The Prosperity Preachers and Their False Gospel

Next time a prosperity preacher wants you to believe you lack faith if you are afflicted, just quote God to them.

Psalm 119:71 "…70 Their hearts are hard and callous, but I delight in Your law. 71It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes. 72 The law from Your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.…"

Psalm 94:12

"Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law,"

Psalm 94:12

"Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law,"

Psalm 119:67

"Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I keep Your word."

Psalm 119:75

"I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me."

Those who think they are blessed by God because they have no trials ought to be worried.

Hebrews 12:8-9 "8 If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?…"

Those who think they are encouraging people by spouting false hope about promises of prosperity and perfect health are bringing a message against the gospel of Christ.

Far too many people have come to Christianity to have a better life, these people have not been born again, they came in the back door without a salvation experience to be born again.

John 10:1-2 "1“Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 But the one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.…"

It is only through repentance, realizing our sinfulness that has no remedy that we can confess to Christ our helplessness to save ourselves while desiring to be cleaned of our sinfulness. The blood of Christ covers the sin left in our flesh while His Spirit continues the cleansing of our soul, making us more like Christ with each lesson.

There Became a New Me!

When I became born again I lost all my friends. The narcissistic friends who were angry about the new me would inform me they no longer liked me and no one else liked me either.

Narcissists will often attempt to gaslight the believer to cause them to believe they are strange and unlovable to others, with phrases like "so and so doesn't like you either. Or, "you make everyone angry at you."

The narcissist will attempt to influence others to see us as unlovable, they never operate alone in a vacuum, they must have allies.

When I no longer wanted the sin I used to enjoy my friends were angry because they wanted me to do the things they do with them that we used to do together but I no longer wanted for myself.

I didn't tell my friends to stop sinning I just no longer wanted it for my life. With narcissists, it is a personal insult when we leave the lifestyle we had with them to begin to live righteously.

My friends began to accuse me of past forgiven sins as though I was not forgiven and never could be forgiven. Sadly they didn't know what they were saying because if they held my sins against me what does that mean for them who were still remained in their sins that we encouraged in one another?

When we leave behind the old life of sin to follow Christ it is convicting to those who remain in those same sins. They hate that we are enjoying a cleaner life with great hope and new life experiences. Narcissists despise it when they watch us full of joy and resolute in our determination to be a different person.

The narcissist does not know that we did not change ourselves. They do not understand that Christ was the One Who made us into a completely different person who loses the desire to sin.

Over the years those who remain bitter over our changed life will attempt to bring up our past sins again and again to shame us.

A Christian enemy once said to me; "remember how you used to be", in an attempt to shame me to feel superior to me. This person didn't realize they were exposing their own sin of self-righteousness, pretending they never had any sin or that their sin was not as big as mine. This all by itself was sin, their sin of self-righteousness remained while my past sin had been forgiven and forgotten by God many years ago.

The one thing the devil who uses the narcissist wants more than anything else is for the believer to become discouraged, give up and begin in their sin all over again. But we know that when Christ changes us, we have repented and cleansed of sin we will not return to it. We continue in cleansing, God calls it sanctification all the rest of our lives.

1 Thessalonians 5:23

"Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

John 17:17

"Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth."

1 Corinthians 6: 9-9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,

10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."

When we seek Christ, confess our flaws and sins then He will cleanse us.

2 Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

1 Peter 1:2

"According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you."

Forgiveness is for those who are Repentant

Jesus Christ asked the Father to offer forgiveness to the world through Him. When Christ forgave someone He would say; "your sins are forgiven", however when He was praying to the Father he said; "Father extend forgiveness to the world", meaning they would only receive it if they believed in Christ. Many people are confused about this passage.

Christ prayed that His sacrifice would be counted to those who believe in Him. No one will be forgiven who will not trust in Christ.

Christ did not forgive anyone who was not repentant, every individual in the world must be broken and contrite to be born again.

The Father will not forgive anyone unless they trust in Christ.

John 12:43-45 "…43 For they loved praise from men more than praise from God. 44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in Me does not believe in Me alone, but in the One who sent Me. 45 And whoever sees Me sees the One who sent Me.…"

Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved."

This is the model of confession and forgiveness that we need to understand to have a relationship with Christ. It is also the same model God expects in personal relationships with people.

Acts 2:38-39

"And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” 7Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"

Just letting it all go when someone has sinned is not God's way. When we care about others we want to restore a relationship that has been broken. Gods way of restoration is through confession and forgiveness, two sides of the same coin, we cannot have one without the other.

God said forgive seventy times seven when a brother some to you each time and says; "I repent."

Luke 17:3-4 "…3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

Why do so many people leave out the phrase "and seven times returns to say, 'I repent." This is the "out of context" reading of the Bible I see all the time. Leaving out a phrase, a chapter, and even an entire book to justify believing what psychology teaches.

More of the Bible is being denied by Christians than what is being obeyed. These are the times of the apostasy.

2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but having itching ears, they shall heap to themselves teachers in accordance with their own lusts."

We see where things lead in a culture when sin is not punished, where repentance is not required. We are living in terribly lawless times now, but most do not see it because they are accustomed to the way things are done in our modern day.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 "II Timothy 3:1-5

"But know this, that in the last days perilous times (ragingly insane) will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!"

Those who hold fast to the truths of the Bible will be the crazy ones, while the rest of the world rages in lawlessness. We are there, folks, we are living in the end of the end just as God said would happen.

Jan Markell on the Mockery of Bible Prophecy

Believers: Do Not Be Distracted!

Believers, do not be distracted by the evils going on in this world. Do not be distracted by finances and loss of freedoms. We know these things will happen because God said in the last days these would be "perilous" (ragingly insane) times.

In these very last days, we ought to be more concerned about spreading the gospel as well as shoring up the born-again believer to be hopeful.

Strengthening the body with messages of their hope in the rapture as well as their ability to withstand anything without losing their joy, ought to be our focus.

Continually ruminating over the evils of the world does not bring hope and peace to the heart, it is a wrong focus for the born-again believer.

Yes, I see it all too, but it does not disturb me because I know this was prophesied and I know the end of the story. God wins and we will rule on the earth with King Jesus!!!! There is no greater excitement than this in the heart of the born-again believer.

May the unbelievers that surround us see our joy and want to know why we have it in such troubled times.

Confession, Forgiveness, Restoration in this Order

It is in confessing the sins and mistakes that motivates the Holy Spirit in us to change our hearts so we do not want to make those same mistakes or do those same sins again.

When we have confessed and been changed by God we never want to repeat anything that He has cleansed us from, nor do we ever want to offend God in the same ways again.

If we are not sorry, do not confess and are not cleansed we will grow worse and the Holy Spirit will stop talking to us.

1 Thessalonians 5:18-20 "…18 Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not extinguish the Spirit."

I am convinced everything we learn here on earth will serve us in the Millennium, if this is true then we ought to be concerned about learning the lessons God has for us rather than fighting out of pride against His principles.

Pride will keep the born-again believer from growing in holiness. This is why God said not to pull up the tares in the church because we might be pulling up wheat. This indicates to me that the wheat will be weak in the last days, falling into deception and worldly in their thinking.

One of the reasons we experience so many immature believers is that one cannot grow mature when one will not confess wrongs. Those who are too prideful to confess their wrongs will not grow, in fact, if they pridefully avoid admitting their flaws long enough they will begin to regress. Regression continues until there is an acknowledgment of wrong. If the regression is long enough as the person grows more stubborn, it is an indication that the person who will not confess was never born again. Their self-righteousness was an act to fit into Christian circles but was not as a result of a born-again experience, it was all in the flesh.

Confessing our sin to God to be changed by Him restores our fellowship with Him. Confessing one to another our sin against one another restores our relationship with our brothers and sisters. Discussion, empathy, confession, and forgiveness will make a broken relationship stronger than it was before the trouble.

Attempting to act better without confession and without discussion will leave a distrust in the one who has been offended. These tactics of pretending everything is alright without ever admitting or attempting to discuss a matter fixes nothing. The relationship may seem a little better but the distrust remains. When someone has not acted as though they did anything wrong we can be sure they will at some point in the future do the same things again, as well as not caring enough about us to make things right.

Some people don't like the bad feelings they have with someone but are not sorry they created them. These people want the bad feelings to go away but are not necessarily interested in the well-being of the one they offended or in having a deeper quality relationship. They are satisfied with superficial without commitment to anyone. Pride is what drives people to avoid confession to restore a relationship.

Many people act this way with God, they want a relationship with Him, but they want it on their terms. They love the perks God has for them but they are not interested in a relationship with Him. In effect they are using God for their own purposes, this is also the mentality of those who want to superficially restore a relationship but are not willing to do the hard work of restoring God's Way.

God gave us the formula in His Word for the restoration of relationships and the formula does not include; "just letting it go and acting better."

Matthew 18:15-18 "15 “Now if your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

16 But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that on the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be confirmed.

17 And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, he is to be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

18 Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.'"

James 5:15-16 "…15 And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail."

If we do not want to do things God's way by using phrases like; "this is the way we do it", then you are saying your way is better than God's way. Those who live superficial lives will get by in life but they will have no depth of relationship with God or anyone else. They may not even be born again, because we know that the Holy Spirit convicts the believer of their sin until they confess it.

Many "Christians" want to stay in control of their own lives doing things their own way. They want their puppet god to give them what they want but they do not want Him.

Matthew 15:7-9 "…7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8‘ These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ ”"

John 14:14-16 "14 If you ask Me for anything in My name, I will do it. 15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—…'

God is saying here that if we ask God in the will of the Father invoking the name of Jesus Christ, it is Jesus Christ Who prays on our behalf. We are not praying our own will, but His will. God will give us the desires of our hearts that line up with the will of the Holy Spirit.

John 14:21

"Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him."

John 14:23

"Jesus replied, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him."

So the answer in a nutshell; Seek the word of God for His instructions as to confession, forgiveness, and restoration.

1 John 5:3

"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,"

2 John 1:6

"And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love and restoration. How He requires us to deal with one another is exactly what He expects of us in a relationship with Him."

You've Been Invalidated, So Now What?