THE PERIL OF STANDING IN OPPOSITION TO THE WORD

I'm sorry to say that those who stand in opposition to the Gospel -- and that includes the message of prosperity -- can no longer call themselves children of faith.  Everything about Jesus -- including His life, His ministry, His death and resurrection -- speak of the abundant life.    It requires faith to walk this truth.  Just because there are folks who attempt to parlay the message of prosperity for personal gain, that doesn't mean that the message of prosperity is wrong.  Those who oppose the teaching of this truth are actually guilty of speaking against the Gospel.  Consider what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Ekklesia:

For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich (Greek: plousios), yet for your sakes he became (Greek: ptocheuo) poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich (Greek: plousios).  (II Corinthians 8:9)

The Greek word, plousios, literally means "wealthy," living in abundance, overflowing with resources of every kind.    I'll talk more about this word in a minute.

The Greek word, ptocheuo, means to become, or to make oneself indigent.  The use of that word here makes it clear that Jesus had to put away or walk away from His wealth.  He did that very effectively on the Cross.

Was Jesus rich?  Most folks forget the fact that one of the gifts the wise men -- the magi -- brought to Jesus after his birth was gold.  History tells us that the magi were either kings themselves, or the highest representatives of eastern rulers.  If they were bringing gifts to one whom they knew to be the King of Kings, they didn't just bring a pocketful of change.  The pattern picture for this in the Word is that of the Queen of Sheba who brought a camel train loaded with -- among other things -- gold.  Because we have the actual amount she brought to Solomon, we have a fairly close estimation of its value in modern terms.  What the Queen of Sheba brought to Solomon, who was the equivalent king of kings on earth in his day, amounted to a value of 119 Million dollars.

It would be foolish to imagine that the magi (being kings themselves, or representatives of kings who desired to honor another king) brought some simple gold token or a few gold coins to one who was being revered and worshiped as the King of all Kings.  Even if all one does is to say that they brought the same amount of gold (that the Queen of Sheba had as her gift) to Jesus, (not counting the tremendous value of the frankincense and myrrh) there is simply no stretch of the imagination by which one can suggest that Jesus did not begin life as an extremely wealthy person. 

Although we know that He had the resources of some very rich women who accompanied Him from time to time in His travels, it wasn't like Jesus somehow needed their finances.  They became recipients of His Blessing because they sowed their resources -- and all that they were -- into His ministry.

There are two very descriptive words in the Greek text which takes place in John 12:6 and John 13:9 concerning Judas where we are told that he "had the bag and bare what was put therein."   The first word is the word for "bag" and it is the Greek term, glossokomon.  This is a very revealing conjunctive word in Greek.  It was used exclusively in the NT Greek text to describe a very ornamental bag or pouch that the rich used around their waist to carry gold, silver and other valuables.  The second revealing word in John 12:9 is the word "bare," translated from the Greek bastazo which means "to endure, to sustain, to lift and hold up something heavy."

When we read that Judas "was a thief" the Greek word here is kleptes, from which we get our English word, kleptomaniac.   Judas was a compulsive thief who stole regularly from the heavy "bag" because he didn't think anyone would notice the missing money.  I don't want to drag this discussion out too long, but in order to keep this in proper context, all one has to do is look at a couple of other Scriptures.

Luke 4:18: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel (euangelion: angelic news) to the poor (Greek: ptochos: paupers, those in financial distress)......."

Deuteronomy 8:18: But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God; for it is He that giveth thee power (koach: the force, the capacity, the means to produce) to get wealth (chayil: substance, wealth, goods, riches, force) that He may establish His Covenant which He sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

Will someone please tell me where -- in any of this -- one can read into it that it is NOT the will and heart's desire of Father God for His people to prosper?  Folks, prosperity IS the mandate of the Lord!  That doesn't mean He promises to make everyone a millionaire -- although I suspect that there are far more folks who could be if they simply believed and acted according to God's Covenant!

There is a spiritual law in force here.  We can phrase it like this: You can't have what you speak against!  In other words, to speak against prosperity and the truth of God's Word is the mandate of a demonic prince we know as Mammon.  The Lord has given me a great deal of revelation concerning this demonic prince and his strategies and agenda, and I intend to do a series of Coffee Breaks dealing with Mammon and understanding this spirit as soon as I wrap up my series on Heaven.

The opposite side of that spiritual law is spelled out in black and white in the Word of God: Proverbs 10:22 reads, The Blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich (ashar: to accumulate wealth, substance; to become rich) and He addeth no sorrow ('etseb: pain, hard or grevious labor, pangs (whether of body or mind) with it.

I want to strongly encourage the managers of this site to remove this demonic diatribe against the "prosperity gospel" and delete any mention of boycotting the ministries named.  You cannot do anything positive for the sake of the Kingdom of God with this kind of negative preaching.  I don't personally know some of the folks named in the boycott, but I can tell you authoritatively that the overwhelming majority of the ministries named are personally responsible for tens of millions of new believers being added to the Kingdom of God in just the past year -- never mind previous years.  Further, these men and women have been anointed by the Holy Spirit in ways we could all aspire to.

That leaves us with one final command we read in Psalm 105:15 and I Chronicles 16:22: Touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm.  Couldn't have said it better myself.  Do not -- and I repeat -- DO NOT speak out against any of these ministers or their ministries lest you find yourself opening the door to Satan to bring a curse upon yourself.

I choose to speak Blessings upon you.

Regner Capener