Saturday, October 12, 2019

October 12: Of Jeremiah and the Anti-Prosperity Gospel


Jeremiah 19:1-21:14

1 Thessalonians 5:4-28

Psalm 82:1-8

Proverbs 25:9-10


The prosperity gospel : a belief which can be summarized as "God wants you to have a lot of money." It isn't new - one of its earliest proponents in 1915 is reported to have preached "I say you ought to be rich; you have no right to be poor."


Small wonder, then: while the average congregation size on Sundays is 75 participants, and a megachurch begins at 2,000 participants, some prosperity churches are much bigger.  One, whose pastor urged the congregation to buy him a $65 million private jet, has 15,000.  The most prominent proponent, based in Texas, has 52,000.


How different from Jeremiah.  His wasn't his own message of wealth, it was God's message of woe.  "Hear the word of the Lord…I am going to bring disaster on this place…for they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods….".  And he preached it at great personal cost: the priest in charge of the Lord's temple had him beaten and put in stocks.  Jeremiah himself acknowledges the price he has paid - "So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long."


Why did Jeremiah do it?  Because it was God's word, however unpopular.  Because he knew God's word did not change to conform to the people's wishes.  Because he knew God wanted people to aspire to Him, not to earthly things.  Paul says as much in today's reading from Thessalonians.  He calls us to "be awake and sober" to God's truth, "putting on…the hope of salvation as a helmet".  Salvation - not financial prosperity.  


The prosperity gospel is simply yet another sin against the first commandment.  However well intentioned - "Why shouldn't we want a comfortable life?" it's proponents ask - it puts wealth above God, and violates the command "thou shalt have no other gods before Me."  And it isn't the only example of well intentioned sin in churches today.  There are many that conflate loving the sinner with accepting various sins. 


How are we to respond?  Thankfully, again, we have Paul's guidance.  He tells us to acknowledge those "who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you."  Despite the despair we might feel at the propagation of this thinking, Paul calls us to "rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances" because this is God's will.  And he calls on us not to "treat prophecies with contempt, but to test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil."


I might add that when we "reject every kind of evil", we should be prepared to receive the same treatment Jeremiah and Paul received.  We see it today, in the contempt so many have for believers in what they call an "ancient, out of date book" and "fairytales".  We see it today in the lawsuits filed against those who believe in the order of God's creation.  And we see it today in the opposition, sometimes the violence, visited upon those who believe in the sanctity of life, however young.  


Father, when we are tempted by the world's enticements, defend us, and give us the strength to cleave to You and Your word, whatever the earthly cost.  Through it all, help us to pray, to give thanks, and to rejoice.  

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