The Death of the Prosperity Gospel

I have maintained for some time that the prosperity gospel is a false gospel and anything that claims to be from God but is a lie is doomed. The prosperity gospel is primarily an American gospel. Try finding a prosperity gospel preacher in a third world country. It may be preached to some extent in Europe but most of the people who live in those countries don't even go to church.

"Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also." John 15:20

Jesus tells us that if we follow Him and His teachings we will be hated by the world. The modern day prosperity preachers tell us to name it and claim it. If we Christians would just send our money into their ministry, we will be blessed with great material wealth. These same preachers would look at all the hardships and hazards Paul faced and conclude that Paul couldn't have been a Christian.

What is happening to the prosperity gospel in America in light of the current financial crisis in America? These prosperity gospel churches are seeing their memberships decline.

Our job as a Christian is simple..go into all the world and preach the gospel. Tell the world the good news that Jesus Christ died for their sins and that is it. We get all the prosperity we could ever want in the end but God never promised sinful mankind they would prosper in their fleshly bodies. Some Christians are blessed with greater material things but the majority of Christians struggle every day just to get by.

You cannot serve both God and money yet that is what the prosperity gospel is all about, using God to get money.

The website http://fireinmybones.com/ has some articles that reveal the downfall of the modern day churches in America who preach the prosperity gospel. Here is what they say:

In Tampa, Florida, Without Walls International Church is facing foreclosure. The megachurch, which once attracted 23,000 worshipers and was heralded as one of the nation’s fastest-growing congregations, shrunk drastically after co-pastors Randy and Paula White announced in 2007 that they were divorcing. On Nov. 4 their bank filed foreclosure proceedings and demanded immediate repayment of a $12 million loan on the property.

In Duluth, Georgia—northeast of Atlanta—sheriff’s deputies arrived at Global Destiny Ministries and ordered Bishop Thomas Weeks II to leave the property. According to documents filed in state court, Weeks—who divorced popular preacher Juanita Bynum in June—owed more than $511,000 in back rent to the building’s owners. He was escorted out of the building on Nov. 14 while a church service was in progress.

In the case of the Cathedral at Chapel Hill, many parishioners walked out 16 years ago when it became known that Earl Paulk and other staff members were involved in wife-swapping. Paulk created a bizarre culture of secrecy to cover the immorality, which included his affair with a sister-in-law—and resulted in the birth of Donnie Earl (who thought he was Earl Paulk’s nephew until last year). The church has only had a few hundred members in recent years.

Today, Donnie Earl has embraced the inclusionist doctrines of Oklahoma pastor Carlton Pearson, who left the faith in 2003 and was labeled a heretic by a group of African-American bishops the following year. The younger Paulk now preaches that all people, not just Christians, are saved. He told Charisma last week that the Cathedral “has expanded to include all of God’s creation—Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, gay, straight, etc.” And this distorted message is broadcast from a pulpit that hosted the premier leaders of the charismatic movement during the 1970s and 1980s.

Even before Weeks was charged with assaulting Bynum in a hotel parking lot in August 2007, the pastor of Global Destiny Ministries defiled his pulpit during a “Teach Me to Love You” marriage conference. He told married men they should use profanity during sex to heighten their experience, and he brought couples on stage to play a game in which men were asked to name their favorite female body parts.

Thanks to the fire in my bones website for this information. As you can see, the prosperity gospel churches are failing because they failed to preach the word of God. Todd Bentley, who had led the Lakeland Revival in Florida has fled the scene. His corruption has been exposed. The corruption of these other ministries has been exposed.

Why are these false ministries so successful? "3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." II Timothy Chapter 4

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Persecution of Christians

Extremist Hindu groups offered money, food and alcohol to mobs to kill Christians and destroy their homes, according to Christian aid workers in the eastern India state of Orissa.

The U.S.-based head of Good News India, a Christian organization that runs several orphanages in Orissa — one of India’s poorest regions — claims that Christian leaders are being targeted by Hindu militants and carry a price on their heads. "The going price to kill a pastor is $250," said Faiz Rahman, the chairman of Good News India.

A spokesman for the All-India Christian Council said: “People are being offered rewards to kill, and to destroy churches and Christian properties. They are being offered foreign liquor, chicken, mutton and weapons. They are given petrol and kerosene.”

Ram Madhav, a spokesman for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the largest hardline Hindu group, denied the claims. “The accusation is absolutely false,” he said.

Orissa has suffered a series of murders and arson attacks in recent months, with at least 67 Christians killed, according to the Roman Catholic Church. Several thousand homes have been razed and hundreds of places of worship destroyed, and crops are now wasting in the fields.

In recent weeks, the violence has subsided but at least 11,000 Christian refugees remain in camps in Kandhamal, the district worst affected. “They are too scared to go home. They know that if they return to their villages they will be forced to convert to Hinduism,” Father Manoj, who is based at the Archbishop’s office in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa's capital, said.

Source - http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,455066,00.html

The above article emphasizes the verse I quoted about followers of Jesus being persecuted. Being a Christian is tough. The world hates Christians because they walk in God's light and light exposes darkness.

I end this issue with a link to a 6 minute commentary by Hal Lindsey.

Merry Solstice?

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