Deserting the Prosperity Gospel

The abandonment of the prosperity Gospel is on the rise- thank God! Thank God that well-known preachers like Benny Hinn are repenting and exposing it! I never knew how revolting the prosperity Gospel is until I lived with my mother and had to hear religious channels being played all day. The vulnerable are being preyed upon and the sin-loving are encouraged to “sow a seed” in order for them to be blessed. I should not conclude that just because God has saved me from the Prosperity Gospel  it’s something that’s happening everywhere; however it is noteworthy to mention that the prosperity Gospel that’s on a rise is met vigorously by a remnant that refuse to compromise the true Gospel of Christ.  That makes all the difference.

Leaving the prosperity gospel was a slow and gradual process which I found extremely hard to do, but once I saw it for what it is I totally despised it.  I could no longer stomach any false teaching either through books or TV. The prosperity gospel gave me a false hope, made me self-centered, kept me bound in sin, and bred in me spiritual narcissism. I’m not as happy as I used to be under the influence of prosperity teaching but my heart is richer towards God. I’m not saying that I’ve attained “all this or have already been made perfect” (in the subject of being richer towards God), as Paul told the Philippians, “but I press on to take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

The Lord has graciously placed me in a church that won’t compromise His truth. A small tent; with no aristocracy; yet a preacher whose heart burns for Jesus and the True Gospel. I remember once we went for an all-night prayer I could not even ask for any worldly possessions as I used to before. My mind was set on seeking the face and will of God.  I went there with no expectation but to meet with God. In the same room I was seated next to a blind woman who lifted her hands and worshiped God regardless of her condition. She had not denied herself sleep to be healed, she came because she loves Jesus and wanted to worship Him.  I’m in a church with people who come from poverty-stricken backgrounds, limping women, old women, young kids who have taken parental roles – oh I could write a story about this- all with one mind of giving glory and worship to God Almighty.

I’m afraid to say that the prosperity gospel is void of real Christianity. If you watch those religious channels and you go into most of our mega churches today; you will find so-called pastors, prosperous, yet still demanding that a seed be sown.  And you’re sitting here with people who are poor with no material wealth; yet working out their salvation towards the kingdom of God.  It was said of Jesus that “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him; nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him…He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:2-3). Yet the prosperity Gospel promotes all that Jesus was not- a high self-esteem, love from everyone, happiness, a Christianity void of suffering.

No wonder we have many “players” in the Church- individuals with titles sleeping with one person to another!  I could not break free from sin as long as I was tied to the prosperity Gospel!  I could not make a sure decision to repent and turn away from my sin as God’s Word demands. I always left room for sin because I knew that “He loves me anyway” but I was not steadfast in my commitment to the Lord. And if ever I was successful in not giving into temptation; I had much boasting to do because the prosperity gospel places Me at the center of Christianity!

There is so much freedom in the True Gospel. You literally rest! You find peace and contentment in God alone. You cease striving and fighting and naming and claiming things that are not God’s will for you. You let go of all society’s expectation of you as a Christian. You maintain peace in ALL circumstances. Your love for Jesus grows stronger and your heart becomes full in Him.