Health, Wealth and Prosperity

So, now that I'm in seminary, and my sleep schedule is pretty well destroyed anyways, I am going to make an effort to post here more often. Like, maybe more than once a year.

I've got a whole load of ideas for posts, but to get this ball rolling once more, I want to share this video by the ever-passionate John Piper talking about the so-called "Prosperity Gospel."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTc_FoELt8s

I have to say this: Coming to Christ will make you prosper. The payout of following Christ is HUGE, as big as it could possibly get, the rewards are innumerably vast, and the wealth is immeasurable.

However, the difference between Christianity and the "bunch of crap" that Prosperity Preachers will try to sell you is the definition of "prosperity." If you are looking for God to keep you financially secure, in perfect health, safe from loss, and make sure every little detail of your life on this earth is perfect, then you will be sadly disappointed.

People who say that God provides health, wealth and prosperity on this earth if you simply follow Jesus display an incredible ignorance of both the Bible and Church history. How many Christians have been poverty-stricken, persecuted, thrown in jail, beaten, tortured, maimed, brutally and heartlessly slaughtered? I tell you, the answer is almost incomprehensible.

The prosperity provided by God is not temporal, but eternal. It is an unquenchable fire in the soul, it is an unfailing joy (not an uninterrupted feeling of happiness, though), it is a hope everlasting, and peace that the direst of circumstances does not dampen, and it is a promise that will never die.

I am reminded of a great song by the group Kutless called "Promise of a Lifetime"

I know you're always there

To hear my every prayer

Inside I'm clinging to the promise of a lifetime

I hear the words you say

To never walk away from me

And leave behind

The promise of a lifetime

God has promised us an eternity with Him, and that, truly, is the greatest promise we will ever receive, and our prosperity lies in the fact that, despite our direst of circumstances "All things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose."