Gospel Truth Project

Many have seen the prosperity gospel taught in their local churches, tv evangelists, and social media outlets, potentially without knowing it. The idea is simple, do right by God and get blessed with riches. Britannica defines this as, “prosperity gospel, also called prosperity theology, in Protestant Christianity, the teaching that fait (expressed through positive thoughts, positive declarations, and donations to the church) draws health, wealth, and happiness into believers’ lives. It is also referred to as the “health and wealth gospel” or “name it and claim it.” Central to this teaching are the beliefs that salvation through Jesus Christ includes liberation from not only death and eternal damnation but also poverty, sickness, and other ills.”

The origin of this movement can be traced back to William Walker who founded many books and started the ideology of the law of attraction. Many “name it claim it” ideology is based on his work from the early 1900’s. The idea of salvation becoming more of a transactional idea was brought into Christianity through Pentecostalism. This idea was, “accept Christ, and never be broke, sick, or hurting ever again.” If you experienced these things then you didn’t have enough faith or did something wrong. Unfortunately, we can see that this mindset is still alive and well in todays media labeled as “Christian”.

Lets get into the verses used by prosperity gospel. John 10:10 says, “A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.” This verse is commonly used to promote prosperity gospel. Does life mean wealth? How about success? What about the lack of sickness? Lets add context to this passage so we may understand what “life” means in this passage. The full context is John 10:1–21. It continues directly from Jesus’ encounter with local religious leaders, after giving sight to a man born blind in John 9. Jesus’ references here to shepherds and shepherding are pointed barbs at these hypocritical, self-serving figures. In this section, Jesus actually creates three separate metaphors; these are not meant to be understood as a single analogy. The first comes in verses 1 through 6, the second in verses 7 through 9, and the third in verses 10 through 18. In doing so, Jesus explains how He differs from the corrupt leaders He confronts. He also delivers His third and fourth ”I am” statements, out of seven in this gospel.

So why use life abundantly? For this verse in its context, Jesus seeks to not just preserve life for the sheep, but to provide it. In the prior analogy, Jesus claimed that as the one and only door, He was the means by which a person could “be saved.” That Greek term, sōthēsetai, suggests rescue, protection, and healing. Here, Jesus deepens that claim by saying that His purpose is not only tied to life, but to an abundant life.

That “abundant” life means something more meaningful than material wealth and prosperity (Colossians 3:2–3; Matthew 6:25–32). It begins with salvation from an eternity of suffering the penalty of sin (Romans 6:23). An abundant life is, first and foremost, eternal life (John 17:3). The abundant life means gaining a heavenly perspective (Romans 12:2), leading to a growing trust and knowledge of God (2 Peter 3:18). It means blossoming into a life full of the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22–23). While false teachers and false religions offer shallow, temporary relief, only Jesus brings truly everlasting life and spiritual abundance (John 14:6).

Have you ever heard a pastor or leader preach, “You have not because you ask not” and quote James 4. This is in reference to James 4:2 which reads, “You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask.” Lets add some context, James 4:1–12 builds on the end of chapter 3, describing how living according to the world’s wisdom has led to great conflict among James’s Christian readers. They were fighting with each other because they couldn’t get what they wanted. James says that living that way is adultery. It’s ”cheating” on God. He calls them to quit their friendship with the world, humble themselves, repent from their sin, and receive God’s grace. God is the Lawgiver and Judge, not man.

So what does James 4:2 mean? At the heart of the Christians’ of this time was their response to not getting what they want out of life. In those moments when we realize that what we want is still out of our grasp, we always have a choice. The world’s wisdom tells us to sacrifice everything to get what we want, including the welfare of others. The world will tell us to fight, to scratch, to wound, if that’s what it takes. Driven by envy for what they want, James’s readers are frustrated when they keep coming up empty. So they fight. James identifies their root problem: These believers in God refused to trust Him to provide what they needed. They refused to even ask God for what they wanted. God might say no, after all. They were not willing to trust that if God would not give it to them, it was something they could live without for now. They would rather hurt someone else in attempting to provide it for themselves.

The bible is very clear that as a Christiaan we should expect persecution. Lets look at 1 Peter 4:12-14, “Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed. If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” Lets add context to this verse so we can better understand this. Some 30 years after the resurrection of Jesus, Christians are facing greater persecution for their faith. How should they respond? How should we respond to suffering today? The apostle Peter writes this letter both to comfort believers and to encourage them to stay strong. He urges them to put all their hope in their perfect future with Christ, and to obey and trust Him in the present, even in their suffering. Christ suffered greatly; now the Christ-followers have the opportunity to follow Him even in this, showing His grace and power in their hopefulness, obedience, and faith.

Again, we should not be surprised when suffering becomes intense. Instead, we should look ahead to the moment when Christ’s glory will be revealed to all of the universe. We should see our current suffering as something temporary, which we can still rejoice in. Our pain in the here-and-now will contribute to that eternal moment of glory. So, instead feeling shame when we receive insults for being Christians, we should receive them as badges of honor that bring glory to God.

Does this mean we can’t be rich and Christian? No, absolutely not. We can be prosperous in life and enjoy life. We are told to be ready when we are persecuted and to put our faith in Him. Biblically we are told that the love of money is the root of evil (1 Timothy 6:10). We know that being rich and prosperous has its difficulties as a faithful Christian. We are called to rely on God and put our faith in him. When you have more things, wealth, and security, it brings a false sense of “I don’t need God”. We can see this being referenced by Jesus himself in Matthew 19:23. I will say that if a wealthy person claims to be Christian, they personally should have that conviction to lay it all down before God for the betterment of His kingdom.

We will gladly talk about that topic on a podcast episode (if we haven’t already by the time you read this). All people of all walks of life, of all wealth varieties, will have an equal opportunity to accept Christ and push the betterment of His kingdom. I want to make this clear, if you are rich and prosperous, this does not mean to go give all of it away or become homeless. The previous paragraph is to explain the difficulties that wealth and prosperity can bring here on earth when our end goal is eternity with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

With that being said, if you have questions, topic ideas, or want to be a guest on our podcast, please check out our get involved section on our main page. We continue to study the word of God as a whole. We hope you enjoy our podcast and will help us make a difference by donating funds to our cause. We look to put our charitable donations to causes that are verified to do what they say. We thank you for supporting us and may God bless you and your family.