Have you ever been confronted with the prosperity gospel? Certainly you know what I’m talking about. It’s called the prosperity gospel because on the surface it is the belief that God has promised health, wealth, and happiness to everyone who follows Him. In short, following God leads to (you guessed it) “prosperity”. And to be certain there are any number of texts quoted on TBN or from prosperity pulpits around the country that speak of how God promises to prosper those who follow Him. Now to be certain, those verses are real, and so is the reality that following God is well worth it. That is why few people try to take this “gospel” on at this level. Who really wants to stand up and say, “God won’t prosper you!” or “God won’t heal you!” or “God won’t fulfill the desires of your heart!” Obviously fighting the battle on that ground is a losing effort because the reality is that there are times when God does financially bless and God does heal and God does grant your desires. BUT BE CAREFUL BEFORE YOU EAT THE CANDY…
What proponents of this “gospel” often don’t tell you is about the bitter, hopeless and drastic fall out that is inevitable to occur with this hoax of a theology. And that fallout occurs the second you suffer. See, the prosperity gospel is standing at attention ready to take all the credit for every good thing that enters your life, but it sits noticeably silent on the day when the bottom drops out. And here is the kicker, if the prosperity gospel does speak up, you won’t like what it has to say. Why? Well, the prosperity gospel is built on a faulty premise and it goes like this. “You are blessed when you trust God, you are cursed when you don’t.” Sooooo…. If my life falls apart or tragedy strikes, what is to be assumed except that you obviously angered God. You didn’t obey Him properly, you didn’t trust Him enough, and now you are actually getting what you deserve. About that time the prosperity gospel actually stands up to defend itself against your obvious misfortune and statements like this arise: “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright destroyed? According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble harvest it.” Or, “If you would seek God and implore the compassion of the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, surely now He would rouse Himself for you and restore your righteous estate.”
You’ve heard that (maybe even said that) before haven’t you? Someone suffers and the thought is, “I wonder what they did wrong?” Or, tragedy falls and someone says, “You should pray more and find out why this happened.” Good luck with that. The immediate fallout is the bitter sting of feeling abandoned by God and the utter confusion of not knowing how to pull yourself out of the tale spin. The eventual fallout is anger at God and loss of faith. That’s the prosperity gospel for you. It is the harshest and cruelest of jokes. It promises blessing and on the day of suffering blames the afflicted for everything.
Ever been a victim of it? Probably. Ever offered it to someone else? Probably. Well before you offer it again, let me introduce you to the book of Job. No book shatters the prosperity gospel like this book. Oh yeah, they had the prosperity gospel back then. Those two quotes I gave you earlier came from Eliphaz (Job 4:7-8) and Bildad (Job 8:5-6). They were Job’s “friends” and they had no answer for his suffering, except to blame it all on Job.
I want to invite you this Sunday night to begin this study of Job with us. If you’re suffering (and we all do eventually) you may just find comfort in the sovereign hand of God. If you know someone who is, then come learn how to compassionately minister to them in their grief. But above all else, come study this book with us and see how God absolutely shatters every shred of the prosperity gospel and in the process solidifies our faith and establishes our assurance.
Trust me, you want to study this great book!
(Starting this Sunday night, August 16 – 6pm @ FBC Spur)
