Prosperity Preachers

Sometimes people ask me if I am a "prosperity preacher."

The term "prosperity preacher" is a critical term some use to
put down those who preach God's will is prosperity.

After thinking about this, I believe there are only four
possible positions on this issue.

1 Preach prosperity is God's will for people.

2 Preach prosperity is NOT God's will -- leading people to
believe poverty is God's will.

3 Preach prosperity is God's will for some people, but not for
everyone.

4 Don't preach anything about the subject. Just keep quiet
about the subject of money.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems these are the only
options. Either you preach God is for prosperity, God is for
poverty, God has some special favorites, or just keep quiet
about the whole issue.

For those who might think it safest to ride the fence and not
say anything, realize that Jesus spoke more about money than He
did heaven or hell. The Bible is not silent on the subject, so
we should not ignore the subject either.

For those who think God shows favoritism, the Bible clearly
says otherwise six times (2 Chronicles 19:7, Acts 10:34, Romans
2:11, Ephesians 6:9, Colossians 3:25, 1 Peter 1:17).

Admittedly, there are warnings in Scripture about the dangers
of prosperity. And we should not ignore them. Money, just like
fire, can cause great damage if used wrongly, but is a great
blessing when properly used.

Money is certainly not the most important thing in life. Nor
can we judge a person's spiritual condition by their financial
condition. Yet we all require material things in order to live
here on earth.

Surely our Father God, who Jesus taught is superior to earthly
parents (Matthew 7:11), desires for every person to have all
they need.

No doubt there may be some who preach prosperity imperfectly,
with the wrong emphasis, or with wrong motives. But they are
not my servants, and to their own Master they are accountable,
not to me. It is not my job to criticize other preachers and
call them names to put them down.

Maybe they are not perfectly balanced in their teaching. Maybe
they don't know everything. But I don't either! (And neither do
you.)

But surely the correct approach is not name-calling, trying to
tarnish the reputation of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I think the right attitude is the one Paul had, that even if
people were preaching with wrong motives, Christ was still
being preached -- so he rejoiced.

PHILIPPIANS 1:17-18 NLT
17 Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about
Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely,
intending to make my chains more painful to me.
18 But that doesn't matter. Whether their motives are false or
genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way,
so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice.

The reason the devil wants people to use such disparaging names
is because he is afraid people will find out the Bible really
does teach God's will is prosperity for all people -- which it
is.

Poverty is not God's will for any person!

SAY THIS: Lord, please help me to pray for my brothers and
sisters instead of calling them names.