The Truth About The Prosperity Teaching Of Today

The Truth of Malachi 3:10

Malachi 3:10 is a favorite pet scripture of the Word Faith Movement teachers.

It is often proceeded by verses 8-9 in order to lay a "guilt trip" upon someone and to place condemnation upon them. (You've heard it I'm sure... "will a man rob God" and "ye are cursed with a curse" ).

There is nothing inherently wrong with the scriptures, but the underlying motive for quoting such things is not to teach anyone the proper interpretation of Malachi 3:10.  The motive for these 'word-faith' teachers is to make you feel guilty, condemned and cursed so that you will send more money to them!

Malachi 3:10 states:  "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

Without getting into a lengthy teaching (at least for now) on tithes and offerings, let me briefly give a few facts about tithing.

The tithing system of the Old Testament was actually about more than just money. It involved a tithe of the "first fruits" of the fields and of the flocks, including much of the end product of those first fruits (i. e. oil, wine, flour, dough, etc).

All such tithes were given in order for the priests and the Levites to have food (meat in the house of God)! There was also a tithe of the increase which included "spoils of war", inheritances, etc. This latter tithe also included wages earned, gifts that were given and profits gained from business transactions. In other words, if you gained $1, you gave on your FIRST FRUIT of that $1 BEFORE you "deducted" your business expenses, supplies, etc.

The giving of money (instead of first fruits) was actually instituted as a relief from the long distances some people had to travel in order to get to the temple. This in effect allowed the individual to sell his goods locally and bring the money to the temple rather than transport large amounts of food, animals, etc to the temple. In this manner (by selling beforehand), he was able to purchase the items he needed for the feast when he arrived at the temple area.

These tithes were NEVER used to make the Priests or the Levites wealthy! Never!

Read your own bible concerning this and find out for yourself that the monetary tithe was to be used to meet the needs of the poor and the widows! It was never to be used to make the wealthy even wealthier!

Today's prosperity teachers want to teach about the tithe (erroneously) and they demand you send your tithe to them! I wonder why you don't call THEM when you have a spiritual need or a death in your family?

Perhaps they, as your spiritual leader would volunteer to hold the funeral of your dear departed loved one? After all, if you're tithing to them, that means you must be trusting in their teaching for guidance and that they are your pastor.

Truthfully, the tithe was never used and was never meant to be used to finance huge churches, cathedrals, programs, the pastors house, etc. There is nothing inherently wrong with these things, but the tithe of the Old Testament was used to feed and clothe the ministry and the tithe of the increase was used to help the poor, the elderly and the widows.

Read Exodus 22:29, 23:19, 34:26 - Deuteronomy 18:4 - Numbers 18:1-12 for starters. You might also read Numbers 18:21 - Deuteronomy 14:27-29 and Deuteronomy 26:12.

Cautions About Earthly Wealth

We must exercise great caution in our natural lust for wealth, fame and material possessions. As I've already stated, the God is not against wealth or the wealthy, but the Bible clearly cautions us against the greed and gluttony that seem to spring from an excess of wealth.  Did you know the bible also cautions against teaching people that wealth is a sign of being "blessed" by God?

Don't be deceived into thinking wealth is necessarily from God. Many of today's atheists are very wealthy. The Devil has the ability to make you rich. Don't assume because you may have no lack that it is God himself who has "blessed" you above other men.

Examine what the Bible has to say about wealth:

Timothy 6:7-11 "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness."

Luke 3:14 "And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages."

Hebrews 13:5 "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

James 5:1-6 "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you."

James 2:5 "Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?"

Luke 1:52-53 "He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away."

Luke 6:24-26 "But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets."

Luke 12:15 "And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."

Jeremiah 9:23-24 "Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD."

Psalms 37:16 "A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked."

Ecclesiastes 5:13 "There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt."

Matthew 19:23 "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven."

The bottom line, no matter how much “word of faith” or “prosperity by faith” teachers want to tell you otherwise, is that prosperity is not a demonstration of how much faith (or lack of faith) a person has or how much favor they have collected in God’s eyes! On the contrary the Bible warns us against collecting wealth here on earth and against oppressing the poor.

It would do you well to read the book of Amos (very slowly!)

Jesus said when we collect treasure here on earth, our heart would be in those treasures instead of where it should be. Our heart should be in reaching lost souls. Tragically for this generation, Jesus’ words have come to pass: Where their treasure is, so are their hearts.

Remove the dollar from their hand and you'll find the care of the sheep will slip away.

REAL Word-Faith

I recently read of a ministry called the Trinity Foundation that began the ‘Dallas Project’ in 1988 to challenge churches to meet the needs of the homeless by members actually taking people into their homes. They almost overnight, became overwhelmed with homeless people, many of whom had given their last dollars to one of the ‘word-faith’ televangelists in the area.

They also began to receive calls from many other ministries who had become “dumping grounds for the discarded fruit of the televangelists”. They tell the story of one particular woman who had received an inheritance of $53,000 dollars and had, over time, sent $49,000 to one of the word-faith televangelists. When she fell on hard times she went to his church and asked for help but was told to go to a social service agency.

I am personally aware of a two separate situations, one in Arkansas and one in Texas.  Situation One:  A young mother of 3 whose husband had left her 2 years prior for another woman, had divorced her and forced her to work at a minimum wage job. This young lady had applied for social assistance but the paperwork had not been pushed through the system and she was told it would take another 15  days to do so.

Due to a business closure lost her job through no fault of her own and had applied for several other jobs in the area but had no opportunities. She had been living as many do today, from paycheck to paycheck and just barely getting by and within 2 weeks after losing her job, everything she had tried to save was completely gone. For several years, she and her husband had given faithfully to VTN television and Agape Church in Little Rock, Arkansas and over those years had given thousands of dollars to these ministries (in her own words, more than $25,000 in 5 years.   She turned to them for help in her desperate situation and asked only for enough food to get through 2 weeks and help with her electric bill. She needed only $45 to keep the electricity turned on and expected that her food stamps and assistance would be in effect within the next couple of weeks.

This mega-million dollar ministry refused to help, telling her she would need to apply for government assistance. Their reason? She wasn't an "active member" of their congregation.

When she came to me, I was horrified to hear what happened to her. She had proof that all she was saying was true. Not only did I purchase her enough food to last a month, I also made sure her electric, water and gas bills were paid in full and I also gave her $100 (literally all I had left at the time) to help her with gas for her car and to help her with other "necessaries" that she might need (hey, we take things like toilet paper, toothpaste, etc for granted!).

Am I boasting? Not one single bit, but I've seen and heard too many of these tales to discount them as isolated.

That same ministry that turned her away within the next year spent 2-3 MILLION dollars in order for them to upgrade their broadcast towers to  digital technology.

What a shame, they couldn't afford to feed a family in need but they can afford the latest and greatest broadcast technology in order for them to panhandle on the airwaves and dupe more people into giving up their hard earned money.

Scenario 2:  Some friends of mine that I knew for several years, fell on very hard times after suffering life threatening injuries and an extended hospital stay.  They asked for help from one one of the Dallas/Ft. Worth Mega Ministries:  Kenneth Copeland ministries.  

Their request?

They needed help with just the basic staples of life: just a little food to help them until they received their next check (in about 3 weeks). They too, had for years, given money and had even volunteered their time to this ministry only to be turned away and referred to Social Services.

Tragically, this "let the government help you" thinking has crept into most local community churches today. I've seen churches that had the money to pay traveling evangelists but who wouldn't help some of their own people in need.

What a shame it is!

 I'll say this much: Unless more Christians open their Bibles and start actually reading what the Word of God has to say before swallowing this prosperity garbage that is being disguised as biblical truth, there will be plenty more heartbreaking stories like this one.

Don't think God will remain silent forever on this matter! ".... the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth...." James 5:4

Amos 2:6-7 "Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:..."

Ezekiel 16:49 "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy."

Sure there are testimonies from a small handful of people who claim that God did indeed repay tenfold but we are never told of the many who have suffered extreme financial hardship from sending their last dollar to the prosperity doctrine proponents that have promised them many hundreds in return yet never received a penny in return.

Satan is perfectly capable of making sure a few people do get rewarded for the ‘love-gifts’. How else would he keep the deception going?

The Fallacy

As I conclude this, I want to present some quotes from those who teach this false gospel of health and wealth.   Read them carefully.  Ask yourself:  "Is this REALLY the principles, thoughts, ideas and teaching of the bible?"

The final decision to believe what you wish, of course, is yours.