Comments on: Secretly believing the prosperity gospel.

By: Secretly Believing The Prosperity Gospel - Broken Village

Secretly Believing The Prosperity Gospel - Broken Village — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:33:26 +0000

[...] Do you? I’m guilty…sometimes. I’m happy for Michael Kelley pointing these things out. Below are the 4 main points. I’m occasionally guilty of point 3. Check out the full read here. [...]

By: E_Lee_MacFall

E_Lee_MacFall — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:12:05 +0000

The thing is that the rich at that time were nearly always members of the political class, and they got their wealth by force. That's not always true today. There's more wealth to go around, and it is possible to gain it through peaceful, moral, and honest means.

That however in no way indicates that wealth is an indicator of good morals or great faith. Spiritual abundance and material wealth very often have little to do with each other, what little they have being the exercise of wisdom.

By: Bill Unger

Bill Unger — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:40:12 +0000

you tithe because you want to. You know the church has bills to pay which it is able to do because of the generosity of its people who believe in what the church stands for. Maybe what we need from preachers is a message about altruism and service and less about what I can get in return for my bucks.

Bill Unger
Pepperell, MA.

By: chris

chris — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:08:54 +0000

I know this is an old post, but wanted to throw in that I heard Joel Olsteen preach about finding a parking spot as a blessing from God . . . from the sound of his congregations's reaction, you would have thought they were giving him a standing O . . .

By: Jasonsix

Jasonsix — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:32:19 +0000

"It is a melancholy fact, that constant temporal prosperity, as a general rule, is injurious to a believer’s soul. We cannot stand it. Sicknesses and losses and crosses and anxieties and disappointments seem absolutely needful to keep us humble, watchful and spiritual–minded. They are as needful as the pruning knife to the vine and the refiner’s furnace to the gold. They are not pleasant to flesh and blood. We do not like them and often do not see their meaning. "No chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness" (Heb. 12:11). We shall find that all worked for our good when we reach heaven. Let these thoughts abide in our minds, if we love growth in grace." JC Ryle, Chaper 6: Growth from His book "Holiness"

By: Jasonsix

Jasonsix — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:32:02 +0000

"…if we know anything of growth in grace and desire to know more, let us not be surprised if we have to go through much trial and affliction in this world. I firmly believe it is the experience of nearly all the most eminent saints. Like their blessed Master, they have been men of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and perfected through sufferings (… See More Isa. 53:3; Heb. 2:10). It is a striking saying of our Lord, "Every branch in Me that bears fruit [my Father] purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit" (John 15:2).

By: Jasonsix

Jasonsix — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:30:37 +0000

Christ puts us back in our place when we think we've earned some sort of kick-back in participating in the witness of His glory in Luke 17:7-10.
Luke 17:7"Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table'? 8Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink'? 9Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"

By: John L.

John L. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:02:46 +0000

Every Christian in America is vastly more prosperous than the majority of the world. Most people live on about a dollar a day many earning it by hard labor done in the blazing sun. Remember that when you enjoy your next $4 coffee searching the net on your new Mac. We are the ones the Bible speaks of as "the rich". I know I see it everyday living as a missionary in SE Asia. Let's lay off Joyce, Creflo, and Joel and take the plank out of our own eye first. Love all yall!

By: Pam D

Pam D — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:31:29 +0000

Hmmm……

"What makes such great confusion is how everyone feels compelled to formulate a theory and obligate everyone else to it. Someone gets an impression of Christianity. Presto! Now there has to be a theory, and everyone must subscribe to his theory. Then he gets busy developing his theory further. Then his theory is attacked, and he defends it – constantly moving away from true religiousness. He does not personally get around to acting according to the theory but manages to introduce a theory about the opposition to the theory.
No, what should be insisted upon is that I feel obligated to obey the New Testament, not to theorize about it. I cannot obligate others. I simply say: I feel obligated in this way and will express it in action. Truth does not try to get a random bunch of people obligated to me or to my conception. No, each person must be alone before God and become obligated by it." -Søren Kierkegaard

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:35:01 +0000

Pam, I have to agree with you about the Irresistible Revolution. I just finished reading it and about a third of the way through I realized that I was totally frightened by what I was reading. And that was exciting.