Dee first became aware of the “Health and Wealth” Gospel (hereafter called HWG) when her three year old daughter was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Approximately six weeks prior to the diagnosis, she had read an excellent book called Disappointment With God by Philip Yancey. In this book, he described God’s relationship with the Israelites. He focused on the many miracles God would perform for His people, who would be grateful for a short time. Then they would quickly return to building false idols and whining about their lives.
Their real problem was a disease called sin which only had one remedy. In fact, God’s antidote for sin is the greatest miracle of all! Healing from cancer and protection from one’s enemies pales in comparison. Our fatal disease is separation from our Creator, and we can do absolutely nothing to heal that! According to God’s divine plan, His one and only son Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected so that real, powerful, eternal healing could be achieved for all who would accept His incredible sacrifice.
Dee came to the conclusion that God had already healed her and that was the only miracle she needed to prove God’s love for her and the rest of the world. BOOM! Her daughter was diagnosed with a horrible disease. Dee approached the pain of her daughter’s poor prognosis by praying to God to help her family walk through the “valley of the shadow” relying on God’s peace. As a registered nurse Dee was realistic, knowing that most children with a brain tumor do not survive. Of course, she asked God for healing. She also told God that her faith in Him was not dependent on her daughter’s survival. In other words, Dee knew that God could do anything; however, she was not sure the path He would send for her daughter and family to walk down.
Dee’s prayers were simple. No naming and claiming the healing, no “we demand this healing”, no prayer formulas, healing services, or faith healers played a part in this drama. As the years passed slowly by (neurological tumors are not considered a cure at 5 years; they can reappear over a decade), Dee saw God in her day-to-day life. One night after crying herself to sleep, she woke up with a start, sensing a warm peace that flooded her soul. Dee thanked God for His presence and His divine support.
About 11 years later, her daughter was declared an unlikely cure. She is now a junior in college with a vibrant faith. This “miracle child” is studying nursing and will devote her life and loving spirit to those in need of compassionate medical care.
Dee begins this series with her testimony to emphasize a point. She understands the pain of a serious illness, particularly in a child. What parent would not be willing to take their child’s place under such circumstances? Dee’s upcoming criticism is directed at those who would prey on the pain of others facing such illnesses. They are deceivers of the worst kind!
Dee also directs her criticism at today’s churches and pastors who do not stand up and rebuke these charlatans. She is appalled at the lack of teaching in this area at churches. Why should these heretical teaching be exposed?
1. “Try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world”. (1 John 4:1)
2. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned. (Galatians 1:6-8)
3. Jesus Himself confronted the poor teachings of the Pharisees, calling them hypocrites and snakes.
4. Many of these “evangelists” are thrusting themselves visibly into the marketplace via TV and radio. So, we are giving them the attention that they are seeking!
5. We must protect the vulnerable among us. Just as children can be deceived by pedophiles, adults can be deceived by the mishandling of Scripture.
6. Many turn their backs on God when He doesn’t answer their prayers for healing or for wealth. One only needs to visit web sites such as exChristians.net to see the number of people who believe that God “let them down” when they prayed for the healing of a loved one who subsequently died.
One of the many teaching s of HWG is that man is capable of speaking “words” into reality. In other words, if someone wishes to have a Mercedes Benz, one only has to speak the words and it will occur. HWG teaches that God must answer the demands of a believer. They take the “if you have enough faith you can move mountains” and apply it to houses, cancers, etc.
Here is the danger of such utter nonsense. You must not have any doubt that God will do as you demand. In other words, if you don’t get what you wanted, you faith was weak. It’s absolutely your fault!
We know of a family that had a child with leukemia. They put up signs around the hospital room that visitors had to believe 100% that he would be healed. Visitors would also be instructed not to pray “Thy will be done…” because it was God’s will that he would be healed. There were large prayer meetings involving hundreds of people. Dee, having gone through such pain, visited the parents. The father told her that his son’s healing was going to be so swift that all of the doctors and nurses would fall on their knees and praise God.
Dee asked him what would happen if that did not occur. She then went on to explain her path through her daughter’s illness. She probed him and asked him if he was putting too much pressure on himself to believe with absolute certainty that his son would be healed. She said that God loved him and would carry him through this time and that he didn’t have to try so hard to convince himself that he would be healed. Well, Dee was told she was wrong in her thoughts — that Dee’s daughter was healed by other people who claimed her daughter’s healing.
Well, a couple of years later, this man’s son died. Can you imagine the guilt that the parents must have felt? You see, they put the burden on themselves for their son’s healing. So, his death was their fault!!! This is the pain of the HWG.
Tomorrow we will look at one of the greatest of all the HWG charlatans, Benny Hinn.
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The HWG’ers are obviously charlatons, and they are almost characactures of themselves at this point. Its truly embarrassing, as a Christian to watch these guys operate on TV. Watching some of these guys, I wonder how long it will be until the federal government steps in and halts some of their phony claims that prey on the poor and elderly.
But what is more sinister in Christianity today, I believe, are the “mainstream” evangelicals who are teaching the “storehouse tithing” doctrine, setting up a phony 10% threshold for all Christians as the line between obedience and disobedience in stewardship. These men are playing fast and loose with OT and NT scripture that results in the following:
1. Heaps guilt on believers who truly cannot afford to give 10% of their income for whatever reason – could be low income, could be massive debt they have accumulated, special needs children, etc.
2. Gives a pass to ultra wealthy believers who give 10%, are patted on the back and exhalted and given lay leadership positions for their “faithfulness”, and then feel justified in an extravagant lifestyle with the rest of their money.
3. It places a demand on the FIRST 10% of a Christian’s income in giving – that is a Christian only giving 5% is taught that ALL of that money must go to their church and not to any other Christian or charitable organizations. Some of the preachers who teach this doctrine are teaching it more forcefully, telling their members to not give to ANYTHING but the church for the first 10%. This is a phony, unscriptural demand, and teaches someone to ignore the Holy Spirit who may be leading someone to give to a worthwhile charitable organization, or to even helping a fellow Christian in need with their charitable donations.
Its a sinister doctrine, and more and more Christians are realizing it. As I have written on my blog, even SEBTS seminary professors know it is a false doctrine. When I hear a preacher preach this doctrine hard, equating the church to the OT “storehouse”, telling people they are “robbing God” in ref to Mal 3:10, that causes me to question EVERYTHIG ELSE this preacher preaches.
I am devoting more of my blog to this particular issue to hopefully help people open their eyes to it…not that they will give less, but they will fully understand that the church is NOT the OT “storehouse” (my local food bank and homeless is shelter is 99% more of an OT storehouse than is the local mega church), that they CAN give to other organizations, and they should follow New Testament scriptures in giving generously, not out of compulsion, as they purpose in their heart. 10% is absolutely NOT a threshold between obedience and disobedience – it is a phony gimmick used by money hungry mega church pastors to increase revenue.
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My personal favorite rendention of this HWG is how they will ruin someone and then teach that the Lord will provide for them. So that sets it up that if the Lord does NOT provide, they were the real sinners with little faith. What they fail to mention is that the Lord mostly uses HIS people to provide for HIS people in the NT early church.
It is amazing how many mainstream evangelicals buy into this. It basically boils down to if you have hard times it is because of sin. After all, look at us and how much WE are blessed. This negates the entire teaching of the NT which is about sacrifice and all the passages that warn about worldliness. For example, if one is never disciplined, one probably does not belong to the Lord. It also begs the question that the Lord must not love the 3rd world country Christians as much. And what about blessed are those who are persecuted for My Names sake?
How do they live with themselves preaching this false tripe when, as educated in theology, they should know better?
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Not to mention their disregarding the entire >book< of Job (and perhaps Ecclesiastes to boot), which both respond to the self-evident, observable fact that on Earth the wicked aren't always materially punished, and the righteous aren't always materially rewarded. It's not that they don't know.