Saturday Read: The Prosperity Gospel Lie

Step into the marble halls of Solomon's temple around 950 BC. Gold everywhere, cedar from Lebanon, bronze pillars gleaming in the sunlight. Israel was at its economic and military peak, and surely this was proof of God's favor, right? The nation's wealth, power, and influence seemed to confirm divine blessing. Then fast-forward three generations. The kingdom split, the temple was looted, and God's people were dragged into exile. Prosperity, it turned out, was not always a sign of God's approval. In fact, it had become their spiritual downfall. "When you have eaten and are full," Moses had warned, "then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 8:12-14).

Today's prosperity gospel preaches a similar lie: that God's primary purpose is to make you wealthy, healthy, and successful. Televangelists promise that faith is a transaction—seed your gift, reap your harvest. Name it and claim it. Your best life now. But this theology would have been utterly foreign to the apostle Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament from prison cells, who was beaten, shipwrecked, and eventually martyred. He called such teaching "a means of gain" and warned that "those who desire to be rich fall into temptation" (1 Timothy 6:5, 9).

Jesus himself embodied the opposite of prosperity theology. He had "nowhere to lay his head" (Matthew 8:20), associated with society's outcasts, and told his followers to "sell your possessions and give to the needy" (Luke 12:33). When a rich young ruler asked about eternal life, Jesus didn't promise him greater wealth—he told him to give it all away (Matthew 19:21). The gospel message isn't "follow Jesus and get rich"—it's "take up your cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24).

The prosperity gospel is particularly cruel because it preys on the vulnerable—the sick, the poor, the desperate—and tells them their lack of faith is why they're suffering. It turns tragedy into shame and poverty into sin. But Scripture teaches that suffering often refines faith rather than revealing its absence: "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness" (James 1:2-3).

Are you more attracted to a Christianity that promises comfort and success, or one that calls you to sacrifice and service? How has the prosperity mindset infected your own prayers and expectations of God? True biblical prosperity isn't about accumulating wealth—it's about finding contentment in Christ, whether in abundance or need (Philippians 4:11-12).