Posted on 05/20/2010 7:40:41 PM PDT by Salvation
In its American incarnation, the prosperity Gospel probably began with the theological speculations of the evangelist Oral Roberts. Roberts encouraged his followers to "expect miracles" and to look forward with confidence to the ways in which God would reward them, materially and financially, for their trust in his providence. One of the most prominent prosperity gospellers on the scene today is Joel Osteen, the pastor of the largest church in America, best-selling author, and a former student at Oral Roberts University. He tells his millions of readers and listeners that they should not settle for mediocre lives; instead they should trust in the Lord's ability to give them the house that they desire, the job that they deserve, and children that will make them proud. A typical piece of Osteenian advice: "friend, you have to start believing that good things are coming your way and they will!" Other advocates of this position today include the very popular televangelists Joyce Meyer and T.D. Jakes.
To give the prosperity gospellers their due, there is some biblical warrant for their position. The book of Deuteronomy consistently promises Israel that, if it remains faithful to God's commands, it will receive numerous benefits in this world. The psalmist too assures us, "delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." And Jesus himself counsels: "seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things (food, shelter, clothing, etc.) will be added unto you." And there is no doubt that the Bible consistently urges people to trust in the providence of God at all times. Jesus' reminder that the birds, who neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns but who are nevertheless fed by their heavenly Father, is a summation of the Scriptural confidence in God's care for those who have faith in him.
However, we must be attentive to the very subtle way that the Bible itself nuances and specifies these claims. The great counterpoise to the book of Deuteronomy is the book of Job, which tells the story of a thoroughly righteous man who, in one fell swoop, suffers the loss of all of his material prosperity. Job's friends, operating out of a standard Deuteronomistic (or prosperity Gospel) point of view, argue that he must have greviously offended God, but Job and God himself protest against this simplistic interpretation. The deepest reason for Job's suffering, we learn, is lost in the infinite abyss of God's permissive will and is by no means easily correlatable to Job's virtue or lack thereof. And Jesus himself, the very archetype of the faithful Israelite, experiences not earthly prosperity, but a life of simplicity and death on a brutal instrument of torture. If Joel Osteen and Oral Roberts were right, we would expect Jesus to have been the richest man in Nazareth and a darling of Jerusalem high society.
Deuteronomy is indeed right when it says that "prosperity" will follow from obedience to God's will, but the prosperity in question is spiritual flourishing, and not necessarily worldly success. |
The resolution of this issue turns on a distinction between a conventional understanding and a divine understanding of the successful life. Deuteronomy is indeed right when it says that "prosperity" will follow from obedience to God's will, but the prosperity in question is spiritual flourishing, and not necessarily worldly success. Obeying the divine commands does indeed lead to the right ordering of the self, and therefore to an increase in joy, even if that very obedience leads, in worldly terms, to abject suffering or failure. St. Thomas More followed the voice of his conscience and this led to the loss of his home, his family, his considerable fortune, his high political status, and eventually his life. But he died, spiritually speaking, a successful man, a saint. St. Thomas Aquinas endeavored to answer a question that many of us ask: why do the wicked often prosper and the righteous suffer? Thomas turned the question on its head by introducing the wider context of God's purposes. Perhaps, he suggested, the good person who is deprived of material goods is actually being rewarded, since that deprivation opens him more and more to the spiritual dimension; and perhaps the wicked person who has every worldly benefit is actually being punished, since those material preoccupations close him to the only good that finally matters.
So embrace the prosperity Gospel, as long as you construe prosperity along properly Gospel lines. Following God's will, abandoning yourself to the divine providence, will indeed give you treasure in heaven, but don't expect it necessarily to give you treasure on earth.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Father Robert Barron, "The Dangers of the Prosperity Gospel." Word on Fire (April 12, 2010).
Reprinted with permission of Father Robert Barron.
Which do you choose?------------------
God's Gospel?
Or Osteen's gospel of prosperity?
What about the suffering that Christ said was necessary?
"Take up your cross and follow me."
I’ll take God’s Gospel and the suffering that I know goes with it. My eye is on the future.......not on the prosperity of the current culture.
Eternity vs. comforts of today?
Catholic Ping!
Statist will always direct your attention away from the real culprit - the state.
Just another different gospel...another lie from the pit of hell, like all who come with a different gospel & a different Jesus.
A different lifestyle....
I can’t even imagine thinking of Jesus living a prosperity lifestyle.
He may have dined with friends, but he had not fancy house to call his home or rich garments to wear.
The health & wealth, name it & claim it, blab it & grab it types cause many to stumble. Woe unto them.
The prosperity gospel appeals to the hedonist. God wants me to be wealthy because I want me to be wealthy. God becomes a big Genie in the sky. All that I have to do is rub him a few times, and poof, I’m rich! Whatever happened to Jesus’ warning that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil? These properity preachers preach a crossless Christianity. I guess that is why you never see one in their churches. There is no room for the Crucified Christ in their man made religion.
Father Barron needs to do his research.
Prosperity gospels and their like in the US go back to the 1800’s. E. W. Kenyon was the best known for it with his Word-Faith movement in the early 1900’s, and he was directly influenced by New Thought and Christian Science. The Rhema Church was preaching prosperity gospel in the 1960’s long before the televangelists got holds of it.
LOL! Your descriptions are so true!
Thank you for your historical accuracy. I wondered too, because I knew Oral Roberts was the first one.
BINGO. If I recall correctly St Maximilian Kolbe and St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) didn’t have an easy cushy ride. Jesus never promised that to anyone, especially His saints. Prosperity gospel=heresy.
I do think we all need to strive to be the best we can be with the gifts God has given us. But does everyone have to be rich?
Does that mean all the poor people of Asia and Africa don’t know God? To the contrary — I think they probably know God on a much more imtimate level that the prosperity gospel seekers do.
WOW! Salvation...a post I actually AGREE on with you!!!
Hey — put a mark on the wall.
You mean it’s not a food fight? Wahhhhhhhhh! LOL!
I’m still waiting for the Osteen lovers to show up.
Hang around!
The Prosperity Gospel also makes it your fault if you don’t become prosperous. You don’t have enough faith to claim prosperity. Puts it all on you. Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyers, Osteen, Ken Copeland, whole bunch of others all are part of the same thing. Name it and claim it. Just believe you’ll get it (whatever “it” is) and you’ll get it. Benny Hinn and his “healing” thing is the same deal. IF you don’t get healed, it’s your fault, you don’t believe enough in him nad his healing power to heal you.
That should have been:
Thank you for your historical accuracy. I wondered too, because I knew Oral Roberts wasN’T the first one.
I had never thought about healing in that way before.
I’ve always discerned that God has three answers.
No
Yes
and
Not now!
We are seeing false prophets which I Lord spoke about.
Sorry..Our Lord spoke about.
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