ChnMind 2:15 The Real Prosperity Gospel

The Goal of Family Financial Self-Sufficiency

In recent years we have seen the emergence of what has been dubbed the “Prosperity Gospel”. At its most crass, the Prosperity Gospel has been a gross perversion of biblical truth for selfish pecuniary gain. Infamous “televangelists” particularly in the United States have proclaimed to their audiences that if they would send in gifts, God would reward them with financial prosperity. Money has flowed in like water. The televangelists have become fabulously wealthy through fleecing their so-called flocks. Their judgment awaits.

This perversion is of the same ilk found in the historical Christian Church, where in the early sixteenth century, indulgences were sold: the object was to raise money for building the Church of St Peter's in Rome; the method was to promise to people that if they gave, they would secure an indulgence for a loved one, so that they would escape the pangs of purgatory and go immediately into heaven. It was this evil which was the immediate cause of the Reformation. Luther's Ninety-five theses were posted on the door of the Castle Church at Wittenburg for debate. They condemned the practice of indulgences. The false Prosperity Gospel has been around for a long, long time.

There are other, less crass forms of the Prosperity Gospel. In some circles it has morphed into a challenge to be an active participant in the life of the church—including in its giving programme—in order to inherit the blessing of God. The blessing of God will include financial blessing. “Give and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together and running over,” (Luke 6:38) has become a favourite biblical text.

Like all perversions of the truth, there is often an element of original truth which is subsequently perverted. The Prosperity Gospel is no exception.

We have been considering the role and responsibility of one of the key institutions of God's Kingdom, the City of Jerusalem. The Family is a crucial, foundational, fundamental institution of the City. Its central role, function, sovereignty and authority is declared in Scripture. It is protected by God's Law, such that neither Church nor State may subsume, override, or countermand its duties and work.

The role and responsibility of the Family is to provide its members the blessing of the closest and deepest bonds of human fellowship; to act as the core institution to bear, raise, nurture and train children in the faith; and to to be the primary provider of welfare for the members of its own household, its extended household, fellow church members, and to all men.

We have been focusing upon the role and responsibility of the Family to be the centre of welfare and provision for family members at some length deliberately. This is because it is precisely here that modern Athens has subverted and subsumed these familial duties, and transposed them to the secular state. The result has been a growth in statist power, and a weakening of the Family. As the institution of the Family has been weakened, so the Kingdom of God has lost influence and power. The rebuilding of the Kingdom of God in the West requires that the Family—the Christian Family—takes back its legitimate sphere and duties, and recaptures its central social influence. This will not be achieved overnight—it will take several generations, in fact. But it must be done, if the Kingdom is to grow in influence and power over Athens. This is a high, holy, and spiritual calling. It must be done if the Kingdom is to regain the ground that it has lost in the West.

In this regard, we must recover the true biblical position on family and household prosperity.

The Scriptures make it very clear that wealth and possessions are a blessing of God. Increase and prosperity come from the Lord. It is a blessing of the Covenant itself. The Lord promises that if we are faithful and obedient, He will be faithful to us, and that He will pour forth His blessing upon us—and His blessing is both covenantal and cultural. Consider the words of the Law:

Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you His covenant and lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers. And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock, in the land which He swore to your forefathers to give you.

You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall be no male or female barren among you or your cattle. And the Lord will remove from you all sickness; and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will lay them on all who hate you.
Deuteronomy 7: 12—15

Note that this abundance is to come about as a result of our forefathers' obedience, faithfulness, loyalty, and obeisance to the Lord. The resulting blessings will certainly come because the Lord has sworn—taken an oath—that He will respond in kind. The Lord will love, bless, and multiply.

And again:

Beware lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; lest when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your hearts become proud . . . (and) you may say in your heart, 'My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.'

But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
Deuteronomy 8: 11—18

The power to make wealth is a divine confirmation of His covenant: but it will only transpire if God's people remain humble and faithful to Him. If we, as a covenant community, remain poor and dependant, the blessings of the covenant have not yet been confirmed to us.

However, we need to be very clear on how wealth comes to pass. There are only two ways given in Scripture for people to gain wealth: hard work and inheritance. Thus, the wealth and prosperity that was to come to Israel was to be the fruit of work, labour, diligence, skill and persistence. The archetype is Jacob—whose name, we, the Israel of God bear. He went out with nothing but the shirt on his back, and came back a man of substance, the fruit of twenty years of hard and skilful husbandry, in the face of severe obstacles. Work, skill, and diligence are the means of divine blessing. The Lord makes the labour of our hands and minds fruitful and productive. He gives makes our efforts successful as we trust Him, depend upon Him, and work faithfully as He has commanded us.

This is the true Prosperity Gospel—diligent and faithful work in the callings God has given us, looking to the Lord for His blessing, and experiencing His hand multiplying our efforts, despite many trials, hardships, and reversals.

But, what to do with the multiplied wealth? It is the Lord's. We are only stewards of what He has given. We are bound, as households and families, to use wealth as He has directed, in the way He has commanded. And His command is that each family and household strive to become self-sufficient and self-supporting, and have some left over to share with others.

There are four stages in the transition from poverty to self-sufficient wealth. The first stage is where one is unable to earn any income—whether through sickness, ill-fortune, or unemployment. At this point, the family is dependant upon the love and charity of others for sustenance. This was the condition of Naomi and Ruth.

The second stage is when one can earn enough income to meet day-to-day needs (food, clothing, and shelter). This stage is still one of poverty and the family remains at risk. The family and household is living from hand to mouth.

The third stage is where the family is able to earn sufficient income that not only can it meet day-to-day needs, but it can also lay aside funds for capital appreciation. The Christian family needs to recover the discipline of a lifetime of saving—which, in turn, means that present consumption has to be restrained and curtailed. Only then is the family moving out of poverty towards self-sufficiency.

The fourth stage is where sufficient capital has been amassed that it is possible to live comfortably off the income produced from that capital, and that there is sufficient income that some is able to be capitalised back, so that overall wealth is growing.

Most Christian families in our day remain at the second stage—living from hand to mouth. Many Christian families believe that is all the Lord requires. They are mistaken. They need to realise that there is so much further to go, and that it is the responsibility of the head of the household to strive to the utmost to ensure that the household moves to the third and fourth stages. It is their duty. Only then can we begin truly to take up our additional responsibilities to our extended families and to the needy around us.

In moving from the second to the third stage the application of a very useful rule—the seventy-thirty rule—is apposite. When we are consistently applying the seventy-thirty rule to our earned income, then we know we are moving to stage three. Huge progress is being made at this point. Ideally, it should start from the day we earn our first dollar of income, and it should continue throughout our lives.

The seventy-thirty rule is as follows:

Of all the income the Lord gives us through our work and labour, divide it as follows:

10% to be untouched—tithed—and given to the Lord. This should always be done, regardless of our circumstances or penury. It is the biblical way of acknowledging that all we have has actually comes from God's hand. Without this faithful discipline we will not develop the heart of a faithful steward. Until we are faithful in this little thing, the Lord will not entrust us to be faithful in much more.

10% to be untouched—saved—and put to long term capital formation. This capital, except in the direst of emergencies, is not to be touched or consumed; it is eventually to be passed on down to children and grandchildren. In retirement from direct income earning, or in times of unemployment or hardship, income from this capital may be used; but the capital ought to be left perpetually intact--if at all possible.

10% to be saved, but to spend on larger items the household will need in the future (house, furniture, car, etc) or to assist with children's education or family special needs.

70% is to fund current household expenditure.

This is not always possible to achieve, depending upon one's circumstances—but it remains a benchmark and goal. Only as we achieve this consistently can we be confident of moving from stage two to stage three. Getting the household to stage three, and keeping it there, should be the goal of every household head, and all its members. Only then can we say that we are living as the Bible commands—as self-reliant, with some left over to share with those who have need.