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Jim's PERSPECTIVEMay 6, 2014“The Prosperity Doctrine,” or, as many have heard it called, “The Gospel of Wealth,” or “The Gospel of Success” has been around a long time. Numerous Bible verses speak to prosperity either directly or indirectly. Here are a couple of pivotal verses concerning prosperity: “I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and NIV Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and Please understand that I really love those verses and others used by proponents/advocates of the teaching. Matthew 21:21 states that “Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.” Still another foundational verse (and concept) is Romans 4:17: “God, who gives life to the dead…calls into being that which does not exist.” Incidentally, the King James Version of the Romans verse really can’t be improved on: God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” The Bible is, in fact, the Word of God, and the above verses are both principles and promises that God makes to us. The Word is right and true and good, and God is faithful to His own Word. And it just makes good sense to try and discover God’s will contained in God’s Word. There are very practical and useful applications of principles in the Word. “Saying to those things that are not as though they were” is the basis for all creativity and invention. While Orville and Wilbur Wright were earnestly seeking to discover the principles and laws of aerodynamics, they encountered critics— some of whom were college and university men of science—who believed human flight unlikely, and, more likely, that thousands of years would pass before flight could be realized. But the Wright brothers were pursuing something that they believed to be true without actually knowing that it was true. They sought to discover higher principles and laws that did not contradict conventional knowledge and wisdom, but rather, transcended it. There were higher laws, and they knew it in their hearts. They kept working until those “intuitions” were proved into principles/laws that are facts. In so doing they were “calling that which is not as though it were.” Many teachers of the Prosperity doctrine believe that there are principles and laws that govern health and wealth. I surely believe that certain principles and laws do exist. For instance, a “positive confession” as opposed to naysaying and doubting is good and true. People who have positive outlooks are healthier than those who complain. That’s a medical fact. On the negative side, “You are what you think (or say)” can be true as well. Hypochondriacs, for example, because of their preoccupation with illness often think themselves or talk themselves into being sick. Another example of a basic truth is the “Law of Reciprocity,” which holds that one must give in order to get. Everyone knows that this is essentially true. So-called “name it and claim it” theology is based on the eternal Truth of the Word of God. That God’s Word is eternal and true is certainly correct. All this said, however, there are misuses, misapplications, and misunderstandings in the prosperity teaching that should pointed out. To begin with the “Word of God” does not necessarily refer to “The Bible,” as some believe. The Greeks had several words to describe “word.” The two most important are “logos” and “rhema.” “Logos” denotes the mind, character, and will of God. In the prologue to John’s gospel we read, “In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word (logos) was with God, and the Word (logos) was God….” (ch.1, v.1) “Logos,” in my understanding, is a word thought. When God speaks that word which is his mind, character, and will, it is so. “And God said, ‘Let there be….and there was….” as it points out in Genesis. “Rhema,” on the other hand, is a word expressed as differentiated from a word thought. In Romans 10, we read, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God.” The word for “word” in this case is “rhema.” Put another way, “I come to faith because I heard the word spoken to me.” Not a few others think that could be interpreted as saying, “I believe because I read it in the Bible, and since the Bible is the Word of God, then I can apply that to my situation.” This is where I part company with some of the Prosperity teachers. They counsel us to read the word and believe the word, which, again, is basically true. We should believe the “great and precious promises” that God has given us. But I would like to suggest that one’s reading it is different from hearing it verbalized by the Holy Spirit of God himself. “Abraham believed God, and it was counted (reckoned) unto him as righteousness,” Paul says in Romans 4. That’s because he heard the word spoken directly to him. He did not read that in the Bible. The Bible did not exist at the time Abraham “heard the word.” He believed the word that he heard God actually speak. The Prosperity teachers emphasize the importance of believing faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please God….” so says the writer of Hebrews. There is no disagreement here. But the second chapter of Ephesians says, “We are saved by grace through faith, and that (meaning faith—italics mine) is the gift of God, lest any man should boast.” In other words, faith—an alternative means of knowledge that transcends rational understanding—is not “acquired” or “appropriated” by one’s own determination to “believe.” Faith is given as a gift from God himself. “We know whom have believed,” (2 Timothy 1:12) and “I believe; therefore I spoke” (2 Corinthians 4:13). Another way to think of it is, “I heard the word spoken to me by God, and in turn I spoke and acted on it.” Referring back to Romans 10, “with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made into salvation.” While giving voice to faith is essential, nonetheless speaking it is not the condition of fleshing out truth. Truth is true whether you speak it not. Contrary to much of the Prosperity teaching, God does not necessarily withhold because I do not speak the right words, nor does he punish me for not having faith. Certainly Jesus admonishes his disciples with the words, “O ye of little faith,” and we should believe. But if what you thought should happen doesn’t happen, it is not necessarily because you didn’t have enough faith. “God knows what things you have need of before you even ask him,” is what Jesus said. Some of us believe that God knows what we need even when we don’t know and don’t think to ask. And sometimes Gods acts to bring about what he knows I need, but which I don’t know I need. At other times, God may say no regardless of how much faith one has because God knows that it is not a good idea. In the end, God’s mind, will and sovereignty trump anything that we may or may not believe or articulate. In general, Prosperity teachers contend that you have what you say, both good and bad. “That which I feared has come upon me” is how Job puts it. In times past I have heard it preached that evil things that come to us is because of our own negative confessions. Again, a basic truth is that if we expect bad thing to happen, they sometimes do, such as in a “self-fulfilling prophecy.” However, according to that particular strand of theology, the evil visitation is because one “has called it into being.” In other words, it’s my fault if evil comes—or if judgment comes—because I feared it would come. Or it came because through my faith I did not keep it from coming. That is not right. “Beloved, if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all thing” is what John says in chapter 3, verse 20. Just because one has a deep-seated sense of self-loathing or self-condemnation—and, of course, one shouldn’t—that does not mean that one is going to be condemned or reproached or “visited” with bad circumstances. Even if one actually gives voice to it. This reminds me of something John Wesley once said. At the end of his ministry, he wrote a letter stating that as a result of part of his teaching, he “made sad the hearts of those God would not have made sad.” He was referring to preaching a doctrine that one must have an assurance of one’s salvation, or else one is not saved. He came to understand, and as he pointed out, “the assurance of pardon cannot be the condition of pardon.” He was thinking of those persons with weaker—or guilty—consciences that cause them problems and issues. Sure, if one knew that God’s mind and heart toward us is love, goodness, blessing and, yes, prosperity, one would not have to labor under the heavy burden of shameful self-recrimination and guilt-laden anxiety. But it’s not true that because I believe I’m going to be punished I will be. God does not blame me or hold me responsible for being sick, or poor, or unsuccessful, or prevent from happening what I thought should or should not happen because I did not have enough faith or because I simply didn’t “believe the Word.” Sometimes people are called into—or out of—redemptive suffering because the circumstances, as God sees it, warrant it. In any case, redemptive suffering has no place in the Prosperity doctrine. It is seen as a failure of faith. This is not correct. When the disciples asked, concerning the man born blind in John 9, “Who sinned, this man or his parents?” They were speaking conventionally as religious humans in all ages have thought: “It has to be somebody’s fault.” Jesus responded, in effect, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. This is an opportunity for God to show his power.” Jesus did say, “Be not faithless, but believing.” But at the same time he “knows our frame, he remembers that we are but dust….” He knows our hearts, and he is greater than our hearts. And he would not have us “make sad the hearts of those that God would not make sad.” - Jim Radford |
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©2013 Jim Radford. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
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