Hmmm - raesoflight - kindly define the "perfect life" you say God wishes us all to have. Did Paul - who was beheaded? Did Peter - who was crucified? Did John - who was exiled? The article doesn't "lack balance" - you just don't agree with the conclusions. Is it an American definition of "perfect" you're seeing or, for contrast, a North Korean version of "perfect", perhaps Sudanese.

Richelle - there is a big difference between the wealth and prosperity that God can bestow on us (the references you offer), and the point of not having such blessings become our point and purpose in life. Your justifications for having wealth - to be able to give above a tithe, to be able to feed the hungry - are touching, but we needn't have "prosperous" people to feed the hungry - we only need more people who are willing to eat a little less and share what they have.

The slope is slippery. Peace.

The purpose of this article is not to say all Christians should be poor. He's saying we should not be greedy. There is a fine line between living comfortable and living lavish, and that's what he's getting across here. That preachers shouldn't promise you you'll double your money by investing it into the church. We should give because we love, not because we're trying to buy God's favor.

Is Gods best for all of us to just barely get by and live paycheck to paycheck, barely able to give an offering on top of our tithe? Who feeds the hungry but those who are prosperous? Who funds the kindgdom of God and meets needs but those who have MORE than enough? I completely agree that "Riches" should not be the focus, but I strongly believe that if I'm doing what God has called me to do, and He knows He can trust me with a little, He WILL bless me with a lot more.You can't tell me God doesn't bless me when I'm using it for Him. All though Christianity is SO MUCH MORE than just God's Blessings, it's a Personal Relationship, Honestly, who would want to be a Christian when they see us as poor people? If you have kids don't you want them to have the best you can give? Doesn't God for us? Please take the WHOLE Bible into consideration when making a judgement call on Prosperity. (Deut.28, Job 22:21-30,Job 36:11,Ps 25:13, Ps 128:2,Prov. 3:1-6,Prov.21:21-21, Jeremiah 33:1-9

I have to say that, as a writer, I'm disappointed in the lack of scope I find in this article. I see a few verses that are used to condemn the prosperity message, but they aren't fully clarified. It's difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus says. But he continues, saying that all things are possible with God. The LOVE of money is the root of all evil, because by loving money, you rely on it, trust in it, as you should only trust and rely on God.

To say that preaching prosperity leads to death is laughable. I accept the prosperity message, and the healing message, for one simple reason. I believe that God is a loving father. And I cannot believe that ANY loving father would want his children to have anything less than the perfect life. I don't believe in "God spankings" (the idea that God punishes us to make us better people).

My major issue with this article is that it lacks balance. God loves you, rich or poor. That is the message of the cross

I agree with this article 100%. Yes we do need to talk about money in church, and there is nothing wrong with making money.
But I really dislike these money preachers who go on about sowing a seed of money and seeing God reward you with thousands of dollars. That is ridiculous. Yes God can miraculously give us money but that's not the point.
These preachers are basically telling people, if you donate money to our cause, you can just sit back and be wicked all you want and God HAS to give you a bunch of money in return. They are leaving out all the other stuff, like obedience, being trustworthy, and not wanting money for the sake of having money.
And yes I do think we ought to bring up, where is that money going? What percentage of that money goes to ministry and what percentage goes to people. Would we be better off giving our money to other charities.
It's funny how they don't teach to give where God lays on your heart to give. You only get blessed if you give to THEM.

I too believe that prosperity teaching is dangerous. It puts the emphasis and focus on becoming wealthy. The truth is that it is easy for the flesh to take over and cause us to want more and more. I have never seen a wealthy person who was content with what he/she had. They always want more. These prosperity preachers want congregants who make money so that they can make money. They own several multimillion dollar homes, private planes, countless cars and travel with an entourage of people. If God in human form was willing to humble Himself and live life without riches and comforts, we too should not make that our goal. Yes, the more money we have, the more we can give to kingdom work, but that's not the way it plays out most of the time. We become to attached to the money and trappings. That's why Jesus said what He said about the rich. The disciples also had no trappings. Our riches are in the Lord and we should develop our relationship w/Him. He will bless our efforts.

Preach that God wants you to be rich so that you can bless others around the world; but when the windfall comes, bless yourself. Think of all the money that these preachers have invested in their homes and empires and you will see why they will never change their message. It's, quite literally, too good to be true.

2 Tim 4:3 for the time is coming when people will not tolerate sound and wholesome instruction, but having ears itching for something pleasing and gratifying, they will gather to themselves one teacher after another to a considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold.

The more you have the more you can give back to God's kingdom. If you are poor, you cannot build churches, Christian schools, feed the hungry, cloth the homeless, etc. . .Prosperity Preaching can be done properly--Where one learns that God wants you to be wealthy so you can do more good on this earth. God said He would teach us how to product wealth, and that He will bless our efforts, but we still have to do something to produce it (Deut. 29:9; 30:9; and James 2:17). We were made in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27). If you believe God wants you to be poor, then you are saying are a reflection of the image of a god who must also be poor. God blessed Jacobs's obedience and his efforts. . ."thus the man became exceedingly prosperous" (Gen 30:43)Proverbs 13:22 "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous." How important is money? Very important. Missionaires, Ministries and people need money to thrive.

Mr. Pipe is right on target, in my opinion. Have you noticed where the "properity preachers" live? Their message is a message that focuses on the here and now; have it today! The message leaves off/out our more important heavenly rewards. Hebrews 12 reminds us why and where we are to focus. If you spend all your time trying to be wealthy then your focus has been taken off of who it is that provides for your every need; God the Father. satan loves it that their primary focus is on earthly wealth and worldly things and not on the Kingdom of Heaven. Their message is subtle and easy to hear, and like the apple in the garden doesn't really appear to be deadly.

I don't think the issue is about not making money. It's what you do with that money that matters. Make $150,000/year, live like you only make $80,000/year, etc. Don't let your money control you. Prosperity preachers like Creflo Dollar, etc. preach about hoarding your wealth. Dollar drives a Rolls Royce, has a multi-million dollar condo in New York City, owns his own jet, etc. He's a pastor of a church? I find that seriously wrong. Jesus said it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven. A rich man has a hard time dedicating all he has to God. It's God's anyway. We should have the attitude of Letourneau in that by the time he died, he was only living off 10% of his income because he was giving 90% to missions. Money is not the issue so much as the heart is. Where does your heart sit with money? Are you desirous to be rich, or are you desirous to serve God first?

I am a christian servant of God living in one the porest African country. I do not know what you are saying prosperity in your country. But when we think and teach prosperity in our country, we are talking about

-eating three times a day
-having shelter to live the family (being able to pay monthly rent)
-covering of transport cost instead of walking the whole day
-Being able to send your children to school covering their school fee
-Being able to take family members to hospital when sickness happens
We are worried of the above and related things when we teach of prosprity. I do not know what you are worried about when you think of prosperity. If you are really against the above mentioned idea, you are advising us to die with out a subsistance. Not me even the Lord will not agree with you. Though I have a lot to say, let me stop here.
Let the blessing of the Lord be with you,

We all have a perimeter around us including ourselves that God has entrusted us to be responsible for. I believe and it is my opinion that it is not what you have or what happens to you. It is what you do with it and how you handle it, respectivley. This is also to be truely realized that this is between you and God. A person will not go to Hell based on someone elses choices and actions.