The NATIONAL PRAYER ALTAR

MARATHON PRAYERS
Monday 16th - Sunday 22nd September 2024

WHERE DID THE “PROSPERITY MESSAGE” COME FROM?

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Matt. 6: 24).

Dr Cathy Burns produced a scholarly 778-page book on religious manipulation, of which over 554 pages are filled with facts and 204 pages are references verifying sources of information. That book, entitled Billy Graham and his Friends, is another confirmation of the statement of Jesus Christ that, “… that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16: 15).

An excerpt from page 145 forms the basis of the prayer call for this week:

“Dr Ward visited Stalin in Moscow in 1920, and they worked together to form the basis of the Social Gospel, now openly proclaimed by the NCC (National Council of Churches). This gospel was to increase emphasis on the materialistic side and decrease emphasis on theology so that in due time, Marxism and the Social Gospel may become one and the same.”

In a previous prayer call entitled “The Hypocrisy of a Father,” we narrated how Karl Marx started the obnoxious Communist ideology because of his father’s hypocrisy. Communism is an ideology that denies the existence of God and terribly persecutes Christians. It has taken millions of souls to hell. The ungodly ideology was dismantled in Soviet Union, but it still thrives in China and North Korea, including some other countries.

Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953. He was infamous for the murder of over 20 million people, which was worse than Adolf Hitler. According to  Dr Cathy Burns, Stalin, and Rev. Dr Ward laid the foundation for the prosperity gospel, which today has become the central doctrine of many pastors. After developing the framework for a social gospel that would “decrease emphasis on theology” and “increase emphasis on the materialistic side,” Rev. Dr. Harry Ward returned to Union Theological Seminary in the U.S.A. and started training a new generation of pastors to teach it.

Ward was identified under oath as a member of the Communist Party. According to Manning Johnson, an ex-Communist, Harry Ward was “the chief architect for Communist infiltration and subversion in the religious field” (Billy Graham and his Friends, Page 142).

“Ward’s job was to teach bright young men to become, so-called, ministers of Christ and to place them as pastors of churches. While teaching them to become ministers, the Reverend Ward also taught them how to subtly and craftily preach to their congregations that the entire story of Christ was a myth to cast doubts on the divinity of Christ, to cast doubts about the virgin Mary, in short, to cast doubts on Christianity as a whole. It was not to be a direct attack, but much of it to be done by crafty insinuation that was to be applied, in particular, to the youth in the Sunday schools” (p. 145). When one considers that this was in the 1920s, it can be easily understood how generations of “adult Christians” are more interested in wealth than in Christ.

Today, after adopting the prosperity message from America, the social gospel blossomed from the ‘90s in Nigeria and has lasted for over thirty years. That is a generation. After prosperity preachers spent a generation promising many churchgoers million and billions in miracle blessings, Nigeria got acclaimed as the "poverty capital of the world." In 2023, an estimated 38.9% of Nigerians, representing over 87 million people, lived below the poverty line. The figure rose to 40.7% in 2024. This is a spiritual contradiction. It is God from heaven dissociating Himself from all the promises made in His name and on His behalf by the prosperity preachers.

The question that might be asked is, “Didn't God promise to bless His children?” That would be answered by referring to the Bible and finding out what God says. The Bible is divided into two sections, the Old Testament and the New. To avoid the danger of falling into error and misappropriating the commands and blessings of God, the New Testament instructed the pastor to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).

The greatest problem in the Church is the inability of many pastors to rightly divide the word of truth and discover what God promised the Old Testament saint and what God promised the New Testament saint. Much of the prosperity message is appropriating the blessings of the Old Testament saint and applying it to the New Testament saint. If earthly wealth was God’s reward for serving Him in the New Testament, the likes of Paul, Peter, James, and John would have been the wealthiest in their generation.

A casual study of the Bible will reveal that earthly prosperity is not the focus of the New Testament. Jesus did not promise it, and neither did the early apostles teach it. How thousands of pastors could have been deceived into adopting it as a major doctrine while they in turn misled millions of Christians remains one of the mysteries of this dispensation.

In Deut. 8:18, God promised Israel power to get wealth. Which power did God promise the New Testament saint? In Acts 1:8, God promised the New Testament saint power to witness. The problem is that many New Testament saints do not want to witness. They want to be millionaires. This is one reason neighbourhood evangelism in many churches does not record a huge turnout, while a miracle service featuring “an anointed” man of God would be filled to overflow.

Today, the Church has nearly lost much credibility and integrity due to the obsession of many pastors with mammon. All manners of misconduct that should not be mentioned amongst the saints of God are now common incidents in the Church. The Church has been commercialized in many assemblies, and the principles of the New Testament no longer guide many ministries. Innumerable false teachers have filled the sanctuary, committing unprintable atrocities in the name of the Lord. It is as 2 Pet. 2: 1–3 says,

”But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”

It is time to return to the narrow path. It is time to shun the error planted into the Church by Satan, using the Communists. Jesus Christ made only one promise to His followers: ”And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even ETERNAL LIFE" (1 John 2:25). The Father sent His Son for only one purpose, as stated in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have EVERLASTING LIFE.” Christianity is all about eternal life. 

When the Church returns to the message of eternal life, holiness, sanctification, contentment, moderation, integrity, and other Godly virtues, then it has begun to reclaim character. The recurring problems with sin, immorality, and insincerity in the Church will naturally dwindle. One is not saying that Christians will not prosper. Wherever one combines diligence with integrity, whether a Christian or not, success and wealth would follow. Therefore, making earthly wealth the focus of the gospel of Jesus Christ is a disservice to the Son of God. He came to save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21).

Pastors should stop promising Christians what God did not promise them. What Jesus promised is eternal life. People should not be invited to churches with the promise of 'blessings.' Jesus did not make such a promise. When He invited people to follow Him, He said He would make them fishers of men, not rich men. If there is going to be a revival in the land, we must prepare the grounds by returning to sound doctrine. It is time to stop all the greed and covetousness flowing from the pulpit. It is time to return to the narrow path.

PRAYER POINTS

1).    Matt. 6: 24 
Confess and repent on behalf of the Nigeria Church for giving mammon prominence in the Church.

2).    1 Kings 18: 21 
Pray for Christians to be focused on Christ alone in the Church and not on Christ and Mammon.

3).    2 Cor. 4:3-4
 Pray that every veil of false teachings that Satan has used to cover the minds of Christians, making them exalt earthly prosperity above eternal life, shall be destroyed in the name of Jesus.

4).    2 Pet. 2:1–3 
Pray that all false teachers who make merchandise of Christians shall be dismissed by God and all their structures removed.

5).    Heb. 13:5–6 
Pray for the spirit of contentment in the Church. Pray that greed and covetousness shall no longer plague the Nigeria Church.

6). 2 Cor. 5: 15 
Pray that Christ shall remain the centre of the Church, and commitment to Christ shall be the goal of every Christian.

7).    2 Cor. 2:17 
Pray that God would raise faithful and sincere ministers of the gospel in the Nigeria Church, who would not corrupt the word of God for personal gain. Amen.