Prosperity gospel teaching in the U.S. is big and needs to be thought through biblically. If you have many Christian friends you probably have some friend or family member who believes in this false teaching. It is not that you are not a Christian if you adopt this mentality, though for many who do the gospel according to the Bible is unclear and often times pushed to the periphery for other things. This ought not to be so. From a Christianity Today resource (click here to see the complete blog post), I read a post that contained these two quotes, who do you think is right, if any, and why? (Leave a comment)
Joel Osteen says:
“Does God want us to be rich?” he asks. “When I hear that word rich, I think people say, ‘Well, he’s preaching that everybody’s going to be a millionaire.’ I don’t think that’s it.” Rather, he explains, “I preach that anybody can improve their lives. I think God wants us to be prosperous. I think he wants us to be happy. To me, you need to have money to pay your bills. I think God wants us to send our kids to college. I think he wants us to be a blessing to other people. But I don’t think I’d say God wants us to be rich. It’s all relative, isn’t it?”
Rick Warren says:
“This idea that God wants everybody to be wealthy?”, [Rick] Warren snorts. “There is a word for that: baloney. It’s creating a false idol. You don’t measure your self-worth by your net worth. I can show you millions of faithful followers of Christ who live in poverty. Why isn’t everyone in the church a millionaire?” (Elsewhere, as quoted on the blog post Rick Warren has said) “I don’t think it is a sin to be rich. I think it is a sin to die rich.”
For Al Mohler’s thoughts on this, you can read his blog (posted 9/13) or a radio show he dedicated to this topic.
The whole concept is blown out of proposion. There are too many “mega’s” fighting over minors, while the real issue of the Gospel is left hanging short of the cross!
FULFILLING YOUR DESTINY: YOUR LIFE HAS MEANING”
My name is Aaron Fraser and I am the author of “ fulfilling Your Destiny: Your Life Has Meaning”. Based on biblical principles of prosperity, success, reaping and sowing, and God’s overall purpose for all of his elect. I have written a book that outlines god’s blueprint for true happiness and success in our lives. There is no substitute for the bible. This is simply a self-improvement manual that focuses on a few key areas of God’s infallible word that will set the true believer on a course of self-discovery and divine purpose from a Christ centered perspective. I am sending you this E-copy with an expectation that the Holy Spirit will illuminate its truths in your heart and move you to action. If you find the book to be helpful to your congregation or the general body of believers, feel free to direct them to: Lulu.com where they can purchase a printed copy. As an incentive to spread this life giving teaching of hope, prosperity, and restoration, I will partner with you to afford your church the opportunity to print and sell my material so that the work of Christ can be spread through the financial seeds from the sale and distribution of this book. By selling the book on your website, I will donate two dollars to your congregation for each book sold. I hope this work can be a great benefit to your work in Christ. I can be reached via the following contact mediums. Email: asante137@yahoo.com,ojackson73@netzero.net. By phone: 718-443-0011, 347-742-7338. Thank you and God Bless!
Aaron Fraser
The Lord doesn’t care if we are prosperous, or even happy in this life, in fact we are to “Hate the world”. We are NOT to seek treasures here but in heaven. Our PURPOSE IS TO GLORIFY, THAT IS, DISPLAY GOD’S GLORY in this world, anything that comes secondary is a blessing. “Seek ye first the kingdom, THEN all these things will be added unto you” I mean do you guys even READ THE BIBLE? The Lord is concerned with our spiritual health, not our pocketbooks!
Lets really learn how to read the bible! What did Jesus teach?
You should see the latest sermon video from MHC. Pastor Mark Driscoll takes Joel Osteen to task & calls him out as being “wrong” on this topic. See it on iTunes.
I’m sick of the Joel Osteen bashing. So many don’t even attend his church yet act like they know the deal. Did you know he asks those watching to admit their sinners, repent, and become born again while seeking out a good Bible believing church. He is a life coach. He’s a good Christian. He accepts nothing from tithings to live on–he sells books for that. His church provided hope to many weary katrina survivors of all colors while many so called good Christians wouldnt allow blacks into their cities and were armed with shotguns just in case one attempted to cross in. God DOES LOVE US. HE DOES WANT US HAPPY. i’m not talking rich but able to be a blessing to others. i do agree osteen needs to say more in his tv broadcasts or else call it a life coaching session and not church. want to see a phony? look no further than benny hinn or paula white. joyce meyer is now in trouble with the tax people. and dont forget TBN–paul crotch and jan!!—-supposedly paul loves the men a bit too much!!!! but joel osteen i believe has something to say–that God does want us to turn from sin–wants our obedience–but he does love us and grieves when we do. joel osteen is a powerful motivator. he could motivate a tree to become successful. he is sincere. and you know what if we are successful here on earth we can help those in need. my heart goes out for starving children. one day i hope to become a huge success and stop letting kids die from hunger. i will give almost everything i make to stop the hunger in the world. like someone mentioned its what you do with your blessings. they are worth nothing if we dont share and do good. yes we are saved by grace and not works–but God wants our hearts doing good not evil. i could go on but i gotta stop. so many people are suicidal–dont have anything–hope is everything and osteen is providing it. not false hope but a fervent wish to look inside ourselves to find what makes us special and take those God given gifts into society and make ourselves and the world better. i one day will talk to joel and tell him how i feel. couldnt talk to hinn if you wanted to–tons of armed guards!!! is that a preacher? or a charlatan? yes joel is successful cause there is a need for his words. but maybe he will grow too in God and oneday talk about the full gospel. but even so he is a man of God. prosperity gospel is wrong–but being all you can be in Christ is a-ok. let us shine through Christ. and no God dont care if you become a millionaire unless your heart is in such a place you can do good with it. poor rich whatever–it dont matter as long as your heart is right. but God certainly dont want us miserable. soooo stop saying that. be prosperous on earth -do good for your family and more importantly the less fortunate. and keep a good heart. a pure one. one rooted in God. Also with everyone now a days calling Christians delusional and nuts–joel is putting a positive light on being God’s children. PROSPERITY JOEL TALKS ABOUT DOES NOT MEAN BEING RICH ONLY–HE MEANS PROPEROUS AS A VICTOR not VICTIM…….
Both are false, one preaches mammon for happiness and the other seeker friendly for attendance. The church is falling apart with these false teachers. Sound doctrine is played out and no longer a value for the church. What a shame?! It is the end times?
God want us prosperous in all angles of life. What God require of us is to love Him and serve Him, and His blessings will be ours. The bible said in Leviticus 26:3 If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them,
4 I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase and the trees of the field yield their fruit. Also, in 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14, God promised a great of blessing for us if we seek Him. He said, “If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” Your land shall yielding her increase and the trees of the field yielding their fruits, is one definition of prosperity.
Truely, God want us prosperous. But take note here that you don’t have to be a millionaire to be prosperous. Apart from material wealth, you can be prosperous in health. If you have good health, when others are running up and down in the emergency rooms of various hospitals, then you are prosperous. And God want you to be in good health. The bible said in 3 John 1:2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers.
Let’s leave Pastor Joel alone to fulfill his calling. God called him for a purpose and no man can distort his calling. We should not forget the book of Rmans 14: 10, which says “Why do you criticize and pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you look down upon or despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God”.
“Let’s leave Pastor Joel alone to fulfill his calling. God called him for a purpose and no man can distort his calling. We should not forget the book of Rmans 14: 10, which says “Why do you criticize and pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you look down upon or despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God”.”
The comment above is only half faithful to God’s Word! In principle it can fit 1Thes5:19-20 but miserably fails verse 21-22! Joel Osteen (and any minister for that matter) is accountable to God and to the church community. If what he is teaching is consistent with the Word of God in Scripture then it will withstand criticism. But if it is not then let it be exposed and Joel Osteen needs to listen if he is truly a man led by the Spirit and the Word and not just what’s in or popular in today’s culture dominated Christianity. Jesus did not preach positive messages–he didn’t preach negative messages either. WHat He preached was GOd’s Word speaking to the real issues and needs of the world and humanity. All ministers should follow that example. The prosperity gospel is really the American Dream in Gospel language. It is not the Gospel of Jesus CHrist!
“Jesus did not preach positive messages–he didn’t preach negative messages either. WHat He preached was GOd’s Word speaking to the real issues and needs of the world and humanity”.
I think Jesus preached positive message. There is no doubt His emphasis was on the kingdom of God. He urged His followers to seek the kingdom of God, with the assurance that the needs of the world and humanity will be theirs if they put God first in whatever they do. Or how do we interpret Matthew 6 : 33 which says “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”.
Why does mankind get hung up on gagging at a nat.God wants us to love our neighbors as ourselves,follow and worship Him. Earthly things answer the flesh but not the spirit.If we seek more of the Spirit and not the flesh we will be able to see how to serve HIM and not ourselves!
Any teaching that takes your focus away from God and puts it on yourself is false teaching. Believing in God means you focus your attention on God, whether you are rich or poor, healthy or sick. That’s why Joel Osteen’s teaching is dangerous. He is basically telling people that if you are sick and poor, your faith is weak. If you pray hard enough, you will eventually be rich and happy and successful in this world. Joel Osteen is treating God like a ‘celestial ATM.’ That’s just garbage.
Diana, I don’t seems to agree with you here. I think Pastor Joel is only encouraging every believer not to give up on God; even if they encounter any hardship right now. I suppose he is only urging christians to have an unyeilding faith in God and the storm in their lives will be over sooner than they ever expected. I think this is a focus on God and not self.
Im confused – why is there such a Battle within Christanity? – I love the Lord but dont get it – What does God actually want for us or from us – To Prosper or Not – or maybe he is saying that this life 70 – 100 years on the earth will not be our “Best Life Now”
It does not matter what any one or another famous preacher may believe or teach about the concept of prosperity.
What matters is What the Word of God says about it.
3 John 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou may prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospers.
“Prosper” here is the word euodoo, and lest we hastily conclude that this must mean “spiritual” prosperity, as opposed to physical or financial, let us see that this same word is also used in 1 Corinthians 16:2 where Paul gives instructions for the laying aside of provisions as an offering in accordance with how each giver has been prospered.
So euodoo is clearly seen in the Word as a form of wealth or goods, physical and tangible.
“even as thy soul prospers” Here again sincere believers may jump to the conclusion that prosperity and health must then be soulish, mental, and emotional attitudes likened to contentment, and certainly, a prosperous soul is the key, but what does that mean?
John is praying for, and adjuring his beloved believers to prosper, and be in health, in the very same way as their souls are prospering, or even in direct proportion to the prosperity of their souls.
John Is Telling Us That It Is Very Important To Have A Prosperous Soul.
Why? Because the Prosperity of a Fool will destroy him! Proverbs chapter 1 lays the foundation of who is the foolish here; and it is one who despises counsel, reproof, knowledge, wisdom and the fear of the Lord. Prosperity will indeed destroy such a person.
On the other hand, who does the Word say is Prosperous? Joshua 1:8 draws the picture of this Biblical prosperity; “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
Prosperity is always a test. It is a test of our heart attitude toward God, and his Word, and His Instructions.
The foolish fail this test. Jesus demonstrated this in the parable of the talents. This was a test of the servants’ faithfulness or foolishness with money.
I have heard it said that prosperity is neither moral, nor immoral; But Prosperity is an amplifier of the soul of the one to whom it comes! A good man’s Wisdom, Fear of the Lord, Obedience, and Generosity will be amplified by his prosperity; to the Glory of God, and for the sake of the Gospel and the Kingdom! A Foolish man’s prosperity will amplify his foolish choices, giving him the fiscal ability to cause greater heartaches and devastation.
Truly Jesus warned us about the test of prosperity which we all believers must face, and pass in this life:
“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous riches, who will commit to your trust the true riches”? -Luke 16:10,11
I used to watch joel regularly, and still would if i could. Anyways; I believe he’s sincere and his preaching is not false. So what; he teaches prosperity?.. God wants us to have life, and to have it more abundantly. Ur not going 2 agree wiv everyfing any one pastor says. But y do we always have to criticize one n other in the church? Especially u americans… No disrespect
Apostasy creeps into the churches in many subtle guises. I have witnessed shouts of joy as the gospel of Christ was inverted in a Pentacostal assembly. The place was packed and no one present could understand what was “wrong” with me as I alone cried for mercy in the pews.
What may be wrong within our churches is a spiritual battle, reason and sharing God’s Word in the natural is powerless against the delusion. Yet, terrible and frightening as it can be, God is in control.
Prosperity teaching is usually pretty blatent and no one with The Spirit is endangered by it. What bothers me far more is the promise of mansions and gold pavement that corrupts doctrine in the hearts of God’s chosen. It sows seeds of worldly greed where there were none before.
The bottom line is this: God provides all that we need, we are to be content, His grace is sufficient.
Scriptural descriptions of Heaven attempt to illustrate purity and perfection beyond our ability to understand, not a material landscape. If you want a mansion with a gold driveway then sell your soul & move to Hollywood. The truth is that if you are waiting for worldly things in Heaven and think to get them by denying your desires for now, you still love the world. Even as you sit in the pews singing and praising you are hopelessly far from God.
God’s prosperity is abundant (eternal) life and His treasures are wisdom, understanding, fellowship, faith, temperance, etc.
I have heard some speak of crowns with jewels as physical objects to be cast down before God for ever. I try to tell them that the crown is the crown of life, that the jewels are what we have done in obedience to God and that the casting of them before His throne is a picture of unwavering and eternal devotion of our lives to Him. But such love the world and cannot hear truth at all.
Friends, hate this fallen world, keep faith in God and leave the ministries alone unless God tells you to expose them. If you have a problem with a ministry and can prove your position by Spirit and Word and in lovingkindness, then speak to that minister directly if you believe God wills it. If you know of someone’s faith being corrupted by any ministry then simply show them truth in scripture and pray to God they will receive it.
The enemy does not attack churches only to corrupt them but also to offend others who have a closer walk with God and can discern what is happening, compelling us to slander and defile ourselves and others in ungodly carnality that seems right to our minds but is ruin to our spirits.
Leave your tithes in the plate and your burdens upon the alter, praying always in truth and in Spirit. When anything at all threatens your peace or your joy, have faith in God and stand firm in love. The weapons of our warfare are divine to the pulling down of strongholds. We are not to go about the world hacking it up with the sword of truth. That sword is meant to pierce our own hearts and gut our own bellies and to plant firmly into the ground wherever we stand in faith.
god doesnt promise riches beyond our wildest dreams.
what is abundant life ? i will tell you what it is….christs life in us !!!
it doesnt get better than that ! can anybody tell me what is better than christ making his home in us ? riches bring a snare and many temptations. we are bringing the gospel into the world which is good news that you dont need lots of money but lots of christ in us. if we make lots of money it is to be used for the extension of the kingdom of god and providing for the poor and the outcasts of society, the type the prosperity teachers dont care about.
go to africa and china where the true christians live and are beaten and tortured because they love christ and gods word
jesus says a mans life doesnt consist in the abundance of possesions, but knowing christ as our supply !
i have never been so rich in all my life since i come to christ.
i have known the riches of his love and his mercy and grace and his presence and his peace shall i go on ?
material wealth is temporal , god is more bothered about building our character not our bank balances. true christians live quite fruigal lives so they can prosper the poor and to finance getting gods word out into all the world.
when jesus comes back for his church he wont be looking at our bank balance but deep into our heart s to see whether we are still looking for his second appearing !
I currently am going out of my way breaking the law to spread the the gospel in another country while i’m on vacation by myself. That’s all i’m trying to do spread the gospel, believe it or not, that’s other people’s choice. It’s your choice to believe it or not; I’m not forcing you to do anything you dont want to. Once again it’s your choice I’m not forcing you. Everyday my heart is trying to deny the darkness in me ‘cuz the missions i am on ain’t that easy lol. I pray all of you will find salvation in one of this day. Since i’m here in this country illegally for too long, one day i’ll truly be happy to see what I’ve sacrifice to find glory wont be a waste of time in this world. Peace be with you friends ^_^
Riches are a distraction. Look at all the time we waste arguing about it. We should invest the time God gives us on reaching the lost. Quit arguing about how many angels can fit on the tip of a needle and let us win souls and more souls and more souls. JUST DO IT !!!
Yeah, God is better than all of us. God’s beauty is higher than all of us.
If we are Real Followers of Jesus ( witnessing to the lost and leading them to commit their lives to Christ), these things won’t really a burdensome to you. I rejoice whenever i see people give their lives to Jesus no matter what the denomination is, whether i agree with their church or not. Souls are very precious to Jesus. Before we criticize others let us ask ourselves are we doing the job Jesus called us to do ” Go and Make disciples..”. Only true disciples abides in the Word, wherein Jesus guarantees in John 8:32 that true disciples shall all know the truth and the truth shall set them free. Let us do our part in God’s Kingdom, i plant, you water and God will do His part He will make it grow! The KIngdom of God is forcefully advancing and the forcefull men will lay hold of it.
I think god gave me a mind too be able too work and live a abundant life,I have listened too both and you can’t tell me Rick Warren didn’t get rich off his books as did Joel Osteen and that was /God guiding them
we use to watch joel osteen until we noticed that he never really preached anything from God’s word. just a bunch of postive this and that. the only time God’s word was mentioned was with his little “this is my Bible….” at the start of every service. also he lives like a king. having that much money and using that much to live like he does is a sin – he should give more because no man needs to live like osteen or joyce meyers. they are the feel good preachers who make people feel good the do not truly preach and it is quite obvious that many no longer want to really hear the word preached but just have their ears tickled. osteen and friends will answer to God for this.
Earthly riches and poverty are tools that God uses to draw us back to himself. If God makes you poor then He is blessing you. If God makes you rich then He is blessing you. God only gives good gifts. Let’s be thankful always.
I agree Jared. Good word. Thanks!
Seek first the kingdom of God all other things are a bonus.