23 July 2009

Should We Buy Into the Health Wealth and Prosperity Gospel?

Following up on the last post here, let's look at two quotes on the Health Wealth and Prosperity Gospel.

First from John Piper we read,

The health, wealth and prosperity "gospel" swallows up the beauty of Christ in the beauty of his gifts and turns the gifts into idols. The world is not impressed when Christians get rich and say thanks to God. They are impressed when God is so satisfying that we give our riches away for Christ's sake and count it gain (from Don't Waste Your Life page 72).

And from John MacArthur,

The prosperity gospel is absolutely non-biblical. It is an affront to God. The way to power is through suffering and weakness. As Paul said, "For the sake of Christ...I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." All true servants of Christ learn through the years to embrace the assaults that cut to the heart, the mutinies, the betrayals, the disaffection, the massive disappointment, the heartache, and even the physical pain and suffering because they know all those things work together to destroy self-reliance...Christ is more powerfully revealed in his servants when they bear up under severe affliction...The power of God will be on display in our suffering. We all learn more, far more, from suffering (from Stand, pages 66-67).

What is your way to "power"?

No comments: