DEAD Wrong
If Job's experience isn't a perfect example to prove that the Prosperity
"Doctrine" (which is so popular in Western churches today) is dead wrong, than what is?
In Job, God's righteous servant (and, God declared it to be so), we have a man who did all of the right things and served God with his whole heart, yet, calamity washed over him almost to consume him. It simply doesn't line up with the mantra of good things happen to faithful people and bad things happen to the wicked or unfaithful. It also doesn't line up with God's Word. Jesus said, "...for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Eliphaz could easily be a popular prosperity preacher, today--I can just see him all decked out on television, filled with emotion, preaching that message: "If you have faith in God, than there is nothing out of your reach! Those who do not believe, it is evident--the proof is in their lives--of lack and poverty. God wants those whom He loves to have the best of everything--after all we are the King's kids--and as children of a King, we inherit all of the substance of the kingdom--all of the wealth and the health, too...blah, blah, blah." But, Eliphaz and all of the other false teachers seem to be clueless about some of God's most faithful servants of the Bible--the sufferers. Not only Job, but those "elect" saints of 1 Peter who experienced extreme persecution living in catacombs for fear of Nero and his wickedness, as he falsely accused them of burning 3/4 of Rome (story has it, Nero probably did it himself!). The "elect" were also accused of being cannibals because they partook of the Lord's Supper, called atheists because they refused to worship Nero, and were tortured, thrown to the lions, boiled, burned for the enjoyment of the Roman spectators. Then, there was the "cloud of witnesses"--that great Hall of Fame of the faith-filled. Of them, it is written:
"Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Hebrews 11:33-40
You see, the riches that God guarantees and assures us of, are not corruptible, but spiritual and eternal in the Heavens. They cannot be stolen, or lost and if we "delight" ourselves in the Lord, He will give us exactly what we delight in--the eternal, immortal gift of Himself. He won't tarnish, and no moth can corrupt His presence in us. How else could those saints in 1 Peter know anything of "joy unspeakable and full of glory" in their circumstances--if it wasn't spiritual, rather than natural and earthy???
Take that, Eliphaz!
Learn how to be compassionate and understanding--especially when you don't know. Don't assume. Maybe, they are being "considered" because they are so faithful.
In Job, God's righteous servant (and, God declared it to be so), we have a man who did all of the right things and served God with his whole heart, yet, calamity washed over him almost to consume him. It simply doesn't line up with the mantra of good things happen to faithful people and bad things happen to the wicked or unfaithful. It also doesn't line up with God's Word. Jesus said, "...for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Eliphaz could easily be a popular prosperity preacher, today--I can just see him all decked out on television, filled with emotion, preaching that message: "If you have faith in God, than there is nothing out of your reach! Those who do not believe, it is evident--the proof is in their lives--of lack and poverty. God wants those whom He loves to have the best of everything--after all we are the King's kids--and as children of a King, we inherit all of the substance of the kingdom--all of the wealth and the health, too...blah, blah, blah." But, Eliphaz and all of the other false teachers seem to be clueless about some of God's most faithful servants of the Bible--the sufferers. Not only Job, but those "elect" saints of 1 Peter who experienced extreme persecution living in catacombs for fear of Nero and his wickedness, as he falsely accused them of burning 3/4 of Rome (story has it, Nero probably did it himself!). The "elect" were also accused of being cannibals because they partook of the Lord's Supper, called atheists because they refused to worship Nero, and were tortured, thrown to the lions, boiled, burned for the enjoyment of the Roman spectators. Then, there was the "cloud of witnesses"--that great Hall of Fame of the faith-filled. Of them, it is written:
"Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Hebrews 11:33-40
You see, the riches that God guarantees and assures us of, are not corruptible, but spiritual and eternal in the Heavens. They cannot be stolen, or lost and if we "delight" ourselves in the Lord, He will give us exactly what we delight in--the eternal, immortal gift of Himself. He won't tarnish, and no moth can corrupt His presence in us. How else could those saints in 1 Peter know anything of "joy unspeakable and full of glory" in their circumstances--if it wasn't spiritual, rather than natural and earthy???
Take that, Eliphaz!
Learn how to be compassionate and understanding--especially when you don't know. Don't assume. Maybe, they are being "considered" because they are so faithful.
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