Prosperity preaching is not the problem but…

When you listen to the declarations of certain Pastors in their churches, you begin to wonder what kind of Bible some of them read and study. 

There are all kinds of preachings going on, it appears that prosperity has been prioritised ahead of salvation. The manner in which these Pastors present the idea that financial breakthroughs is guaranteed, it does not matter how you conduct yourself. 

All manner of weird ‘akwankyere’ are given for members to follow.  The lifestyle of some Pastors brings into question the very idea of whether Christianity is all about getting a lot of money in your bank account or not. 

Instead of preaching about the finished work on the cross and the need to live in holiness and propagate the love of Christ to unbelievers, over 90 per cent of the preaching is focused on prosperity. 

What believers should realise is that God is not a magician and that prosperity is a process and not an event and therefore anyone teaching a quick path to riches is leading you to hell.

The Bible teaches us in Joshua 1:8 that “ This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shall meditate on it day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then thou shall make thy way prosperous and then thou shall have good success.” 

Prosperity is not automatic, yet some Pastors make it look like, nothing much needs to be done to become prosperous.  You have situations where church members are convinced to ‘sow seeds’ and sometimes go to the extent of psychological coercion, all in the name of God will prosper you, even when they do not have.

There us this sad case of a man divorcing his wife because her Pastor engaged in this manipulation which I term as psychological coercion, to use money meant for their children’s school fees, to sow a seed.

 When the husband became aware of it, he initiated divorce proceedings and that was the end of the marriage.

The intention of God to prosper his children is very clear in the Bible.  A study of the scriptures, reveal the promises of God, the implementation of his promises to demonstrate his intentions, in line with his nature and the promises he gave to our Great Grandparents, Adam and Eve.

 In Genesis, God demonstrated his intention for man to be prosperous, by giving Adam and Eve to exercise dominion over everything he God had created.  Man thrived in Eden and was very prosperous, until the Devil came in to deceive Eve and Adam also could not act right and they lost their glorious state. 

Fast forward, when God chose Abraham and promised him that he will bless him and his descendants, at a time that Abraham had no child.  Abraham later was blessed with children and became very prosperous as well. 

Joshua too became prosperous as God promised when he took over from Moses as leader of Israel.  Prosperity was evident in the life of King David and also in the life of Solomon. 

In the New Testament, which is the dispensation we are in, Jesus promised prosperity but it was tied to holiness according to Matthew 5:6 “ Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” KJV. 

What we see in our time is a dangerous teaching or preaching that negates holiness and righteousness to the background and founding on getting rich quick.  The youth are being made to get a very dangerous mindset of get rich quick and prioritizing prosperity ahead of righteousness or holiness.

This mindset has social implications because the youth are the ones who grow up to into adults and leaders in our country.  Can you imagine a Finance Minister, with a get rich quick by whatever means necessary? May God help us. God bless.

By Laud Kissi-Mensah