2 Sermons by Demetrius White

These are  two great sermons by a good friend of mine, Demetrius White. This brother has truly been a blessing to me and an encouragement to so many others. He recently preached on the New Birth from John 3 and yesterday he gave an awesome sermon on the book of Numbers. Check these out and enjoy!

The New Birth - by Demetrius White

Numbers - by Demetrius White

B.Graves on the Holy Spirit

Yesterday, my brother, Brandon, got the opportunity to speak at his church for a few minutes on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. The audio can be found here. I'm so proud of this dude! Check it out.

Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself...

              So after thinking over some potential topics for a while, I've decided to start posting some shorter posts on the Attributes of God. This series will be called "Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself...", derived from the Jay-Z Black Album song, "PSA". Why call it this?  Other than it being a cool name for a series, the attributes of God have nothing to do with Jay-Z, but have everything to do with God, the Creator, Sustainer, and Author of all things. At the most basic level, what we think about God will shape everything about us. I don't intend to unpack each attribute in an exhaustive way, but my only hope is to state the attribute of God's character and provide some practical ways on how His character has everything to do with us. For this brief look at the manifold characteristics and essence of the One True God, I will use two voices from the past in addition to the scriptures in order to help me communicate the attributes of God. The first will be A.W. Tozer's "The Knowledge of The Holy", and the second source will be Stephen Charnock's "The Existence and Attributes of God".

What do God's attributes and characteristics have to do with us? Why are they important? Of what benefit will they be to my life, other than being able to spell "omnipotent" in Words with Friends? Hopefully the next few posts in this series will be able to answer these questions. To begin, here is a quote from the late A.W. Tozer on the importance of having a right view of God.

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man's spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God."

 Tozer's words could not ring any louder. Firstly, God is important because in the Bible, God's Word about Himself, God tells us that He is the most supreme being both inside and outside of anything and everything that is known.Because He is that, He deserves our worship, honor, and love. If God is supreme in His being - supreme in power, life, love, righteousness, and justice -then to attribute to anyone or anything else supremacy and worship is not only wrong and misplaced, but un-fulfilling. God's attributes are important because it is through these characteristics that we are able to attain an incomprehensible, yet true view of who God is. It isn't  enough to simply know that there is a God and that He has a few good attributes that seem to benefit us and the world we live in. Almost anyone we can think of who will affirm that there is a God will affirm that He is a creator, good, loving, and generous, and these are all good things to know; but to only know these things about God is incomplete. In the Bible, God presents Himself completely, in that we can know what we know about Him in truth, yet what we know truly about Him isn't a fraction of what we can know about Him exhaustively.

Practically, knowledge of God's attributes is for our worship of God. An incomplete knowledge of who He is will only result in incomplete worship and an incomplete perspective of our lives within His dominion. Many are ready to praise the Lord for His goodness while only few will praise Him for His justice. God's love for the world is proclaimed aloud for everyone to hear, while His hatred for sin is proclaimed often softly or angrily. The fact is that we cannot have one attribute without the other. A God with all love, patience, and mercy and no justice would be like the unjust judge who pardons every criminal without hearing the case. Likewise a God with absolute justice, wrath and no love, patience or mercy would have crushed this world under His wrath the minute Adam sinned against Him. When we examine these attributes and how God reveals Himself in His word, it will produce in us a reverential awe for God, the proper perspective of Him, and overwhelming joy at the fact that this Sovereign, all-powerful, merciful God is on our side through Christ.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.              Proverbs 9:10

Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,   but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”  - Jeremiah 9:23-24

Your Identity in the Fight for Holiness - Kevin DeYoung

This is a quote from Kevin DeYoung's book, "The Hole in Our Holinesss" concerning how the Christian is able to fight sin and pursue holiness by focusing on their new identity in Christ. I found it to be very helpful and hope it helps and encourages you as well.

Second, the gospel aids our pursuit of holiness by telling us the truth about who we are. Certain sins become more difficult when we understand our new position in Christ. If we are heirs to the whole world, why should we envy? If we are God's treasured possession, why be jealous? If God is our Father, why be afraid? If we are dead to sin, why live in it? If we've been raised with Christ, why continue in our old sinful ways? If we are seated in the heavenly places, why act like the devil of hell? If we are loved with an everlasting love, why are we trying to prove our worth to the world? If Christ is all in all, why am I so preoccupied with myself?

                                                              - Kevin DeYoung, "The Hole in Our Holiness", 84

 

 

Writer's Block...

So, I've just about written my brains out for the last several posts and I haven't posted in a while as you can see. I recently started a Tumblr titled "Gospel Prosperity" just to post random pictures and thoughts, but I will begin writing again here shortly...about what, I dunno. If you have any suggestions, ideas or questions, send them...

The Prosperity Gospel's Biggest Proof Text

   

 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

   
(Mark 11:20-25 ESV)

Without getting into an exhaustive post about the origins and ideas of the Word of Faith movement, the purpose of this post is to take a look at the Word of Faith movement's big proof text from which much of its theology originates. The term "prosperity gospel" is one that has been used throughout the previous posts to describe the ideas that the Bible teaches the guaranteed health and wealth of Christians through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Synonymous with that term is the Word of Faith movement. This movement began in the 1940's and 1950's with a man by the name of Kenneth Hagin, who is often regarded as the Father of the Word of Faith Movement, and many of his writings and teachings helped shape what many know today as the prosperity gospel. Hagin began his ministry of health and wealth when he was miraculously healed from his sickbed as a 17 year old in 1934. According to Hagin,

"I was only 17 then and had no other Christians to fellowship with who believed as I did. I didn't have even one person, young or old, to stand with me to encourage me in this area of faith and believing God. I simply had to stand alone - but I tell you, I had a great time doing it! I am sure the one reason I didn't have some of the problems others had with the world, the flesh, or the devil was because I told everyone, "I am a new creature." That was my constant confession. Hold fast to your confession that you are a new creature. You will always rise to the level of your confession. The new man on the inside will be manifested on the outside because he will dominate the flesh."  -

                                                        "Understanding How To Fight the Good Fight of Faith, (7)

I believe this quote summarizes most of Hagin's work and Word of Faith's doctrines in more ways than one. I would like to elaborate further on this in another post, but here are the three ways that I think this quote captures all of Hagin's writings and WoF's beliefs on faith, confession, health, and wealth:

1) They are based on experiences.

• With all due respect to Hagin, I believe that the sickness and suffering that he experienced at 17 was real and was as serious and as intense as he says. I also believe that he was genuinely healed from his sickness by God. But Christians are not called to base our faith on our experiences or base the Bible on our experiences, but rather let the Bible be the base from which we interpret our experiences and ground our faith. According to Hagin in this quote, it appears that he trusted more in his confession than in Christ and this is where the Word of Faith teaching bears left off the road of sound doctrine.Just within the book quoted, "Understanding How To Fight..", Hagin uses roughly 40 personal experiences to justify what he believes the Bible is saying about confession, faith, health and wealth. Many of these experiences are personal dialogues or "revelations" with himself and God that form into doctrinal principles that he says Bible supports.

2) They are based on what YOU say.

• In the prosperity gospel, God promises healing, wealth, and success in the atonement of Jesus for all who believe. The way that one accesses this guaranteed prosperity is through faith and this faith is not "active" until one confesses and verbally says what they believe. By Hagin telling everyone that he was a "new creature" he was activating his faith to believe God for healing. His new man within would overcome the "flesh" or sickness. 

3) They are based on YOU

• Much of what you hear or see within the prosperity gospel begins with you and ends with you. What this means is that it begins with God having your best interests in mind (health, wealth, success). Prosperity begins with your confession, is only coming to you  when you keep confessing it, and in the end only benefits you. Hagin, nowhere in his book "Understanding How To Fight" mentions anything about the eternal purposes of Jesus in healing people presently. It is interesting that in Mark 16:16-18, Jesus in the Great Commission, lists healing the sick as a sign that points to the message of the gospel and Himself. Hagin never mentions healing or God's blessing as a way to be drawn closer to God through the person and work of Jesus, but only describes these things as  "rights" and "benefits" from a "covenant". Healing and God's blessing in a material connotation is not mentioned in the Bible in this way at all. When Christ healed in scripture and when He heals today, it is to point to Himself (John 5:1-15, Matt 8:18, John 9:3-7), not so that we could point to ourselves. 

So here is the prosperity gospel's biggest proof text, Mark 11:20-25. The reason that I believe that this is their biggest proof text is because it is the passage of scripture that is constantly referenced in many prosperity teachers writings and sermons. Below, I have listed three quotations from three of prosperity or Word of Faith teachers concerning this passage. In these quotes we will look at their perspective on this passage, determine if it is accurate with the scriptures, and then see what the text says for itself. The quotes will be from Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, and Gloria Copeland, some of the prosperity gospel's original and most renown teachers.

Kenneth Hagin

Our confessions rule us. That is a spiritual law which few of us realize. Jesus said, "...whosoever shall say... and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith" (Mark 11:23). Notice the last phrase again, "he shall have whatsoever he saith." What we say is our confession. What we say is our faith speaking - whether it is on the positive side or the negative side. Jesus said that whosoever shall say, he shall have whatsoever he saith.... I tell people all the time, "If you are not satisfied with what you have in life, then change what you are saying. You have created what you have in  your life with your own words."

                                                                                         - Understanding How To Fight, 112


Kenneth Copeland

Jesus said in Mark 11:23, "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain , Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." Notice the last words, "he shall have whatsoever he saith." Faith is released with the mouth. Even our salvation is based on the confession of our mouths that Jesus Christ is our Lord (see Romans 10:9-10). You can have what you say! In fact, what you are saying is exactly what you are getting now. If you are living in poverty and lack and want, change what you are saying. It will change what you have!...Since then I have learned the powerful force of the spiritual world that creates the circumstances around us is controlled by the words of the mouth. This force comes from inside us....In mark 11:23, Jesus is talking about saying things that have not yet come to pass. The mountain had not yet been removed when it was spoken to. Jesus said for us to believe that those things which we say will come to pass and then we will have whatsoever we say. When I learned these facts, it became easy for me to confess, "I have it now...I can see it through the eye of my faith."

                                                                                      - The Laws of Prosperity,  80


Gloria Copland

"Get ready to release your faith right now for whatever you need from God. Mark 11, verses 22-24, will work for any need. And Jesus answering them saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Whosoever shall say unto this mountain. According to Jesus, in order to change things you are to speak to the mountain. The mountain is the obstacle or need in your life. Let's assume that your need is financial - you just simply need more money to live and to give. Say this: "Poverty, I speak to you in the name of Jesus, and I command you to be removed from my presence and my life. I will no longer tolerate you. I forbid you to operate against me in any way." You do not talk to God about the problem. Talk to Him about the answer - the Word of God....Most people want God to talk to the mountain for them, but HE WILL NOT. He has given the believer that authority; and if you want results, do it His way. TALK TO THE MOUNTAIN!"

                                                                                 - God's Will is Prosperity, 103

So what can we conclude from these interpretations?

1. This passage speaks of confession
2. We can have whatever we confess, both negative and positive
3. We can speak to circumstances, and they will change

Is this what Jesus is communicating in Mark 11? Does this interpretation fall in line with the other parallel passages in the gospels (Matt 21:10-22)? Remember, in proper Biblical interpretation, we cannot simply pull a passage from scripture and make a doctrine of it, we must interpret the scriptures in their context. The way that this verse initially looks and sounds, it seems that it says exactly what these interpretations say.  But what is the context?

Context:(Mark 11:1-19)
It is the last week of Jesus' life before the crucifixion. He enters into Jerusalem on a colt, being celebrated in what we know as the Triumphal entry, where people are laying their coats on the street for Jesus to ride on and palm branches are being waved by excited men, women, and children crying out "Hosana! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" Jesus enters Jerusalem for the final time of his life with His disciples and heads towards the temple. That night he stays in Bethany, a city outside of Jerusalem, and in the morning, on the way back to Jerusalem, Jesus makes a breakfast stop at a fig tree on which he finds no fruit. Without hesitation, Jesus curses the fig tree by simply saying to it "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." He then proceeds to enter the city. Whereas Matthew 21 records the fig tree's immediately withering and the disciples immediately asking Jesus about it, Mark records that Peter made an observation about the tree on the next day and Jesus proceeds to tell the disciples about what has happened to the tree.

The context tells us that this was the last week of Jesus life and therefore He would not be with the disciples much longer. Up until this point whatever they needed, Jesus provided and they hadn't had to ask for anything (John 16:24). Jesus teaches the disciples this lesson on prayer because when He leaves them, they will need to talk to the Father in the name of Jesus, rather than Jesus talking to the Father on their behalf as he has done over the last 3 years (John 16:26). Therefore upon seeing the disciples astonishment in the case of the fig tree, Jesus tells the disciples to "Have faith in God." It is upon this statement that Jesus begins to elaborate on the confidence that His disciples can have in facing the most impossible situations. Because God is on their side in Jesus, the disciples can do as Jesus did to the fig tree and even speak to "this mountain" and tell it to be thrown into the sea, if they do not doubt, but believe that what they say will come to pass. Unlike the previous interpretations, this faith and confidence does not stand alone, confident in its own ability to produce results, but rather, this faith works itself out, not through isolated demanding and confession of something, but through prayer - looking to God's ability to do all things, and this kind of faith asks for God's will to be done believing that we have received what we ask for. This text does not teach that our faith has creative and destructive powers, it teaches that God has creative and destructive powers and it is through confident prayer and trusting in Him that we can believe and receive whatever we ask for.

So what about the word "whatever"?
Both Copelands and Hagin believe that what falls under the category of "whatever" is: life circumstances, circumstances in the world, and anything you aren't satisfied with. If you are sick, then you can ask for health; if you are poor, then you can ask for wealth; "if you are not satisfied with what you have in life..." then ask for whatever you want in order to be satisfied. Your words essentially have power over anything and everything. Gloria Copeland goes even further when she says that God will not override what you say.

"God is not going to override your authority either. He has given you authority in the earth. He has given you instructions in His Word to put you over in every situation. He will let you die sick if you choose to do so. You would have to ignore every healing scripture in the Bible and all that Jesus bought for you when he bore your sickness and carried your diseases, but you have the authority to go ahead and die."  - God's Will is Prosperity, 104-105

 There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking God for money or healing or success in some area in life in prayer, but is this what Jesus meant in this passage- That we will get whatever we ask for whenever we ask for it? Clearly, whatever means whatever, but is there any qualification to "whatever"? Can I say to the ATM " No one will ever draw money from you again", when it refuses to give me two $10's instead of a $20? Can I say to my Saturn ,"Tomorrow you will be a Ferrari?" Can I say "I'm going to live until I'm 240 years old" and God be unable to overrule that statement? In a sense, I am joking, but I'm really not joking. I believe in Jesus, I trust that God can give me a Ferrari, and I sincerely believe that the ATM in the lobby will stop working, at least until it gets a feature that allows for smaller bills. What is to stop me from receiving that? I have made a confession about something that I am not satisfied with, and I fully expect for it to be done. In all seriousness, whether these things happen or not, there is a reason requests like these are made all of the time and remain unanswered. New jobs, new houses, sickness, restoration of a relationship, poverty - these are all things that people immediately think of when we think "whatever" in this verse. In addition to these things, there are many more that could be said and there are things "confessed" in a much more sincere and serious way that seem to never come to pass. Why? Is Jesus saying that we can only ask for mountains and fig trees? Is there a limit or restriction to what we can ask for?

In order to answer these questions, scripture must interpret scripture. Our prayers and requests before God as Christians must be within the sphere of God's will. 1 John 5:14-15 states "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
Its easy to see where John, Jesus' closest disciple, gets this statement from. He writes it as if the words had just come from Jesus' mouth that morning at the fig tree. The thing that stands out from this verse, which helps to balance Mark 11:22-25 is that the prayer and asking that we are told to do must be according to God's will.

Now you may say, "Well, its God's will that I be healthy all the time and wealthy and be successful and victorious in life." I would ask, where do you find this in the Bible? Where does God ever say that His will is that all who believe in Jesus be physically healthy all the time and materially prosperous and never suffer? Yes, God does bless His people with prosperity at times and yes, He does heal, but nowhere does He guarantee this to anyone in the Bible - it is a gracious gift when He gives it.  While these things are weighty matters to us and of great concern to us, scripture tells us that God's will is much more concerned with weightier matters - the condition of our soul, our sanctification, and our being conformed into the image of Christ (Romans 8:27-29; Romans 12:2; 1 Thess 4:3). This does not mean that God wants Christians to be poor and sick. Word of Faith often responds with this accusation when it hears that God doesn't guarantee healing and prosperity in the atonement of Christ. This also doesn't mean that God wants all Christians to be wealthy. God may will for some to be wealthy in order to accomplish His will in their sanctification (1 Tim 6:17-20). In the same way, God may will that poverty be used in order to do His sanctifying, Christ-conforming work in the life of a believer.( 2 Cor. 8:1-5). Suffering  in the life of the believer is even used to work for the good of the Christian's sanctification (Romans 5:3-5). The proper application of  Mark 11:22-25 and 1 John 5:14-15 is this : We can have confidence and assurance to pray and ask for whatever we need in order for God to continue His sanctifying, transforming, and Christ-conforming work in our lives - and God will grant it. That can be health, it can be money, it can be good things, it can be the lack of money, or health, or "good things" when we trust in them more than we trust in God. What we cannot do is use passages such as Mark 11:24 and make them  bow to our own selfish desires and what we think God's will for us should be. James, the brother of Jesus, warns us against this in his epistle when he states "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." (James 4:3).

Conclusion
In conclusion, after thoroughly reading what these teachers had to say about confession, faith, and prosperity, I didn't see any statements that pointed to the person and work of Jesus Christ. To the Copelands and Hagin, Jesus' death and the extra benefits that they believe it gives are only a means to an end, that end being their happiness and contentment in this life. Healing is never mentioned for the purpose of exalting Christ's mission of spreading the gospel in the world. Prayer is never mentioned for the purpose of dependence upon God to know His will, and prosperity is only mentioned as a right that Christians are obligated to rather than a conduit to distribute to those who are without on the basis of God's graciously giving to us in Christ. Mark 11:22-25 is often used within the prosperity gospel in order to convince people that God wants us to have whatever we want, and all we have to do is speak it. We can see that what Jesus wants is for His disciples, both then and now,  to confidently and humbly depend on and pray to God, believing that He will give us whatever we ask, namely, all things necessary for His glory and our joy in this life, for the ultimate purpose of being conformed into the image of Jesus.

Prosperity in the Atonement?: The Case for Suffering

 ** *This will be a long post***


What is kryptonite to the message that believes that Jesus died in order to make His followers wealthy and healthy? Christ-exalting suffering. The word suffering is pushed away by many in the church in our nation, but it is mainly frowned upon by those who teach that Jesus died to materially bless and physically heal all who trust in Him. Why? Well, as I have previously stated in the first few posts, health and wealth are two important pillars of our lives - especially in the United States. One's health is vital to enjoying the good life that is sought after so heavily in our day and one's financial status is the key to the door of enjoying the good life. Therefore when a word such as "suffering" makes its way into many church doors, it is immediately frowned upon and rejected, because nobody wants anything to do with lack as opposed to prosperity or sickness as opposed to health. The words "suffer", "broke", "poor", "sick", "affliction", "need", "weak", and "going thru" are words that no one wants to be characterized by and to the one who believes that prosperity is guaranteed in Jesus, these words are an anathema, contrary to what the Bible teaches about who a Christian is and how they are supposed to live. So, this post will focus on what the Bible says about suffering and what its place is in the life of a follower of Jesus. Do Christians suffer? Did Jesus die to end suffering? Does God allow suffering?

When I say “suffering”, I’m talking about something that everyone experiences on some level. God sends rain upon the just and the unjust according to Matthew 5:45, and suffering is common to both the Christian and the one who does not trust in the person and work of Christ. All experience suffering in one form or another: illness, loss of loved ones, natural disasters, calamity, job loss, hunger, pain, trying times, or violence. Suffering can be pictured as a fiery furnace that all kinds of elements are placed into, yet all are not refined. The difference between the Christian and the unbeliever is what their outcome is in the furnace of suffering. The Christian is said to be refined as pure gold is refined in the fiery furnace of suffering, while the unbeliever is left without true hope and will bear the weight of their sufferings themselves.The Bible mentions three kinds of suffering, the latter two of which I am dealing with in this post.

1) Consequential suffering: this has to do with the suffering that comes because of  civil disobedience, lawbreaking, or sin. This would be like going to jail for murder. Although murder can be forgiven in God's sight, there would still be civil consequences for the crime such as life in prison.(1 Peter 2:20)
2) Discipline from the Lord: this is the suffering that Hebrews 12:11 speaks of. God's discipline in our lives may seem more painful than pleasant, but in the end the Lord uses it to produce the fruit of righteousness in our lives.
3) Christ-exalting suffering: This kind of suffering may come through the trials and storms in our lives or through the persecution we face for the sake of Christ. In our trials, our faith is often tested to expose where our hope lies - and if it is in Christ, it will be to the praise of His glory (1 Peter 1:7). Persecution is suffering that has been seen throughout the church for hundreds of years. From the martyrs of the early church, to the missionaries in countries today all across the world, persecution for the sake of the gospel remains and millions have lost their lives, families, and freedom for the sake of the gospel. The words of Christ to His followers hold true in the midst of persecution, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matt 5:10-11)

This post is going to focus on two responses to suffering.
1) The Prosperity Gospel’s response to suffering
2) The Bible’s response to suffering

The Prosperity Gospel’s Response
Just in my own personal experience, when it comes to the topic of suffering in "prosperity" circles, suffering is viewed as Sin’s next door neighbor. The two are intertwined in that they are both viewed as evil, from the devil, and both are not talked about when it comes to the prosperity teachings we often hear. Satan is the one who causes people to suffer and God is totally opposed to suffering and wants no one to experience it. According to the health and wealth teachings, Christians do not have to suffer. People suffer only because they do not have sufficient knowledge of who they are in Christ and what God's will is for them. People also suffer because they lack faith to conquer pain or affliction or lack. According to the gospel of health and wealth, the many believers who lack sufficient knowledge of who they are in Jesus are still in bondage to Satan in their finances, health, and relationships. Suffering, in this perspective, is connected to disobedience of God's laws. As I wrote previously in the "Curse of Poverty" post, Deuteronomy 28's curses are often said to come upon or remain upon those who do not obey God's Word. The logic behind the prosperity message is “You obey, you prosper; don’t obey, you suffer.”
Furthermore, suffering is seen as "religious". Teachers who preach that you will suffer are regarded by health and wealth advocates as old-fashioned, weak, and religious. God only allows suffering on His people because they allow it. When Christians do not take advantage of their rights to be healed and prosperous because of Jesus, then God's hands are tied and He will only allow what we allow. In the health and wealth gospel, Satan has sovereign power to steal from you, kill you, and destroy you before your time. All suffering is from Satan and it is up to the Christian to produce enough faith to break free from it. God's will is not for anyone to suffer.
A popular text that many use to prove that God is against suffering and would never want any believer to suffer, but watches as a compassionate bystander waiting to be asked to intervene, is James 1:13-15 which states:

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

 Without spending too much time unpacking this verse, first observe how the trials or temptations mentioned in this verse are temptations to sin. In the previous verses, "temptations" in the King James Version is the same as the word trial. During the time when James wrote this letter, the word temptation did not have such a negative connotation associated with it, but could also mean a good testing. The flow of thought in verse 13 is: temptation ----> desire ---->sin ----> death. The temptation according to this verse springs from our being lured by our own desires. God tempts no one to sin, but He does test our hearts through various trials. Scripture confirms this in passages such as Deut.8:2; 13:3; 1 Chron.29:17; 2 Chron.32:31; Ps.7:9; Jer.17:10; 1 Thess.2:4, that the Lord tests the hearts of men which tests are also tests of our faith (Jas. 1:3; 1 Pet. 1:7; Heb. 11:17). This verse is not saying that God's will is that we never suffer. It is saying that God has nothing to do with tempting anyone to sin. James follows this by stating that "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." God is actively behind the trial which is used for the testing of faith to produce endurance: a good gift (James 1:3), but God is not behind the desire within us that takes a trial and uses it as a temptation to sin. What are the responses?

Suffering is neglected. 
The prosperity gospel responds to the issue of suffering by avoiding the issue altogether. If a Christian is suffering, then, according to the prosperity gospel, they are allowing Satan to have dominion in their life. The way to defeat any suffering is through the "power of your words". The Word of Faith movement believes that when you pray things over yourself or confess things over yourself, by either speaking to the devil and "taking authority over him" or positively confessing good things over yourself instead of saying how you actually feel, you can overcome any pain or affliction in life. Suffering is viewed as something that is evil, yet controllable and all one has to do is resist the devil, speak the right words over their life, and refuse to accept the present reality of their suffering. 
The prosperity gospel never provides any comfort to the afflicted in their suffering. It never provides any consolation that God is ultimately in control of every situation. Rather, this message of health and wealth convinces you that you are in control, and if you are suffering or have embraced suffering, then you have allowed it, not God, and that you have the ability to stop it. Beneath this kind of response to suffering is the attitude that “I don’t have to accept this! I am better than this!” What the prosperity gospel misses greatly is the fact that much of our suffering is beyond our control and it doesn’t simply end when we tell it to. 

The prosperity gospel also concludes that the believer is in a state of disobedience or under a curse when they encounter suffering and this couldn’t be more false. It concludes that suffering comes when the believer does not know enough about Jesus, whose voice they hear and follow, or that they don't have enough faith in order to get out of their circumstance. For this reason, the believer’s rights and privileges are often emphasized when it comes to this issue of suffering and the message of prosperity believes that the Christian ought not to suffer and has a right not to suffer. It is often said by health and wealth teachers that Jesus suffered so that you would not have to suffer, but the reality is that the Bible teaches that Jesus suffered, so you will suffer. This suffering that the Christian will go through is a gift (Phil 2:29). It is through suffering for the sake of Christ that we become heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). Our sufferings are part of the "all things" that are working to conform us into the image of Jesus (Romans 8:28-29). Philippians 3:10 says that it is through sharing in the sufferings of Christ, that we will obtain the resurrection from the dead. This does not mean that we need to be physically crucified in order to be resurrected, but it means that in Christ we have a sympathetic and understanding Savior who feels with us in our sufferings. Our sufferings drive us to Christ. Yes, suffering is painful, its sad, its grieving, and it is hard; yet suffering is also character producing, endurance building, hope anticipating, and God-glorifying (Romans 5:3-5). Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22)

Suffering is rejected. 
To embrace suffering is to “make Satan’s job to kill, steal, and destroy, much easier.” (Gloria Copeland, “God’s Will is Prosperity”, 106). The notion that God could use suffering for His glory and the Christian’s joy is a completely foreign concept to Word of Faith teachers. Suffering is of the devil, and because God wants you prosperous, suffering is the devil’s way of trying to stop that from happening. To believe that God would allow or work through suffering is doubtful, weak, and “blasphemous”, as some health and wealth teachers say. As I stated previously, Word of Faith teachers believe that God will stand by and watch you suffer and be kicked around by the devil because you allowed it, and He only allows what you allow. When a Christian is suffering, the prosperity gospel tells them to refuse, fight, react, and resist because suffering is your enemy and it is against your success. 

The Bible’s Response

 Suffering is a product of the sinful world that we live in. When God created this earth, suffering was not a part of it. Suffering came into this world because of the decision Adam and Eve made to rebel against God by eating of the tree that God forbade. Because of Adam and Eve's rejection of God, all kinds of natural calamity, evil, pain, and suffering have come into the world affecting all who have ever lived. Struggle and disaster has touched every age, pain is something everyone has felt, and suffering has followed all men from the greatest to the least. Suffering is evil in that it is a fruit of man's evil decision, but it is good in that the Lord uses it to accomplish His holy and wise purposes. Behind every case of affliction and evil intention recorded in the scripture is a sinful man or the devil. But behind every evil intention of man or devil in causing suffering, there stands God with a holy, good, loving and wise purpose that never fails. This is why when a prosecuting Satan asks for the life of Job, he is given permission by God to inflict Job with boils, kill his family, take everything he owned, yet God was still glorified in the end even through the sufferings of Job (Job 1:6-2:10)

Or look at the life of Joseph. The intention of Joseph's brothers in his suffering was inherently wicked. Their hatred for Joseph was real, their intent was to kill him, and their throwing him into a pit and selling him into slavery was beyond sinful. Joseph, at the end of Genesis, is recorded as saying to his brothers "you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive..." (Genesis 50:20). This circumstance was one of suffering. Joseph's brothers' intentions were evil. God's intent, in the same circumstance, was good. God was not caught off guard in Joseph's case or in any case of suffering, but rather, He was at work the entire time actively working in and through the hatred of Joseph's brothers, the arrival of the Egyptian slave traders, and the selection of Joseph by Potiphar, and using it for His glorious purposes. Joseph's brothers didn't intend to make Joseph the Vice President of Egypt, but Psalm 105:17 says that God "sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave..." Based on these passages, to deny suffering or to wield it as a consequence of disobedience (only) is to limit the power and purpose of God in accomplishing what He intends to accomplish. Here are some words from Ecclesiastes that confirm the goodness of God in working through suffering. 

Consider the work of God:
     who can make straight what he has made crooked?

In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. (Eccl. 7:13-14)

 What does the Christian do with suffering? 

We should embrace it. 

Christians will face sickness, death, loss of loved ones, loss of a job, trying times, strained and severed relationships, spiritual warfare, hurt and pain, and the long list of suffering given by Paul in Romans 8:35. The Christian can embrace suffering because as bad and as intense as some of these things are, the Christian realizes that they are not his greatest problem - sin is. The Word of Faith movement sees suffering and lack as the Christian's greatest problem, and therefore it sees health and wealth as the greatest treasure. The truth of the matter is that sin's effects are much worse than even the most terrible of earthly sufferings. Because of sin, we face God’s wrath and punishment. Sin is our greatest problem, and because of our sin, we deserve far worse than any sickness, pain, or even physical death. We deserve eternal separation from all that is good, pure, right, and lovely. We deserve a cancer that will eat at our souls forever, and ages upon ages of spiritual emptiness and bankruptcy. Once we realize that our greatest problem is sin, we will see that we are not entitled to anything, but God has been gracious in giving us so much more. If we are honest with ourselves and search our hearts and think of the ways that we have sinned against God in our thoughts, words and actions, hopefully we will see that we deserve far worse than any suffering we have or will ever face on this earth, and God has been gracious in not giving that to us. In the gospel Jesus eliminates our greatest problem. On the cross, He willingly and lovingly bears the penalty for our sins and gives us eternal fellowship with the Father. It is on this basis of the good news of the gospel that the Christian can face any kind of suffering that serves to work against them, because the God of the Universe is now for them in Jesus. It is with this confidence that Paul asks the rhetorical questions in Romans 8:31-35 " If God is for us, who can be against us?   He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.   Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?"
If God gave His Son to bear the penalty for our mountains of sins, will He not much more take care of us in the midst of our temporary and earthly sufferings? If God did not let our heinous crimes of sin separate us from Him forever, will he not much more ensure that tribulation and distress will not separate us? If Jesus can endure suffering under God's wrath, can He not much more give us the strength to endure earthly sufferings? If Jesus can take something as evil as death and use death to defeat death, is it too hard for Him to use death to work for our good in making it a doorway for eternal life?  In the gospel, Jesus takes our greatest trials,sufferings, and afflictions and uses what would seek to destroy us to strengthen us and conform us into His image. This is how we can embrace suffering in a Christ-exalting way.

We should rejoice in it.  

Romans 5:3-5 gives Paul’s thoughts on the Christian’s response to the doctrine of justification. He begins in verse 1 by stating that because of our being justified and declared righteous before God, we have peace with God because of Jesus. In addition to peace with God, we also have access, through believing and trusting in the finished work of Christ, into grace. Paul continues by saying that because of our justification we can rejoice in hope and anticipation that God will glorify Himself by bringing us to Himself forever.  In addition to rejoicing because of our future hope, Paul states that more than that, we rejoice in our  sufferings. The day hasn’t come when suffering will cease. The rejoicing Paul is speaking of is in the present tense. There is still pain, persecution, and affliction now. While the prosperity gospel suggests that God will remove these things now, Paul suggests that we rejoice in these things now, mindful that the suffering that we face produces patience or endurance. The suffering that once produced despair and hopelessness is now producing patience and endurance. Notice that the list doesn’t end at endurance, but continues, stating that endurance produces character and character produces hope (remember that this all begins with suffering). In short, suffering produces hope in God; an unashamed and steadfast hope that we will one day be free from this fallen world and taken to spend forever with Him in a new one. What assures the Christian of this? An end to his present suffering? The good life? No, our assurance is God’s love poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. The love of God is what comforts, strengthens, and encourages the Christian in the face of suffering. This love isn't defined by  what He can do to eliminate my suffering, or what he can do to give me a prosperous, suffering-free, healthy life. This love is defined and demonstrated in the death of Christ. Romans 5:8 Paul states, "but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Conclusion

Unfortunately, this was not an exhaustive (exhausting, maybe) study on what the Bible says about suffering. I left many scriptures out and examples of those who experienced suffering in the Bible. This may even cause me to write a second post about this particular topic, but until then, we must conclude that suffering is a crooked bat used by God to hit grand slams for His glory and our joy. While the suffering that we face is very real and very anguishing, God chooses to use this tool with the purpose of conforming us into the image of Christ and working out His sovereign purposes in the world. To deny, ignore, or reject suffering  is to imply that we know better than God about His will for our lives and His purposes in creation and redemption. As Christians we do not have to run from suffering, but we are encouraged to embrace it and rejoice in it, realizing what a privilege it is to participate in glorifying God through showing the world that even the greatest trials against His people only serve to strengthen them and draw them closer to Christ.

Abraham's Big Proof Text...

 I missed a big proof text in the last post concerning the blessing of Abraham. I wanted to address it here in a shorter post because its huge to think about when weighing out what the Bible says about the "Blessing of Abraham".

Acts 3:25-26  
 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

What is the blessing of Abraham doing in this verse?
1) All the families of the earth will be blessed through Abraham's offspring.
2) To be blessed is to be turned from your wickedness through Jesus,God's servant.
3) God sends Jesus, His servant, to Israel first to bless them...and then to the world so that all the families of the earth can be blessed and turned from their wickedness.

Where does Peter (the one who is speaking in Acts 3) get this interpretation from?
Genesis 12:3
Genesis 12:3 "I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

If this is how Peter interprets this verse in Genesis, then how has this verse acquired the interpretation that we hear so often today? Peter never mentions guaranteed wealth or wealth being because of Abraham. Peter does make a beeline to Jesus in his interpretation of Genesis 12:3. Jesus is the promised offspring (not offsprings, but offspring singular) (Galatians 3:16) that Peter is talking about in Acts 3:25 and it is through Jesus that all the families of the earth will be blessed.

What does blessed mean in Acts 3:25-26?
Does blessed in this verse indicate guaranteed success in life to all who are in Jesus? Does blessed in this context indicate prosperity or guaranteed health? Peter doesn't allude to any of these things in any sort of way. Rather, the blessing he refers to, as he is talking to the Jewish audience in Acts 3, is the blessing that comes when Jesus turns "every one of you from your wickedness." The blessing is spiritual. It delivers us from something much worse than a bodily sickness or shattered finances.Jesus was raised up by God, sent first to the house of Israel, and then to the rest of the world for the forgiveness of sins and the turning of mens' hearts towards God.

As I have concluded in the last posts, so I will do with this one. Taking the blood of Jesus and using it to acquire earthly and temporary provisions as an end greatly reduces its meaning and worth. The Bible does not teach that we can use Jesus blood and Abraham's blessing as an extreme makeover for life. The reason that we lean more towards applying these things in this way is because the things of this present life are elevated over the things of eternity. Sin is minimized, mocked, and laughed at while people give money away in droves "sowing for healing" or "financial blessing". Many ministers preach with passion that God wants to bless you NOW, while "the glory that WILL BE revealed" is pushed aside for later. Once again I am not against the Lord's blessing and healing of His people - when He sovereignly chooses to. I am 100% for that kind of blessing and I believe the Bible is too. The error comes when the Bible used to make these things normative and guaranteed when they are not. So what is a Christian to do? Next post.

Prosperity in The Atonement:The Blessing of Abraham?

 **Warning: This is another long post...**

 The last post on "The Curse of Poverty?" was a little harder to stay focused on because of its complexity. The reasoning behind deliverance from poverty almost automatically brings with it the notion that one is delivered for blessing or prosperity as well.  I look at this topic as having two sides like a coin. Redemption from the curse of poverty would be one side of the coin that is often preached by those who believed Jesus died to give it, and the other side of the same coin is the guaranteed unlimited material and financial blessings that one can have through the atonement because of the same redemption.In the last post I tried to narrow down my objections to just showing that the curse of poverty was a misinterpretation of the scriptures, but I wasn't really able to talk about the other side of the coin like I wanted to because of longevity of the post. This post will focus on that side of the coin. The teachings we often hear about financial and material blessing being ours through Christ don't usually come from fanatics who do not believe the scriptures, rather they come from well-intentioned, seemingly genuine preachers who have a plethora of verses from the Bible to back up what they're  saying. If a direct passage or verse doesn't back up the said position of the preacher, a concept from scripture is often used to proclaim the message that Jesus dies so that you and I can be financially and materially taken care of. One of those concepts is "The Blessing of Abraham",and that will be the focus in this post.

What is the Blessing of Abraham?
What is the blessing of Abraham? Where did it originate? Why is it used to prove that Jesus died to give those who trust in Him material wealth, health, and financial blessings? When we hear the term "The Blessing of Abraham" we often hear it used to explain that God will bless those who trust in Him on the basis of God's covenant with Abraham. The actual term comes from the book of Galatians 3:14 which says "so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles..." Abraham is viewed as the first or primary example of what it means to believe God and experience not only justification but material and financial prosperity because of faith and those who are Abraham's "seed" or children, by faith, can experience the same. Many believe that God established a "faith covenant" with Abraham that essentially said "Abraham, because you believe in my (God) promise to you , I am going to bless you, not only by declaring you righteous, but by blessing you with great wealth." According to many teachers today, the blessing of Abraham is the basis of salvation, prosperity, and success for the Christian. Because of God's covenant with Abraham, all who believe in Jesus have the right to be saved and successful because they are heirs of the  promise God made to Abraham.  The verses that are often referenced to prove this are the following scriptures:
Genesis 12:1-3
"Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

 Genesis 13:1-7
 So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb.Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the LORD. And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.
 Genesis 15:4-6 
 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 17:1-8
    When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
 Galatians 3:7-9 
    Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Galatians 3:29
And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

From these scriptures, it is concluded that
1) God made a promise to Abraham to bless him and multiply him.
2) Abraham received the blessing by believing God
3) Abraham received a promised son and great wealth (livestock, silver, gold, land) because of the covenant he made with God
4) If we believe on Christ, we are Abraham's legal offspring and we receive the same wealth and blessing he received. Therefore being "very rich in livestock, silver, gold" applies to us as well.

Does scripture support this logic? It seems to on the surface ,especially since multiple scriptures are used to arrive at this conclusion; but how are these scriptures used? Are they taken out of their proper context? Does the proposed teaching that uses these scriptures flow with the rest of the Bible's teaching? These are important questions to ask if we want to gain the proper meaning from what the Bible is saying.

Genesis
What is ultimately not in question in this post is the fact that Abraham was rich. Yes, Abraham was very rich and he was rich prior to being called by God and even more so after being called by God. The fact that God blessed Abraham with great wealth is supported by Genesis 24:34-35 which records the words of Abraham's servant to Laban,  "So he said, “I am Abraham's servant. The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys. Abraham had Pharaohs and kings dealing well with him (Gen 12:16; 20:14) , the King of Sodom wanting to make him rich (Gen. 14:21-23), and so many possessions that he and his nephew had to split land in order to have enough space for all they had (Gen 13:6). God was the source of Abraham's blessings and there is no denying that Abraham was wealthy. But is "blessing" in God's covenant with Abraham defined by material wealth? Is material and financial prosperity guaranteed to all who are Abraham's seed? To these questions I believe the answer is no. No, because nowhere in Genesis, where the Lord appears to Abraham and makes His covenant, are riches and material wealth promised to Abraham or his offspring on the basis of God's covenant with him. To Abraham, nations are promised (12:2; 17:4-6; 18:18; 22:18), offspring is promised (13:16; 15:4-6; 17:8, 15; 22:17-18), and land is promised (12:7; 13:14-17; 15:18; 17:8). I believe riches were providentially and graciously given to Abraham and even to his descendants by God, but to say that these riches are normative or guaranteed to all of Abraham's offspring is a stretch. All of Abraham's offspring are "blessed" according to the scriptures and for those who trust in Jesus the blessing of Abraham has come upon them.

"The Blessing "
The question to be answered now is "What is the blessing in "The Blessing of Abraham?" Is it money? Is it wealth? Is it healing? Is it prosperity of all kinds? Is it all of these? Is it more? It appears at first sight that Abraham's covenant with God brings wealth to its beneficiaries as we see in the life of Abraham's first three descendants. It is often said that "the blessing" promised to Abraham included financial wealth because Isaac, Jacob, and even Joseph were given great wealth or prosperity by God. Isaac was blessed by God and given great wealth (Gen 26:12). Jacob was extremely wealthy (Gen 30:43). Joseph was successful and prosperous while he was a slave in the house of Potiphar (Gen 39:4-6). It appears that the basis of this wealth in the patriarch's lives is because of Abraham's sake, and therefore it is concluded that all who are in Christ will be blessed in this same way being Abraham's offspring; but based on the lives of those who lived after Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph we can see how God's blessing upon Abraham's descendants was of pure grace and not obligation. In Genesis 15, Abraham, in making a covenant with the Lord, was promised that his descendants would be "sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years."(Gen 15:13-14). If this covenant made wealth obligatory on God's part or guaranteed that all who were Abraham's descendants would be financially and materially successful, then it means God failed on the behalf of four hundred years of people who were enslaved. In addition to those who were enslaved in Egypt, wealthy living is so scattered in the Old Testament, that it couldn't possibly be something that was obligated to the people of God. When God's covenant with Abraham is mentioned again in the Old Testament, it always speaks of the Lord being Israel's God, Abraham's offspring, and the land the Lord promised to give to Abraham's descendants (Ex. 6:8, 32:13, 33:1; Lev. 26;42; Num. 32:11; Deut 1:8, 6:10, 9:5, 34:4; Ps. 105:9-11). As for the Bible's position on being rich and poor, it can be summarized in Hannah's prayer to the Lord  in 1 Samuel 2:6-7. The sovereignty of God is exalted in God choosing to make one rich and another poor. Neither poverty nor wealth is something obligated or guaranteed to any man, it is always a gift sovereignly and freely given.

Why Was Abraham Rich?
So why was Abraham rich? Why did God choose to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wealth and cattle, and silver and gold? Believers and unbelievers both experience wealth but why does God give wealth to some believers? Why does he choose to give any believer monetary or material wealth when He does? To say something about Himself. Ultimately wealth and possessions are a gift to show that He is good and that He is the greater wealth (Eccl. 5:19). The feeling of sufficiency and enjoyment that comes from wealth isn't meant to be an end, but a means to an end, namely, to point to the ultimate riches and sufficiency in Christ, and to spread that feeling to others who have not experienced it - not so that they can be materially wealthy, but experience the spiritual wealth and true blessing that comes from God. The pursuit of wealth and riches as an end is deadly (1 Timothy 6:9-10) and often "The Blessing of Abraham" is disguised and preached as a way to meet this end. God does care about the welfare of His people, and He is more than able to bless a man with the greatest of wealth which will have no sorrow with it (Proverbs 10:22), but the blessing of the Lord isn't limited to or defined by material things or money. When Hebrews 11:8-9 speaks of Abraham's promise and inheritance, it isn't speaking of his wealth and possessions. It speaks rather of "the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God". For this reason Abraham lived as a stranger and as an exile on this earth having seen what was promised from afar and sought a heavenly country. (Heb 10:9-10, 13-16 paraphrase mine). This is the true blessing of Abraham, looking forward to and experiencing that eternal and heavenly country which was promised to Abraham and his offspring who would outnumber the stars and the sand of the sea and would be from every nation. Revelation 5:9-10 and 7:9-10 speak of the fulfillment of this blessing when it says:

 And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
    from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
    and they shall reign on the earth.” (Rev 5:9-10)

 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”  
(Rev 7:9-10)

Romans
The true blessing of Abraham is how you and I, those who aren't the blood related descendants of Abraham, can be part of this eternally joyful, innumerable, and ransomed multitude who will be in this heavenly country .The book of Romans and Galatians give Paul's teachings on how Jesus, the promised Seed of Abraham (Gal 3:16), justifies those who believe and trust in His substitutionary death on the cross. Romans 4:13 states " For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith."; and Romans 4:3 states "For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”. In Romans 4, Paul is speaking to a Jewish and Gentile audience in Rome and the Jews within the Roman church are questioning the nature of the Gentile's salvation because they did not observe the law or become circumcised in order to be saved. The Jews prided themselves in their law observance and their circumcision in order to be justified and declared righteous before God and Paul, in the first three chapters of Romans, destroys their confidence in these works by proclaiming that all men, both Jews and Gentiles are under sin and all have fallen short of glorifying God. Once Paul has flattened their pride in their works, he then proceeds in Romans 4 to show that law observance and circumcision never justified any one in the first place. Faith in God is what makes one justified before God's sight. Paul uses Abraham, the great forefather of the Jews (4:1) to prove his point. Its important to note that the Jews and Gentiles who were reading Paul's letter and came across Abraham weren't at all thinking about Abraham's wealth when they read this. Paul directed their minds towards Abraham's faith, and God's freely acquitting and forgiving Abraham's sins because of his faith. Therefore Abraham's blessing, namely, "the promise...that he would be heir of the world..." was not about riches or wealth, but rather about right-standing with God and an eternal dwelling with Him along with Abraham's many promised offspring.

Galatians
In the Galatian church, Paul was dealing with a similar situation as he was in Rome, only this time, he would address the Gentile's side of the issue rather than addressing the Jews. The Galatians were Gentile Christians who had begun to believe a false teaching that had crept into their gathering which stated that in order to be justified or declared righteous before God, one needed to observe the commandments of the law along with its rituals such as circumcision. Paul writes passionately to the Galatian believers pleading with them to remember the clear gospel presentation of the crucified Christ that was portrayed before their eyes (Gal 3:1). In his sharp rebuke to them in the beginning of chapter 3, Paul asks a series of rhetorical questions contrasting the "works of the law" and the "hearing by faith". Paul asks the Galatians these questions in order to show them that the Holy Spirit and the miracles that had been done among them were not because of their observance of the law and circumcision, but because of their faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ that came through the preaching of the gospel (v2-5). Before he proceeds into elaborating on their justification by faith, Paul parallels their "hearing with faith" with Abraham's example, proving that justification has always been by faith in God. The Galatians were declared righteous, receiving the Spirit of God, "just as Abraham 'believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.'" (v 6). Paul concludes in the next sentence that because Abraham was justified by faith, then all who believe in the person and work of Christ through the hearing with faith, are justified by faith and are sons of Abraham (v7). He continues by explaining that the Scriptures, knowing that "God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying "In you shall all the nations be blessed."( v 8). Here we see what it means for God to bless the nations through Abraham, as was seen in Genesis 12:3, namely, that God would justify ALL who believe in Jesus - both Jew and Gentile (Gal 3:28-29). Therefore, the blessing that all who have faith experience is the blessing of justification - undeservedly being declared righteous in the sight of a holy God. This is why Paul writes in verse 9, "So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith." Justification is not the end in the blessing of Abraham, it is only a means to an end. Abraham, you, me, and all who believe in the person and work of Jesus are declared righteous before God for something greater, for God. Because a sinful Abraham was declared righteous before God by faith, God could be his God, his shield, and his exceedingly great reward (Gen 15:1). Abraham could look forward to heavenly country whose builder and maker is God (Heb 10:10,16). This is always the case with us; our justification is not so that we might enjoy a guilt free, forgiven life that is healthy, wealthy, and successful. Our justification is so that we might enjoy something much greater, eternal life with an infinitely joyful, sovereign, good, and gracious God.This is the true blessing of Abraham that has come upon those who believe in Jesus! 

Before I proceed to the last passage, notice that Paul never mentions anything about Abraham's wealth, health, or success in this passage that deals explicitly with the blessing of Abraham. To be blessed, according to Paul is to be justified, forgiven, and loved by God. This is why in Romans 4:6-7, just after explaining Abraham's justification in verse 2 and 3, Paul quotes Psalm 32 where David talks about the "blessing of the one to whom God counts righteous apart from works."

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
    and whose sins are covered;blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Curse of the Law?

As Paul moves forward in Galatians 3:10, he talks about the curse that comes on those who seek to be justified by the law.  According to the scriptures, the curse comes to "everyone who does not abide by ALL things written in the Book of the Law, and do them."(v10 emphasis mine). Paul continues on by re-iterating the evidence from Abraham that proves that justification was never by the law because "The righteous shall live by faith." Seeking to obey the law in order to be justified and accepted before God is not faith but works and ultimately, because no one can keep the law's demands perfectly because of sin, all who try to be justified by the law will find themselves under a curse. Just to be clear, this "curse" that Paul speaks of is not the curse found in Deuteronomy 28:15-68 that brings horrible earthly afflictions upon the disobedient. It is often preached by those who misinterpret the blessing of Abraham that this curse that Paul speaks of is the same curse Adam received upon being kicked out of the garden, and the same curse that came to those who were disobedient to God's laws in the wilderness.They will often preach that you can experience the blessing of Abraham when obeying God's word and will experience the "curse" when you disobey. According to the context of Deuteronomy 28, this curse was for disobedient Israel based on the implications it had on their society. The most that can be taken away from the "curse" passage in Deuteronomy 28 is that it is a type and a symbol of what it means to be under the infinite and eternal wrath of God for our sin and disobedience apart from Jesus, which is far worse than anything listed in Deuteronomy. Our attempts to be justified by the law will only bring  this curse of God's just condemnation upon us. But there is a solution. Paul sates in Galatians 3:13 that "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us... - so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith." Jesus dies in our place for our sins, becoming a curse and bearing the curse for us that we deserved, not so that we might be rich in this life and not so that we might have the best and most successful lives possible on this earth; Jesus dies so that we can receive the blessing of being declared righteous in God's sight, not on the basis of anything we have done or haven't done, but on the basis of Jesus. This declaration is so that we might receive God's promised Holy Spirit, who will seal us until the day when Jesus comes to bring us to Himself so that we might enjoy and experience His love forever. 

Conclusion
In conclusion, the blessing of Abraham was never about riches and success in this life. It is about God  bringing nations of people to Himself to experience eternal life with Him. When we define the blessing of Abraham to mean that we can experience physical health and material blessings, we misinterpret and limit its extent and minimize what Jesus actually came to give us. Jesus dies to give His bride so much more than 70 or 80 years of health and financial security. That's nothing. He dies to give people all over the world (rich,poor, healthy, sick,) an eternal and rock solid hope that they will spend not 70 years but 70 billion ages of years experiencing unending joy and love before the throne of God. Its time this term "the blessing of Abraham" be used in its proper meaning. If we believe in Jesus and His work on the cross for us, then the blessing of Abraham has come upon us and we are heirs according to the promise God made Abraham. We are justified, forgiven, and we have access to the unlimited riches of the grace of God and therefore we can rejoice in this present life in any favorable or unfavorable circumstances, knowing that God will bring us to Himself and is working all things for His glory and our conformity to Jesus.

  

 

Prosperity in The Atonement -part 1: The Curse of Poverty?

 This will be the second part of two posts about what Jesus' death guarantees those who trust in Him. The first post was an attempt to answer the question "Did Jesus die to deliver you from physical sickness?". This post will attempt to answer the question "Did Jesus die to deliver you from poverty?" In order to stay focused on the topic at hand, this post will only answer the question “Did Jesus die to deliver you from the curse of poverty?” It would be very easy to veer off into talking about whether or not God is for or against prosperity and how much prosperity is too much prosperity and so forth. Personally, I believe God blesses people financially, physically, and spiritually when He chooses to for His glory. I am not writing this to say God wants everyone poor or everyone rich. In undertaking these questions, I’ve read many articles and essays that can seem to get slightly off balanced in addressing this issue, so I don’t really want to go there at this point because I think it would take up too much time and paragraphs. If what can be answered in this post are the questions of “Is poverty a curse?” and “Did Jesus die to deliver you from poverty?”, then I have been successful in meeting my goal. Hopefully, addressing the questions and concerns of the biblical view of prosperity will be addressed sometime soon in another post. So here goes.
In the beginning of the last post, I began by asking why things like physical health and socio-economic status were so important to our society and Christianity in our society and why don’t questions concerning the state of our souls have as much impact upon us as questions about our bodies and our welfare. I stated that because of our fallen nature and our over concern with sensuality, it is easy for people to grasp the implications of things that are physical and present rather than things that are spiritual, unseen, and are eternal – either too far off or too transcendent for our minds to think about. Therefore, in response to our sensual and earthly desires, it is much easier to take something such as the Bible and conform it to address the things that we and society place heavier emphasis on, namely, our health, our money, our relationships, and so forth. The issue is not that the Bible doesn’t address these things, because it does to some extent. The issue is do we make the Bible give answers to or make promises about these things that are clearly not there? I believe this is the case with the question addressed today – “Did Jesus die to deliver you from the curse of poverty?” Poverty is something nobody wants,especially if they don’t have to live under it, and in our society (the U.S.), it is seen as something that is controllable in life because in our country, nobody HAS to be poor. So poverty, in the US, is not seen as a cultural issue – meaning the whole nation is in poverty and is oppressed because of issues beyond its control, but rather it is seen as more of a personal problem – just because you were born poor doesn’t mean you have to stay poor. The answer then to eliminating poverty according to some who preach the Bible is “Do this or believe this and you don’t have to be poor”. What does the Bible say to this question? Where does the support from the Bible come from that says “Jesus died to guarantee that you do not have to live in poverty?” There are many verses and concepts from scripture that are used to defend this question. Here are the verses I’ll focus on:

1) 2 Cor 8:9:  For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

2) John 10:10 : The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

3) Galatians 3:13-14: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—  so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Was Jesus Rich or Poor?
According to the prosperity view of  2 Corinthians 8:9, Jesus was rich in heaven prior to the incarnation. He became poor by becoming a man, being a poor carpenter while on this earth, and dying a sinner’s death, so that you might become rich – financially stable and never lacking anything. The problem with reading and interpreting this verse in this way is that it misses the entire context of the passage. It would be similar to me writing a letter to my wife saying “I love you”, and the mailman interpreting the words “I love you” to apply to themselves. That would be a misinterpretation of my letter and this is what often happens with this verse and several others used like it. So what is the context of this passage? What did Paul, the writer of this letter intend to communicate to the Corinthian church when he wrote this sentence?
Clearly, in chapter 8 he is discussing giving, so he is talking about money. Paul wants to encourage the Corinthian believers to give to the ministry for the relief of the saints (v4). Paul uses the Macedonian church as an example of how God's grace enabled the Macedonian churches to give to the ministry for the relief of the saints, even in the midst of their extreme poverty. In light of this wonderful testimony, Paul, through sending Titus to the Corinthian church, wants to encourage (not command) the Corinthians to give to the relief of the saints, not in order to  gain the love of God, but to prove its genuineness among them. The basis and source of this giving will come from love -  not an earthly, human like, temporary good will for others, but a sacrificial, life-giving, alien-like love that came from Jesus who, though he was rich, (not monetarily -because heaven has no dollars)- but He was rich in glory, grace, the fullness of God, eternal pleasure, joy, and goodness - He became poor - leaving behind all of these wonderful eternal riches,- so that you and I may experience what He left behind: God's glory, grace, fullness, joy, goodness, and life. Therefore, in light of Jesus' rich, grace giving, sacrificial love to poor sinners, the Corinthians are exhorted to finish what they started in their giving - that is, to display this type of sacrificial love to those in need that had been displayed for them in Jesus.  If we were to extract this verse alone to mean money, meaning that Jesus was financially rich , then we miss the point. The rest of the passage would mean "Jesus had financial wealth, and then gave up his financial wealth, so that you could have financial wealth." If we interpret this passage through this lens, it actually lessens the meaning of what Jesus came to do and to give. Also, it wouldn't hold true for the millions of believers throughout hundreds of years of the Bible and history who have lived in extreme poverty and lack. Also, notice in the testimony about the Macedonians giving in 2 Corinthians 8:2, the solution was not that Jesus eliminated their extreme poverty, but rather He gives them grace to give joyfully in-spite of it.  So according to this passage, which is so often used to prove that Jesus redeems those who trust in Him from poverty, Jesus death doesn’t guarantee any deliverance from poverty, but rather Jesus takes poverty and uses it to serve His glorious purposes of  building His church and advancing the gospel.

Abundant Life?
 What about the verse in John 10:10 which states that “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”? This is a verse that is often used to defend the notion that God does not want His people to live under poverty, because He came to give them an abundant and wealthy life. Firstly, in the context of this passage, poverty is never mentioned. Jesus is talking about the love and care that He has for His people as a Shepherd has for his sheep (v 1, 10). The issue is not that the sheep are impoverished and broke, but are oppressed by hired hands and robbers who do not truly care for their estate. These thieves and “rent -a- shepherd’s” only care for themselves and therefore they steal from the sheep, they kill the sheep and allow the sheep to be killed, and they destroy the sheep, taking their lives rather than preserving them (v7-10a). Ezekiel 34 is a great reference to the language Jesus is using in John 10. The issue in this passage is who is caring for the sheep and Jesus’ main point is that only He is the Good Shepherd, anyone and everyone else is out for a buck or some lamb chops. When it comes to the life mentioned in this passage, it contrasts those who subtract life against Jesus who gives life abundantly. Nowhere in this passage is money or not having enough money mentioned. Nowhere in this passage is Jesus guaranteeing a poverty free, prosperous earthly duration of years to those who will follow Him. Jesus doesn’t promise to give “the good life” in this passage, but He does promise to give His life. A life defined by the abundant  knowledge of Him just as He knows the Father (v14)(also see John 17:3) and a life defined by the love of God being poured out on us because of His sacrifice (v17).

Curse of Poverty?
Lastly, I would like to observe how most who view the atonement as a way to be set free from poverty and lack tend to view poverty as a "curse" and Christ's death as bringing in "the blessing". The line of thought that concludes that poverty is a curse begins with thinking that the curse of God upon the earth for Adam's sin is the same as the curse of the law found in Deuteronomy 27:26. Poverty is not a curse. Poverty is a result of the curse - as is sickness, disease, famine, stress, pain, pain in childbearing, earthquakes, floods, murders, rapes, genocide, and agricultural problems. Because of Adam's sin, the entire creation was subjected into futility and these are the results, yet they are not beyond the control and sovereignty of God. Romans 8: 20 says that God subjected creation to futility in hope that it will be free from the bondage and decay that it is presently in and obtain freedom, the same freedom that the Christian obtains in Christ. It is often said by those who see Jesus' death as a means to financial blessing that "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of poverty” and the scriptural basis for this statement is Galatians 3:13-14 which says:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—  so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
The problem with this statement is two fold.

1) If Jesus has presently delivered all who trust in Him from the "curse of poverty", then it equally means that He has delivered them from earthquakes, famine, sicknesses, pain, murder, rape, and genocide. If poverty is a fruit of the curse, and it is, and Christ has redeemed us from poverty and we can have prosperity and abundance now, then shouldn't that mean we are presently redeemed from the realities of murder, rape, pain, and stress now as well? If these realities were  guaranteed on demand for the present, why do women still feel the excruciating pain of childbirth? Why do earthquakes rock nations, and infants are mauled by dogs? True, God has redeemed us from all of these things, in that He uses them for His glory and our joy and He will one day make all things new.  The problem with this statement is that is essentially asking for glorification (new bodies, heaven on earth) NOW and God hasn't guaranteed that in this life.

2) Galatians 3:13-14 isn't even talking about the curse from God upon the earth. It deals entirely with the curse that the law brings for those who seek to be justified by it, which is the whole point Paul was making in the book of Galatians (Gal. 3:10). To say that the "curse of the law" is the same as the "curse of poverty" is misinterpretation of the scripture. Once this curse of the law is removed through Jesus becoming a curse for us,bearing the punishment of  our disobedience to the law, we are not given material abundance and financial prosperity and wealth, but something greater: eternal life, justification and the promised Holy Spirit, who pours out God's love in our hearts and seals us until the day of redemption.

It goes without saying but poverty is frustrating and I am in no way saying that those who are poor should just be content and not make the attempts to get out of poverty. But to go as far as to say that one is cursed or cut off from God, or still under the bondage of Satan because they are poor is taking it a little too far. God condemns no one in scripture for being poor except for the sluggard (Prov. 13:4). In all other circumstances there is 1 Samuel 2:7 which exalts the sovereignty of God in His establishment of the poor and the rich. " The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts." God gives grace to poor sinners who are rich and poor and He is no respecter of persons.

Conclusion
In attempting to use scripture to guarantee the removal of things such as sickness, poverty, suffering, and affliction, the real problem is not one of understanding the nature of the atonement of Christ; rather, the problem is eschatological. Ministers who preach that deliverance from poverty, health, and a suffering-free life are guaranteed to us now by the death of Jesus replace sanctification with glorification in the golden chain of redemption. Their eyes are set on now rather than eternity. They see eternity as "later" and conclude that God is powerful enough to act now. The Bible teaches that we are justified and declared righteous before God at our conversion, sanctified during our lives as Christians on this earth continuing to face struggles, affliction, sin, temptation, pain and trials, and we are glorified at the last day when Christ comes again and gives us new bodies, eliminates the presence of sin, and makes all creation new. To promise deliverance from poverty, sickness, and suffering now is to insist that God declare us righteous and then make all things new instantly. While this desire is well intended and may even be sincerely preached, it is not biblical because God does not promise to do things this way in His word. If Jesus were to promise a poverty-free life to believers, then it would be applicable to all who have ever trusted in Christ. Instead, what we usually see today is these messages proclaimed and applied in a wealthy America and then watch the same message totally mock the impoverished believers throughout the rest of the world and those who have died throughout history. Abundant life is given to ALL who trust in Jesus, but it is way past our pay grade to define abundant.We do not decide that. If it is defined as a quality of life filled with material and monetary wealth, it is limited because all haven’t had this, don’t have this, and won’t have this. It doesn't mean that God doesn't give material blessings, it just doesn't suggest that they are guaranteed. If abundant life defined as a surpassing knowledge of Jesus as God and an eternal and overflowing fountain of grace that covers all sin so that the believer can enjoy and delight in God forever, then it is sufficient. All who trust in Jesus WILL have this eternal and abundant life and will experience it both now and forever. This life is guaranteed to all who believe in Jesus, whether paid or poor and it works throughout any social status to the glory of God and the joy of His people.