Deceived by Prosperity Gospel
Poor Joel Osteen, (oh the irony). I can’t help but feel bad for him as he has become the poster boy of prosperity gospel. The first face that popped into my head when I was thinking on the subject this morning. I always hope for the best, trusting that someone in such a position has their heart in the right place, is truly helping lead people to Jesus, and ended up with a bad reputation out of jealousy or something of the sort. As I searched up Osteen on google I immediately found a list of quotes. Some of which I agree with such as “only God can look at somebody’s heart”. Absolutely true. Hence my statement three sentences ago. On the other hand, a few rows down I discover, “God wants us to prosper financially, to have plenty of money, to fulfill the destiny He has laid out before us”. I am not God, I certainly cannot see into the heart of someone spreading such a message, and there are plenty of others spreading similar messages. I do know, however, regardless of where this message comes from, it is a dangerous one.
"Fulfill the Destiny Laid Out Before Us"
Our first concept to be aware of is, we must break this ideology down as just that, a set of ideas, rather than attached to any human being. One person may have said it initially, but many thousands learned to live by it. Plenty are living joy void, complaint filled, confused lives as a result. Let’s begin with the final portion of the above quotation. God wants us “to fulfill the destiny he has laid out before us”. This is undoubtedly true when looked at as a statement separate from its precursors above. Coming at the end of the attached sentence though, it appears to insinuate wealth is a necessity to find our destiny. We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose; Romans 8:28. God does want us to fulfill our purpose, and the purpose of every Christian is to reflect the image of our creator, not to be comfortable or wealthy above all else. The Apostle Paul learned over the course of his life to be content in all circumstances whether in plenty, with enough to eat, enjoying life with friends and loved ones; or as a prisoner to the Roman government, held in chains. Both situations grant the ability to fulfill a destiny in line with God’s desires for our lives. Both allow for contentment, an appreciation for life despite circumstance, but one sure sounds more comfortable than the other. Comfort may come our way for a season, but Jesus never promised comfort, he only promised suffering.
"Have Plenty of Money"
Now, let’s back up to the middle portion of our quotation. God wants us “...to have plenty of money…”. What does plenty even mean? Dictionary.com states: “a full or abundant supply or amount”. If “plenty” is the scale we are utilizing to decide we have enough money or resources, what outcome is there besides fueling the human ability to live in infinite desire and unfulfillment. We can’t ignore the reality of the famous statement by the first american billionaire John Rockefeller, when asked how much money is enough, he responded “just a little bit more”. I can’t help but guess he lived out an abundant, comfortable, and often, miserable life. There is no way to avoid a trail of broken relationships in route to a dream of infinite wealth. If we desire plenty, an abundance, and our human desire is known to be unfulfillable, are we any different than the monkey with his hand stuck in the trap? An open fist and he would be free. If only we would release our desire, we could begin to break free from enslavement.
Finally, the last portion of today's phrase; “God wants us to prosper financially”. God does not cause suffering, it is a fact of life in a fractured world. God does not want to see his children suffer but He does not promise fortunes either. We commit ourselves to a life of misery when we equate money with happiness. There will never be enough. We will never escape self inflicted suffering. Money is not evil in itself, but the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, 1 Timothy 6:10.
Distorted Faith
These distorted ideas have evolved inside the church into giving with the expectation of receiving. That is selfishness. Definitely not love, which acts without the need for reciprocity. We are blessed to be a blessing. God allows us to receive in plenty so that we can further his kingdom. Possibly more alarming is this false gospel convincing hopeful, hurting people that if they simply gave more they could be healed from sickness, injury, disease. That doesn’t sound like the good news to me. Worst of all, it claims that if they could just muster enough faith, life would drastically improve. “More faith” is a blatant lie, a statement of thieves. The idea of “name it and claim it” popularized by prosperity preachers states that you can speak your own prosperity into existence, “with enough faith”, of course. The Bible does record that God will grant you the desires of your heart, ask and you shall receive. The problem is, we forget the hypothetical asterisk that follows, reminding me, my desires have to align with God’s desires before this becomes capital T, Truth. The draw of prosperity is obvious; ease, convenience, etc… The dilemma is an expectation of wealth and prosperity which makes us furious at God when things don’t go the way we decided they should. Conversely, it makes us ignore God and place the crown upon our own heads if success does come our way; “I knew I could do it”.
Everyone needs enough to survive, we don’t always need more… and more.. and more. And none of this is to say we cannot have desires, we should have desires. When we do get a new gadget, it is necessary to notice what value it has added to our lives on a daily basis, not just how the next thing could make life that much better. We should manage those desires, not let them manage us. It should be unthinkable that our greed, and accompanying pride would force distance between us and a joyful life. In the life changing book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis describes exactly this explaining how greed will push a man to desire excess to a certain point, then pride takes over, pushing infinitely farther as a means of being more powerful than a neighbor. Lewis finally makes this terrifyingly thought provoking statement; “For Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense”. We likely have more than enough. Having a middle class income puts us near the top of wealth in the world. Our perspectives however are not of contentment, but of unending desire. By this, we allow the joy to be drained from our existence. In the explanation of the parable of the sower, the seed spread among the thorns is described as this: the worries of this life and deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. Matthew 13:22.
Go and Sin No More
A final thought to the biggest pitfall of the prosperity gospel as it pertains to religious life. This ideology adheres itself to a quick fix mentality and material growth. Consequently, it becomes all but effortless to leave behind the actual spiritual life and disciplines. As is highlighted in the documentary film American Gospel: Christ Alone*; prosperity gospel focuses on quantity over quality when it comes to church membership. Therefore often ignoring salvation level issues for the sake of comfortability and minimal sacrifice in the lives of church members. There is a massive difference between the message of “you are loved as you are, come back next week”, and; “you are loved as you are, now go and sin no more”. In other words, we mustn’t forget as followers of Jesus we are forever seeking for what pieces of us must die that I could be that much clearer a reflection of Him.
Again, I am not able to look into the hearts of every member of “prosperity” or “mega” churches. The church as a whole is filled with lost and confused souls, myself included. I am just prayerful that no one else would be misled into skipping off the narrow path for the visible ease of the wide road.
*American Gospel: Christ Alone is an excellent documentary and I want to recommend a way to watch it for free. TaylorRae and I originally rented it on Amazon, but it is available for free to watch on the app “Hoopla”. All that is required is a library card number, which is free to get from your local library. The app has audio books, e-books, as well as tv shows and movies including this one. It is just awesome, check it out!
