The Gospel of Prosperity?

I was reading the“Refutation of City Harvest's "Divine Healing" Article at another blog. There was an interesting discussion on “Prosperity Gospel” & its biblical basis. I have posted some of my views there. There is,however, one main point which is this:

• In the gospel, when Jesus prays, we can see that “prosperity gospel” has never been Jesus’ agenda. In the Lord’s Prayer, for example, the first three petitions deal with God and the last three with us. This pattern indicates that disciples should have more concern for God than we do for ourselves. We should put His interests first in our praying as in all our living. For example, "Your kingdom come, your will be done” (Matthew 6:10) points to the need to recognize the sovereignty of God. Even in the last three in the petitions of the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:11-13, the prayer center around the issues of regeneration, justification, and sanctification. Jesus commanded His disciples to bring their personal needs to God in prayer. The first three petitions stand alone, but the last three have connecting "ands" that bind them together. We need all three of these things equally; we cannot get along without any of them. So from verse 11-13, we have “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation (Greek: peirasmos), but deliver us from evil.” (ESV)

In the article Refutation of City Harvest's "Divine Healing,

Kong Hee said:

Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He dwells within you. To the world, your hands are effectively Jesus' hands. Your feet are Jesus' feet. Your mouth is Jesus' mouth. If you are sick all the time, how are you going to provide for your family, excel in life, help the poor and needy, and be a powerful witness for Jesus Christ?

Some thoughts:

I believe that the example of Paul shows that the converse is true. Also, Is Rev. Kong Hee trying to say that Christians who are sick all the time (what do he mean by this? Is it an incurable disease? ) are poor witness for Jesus Christ? Not necessarily so, by being joyful and full of faith (& hope) in sickness, our sickness may be just what point others to God! The statement “If you are sick all the time, how are you going to provide for your family, excel in life, help the poor and needy, and be a powerful witness for Jesus Christ?” isn’t biblical truth (the bible doesn’t say this), but shows mankind’s faulty logic because our fallen and sinful nature since Adam. If we can trust God to heal us, to give us health, can’t we also trust that he will sustain us, & help us even when we are sick?

As to the question of “Who does all the healing at healing crusades, churches and cell groups all around the world?”, it would be unfair for us to judge. However, when God heal through his servant (apostles), the bible shows that there were no record of failed attempts to heal (except if Mark 9: 17-29 where Jesus took over!). Moreover, in the NT, when healing does occur, there are no relapse, but in contemporary Charismatic & Pentecostal scene, the same cannot be said of healings through pastors & evangelists.

Kong Hee:

Critics of divine healing or proponents of the cessation theory would claim that supernatural healing and health were confined only to the Old Testament or Gospel era. Now that we have doctors, hospitals and advanced medical technology, God doesn't find it necessary to heal people supernaturally anymore. To that, my rebuttal is: "If the people of God in the Old Testament, under the old covenant, could have healing, good health and prosperity, how much more we believers of the new covenant. We now have Jesus in our hearts, the Holy Spirit in our lives. We should enjoy healing and good health even more!" Otherwise, how could we qualify the new covenant to be a better covenant than the old (Heb. 8:6)?

Some thoughts:

God gave the promise of a new covenant because the people of Israel had failed Him. He also did so because the Old Mosaic Covenant did not have the power to enable them to remain faithful to God. The New covenant is better covenant than the Old covenant because the New Covenant has the power whereby God's people may remain faithful, namely, the presence of God living within the believer. This is one way in which it differs from the Old Covenant (v. 9). (For further insights on the New Covenant, may read J. Dwight Pentecost’s simple but useful book Thy Kingdom Come, pp. 164-77) Rev. Kong Hee said that the people of God in the Old Testament, under the old covenant, have healing, good health and prosperity, my question is this, “Is this always so? If not, how does this make the New Covenant a better covenant than the Old Covenant? ”
My point is this, the New Covenant is a better covenant than the Old Covenant because God promised that the New Covenant would enable the Israelites to do four things:

(1)They would know and desire to do God's will (v. 10b),

(2) enjoy a privileged, unique relationship with God (v. 10c),

(3) know God directly (v. 11), and

(4) experience permanent forgiveness of their sins (v. 12).

These are the "better promises" the writer referred to earlier (v. 6). As such, Hebrew 8:6 seem to have been misinterpreted & wrongly applied.

Kong Hee:

Faith is the atmosphere for miracles and healing. Doubt and unbelief are definite miracle killers. When Jesus came to His hometown of Nazareth, He was greatly despised by His own people. They scoffed at Him for being just the son of a simple carpenter (Mark 6:2-3). Jesus marveled at their unbelief and could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them (6:5-6).When a Christian adopts an attitude that says, "Well, let God first heal me; then I'll believe in divine healing!" That is the surest way of hindering God's healing power. God's way is the way of faith—you believe first with conviction, then you will see the miracles of God taking place in your life.

Some thoughts:

When a Christian adopts an attitude that says, "Well, let God first heal me; then I'll believe in divine healing!" I do not see this as believing. Rather, if we need God to first heal me in order believe in divine healing, this is call “knowing”. Different from Kong Hee, I do not think that anything can hinder God's healing power. Besides the examples of Matthew 8:14-15 & Acts 3:1-7, the example of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:5-44) & healing a man blind from birth (Jn. 9:1-41) also shows that God is not some calculative deity sitting in heaven, waiting for us to have faith before he heals. Our faith that divine healing still occurs shows affirms we believe “Jesus can” heal, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that “Jesus will” (especially to our timing. Rev. Kong Hee knows this too! Quoting his key#4: “HEALING IS NOT ALWAYS INSTANT”). One may ask: “How can this be? God loves us.” Yes, God loves us, but God is also sovereign. We can’t (& shouldn’t) expect to use our faith as an instrument to “force” (which we never can!!) God to do things. For example, we trust our spouse, but we can’t use our “trust” to “manipulate” (“control”) them into do things against their will/ desire. Our spouse may do the things we want, but it is out of his/her love. Our trust may be a factor, but it is never a determining factor. “How unfair!” one may say, but have we consider that … the God who still provides for us, who cares for us, even when we lack the faith in Him shows that He is a loving God. A God worthy of our adoration.
Rev. Kong Hee knows that “Christianity cannot be reduced into a set of techniques and formulas” (quoting from him), but he sure makes faith sound like a guarantee to all things!!

Here are some further thoughts on “Prosperity Gospel”, I believe there are a few simple biblical texts which can shed light on this issue:

1) Matthew 5:45 says, “he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust”. Here, we see that those who are wealthy are not more Godly than those who are not.

2) Ps. 72:3-12 shows that the wicked frequently prosper.

3) In these texts, Romans 15:26; 1 Cor. 1:26; 2 Cor. 6:10; Gal. 2:10; James 2:3-6, we see that the righteous are frequently poor even though they are rich n faith.

4) I feel Christianity/ the gospel of Jesus is not about selling/ promoting Jesus by telling people that Jesus will make them rich or forever healthy!

5) We believe because God is true, Jesus has died, & risen. He is our Savior. If we don’t believe all these, then we are implying the bible is not completely true. We should not only believe the “nice things” of our faith, but all that the bible teaches. If pick & choose what to believe, we only delude ourselves.

6) As such, I think that the “Prosperity Gospel” should not be taught. The gospel is the good news of Jesus for the world. The focus of the gospel should be on Jesus, & not Jesus. Proponents of “Prosperity Gospel” say that if we obey & love God, He will make us proper & healthy. However, if we really obey & love God, He will naturally bless us with these. However, He is sovereign & may have other purposes for out lives. As such, rather than saying “Prosperity Gospel” should not be taught, it can be said that “Prosperity Gospel” need not be taught.