The Prosperity Gospel

There has been a false gospel that has been going around for quite a while now. This false gospel is called the prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel promises you 1 of 3 things,

1. Wealth - you will have plenty of financially, not necessarily that you will be rich, but God does desire that you will be able to have plenty, never to be poor.


2. Health - that if you are in God's favor, he promises to give you great health and to not be plagued with sickness because it is not his will for you to be sick.


3. Prosperity - God has made you to succeed always, not to fail and it is not his will for you to fail but it is his will that you succeed in everything you do.

Many of the prosperity gospel preachers that you find are on the TBN channel (Trinity Broadcast Network). The preachers that promote prosperity gospel on this network are Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, and T.D Jakes. The preacher that I am most familar with is Joel Osteen.

Joel Osteen is the pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston Texas. In an interview with Osteen, Business Week asked him how he would describe his message. He replied and said that,

"It's a message of encouragement" The problem behind having a message of encouragement like this one is that people set unrealistic expectations of what they want to see happen in their life, whether it is prosperity, health or wealth.

Let's be realistic, it is not God's will for everyone to be prosperous, wealthy or to be healthy always. Look at Jesus' life for example, he was not somone that rolled up in a Rolls Royce with a diamond ring on his finger when he entered the triumphal entry, he was on a donkey! If anyone is to prosper, why didn't the Son of God? He did not even come close to prospering; he was nailed to a cross!

Prosperity gospel preachers in a way make God out to be a fairy or genie. If people think and wish enough, things will come their way and they will start to see God's favor in their life. The problem is that God puts us through trials and tribulations, despite what our attitude or approach.