Chong Seng Gee

17 July 2016

Kingdom

Perspective

A

HEALTH & WEALTH GOSPEL

Positive Thinking, Active Faith & Grace• Choosing to be positive and having a

grateful attitude is going to determine how you're going to live your life.

• Faith activates God - Fear activates the Enemy.

• Do all you can to make your dreams come true.

Joel Osteen, Senior Pastor, Lakewood Church

The “Modern Corinthian Church”

1. Christ exalted, not crucified

2. Signs, wonders and power

3. Because God heals, He must heal everyone

4. No place for hunger, weakness, thirst and poverty

5. We must reign with Him, it’s our birthright! (Luke 4:18-19)

6. Anything less – lack of Faith

History & New Ideas1. New Thought & Positive Confession Movement –

E.W. Kenyon (1890s)

2. Word of Faith & Seed Faith (Blessed Pacts) –Oral Roberts (1947), Kenneth Hagin (1970s-1990s)

2. Pentecostal healing and deliverance evangelists (1940s & 1950s)

History & New Ideas

4. Rise of Televangelism – Oral Roberts (1960s), Rev Ike (1970s), Jim Bakker & Benny Hinn (1980s)

5. Neo-Pentecostal Movements – Joel Osteen, Bruce Wilkinson’s (Prayer of Jabez) & Kenneth Copeland (1990s & 2000s)

6. Megachurch Movements of the 2000s and beyond (US export)

Prosperity & Perfect Health 1. Book of Malachi 3:9-10

2. Contract between God and man

3. Faith in God = Grace = Security & Prosperity

4. Confession is an act of activating faith

Prosperity & Perfect Health

5. Empowerment (God’s Will) & Atonement (Reconciliation) & Justification –The Divine Package

6. Sickness and poverty are curses to be broken by Faith

7. Achieved through donations, visualization & positive confession

Characteristics of “this” Church

1. Non-denominational and independent

2. Sole pastor or leader with charisma and either Star or CEO qualities

3. Some create multi-church networks and emphasise on experiential grace and faith

Recent Events – Past & Near Present

Crystal Cathedral , 1981

Megachurch by Robert H. Schuller, TV Evangelist, 1995

Chp 11 bankruptcy, staggering debt

40 ac, glass tower sold $57.5m in 2011

City Harvest Church, Oct 2015

Guilty : 6 Church leaders including founder pastor

Funnelling SGD50m church building funds thru bogus bond investments

Ms Ho’s musical ambitions for gospel outreach

Criminal breach of trust

1. HEALTH AND WEALTH ? –

Search the Scriptures

1. Think, Claim, Get• “Serve God and get rich”• “God wills your prosperity”• “So think God’s thoughts, claim it and it’s yours”• Oral Roberts, Kenneth Copeland,

Kenneth Hagin, Joel Osteen

The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head… (Matthew 8:19-22)

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Lk 9:23)

2. Problems in InterpretationNot what we think but the original intent of the author

3 John 2 : Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayestprosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth (vs 4, 11)

1 Tim 5:23 : Stop drinking water, use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses

John 10:10-11 : The abundant life from a shepherd vs the thief –steal, kill & destroy (vs 11)

Phil 4:19 : My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (vs 13-18)

3. False Theology : Giving to Get

Mal 3:10 : "Bring to the storehouse a full tenth of what you earn so there will be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord All-Powerful. “I will open the windows of heaven for you and pour out all the blessings you need

1. Promotes a self-centredness agenda rather than God-centredness.

2. Out of context – see vs.8-9

Gustav Aulen : “If God is the Holy One, he is also the One on whom we are absolutely dependent. We are in His power, not He in ours”

4. Cause and Effect Formulas

Job’s Misleading Comforters (Job 4:7-8)

Luke 13 :1-5 : Galileans and the Tower in Siloam which fell on the 18 people (note : “repentance”)

2. A KINGDOM OF GOD PERSPECTIVE – INNER AND OUTER

1. Is God The Servant Or The King (re: genie in the bottle)?

2. Is HE trapped or bound by a contract of service called “Faith”

3. The “Already and The Not-Yet” Tension

Health1 Cor 6:13-14 : “The body though still subject to decay and death in the present age, nonetheless belongs to the Lord and is destined for resurrection

Rom 8: 19 : Present suffering and future gloryHeb 12:28-29 : ShakeningsMat 24:1-2 : Destruction of the Temple and

Signs of the End Times

Reality Checks1. 2 Kings 13:14

2. Acts 12:1-3

3. 2 Cor 12:12 vs 2 Cor 12:20

4. Phil 2:26 vs 2 Tim 4:20

5. 2 Cor 4:16-18 & 2 Cor 5:1-2

Elisha - miracles yet suffered illness & died

James martyred, Peter released

Signs, wonders, miracles yet troubles

Ephaphroditus nearly died but healed. Trophimus left sick in Miletus

Carried in his body illness & sufferings. Yet waiting for heavenly tent

“Scriptural Gymnastics”

1. Distinction between suffering and illness

2. Suffering is something external to us, a result of our following Christ

3. Sickness and disease are now overcome by Christ

4. We are living in NT times esp. after Christ’s death

Most Dangerous of “Scriptural Gymnastics”

• “No need of Repentance”

• Grace to the extreme : finished work on the Cross

• Doctrine of Justification but no Doctrine of Sanctification

1 John 1:8-9, Matt 6:33

The Way Forward

1. Prosperity gospel challenges our faith to be alive and energised.

2. Do we search the Scriptures for God’s truth?

3. When God answers, what is our response (Job)?

4. In examining our faith – do we control or let God control?

The Way Forward

5. What about the “Already and the Not-Yet” mystery of Kingdom of God?

6. Healing, like wealth is not a divine obligation but a divine gift.

7. If a gift, we can make no demands. Ours is gratefulness, humility and trust (Hab 3:17-19).