Following The Wrong Gospel….

The problem with the prosperity gospel, or what the “word faith” teaches, is that it never establishes deep roots. People believe that their behavior earns God’s favor. When hard times come (and they will come), people fall away because things don’t work like they should. People think their faith doesn’t live up to what it’s supposed to. When someone dies of cancer or tragedy strikes a prosperity believer is told the reason it happened is because they didn’t pray enough, or they were sinning in some way. This is the scheme of the devil. Those that believe “riches” come to the faithful confuse that same lie with the truth. Think about it, if your goal in “being nice” or “living by our (perceived) faith” is to get something in return, then you’re following the wrong gospel. Your roots won’t be deep enough to sustain you, or the worries and distractions of life will see to it that you won’t ever find contentment in chasing the “prosperity gospel”. The rewards that come from a true life of faith in Jesus, can’t be measured. Money is a measurable device. It won’t ever fall under the guarantee of eternal life. Why? As I said it’s measurable, and it’s perishable. The only two things that will last for eternity are the souls of people and God’s word. Trusting God is the reward. And it’s benefits are immeasurable (peace, patience, purpose, security). Don’t allow yourself to believe in counterfeit gospels. Hold everything up in the light of what the Bible says. It will be exposed when compared to the “Real Thing”. For nothing compares to God. Nothing. When you know Him, you know this to be true. Real prosperity is being rich in your relationship to God, and to others.

1 Once again Jesus began teaching by the lakeshore. A very large crowd soon gathered around Him, so He got into a boat. Then He sat in the boat while all the people remained on the shore. 2 He taught them by telling many stories in the form of parables, such as this one:3 “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seed.4 As he scattered it across his field, some of the seed fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate it.5 Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow.6 But the plant soon wilted under the hot sun, and since it didn’t have deep roots, it died.7 Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants so they produced no grain.8 Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they sprouted, grew, and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”9 Then He said, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”10 Later, when Jesus was alone with the twelve disciples and with the others who were gathered around, they asked Him what the parables meant.11 He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secret of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables for everything I say to outsiders, 12 so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: ‘When they see what I do,they will learn nothing.When they hear what I say,they will not understand.Otherwise, they will turn to Meand be forgiven.’” 13 Then Jesus said to them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables? 14 The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others.15 The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away.16 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy.17 But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.18 The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word,19 but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced.20 And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Mark 4:1-20