Is The Prosperity Thumping Good For The Church Or Not?

What Is True Prosperity?

Question: Can you write about , what is prosperity according to God, people of world, believers. Coz too much of prosperity thumping wrongly is preached and money fleeced from innocent believers. Empty your purse, remove all gold etc...Is it good for the Church to prosper and be like this?

Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!

True prosperity in this life and in the life to come is not what we have with us now which is all temporary, but actually who we have with us, (i.e.) God and His Presence, which is eternal.

Have you realized, God loves the prosperity of His servants and only through it He can be magnified truly (Psa 35:27).

For example, a man can be the richest man in the whole world now. But if he has a need in his heart which God has set named as "eternity" within, which money cannot buy and he does not know the day of his death (Eccl 3:11; Gen 27:2; Luke 12:16-21; Prov 27:1; Mark 13:32; 2 Cor 6:2; Luke 13:3), even though he says he is rich and even others agree with him about the fact, in truth, he is still poor in his life as he cannot take the wealth when he dies and therefore does not know what will happen to it, and the Lord will distribute it to the righteous one that pleases Him (Prov 13:22; 1 Tim 6:7; Eccl 2:26). So only God can truly make a human rich and keep him rich for the rest of his life through his ever abiding Presence of heaven which has no lack as it is able to supply everything needed at the right time (Psa 16:11; 23:1).

In our twentieth century, religion too have become a commodity to buy as much as one has the ability to buy. But the sad thing according to God is, he never puts his seal in such religiosity as it has no real value in his sight. God cannot be bought with money (Acts 8:18-25), and God bypasses these people who think that they have the favor with God because of their giving to God what they have rather than who they are to God (Luke 15:29-32), hence He begins to work in the heart of truly devoted and broken in heart who value nothing but God as the top most priority of their lives.

God in the Old Testament times received dead sacrifice of animals and birds as symbolic sacrifice of what is to come, that is, his only begotten Son getting sacrificed on the Cross for all of us sinners to believe and receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life as a gift from Him (John 3:16; Heb 9:11-14). In other words, the Old Testament saints looked forward in faith and received the salvation at the end of it all. Now that Christ has come and fulfilled all the symbolic instructions of the Old Testament in reality, in the New Testament times God has chosen to accept only the living sacrifices of people like us who choose to sacrifice ourselves by self-denial and live through our belief in the will of God to be fulfilled through our lives (Heb 10:11-18; Rom 12:1-2; Luke 9:23-26). We in the New Testament times look backward to what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us on the Cross of Calvary to live by faith.

So preaching and teaching only the earthly prosperity message without looking backward to what the Lord has done for us personally for physical healing through His stripes and spiritual healing to the soul through his shed blood, and thus living gratefully to God for the new spirit put within us is actually becoming a enemy of the cross of Christ (Php 3:18). That is why, the apostles instructed the true disciples of Jesus to even rebuke the prideful rich who think that they need no repentance from the lust of money which when left untouched will lead them all to be destroyed by the filthy lure of it (Jam 5:1-6; 1 Tim 5:6-7; 6:17, 9-10).

Is prosperity thumping in preaching and teaching is actually money fleeced from innocent believers in our days? Yes, as long as there are half hearted earthly survival focused believers who will not choose to deny their self, the message of prosperity will be used deceitfully through deceitful messengers of Satan and self-deceived spiritual gurus of Christianity to deceive the saved from fulfilling the purpose of God for their lives. If all believers become eternally focused in their earthly lives, soon they will become devoted and addicted to true prosperity of soul first and foremost, and in all areas of our lives prosperity will follow us and will continue to influence our eternal prosperity and abundant heavenly quality of life that God has promised to provide now on earth when we carry our cross and choose to follow the will of God for our lives (John 10:10; Luke 9:23).

I believe prosperity thumping in preaching and teaching is a deception of the end time which God has put especially as a test of the end times to separate the true from the false disciples, sheep of the saved ones from the goat of the unsaved ones by Jesus Christ for the Rapture of the Church which will end at the time of His Second Coming to the earth with the Church (Rev 3:17-20; Matt 24:11-14; 2 Tim 3:1-5; 1 Thess 5:1-5, 9; 25:31-46). So let us be watchful and pray to overcome this deception of "prosperity and safety" by faith till the end and be victorious for the Glory of God!

The so called church and its self-deceived leaders who compel people to empty their purse, remove all gold and put in to their mission offering, running over the money on the altar steps referring and citing to the New Testament times in which people sold everything they had and kept it at apostles feet as something they too are doing [(i.e.) remember these apostles distributed to each as they had need from everything they had received and did not stock the money individually for their own use] (Acts 4:34-35), etc....are doing a huge disservice to the true cause of Christ Jesus and the good news of His birth, death and resurrection which always brings shame to the great name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Cor 9:7-8; Rom 2:24; Isa 52:5). Run away from the message of prosperity if any Church or an individual no matter how anointed they are does not insist on the eternal prosperity of saints and focus solely on it, which will automatically bring prosperity in all other areas of our earthly life automatically for the Glory of God (Matt 6:33-34; 3 John 1:2)!

The bottom line is, according to God prosperity is eternal prosperity alone, according to the world prosperity is earthly prosperity alone and according to believers it ought to be prosperity in all areas like spirit, soul, body, finance and social fellowship through Jesus Christ by the Presence of the Holy Spirit, to walk and fulfill his will on earth as it is in heaven and even for eternity (Matt 6:10). Praise the Lord!

Much Blessings....

Does God Reject The Rich While He Chooses To Take The Poor To Heaven?

How Can A Beggar Like Lazarus Go To Heaven Directly?

Question: I have a doubt, how Lazarus, a Beggar, it seems, went to Heaven. Kindly reply me.

Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!

This whole story of Lazarus and a rich man was told by Jesus to bring out a important truth of God to all people.

Here is what Jesus actually said, "19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ 27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”" (Luke 16:19-31).

Let us look to find the truth that Jesus wanted to convey to us.

First of all the story was not a fictitious one, but rather a real story of life and death, and the reality of the life after death that Jesus shared because only in this short story Jesus reveals the name of the person named Lazarus who is used as a positive example of faith, through whom he wanted to convey the heavenly truth of how faith is more important than how we live this earthly life to inherit the heavenly life after our physical death.

This story is set on the earthly living condition of the times of Jesus in which a rich man whose name is not worthy to be mentioned, was splendidly clothed and lived each day in laughter through amusement and luxury.

A beggar named Lazarus whose name was found to be worthy in the eyes of God because of his faith in God, lived just outside this rich man's house at a distance where food eaten by the rich man whose leftover food would be collected and disposed everyday. Lazarus had faith but no money in the world to treat even his body which was full of sores, that friendly dogs used to come and lick those sores to give comfort to this poorest of the poor man. Next he had no food except that which was thrown out of the rich man's house to be disposed. In short, Lazarus was so poor even the poorest will call him poor because he had no food to fill his stomach or no money at all to medicate his wounds and bring healing.

How do we know that the poor man Lazarus had faith?

Because only those saved and rich in faith are know by name to be mentioned by God as his dear children (James 2:5; Isa 43:1-5; John 1:12). One important thing to note here is, there is no piety, divine-ness or special holiness in being poor or in practicing asceticism, but still God chosen the poor of this world to become the heir of the Kingdom of God because they are the one who are easily inclined in their desperation to call upon God to provide them, serve justice, give them relief from suffering and inequality that exists on earth because of sin and fallen nature of all humans that rebels to break the beautiful laws of God given to bring equality to all humans (Luke 18:1-8).

In other words, the rich man who lived at that time never cared to share what he had with the poor men like Lazarus who lived in desperate poverty before his very eyes. Generally, a rich man always has his trust not in God but in the things he owns on earth. He becomes arrogant and proud to trust in his money and not in the God who gives all good things to share and enjoy our life to thank and praise God for this good life (1 Tim 6:17; Jam 5:1-6).

Being rich in itself cannot be wrong, because many children of God like Abraham, David, Solomon, Job, etc...were very rich but their trust was not in their wealth but in God who has blessed them to live a life of godliness with contentment before others around them who were eager and mad to get rich quick and spend their lives in riches (1 Tim 6:6-9; Matt 6:31-32). Though these men were godly and rich, they considered themselves to be strangers and pilgrims in this earth and sought for the home land of heaven to live with God for eternity ahead in friendship and peace with God (Heb 11:13-16). Jesus himself expressed plainly that it is easier for a huge size camel to go through a needle, than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God because the rich trust his riches and never in God to sit with pride in his heart of how he has with all wisdom of the earth has amassed earthly riches, and chooses to think foolishly that he needs no help of God or anyone in this world as long as he lives or even after his death he needs none of God (Luke 12:13-21; Matt 19:24; Job 2:9-10). God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble who seeks God in his life to solve the unsolvable question about his future life of eternity that is ahead of him or her (James 4:7).

From reading the story of the rich man and Lazarus, we come to know one thing, the poor man was suffering yet had rich faith towards God, the rich man was enjoying his earthly life in opulence yet we come to see that he had no real saving faith in God because he was full of pride and religiosity.

In death the story of the after life starts from day one, as the word of God says, "...it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment." (Heb 9:27). The day any human dies whether rich or poor all come under the sovereign jurisdiction of God (Matt 10:28), the way God passes his judgment will decide whether that human soul immediately and in the future with body will go to hell fire or heaven.

Soon after the death of Lazarus, he was carried by angels to a place called as Abraham's bosom where he was found to be sitting literally in Father Abraham's bosom and was comforted by the Presence of God. The rich man also died and was buried, he found himself being in the torments of Hades which is a short-stay prison of torment of the soul before bring discarded in to hell fire with their condemned bodies after the White Throne Judgment. What a contrast between those who have true faith and false religiosity.

We see that the rich man's religion never went deeper in to his heart, because from the Parable of Jesus we can understand that he had seen the beggar Lazarus and knew him to be the man who was laid at the gate of his earthly house when he was alive on earth, the same man desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table, which reveals to us that the rich man had religion without compassionate action to feed the poor man like Lazarus or give at least some medication to give relief from the sores of the suffering Lazarus which was making his life miserable. So it proves that this rich man's faith was without works which proves to us that he had no genuine faith but a bogus one which trusted in money and not the God who gives it all to enjoy and share (2 Cor 9:8, 9; Jam 2:14-18).

We see that the "torments in Hades" increases more and more, as a person lifts up his eyes there to heaven to see the saved afar off living in peace with God and enjoying the goodness of his Presence, as they were the one neglected and suffered on earth but had faith in God like Lazarus who ended up in heaven to receive great honor and comfort from God for the rest of his eternity. In short, the greatest torment in hell fire will be thinking about the wasted opportunities on earth to get saved and the inability of the unsaved to get saved anymore even for eternity ahead.

The unsaved will come to know only in the torment of Hades and hell fire that all the riches of the earth are nothing compared to "like precious faith" (1 Pet 1:1) which is the most precious commodity on earth even for eternity to continue (Mark 8:37). So that their concern for others of their family who are living in neglect of this rich faith towards God, will cause even greater torment after their death because they will come to know its value only after they enter Hades and hell fire.

But God's answer to all people on earth is hidden and revealed through his written Word "Moses and the Prophets" which He repeatedly points through his servants as the instruction given to all humans to avoid hell fire and embrace heaven by getting saved from sin and death of separation from God. It is no use to religiously hear the Word of God, but all are expected by God to hear and do the word of God by faith in the God who really saved the sinful human being to make them become a saint and take them to heaven where God lives in friendship with all saved humans forever and ever even for eternity ahead (Jam 1:21-27).

Every saved person on earth according to God, will act according to his will to seek it sincerely and fulfill it in gratefulness and thankfulness for their salvation given freely to them by God (Jam 2:22).

The biggest truth God reveals through Jesus about faith in the above parable of Lazarus and the rich man is at the end, where He says that, if someone to whom God has given his Word does not care and value it enough to hear the law and exhortation of prophets and do it by faith, neither will he be able to believe in the Words of Jesus and get saved by hearing about the good-news of the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus to enter the Kingdom of God for eternity to be in heaven after their physical death and live with God for the rest of their lives (John 8:24; 7:17; 5:46; Luke 7:28, 29-30; 1 Cor 15:3-4).

So the bottom line is, it is not whether we are rich or poor on earth that matters to God because he has made them all (Prov 22:2), it is how rich we are towards God while we are alive that matters in the end in our after-life after our death (Luke 12:21). But we have seen from the above parable, that poor are advantaged to receive faith more easily than the rich, but being poor does not automatically qualify them for heaven except through believing in Jesus Christ who rose from the dead. In short, God has set equality in this unequal world of difference between rich and the poor by making the rich to find it hard to enter the eternal riches of God, but making it easy for the poor of this world to grasp the saving faith and become rich towards God.

In short, poor with God becomes rich on earth and ever after though he might not have realized it on earth like Lazarus, the rich without God is the poorest man on earth even though he might not have realized it within his heart because of self-conceit.

The rich man can enter the Kingdom of God if he chooses to let go of his trust in his uncertain riches and trust the certain riches of God to become his desire for the rest of his life to make them perfect and make themselves be prepared for heaven's life (Matt 19:21). Heaven is for prepared place for prepared people, God chooses simple people who have learned to trust Him and His word on earth to prepare themselves for heaven through following the basic instruction of the Bible before leaving the earth physically.

Let us learn to trust God through the Word of God and do it in our personal lives whether we are rich or poor in this world now, so that we can be rich towards God for eternity ahead!


Much Blessings...

Did Jesus Say That No One Can Do Miracles Unless They Are Saved?

What Is The Answer Of Jesus To The Following Question, 'Can Unsaved People Do Signs, Wonders And Miracles In Jesus Name?'

Question: As for the post 'Can Unsaved People Do Signs, Wonders And Miracles In Jesus Name?' which I read have brought another question in to my mind about a place where the Apostles were reporting about some stranger doing miracles in Jesus name who were not of their group, which they prohibited but Jesus did give a answer in a different perspective to make them understand. Why? Please explain.

Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!

You are referring the passage where in Mark 9:38-41 where the beloved apostle John becomes indignant towards someone who were not part of the apostolic group of Jesus , but were performing miracles in Jesus name. Here it is, "38 Now John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. 40 For he who is not against us is on our side. 41 For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward." (Mark 9:38-41).

The above passages neither supports that the unsaved unbeliever can do miracles, or a only saved believer only can do miracles, but rather it conveys the fact that a person who is called by God can move in by faith to do miracles whether saved or unsaved does not matter (Php 1:15-18; 3:17-19).

Remember, even Judas returned with Joy doing and seeing all the miracles that was done through him even though he was never saved, this is the exact reason Jesus emphasized to all the apostolic disciples that they should rejoice in the fact that they have become children of God through the saving faith rather than rejoice in the miracles and still go to hell fire being unsaved (Luke 10:17-20). Balaam prophesied so accurately than any established prophet of the Old Testament times revealing that "a Star shall come out of Jacob, a scepter shall rise out of Israel..." to clearly reveal about the coming Messiah of Israel who will save it from sin and destroy the enemies of Israel (Num 24:17), yet we know that he was never saved at all.

Although God used Balaam to proclaim His Word, yet Balaam was the instigator of Israel's sin with the Moabite and Midianite women, for which 24,000 Israelites perished. Balaam was slain. Balaam’s name became a symbol of depravity of the unsaved doing the work of God deceitfully for profit (2 Pet 2:15, Jude 11, Rev 2:14; Jer 48:10; 2 Cor 2:17). This is the reason Jesus emphasized and warned about false prophets who will do all kinds of prophesies, demon driving, miracles, etc...with out having an internal character transformation to be like Jesus in the will of God, continuing to walk in this deceived way of lawlessness and death will take them to hell fire where they cannot ever be able to revert back from their gloom and doom of torment in prison of Hades and hell fire after that (Matt 7:19-23).

What can we learn from the above explanation of Jesus? We do not have to stop the unsaved from doing miracles if they are called by God, because of the reason that no one who works a miracle in the name of Jesus can soon afterward speak evil of Him. In other words, the anointing will work only when the person or false prophet even in the rebellion of the unsaved heart gives in to the will of God to work the work for which He is called by God to do. Even though he will work for God, he will not allow God to change the motives of his heart for doing God's work to become cleansed enough to do it all for nothing but the love of God (1 John 2:15-17). So at the end of it all, he will be misled by his own evil heart in to making money the god of his life, out of the calling and gift which God has given to him to Glorify Him alone in his life. The unsaved motive which drives the gift of God in an unsaved human will do more lawlessness and practice it to deceive people than make the people turn towards God through using the gift for the Glory of God (Jer 17:9). As Satan transforms in to an angel of light to deceive people to be kept in the web of the lies of his deceit which keeps them in his slavery of darkness, so it is no great thing when his ministers also transform themselves in to ministers of righteousness, who end will be according to their works as they were never saved at all by the work of the Cross of Jesus to which they remain as enemies even until their death physically which will take them straight in to Hades prison and hell fire for eternity ahead after the White throne judgment of God (2 Cor 11:14-15; Rev 20:11-15). The curse of sin remains with its condemnation for all those who do the work of God deceitfully, they will only realize it too late in eternity to suffer the torment both in their soul and body as they have never feared God when they were alive on earth but boldly practiced lawlessness (Jer 48:10; Matt 10:28). Even when the motives are wrong, when a person does the work of God through the anointing of God, he is still on the side of Jesus physically to work the purpose of God through his life even in his rebellion, but spiritually he operates subtly and deceptively just like his master Satan and his demonic powers [(i.e.) who serve God even in their rebellion], not knowing that demonic defiance that works through humans serves the purpose of God and enhances God's Glory to be used by God as a weapon to fulfill His sovereign will for all universe (Isa 46:9-13; Psa 76:10, NLT). None can speak against Jesus and continue in the anointing immediately. God's people are those who freely allow themselves willingly to be used for the purpose of God in the day of His power because they have been trained by God on normal days to walk in his will without any motivation for personal gain, but God's enemies who take side with the devil and the demons in their rebellion will act submission because of God's power which they cannot resist and so will act as though they are with God but with a secret motive in their heart to lift themselves when opportunity arises (Psa 110:3; 66:3). Forced upon obedience or in others words deceitful obedience for personal gain is actually disobedience to the will of God because the mind works in subtle deceit to personally gain rather to submit to the authority of God willingly. 

But Jesus has told that the servants of God and the children of God who give even a cup of water to those in need, will definitely receive the reward for their work for God in their after life with God in heaven. So while a unsaved can work for God and still go to hell fire for working deceitfully for himself and herself rather for the Glory of God, Jesus contrasts the picture to the saved believer working for God and receiving the reward for even the smallest act done for Him in His name to enjoy it for all eternity in heaven. Glory to God!

So the bottom line is, it is more important to know whether our names are written in the Book of life, and to rejoice in it first and foremost, rather than working for God to save others with all miracles, signs and wonders and rejoice in it, but still go to hell fire for being unsaved in our heart. To God first thing always remain first, that is for a human to get saved from sin and make them be his dear child remains the toppest in his list and it will always remain in this way as explained in the Bible forever and ever (1 Tim 2:3-6; Luke 10:20)!


Much Blessings....