Nick Norelli from Rightly Dividing The Word of Truth, critiques the distortion of the truth of what is popularly known as the prosperity gospel.
The other day someone said, “The gospel is prosperity.” By that they meant that the good news is wealth for believers. In other words, as believers we should have things and lack nothing. He can be called an advocate of what has been dubbed prosperity preaching or the prosperity gospel. The type of teaching you find in abundance on popular Christian television networks.
Blahhhh. Shudder. Vomit. No wonder Pentecostalism and Charismatics gets derided in many circles. However, Nicks concluding paragraph is spot on. It’s something most Pentecostals and Charismatics agree on.
The ambiguity is actually very meaningful since Jesus proclaimed the good news about the kingdom, that news being that it’s King was coming. Jesus is that King! In other words, the good news about the kingdom is good news about Jesus himself! In turn that is good news for us! But we are never the focus. We are simply recipients of God’s gift; a gift that transcends any material comfort; a gift that outshines any social status. We are the beneficiaries of the Son’s obedience to the Father’s will. That’s prosperity.
Read his full article. You wont be disappointed. Certainly not this Pentecostal anyways.
