I drive a lot, so taking shortcuts, trying to
get around traffic and other obstacles that hinder me getting to my destination
are time savers when I find them. But, more often than not, when I try to take
these shortcuts I end up getting lost and have to waste more time getting back
on the road I need to be on. Today I found myself thinking of being lost. Sometimes
I wonder about my salvation. Not whether or not I am
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The
reason why I want to discuss this with you all today is because I am seeing
more and more Christians taking the shortcuts offered by the preaching of the
prosperity gospel. One of the things that make me question whether or not I am
on the right road is prosperity. When my life is going great, there are no
struggles, no obstacles, no daily striving against my flesh to keep focused on
Jesus; I question the way I have taken, and if I have somewhere along the line,
chosen to take a shortcut. I have learned in these fourteen years of my walk
with the Lord that it is not easy. When things are going too smoothly,
something in my life is usually not right. But when I am walking the road the
Lord has for me, I find myself in a constant battle to stay in between the
white lines.
But the
prosperity teachers out there, they don’t teach suffering. All they teach is
blessings and getting from God all that we can. They teach that God wants to
give you great wealth, easy healing, and none of what they teach mentions anything
about suffering. So, I ask the question- is that the road the Lord wants for
us? A road marked with wealth, health and success, and no suffering ever? The
first scripture that comes to my mind when I ask this question is found in
Matthew 7.
“Enter
by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to
destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and
difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Matthew 7:13-14
Jesus
says to us that there is a narrow gate we must enter through if we want life.
This narrow gate is difficult to get through. I have listened to these
prosperity teachers who are on the television, and I have never heard them
speak of this narrow gate that is filled with difficulty. All they want you to believe
is that
God loves you and wants to give you everything you have ever wanted or
hoped for. I do believe that God does want the best for us, but that best came
at a price; the price of suffering and the price of death. Jesus came to this
earth to give us an example of what this Christian life will look like. He was persecuted,
suffered at the hands of others, and was eventually put to death for our sins.
If Jesus is our example, and the prosperity teachers are correct, then Jesus
did not life His life on earth in faith. Because according to them, if we have
faith then we won’t have suffering. So, are they saying that Jesus was not God,
and He did not live a life of faith?
We need
to be on guard and beware of these false teachers that are becoming more and
more prevalent in our society today. They teach wealth, and health and
happiness, but nowhere in the Bible do I find a life like the ones they are
teaching. Look at the Apostles. Look at Peter, John, James, Paul and all the
other men and women of faith in Hebrews 11. Were any of their lives marked with
wealth, health and good things? These men and women suffered for the sake of
Jesus. They had a daily struggle to keep fighting, to keep pressing on. They
faced persecutions. They faced beatings, they faced brokenness, they faced barrenness,
and they faced suffering- willingly. According to the prosperity teachers
today, if their doctrine is correct, then these men and women were not walking
in faith.
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Listen,
please, to what I am hoping to get across. Anyone who preaches anything other
than a road marked with suffering to enter into the Kingdom of God is a false
teacher and we, as Christians, need to expose them for who they are. Jesus warns
us that many are entering in by the wide gate. They are taking the road that is
easy, when the Lord God clearly tells us that the road we are to be on is
difficult.
“Then
one said to Him, ‘Lord, are there few who are saved?’ And He said to them, ‘Strive
to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter
and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut
the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord,
Lord, open for us’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where
you are from,’ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence,
and You taught in our streets.’ But I will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you,
where you are from. Depart from Me all you workers of iniquity.’ There will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all
the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves are thrust out.’” Luke
13:23-28
There
are so many who are being deceived today by these false teachers. Jesus tells
us that these people who are following these false doctrines and false teachers
will stand on the outside of the kingdom of God and they will see Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob and all the heroes of faith who lived a life filled with suffering,
but they will not get to come in. Anyone who teaches that life is all roses and
rainbows, love and peace and requires only for us to believe in faith for all
these good things, is not of God. They are false teachers who have crept in and
are carrying away many elect from the truth of God’s word. The road we are to
be living is a road marked with suffering. Show me one person in the Bible who
lived this life of prosperity that these teachers are teaching- I challenge
you. Show me.
The
other way we know that their teaching is not of God is because they never open
their bibles. They say a few things that sound biblical, but if you really take
the time to search out what they are saying, you will not find their doctrines
in the Word of God. Do we not remember that Eve was deceived by the serpent the
same way? (Genesis 3) He twisted God’s Word to make his case. These prosperity
teachers are doing the same thing. They are twisting God’s word to make you
follow them, to make you give them great wealth and when wealth and health doesn’t
come to you and you find yourself suffering they tell you that it is because
you did not have enough faith.
The
Lord never said this life was going to be easy. In fact, He promises to us that
this life we are going to live for Him is going to be marked with suffering,
with trials and tribulations. I want to warn those of you that might be
following these teachers who teach wealth and health and happiness, that when
the time comes to stand before God, He may say to you ‘I do not know you, where
you are from. Depart from Me all you workers of iniquity.” And on that day, as
you stand on the outside looking in, remember the words of Jesus- that you should
have chosen to enter into the narrow gate.
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I see
more and more Christians falling prey to these false teachers. We need to wake
up and open our eyes. Test every spirit my brothers and sisters. (1 John 4:1) Just because someone says they are of God,
just because someone has a large following, doesn’t mean they are teaching the
Word of God. Get into your bibles, read and seek out for yourselves what the
Lord says- don’t take man’s word for it. These prosperity teachers make you
feel good right now, but on that Day, that great and glorious day; there will
be much weeping and gnashing of teeth. Don’t let that be you. Enter in through
the narrow gate and know that if your life is marked with suffering, then you
are on the right path. Don’t try to take the shortcut, because you will end up
getting lost.
Father
God, my heart cries out to you today to come and expose the works of these men
and women who are teaching false doctrine, who are twisting Your word to fit
their purposes. You desire to give us Your best, but that best also comes with a
life lived through striving and suffering. You have given us examples of how to
live this life by faith. Father I pray today that if someone is reading these
words and are following a teacher of prosperity, that You would save them from
the false doctrine and lead them back to Your word. Father, I pray for these
prosperity teachers to be exposed, for Your light, Your truth to come into the
hearts of the people listening to them so that they can get back on the right
road, the narrow way that leads to Your kingdom. In Jesus Name, I pray, amen
and amen.
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