I noticed one woman praying along with her young children. She was crying profusely, so I quickly knelt down in front of her and asked her if there was something I could pray with her about. I've learned the importance of listening to people and bearing their burdens. It's not enough to say, "God bless you, Sister (or Brother), go in peace" (James 2:15-16). We need to enter into their pain, to pray and believe God with them. We don't have to have all the answers; sometimes we just need to be good listeners.
That morning in Fort Myers, the woman, a first-time visitor to the church, began to tell me how her life had completely fallen apart. Her husband had walked out, leaving her to raise the children alone. A series of heartbreaking events had transpired in her life since then, the most recent of which was an auto accident in which her car was badly damaged. She sobbed, "I feel that God has turned His back on me. He must not love me anymore."
I well understood that woman's feelings of discouragement and abandonment. I had felt the same way when I went to prison and lost my home, cars, bank accounts, insurance policies, retirement money, my relationships with many "friends," and eventually, even my wife. According to my concepts of the gospel, these things should not have happened. Where was God?
Answer: the same place He had always been. He had not moved or changed His mind or His message. I was the one who had equated His material blessings with what I called "abundant life."
I prayed with the woman at the altar, and I also pointed out to her that some of the things happening to her might be the result of satanic attack, others might have been the consequences of sin-hers or her husband's and some of the things she was enduring were simply God's refining fire at work in her life.
Then I showed her the Scripture, "For whom the LORD loves He chastens, / And scourges every son whom He receives" (Heb. 12:6 NKJV). At first she was a bit uncomfortable with the idea that God disciplines His children, but she was a good mother who understood that discipline is an integral part of love. She left that morning encouraged, not because her circumstances had changed, but because her concept of God's love and blessing had changed. And I left encouraged because I had an opportunity to help someone who had been damaged by the kind of materialistic message I used to preach.
A DECEPTIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE MESSAGE
Why is the modern emphasis on materialism so insidious? Why is it so dangerous in these last days before the return of Christ? Simply this: it is "another gospel," not the true gospel.
The term another gospel comes from the apostle Paul's second letter of correction and encouragement addressed to the church in Corinth. He wrote:
But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel [another gospel, KJV] which you have not accepted you may well put up with it! (11:3-4 NKJV)
Basically Paul was saying, "Just as the devil subtly deceived Eve, you too might be thrown off track by someone who comes preaching a message that is different than the message I presented to you." What really seems to concern the apostle is that the Corinthians might be gullible enough in their faith to accept such an impostor.
Paul had a similar concern for the Christians at Galatia. These believers had started out well, but then had gotten sidetracked into legalism. Paul was amazed that the Galatians could allow that to happen so easily. He wrote:
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. (1:6-9 NKJV)
Whew! Do you get the impression that the apostle was seriously concerned about the danger of someone perverting the gospel? Absolutely. Paul was saying, "I don't care who it is, or how nice a person he or she might be; even if it is me, or one of my close associates, or an angel from heaven. If that person tells you anything that contradicts or perverts the gospel I preached to you-the true gospel of Jesus Christ-let that person be accursed!"
Paul was concerned about the Galatians believing a different gospel, one in which they accepted a mixture of salvation through legalistic works with a belief in salvation through Christ alone. Paul was saying, "Hey, folks. The two don't mix."
Unfortunately, by mixing the quest for money with a relationship with God, many preachers and Bible teachers in our day have perpetrated a perversion equally as destructive. By giving the impression that God wants all of His people to be rich materially, we have diluted the true gospel and foisted upon the public a deceptively false substitute. We have been preaching "another Jesus, another gospel." And the church today, like that in Galatia, is putting up with it.
Worse yet, the church is welcoming these false doctrines. Herds of sincere Christians with "itching ears" (2 Tim. 4:3 NKJV) follow pastors and evangelists who tell them what they want to hear, and these believers are being duped into accepting "another gospel"-the prosperity gospel. '
WHAT IS THE PROSPERITY MESSAGE?
In a nutshell, the prosperity message promises that Christians should expect to achieve health, wealth, success, happiness, and personal fulfillment-not just in heaven to come, but during this life on earth. While only the most blatant prosperity teachers are willing to say "God wants you to get rich," the message with its various subtleties has been propagated so thoroughly for the past few decades, it has seeped into the hearts and minds of many Christians who would not consider themselves advocates of a prosperity gospel. Many of these are sincere believers who congregate in churches supposedly centered on the Word, fellowships based on a serious exposition of the Logos, the Word of Christ. Others are attracted to full-gospel fellowships, congregations that espouse a deeper experience with God, in which the believer is filled with the Holy Spirit subsequent to his salvation experience. Fairly or unfairly, many of the groups emphasizing God's material blessings have been lumped into the general categories of charismatic or pentecostal fellowships.
But the Christian obsession with materialism is not confined to those whose spiritual experience leans toward a more ecstatic, euphoric worship style. Just take a look in the parking lots of most mainstream denominational churches, and you will notice the same status symbols equated with material success in "worldly" circles. No longer do Christians feel uncomfortable about driving expensive cars, living in luxurious homes, wearing the best clothes, or eating the finest foods. Even many pastors have succumbed to the temptation to "have it all" in this life. While most pastors in America are underpaid and often underappreciated, others live like kings. I recently heard of a pastor's salary that rivaled (and exceeded!) that of the corporate CEOs in his congregation.
Granted, the responsibilities of pastoring are enormous, but just how many hundreds of thousands of dollars should a pastor receive from his congregation?
No doubt someone will be quick to point out, "Jim, you didn't seem to mind when you were receiving large sums of money as salaries and bonuses as the pastor of Heritage Village Missionary Church (PTL)." And that is correct. But I should have. As I discussed in I Was Wrong, one of the most serious mistakes I made at Heritage USA was to accept the exorbitant remunerations the board of directors voted to give me. Were the salaries and bonuses legal? Absolutely. Were they right? Absolutely not. They allowed me to live out the errors of the prosperity gospel I was preaching.
Many Christians who hold to a prosperity doctrine are quick to point to Jesus' words in John 10:10, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (NKJV).
"See," the prosperity teacher says, "it is obvious that Jesus wants His people to prosper. He wants to give us a good life, abundant in quality and quantity."
I used to tell people the same thing. Speaking about John 10:10, I told the studio audience at PTL,
Somehow our modern thinking has managed to twist this truth around to make it appear like the opposite is true-that God is the thief, to say "no, no" to all our fun and adventure ... To think that God doesn’t want your life to be rich, exciting, and full of adventure is the greatest lie that I know. The word abundant that Jesus uses here in verse ten literally means to excel and superabound both in quality and quantity. God wants us to superabound in every part of our life.'
At first glance, it's easy to see how such a verse could be interpreted to imply that God wants us to enjoy material prosperity. The word for life in this verse, however, is zoe, a word indicating "life in the spirit and soul." Another Greek word, bios, from which we get our word biology, also means "life"; but bios is the word used to refer to physical, material life. Of the two words, zoe is usually considered the more noble, higher concept of life. Jesus was saying this: "I want you to have an abundant life in the spirit, which is My highest and best for you."
Actually, John 10:10 has nothing to do with material prosperity. If abundant life meant having expensive houses and cars, parties and entertainment, then it would be legitimate to say that many non-Christians are experiencing abundant life. By that criteria, members of the Mafia, movie stars, and Wall Street financial wizards would certainly be considered blessed.
Though nonbelievers and believers alike may have an abundance of riches, that in itself is no sign that they are experiencing the abundant life Jesus promised. Besides, if you are equating God's love for you with how much money you have, how big a house you live in, or what kind of car you drive, what happens when all of those things are gone? Does that mean God no longer loves you? Sadly, I have met many sincere but deceived Christians who now believe just that.
THE "KEY" TO PROSPERITY
One of the key verses most frequently used to bolster the prosperity message is 3 John 2. It is also one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible. The verse reads: "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth" (KJV).
I had preached on this verse for most of my ministry. It seemed to say exactly what I had believed: that God wanted His people to prosper. And I interpreted it to mean prosper financially and materially; in other words, to get rich.
I had even written books instructing people how they could guarantee material success. In an attempt to encourage Christians to trust God for more material blessings, I once wrote:
As a child of God, you ought to live in victory. Christianity is a winning way of life. God intends for you to be successful in every part of your living.
Unfortunately, many Christians do not realize this. They somehow have been conditioned to accept-indeed, to expect-failure. Surrounded by an atmosphere of negativism and self-pity, they resign themselves to being second- or third-class citizens, inferior, end of the line.
This attitude is not scriptural. This lifestyle is not Christian.
God is not defeated. He is not a failure. His resources are not limited.
Why, then, should His children, the citizens of His kingdom, live in defeat, failure, and want?
God's will for you is good. He has declared in His Word, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth" (3 John 2 KJV). He expects you to be successful. He has canceled the claim of sin and death on your life and placed all the power and resources of heaven at your disposal.
So it's not God's fault if you're not successful!
Don't blame God for your failure-He's given you all you need to be a winner. Through His love, His blessings, His Word-in every conceivable way-He constantly assures you that you can make it.
Please understand, I was not attempting to deceive anyone. I honestly believed what I wrote. I taught it and I lived it, and my lifestyle reflected the theology that said God is pleased with material prosperity. Fancy cars, beautiful homes, stylish clothes, staying in the finest hotels in the world such extravagances may not be wrong for some people, but for me these things were wrong because they were the outward manifestations and the logical extension of my misinterpretation of Scripture.
I never really examined the true meaning of the text in 3 John 2. I never looked up any of the words in a Greek-English dictionary, or consulted a learned theologian concerning its meaning. Nor did I ever seriously consider why this verse seemed to contradict so much of what the New Testament said in other places. I simply pulled the verse out of context and used it to justify my God-wants-you-rich theology.
Part of the problem is that the King James translation of the Bible obscures the true meaning of the verse. First, the phrase above all things creates confusion for many Christians. The words make it sound as though our prosperity is at the top of God's priority list for us. But wait a minute. Above all?
Does that mean even above our salvation? Of course not. In fact, when a fellow asked Jesus what He thought was number one on God's top ten list, Jesus' answer included no reference to material prosperity at all.
And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:29-31 KJV)
Jesus was saying that our number one concern is to love God supremely; after that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus did not even hint that material prosperity has anything to do with His priorities for our lives. Why, then, would the apostle John say that "above all" we should have prosperity?
He didn't.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO PROSPER?
The word prosper has various forms, and if you look them up in an English dictionary, you will get the impression that the words have one meaning in common: "to increase in wealth." But the word prosper as translated into English from the original New Testament Greek has quite a different meaning. The word translated prosper in the King James version comes from a Greek word, euodoo, which is made up of two root words, eu, which means "good," and hodos, which means "road, or route, a progress, or journey." It can also mean "to be led in a good way."'
Besides 3 John 2, the word euodoo is used only two other times in the New Testament, and in no place does it refer to vast sums of money, riches, or material gain. Granted, it can be accurately translated prosper in 1 Corinthians 16:2, where the apostle Paul is encouraging the church to prepare an offering for the suffering saints in Jerusalem. He suggests that the believers contribute a portion of their income each week, so they will not have to take a special collection when he arrives in Corinth. Rather than setting a specific amount that each person should give in the offering, Paul gave the Corinthian Christians a general principle that they should give as they had prospered: "On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come" (NKJV).
To infer that the prosperity Paul mentions here meant that the Corinthian Christians were rolling in money is an assumption we have no right to make. While there may have been some wealthy Christians in the Corinthian church, it is highly doubtful that Paul was hoping for a few "big-bucks" donors to carry the load. Most likely, he expected each person to give in proportion to what they had received, which would add up to a generous gift for the Jerusalem church.
In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul further explains, "For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened; but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack-that there may be equality" (8:13-14 NKJV). Notice that this biblical principle produces an equality in giving, yet no person is unduly burdened or pressured to give.
The word euodoo is also found in Romans 1:10, where Paul writes, "Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you" (KJV). This passage, however, has nothing to do with money or material possessions. On the contrary, Paul often took special care to make sure that his motivation for preaching the gospel could not be misconstrued or maligned because of money. It would be unthinkable for the apostle to say, "Please pray for me that somehow or other I might obtain wealth by coming to preach to you," or, "Please pray that I will make a lot of money on this trip." Yet that is how Romans 1:10 would have to be interpreted if we took the King James Version's translation of euodoo to mean wealth or material gain. Clearly, that was not the apostle Paul's intent. He was saying simply, "I sure hope God grants me an opportunity to visit you soon. Please pray that I will have a good journey on the road as I travel to see you."
The apostle John, the writer of 3 John 2, was saying something similar when he said, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." It was a greeting, a prayerful desire of the apostle's, not a principle suggesting that Christians should be wealthy. John was saying simply, "I wish you a good, safe, and healthy journey throughout your life, just as your soul has a good and safe journey to heaven."
John was not saying "Above everything else, I want you to get rich. Above all, you should prosper and make money." That is not even implied in the true meaning of the verse. Many highly respected Bible scholars, including William Barclay, Robert Jamieson, A. R Fausset, and David Brown, believe that John is simply wishing his reader good physical health' In the larger context of Scripture, how could any serious reader of the New Testament think that John would wish above all else that Christians get rich?
But like many other prosperity teachers, I taught for years that as one of Jesus' closest friends during His earthly ministry, John must have known what was important to the Lord.
"When John says that ‘Above all things, I pray that you prosper and be in health,’ surely he was reflecting the heart of God," I said. "After all, John was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so this message must be directly from the heart of God Himself. Obviously, God wants you to be wealthy!"
Consequently, good, hardworking, sincere people, men and women who regularly attend services in churches across America, are filing bankruptcy in record numbers. Why? Because they have mortgaged their futures for budget-busting houses and cars; they have run their credit cards to the max and are living paycheck to paycheck, not just in an attempt to get more material things, but to show how spiritual they are for having them! After all, if material prosperity is a sign of God's blessing, you don’t want to be driving a beaten-up clunker or living in a house within your means in an ordinary neighborhood. You are a King's Kid, don't you know, and King's Kids deserve the best. At least, that is the message that has permeated many Christian circles.
CHASING SIGNS AND WONDERS
Along with the emphasis on money, the new materialistic Christianity places strong emphasis on the miraculous-signs and wonders, or some physical manifestation of a spiritual experience. Consequently, people are running to and fro, hoping to experience the latest Christian phenomenon.
If the Church of Jesus Christ really were the great Ship of Zion, as it has often been characterized in written and musical allegories, we would be named the Titanic, because every time some new spiritual wave occurs, many Christians run to the side of the ship where the outpouring is taking place, causing the ship to go under. Either that, or we would be known as the Good Ship Lollipop, because our decks are full of believers who will take all the sweet, sugary candy the "captains" want to pass out.
Some Christians rush to where they hear miracles are taking place; others rush to an experience of being "slain in the Spirit." Some rush to the experience of "laughing in the Spirit." In some circles, I have even heard of Christians barking like dogs. (Where is the scriptural validation for that one?)
Please understand, it is not my purpose to pass judgment on events taking place in many Christian meetings. I recognize that in these last days before Jesus comes, we can expect to see and hear of some unusual events; we should not be surprised when God does something in our midst that is not preplanned, structured, or printed in our church bulletins. But I would offer two cautions: First, we need to have a sound scriptural basis for whatever we adopt in our lifestyle and whatever we encourage others to experience. In this regard, too many of us have gotten the cart before the horse. Our experience needs to align with the Word of God rather than mere traditions; we must not try to twist something in the Word to validate our experiences.
Second, I would caution that these unusual manifestations should not become the main attraction. There is only one main attraction and His name is Jesus. I do not discount the unusual occurrences some Christians seem to be experiencing, but I consider them to be similar to what Jesus referred to as "birth pangs" before His coming. When I speak on this subject, I often ask from the podium, "Mothers, how many of you enjoyed your birth pangs?" The question usually elicits laughter from the fathers and rolled eyes from mothers.
Oddly, the church today is enamored with birth pangs. We are focusing on some curious and unusual sounds and experiences, rather than anticipating what God is about to bring to life. Instead of centering our attention on the outward expressions, we need to discover what God wants to do in and through us, what sort of church He wants to bring to life.
Clearly, our seeking after these unusual phenomena can easily distract us from the central Person of Jesus Christ and lead us to accept "another gospel." Beware. Be especially suspect of any experience or any message that is built on isolated Scriptures or twisted interpretations.
Extracted from Jim Bakker's Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse
No comments:
Post a Comment