Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me - Christianity Etc - Nairaland
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| Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by vooks(op): 5:33am On Feb 16, 2016 |
If this won't move you, nothing will Durham, N.C. — ON a Thursday morning a few months ago, I got a call from my doctor’s assistant telling me that I have Stage 4 cancer. The stomach cramps I was suffering from were not caused by a faulty gallbladder, but by a massive tumor. I am 35. I did the things you might expect of someone whose world has suddenly become very small. I sank to my knees and cried. I called my husband at our home nearby. I waited until he arrived so we could wrap our arms around each other and say the things that must be said. I have loved you forever. I am so grateful for our life together. Please take care of our son. Then he walked me from my office to the hospital to start what was left of my new life. But one of my first thoughts was also Oh, God, this is ironic. I recently wrote a book called “Blessed.” I am a historian of the American prosperity gospel. Put simply, the prosperity gospel is the belief that God grants health and wealth to those with the right kind of faith. I spent 10 years interviewing televangelists with spiritual formulas for how to earn God’s miracle money. I held hands with people in wheelchairs being prayed for by celebrities known for their miracle touch. I sat in people’s living rooms and heard about how they never would have dreamed of owning this home without the encouragement they heard on Sundays. I went on pilgrimage with the faith healer Benny Hinn and 900 tourists to retrace Jesus’ steps in the Holy Land and see what people would risk for the chance at their own miracle. I ruined family vacations by insisting on being dropped off at the showiest megachurch in town. If there was a river running through the sanctuary, an eagle flying freely in the auditorium or an enormous, spinning statue of a golden globe, I was there. Growing up in the 1980s on the prairies of Manitoba, Canada, an area largely settled by Mennonites, I had been taught in my Anabaptist Bible camp that there were few things closer to God’s heart than pacifism, simplicity and the ability to compliment your neighbor’s John Deere Turbo Combine without envy. Though Mennonites are best known by their bonnets and horse-drawn buggies, they are, for the most part, plainclothes capitalists like the rest of us. I adore them. I married one. But when a number of Mennonites in my hometown began to give money to a pastor who drove a motorcycle onstage — a motorcycle they gave him for a new church holiday called “Pastor’s Appreciation Day” — I was genuinely baffled. Everyone I interviewed was so sincere about wanting to gain wealth to bless others, too. But how could Mennonites, of all people — a tradition once suspicious of the shine of chrome bumpers and the luxury of lace curtains — now attend a congregation with a love for unfettered accumulation? |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by vooks(op): 5:38am On Feb 16, 2016 |
The riddle of a Mennonite megachurch became my intellectual obsession. No one had written a sustained account of how the prosperity gospel grew from small tent revivals across the country in the 1950s into one of the most popular forms of American Christianity, and I was determined to do it. I learned that the prosperity gospel sprang, in part, from the American metaphysical tradition of New Thought, a late-19th-century ripening of ideas about the power of the mind: Positive thoughts yielded positive circumstances, and negative thoughts negative circumstances. Variations of this belief became foundational to the development of self-help psychology. Today, it is the standard “Aha!” moment of Oprah’s Lifeclass, the reason your uncle has a copy of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and the takeaway for the more than 19 million who bought “The Secret.” (Save your money: the secret is to think positively.) These ideas about mind power became a popular answer to a difficult question: Why are some people healed and some not? The modern prosperity gospel can be directly traced to the turn-of-the-century theology of a pastor named E. W. Kenyon, whose evangelical spin on New Thought taught Christians to believe that their minds were powerful incubators of good or ill. Christians, Kenyon advised, must avoid words and ideas that create sickness and poverty; instead, they should repeat: “God is in me. God’s ability is mine. God’s strength is mine. God’s health is mine. His success is mine. I am a winner. I am a conqueror.” Or, as prosperity believers summarized it for me, “I am blessed.” One of the prosperity gospel’s greatest triumphs is its popularization of the term “blessed.” Though it predated the prosperity gospel, particularly in the black church where “blessed” signified affirmation of God’s goodness, it was prosperity preachers who blanketed the airwaves with it. “Blessed” is the shorthand for the prosperity message. We see it everywhere, from a TV show called “The Blessed Life” to the self-justification of Joel Osteen, the pastor of America’s largest church, who told Oprah in his Texas mansion that “Jesus died that we might live an abundant life.” Over the last 10 years, “being blessed” has become a full-fledged American phenomenon. Drivers can choose between the standard, mass-produced “Jesus Is Lord” novelty license plate or “Blessed” for $16.99 in a tasteful aluminum. When an “America’s Next Top Model” star took off his shirt, audiences saw it tattooed above his bulging pectorals. When Americans boast on Twitter about how well they’re doing on Thanksgiving, #blessed is the standard hashtag. It is the humble brag of the stars. #Blessed is the only caption suitable for viral images of alpine vacations and family yachting in barely there bikinis. It says: “I totally get it. I am down-to-earth enough to know that this is crazy.” But it also says: “God gave this to me. [Adorable shrug.] Don’t blame me, I’m blessed.” Blessed is a loaded term because it blurs the distinction between two very different categories: gift and reward. It can be a term of pure gratitude. “Thank you, God. I could not have secured this for myself.” But it can also imply that it was deserved. “Thank you, me. For being the kind of person who gets it right.” It is a perfect word for an American society that says it believes the American dream is based on hard work, not luck. If Oprah could eliminate a single word, it would be “luck.” “Nothing about my life is lucky,” she argued on her cable show. “Nothing. A lot of grace. A lot of blessings. A lot of divine order. But I don’t believe in luck. For me luck is preparation meeting the moment of opportunity.” This is America, where there are no setbacks, just setups. Tragedies are simply tests of character. It is the reason a neighbor knocked on our door to tell my husband that everything happens for a reason. “I’d love to hear it,” my husband said. “Pardon?” she said, startled. “I’d love to hear the reason my wife is dying,” he said, in that sweet and sour way he has. My neighbor wasn’t trying to sell him a spiritual guarantee. But there was a reason she wanted to fill that silence around why some people die young and others grow old and fussy about their lawns. She wanted some kind of order behind this chaos. Because the opposite of #blessed is leaving a husband and a toddler behind, and people can’t quite let themselves say it: “Wow. That’s awful.” There has to be a reason, because without one we are left as helpless and possibly as unlucky as everyone else. 1 Like |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by vooks(op): 5:39am On Feb 16, 2016 |
One of the most endearing and saddest things about being sick is watching people’s attempts to make sense of your problem. My academic friends did what researchers do and Googled the hell out of it. When did you start noticing pain? What exactly were the symptoms, again? Is it hereditary? I can out-know my cancer using the Mayo Clinic website. Buried in all their concern is the unspoken question: Do I have any control? I can also hear it in all my hippie friends’ attempts to find the most healing kale salad for me. I can eat my way out of cancer. Or, if I were to follow my prosperity gospel friends’ advice, I can positively declare that it has no power over me and set myself free. The most I can say about why I have cancer, medically speaking, is that bodies are delicate and prone to error. As a Christian, I can say that the Kingdom of God is not yet fully here, and so we get sick and die. And as a scholar, I can say that our society is steeped in a culture of facile reasoning. What goes around comes around. Karma is a bitch. And God is always, for some reason, going around closing doors and opening windows. God is super into that. The prosperity gospel tries to solve the riddle of human suffering. It is an explanation for the problem of evil. It provides an answer to the question: Why me? For years I sat with prosperity churchgoers and asked them about how they drew conclusions about the good and the bad in their lives. Does God want you to get that promotion? Tell me what it’s like to believe in healing from that hospital bed. What do you hear God saying when it all falls apart? The prosperity gospel popularized a Christian explanation for why some people make it and some do not. They revolutionized prayer as an instrument for getting God always to say “yes.” It offers people a guarantee: Follow these rules, and God will reward you, heal you, restore you. It’s also distressingly similar to the popular cartoon emojis for the iPhone, the ones that show you images of yourself in various poses. One of the standard cartoons shows me holding a #blessed sign. My world is conspiring to make me believe that I am special, that I am the exception whose character will save me from the grisly predictions and the CT scans in my inbox. I am blessed. The prosperity gospel holds to this illusion of control until the very end. If a believer gets sick and dies, shame compounds the grief. Those who are loved and lost are just that — those who have lost the test of faith. In my work, I have heard countless stories of refusing to acknowledge that the end had finally come. An emaciated man was pushed about a megachurch in a wheelchair as churchgoers declared that he was already healed. A woman danced around her sister’s deathbed shouting to horrified family members that the body can yet live. There is no graceful death, no ars moriendi, in the prosperity gospel. There are only jarring disappointments after fevered attempts to deny its inevitability. The prosperity gospel has taken a religion based on the contemplation of a dying man and stripped it of its call to surrender all. Perhaps worse, it has replaced Christian faith with the most painful forms of certainty. The movement has perfected a rarefied form of America’s addiction to self-rule, which denies much of our humanity: our fragile bodies, our finitude, our need to stare down our deaths (at least once in a while) and be filled with dread and wonder. At some point, we must say to ourselves, I’m going to need to let go. 1 Like |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by vooks(op): 5:43am On Feb 16, 2016 |
CANCER has kicked down the walls of my life. I cannot be certain I will walk my son to his elementary school someday or subject his love interests to cheerful scrutiny. I struggle to buy books for academic projects I fear I can’t finish for a perfect job I may be unable to keep. I have surrendered my favorite manifestoes about having it all, managing work-life balance and maximizing my potential. I cannot help but remind my best friend that if my husband remarries everyone will need to simmer down on talking about how special I was in front of her. (And then I go on and on about how this is an impossible task given my many delightful qualities. Let’s list them. …) Cancer requires that I stumble around in the debris of dreams I thought I was entitled to and plans I didn’t realize I had made. But cancer has also ushered in new ways of being alive. Even when I am this distant from Canadian family and friends, everything feels as if it is painted in bright colors. In my vulnerability, I am seeing my world without the Instagrammed filter of breezy certainties and perfectible moments. I can’t help noticing the brittleness of the walls that keep most people fed, sheltered and whole. I find myself returning to the same thoughts again and again: Life is so beautiful. Life is so hard. I am well aware that news of my cancer will be seen by many in the prosperity community as proof of something. I have heard enough sermons about those who “speak against God’s anointed” to know that it is inevitable, despite the fact that the book I wrote about them is very gentle. I understand. Most everyone likes to poke fun at the prosperity gospel, and I’m not always immune. No word of a lie: I once saw a megachurch pastor almost choke to death on his own fog machine. Someone had cranked it up to the Holy Spirit maximum. But mostly I find the daily lives of its believers remarkable and, often, inspirational. They face the impossible and demand that God make a way. They refuse to accept crippling debt as insurmountable. They stubbornly get out of their hospital beds and declare themselves healed, and every now and then, it works. This is surely an American God, and as I am so far from home, I cannot escape him. Kate Bowler is an assistant professor of the history of Christianity in North America at Duke Divinity School and the author of “Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel.” Source |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by Nobody: 5:56am On Feb 16, 2016 |
Nna this is too long men. I only this kind of long thing if its about Bubu. |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by vooks(op): 8:17am On Feb 16, 2016 |
jcmaiah:Ignorance is expensive |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by Scholar8200(m): 12:16pm On Feb 16, 2016 |
Very nice piece! Problem with the Prosperity Gospel is that it ignores the Lordship of Christ. This brand of christianity suggests that Paul must have made a mistake or not heard well when rather than being healed, he was given grace to endure! 2 Likes |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by vooks(op): 12:20pm On Feb 16, 2016 |
Scholar8200:Correct. It is a huge mistake to attempt to live a regenerate life while in this tent. You will be disappointed big time. The down side is suffering the devil to do a number on you just because pain,death ....are part of our portion under the sun |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by analice107: 5:35pm On Feb 16, 2016*. Modified: 4:41pm On Feb 17, 2016 |
I understand what this op is saying. when I had health challenges which seemed not to budge to medicine or prayer. It just went on for years, and I almost was disssipating. Then I was given a book, "Where is God, When it Hurts". By Philip Yancy. It addressed some of the issues in the Ops. Everyone around me kept saying 'It shouldn't have been you', but my questions was always, 'It should have been who then?' As much as we know that Christ died and gave us victory, it doesn't entirely exempt us from the holocaust that affects other human beings around. Yes, we know we have hope that, even in that situation, they will be a way of escape. The Bible says, 'His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses", which weakness? The present church is missing a point, and Satan is capitalising on it and breaking people up. We are told that, if we serve God, we can't be sick, we can't lack, or can't even die. lol. I attended a church service last year, and my pastor preached about serving God. He mentioned the things (material) you should have if you are serving God, and he said if you don't have them, you are serving Satan. Say Wat  ?. I took note rigorously, I have a bible you know? Talk your own, I will check them out. I pity those who seat on their butt waiting for pastors to read into the scripture what they want them to hear. I got home, picked my Bible. Went into studies. I picked 'The Sovereignty of God', also haven read, 'Where is God, when it Hurts?' I discarded that days teaching. A teaching like that can make a believer backslide. A believer shd be told that he is also still human living in an infected earth. Polluted environment. Full of evil and evil doers. Besides, the day a believer signs up to stand as a soldier of Christ, that day, that believer just declared war against the kingdom of darkness. Satan will ambush you, turn situations around you against you. Set even your closest friend against you. Try by all means to frustrate you, so that you'll come back and join him on the way to Hellfire. A believer's life is the toughest life to live. Especially in a place like Nigeria, where everybody is expected to lie and steal to get by. If you stand against compromise, you stand against your boss and colleagues in the office and even your very friends. What about doing business? People want you to lie and inflate prices. And if you don't? Wait!!!!. Do you know how many quotations have been submitted? Yet a pastor will tell me, that because I don't have the latest car and don't have my won house, am not serving God. That message is not from God. 2 Likes |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by Candour(m): 9:52pm On Feb 16, 2016 |
Hi dear vooks, trust you're doing great?  Funny I stumbled on the thread below opened by Winsomex https://www.nairaland.com/1892195/truth-behind-christ-embassy-healing I smiled at the gymnastics of the word of faith champions on that thread as they struggled to 'explain' away your queries and I arrived at the conclusion that the prosperity Gospel gets shown up for the fraud it is when the issue of death (I call it the great leveler) comes up because the prosperity gospel has no theology for death. I've not read through your posts on this thread but I will immediately I post this. Cheers bro 1 Like 1 Share |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by Candour(m): 10:39pm On Feb 16, 2016 |
Finished reading it and I must confess that it's very touching. Myles Munroe died in a plane crash with his wife, Kathryn Khulman died on an operating table for open heart surgery while atheists like Lee Kuan Yes died peacefully at over 90 and agnostics like Warren Buffet are still going strong at over 85. It's a debt we all owe and will have to pay at a time we might not like. Farewell Kate Bowler. You've finished your race. Rest in Peace dear sister. 2 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by asalimpo(m): 12:22am On Feb 17, 2016 |
While touching, I see she never gave any scripture verses to back up her claim. Making her write-up in essence a judgement call without authorisation. She is 35 and dying of a cancer , is that God's will for her? Truly, does God even have a will for her? how many 35 year olds would want to die then and of cancer. People want to control their lives as much as possible, that's why there's so much effort expended on getting money any how. Because money is power in this world. It can solve 90% of life's problems. maybe even more. The excesses of the faith movement and prosperity gospel is because it sells man the allure of regaining his power back. Power to control his destiny. Infact at the root of most sins, is this desire to be god in one's life. To control our destinies. Who gave us those desires? God himself. Students will sort and sleep with lecturers for marks - why? because good grades can lead to better future. Politicians will loot treasury dry because their life and those of their dependents will be better off with money. Why are anti aging drugs/cosmetics sought after? Inside every man, is a knowing that somethings shouldnt be the way they are . That there's a better future. And man will keep trying to get there. Man will keep researching for a cure for aids, cancer, poverty anything that fights against him having the life he dreams of. why? Because, that how life is suppose to be. 1 Like |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by analice107: 10:05am On Feb 17, 2016 |
Candour:I think you are missing the point here. As much as am not completely on the side of 'Total control of the prosperity gospel'. Am also not the Principles of Faith, which it advocates. Faith or Prosperity gospel doesn't advocate that christians are beyond death. Everybody in the flesh dies. But what this gospel advocates is that, your faith can help you swim through deep waters which scares the crop out of others, and because of fear, they sink. It teaches that you can beat down Cancer, H.I.V. etc. And I have seen this happen countless times. Bishop David Oyedepo's wife would been long dead. Pastor Mrs Millie Ogu would have been long dead by now. I personally, would have been long dead by now too, if not for that violent faith. The cases you drew inferences from, do not follow. God didn't say if you don't believe in Him you won't live a good and long life. Atheists and Satanists live longer and prosper more than even believers in Christ. What Christ is interested in is, basically our spirits. Being healed in our spirits. And our After lives. |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by Candour(m): 11:21am On Feb 17, 2016 |
analice107:So if you're not on that side completely, by how much are you on their side? Bishop David Oyedepo's wife would been long dead. Pastor Mrs Millie Ogu would have been long dead by now. I personally, would have been long dead by now too, if not for that violent faith.Did Oyedepo's wife tell you of the efforts of doctors in Nigeria and the UK? Why did she even fall sick at all? I thought the rallying cry from the pulpit is always "i cannot be sick"? Did you read about the healthy eating that assisted in her book "delivered from destruction"? Pastor Kumuyi's wife died of Cancer at 54. Do you think its because he and she lacked enough violent faith like yours? The cases you drew inferences from, do not follow. God didn't say if you don't believe in Him you won't live a good and long life. Atheists and Satanists live longer and prosper more than even believers in Christ. What Christ is interested in is, basically our spirits. Being healed in our spirits. And our After lives.Why don't they follow? You talked of violent faith. Do you think Kathryn Khulman had less 'violent faith' than you? Was Myles Munroe no longer a faith giant because he died in a horrible plane crash together with his wife and others? Prosperity gospel says for instance if you don't pay tithe, devourers like sickness, poverty, untimely death etc will plague you. Do you think I'm lying against them or they're lying against God? 2 Likes |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by analice107: 1:54pm On Feb 17, 2016 |
^^^ Thank you very much. The issue raised by this woman can be looked at from two perspective. FOR AND AGAINST HER. FOR HER; The Prosperity Gospel to very large extent has raised feeble and depthless Christians. It has raised Christians who perceive Christ as Santa clause, who should come to you with gifts you didn't work for, and may not even deserve. When that doesn't happen, they turn around and call God wicked, selfish and insensitive. Some even become atheists base on that. It has raised Christians who are not ready to work, but claim their wealth and wait for God to offload on them. It has raised Christians who are positive in their words but do nothing positive to bring to pass their positivity. They are lazy, always in church praying and fasting for God to answer their prayer. But do not engage the power available to them. It has raised Christians who believe that, all their woes come from Satan and his agents around them. They live in sin yet believe their righteousness is of Christ. They do not agree that their sins still have consequences even as believers. It has raised Christians who believe that they are above sickness completely, hence, when affliction comes, God has forsaken them. And so on and so forth. It has let men to abuse the essence of christianity. It has open doors for fakes and charlatans. 2. AGAINST HER. Every thing she said is unscriptural to start with. She has said what the scripture did not say. HOW? Christ died for our SPIRITUAL WELL BEING first, then Physical. He is interested in the victorious life of the believer. He said, I wish above ALL THINGS. that you prosper, AND BE IN HEALTH EVEN AS YOUR SOUL PROSPERS. As much I don't believe the Prosperity gospel which tells me that, if I don't prosper in a certain way materially, then I have failed, I don't also believe that Prosperity gospel is wrong. I would say prosperity is relative, and it depends on which angle you are coming from. It's not how much money you have in the bank or how many mansions you have in your name. It is all encompassing. It covers every aspect of a Christians life on earth. There are aspects we need to consider. 1. Health and Wellness. Christ came and met us beaten and battered. Like sheep without a Shepherd. He did something about that. He broke his body. The Bible says His body(Christ's) was broken that mine maybe mended. And by His stripes I am healed. Jesus said, that the weak should say 'I am strong', let the sick say 'I am healed' (Positive confession). This is because, with a mouth, confession is made unto salvation. But it won't work if you don't believe it first. If you don't act it, the you don't really believe it. What this means is that, Christ has taken up my sickness. If I believe this then I should act like it. But that doesn't mean, I should be careless by taking in junks which will bring in radicals that will break down my immune system. That doesn't mean, I should take H. I. V. Infected blood. Or eat food poisoned by rats and all, or refuse to take a bath. But again, we live in a world full of evil and evil doers. Satan has a destiny to fulfil. One of which it is taking me down by all means. He has in his arsenal. Sickness, lack, delay, stagnation, oppression, untimely death etc. Beside afflictions that are spiritually instigated, what about natural afflictions resulting from pollutions, and decay, environmental hazards? When I get careless and get attacked by way of sickness; There's healing and cure from God. Jere. 33:6. Behold, I will bring you health and cure, and I will cure you, and will reveal unto you the abundance of peace and truth. It all comes from God. God has given us a responsibility to take care of certain issues. What he has given you power to do, he won't intervene. When it's beyond you, like the cancer she has, then Divine healing will come in. Through inspiration, God has revealed to men, the cure for this and that, the ones he hasn't revealed, he allows you to depend on him to heal you. But why will he do this? You must grow out of childhood, and from drinking milk. Grow up. Eat unripe plantain, Chew bones. Exercise you FAith. Trust Him. Depend on Him. These engenders RELATIONSHIP. 2. TRAILS AS TRAINING. When you read 'Where is God, When it Hurts?' you will get a clear picture why God sometimes allow Satan afflict you. It's not to destroy you, but to train you, to build you up. But your attitude in the midst of that storm is what will determine if you will emerge victorious or a failure. I AM MORE THAN A CONQUEROUR is every Christian's motor. But more than a conqueror from what? What did you conquer? Goliath was a champion because he had scars to flaunt. You don't become a champ by seating at home. What battles have you fought, if you are victorious it's because you fought and prevailed. You need to fight in order to Win. Isa. 43:2. WHEN you pass through the waters I WILL BE WITH YOU, they will not over flow you. And when you walk through the FIRE, you will not be burnt, neither will it's false consume you. BUT Why go through all these at all? James 1:3-4 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh PATIENCE. 4. Let Patience have her perfect work, that yr may be PERFECT wanting nothing. Training makes you a professional, yea? and being a professional at what you do brings you to a state of perfection yea? It makes you sort after, yea? Remember this, God is not the one throwing you into the raging water or fierce fire. But when the Enemy shall come like a flood, He (GOD) shall raise a standard against him. When Nebucharnezzar tried it, God showed up as the third person. When Peter doubted and started sinking, Christ took him up. Different circumstances can put you in any situations. But Christ has promised to be there with you through it all, to turn what Satan intended for evil, for your perfection. More like, the stone aimed at you to destroy you, becoming your stepping stone to greatness. Ask Daniel, ask Shadrack and his friends. Ask me. This woman preached a gospel she didn't even believe in. She is making a mockery of Christ's promises. Or the reason He died in the first place. Using the case of Apostle Paul. Paul did not recieving healing, wasfor a purpose. God Himself put that Thorne in him, to remind Paul, that no matter how great you become, remember you are still flesh. Don't get highup and think you are better than any other human. Also in the case of Prophet Elisha and the death of the Shunamite woman's son. When she got to him with the news that her only son was dead, Elisha cried out and, 'The Lord has done this and He has hidden it from me'. In this cases, it is not to train His servants, they were already trained, it is to remind them of who they were. Suffer it, endure it. You can take it. He says to them. That's not to say God permits suffering in the life of every of his children. If he allows it, it is for a good reason. 3. Fulfilling Destiny. God brought everyone here to fulfil something. We are different people with different destinies. This is one of the areas the Prosperity gospel tries to bring to the fore front of every Christian. Discover yourself. Discover your potentials. You are not just an ordinary being. You are a god, PSALM 82:6, you are an offspring of the Most High God. don't die as an ordinary man. God has put so much in you, maximise it. Use it. Get up, call it forth. Use your creative abilities. Abraham hoped agaisnt hope, he called the things that be not as though they were. You are the seed of Abraham through Christ. Call those things forth by faith and act out what you believe. The Prosperity Gospel introduces you to the Holy Spirit and makes Him alive and living in you and with you. It makes you dare the impossible, it gives you impetus. It empowers you to throw fear away and ride throw the storm. It builds boldness in you, it reveals the mystery of Satan. It exposes the lies of Satan. And it gives us power over Satan and gives us knowledge of the antics of Satan. Do you know who you are ? The prosperity gospel makes us understand that we are on assignment down here. And that we need empowerment to fulfilment those assignments. It shows you your place in the covenant. AND IT PROPELS YOU TO PRESS IN, TILL YOU GET YOUR PORTION. Many have misunderstood it, so missed it, but many understands it, and are using it. For crying out loud. Why are Christians scared of dying? Something most take you away from this earth. Sickness, drawning, fire, car accident, collapsed building, plane crash. Etc. We all want to go to heaven but no one wants to die (Bob Nester Marley). If your purpose here is fulfilled, your time here has expired, go home. If you live longer, is for your loved ones, not for God . King Ezekiah was told to put his house in order because time had come for him to return home, he didn't want to go, typical of humans. 15 year were added to him, in those 15years, he had a son that became a great problem in Israel and to the Israelites. He had Jeroboam. Go and find out the activities of Jeroboam in Israel. If you are done, pls go home. Jesus' time expired when he was 33. John the Baptist' was earlier than Jesus'. If your assignment is done return home. Paul says to be present in the flesh 'alive' is to be absent from heaven. But to be absent from the flesh is to be present with the Lord. That's a man who understood destiny. The problem with believers is that, few know their assignment, and they equate achievement and accomplishment measuring by what friends and people around them have accomplished. Dead of a believer, is lost to man, but gain to God. because a saint has returned. For precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. PSALM 116:15. 1 Like 1 Share |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by analice107: 7:42pm On Feb 17, 2016 |
Candour:Hello dear, what was the name of the affliction Oyedepo's wif had? Listen. Am not saying that because i have violent faith i won't die. I didn't say that. Very few persons have the grace to be told, it's time, put your house in order, you are going home. These Saints you mentioned, may have completed their task here. So no amount of prayer will keep them here. One day Smith Wiggleswood, came home and found his wife dead. He rejected it and called his wife back to life. God told him, it's time for her to come home. At that point he couldn't do anything else. The one who brought her here says, it's time what can you say. He had to let her go, so she went home. As for Miles Monroe, His recent messages indicated he knew time was getting close for him to return home. Am not so sure of Kulman. But she did well and am sure her assignment here was done. My point is this, we don't have total control, but we must exercise this faith till the very end. 1 Like |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by vooks(op): 8:17am On Feb 18, 2016 |
Candour:Hi bro, First, I'm pleasantly surprised that you also read that great poin Death the Leveller. The other one is the fact that Winsomex shared with me this link about Kate Bowler's article The best of all surprises is the fact that I introduced Winsomex to Kate Bowler's book/dissertation on the history and evolution of prosperity gospel(iers) in America! I fully agree with you that death is a moment of reckoning. I once had a spat here with one Christ Embassy apologist by the name mbaemeka. When I raised the issue of death, he boldly claimed that Christ would never come for him till he consented to it. In other words, God is held captive by his consent. I wondered how come nobody had lived beyond natural by simply denying Jesus consent to take him home since Pentecost. Death is one thing that shatters this health-wealth-happiness utopia |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by vooks(op): 8:58am On Feb 18, 2016 |
analice107:Thank you Anas09, It is true that there is no formula for having our way all the times. It is wrong for PG to advance this because it is a utopia that distracts many from confronting their present realities. But one thing we must never do is trivialize trusting in God. While atheists mock Christians who trust in God and still suffer, Kate's message seems to be nothing but a diluted argument of the same theme; why trust in God while whether you trust or not you won't have your way? Supposing we travelled in time to first century. I am reading Mark. In chapter 2 there is the paralytic who is brought before Jesus and is lowered from the roof. What advice would Kate have given the guy, or the man who sat by the pool for 38 years? Or the woman with the issue of blood? That they should lower their expectations on God? This Kate is nearly criminalizing and mocking hope and faith in God |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by stonemasonn: 11:42am On Feb 18, 2016 |
vooks:It is the same expection as been treated by the best physician in town or a Sherman or babalawo renown for healing powers. The writer simply expect Christians to accept death as part of life and not some kind of evil. A musician once sang "nobody wants to die but they all want to go to heaven" maybe that's why bornagains are so obsessed with rapture nowadays, they just wan to cheat death. |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by vooks(op): 12:02pm On Feb 18, 2016 |
stonemasonn:She does more than advocate for the normalcy of death. |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by KingEbukasBlog(m): 1:21pm On Feb 18, 2016 |
booked space |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by analice107: 7:07pm On Feb 18, 2016 |
stonemasonn:God bless you sir. |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by Outofsync(m): 7:55pm On Feb 18, 2016 |
Space booked. |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by asalimpo(m): 10:02pm On Feb 18, 2016 |
Modern day christians may be perveting and twisting the gospel (it's the gospel,not prosperity gospel. Salvation is all-encompassing). Some may have stood in faith to the end and still failed. If they failed,its not that the Word of God doesnt work, but it's because there's something they dont know. In eternity they may get to see where they were missing it. There's a lot we don't know, and our ignorance defeats us. But faith keeps pressing on. And a true faith person will have some victories. Look at the bible, it challenges you to believe God for all your material needs!! It says "My God shall supply ALL your needs according to His Riches (not the economy or your paycheck or your certificate or godfather) . " can you wrap your head around that? Cars,houses,cloths,school fees - believe God for it!! It says the believers shall raise the dead! Drink poison and not get hurt , shake off snakes, or deadly stings. Can you really wrap your head around this? You are talking of total invincibility of the physical body. It's mind boggling. Paul shook a snake into fire. Raised a cripple man. Peter raised the dead. While some will laugh it off and try to interprete it otherwise. Others will try to live it. Theyll flat on their faces sometimes but they'll also experience some victories. |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by analice107: 10:09pm On Feb 18, 2016 |
asalimpo:Yes brother. It's salvation. But those who preach this kind of gospel are called, Prosperity Preachers, that why the OP termed it as prosperity gospel, and we toed her line of thought. |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by vooks(op): 2:53pm On Feb 22, 2016 |
KingEbukasBlog:I think one thing we need to remind ourselves daily instead of waiting for death to rattle us is the fact that, as long as we are in this tent, death, pain,aging are inevitable. This is what makes a believer look forward to resurrection, our blessed hope. The mistake of attempting to live out resurrection lifestyle in the present physical bodies is what breeds all these epic disappointments 2 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by vooks(op): 3:45pm On Feb 23, 2016 |
nynbrada, You need to understand the roots of prosperity gospel and word of faith movement, and I can't think of any better place to start than Kate Bowler's dissertation. She took 12 years researching into it.. Here http://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/2297/D_Bowler_Catherine_a_201005.pdf?sequence=1 |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by nynbrada: 7:46pm On Feb 23, 2016*. Modified: 8:06pm On Feb 23, 2016 |
vooks:My brother in the Lord, don't be swayed by the claims of this woman. If you follow her write-up carefully, you will understand that she is just exalting her own personal experience over the word of God. As she has failed to draw from the scriptures to back up her claims. The word of God is our final authority and we have an avalanche of scripture to fall back on. For our healing and prosperity. The only place i do not agree is when preachers or Christians start saying stuff like we cannot be sick, then be sure i will not agree on this position. The fact is so long we are encased in this body of flesh, then sickness is inevitable. But as children of God it is now our responsibility to by faith draw upon God's word and ensure our health is restored. Also know that from her claims she researched into the history of faith healing and prosperity. And as result was priviledged to met and work with those pioneer of faith. But the question now is for the fact that she met and worked with this people: 1. Is association with them a guaranty for divine health and prosperity? Ans: NO. 2. Did she have a personal one on one encounter with God, that was built on personal revelatory knowledge of God's word concerning healing and prosperity? Ans: NO. My brother her case is like that of many today that strive so much to be closer to men of God than God himself. Moreso, the claim that the prosperity and faith healing message started from E.W Kenyon under a metaphysical influence is a lie from the pit of hell. It is devilish attempt calculated to bring these glorious message from the Spirit of God to the Church to ridicule and demonize it. My bro, don't be decieved by this deciet from the pit of hell. Go do your own simple research on it by reading books from great men of God some two centuries ago and upward and see if they preached alongs this line in their own level of revelation then. The only thing that has happened is progression in revelation. Get books by Charlse .G. Finney and Smith Wigglesworth and see what they have to say about divine health and prosperity. Thanks and do take care my brother. |
| Re: Death, The Prosperity Gospel And Me by vooks(op): 7:52am On Feb 24, 2016 |
nynbrada:There are no claims there, at least as far as I can see, just observations of this PG phenomena and its absurdities If you follow her write-up carefully, you will understand that she is just exalting her own personal experience over the word of God.No she is not exalting her experiences. She is raising an oft-ignored aspect of our faith;we don't ALWAYS have our way regardless of our piety,devotion, righteousness and so forth.....contrary to the marketed claims of PG The only place i do not agree is when preachers or Christians start saying stuff like we cannot be sick, then be sure i will not agree on this position.Her point is, there are no such guarantees, no formulas that work 100% of the times. The only guarantee in Christ is eternal life. Otherwise, it is very insulting blaming the sick and the dying for FAILURE to execute some particular principle. Also know that from her claims she researched into the history of faith healing and prosperity. And as result was priviledged to met and work with those pioneer of faith.The WOF and PG phenomena is what she studied...its historicity. She was not looking for healing nor personal relationships with these, she is an academic. From the study, she came up with nuggets such as the association of the movement with the late 19th century NewThought wave. Ever wondered how something lies dormant for 18 centuries of Christianity and the suddenly becomes a fad? Read her dissertation with an open mind, criticize later. Criticizing something you've never read is ignorance Moreso, the claim that the prosperity and faith healing message started from E.W Kenyon under a metaphysical influence is a lie from the pit of hell.It is no lie, she has proof...objective proof for each of her claims. I love facts The only thing that has happened is progression in revelation.I have read these books by these. Healing did not start with the New Thought.....New thought simply got married into Christianity. Please read her books. How come the same cliches we hear thrown around like 'I am an overcomer' were also used in this movement? Somebody copied the other |
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