Prosperity Gospel and John Piper
Posted by LayGuy on Jul 22, 2007 in Christianity, Rant | 5 commentsIf you are a reader of my blog, you would know that I despise the so called “prosperity gospel.” This fake and dirty gospel is pushed into our hearts and minds by some of the biggest preachers out there. Preachers that fill stadiums and whip crowds into a frenzy as they bellow out, “God is going to do something in your life” or “the windows of heaven will open so wide into your life”, etc.
For a long time, I have hated this gospel as it satisfies the carnal longing inside me and the carnal longing inside you. This gospel doesn’t promote a denying of my self. This gospel promotes a magnification of self.
This gospel encourages us to give and tithe above and beyond what is sometimes possible so that God, in return, would bless us beyond our ability to contain it. Instead of giving to honour God, this gospel encourages to give and hand God an “I owe you” slip in which we sub-consciously demand payback from God.
I have come across this YouTube clip from John Piper many times and now have decided to post it here as a reminder to me about the ugliness of this so called gospel.
YouTube – John Piper on the prosperity gospel
Tags: John Piper, Prosperity Gospel, False Teaching
Thanks for this. You and me brother are together in despising this false gospel. What makes it popular? It feels good! But just because it feels good doesn’t mean it is! I trust your day of worship will be great!
This is a really good way of phrasing the argument. The road is narrow. I love the verse that says “you have not because you ask not, and when you ask it is with wrong motives…” I am way too tired to look up reference and exact wording…. but as important as our asking God for what we want is having the write motives in doing so. Is it to build his kingdom or to honor him, or is it to build our kingdom of self. Some people are great at deceiving themselves about their motives…. Like “i need a rolex to witness to rich people”… Being a “rich people” I can say that is without a doubt untrue.
How did you get the “technorati tags” on your post?
Well, I don’t have sound right now, so I only got to read the video, but I could hear Piper’s voice in my head speaking the words I was reading. He’s dead on. I feel so bad for the people who get taken in by these preachers. Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, and Joyce Meyer come to mind right off the bat. They preach a false gospel, one contradicted by the fact that Jesus was essentially homeless during his ministry, and that though he went to the poor, he never promised to remove their poverty. He even told the disciples that the poor would always be with them.
These people are deceivers, and I pray that those they have deceived find the truth.
trust me, i am no sympathizer of this false gospel. but i think our tendency to trot it out and whip it is very often quite hasty.
the presuppositions of what is popularly called the health and wealth gospel, i think, may be found in even the most modest and toned down expr4essions of american christianity. it almost seems that the prosperity gospels really irritate our modest values concerning money and material wealth, etc. more than deeper theologocal committments. that is to say, good people don’t crassly talk about material wealth.
let me ask this: do we think faith can make a homosexual straight? do we assume that christians are “more whole” than non-? do we think it is God’s purpose that our families are to be de-fractured? do we think God’s law is to they key to happiness, or the rightful response of those redeemed? do we think that the health of the nation mayy be found by embracing certain “biblical principles”? do we use the phrase “biblical principles” to mean that we can find comfort and ease in this life, even just a little? the form of these questions may be leading, but i think even those who spew “hatred” for the propserity gospels do well to examine even their own sets of assumptions about what christian faith affords. just because the volume is turned down and is made socially acceptable doesn’t mean the same presuppositions are not resident within. even piper might have to admit that somewhere underneath he, too, has succombed in some measure to the divine trinity of the spirit of the age, which is to be “happy, healthy and whole.”
zrim
Not even a year ago, the LORD saved me by sweeping me into the arms of Jesus Christ. 38 years old, and I had never tasted LIFE. I know from WHAT I was saved. These false teachers “muddy the waters” and steal far more than money, leading the sheep astray on every high mountain to prostitute themselves with idols. They intentionally teach error for their temporal gain, and many are lost following their carnal nature. May God bring them to repentance, may He bring them to openly renounce their error, and may He bring discernment to all who name Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior. TURN TBN OFF!