I had the pleasure of joining a group of people on Friday that included a Christian man from Ghana. He loves Jesus and he holds tightly to the promises of God in ways that are beautiful and humbling. He has been evangelizing, mentoring and teaching for years in Western Africa, including in some very dangerous places.
Last year he lost his daughter to an illness of some kind, a beautiful 21-year-old young woman about to finish college. He and his wife suffered greatly. The response from some of the Christian ‘leaders’ he knows made me sick: ‘confess your sins to me and she will be made well’ or ‘I have received a prophetic word that God has heard your prayers and she will leave the hospital.’ So little compassion, so much presumption, and so little Bible.
Yet, he knows that God is sovereign and good.
In fact, he spent most of the time talking about the dangerous advance of the health, wealth and prosperity gospel. Too many ‘pastors’ are selling God as little more than a robot programmed to respond to certain actions: if you need money, give the church more money and it will be returned to you in blessing; if you experience sickness, it is your fault because you don’t have enough faith, or you have unconfessed sin, or you have not been generous enough with your church.
No talk of the suffering Jesus told us to expect. No talk of Jesus being of greater treasure than all earthly goods. No mention of seeking God above all things. No hope in future grace.
We spoke a bit about disability and the news was the same: it is presented as God’s curse and families are given a terrible, hopeless picture of God. There is no talk among the prosperity preachers about disability serving a greater purpose for the glory of God and the benefit of his church. There is no trusting in the Word where God takes full responsibility for disability in this present age.
Yet, this man stands on promises and clings to Jesus and talks of God’s mercy and grace and peace even in the hardest of circumstances, like the death of his much-loved daughter. I want to be like him.
And I want the cruel, inhumane, unbiblical, Satanic prosperity gospel to go away, forever. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Amen!
Reblogged this on CO Rivera.com and commented:
“Conquering the cruelty of the prosperity “gospel” one death at a time.”
prosperity gospel is not a gospel at all, it is a wolf from hell covered by the sheep skin of gospel. I hated it, I hate it and I will hate it forever. Both in my gain and pain, Jesus is the ultimate satisfaction. tes in Christ!
Hi Tesfaye,
I totally agree with you. That false gospel is a cancer in the church of Christ. Certainly, it is so in the Nigerian church. I take it from your name you’re from Ethiopia? What’s it like there?
I think we need some calm, we do believe that God will bless us to be a blessing, but therest of the prosperity Gospel is not good news it is presumption, the ones that really prosper are the preachers, most mega church Pastors, people are dying and they travel first class or private plane, and then try to justify it, in the meantime the sheep keep on paying with little if any return.
I do not at all agree with the prosperity gospel, but I think we should pray for the sick to be healed anyways. We pray for the sick so that Jesus gets what He already paid for on the cross. “By His stripes we ARE healed.” Now, does that mean God heals them every time? No, and sometimes God heals by death in this world and places them where there is no more illness (still totally healed). I think it is faithful to pray for those who are sick and broken for them to be healed because God is the Great Physician and I trust His diagnosis.
Reblogged this on donkey burgers and pepsi.
I to have walked through this nightmare and believe me thats what it is. My wife died of cancer less than 3yrs ago. We were told many times by men of God that she would be healed, that one day she would stand and testify of her healing to the Glory of God and that many would come to know the Lord. We had all sorts of words of knowledge and prophesy given over her life but all failed. Then I had a Pastor say to me “maybe I only thought I had faith but it wasn,t real faith”. I struggled big time with my faith after this. Now I have learned to trust completely in the suffering and sovereignty of God. And please be aware when we pray for someone to get healed and they die, please do not say this is a type of healing, I prayed for my wife to get healed not to die. She did not get healed but she did get gain. Paul says for me to live is Christ and to die is Gain.
Jesus said that an adulterous generation seeks after signs and wonders, so today we have an VERY adulterous ‘church’. The real church are those who follow the Truth, even if it means they might lose their lives or never be “well” this side of heaven. Joni Eareckson Tada is one of my favorite examples of “purpose” in a disability. Joni has evangelized behind the iron curtain, and when I heard her speak about her battle before the Congress of the United States of America, to stop pro-euthanasia legislation, I understood why God has chosen to not raise her up out of her wheel-chair…her disability “speaks” for all who would be considered unfit to live by a government turned dictatorship. And we do know that she will be raised up and will walk in the resurrection!…for eternity!
Reblogged this on lizkanyi and commented:
This is very refreshing, a sober approach.
Reblogged this on njaukinyanjui and commented:
Great!
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