has taught, served and ministered in multiple ministry settings over the past 23 years. Most recently, he was executive director at Heartland School of Ministry and Christian education director at Heartland World Ministries Church in Irving, TX. He was also assistant director and a full-time instructor at Victory Bible Institute and served on the pastoral team at Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, OK.  Lance is currently in full time traveling ministry and writes freelance articles that have appeared in national online news websites. 

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!