Faith & Prosperity Movement Part 1



Is Faith & Prosperity One?
The Bereans inspired me years ago. Acts 17:11 says they had a more noble character than the Thessalonians. In Thessalonica the Jews were jealous of Paul & started a riot. In Berea they were eager to hear the Word & they examined the words of Paul using the scriptures everyday. He preached from the scriptures but they can be twisted. So they went over the scriptures he used & those he did not use.

There is the rhema word of God & the principles of God in His Word. He promised the Jews prosperity & brought them into the land but gave them a lot of work to do.It took years for them to drive out the people living in the land. However,they never occupied the entire territory God gave to them. They never completely drove out all the people of the land. Is God unfaithful? He has placed His Word above His name.

He is faithful to His Word of blessing & cursing He gave to the Jewish nation. It is remarkable the way the prophecies have been fulfilled concerning them. The major thrust of the teaching of the prosperity gospel is based on the Old Testament. Deut.28 is a favorite. He tells of the blessings & cursing (which greatly outnumber the blessings). They say the curses have been taken away in the death of Jesus on the cross. Whereas, many of the curses, especially from enemies, that are mentioned concerning the nation of Israel are mentioned as types of persecution that is a part of the Church experience in the New Covenant.




The bible is about salvation. It starts with the fall of man - that made the bible necessary. We became separated from God, fallen from His glory, cut off from His Presence. It ends with Jesus triumphant return – completely destroying His enemies who sin & cause others to sin.
Amplified BibleThe Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of offense [persons by whom others are drawn into error or sin] and all who do iniquity and act wickedly, Taking His seat on His throne on earth in His Kingdom, exclaiming ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men & He will live with them . They will be His people & God Himself will be with them & be their God.’(rev.21). This is our faith.

This is our faith.Everything is all about this end result. We live by faith; we govern our lives according to this our faith. We are people of another Kingdom. Our world view is based on this knowledge. We treat everything as if it belongs to our Lord.Our brothers & sisters in Christ, our husbands, wives, children, money,time, the body we have - is no longer our own. Our faith (doctrine) worketh by love, & we are to use everything for the benefit of others as servants of Christ.

He chose Noah a preacher of righteousness before the flood that came as judgment on a wicked world. He picked Abraham & his descendants to establish a line of people who would become His own. He told Abraham that these people would be in slavery for 400 years, strangers in a strange land before He would deliver them. He explained that He would use this to bring about punishment on the Amorites & those who enslaved them (gen.15:13-16). They would be brought out of slavery with great possessions to establish His plan to build a nation out of refugees that would be the birth place of the Prophet/King/Priest.

He chose Moses, a prophet who He spoke to face to face, unlike any other prophet. The first group chosen were rejected & died in the wilderness because of unbelief which leads to disobedience. He chose Joshua (gr. Jesus) to lead them into the land of milk & honey. He chose Samuel, prophet, priest, judge to anoint David.All types of our salvation. ‘And beginning with Moses & all the prophets He explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning Himself’ (luk.24:27).

The prosperity of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph & then the children of Israel were to this end, to bring about this type of the Kingdom reign of Christ on earth. When they had just leaders they prospered as a nation. They were commanded to take care of those who lacked the necessities of life. Even in when they were experiencing the blessings of God as a nation, they had many poor. God did not upbraid the poor for not having enough vision but said they will not lack. The tithe was to help take care of them. Those who farmed were to leave the corners of their field for the poor to harvest. This is what Ruth did for Naomi & herself to survive.

In this Kingdom,even when they were in the will of God, every individual did not prosper.However, they were able to be sustained because of the general prosperity of the nation & a good system of justice that took care of oppressors. When they were in disobedience, oppressors ruled & the people suffered. The poor were forgotten & justice was miscarried when they were in disobedience.














Paul speaks of faith & obedience as one, unbelief & disobedience interchangeably. The writer of Hebrews does the same all through the letter. Heb.3:18-19 says, And to whom did God swear that they would never enter His rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.Chapter 3:12-14 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
 

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