Prosperity unGospel

I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. (Philippians 4:12)

I am reading the book of Job and seeing a great correlation between the so called prosperity preachers and Job’s three comforters.

Looking at the arguments Job’s three friends were putting up in defense of God it becomes apparent that these preachers are simply replicating those arguments on their pulpits. The only difference is that those comforters were doing a post mortem using that doctrine as opposed to the preachers who are laying the foundation for that kind of living.

In a nutshell the doctrine teaches that deprivation, persecution, sickness and hardship are not consistent with a life having God’s involvement and favor. It is therefore wrong for someone schooled in that doctrine to undergo any hardship or pain as a member of God’s family.

Like the reasoning of Job’s friends, anything unpleasant in a Christian’s life is an indication of sin and God’s judgment. There is simply no room for negative experiences once one is in Christ. The Christian life is therefore something akin to one long holiday.

But is that the reality? Is that the teaching of the scriptures? Is that what Christ taught?

I myself once followed that route. After I rededicated my life to Christ and was called to ministry, I was exposed to such teaching almost from all fronts. Most of the books I got to read were of that nature, though in the earlier years it was centred more on health than wealth, maybe because it was a seed being sown. The thrust of what I was reading was that sickness has two causes, sin and lack of faith. The solution to sickness was therefore repentance or a burst of faith if one was saved.

And that doctrine was bearing fruit as I practiced it. I used to minister to the national referral hospital (Kenyatta Hospital) at least twice a week. I would establish one’s spiritual status then share the Gospel. After someone got saved I would then pray for their healing.

I remember the first encounter being really scary. I found a young man with tubes all over. If I can still remember well I think his name was Kibet. He could not even speak due to all those tubes. As I shared the Gospel I used his gestures to establish his response to what I was sharing. But he accepted Christ all the same and I went ahead to pray for his healing.

Two days later when I came for ministry I found his bed unoccupied. On enquiring I was told he had been discharged as he had gotten healed. I know you can imagine what happened to my faith. I gained immense confidence to continue in that ministry. Somehow God gave me sufficient favor with the staff at the entrance and the wards as I was never stopped from visiting the patients though I was an outsider. And the ministry progressed with miracle after miracle being experienced as I shared the Gospel and prayed.

Then one day I went to the children’s ward where I found mothers who were already believers. We had a great fellowship and I encouraged them to believe for the healing of their children.

One mother was outstanding in her acceptance of the message. She even prompted me to give her a Bible I loved so much, the first Bible that I had ever owned, really loved and had had for close to eight years because she did not have one. Incidentally that got me into the ministry of getting Bibles to people who needed them, a ministry that has borne much fruit over the years. I left in very high spirits as for once I had ministered to people possessing so much faith.

About three days later I revisited that ward to see the confirmation of our united faith. The mother who had exhibited so much faith was absent and I assumed her child had been discharged. I was shocked, however when I was told that her child had died. And that child had not even been looking as bad as the others!

I was shattered. I could not fault my faith or the faith of that mother. What had gone wrong? Where was the problem?

It was then that I decided to search the scriptures for answers as I felt that there was something I needed to know about God especially concerning healing.  This is because from childhood I had been taught that God is sovereign and not subject to us or even our understanding. I therefore started to study the scriptures to understand and get out of that confusion.

It was then that I came across verses that will simply not make sense to someone who has bought into that doctrine, verses that seem like a slap in the face of that doctrine. I will share a few.

Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. (2Timothy 4:20)

How can Paul who had raised Eutychus back to life leave somebody else sick just like that? Why did he not pray healing for him? Had he lost faith? How irresponsible could an apostle with the kind of gifting we see in Acts be in leaving someone sick instead of believing for his healing? Even if he had been in such a hurry could he not at least sent a handkerchief like we see being done in Acts?

Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. (Galatians 4:13)

How can this same Paul use sickness as a positive experience in his ministry? How can he use the same sickness as a pretext for his ministry in Galatia? What had happened to his faith that he seemed proud of sickness as he wrote this epistle? 

For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. (2Corinthians 12: 8 – 10)

This was the most confounding of all. Where does grace fit in sicknesses? What about faith? Where is the place of that faith? What is the evidence of faith when one is sick? How does someone demonstrate God’s power when the same power cannot take care of sicknesses? Where are Christ’s stripes if I am not healed?

But as I got to study the scriptures I came to one conclusion that has kept my faith in God positive; that God is not bound to my doctrinal position. God is everything apart from man and is therefore not bound to man’s understanding, which incidentally is one aspect of His holiness.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8, 9)

But that does not discount His power to perform miracles, even to heal. He still can and does healing. His power is infinite. But that power is not subject to man, however close to God that man may feel.

In actual fact a clear evidence of the backslidden state of the church is the absence of miracles however prosperity leaning we may paint ourselves. I suspect that is the reason preachers are using the money index to gauge their spiritual potency, because they have no spiritual standard for that. You see money is money is money. A thief’s money is no different from a prostitute’s money or a preacher’s money. A drug peddler’s billion can do as much as a preacher’s billion.

But even worse is that money is a worldly standard as it never gets beyond this life. This means it is subject to the god of this world called mammon and ultimately Lucifer. We are therefore allowing the devil to set standards to gauge the success or otherwise of those Christ said are not of this world.

But that is what we see with Job’s friends. They attributed the sudden reversal of his fortunes to his having fallen foul of God and attracted His wrath. Their single remedy was for Job to REPENT. As you continue reading those discourses you see them getting more and more convinced of his guilt, even arrogance and wickedness as he defends himself.

Their equation was simple, same as these preachers – material wealth equals God’s favor and poverty equals God’s displeasure without exception.

What those comforters did not know and what these preachers choose to ignore is the heavenly conference. They ignore the fact that Job’s situation was caused by God Himself. Or do we not know He was the one who dared the devil to try Job? And we know that happened because Job was without fault before God. In fact even the devil had written off the case and came to it because God dared him.

This doctrine can therefore be assumed to be managed from hell because it uses the material to judge spiritual realities.

But that does not mean that God does not give wealth as Job’s case demonstrates. He feared God as God Himself declared when He was challenging the devil to try him. The presence of wealth is therefore not an indicator of wickedness. But it is not also an indicator of righteousness as the devil also has in him the capacity to give wealth. Of course we know that some of the wealthiest characters are very wicked. Slave traders and owners were very wealthy yet they did probably the most wicked business as it demeans God’s highest creation. Drug barons and networks are immensely wealthy yet they are in the business of converting people into zombies. The alcohol and tobacco businesses are some of the highest profit businesses, yet they destroy people and families.

Abraham was wealthy. David also was. But they were also righteous. Solomon was immensely wealthy, but he fell out completely with God, probably because of that wealth.

Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar were extremely wealthy, but we see them even challenging God due to that wealth. Herod was very wealthy but sought to extinguish the light that was the Christ.

The point I am making is that we need to use the same standard for similar things. We can’t use material to gauge the spiritual. It would be safer if we used the spiritual to gauge the material because the spiritual is a determinant of all things from here to eternity. But we have not been given that mandate by the creator. We are simply advised to pursue the spiritual as it is the one that will release the material.

But we also need to be careful lest we attach any spiritual labels to the material or the other way round.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)

Our responsibility is to seek to know God and be constantly connected to Him. We need to know and walk by His standards. We need to establish a rich relationship with Him.

Then we will be in a position to know whether our want is a punishment or a test. Then we will be able to know whether the gift is a blessing or a snare. We will be able to accurately know on what side of God our experience leans.

Lacking that perspective will sink us lower and lower into the pit mammon has dug for the adherents of that doctrine. We will fall into it because we have built on the foundation mammon laid by using verses without the perspective of heaven.

In a book I will publish as soon as God releases funds I have wondered how the devil has been able to infiltrate the church to the point that he even runs some pulpits (Of Gates and Offenses on the blog, which is a chapter in the book). Where was the light when darkness was getting to the pulpit? I suspect he used that doctrine by introducing material standards for gauging success in ministry. Then he is able to strategically release his kind of money to buy the allegiance of these ministers.

With a warped value system he is then able to gradually shift a minister’s focus from God to the money he has released though sometimes it is God who has released as was the case with Solomon. This is because he knows that elevating the value of money is not that much different from worshipping him.

An erroneous gauge of success automatically leads to a life out of sync with the created order. You see success is not automatic. It must be sought. And that is why there are so many instructions in the Bible to seek, pursue, guard, etc. I can’t seek knowledge to get wisdom. I cannot seek popularity to get favor. I cannot seek worldly success to get heavenly approval.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Galatians 6:7, 8)

What happens when money becomes the gauge of my ministerial success? It becomes the fulcrum on which my ministry swings. I will be like Job’s friends, thinking that great cash flow indicates God’s favor and the lack of it judgment. I will even create imaginary sins to repent when the cash tide turns against me. (I remember doing so in those times I walked in that doctrine if a healing miracle (not through drugs, though) did not come fast enough.)

But even worse is that I will seek the means to get that money because it is more or less the validating factor of my ministry. I will use my creativity to attract that money to me and mine to avoid having to create sins again and again. And that is where sin comes in. But then it becomes easier because mammon is the one pulling the strings.

With such a value system, it then becomes something of an abomination if any ministry does not attract monetary returns. And that is why a pastor slowly stops ministering to the poor and needy and devotes a lot of his time to those with the means to reciprocate using the currency he understands. You see transformation becomes secondary to material returns.

That is the reason he will be interested in ministering to a huge gathering as opposed to a small one for the same reason. A missionary will opt to become a mission’s consultant because that attracts more returns than actual mission work. A singer like I was will use his popularity to become a pastor because music is more taxing and has less predictable returns unless one can sell the music. An evangelist will take the title of apostle because that title is more attractive to money. A writer like me will use all means to popularize his books to attract enough buyers. Some will write books upon books on a topic that can’t fill a chapter to create more variety for more returns. The gift and calling become less important than the returns whatever ministry one is in. In short one becomes a spiritual prostitute, available to the highest bidder, only that the bidding is baptized as offering or support.

But it becomes worse because a meeting without some offering becomes untenable. People must be convinced to give one way or the other. A preaching or teaching series that does not mention and create room for giving is not complete.

But there must be other methods of getting money out of people’s pockets in the name of ministry. The most popular might be the most obscene because it uses trickery to coax people to give. There are even experts who are invited for that purpose in meetings. And it has spread like cancer. Initially it was constrained to American televangelists but things have changed as it has spread its tentacles all over.

‘For your gift of 100 dollars I will give you this knick-knack absolutely free’. And they say it after a very good amount of very attractive teaching. If you looked at the value of the thing being offered you realize that you are being ripped off as it may not be worth 5 dollars. But you have to give immediately before you can evaluate that exchange.

There is one pastor who teaches very well on radio. But then he also has written about almost anything that might interest a Christian. Half of his program is devoted to teaching and the other half (the larger one) to marketing his numerous books. And there is a catch in it. You pay less if you buy without thinking much – when he is on air. You pay more and more if you decide to take your time to decide whether you need those books or not. But you are not really buying the books; you are giving him a love gift. How does one dictate the size of a gift, especially a love gift? But I am sure this preacher will be very offended if I called him a spiritual conman, though that is what he practically is. A gift is freely offered. Requesting for it makes it cease from being a gift. A gift is not also exchangeable for anything as it is complete on its own. Give your books if you want, only do not attach anything to that. Let someone respond to your offer as they feel or are led. Or else sell them and say that you are doing so. Stop pretending you are giving when you are exchanging it with anything. Or have you forgotten that barter trade is still trade?

Even those who ask for pledges use the same tactics. They strike when the iron is hot – as they are teaching. Then you won’t make a sane decision as you are giving your credit card details because you have no time to even consider the implications of that offering or pledge.

I also write books. But I do not write them to sell. God recently told me that His message cannot be sold. Over the years, even when I sold a few copies, I realized that I was receiving transformational testimonies from people I had given books as opposed to those who bought them. Some of those who bought my books have not even read them. They were buying them to support my ministry and I am grateful. However I did not write books to be kept in shelves but to be read and thank God that He finally released me to give out all the messages He gives me to write as a greater percentage of them are getting read.

Others are smoother. Why not pay even before receiving ministry in the name of facilitating? But that facilitating goes way beyond what you are paying to facilitate. For example a very rich church or ministry (materially of course) will invite a well known teacher for example to teach on a very basic topic like evangelism or discipleship. People are then invited to attend those very ‘enriching’ teaching sessions which are free of course. But one is required to pay for the materials which many times are books the same character has written. But the money one pays for those books might be more than they would have paid had they funded everything from lunch to the air ticket. Why not ask people to pay for everything instead of making paying for a manual do the same? Is that also not spiritual trickery?

Why must I pay to encounter God? Why should I pay to hear a testimony? Why must I pray to be prayed for whatever pretext is used? Why pay to have a worship experience? Can such an experience really be worship? Whoever paid a minister to function?

The greatest danger from that doctrine however is that that success is temporal. It all ends at the grave, sometimes even earlier.

For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? (Luke 9:25)

And that is what the devil is cultivating in these ministers through that doctrine.

But the ultimate game plan for the devil is to thoroughly confuse these ministers that they start living for the present, with eternity being just one of the baits they use to attract that money they so badly need.

And they of course become irrelevant as they technically stop becoming God’s ministers. But it becomes even worse because they will then forcefully stand in the way of true ministry like Diotrephes did in 3 John. Though their demeanor is that of a minister of Christ, they are farthest from Christ’s heart.

That is the reason we are scared to equip our members on the marketplace to be effective witnesses. We choose instead to teach them to make as much money as possible so that they make their ministry ‘supporting’ us who are doing the ministry, forgetting the purpose of our ministry in Ephesians 4: 11, 12 which is to equip our members to do works of ministry.

We do this because we fear that if they realize they are ministers they may stop the flow of those coins in our direction as they will start hearing from Christ for themselves.

What is Christ’s heart then?

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (Luke 4:18)

How many of those our anointing is supposed to reach have any capacity to pay for our ministry? How many of them even realize that they need that ministry so that they can pay for it upfront?

And that is the reason there is very little ministry to places that desperately need it. That is why two millennia later the Gospel has not reached some areas yet something like this happened with a few committed ministers.

And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. (Acts 19:10)

Why is Somalia not reached yet it borders the country where 95% of all missionaries sent to Africa reside?

As an aside let me offend you a little bit. I think the terrorism Kenya is experiencing is squarely blamable on Christians, especially those in Kenya, missionaries or not. Why? You may ask.

I believe God has been calling Christians to go to evangelize Somalia for the last century. But the church has consistently refused to go, maybe even refused to support those who had responded to the call. Then God allows for the disintegration of the country so that they would come to Kenya to hear the same Gospel since we have refused to go. But what do we do? We think they came to enrich us. We sell them everything from plots to buildings, even churches. Since we enrich them with our greed and self interest, we are not willing or ready to give them what they came for, the Gospel.

Now what do you expect? Desperation and hopelessness. They came to the well of the Gospel called Kenya and found a mirage called greed and self interest. The same people we have offered opportunistic refuge will use the wealth they have acquired to hit at these Christians who have sold their birthrights instead of simply sharing the Gospel. They really cannot explain why they hate us so much but I think it is inborn. They simply hate the fact that we who have eternal hope are condemning them to damnation by not sharing the Gospel, the source of all hope.

But it is worse because they are only experiencing a vacuum they do not understand, which is what spiritual hunger is to those not exposed to the Gospel. They then hate the person who has what they need but do not know because he is even worse than a hoarder; he buries the treasure he holds through his greed.

Supposed we stopped trading with the Gospel and simply started spreading it? Supposed we decided to become what Christ called us to become? Supposed we started to ask the assignment Christ has for us? Supposed we decided to radically obey the orders He issues to us?