Prosperity gospel preachers teach the "hundredfold return" principle combined with the "seed faith" belief. What these principles mean? Simple: If you give God $10, you will receive $1,000. You need to plant some seed for you to reap more.
I have nothing against these principles, per se. We cannot outgive God, that's the sure thing. But the problem here is the attitude, the motivation behind.
For instance, you have a bill to pay amounting $5,000. Because you believe in the principle of hundredfold return and the seed faith, you will give $50 or $100 on Sunday service and trust God to give $5,000 (and maybe some extras for the extras you give) on Monday.
Scenario 1: No $5,000 arrived on Monday.
Does it make God a liar? Or does it make the prosperity gospel preacher a liar? (The latter is a better possibility.)
Scenario 2: $5,000 arrived on Monday.
You did your part of the bargain, now God did his part of the bargain.
Truth
Why were you billed $5,000 in the first place? If it's because you live in an expensive house, had you not thought that God wanted you to sell off your expensive house and buy a more modest home?Is God now obligated to meet your needs just because you are bad spender? Is God a genie that must grant all your wishes and everything you ask Him?
Is God a CEO of the company who must bargain with the employee union to get them working? Should God really compromise with us for us to serve Him?
Okay God, I have given you $10 already, you must give me $100. If this is how things work, then I think those poor Christians of old were not givers. They died poor, mutilated by the Roman soldiers, tortured during the Inquisition, and even persecuted in most parts of the world. Had they given $100,000 to the Lord, they would have been millionaires (by the standard of their day).
The prosperity gospel principle treats God as the means to an end. A tool. An object. The promises of God on material blessings are now turned into MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. You give, you will get your money back, 100% plus interests.
If we are serving God for the fringe benefits attached to this service, then we are not serving out of love, but out of the compensations we get. And if God is not giving us adequate compensations, I guess we should get a new manager. Sir Robert L'Estrange, a British journalist of the 17th century, wrote: He that serves God for money will serve the devil for better wages.
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