“Beware of men corrupted in mind and bereft of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a way of financial gain.” I Tim. 6:5
November 14, 2022 - After writing a recent article about my preacher-Grandmother, I received an email today from a San Augustine friend, Agnes Sparks. “Your Grandmother lived in a time when most folks thought more about the place they were heading in the "after-life" than we do today.” And she’s right… many do preach as if this life is all we have.
…And if you send them your money, you’ll receive wealth and prosperity. “It’s God's will for you to live in prosperity instead of poverty.” ‘It's God's will for you to pay your bills and not be in debt,” says a prominent prosperity preacher. “It's God's will for you to live in health and not in sickness all the days of your life.” By following the Lord, he says people recognize him everywhere and he doesn’t have to pay traffic tickets, (gets by with breaking the law) gets the best parking spot in parking lots, a first class seat on crowded airplanes with no boarding pass, and priority seating at restaurants.
I wonder why this recipe didn’t work for the church in Jesus’ day. Early Christians suffered unspeakable persecution (the Apostle Paul was beheaded in a Roman prison with no material possessions.)
If the prosperity preachers are right, why don’t they take their message to the starving of the world who really need prosperity?
Maybe it’s because the preachers couldn’t prosper there, either.
