The Prosperity Gospel? - 3/5/17

What a great weekend in preparation for tomorrow's 1st appointment with my world renowned oncologist at M D Anderson.   We saw the opening night for "The Shack" with some close friends Friday night, and today we went to see Joel Osteen with Kelly's sister and her husband.

The Shack really stuck close to the book and was nothing short of an excellent representation of the story and its message.  As for Lakewood church, what an impressive operation.  The facility holds 17k people and they do multiple services Sunday and during the week.   I have to say I have never been greeted and gotten the rock star treatment, in being a visitor in a church, quite like this Sunday.   They really go the extra mile to make visitors feel welcome at Lakewood.  A lot of churches could learn from this.

I have been listening to Joel Osteen occasionally for a decade or so, and have always thought that the operation was always well put together.  It always struck me as a well oiled machine and this visit confirmed that.  One knock that I have heard about Lakewood is that they seem to gravitate, like in a tunnel vision kind of way, toward the positives of being Christian.  Some call this preaching the so called "prosperity gospel".  You know the type...live right, stay close to God, and all will be well.   As the casting goes against those teaching "the prosperity gospel"...so tell us what happens when bad things happen and its not all good and put together?  What about the disciples?   They all lived lives of next to zero materialism, they were obviously close to Jesus and each other, and 11 of 12 died terrible deaths.

I was particularly impressed with the scene in "The Shack" where he meets Wisdom.  As we read in the first 5 chapters of the book of Proverbs, Godly wisdom offers an incredible road map for how to live.   The Bible commands us to look for wisdom as if it is treasure, and you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.  [Prov 2:3-5]  As the movie goes, Mac finds wisdom and it is represented as a lady (as it also is in Proverbs) who then helps him dig down deep and discover his blocking issue with God.  The issue is that he has not stopped trying to be "the judge" against others.  Wisdom points out that Mac conveniently judges based on his own understanding.  Given the tragedies he has experienced in his life this is completely understandable from a human perspective, but we are not talking about human perspective or better put moral relativity.  As Proverbs warns in one of my all time favorite pair of verses [Prov 3:5,6]  lean not on our understanding, but trust God and our paths will be made straight.  i.e. let God be the judge.

So as I cross section the two events this weekend, I loved both of them.  However, I cannot help but wonder if all of the quick to cast "prosperity gospel" is a form of judgement.  A fair and just warning, absolutely, but to completely dismiss what is being offered is an unfortunate judgement.  Would God allow this level of "prosperity gospel" if it was not serving His people?  Would people be coming to Jesus in services if there was not a place for this?  Maybe, but my experience is that they are really serving people by encouraging those in despair.  Sometimes a word of encouragement goes a long way to one in despair, as seen in [Prov 12:25].  Yeah, yeah, I know there is more to the story than just its all good, and I will get there so hold your judgement for now.  I will cite three examples that I noted this Sunday at Lakewood out of many that I observed, of people being served well.  Many smiles and great fellowship there.

1. They follow the greatest 2 commandments.  They love God in their worship, and they love their neighbor.  Tons of friendly people proclaiming the name of Jesus and setting a great tone of fellowship.  We can get into motives, but I'll refer you back to "when it is time to stop being the judge" as seen in The Shack.
2. The worship music before the sermon is unmatched by anything I have seen.  It always proclaims the Lordship of Jesus, it is incredibly moving even for a difficult to move by standard run of the mill common church music person like me.  To be honest, fair to not so good worship music is tough for me since I wind up judging the quality of music, instead of just worshiping...perhaps a good lesson for me in not being distracted by the minutia.  Anyway, their message is extremely encouraging.   We saw not less than a dozen people in our immediate area stand up and accept Jesus as Savior in an alter call during the service.   The bible says that when one says yes, all of heaven celebrates.  [Luke 15:7]
3. A message of encouragement.   As a person who has at least been diagnosed with non small cell lung cancer, albeit very vague in terms of what type due to confused pathologists in VA, it is very easy to get frustrated and even a little down with doubt every so often.  To have someone stand up and say, "the medical reports can be changed with strong faith and good attitude" is encouraging.  People need that.  I also genuinely believe this is the case.  I believe that I will get my miracle.  I also know that my perspective is limited to that of a single human.  The supply of medical people professional and friends in the field, giving me the zillion reasons why I have cancer, when no one has actually been able to fully diagnose what I have beyond the general bucket of NSCLC, continues to lengthen.  Is telling me I have cancer realistic and practical? Yes.  Is that the end all be all?  Absolutely not.

God is bigger than any of that, but He will also act in my best interest which could possibly mean no healing and I get taken home.  Does that mean that I am going to cop out and just pray for His will?  No.  I am going to ask him boldly for my miracle.  He has given me the sufficient grace to come much more into alignment with Him.  He has increased my faith.  He has answered all of my prayers leading into this.  He has given me a few opportunities to testify.  So, will I pray a safe prayer?  No!  I want my miracle and I am going to keep asking Him for it until He says, "No" and takes me home, OR He says, "Yes" restores me fully and launches me into something great for the kingdom and I go home later for whatever reason.  

If the answer is no, what should I think?  Was Joel wrong?  Did I do it wrong?  Did "prosperity gospel" fail me?  Tough questions.  I think the answer could be yes I did it wrong if I did not know what the Bible says, but it can also be no, God just said, "No."  On the yes side, I point back to wisdom.  How does one gain wisdom?  Learn the book, draw near to God, pray, and His will will be revealed and a higher level of understanding happens.  An eternal understanding.  Sometimes the answer to the question is that I did not do it wrong and God just said, "No."  In this case, I point back to Proverbs.   Believe it or not, we do not have the same perspective as God.  As is written in [Prov 3:5,6] God knows what is best for us well beyond our own perspective.  That can include going home to be with him in the case of a terminal disease, which while it may seem is a harsh demise in this vapor of a life, but is actually a wonderful gift of eternal grace and mercy.  Ultimately, in my case there are 2 paths for me as a believer in salvation through Jesus, with what could have a final diagnosis as a terminal disease.  1. Go home to be with God in eternity, OR 2. stay here longer, and do something for the kingdom and go home to eternity later.  My hope is for the latter since I want the time to build memories with Kelly, but I also get the former and know that this life is a vapor as compared with eternity in heaven.

So what is the net net on all of that...?
1. Wisdom is in learning what is written in the Word.   Read the book, pray, and relate to Jesus.
2. The so called prosperity gospel likely has its place among those in dire need of encouragement.  The encouragement offered to those in places of despair, offers hope, and hope is needed.   The catch is that they must do #1 so that they can see, that it is not a name it and claim it scenario, but it is a remain faithful in the Lord, get with God and gain wisdom, and know that we are loved so deeply as His children.
3. Judging others, or ministries, falls into the limitations of what is offered in Prov 3.   It is from a limited human perspective and not one from God.


#Isaiah40:31