That’s a perfect example of twisting scripture to send a message that people will want to hear, but isn’t accurate and doesn’t truly bring people to biblical Christianity.
Yes, God provides for us, but He doesn’t promise us mansions, speedboats or fine automobiles. There’s nothing wrong with having nice things, but keeping our eye simple makes life simpler and easier, in many ways.
The scriptures cover many subjects. It is possible, by taking verse out of context, to claim biblical support for all sorts of things, but that is abusing the scriptures. This practice is called “verse checking”.
Sometimes, people will use examples from the scriptures to justify wrong behavior. The Bible honestly reports the actions of any number of people, but that doesn’t mean that it endorses their wrongdoing.
For example, King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged to have her husband killed in battle. David paid a heavy price for his sins and the peace of his family never recovered. His grandson was King when the 10 northern tribes split away and Israel was never the same.
David is favorably remembered in scripture and was forgiven his sins, but that doesn’t mean that the Bible condones David’s sins.
2 Timothy 4:3 says: “ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,” (NASB)
There are people out there claiming to represent God’s word, whom twist scripture to support all sorts of badness. For virtually any sin, there are people claiming scriptural support exists. Such people claim to be spiritual leaders, but in fact, they are misrepresenting scripture.
Through the years, I’ve adopted a policy of taking scripture literally, unless there is scriptural evidence that it is symbolic. Doing this has helped the Bible to “come alive” for me, seeing that it is truly in harmony with itself and explains God’s purposes in dealing with mankind in a consistent way, from the earliest record in Genesis to the symbolic prophecies of Revelation. The accounts of Noah, Abraham, the Nation of Israel and the early Christians are all consistent.
Scripture is remarkable, in that we can see a common thread from the beginning of creation, all the way to our day. There is nothing else like it in existence.
– Unknowable
What’s Wrong With the Prosperity Gospel?
My friend Unknowable at Lee Duigon’s blog wrote this great comment concerning the prosperity gospel.
Spread the Word 