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PROSPERITY SCHOOL 101
                            Examining the Prosperity Gospel                             
Beloved I pray above all things that you might PROSPER - 3 John 2

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By: Dr. Bill Miller                                                Volume XVI Number 40                                               October 06, 2013
  

Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!

 

Thanks so much for joining us tonight as we continue our study of the bible word PROSPERITY. If you've been with us for a while then you know that the purpose of this series is to encourage a greater appreciation for this special word. Indeed PROSPERITY is something the Holy Spirit came up with and put in our bibles in one form or another almost a hundred times. And then so we wouldn't misunderstand His intentions, He made it clear that His PROSPERITY is a really big blessing (Deuteronomy 28:11). Since there're no scriptures to cancel that blessing, I've concluded that God's PROSPERITY is still one of the major love gifts He would like to get into the lives of Believers. God is love (1 John 4:8) and His nature is for people to be blessed.  

 

But after almost thirty years of financial counseling ministry, I have to tell you that only a small percentage of the Body of Christ actually knows how to RECEIVE this blessing. It's clearly available by GRACE through FAITH but not very many of us have been able to actually take possession of it. Part of that is because we haven't studied the WORD enough to understand what's available to us or because we haven't learned how to believe for it yet or because we haven't heard enough teaching about it. Whatever the reason, you can be sure that the enemy is also making a special effort to hinder Believers from receiving this particular blessing because connected to God's PROSPERITY are the funds the Body of Christ needs to go into ALL the world to preach the GOSPEL (Mark 16:15) and make DISCIPLES in all the nations (Matthew 28:19).

 

Introducing the Prosperity Gospel

 

Now I'm pretty well convinced that part of the enemy's strategy is to get us to focus on the wrong things when the subject of PROSPERITY comes up. An overly energetic concern about the so-called Prosperity Gospel is a prime example. Instead of focusing on the fact that God has a special blessing for His people that we should be trying to learn how to RECEIVE, the main focus of many Christians when they hear the word PROSPERITY is that there are some preachers on Christian television who are teaching an unscriptural Prosperity Gospel. Yes, there are indeed people on television, and also on the radio and also all over the Internet teaching wrong stuff about a lot of subjects. But I don't listen to them and I certainly don't send them any offerings because the Holy Spirit always warns me not to. And no matter what they say and try to do, it doesn't change the Truth: according to Scripture God's intention is that we learn how to RECEIVE His PROSPERITY for two principal purposes:

 

  To help Him establish His Kingdom (Deuteronomy 8:18) and, 

  To acquire a surplus (abundance) so we can perform good deeds (2 Corinthians 9:8).   

 

One of the interesting aspects of the Prosperity Gospel is that it's a made up term that doesn't have a consistent definition. If I ask ten Believers, it's likely I'll get back ten definitions. It's popular to use it and everybody says AMEN when we hear it, but what does it mean? What are we saying AMEN to? I have personally heard an amazing range of definitions over the last couple of years and a high percentage of what I've heard I have yet to hear or see anyone actually say on Christian television. Yes, it is true that certain preachers and teachers there do misrepresent a number of biblical financial principles and they're doing it to manipulate people and build their own kingdoms instead of God's. But if you have any kind of discernment at all, their dishonesty is obvious to you. You know to stay away from them and let the Lord take care of it. He's not worried about them so why are we?

 

The truth is what they're teaching doesn't have very much to do with PROSPERITY anyway and certainly not with the Holy Spirit's version of it. Why is the word PROSPERITY even mentioned in this context? What we're actually upset with them about is that they're trying to manipulate people into sending them offerings. They may use the word PROSPERITY once in a while but I repeat: PROSPERITY is a BIBLE word and it can be used in a good context or a bad context. Either way it's still a BLESSING! The context doesn't establish the definition of a bible word. So, rather than connecting all those preachers to a word that depicts one of God's major blessings, wouldn't it be more accurate to say that they're misrepresenting or corrupting the principle of sowing and reaping? That's where the problem actually lies because the folks we're talking about are failing to point out when they ask for an offering that there are many factors that enter into whether or not there will be a good harvest not the least of which is that if the farmer doesn't know much about farming, which applies to MOST Christians, he probably won't reap too much. The reaping is not solely a function of the sowing and there's time that passes between the sowing and the reaping which can be related to a lot of factors. But what does that have to do with God's PROSPERITY?

 

And what would we be saying about the Apostle Paul if he were with us today taking up one of his offerings? On one occasion he wrote to his prospective donors in one of the churches in Greece and told them that if they would give bountifully into his offering they would reap bountifully (2 Corinthians 9:6) and that if they gave cheerfully they would be eligible to RECEIVE ALL sufficiency in everything so that they could have an ABUNDANCE for every good deed (2 Corinthians 9:7-8). Would he be included with the group on Christian television that have been labeled Prosperity Gospel teachers?

 

Now I don't like manipulation either. But whenever the bible word PROSPERITY is mentioned in my presence I want to focus on downloading one of God's principal blessings instead of turning my head the other way because my natural reaction to it has become negative. If we only allow ourselves to see PROSPERITY in a made up negative context then we're going to continue to miss out on this special Blessing which in turn severely limits how God can use us in His Kingdom. Why is that? It's because PROSPERITY comes through FAITH. When would I ever want to release my FAITH to receive something that I can only associate with a negative context? Friend, THE NEW COVENANT WORKS BY FAITH. It's not my idea, it's God's: the just shall LIVE by FAITH (Romans 1:17).

 

The True Gospel

 

The English word GOSPEL is translated from a Greek word that means a type of good news that's almost too good to be

true. So, the true GOSPEL from the Bible can only be GOOD news, the almost too good to be true news that in Jesus Christ through FAITH we can have salvation, deliverance, healing, PROSPERITY and reconciliation to the Father. In regard specifically to tonight's topic, Jesus said in red letters at the beginning of His ministry that He was anointed to preach the GOSPEL to the poor (Luke 4:18). What should we suppose then is the GOOD NEWS that Jesus has for poor people? Would it not be that in Christ poor people no longer have to be in bondage to the curse of poverty (Deuteronomy 28:48)? How else could it be good news? Yes I know: the poor will always be with us (Matthew 26:11 and Mark 14:7) but no one has to continue in poverty after they come to Christ. Have we been REDEEMED from the Curse of the Law or not (Galatians 3:13)? Have we RECEIVED the blessing of Abraham and the promise of the Spirit by FAITH, or not (Galatians 3:14)?

 

Here's the point: we have two wonderful bible words here that have been linked together by certain groups in the Body of Christ to confer a negative meaning: PROSPERITY which is a particular blessing from God and GOSPEL which means extremely GOOD NEWS from God. Suddenly when we put the two words together it means something negative about TV preachers who're trying to manipulate people into giving them offerings. In addition to that the word PROSPERITY by itself has come to have a negative feel about it just because more often than not it's cast in a negative context instead of positively as a potential special blessing from God.  

 

So, I would prefer not to see the Holy Spirit's words PROSPERITY and GOSPEL put together into a man-contrived negative context with an inconsistent definition. The term Prosperity Gospel in its intended context isn't a real GOSPEL and it's not good news. Maybe we could call it a Manipulation Message or something similar to be accurate. But I can tell you from experience that if some of us insist on continuing to speak negatively about one of God's blessings, you're going to eventually think negatively about it and as a man thinks in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7). Let me be clear: our negative speaking about a blessing from God cuts us off from that blessing being manifested in our lives. God doesn't cut us off, we're cutting ourselves off.

 

Some Concluding Comments

 

I want to end tonight by saying that I know they're some precious people in the Lord who're reading this article tonight who like talking about that Prosperity Gospel thing. It grieves me to hurt anyone's feelings and all I'm asking you to do is examine what you believe and speak to be sure you're in agreement with the Word. Forget what other people are saying and find out for yourself what the Word says. If after studying you still conclude that it's okay to continue using these bible words in such a negative way then I'm happy to let God work it out. I strongly believe in everything you read in this newsletter and I've studied most of it out before I ever write about it. Nevertheless, I don't claim to have all the answers.

 

In the financial calling God has given me though, I've felt compelled all this year to focus this newsletter on a defense of the bible word PROSPERITY even though a lot of people don't like what I'm saying about it. But I believe that the Holy Spirit wants us to this because His desire is to send you His PROSPERITY and we're not allowing that transfer to happen. The Kingdom of God needs for you to have PROSPERITY because God has chosen to allow us to participate with Him in the raising up of His Kingdom. But, the true PROSPERITY of God will never manifest in a Believer's life except by FAITH. We live under a FAITH Covenant and yes it's a FAITH GOSPEL. We receive blessings by GRACE through FAITH and that includes PROSPERITY. But we cannot expect PROSPERITY to manifest in our lives if our default thinking about it is negative. The folks who lived under the Old Covenant didn't speak and think negatively about it and you can see for yourself in Scripture that they were a lot more PROSPEROUS than most of us. It's just something to think about and then see where you wind up keeping in mind that God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). If He wanted folks under those former covenants to PROSPER, how much more does He want it for people of FAITH under the New Covenant.     

 

Thanks for stopping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again next Sunday night on October 13. In the meantime may you RECEIVE through FAITH every available spiritual blessing while you PROSPER in every area of life.

 

Sinners' Prayer

 

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:

 

Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.

 

If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

 

And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:

 

Romans 10:9

2 Corinthians 5:17

Ephesians 2:8

 

Prayer Requests

 

If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx

 

Donations

 

If you've been edified by Prosperous Life Newsletter, you may want to consider making a SEED FAITH offering to support the Ministry (Galatians 6:6-7). God has instructed us to simply provide folks with an opportunity to sow seed into good ground so in due season you'll be eligible to reap a harvest and the rest is up to you as the Spirit leads. For your information PLN is a nonprofit gift to the Body of Christ so your financial offerings will usually be tax deductible (consult your tax advisor). Just go to the secure Shopping Cart on the Cornerstone web site by connecting through the following link. We appreciate your support and generosity.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1

 

 

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