Question:
Dear
I
have watched a television ministry that claims if you make a financial vow unto
the Lord it will change your circumstances.
When you’re seeking answers, you just want to believe that something
will work, almost like looking for a sign. I
know we’re supposed to have faith, but a lot of us feel that life isn’t
fair!
Twanna
Answer: Dear Twanna,
The
program you watched appears to base its “theology” in the Word-Faith
movement, which, among many unbiblical teachings, teaches the health-wealth, or
prosperity gospel. The teaching is
based upon human effort and performance, which is the way God worked in the old
covenant. Obey, and you will be
blessed—disobey and you will be cursed.
But
the gospel of Jesus Christ—the cross of Christ changed all of that.
The new covenant is not a covenant of physical prosperity, but instead a
covenant of adversity. We are asked
to take up our cross and follow him, to present our bodies as a living
sacrifice, to serve others rather than ourselves, to think of the needs of
others as equal to our own.
Many
Word Faith teachers promise the moon to people who are in desperate straits in
terms of finances and health. These
poor and sick people have no hope, and Word Faith preaching holds it out—in
exchange for the little money these people have.
God does not work that way. God’s
grace is absolutely free—Paul calls it the riches of God’s grace.
But God’s promises to us are far more focused on the spiritual and
eternal, rather than the here and now. For
that reason many who will be called great in the kingdom will have been the
least here on earth—the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man teaches us that.
Don’t
be taken in by false teaching—however attractive it may sound.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is not proclaimed by infomercial-like
programs, where people wave money and promise cars and new houses to those who
simply buy their tapes for six easy payments of $19.95 or make a love gift of
more than $100.
May
God comfort you and be with you, Twanna.
In
Christ,