The fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom; Not the fear of men of Gold in disguise as men of God. but to expunge and eschew all greed and desperation. God truly want us to be comfortable but to be rich is a plus. Riches and poverty are two claws of strong attachment levelled from higher planes of greed. The strong romance or bond between poverty and riches is like a mix of Vodka to fireballs or Vodka to Tequila, acid to base, entry points and exit point.
An ambition to be rich is likened to prosperity gospel. Its like going to Las Vegas or The Sin City to get your brain lobotomized. In life, you follow your heart and not your wallet. fly with the crow and die with the crow. A hype and desperation for riches and delusions can be a sure ticket to hell, some say its bravery but i call it stupid. A renegade where evil meets bad and where the Rooster feels he earns a feather among the wolves. Its always a road that lead half way inbetween the squeeze and you will always be left with the lesser of the two evil options, the harder you try to bail out, the deeper you become neck deep. Prosperity Gospel is now been knifed and street hawked like the pedalling of opium booze and cracks where the people can no longer get enough of it. Seek happiness, "seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness will follow Matt 6:33." When you come to God, do it because your heart says so and as your heart leads you, not just for the promise of loaves of bread and fishes. Don't come to God as if you were on a Tour De Vegas to hit the gold mine hard cos you may lose all in a Sucker's gamble. God is not a gambler. Las Vegas is a place where suckers play sucker to catch a sucker, same his the music of the the kingdom of God and gold of the revised version and modern edition of updated Christiandom.
Earlier this year, the Internet erupted over the fact that televangelist Creflo Dollar was raising funds to buy a $65 million private jet. Non-Christians and Christians alike were critical that the preacher felt he needed the highest-end private jet in order to spread the message of Christ.
Dollar hasn’t given up on his quest, recently claiming that those who criticized him just didn’t understand the Bible.
But Dollar is far from the first pastor to preach the “prosperity gospel.” Earlier this week, on his show Last Week Tonight, comedian John Oliver took on televangelists who promote the idea of “seed faith,” which promises followers that God will richly reward them if they donate to ministries.
This type of minister has infiltrated the ranks of Christianity for decades. Instead of living modestly, you might see them flying on personal jets, wearing expensive suits or residing in a multi-million dollar home.
These preachers spout a mellifluous and charismatic message: God desires His followers to acquire financial riches, experience vibrant health and live comfortable lives.
Jesus didn’t die on the cross to be our genie.
“Name it; Claim it!” is their mantra. And the number of goodies God doles out—whether in the form of a lucrative job, an increased bank account or even physical healing—depends entirely upon your faith (sometimes shown by how much you’re willing to give first).
Faith is the “currency of heaven,” these preachers claim. It gets God to move. So, the way to gain our heavenly privileges is to search within ourselves and uproot our own unbelief.
There are endless lies with this theology. It results in misplaced hope, a skewed reality and wishful thinking.
Wealth is Not the Goal
God never promises His Followers financial wealth. The Apostle Paul warns the church in Ephesus on this matter: “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief (1 Timothy 6:10 ).”
Jesus didn’t die on the cross to be our genie. He knows that while money isn’t bad in and of itself, an excessive amount of money (or things) often harms us. That is why He commands His Followers to “store up treasures in heaven.”
And, as Oliver pointed out, prosperity gospel teachers regularly promise their listeners monetary blessings by donating to their ministry. “Sowing the seed,” is the euphemism preached for you to empty your pocketbook. This scheme will fill someone’s coffer, but probably not yours.
The Reality of Hardship
The prosperity gospel teaches that pain and suffering shouldn’t exist in the Christian life. Reality would say otherwise. For example, when we place our heart and soul into a relationship because we know it will lead to marriage—only to have it fall apart. And when we fervently pray and believe God for the healing of a loved one but they die.
Dallas Willard defined reality as “what you run into when you’re wrong.” It’s unyielding, and it will shatter all of the wishful thinking of prosperity gospel against its rock-face, no matter how much faith we have.
Accepting Christ is not a ticket to a pain-free life. And a type of theology that doesn’t embrace the reality of pain and suffering is downright egregious.
God will never owe us just because we packed our heavenly bank account full of faith.
As John Piper says, “Normal Christianity is pain … It’s sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” We can trust that God will ultimately restore what ails us—in this lifetime or in the next. If He chooses the latter, it will be for his Glory.
“Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5 ).
God Doesn’t Owe Us
The stark irony of the prosperity gospel is that it creates poor Christians. It deprives us of God’s actual blessings because it creates an indomitable hope in its own pre-assigned outcomes. This illusion leads to entitlement. Can you imagine the Creator of the Universe ever feeling obligated to write a check to pay off our prayers?
God will never owe us just because we packed our heavenly bank account full of faith. Instead, he gives us the ultimate gift of eternal life as His children—a gift we could never earn.
Rather than buying into harmful prosperity theology, where we wait for God to bless us because of our faith, we should cultivate hearts of gratitude for the true Gospel. Thankfulness realigns us toward how God is already blessing us. It also opens new opportunities for other gifts, because it creates hopeful expectations of how God might really want to work in a situation, not what He has to do.
Gratitude is never dependent upon a change in circumstances, it’s grounded in a person. True faith trusts in the loving and character and nature of Christ, even when we don’t see a desired outcome in this side of heaven.
We shouldn’t abandon bold prayers in faith, however, because the Spirit is still in the business of restoring relationships, instilling justice and creating beauty amid ashes. He might even heal our infirmities or bless us monetarily.
Whatever the case, our hearts can always rejoice because our spiritual life can be rich. We can always claim joy in suffering (James 1:2 ), peace in tribulation (John 16:33 ), and faith in a better world to come (Hebrews 11:16 ).
Do not get me wrong, it is the will of God that as Christians, we should be successful in our exploit but most importantly to live an exemplary selfless Christ like life. It is only in this we can restore hope in the future of humanity else we might end up been toasted or been grilled like a Godzilla that toasted itself in its own enflamed juice before the wake of civilization. It is not our business as human being and individuals to play God with peoples lives and destiny in the name of God like a monkey shying coconut at a bewildered audience. Our duty is to restore and conserve integrity and hammer on the reward for hard work and labour; which is the right measure for wealth distribution. every man must earn is worth. Before God, every man is an asset in his kingdom. Every man has a worth and a big price tag on his fore head. The manner in which we go about money related issues matters alot lest the entire human race wakes up in anarchy in the name paper. What will you tell the kids?? that you know a paper that is powerful enough to buy 2,000 barges and ship fool of slaves from the shores of Africa or you know about a paper that can make you do carnage things to your fellow man I bet you wont!!! When you count and compare the surge of our desperation and values measure, you would agree that the stakes are way too high and not a good time and business to wet your feet in. lets kill the desperation and greed so we can all breath some fresh air that makes sense for once and stop playing the game of sacrilege. You can be a billion dollar rich and yet be soul and dime wretched. Its a subconscious thing that works with our greed intuition, you can be a billion dollar rich and yet a perfect tool in the hand of God. Alot of people say if you want to be rich, you must be ready to lie, soil your hands and do alot of dirty things. To this, I totally disagree. If you are a rat with a dead chase for the cheese, don't forget the traps. Greed is the blackwool in our eyes that eludes us from knowing when and where to draw the lines and move in the opposite dimension of bad deal and bad business. You cannot dine with the devil and don't expect in the end to go for the lesser of the two evil options. Truly its a corrupt world, but what can a man do when his soul is readily corrupt and his hands are soiled?? thats a door of no return?? Every man, both the sinner and the holy needs the measure of inner peace and some fresh air; A defining point of redemption. Bill Gate is one fantastic rich man I know without owning a church and yet he is the biggest donor I know that exist world wide. The are a handful of wealthy business men and wealthy men of God who are as well into philanthropic ventures and giving hope to the people and to the less privilege. I am not asking men of Gold to share in their spoils of war and throw free money in the air. at least have empathy in the goose you fleece and the congregation that lay you the golden egg. create jobs, employ the youths, create industries with justified work benefits and rewards. If you are not part of the world's problem, you would be part of the solution. Apart from Christianity, there are alot of good religion that equally preaches peace and confidence in genuine human values out there but just that alot of us are way too blind to see it.
God speaks in a thousand and one ways and languages to his own people. Remember when Christ told his people that he could raise stones to do his work if his people fails?? God can use anybody for his work just as such the devil can be a tool or instrument in God's hand. So that no man claims the work of God is his birth right; before God, no man is indispensable.
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