Rev (Dr) Quek Suan Yew

The Prosperity Gospel – Of God or of the Devil?

Introduction – “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for your sins and you will be healthy and wealthy!” is the prosperity gospel in a nut-shell. This is what many or most Charismatic churches all over the world emphasize since they all came from the same experienced based mould. Christian experience is the emphasis. The music is loud and very appealing to both the young and the old, very much like the world. The names of their churches are unique and very unlike the traditional names of churches with the denominational title attached such as “Baptist” or Presbyterian.” Claims of visions and dreams continue to exist today and they speak outside of Scriptures by appending their messages with phrases like “the Lord spoke to me this morning or last night.” This is a relatively young movement compared to the other denominations that have existed more than hundreds of years since the 16th Century Reformation. This movement has existed for more than one hundred years since the birth of the Charismatic movement at the turn of the 20th century.

The movement grew so rapidly that within one century they covered the face of the earth with their brand of experiential Christianity. They even call their churches mega churches because their congregations number in the thousands every week. With such a global impact they cannot be ignored. We need to evaluate whether it is of God or of the devil. The yardstick to evaluate this movement is the perfect Word of God. We shall evaluate only one aspect of this movement due to space. The most important aspect of this movement is the gospel message they preach. Will their prosperity gospel bring about true salvation or is it a deception?

I. God wants you to be rich? – This is the central theme of the preaching of the prosperity gospel. God wants to save the sinner from sin and from poverty so that he can be wealthy and healthy today. This health and wealth gospel or prosperity gospel must come from the lips of pastors who have to be healthy and wealthy in order to justify their prosperity gospel. This is like a man who sells the cure for baldness who cannot be bald. He needs to have a full set of hair to be successful. Thus the prosperity gospel preachers have to be rich first before their gospel can have power to draw others. One of the Bible passages they use is Psalm 133:2 “It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments.” This particular multi-millionaire pastor convinced his tens of thousands of followers that God wants all His children to be rich. The flow of this wealth from God begins from the top as illustrated by Psalm 133:2. He says the precious ointment in this verse is the wealth that God wants to give to His children. He says that the flow of this wealth as God has revealed is from the head to the skirt of his garments. The garments refer to the congregation members and the head refers to the pastors and leaders of the church, especially the pastor. The conclusion of the cleverly crafted hour long sermon was that God wants all His children to be wealthy and the sequence of the flow of this wealth must begin with the pastor. When the pastor is rich the congregation will also be rich. By this teaching the congregation will not complain when the pastor lives in a big house and wears expensive garments because they will be doing the same! Does Psalm 133 really teach such a doctrine?

On closer examination of Psalm 133 we see that the psalm has nothing to do with money or material wealth. The thrust of the psalm is brotherly love. Psalm 133:1-3 “A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! 2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; 3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” This psalm describes the preciousness of Christian love and fellowship. It is rare and precious like the precious ointment that is permitted by God to be used only on the priests of which Aaron was the first high priest. It is also life-giving which is what the second illustration of Mount Hermon teaches. In the winter the entire mountain range on Mount Hermon will be covered in thick snow; but in the summer the snow will melt and flow down to the Sea of Galilee and on to the River Jordan that waters the entire Promised Land. Christian fellowship is rare and precious and life-giving because it is given by God to all who are born again in Christ! For the Charismatic pastor to abuse this context and use it to deceive his followers so that he can be rich is unconscionable.

Jesus categorically said in Luke 12:15 “. . . Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” Jesus came to destroy the sin of covetousness whereas these Charismatic pastors seek to promote it. A believer’s life is never measured by what he possesses on earth but by his holy walk with God in Christ according to the Scriptures!

II. Will the gospel deliver a sinner from the bondage of the lust of the flesh? – The Charismatic preachers usually begin with a small congregation but in no time at all the people flock into their churches. Why are their churches so appealing to the masses? The answer is simple: their messages appeal to the lust of the flesh in sinful man. Their music is carnal and played in a manner that deliberately inflames the carnality in sinful man. Their music is also loud and the lyrics of their songs are man-centred and sentimental in nature. The Name of Jesus is mentioned to lure and snare sinners into coming out of the world and into this experiential Christianity with the promise of heaven – in heaven and on earth – together with their prosperity or health and wealth gospel!

Is this type of gospel of God or of the devil? What does the Bible say regarding these teachers of the prosperity gospel and their followers?

The Bible says that these are false teachers. In the Old Testament, when the Bible was in the process of completion, the devil sent false prophets to deceive and snare the people of God which was Israel. Today after the completion of the Bible, God reveals to us that there will still be false teachers who will entrap sinners by their damnable heresies. 2 Peter 2:1-2 says, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.” Their false teachings such as the prosperity gospel are called damnable heresies because they damn the person who believes it and it also damns the person who teaches it. They are heresies because they are lies designed to deceive. The Bible also reveals the tragedy that “many” will follow their “pernicious ways”, i.e. damnable (same word as verse 1) ways which will result in a swift destruction. Now you understand why so many flock to these mega churches?

These false teachers of the prosperity gospel are described by God as “. . . wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. 18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.” (2 Peter 2:17-18 emphasis added). These false teachers will lure, i.e. entrap, their many victims using the lust of the flesh through much wantonness, i.e. licentiousness (carnal desires such as health and wealth). Even as these false teachers promise them liberty by telling them to believe in Christ who died for their sins to deliver them from their bondage to sin such as the lust of the flesh, they also add the phrase “so that they will be healthy and wealthy.” By so doing, they bring their followers into another bondage. This latter bondage is deadlier than the former. The truth is that these followers think that they are going to heaven but in reality, because they have believed in the prosperity gospel, they are still in bondage to sin teaching them to pursue after health and wealth which is the lusts of the flesh! This bondage to sin, which is made “Christian” because of the prosperity gospel that they believe in, is worse than the previous bondage that is the lust of the flesh that is of the world. They are now deep in bondage to the same lust of the flesh but a “Christian” kind preached to them by these false teachers. Their conscience is numbed to the truth because they have believed in a lie. Anyone who tries to share the true gospel with these followers will be rebuffed for these blind followers will say that they are already Christians! How tragic! 2Peter 2:19-20 describe them accurately, “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.”

Conclusion – This is the period of the last days. God has said that in the last days Christianity will fall away, i.e. turn apostate (cf. 2Thess 2:1-3) and it has turned apostate. The prosperity gospel is one such evidence of the last days apostasy. It is better for these poor deceived followers of the prosperity gospel false teachers that they do not know such evil. If they do not know such evil and become deceived, at least they can still be saved while they are in the world when the true gospel is preached to them. But now that they think they are saved, they will live the rest of their lives in delusion until they find out the truth when they die in their sin and end up in hell. Tragically it will be too late. 2Peter 2:21-22 warns, “For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” Having believed the false gospel there is no change in their nature, like dogs that go back to their own vomit or the sow that goes back to wallowing in the mire after being cleansed. The prosperity gospel is not of God but of the devil who is the god of this world and who has blinded the minds of those who do not believe the truth (cf. 2Cor 4:4).

However, it is not too late if you have believed in the prosperity gospel. Repent now and come out of these churches and believe in the Christ of the Bible Who will surely save you from your sin. Jesus says to all in John 10:7-10 “Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Amen.