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Part 6 of a series. Read part 5.
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Where does the believer in the authentic Christ of Scripture find riches in this present world? We find them not in material things, but in God Himself.
Former prosperity gospel preacher Costi W. Hinn next addresses the prosperity movement's mistreatment of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ:
Paul said, "To live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). John the Baptist said, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). The Bible teaches that bringing glory to Jesus Christ should be the ultimate motivation and reward for the Christian. Jesus is the radiance of God's glory, the sustainer of all things (Hebrews 1:3), and the only way to heaven (John 14:6). Jesus promised an abundant life of spiritual blessings by abiding in Him, regardless of bank account or quality of health (John 15:4-8).
All the health and wealth this world can offer will never compare to the vast treasure of abiding with the Son of God both now and for all eternity. The prosperity gospel makes human satisfaction merely material. In this hollow gospel, Jesus is a central focus only as the way to getting what you want. This version of Jesus is a shell of who He really is. The prosperity gospel promises people the abundant life that Jesus offers, only to deliver a gospel with no Jesus at all. [1]
Authentic Scripture Declares What Prosperity "Theology" Denies
Once again, Holy Scripture is abundantly clear in declaring facts that the prosperity gospel denies. Prosperity theology (if it may be dignified by that term) is sloppy, worldly, and un-Biblical on the subject of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Prosperity preaching invites people to receive a false "Jesus" who is not the Lord of glory and the Savior from the wrath to come, but instead (to use Costi Hinn's term we cited previously) a "cosmic genie" who gives health and material wealth.
The Bible does speak of Jesus being the Friend of the believer. But you first must receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You must place your faith in Him, and in His perfect atoning work as the Substitute who died the death you deserved. You must receive Him as your Savior from sin, confessing that He is Lord (Romans 10:9-10), before He becomes your Friend. And as a blood-bought child of God, you must seek to submit to His sovereignty in every part of life. But if you have not first come to Jesus on that basis, it does not matter how often you go to church, it does not matter how many praise songs you sing, it does not matter how much of an emotional high you get, or how much money you give to a pulpit charlatan - Jesus is not your Friend. The Bible says that you are His enemy. It was while we were enemies of God, Paul says in Colossians 1:21, that He died for sinners.
The Question of All Questions
In Matthew chapter 16 Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" They responded with the kinds of different - but wrong - answers that we hear in the world even today, and that we sadly hear even in much of the visible the church. But then Jesus asked the question of all questions once again. But this time, He asked it in a different and far more personal way. He said, "But who do you say that I am?" The world says all these things about Me. False religion says all these things about Me. But who do you men say that I am?
Jesus was not merely asking His disciples for their opinion. He was asking for a testimony. Here is the basis on which He was asking the question, in effect: "You men have been with Me for some time now. I have been explaining the Old Testament to you. And I have begun revealing New Testament truth to you. Now, on the basis of what I have taught you - on the basis of My Word, and on the basis of what you have seen of Me - who do you say that I am?"
Peter gave the answer, without hesitation: "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." And on another occasion, in John chapter six beginning at verse 67, when a large number of Jesus' followers had deserted Him, Jesus said to His disciples, " 'Do you also want to go away?' But Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know' - we know it for a fact - 'that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' " They had come to know it because they were relying upon the Word of God - the written Word, and also the preached Word - preached to them by Jesus Christ Himself, the living Word, God made flesh.
What God Actually Promises - And Gives
Never do we find the genuine Jesus promising His disciples - or anyone else - health and wealth. Here is what we do find. The Apostle Paul testifies,
I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:12-13)
In this Paul echoes the great words of the faith of the prophet Habakkuk:
Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls - yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:17-18)
Where does the believer in the authentic Christ of Scripture find riches in this present world? We find them not in material things, but in God Himself:
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?" "Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?" For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33-36)
The riches of the believer - our infinite inheritance in Christ - are our promised possession in the world to come:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth - in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:3-14)
Flee From the False "Prosperity Christ"
Indeed, as Paul testifies, "To live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). May we never, as the Apostle Paul warned the Corinthian church, "put up with" a false gospel such as the prosperity gospel - "another Jesus whom we have not preached...a different spirit... a different gospel" (2 Corinthians 11:4).
Let us flee to, and cling to, "the unsearchable riches" of the genuine Christ whom Paul by the Holy Spirit declared:
To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. (Ephesians 3:8-12)
References:
1. Costi W. Hinn, "Healthy, Wealthy, and Lies", Answers magazine, January-March 2022, page 73. Used by permission.
Next: The Prosperity Gospel Twists Scripture
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