Health, Wealth, and Prosperity??

The children of Israel of the Old Testament were living in exile in Babylon as a punishment from God for their rebellion against the Lord and for their unwillingness to heed his commands. And God promised them 70 years of exile before he would deliver them. But they had prophets in their midst who were deceiving the people into thinking that they would not have to be in exile the whole 70 years. So, they were not to listen to the prophets who were speaking lies to them, for they prophesied falsely in the name of God.

“For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:10-13 NASB1995)

And we have false prophets in our midst today who are teaching Jeremiah 29:11 out of context, and who are promising all people who profess faith in Jesus Christ that this is a promise of God to them of “health, wealth, and prosperity.” And many people have been duped by these false prophets, and they have been convinced that the more that they give to the institutional church, the more that God will bless them, but while many very wealthy pastors (false prophets) stack up all sorts of properties and possessions.

So, this is not a promise for us today of health, wealth, and prosperity if we give generously to the institutional church or to certain other “Christian ministries.” If it is at all to be considered as any kind of promise to Christians today, it must be seen and interpreted in light of the teachings of Jesus and of his New Testament apostles in the New Testament writings. For we are promised in the Scriptures that the life of a follower of Christ is a life of suffering and persecution and hardship, but one of spiritual blessing, too.

And the plans that our Lord has for us today are first of all that we must, by God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and now walk (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to our Lord and to his commands in holy living. And we must follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in our day-to-day living, for this is for our welfare, i.e. for our good, that we might have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God, which is the future and the hope of those whose lives are committed to Jesus Christ.

And if you would take a good look at our world today, and at our individual nations, I would suggest to you that our world and our nations and the church at large today are presently being faced with the judgment of God for the people’s rebellion against the Lord and for their unwillingness to heed his commands, but more specifically directed at those who profess faith in Jesus Christ but who are living worldly lives in the worship of what is not God. And so God is calling out to all who profess his name to repent and to obey God.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Acts 26:18]

The Battle for Truth

Based off Malachi 1-4
An Original Work / May 18, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love