JeSoul:

Ogajim/Kunle, certainly you fellas know some posts/posters are worthy enough only to be ignored? Just glance over, shake your head and walk away, praying in your heart that wisdom will arrest the soul at some point before its too late.

ogajim:


JeSoul, God bless you my dear sister, I agree wholeheartedly with your post and will not waste my time with this lot. I will keep them in my prayers and hope they see the light some day.

Stay warm!

Annunaki:

The funny thing is dat most prosperity gospel adherents are wretched

mba emeka:

@ alatheia

Let me resolve this once and for all. . .

A prosperity preacher is one who claims to be a Christian, but whose teaching focuses on man’s happiness and prosperity in this life. He is a humanist. It’s amazing… the only time in scripture where Jesus got furious was when men used God’s temple to make money (Luke 19:45-46). These were money-grubbers setting up shop in the Lord’s house of prayer. It happened in Jesus’ day and it’s happening in our day. This is exactly what hundreds and thousands of prosperity preachers are doing today. These men and women that stand up in their golden pulpits in designer clothing begging for money and making promises of healing and monetary return in the name of Christ should cause a holy anger in God’s children! The immature believer will often find it hard to distinguish these false teachers. We must warn against these mammon worshippers that call themselves Christians as a doctor warns against a deadly poison advertised as a medicine. This false gospel is spreading like wildfire.

Here’s a question: how can you recognize prosperity preaching? How can you tell if a person is a prosperity preacher? A million different people are saying 10 million different things so how in the world can we know the difference? Our answer is to look to Jesus. It's as simple as that. Ask yourself, “Did Jesus preach like this? Did Jesus’ preaching sound like this? What did Jesus talk about? What was His emphasis? How did He live?” Let’s take a look at some of the things that prosperity preachers tend to do and preach. They preach and live exactly the opposite of the way that Jesus preached and lived. If you are in a church where the preacher is guilty of any or at least a few of the following, RUN away from that church… you’ve found yourself in the midst of the prosperity gospel.

* Prosperity preachers tend to live lavish lifestyles with fancy cars, large houses, expensive clothes. Jesus did not do this. He did not even carry a penny on him (Matt 22:19). He had no place to live. “Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’” (Luke 9:58). You can imagine the types of clothes He walked around in. Scripture says about our Lord that there was nothing in his physical appearance to attract people to Him. “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him,” Isa 53:2.

It has been said that an indicator of a godly man is when his salary goes up and he still lives at the same standard of living as he did before. A prosperity preacher is not like this. As a prosperity preacher gains wealth, his lifestyle will also become more excessive.

* Prosperity preachers constantly attempt to make their hearers feel good. This is because they care about the number of people in their churches, not the spiritual maturity of the congregation. Jesus did not do this. C.S. Lewis said of Jesus, "He produced mainly three results: Hatred, Terror, Adoration." Jesus’ word is a sword. It cut people into two groups - those for Him, and those against Him. Those that love Him, and those that don't. The sons of God, the children of the devil. A prosperity preacher keeps everybody in one group, even an atheist can listen to the prosperity gospel and feel good. They wish to unite the world no matter who believes what. Their focus is peace and happiness instead of God's honor.

* Prosperity preachers sometimes promise blessing if you give to their ministry (emphasizing the word “their”). Try to find one instance in scripture where our Lord asked for money. You cannot do it! Jesus never asked for money… not even one time.

* You will hear them teach people to pray for and pursue prosperity but will not once hear them teach people the value of being content. It is rightly said that "He who possesses the most is he who is content with little," but since these false teachers are not concerned with the spiritual well-being of their congregation as much as their material well-being, you will not hear them talk of contentment.

* There is ZERO fear of God in their preaching. For all the gentle things that Jesus said to one person, He had a rebuke for another. He once called a Roman a man of great faith, and then called the Pharisees brood of vipers! The first is a picture of the Lord’s love, meekness and gentleness. How about the latter? Would you call Him “gentle Jesus” when He spoke to the Pharisees, calling them hypocrites, sons of Satan?! Our Lord was doing as the scripture commands : “And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” (Jude 1:22-23). Prosperity preachers only follow the "compassion" part of that passage, for they are too fearful to rebuke. They believe in the love of God, but not the fear of God.

* Prosperity preachers rarely preach against sin. This is because they are concerned less about the soul than they are the body. They are concerned about this life more than they are eternity. Jesus preached against sin harder than anybody I’ve ever heard. When a man tells you to rather cut out your eye than sin, you can be sure that He’s serious about it (Matt 18:9). Listen very carefully and take note of how often a pastor talks about sin and speaks against it. This will tell you much about his own walk with the Lord.

* They say that it is God’s will for you to be prosperous (materially). Jesus said that the rich will enter the kingdom with more difficulty than a camel going through the eye of a needle! Yes, riches are dangerous for the immature believers who cannot handle the temptation… and you will not hear a prosperity preacher say this. If he or she could bestow masses of money on every believer, they would do it in a heartbeat because their motivation is to make people feel good. This is like giving every 5 year old child a $500 bill, a very foolish thing to do indeed. You can be sure that our Father in Heaven does not do this.

* They very rarely use the phrases "eternity," "sin", and "Hell", but very often use the phrases "your life", "your blessing". Jesus did not do this - He talked both of Heaven and Hell. He talked of sin and salvation. He talked of joy and torment. He left nothing out. The centrality of the gospel He brought is not in the happiness of man, but the glory of God. It does no justice to God to talk only of His perfect love, but not of His perfect power, justice and wrath.

* They say that faith will get you anything that you pray for (in other words, anything that you want - this is also known as the "Word of faith movement". Jesus prayed to the Father, “not my will but yours be done.” Word of faith preachers focus on man’s desire. Jesus focused on God’s desire. The scripture says that God grants our desires only if it is according to His will. “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” (1 John 5:14)

* They use God as a means to their end. In their world God exists mainly to bring us to Heaven and give us happy lives here on earth. They will not say this blatantly, of course. Satan tends to hide poison in attractive bottles. What A.W. Tozer said of some false preachers is also true of prosperity preachers, “The problem is not so much error of doctrine as error of emphasis”. They emphasize what YOU want. Jesus always emphasized what His Father wanted.

It's no sin to have money. It's no sin to take leisure time. It's no sin to be happy. But make no mistake, the Judas Iscariots of the world that cling on to their moneybags and attempt to walk with Jesus at the same time will eventually find themselves selling their Lord for silver. Flee from prosperity preachers. Flee from a false gospel that puts the focus on what you can get from God in this life rather than what you can give to God. Remember that the entire reason for mans existence is not to get happy, it's to glorify, serve, and love the Lord. The rest is added to us.

"Does the Lord intend to make man happy? Sure, but it's a byproduct, not a prime product." - Paris Reidhead

mba emeka:

@ pastor/ bro joagbaje

thank you sir ! but i'm actually greater than an angel i was made a little lower than elohim, lol!

mba emeka:

@ pastor/ bro joagbaje

thank you sir ! but i'm actually greater than an angel i was made a little lower than elohim, lol!

Enigma:

It would be rather helpful if all this[b] "doing the word", "blab and grab", "name it and claim it[/b]", "health and wealth", "prosperity 'gospel'" people had the decency to agree that their "faith" (or whatever they call it) is not Christianity.

They can call it "Word of Faith" or any other thing they like. That way we would take them for what they are.

"Doing the word" my foot"!

That is why most adherents of prosperity "gospel", certainly in Nigeria are still poor; that is why many are sick and die of diseases that might easily be cured if there were adequate medical facilities.

Joagbaje:


Eeyaah! You now even insult the bible too.

James 1:22
    But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

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Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have [its] perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Enigma:

Joagbaje

May God deliver you from the doctrines of demons passed down to you from your jerry curled charlatan "pastor" but going far back as Hagin/Copeland and beyond them to E W Kenyon (whom Hagin plagiarised) and forth. Go and read up on Kenyon and discover his influences and the origins of some of the things that the charlatans now claim to be part of christianity!

Joagbaje:

Let me share a testimony with you if you care; I used to be sick of malaria almost every week , from childhood, People told me i would grow tall , that that is why i fall sick often, I consoled myself that I will be able to play basket ball in future as a tall man. But at the age of 21,I had a miracle drug called sunday sunday medicine , Every week i just take it, i lived on that drug to prevent malaria. I came in contact with a small book by E.W.Kenyon titled "Jesus The Healer" I read and read, i realised that Jesus has borne away not just my sin but all my sickness as well. I followed the instructions in the book , i stopped my drugs, Malaria soon hit me ;vomitting,pains, cold ,heat,weakness. Then i remember what Kenyon taught , then I began to confess "by his stripes I was healed" "by his stripes, " etc. 30 mins after every symtoms disappeared .I had 2 more attacks later that year and no more drugs despite the mosquitoes then.ever since that time no more malaria. Now 20 years after, No more malaria. Just a small book. I had to go and pack all kenyons books in print for my library.

1Tim 6:6-11 But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Heb 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Rev 19:10 . . . worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

mba emeka:

Adoration from people who need it; The lost now know they’re saved; sinners now know they’re forgiven; the poor now know they’re rich; the sick now know they’re healed. This is the Gospel!

mba emeka:

Talking about seed Jesus once asked a little boy for his lunch- five loaves and two fish…he fed the multitude with it (twelve baskets remained) and I’m sure he gave the remnants to the little boy because he said “give and it shall be given unto you…good measure, pressed down….shall MEN give unto you”

mba emeka:

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God! Rom 1:16 it is powerful enough to make the poor-rich whilst saving them from hell.

mba emeka:

Jesus said “ if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what “ye” will and it shall be done unto you”…isn’t it a contrast from 1john 5:14? Or rather is your own understanding distorted?

mba emeka:

Well, he said “if we ask according to his will he hears us, notice he said he hears us not he will do it but he hears us meaning if we don’t ask according to his will he will not hear us. Do you need a grammarian?
This simply means it’s the way we ask that matters not what we ask because if we abide in Christ and his words abide in us we will ask what we will and it will be given.

mba emeka:

The bible says we should ask in faith: without doubting and we should ask in the name of Jesus.

mba emeka:

It’s like trying to phone a friend, if you dial the wrong number your friend will not hear you. It’s not that he/she didn’t want to, it’s just that you asked the wrong way…get it?

mba emeka:

Jesus said to the rich young ruler “have you obeyed the commandments? He responded “all these I have kept since my youth” then Jesus said “Go and sell what you have” …do you see the wealth wasn’t the issue, if it was Jesus would have said it first but he didn’t, he asked the more important first which was the commandment. It was after this, that he said, ”how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom”, He didn’t say how hard it is for the saved rich folks he said the “rich”. I’m not splitting hairs, he was trying to say some rich people would think they would make it into the kingdom because they where rich and the people then saw riches as a blessing from God.