God is a good God and blesses His children with every good gift according to His discretion. However, there is madness all around us today whereby prosperity is preached as if it is the beginning and the end of the gospel of Jesus. People fail to realize that the Old Testament has to be understood and interpreted through the eyes of the New Testament. In the OT, God focused on an earthly inheritance for the nation of Israel - Canaan. But in the New Testament, the emphasis is on spiritual inheritance - heaven. Jesus talked about '...in my Father's house are many mansions...' John 14:1-4. Paul wrote to Timothy '...I have ran the race, I have kept the faith. It now remains the crown of life which God has prepared for me and for all those that love Him...' (paraphrased)
Hence, in the list of the people of faith in Heb 11, after listing those that received miracles, down from vs 38, there began another list of those that were persecuted and killed. Yet the Bible declares, "..All these died in the faith..."
Why are we doing this injustice to the cause of Christ and presenting Christianity as if it only has promise for this life alone? Why are we being this unfaithful to the Word of God? Why are we presenting Jesus as if He died just to give us bread and wine for our pleasure? Why are we being this unfaithful to our brethren who are suffering persecution for their faith as if they are stupid and have a faith that does not work?
The 'health and wealth gospel' is a half-baked gospel full of confusion and lies that will only succeed in tying the souls of men down to the affairs of this life. May God deliver us from this non-sense.
No comments:
Post a Comment