Prosperity Gospel

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, 4 he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, 5 useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. 6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1 Timothy 6:3-10
       1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. 1 Peter 2:1-3
        9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. 2 John 1:9-11

These verses of scripture all have a common theme. These are all warnings from Paul, Peter, and John against the kind of heretical and false teachings that have invaded the church in recent times. Most of us are familiar with these teachings, their destructive consequences, and those that pose as teachers of the Gospel in our "churches" and preach these false doctrines. Of course, I am talking about the prosperity gospel, and any other teachings that are in direct conflict with the Word of God. You may have noticed that I did not capitalize "prosperity gospel." This was not a typo, but done on purpose, for no false gospel deserves to stand as equal to the true Gospel that has been passed down to us in the form of scripture. Let us go over in summary what these false teachings are, and how we may be aware of them when we come across them. 

The prosperity gospel is the most famous of these false gospels. Joel Osteen is the most famous of these teachers, being the "pastor" of the biggest of these "churches." He is the "pastor" of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, which averages 52,000 attendees weekly, with 7 million television viewers each week. You may think, "Awesome! 52,000 people in person, and 7 million people via television each week are attending church and hearing the Gospel! What is the problem?" If you look on Wikipedia's Lakewood Church page, it claims that Lakewood believes in the tenants of the faith, which include Jesus as the way to salvation, baptism, and communion. But this is not the cornerstone of the message Joel Osteen and his wife Victoria deliver to their congregation. Osteen has written two books, "Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential" and "Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day." Do you see the titles of these books? The books are focused on the life we live here on Earth! How to be a better you? How to improve your life? Where is this anywhere in the Gospel? Where is this anywhere in the New Testament? Jesus taught his disciples that they would face persecution, hatred, and death because of HIS name. According to Wikipedia, "As of 2012, Osteen's net worth is reportedly $56,508,500.He lives with his family in a $10,500,000 home." Go back and read the passage in 1 Timothy 6 above. Aside from wealth and prosperity teaching, Osteen has routinely avoided issues of Hell, homosexuality, and Jesus being the only way to the Father in televised interviews. This is false teaching, and millions of people a week are eating this up. Why is this? Because the cost of following Jesus is hard, and will cost us dearly. I do not hate Joel Osteen. I pray that God would open his eyes, and get him to stop preaching this prosperity false gospel. But $56,000,000 later, I feel that he is like the rich young ruler Christ talked about. Would he give up all his millions to follow the REAL CHRIST? I can only pray he will. Others who teach this or have taught this are  E. W. Kenyon, Oral Roberts, A. A. Allen, Robert Tilton, T. L. Osborn, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland, Reverend Ike and Kenneth Hagin, Jesse Duplantis, and Joyce Meyer.

Brothers and sisters, any gospel that is contrary to what the Bible teaches is a false gospel. It is no the Truth. "The name it, claim it" is a dangerous gospel that is popular in this culture. Joyce Meyer is one of the people who spread this false teaching. Let me ask you a direct question. Who was the only being to ever speak anything into existence on his own? You would be correct in assuming only God himself has ever done this. He spoke the universe into existence. Joyce Meyer has gone far enough to say that she and her husband can "control" the weather. She also teaches that as Christians we are supposed to control the weather!!! Who is referred to the "Prince of the Air" in scripture?" You would be right to assume the answer is SATAN. She claimed to have rebuked a tornado while in an airplane, and the tornado just went back into the sky. Really? Benny Hinn comes to mind at this time. False teachers and prophets are able to do signs and wonders. Brothers and sisters, no matter how much we believe, we cannot on our own heal and do wonders at will, on our own. These people draw their power from a powerful source, and it is not Christ. Any ministry that is based on prosperity, signs, healing, entertainment, showmanship, and anything other than Christ is not a ministry. Wolves will show up in sheep's clothing. As a matter a fact, they already have. Satan masquerades as an Angel of Light.  Beware of these false teachings.

What is the point? Why did I choose to name these teachers by name? I did not give names to start controversy. Actually, I issue you a challenge. Check out some videos of interviews and teachings of each of these people I named above. Listen and watch for yourselves.Type "prosperity gospel" into the search bar on YouTube and watch for yourself. But do something more constructive. Read the teachings of scripture, read your Bible, and place the teachings of anybody you hear or read against the Gospel. Mega churches are also in danger of some false teachings. I watched the Netflix Special Pastor Steven Furtick did, and some of his preaching on Jacob was really good. Upon further research, I have found some things I wish I could ask the Pastor about. For instance, why do the coloring books for children his church, Elevation Church, receive, refer to the vision Pastor Steven received from God? Why is his staff required to sign non disclosure agreements in the event they were to leave the church? Why is there a video of Pastor Steven rebuking people who wish to go deeper? Why would John MacArthur, a man I have come to greatly respect, refer to him as "unqualified"? Beware of ministries that are more about the Pastor than about God. In fact, if I ever speak on something, or do anything that puts myself ahead of Christ, rebuke me and call me out immediately. 

This is the truth, and if any teaching contradicts these teachings from scripture, it is a false gospel. God created the universe, including the earth, by speaking it into existence. God created man in HIS image, perfect. God created woman out of Adam. These were the first humans. Eve was deceived by Satan, and Adam followed he in Sin. From this point on, humanity and creation fell under the curse of sin. God sent his son, the incarnate image of the eternal God, to die for SIN on the cross. Christ was crucified, died a PHYSICAL death, resurrected, and sits on the Right Hand of the Father. He will come back to judge the quick and the dead. Jesus is the only way to the Father. (John 14:6) Jesus DID claim to be God, thus he IS GOD. (John 8:13-59.)  I believe what the Nicene Creed says: 

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only‐begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.  And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end. And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.