HEALTH AND WEALTH GOSPEL

There are a number of people in the New Testament who did not endorse the so-called "health and wealth" gospel or the prosperity gospel. That view contradicts the true gospel. Jesus had neither part nor lot in such utter foolishness. He was born into poverty and lived in poverty for his entire life. At least, that is what the gospel record teaches. On one occasion, a man said to Christ, "Lord, I will follow you whithersoever you go. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay his head" (Lk. 9:57-58). The author of an article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution spoke with Dr. Eric Myers, professor of Archeology at Duke University. Dr. Myers is the editor of the Oxford Encyclopedia in the Near East. He points out that Jesus was so poor he could not afford his own burial tomb. "There is no way to speak of wealth in this context," Dr. Myers insists. "This is living at the margins of society, eking out an agricultural existence" (p. MS-5).

But wait just a minute. What about the gold, frankincense and myrrh the wise men of the east gave to Mary and Joseph? Matthew records what happened. "When they (that is, the wise men of the east) were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh" (Mt. 2: 11). Did those gifts make Christ rich? Creflo Dollar and other prosperity preachers argue that the gifts made him rich. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Sunday, October 22,2006) published an article with the title, "Was Jesus Rich?" The subtitle of the article was, "Swanky messiah not far-fetched in Prosperity Gospel." The article says that Christians have sung for many years about Jesus as the poor baby "asleep in a manger with a crib for his bed." According to the article, Creflo Dollar, a popular television evangelist, denies that Jesus was poor. He argues that Jesus became wealthy because of those gifts the wise men of east gave to Mary and Joseph. In fact, according to Dollar, Jesus had so much money he had to have an accountant to keep track of his money. He says that Jesus wore such expensive clothing that the Roman soldiers who participated in the crucifixion gambled for his robe. Dollar asserts: "He was rich, he was whole, and I use those words interchangeably" (p. MS-1). Tragically, that shows how little Creflo Dollar knows about words.

Creflo Dollar's opinions-no one has any basis for calling them "beliefs"-raise some very interesting questions. If Jesus Christ had so much money he had to have an accountant to keep track of it, why did he not have a place to lay his head? A person with a great amount of money may choose to spend his nights in the forests or in the fields. But that was not the case with our Lord. He did not have any place to lay his head. In his excellent commentary on The Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1951) Norval Geldenhuys says concerning our Lord's poverty: "In answer to his loyalty to the Master, the Savior calls his attention to the naked reality of His life of extreme deprivation. For him there is no rest such as is to be found even for foxes and the birds of heaven" (p. 295).

I have another question for Creflo Dollar and for other health and wealth preachers. Is there even one reputable Bible scholar in the world - conservative, liberal, radical or otherwise - who believes that Jesus Christ was rich? Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Oral Roberts and Benny Hinn do not qualify as Bible scholars. They are popularizers of their prosperity message. You cannot read the Bible with any comprehension and support the health and wealth gospel.

If the prosperity gospel preachers were right, could we not infer that Jesus did not plant enough faith seed to become rich or even moderately comfortable? We do not know how much money Jesus ever made. But we know he gave his all to serve the living God. Paul told the Ephesians that Christ "gave himself up" for the church (Eph. 5:25). No man in the history of the world ever gave so much. But his giving of himself did not make him rich in this world's goods.

I have another question for Creflo Dollar and others who claim that the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh made Christ rich. How much gold, frankincense and myrrh would it have taken to make Jesus rich? Did the wise men from the east bring an once or a pound or a wagonload of gold? Frankincense and myrrh were very expensive items, but nobody - not Creflo Dollar or anyone else - knows how much of these items the wise men brought to Jesus. The only reason the prosperity preachers maintain that Jesus was rich is to try to justify their greed. All prosperity preachers pervert the gospel of Christ. I strongly suspect they could not care less what I have to say on the subject.

Do you know of anyone, except the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave more to the cause of Christ than the Apostle Paul? I do not mean he sacrificed money. I do not know how much money he ever had. But I know this: Paul endured hardships most of us can only imagine. He explained to the Corinthians: "For I think God has set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed unto death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are honorable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place; and labor, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: being defamed, we entreat: we are made the filth of the world, and are the off-scouring of all things unto this day" (1 Cor. 4:9-13).

Let us take a few minutes to examine some of the terms Paul used in this passage. There were times when Paul was hungry, thirsty, naked and buffeted. The word "naked" does not mean he had no clothing. It means he had inadequate clothing. The word "buffeted" literally means to beat with the fist. Paul not only was deprived of food, drink and clothing; he was beaten for his preaching. He had to work with his hands to support himself in his work for Christ. From the viewpoint of the prosperity preachers, Paul must not have planted enough seed faith to make himself rich. Paul further explained the great sufferings he had endured. There were times when he was "in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness" (2 Cor. 11:27). I wonder if those fastings were voluntary or if they occurred because of the hardships he had to endure.

The church in Philippi had been very generous in supporting the Apostle Paul (Phil. 4:18). But not all churches were so generous. He wrote to the Philippians: "I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need" (Phil. 4:12). If he had been more generous in giving to the cause of Christ, would he have encountered so many difficulties? Can you not understand how insulting the so-called prosperity gospel is to our Lord, to the Apostle Paul and to untold numbers of faithful Christians?

Most of you remember what happened to Jim Bakker of the PTL club. To make themselves rich, Jim and his wife Tammy fleeced thousands and thousands of people. He believed and taught: "God does not want any poor kids or any sick kids." When my Molly and I lived in Memphis, Tennessee, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported that Jim and Tammy claimed to have given virtually every cent of their money to PTL. The reporter for the paper had discovered that the Bakkers owned a $400,000 house in California and an expensive home in North Carolina. In addition, they owned a Mercedes Benz and a Rolls Royce. It ought to be obvious that Jim's preaching had been very lucrative.

Of course, Jim went to prison for five years because he had mishandled the money which was given to his ministry. After his release from a federal prison, he wrote a book dealing with his grievous mistakes. His book has the title, I Was Wrong: The Untold Story of the Shocking Journey from PTL Power to Prison and Beyond (Nashville: Nelson, 1996). Jim confesses that his previous view of prosperity was "fundamentally flawed." He denies that God has promised health and wealth to Christians (p. xiii of the Introduction). Jim affirms: "The mistakes I made are being perpetuated in ministries, churches, businesses, marriages and families (p. xiv of the Introduction). Jim admits he was proud of be associated with what is known as the "prosperity gospel." He confesses that he had not studied the words of Jesus until he was in prison. He learned that the so-called "prosperity gospel" is the exact opposite of the gospel Jesus preached. He realized that he was helping to propagate a false gospel - not the true gospel of Jesus Christ (pp. 532-533). Incidentally, it takes a big man to make such an admission.

The message Jim preached convinced the King's kids that they deserved health and wealth. Tragically, there are many television evangelists - both men and women - who preach the same false message. The Tennessean (Sunday, November 29, 2009) published an article, "Prosperity Gospel faces challenge: frugal savers," by Bob Smietana from the newspaper's staff. The author points out that Charles Cowan of the nondenominational Faith Is the Victory Church in Nashville had bought into prosperity gospel. Like the other prosperity preachers, Cowan preaches that God wants Christians to prosper. Cowan's mentors in the health and wealth gospel were the late Kenneth Erwin Hagin and Oral Roberts (p. I-A).

Does the Bible teach that God wants his children to prosper? The Apostle John wrote to Gaius: "Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers" (3 John 1-2). The prosperity preachers constantly cite this passage as justify their prosperity gospel. Does it really do that? Is financial prosperity the only kind Christians should anticipate? Was this a promise of God or a wish of the Apostle John's? Could John have had in mind what Peter told his readers: "But grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 3:18)? John said: "I wish above all else that you may prosper and be in good health." If John were speaking of financial prosperity, does that mean that financial prosperity is of greater importance than spiritual prosperity? God wants all of us to prosper in adding the Christian graces: virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. If we lack these, we are "blind and cannot see afar off and have forgotten that" we were "purged from our old sins" (2 Pet. 1:5-9). If a Christian does not prosper financially, would he be blind and would he have forgotten that he was purged from his old sins? In other words, is financial prosperity on the same plane as spiritual prosperity?

Bob Smietana, author of the article in The Tennessean, says the prosperity preachers often quote these words from Luke 6:38: "Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom." Charles Cowan "believes that God will take care of his faithful givers - rewarding them with spiritual and physical health, along with enough money to meet their needs." Cowan told Smietana that "some churches have gone too far." They seem to stress money above "the total focus of their relationship with God" (p. 13-A).

Was Jesus speaking primarily of money when he said: "Give and it shall be given unto you?" If that is what he had in mind, his promise has failed in hundreds and hundreds of thousands of cases in the past 2,000 years. Some of God's most faithful servants have been extremely poor, including the Lord himself and the Apostle Paul. My own father was a very generous man. With twelve children to support, he still gave generously to the work of the Lord. Did he prosper financially? He made a good living, but never accumulated great wealth. Did he believe he had been blessed, even though he was not a wealthy man?

What did Jesus have in mind when he said, "Give and it shall be given unto you?" There is no doubt God will bless those who are faithful to his will, but do those blessings necessarily mean money? Paul assured the Philippians that God would bless them for their generosity in helping Paul to preach the gospel. "Now you Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but you only. For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things that were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God. But my God will supply all your need according to the riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:15-19).

Kenneth Copeland is one of the really wealthy health and wealth preachers. He recently purchased a $20 million Cessna jet aircraft. Copeland published a little booklet with the title, The Laws of Prosperity (Ft. Worth: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1974). He asks: "Do you want a hundredfold return on your money? Give and let God multiply it back to you. No bank in the world can offer this kind of return! Praise the Lord" (p. 67)! Copeland also insists: "Every man who invests in the Gospel has a right to expect the staggering return of one hundredfold" (p. 87).

D. R. McConnell has both an undergraduate and a graduate degree from Oral Roberts University. In 1988 McConnell published an excellent book with the title, A Different Gospel: A Historical and Biblical Analysis of the Modern Faith Movement (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson). McConnell quotes Dr. Gordon Fee, a scholarly Pentecostal preacher: "American Christianity is rapidly being infected by an insidious disease, the so-called 'wealth and health' Gospel - although it has very little of the character of the Gospel in it. In its more brazen form.... it simply says, 'Serve God and get rich' ... in its more respectable, but pernicious - forms it builds fifteen million dollar crystal cathedrals to the glory of affluent suburban Christianity" (p. 170). McConnell also quotes Kenneth Hagin, the grandfather of the prosperity gospel: God "wants His children to eat the best, He wants them to wear the best clothing, he wants them to drive the best cars, and He wants them to have the best of everything" (p. 175). Did the Apostle Paul have the best to eat, the best clothing, the finest horses to pull his fancy chariot and the best of everything?

And what about the healthy part of the prosperity gospel? McConnell quotes E.W. Kenyon: "It is wrong for us to have sickness and disease in our bodies when God laid those diseases on Jesus" (pp. 150-151). One of the leading gurus in this movement, Kenneth Hagin, got sick and died. Paul Crouch has had serious heart problems. Oddly enough, many of the teachings of the health and wealth preachers originated with the new thought movement. They did not come from the word of God.

I ask you to think of some of the great servants of God. One of Paul's fellow soldiers was a man named Epaphroditus. Paul said concerning this man: "I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he who ministered to my wants. For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because you had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick near unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation: because for the work of Christ he was near unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me" (Phil. 2:24-30). Did God fail in his promises to Epaphroditus? Or is it possible the health and wealth preachers have missed the mark?

Timothy, Paul's son in the gospel, had some stomach problems (1 Tim. 5:23). We do not know what sickness Trophimus was experiencing, but Paul left him in Miletus sick (2 Tim. 4:20). How do the health and wealth preachers explain Paul's sickness? He told the Galatians: "You know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh you did not despise, nor reject; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness of which you spoke? For I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me" (Gal. 4: 13-15). Is it possible Paul was sick because he had not been generous enough in giving to the cause of Christ? Paul gave his whole life to the Lord.

Winford Claiborne

The International Gospel Hour

P.O. Box 118

Fayetteville, TN 37334