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>> This morning I shared the story of my cousin who was a victim. And I want to suggest that
there are many victims of the prosperity gospel. I realize that for some of us from the western
world, this is not as much a problem as it is in the so called developing or underdeveloped
parts of the world. I've tried to reflect and study trends with
the prosperity gospel, at least in the last 20 years. One of my findings is that it thrives
significantly in the context of extreme poverty, where there is a little potential for wealth.
Usually where the economy is very stable, and most people are prosperous, you won't
find this gospel. But you move into situations where there is extreme poverty with a minority
controlling much of the affluence, the gospel seeps in and thrives.
Like my cousin, there are many other victims. Not too long ago I was chatting with another
woman who told me sometimes she doesn't know if to go to church or not. I asked her why.
She said to me, when she goes to church, she's too embarrassed because she does not have
enough money to dance to the front, to give as many times as there are offerings to be
collected. Some of us have been in such churches where
there are multiple collections. And, you see, in my context in particular, Africa, the man
of God is so powerful. When the man of God tells her to stand up and dance to the front,
in fact, suggests for you to put your hand in your pocket and bring everything that is
there in, and with it, as a wave offering to God. Once you’ve waved it as such an
offering to God, it no longer has a right to belong to you or to go back into your pocket.
So you put it in the offering plate. So people have given not only money but car keys and
other things. So we're reflecting on a significant challenge.
I'll just highlight some thoughts for our reflection and discussion. Poverty is a big
problem in many of our contexts. Particularly in my own context, where people's dignity
is literally on the mind. We're all created in the image of God, but there is something
that poverty does. When you can't afford to eat more than a meal a day, or sometimes even
that one meal, it's a struggle. To see people living on the streets in subhuman conditions
gives us a deep sense of pain to want to rescue, to want to intervene, and in many contexts,
where people that have looked up to the government and found that the government and economies
have not helped them, their hope is the church. So many turn to the church for help, and that's
why in many of our contexts, the prosperity gospel is so attractive. Because if I'm in
extreme poverty and somebody tells me, if I give God one dollar, God will give me $10.
It is attractive. I will want such a miracle. And many people do go to church expecting
their miracles. Unfortunately, research has shown that very often it isn't those sowing
the seed faith that benefit. It's the lifestyle of the leaders, as I said this morning, that
are reflected, you know, in designer suits, in bigger cars, bigger homes. So it isn't
really a solution to the challenge of poverty. And I would suggest there is also there are
also victims of prosperity. People who have become so affluent that they become blind
to the needs of others. And as people in mission, in ministry, church leaders will need to beware
of this. On the one hand, the needs of the very, very poor, and also, the blindness of
the affluent rich in our respective contexts. As I mentioned this morning, there is the
problem with hermeneutics. And I used one of the most popular verses that used to back
this gospel, from Luke 6:38. But there are others used to define prosperity. For instance,
3 John 2 in which Paul writing to his friend, Gaius, says, ‘I pray that you may prosper
in all things.’ What does this prosperity mean? Often this is used to expound or explain
prosperity in times of material things. I know many people don't like preachers talking
of ‘in the Greek language,’ and the like, but sometimes you do need the Greek to understand
the meaning of words. Because in this particular text, ‘I pray you prosper in all things,’
a careful study shows that the Greek word, ‘eudo(ph)’ is used for ‘prosper.’
And it really means ‘good route’ or ‘good road’ or ‘good journey.’ So what the
writer was really saying is ‘I want you to have a good and healthy lifelong journey.
‘ Otherwise, why would John say ‘above all
else’? John who was a witness of the life of Christ. Why would he say ‘above all else,
I want to be rich or materially prosperous’, which is a common interpretation?
Or even John 10:10, where people interpret ‘abundant life’ to mean ‘material prosperity.’
No one is suggesting that God wants us to be destitute. But you see, to manipulate scripture
to back this gospel isn't just biblical, because the word used for ‘life’ in John 10:10,
is the word ‘zoe’, a word indicating life in the spirit and in the soul, as different
from ‘bios’, which refers to physical, material life. So what Jesus was really saying
is I want you to have an abundant life in the spirit. It is referring more to the spiritual
nature and not necessarily riches, houses, designer cars, and so on.
So it's important in addressing this challenge to recognize the place of adequate biblical
interpretation. The real question is, is this good news for the poor? If it is not, is there
much more the church can do than dangling this carrot of prosperity before people? Is
it possible for churches to deliberately look at creating opportunities for vocational training,
to employ the less privileged? Is it possible to foster the compassion of Christ at thinking
through how we today can practice what the early church did, in which those who have
much and those who have little, were comfortable with one another because there was much sharing
in the church. Are there possible ways forward besides what the prosperity gospel offers
today? As an investment, as a seed faith, and the like.
I believe we need to think more deeply on how to meet the needs of the poor in our midst.
Because what happens now is not necessarily the answer. And I want to suggest we're not
all immune. The starting point for me is to recognize, first and foremost, that I love
good things. Most of us like the good things of life. We can't deny that. But when is enough
enough? How much land, as somebody has asked, does a man need?
I refer to the French theologian, Jacques Ellul, this morning. And he actually distinguishes
between money and wealth. For him, wealth consists of those good things of God's creation
that are meant for our enjoyment. There is a place for that.
And then he says money is the world's way of amassing those things. Hoarding them. Assuring
that you can have more and more tomorrow. And in the process, it divides people according
to its arbitrary rules. Money doesn't merely tempt, it engulfs.
So we need to be aware of the potential danger of handling much more than has been entrusted
to us for good Christian stewardship. So the hermeneutics, the challenge of money, the
need to respond to the needs of the poor in our context, because, as it happens, the tendency
is the more we have, the less we're aware of those who do not have. And I hope that
in our dialogue this afternoon there will be practical suggestions on ways forward to
address the challenge of poverty in our context without necessarily manipulating God's word
to back affluent lifestyles. Thank you.