I do agree that there are people who might have wrong motives for wanting riches but how do we explain that some of God's greatest most loyal saints were extremely rich.
WE can read about Abraham and all the gold he had and also Job...doesn't it calls him the richest man in all the east.In another place it also states that God blessed Issac with 100 fold in crops. How could these things be? Why would God make these people wealthy?
Let's remember that Abraham and Job lived under a different covenant, when material prosperity was provided and promised by The Lord. So yes, their wealth was certainly in God's Will.
Now that doesn't mean we can't have any prosperity today. Just for a reality check, if you have a form of regular income, can afford to eat some type of food 3 times a day and have shelter, you are wealthier than 70% of the world. If you also have a car too, then that number jumps to 90%. So "poor" in American society is very, very relative. That being said, the fault of the prosperity/Health and wealth gospel is that it (1) makes attaining personal prosperity the focus of our faith when it should be Jesus Christ our Lord and (2) misuses Old Covenant theology to make it seem like we can call on God today for all sorts of material gain and He is duty-bound to respond.
Point (1) is clearly contrary to what Jesus preaches. The sacrifices we make under the New Covenant as Christians are spiritual. They begin in us, starting with our ego, lusts and personal plans. We are to get rid of these things.
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
This verse is urging us to kill everything that comes from the flesh (i.e., desires to be "prosperous"). We are to let Jesus live in us and through us, meaning our desire should be aligned with His. Our goals should be aligned with His. And Jesus clearly was not about making a lot of money and being fabulous. He was about saving souls, preaching The Gospel and glorifying His Father in Heaven.
Prosperity preachers tell us to love God and tell us to have faith. but that faith is a means to gain for ourselves. It is a means to fulfill our own personal dreams. To get that job, get that title and whatever else we think is important in our own minds. Paul clears this issue up:
Philipians 3: 4Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: 5Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
For a man living in his time, Paul had it going on. He was a leader, well-respected, well-educated, excellent upbringing and on fire for rabbinical Judaism. He was the man. Yet what does he say about his spectacular resume? He counts it all as a loss and trades it all away just to know Jesus. And then goes on to say he counts it as dung! He gave it all up to have Christ sit his temple (which is the body). This does not jive with the prosperity message of achieving and blowing up in this society.
Point (2) could take me long but I'll be brief. If you study The Word, you will find that the Old Covenant operated in a very different fashion from the new Covenant. The Old had material blessings included in it. The New has spiritual blessings. The Old has a series of earthly sacrifices to be done each year. The New has one perfect sacrifice for all time. These are just examples but I point them out just to show major differences. We are not promised any earthly prosperity as Christians today. It does not mean it is wrong to have money (like I said in the start, most of us
are extremely prosperous compared to the whole Earth). But it should not be our focus or expecation. In fact we should be so focused on Christ that we would be willing to lose those things for His glory. We sacrifice those things in our "old man" that are contrary to His Word. We are willing to lay aside our own lusts and goals if they do not coincide with Christ's plan to build His Church.
Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Let's forget prosperity for a moment. The question is: are you picking up your cross daily? Am I picking up mine? That is our challenge. Are we making sure every day that we worship The Lord, study His Word, live our lives according to His commands and spreading His Gospel? Are we doing this every single day? If not, then what is holding us back? That's when we can start making the right sacrifices to bring us in line with Christ. That is how He lives through us. That is when we start counting "loss" like Paul did.
It's not easy, but that's why it's called sacrifice. We can pray to God for a job, for a place to live, for our children to do well. but our first prayer should be to live up to what Jesus is demanding of us. That has to come first or we are not sincere about our love of Christ and risk serving idols of this world. And the Prosperity gospel seems to reverse the order by focusing on "us" with a misuse of Scripture. God bless.
