PROSPERITY GOSPEL?
John
10:1-10
"I
came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
Long before the collapse of the hostel of the Synagogue Church of all
Nations in Lagos, Nigeria, resulting in the death of eighty South Africans, I
had heard that many of our compatriots were regularly going there for services.
I had also heard about its wealthy prophet, T.B. Joshua who, after church
services, flies off in his private jet from an airstrip behind his church to
return to his mansion in a smart resort town.
And I had heard about the ways in which he makes his fortune, from selling
books and holy water to insurance policies and the tithing of his flock. The church's official website claims that
T.B. Joshua is a genuine prophet with a global ministry of healing, performing
miracles and forecasting the future, and that the church has programmes to help
the poor and sick, educate the young, and pursue deeds of mercy. More critical websites list T.B. Joshua's
faults, question his integrity, claims and accountability. They say that the hostel
collapsed because two new floors were being added on inadequate foundations. Nigeria
is notorious for bad building regulations and dodgy construction.
How are we to evaluate these conflicting reports? For starters we do well to recall that Jesus'
disciples once came to him and said that there were people healing and casting
our demons in his name who did not belong to their circle. Let them be, he Jesus. He also said that we should not cast the
first stone. So let's leave God be the
judge of T.B. Joshua. In any case, over the centuries some mainline
churches have become enormously wealthy.
Consider the real estate controlled by them, the enormous trade from
pilgrims to Rome, and the dubious transactions of the Vatican Bank. No wonder St. Francis of Assisi turned his
back on the ill-gotten wealth of the popes, cardinals and bishops of his day, and
tried to rebuild the church according to the gospel of the Jesus who for our
sakes became poor. No wonder Martin
Luther as a young and pious monk castigated the religious trafficking in
indulgences when he visited Rome. No, we
dare not cast the first stone at Joshua and his Synagogue Church. In any case, our first response should be to
pray for all who died and were injured in that terrible tragedy and for their
loved ones left behind.
But there are questions to be asked. Is the "prosperity gospel" the
prophet proclaims attracting the poor and sick, cancer sufferers and those with
HIV & AIDS, with promises that cannot be met, raising false hopes, even if some are healed and a handful become wealthy
-- which might have happened anyway? Is
not the gospel of Christ about taking up our cross, endurance and faithfulness,
rather than financial prosperity and worldly success? Is
T.B. Joshua's message one of
cheap grace, though it costs his followers a great deal of money?
Yet his followers go to him in droves because they believe he delivers
on his promises. They vote with their
feet at considerable cost, while many walk out of our own churches and do not
pay their dues in any case. So could it
be sour grapes and envy that makes us condemn T.B. Joshua and his gospel of
prosperity? Maybe we need to take
another look at this "prosperity gospel" he and others like him preach.
The bottom line -- an appropriate phrase -- of the "prosperity
gospel" is that God wants us to be healthy, wealthy, and successful in every area
of life. No wonder many celebrities have
found a spiritual home in churches that proclaim this gospel whether in
Johannesburg, Nigeria or Cape Town. So the primary question is not whether T.B.
Joshua is a charlatan, or how he makes and uses his money, but whether the
"prosperity gospel" is the gospel of Jesus. Have the "prosperity gospel"
churches got it right? Have they recovered
something that we have lost? Are they
attracting the masses because the gospel they are preaching actually meets
their needs?
Some comments in one of Bonhoeffer's letters from prison prompt me to
think that the "prosperity gospel" churches have, in fact, discovered
something in the biblical message that we have neglected. He reminds us that
God's blessing "encompasses all of earthly life," Too often we over spiritualize the gospel, Bonhoeffer
says, or so emphasize suffering and the cross and the rewards that await us in heaven
that we exclude God's promise of earthly happiness, blessings and prosperity
here and now. Surely God does not want people to be poor,
sick, illiterate and unsuccessful. Did
not Jesus heal the sick and deliver those possessed by demons? Did he not come
so that we "may have life, and have it abundantly," as we read in the
gospel for today? So is it not
understandable that people who are in need, whatever that need may be, should
go in their thousands to churches that offer them abundant life? Or that those who are poor should seek out
preachers who say God wants them to be prosperous, and can demonstrate that God
has blessed them with abundance so that they can even own private jets? Is it not reasonable that many politicians
and sports men and women should go to churches that tell them that God wants
them to do well and even win?
Of course, this is not the whole gospel, and it is easily perverted to
serve dubious ends. But it is surely an
important element in the gospel. God
wants us to be whole and to succeed in life, not walk around looking miserable,
claiming that our failures are a sign of
holiness, or preaching that the poor should be happy because "theirs is
the kingdom of heaven." Otherwise
why do we in Christ's name seek to help the poor, educate the young, and seek
ways to ensure that our kids and grandchildren succeed in life? Is this not God's will? Yes, the gospel is about taking up our cross,
it is about suffering love and struggling for truth and justice. Yes, the Sermon on the Mount challenges ostentatious
prosperity values, just as Jesus challenges those who put their hope in riches. But this does not mean that there are no
blessings attached, or that disciples of Jesus should be miserable, guilt-laden
losers.
To make dubious promises to people that they can be healed or become
wealthy and succeed in order to make prophets profit may be deplorable. But so too is preaching a gospel of promises
in heaven when people are seeking abundant life here and now. Or conveying the message that God does not
want people to succeed in order to keep them humbly in their place, or feel
inferior in order that God will seem greater.
So maybe before we cast stones at T.B. Joshua we need to recover the
good news that Jesus offers us life to the full here and now. We do not have to go to Lagos to discover or
experience the prosperity of the Christ's gospel. It is available everywhere, even here at
Volmoed where we don't take a collection or sell bottles of blessed water from our
river. But when we build, let us make sure we lay good foundations.
John de Gruchy
Volmoed 2 October 2014
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