John Piper – Why I abominate the prosperity gospel
October 8, 2009 by
Filed under abominate
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This is so good. Being in many nations, I’ve seen the wretchedness of the prosperity gospel. Precious, faithful ministers and servants of Christ in Myanmar have told me that American pastors have come to their churches and scolded them about being poor. They told them that it is because they do not have enough faith. YET, they are planting churches daily, being persecuted for their faith, and know the Word inside and out. I share Piper’s feelings for the prosperity gospel: HATRED.
John Piper tells it like it is. How many times have I heard the prosperity gospel preached by ‘well-meaning’ preachers trying to encourage people to be generous or thinking to themselves when they see a poor brother or sister in the church, “They must just have a spirit of poverty”. Lord help us to understand that when we put our hope on temporal things and deny those trials we must go through to take us to a place of maturity in Christ we will always be milk-drinking, infants in the spirit.
John Piper is savage. The prosperity gospel just got tore a new one. What an awesome video. Praise be to Jesus who takes away the sins of the world.
“Jesus is Lord” is good new to believers, but to the Prosperity gospel preachers it will be the worst news ever. repent, there is still time…
Jesus Christ is Lord,
thank you, pastor Piper for this wonderful message, and may
God bless you further more.
Thank you Pastor Piper for always speaking the Word with boldness, love, and humility. Words cannot express what your ministry has meant to my husband and I. God used your sermon, “Treasuring Christ and the call to Suffer”, to open our eyes to the false teachings of the prosperity gospel. We once believed what you are speaking about in this video but thank God that we now realize that “God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him”.
John Piper is correct in many ways. The prosperity gospel forget about Paul being in prison, or Job who loss his family, his wealth, he is sick and alone.
Yes the a person from 3rd country would view John rich, me too, but this is not the point.
If one believes in Prosperity Gospel they still cannot get out of debt, they loose faith in real Gospel. Or they fall down with cancer, they don’t get healed they loose faith in true gospel.
In life people will suffer for Jesus’ sake.
I know many Christians who are filthy rich in ‘good works’ who are bitter, gossipers, unforgiving, scornful, haters, adulterers, murderers, etc. Good works doesn’t make one spiritually rich LilaBear. Wouldn’t you agree that being humble before God & doing good, expecting NOTHING in return from those whom you did good for, makes one spiritually rich & not the good works themselves? I don’t think good works offsets or cancels out sins or standing alone makes one spiritually rich.
I stand corrected. It was late @ night, my apologies: I should have worded it;
“Don’t take people at their word quoting from the Bible, READ the verses surrounding quoted verses for clarifying context.
For even satan himself quoted scripture to Jesus during his wilderness temptations.
This guy mentioned that Jesus said “It is easier for a camel to pass thru the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Not because he was rich, but because the rich young ruler had more faith in his $
and his qoute in this video. “who’s gonna go to these dangerous countries? we are, we have to go. Jesus said to make disciples of every nation”.
Rebuttal to that statement about John Piper. Yes, by the world standards, he would be rich, but wouldn’t all of Western society be rich compared to the rest of the world? And as an extra rebuttal to your statement, John Piper’s church is one of the most missional (bringing Christ to other nations) focused church’s in North America. So, all I am asking is, before you accuse Piper, get your facts straight. He is very concerned about the poor. Watch his other videos on the Prosperity gospel.
Let those who favor my righteous cause and have pleasure in my uprightness shout for joy and be glad and say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, Who takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant. Psalm 35:27
The blessing of the Lord–it makes [truly] rich, and He adds no sorrow with it [neither does toiling increase it]. Proverbs 10:22
“to be rich in good works” means your richness comes from your good works, not your money! It means you do lots of good things for other people, so it makes you spiritually rich!
Yes, if you become rich that is well and good, and you should be generous with your riches. Piper specifically said that it is not a sin to be rich, but that it is a sin to want to keep all the money. The problem with riches is that people often DO “fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches”, as 1 Tim says not to do.
It was about both. This man was too attached to his riches. He placed his trust and his faith in his riches rather than God. That’s what Piper was saying, riches can lead you away from God. Yes the problem was his faith, but what was that caused by? His money.
2. Besides, the state of the world’s 3rd world countries probably does bother him. How do you know all his personal thoughts or actions?
1) I think you’ll find Piper (probably) does not believe you’ll go to Hell just coz you haven’t heard of Jesus. There are verses in the bible that say we are judged based on our hearts and what we have done with the knowledge we have. So if you’ve heard of Jesus and reject him, then you’re in trouble. But if you’ve never heard of Jesus but still believe in, (eg.), a loving creator God, then it’s possible those people may be saved. We can’t know God’s ways for sure but the bible suggests that.
Sorry, iilwjcancm, my post was confusing. I’ll restate. It is a fact that many tribes in Africa and in other places have never heard of Jesus, and their only hope is for a missionary to tell them about Jesus. Right? I don’t think a true believer in Jesus, heaven, and hell could live safely in Minneapolis and watch while millions go to hell in Africa and other places. I understand that this thinking would rule most self-identifying Christians out, but the Bible does say the way is narrow.
Also, it isn’t hard to make a lot of money in the USA compared to other countries. It is rather easy.
Furthermore the cost and standard of living is a lot higher.
You have no way of knowing what Piper does to help others in need, thus your “objection” is not an objection at all.
Um… most people in Africa have heard of Jesus.
And people don’t go to hell because they have not heard of Jesus. People go to hell because they are sinners.
I’m sure he does feel bad. I don’t get the point? Sorry. (That’s not sarcastic. Please actually explain
)
John Piper has one major problem, however. By 99% of the world’s standards and by 99.99% of people who have ever lived, John Piper is considered a very rich man. Consider that much of the world is living off a dollar a day and concerned where there next meal is coming from. Shouldn’t Piper find it bothersome that most people in Africa will go to hell because no one ever told them about Jesus, all the while he is in the richest country the world has ever seen?
Honestly, I think it’s a shame anyone has to point out the obvious fraud perpetrated by these charlatan, snake oil selling, faux “men of god”. If any sheep would read the words of the Messiah in the Gospel text, these minions of the adversary would be as a window. Following the wrong shepherd is the fault of the sheep for not knowing his masters voice. That being said, this man’s criticism is well placed.
“money flows from character and trust.”
rather money flows from the PERCEPTION of trust and character.
this man is solid. he knows his stuff
He’s of a bit. Making money USUALLY involves being honest, offering a great product, having a great reputation. According to JP Morgan, money flows from character and trust. New products make life better, cure disease, give people more freedom. The question is how will we use this wealth, freedom and power. That’s the real issue.