Seth’s World View

Growing up Pentecostal, I am all too familiar with the tangent known as The Prosperity Gospel. It sells well on TV in the US. It also has made inroads into many non-western countries, like Uganda. Christians make up 85% of Uganda’s population. I heard Christian music on the radio while waiting at the bank. I also heard from the missionaries there how they are trying to convey The Gospel when there are so many who preach Prosperity. You would think there would be a disconnect, wouldn’t you? Where is the prosperity when people make $1-2 a day? Prosperity can be relative. Also though, if you’re not prosperous, it’s your fault, because God wants to bless, so you need to remove the limitations that are preventing God’s blessings. At least, that’s what I heard at a church one day. And as a disclaimer, the organization I was with, and the missionaries I knew, do not adhere to the alternate gospel I’m talking about.

What else did I hear? I heard for the words blessing or blessed over 50 times in one service. Not once did I hear the word sin. I did hear a lot about limitations. Apparently God blessed us all before we were born. The line that really stuck with me is this, “God bless Adam, therefore we are all blessed.” Huh? I repeated it in my mind to make sure I heard that correctly. For a second, I wondered if I was listening to Joel Osteen, but no, wasn’t him. The pastor seemed sincere, and probably cares about his congregation. That doesn’t make his message any more Biblical. That makes it all the more sad, that people think they are hearing Christianity.

What’s the difference between the gospels? I’ll give it to you in my own words. The GOSPEL is the good news about the finishing work Jesus Christ has done to reconcile us back to God through his sacrifice on the cross for our sins. What are the blessings? The blessings are salvation, grace, forgiveness, and God himself. SIN separates us from God. Without sin, there is no good news, and thus, no gospel.

The [Prosperity] Gospel is all about blessings. God desires to bless us and for us to prosper. There are limitations we place on ourselves or others place on us that prevent God’s blessings from reining down on us. The Bible is re-interpreted through this filter, a filter which now has a dose of psychology thrown in. It is all about the good God wants for us. The bad is what hinders the good from being in our lives. Sadly, the good is seen in mostly financial terms. There’s nothing to be saved from. We aren’t in danger of anything. And we certainly aren’t self-centered. While there are parts of the Bible that talk about blessings, turning financial blessings into the primary message of the Bible, is not orthodoxy, it’s heresy.