Christ died . . . for prosperity?

At or near the top of the New York Times bestseller list for many months, Joel Osteen (Your Best Life Now) has a significant audience. What is his thesis? He reveals his motivation on page 1, telling the story of a man who had some success. While on vacation in Hawaii, this man saw a beautiful home, but knew he wouldn’t live in a home like that because he reasoned, “as long as you can’t imagine it, as long as you can’t see it, then it is not going to happen for you.” Osteen then comments,

“The man correctly realized that his own thoughts and attitudes were condemning him to mediocrity. He determined then and there to start believing better of himself, and believing better of God. It’s the same way with us. We have to conceive it on the inside before we’re ever going to receive it on the outside. If you don’t think you can have something good, you never will. The barrier is in your mind. It’s not God’s lack of resources or your own lack of talent that prevents you from prospering. Your own wrong thinking can keep you from God’s best.”

So, says this contemporary “prophet,” the sign of God’s blessing is material prosperity and peace. [In a recent interview, he also said, “Think big. Think increase. Think abundance. Think more than enough....I believe God wants us to prosper. But prosperity may mean a better relationship with your wife and your family. I’m just saying I don’t believe God’s wants us to be poor. God wants us to be happy, to pay the bills, to send our kids to college and to help other people.” I wonder if he’s read Matthew 10:34-39; 2 Cor. 8:1-5; 2 Timothy 3:10-12; or 1 Peter 4:12-16.] It sounds like he should also read Jeremiah 28. Perhaps the message of peace by a self-proclaimed prophet is for his own benefit, rather than the benefit of the people he “serves.” D. A. Carson said it well when he commented on this passage,

Jeremiah does not deny that a faithful and godly prophet, in a particular historical circumstance, might prophecy peace. But he treats the possibility as so improbable that implicitly he advocates a certain healthy skepticism until the predicted peace has actually come to pass. By contrast, the normal and expected themes of faithful prophets have to do with prophesying “war, disaster and plague against many countries and kingdoms.” This is not because prophets are a dour and morbid lot. It is because faithful prophets deal with sin and its horrible consequences, and call people to flee from the wrath to come. Jeremiah insists that this lies at the heart of genuinely prophetic ministry. [For the Love of God, vol. 2; my emphasis.]

I believe all our contemporary prophets of good fortune and prosperity (and we ourselves) could use more ministries like Jeremiah’s.