What is prosperity really?

Reading a book by a wealthy preacher, who strongly urges the pursuit of wealth, I could not get far with it. The prosperity preachers are on another planet. I had hoped for good sound advice in the book, about how to save and use money wisely, for security. I think I got that book free when it was on sale some time ago.

I am not rich, I have never had much money but just enough. I never wished for much more than enough. Jesus had nothing materially. So if we want to be like him, how can that include mansions and private jets? Are such preachers not ashamed at all?

I understand prosperity in the Bible to mean richness of soul, of understanding and of love. So why do so many people follow those kinds of preachers and help them get grotesquely wealthy? Another point that worries me is these people constantly say God speaks to them, are they mentally challenged?

"Peace and rain is just
A way to say prosperity
And buffalo chips is all
That means to me"
Tom T Hall

If you want good, sound advice on financial issues, I would strongly suggest Dave Ramsey. He's a believer, and has some of the best advice/solutions I've heard. It requires some discipline, but it works.
Many churches will sponser his classroom type course called "Financial Peace University"..... definitely worth it.

Greed.
Quite possibly, or, they are simply charlatans, preying on people (immature believers) that want to believe that God intends that we all be wealthy...

Prosperity is relative to objectives, and it changes depending on what you think is important in life. For people who highly value money, getting money is prosperity.

I consider my life immensely prosperous, though I do not have much money. I always have what I need to do what I need to do. I am doing what needs to be done in my area. That is about all I wanted out of life anyway, so relative to my goals I am prospering.

As for other people with other ideas of what prosperity is, that's their problem, not mine. They think I am either lazy or a colossal failure. I think they are wrong about me and about what is really important in life. I don't express this opinion much because I have observed that arguing with them is largely fruitless. They do express their opinions of me a lot, apparently because they have not yet made the same observation.

But to paraphrase mark twain, they don't charge for their opinion of me and I don't charge for my opinion of them, so everybody is happy.

mansions & private jets are not wrong & it's not sin. imagine a Christian earning $25,000,000 a year & that he tithes 15% of his income. he's giving more than 10%, gives additionally & has a mansion, private jet, 5 cars & takes 4 vacations a year. show me how that is sin. IT ISN'T. i believe prosperity is always God minded 1st; following Phillipians 2:13 for example. obedience to Jesus is the 1st form of prosperity. assisting others in need, volunteering, gift giving, etc. for a while i tithed way above 10% for years & i have a very funfilled memorable life. i understand what you are saying. lots of those people around & they certainly aren't fooling God. some of them are devil gripped.

True, this is.

I've never yet heard a prosperity preacher warn about the risks of pursuing wealth. I understand the attraction for many as I fell for the spiel myself early in my Christian life. Jesus said that riches can be deceitful. Those who want to get rich fall into a temptation and a snare (1 Timothy 1:6).

All I got was broke. I nearly had my car repossessed because I gave the money set aside for the payment. 40 years later, I am comfortably well off, I own my car and I have no debt. Compared to most of the world, I am indeed rich.

God knows who He can trust with money. For some, money or the pursuit of it, can be destructive to Christian growth (parable of the sower). Giving is something we can and should learn to do according to God's way, not man's way.

1 John 2:16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.

Luke 12:15 And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form
of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other,
or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Proverbs 11:28 Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.

Proverbs 28:25 The greedy stir up conflict, but those who trust in the LORD will prosper.


1 Timothy 6:8-10

"Money makes a great servant
But a terrible master."

I will comment that money is very useful. I have a friend who is good with money, has more than I have, doesn't blow it frivolously, but knows how to use it when it is needed. When a problem can be solved by money, and when it is worth it to him to solve that problem, he won't cry about spending it. He understands where money is useful without becoming a slave to it or worrying too much about it.

The extremes of money can be like a triangle. On one end are the people who blow everything they got because they like to buy stuff. On the other end are people who hoard every penny because they can't bear to spend it. On the third corner are people like me, who don't really care about money.

My friend is about in the middle of that triangle.

One should not disparage money, or put rich people down just because they have more money than we have. Money is just a tool. I wouldn't talk bad about a carpenter just because he has a set of hammers I would like to have.

Now if the carpenter uses his hammers to bash holes in walls and threaten people, or if he builds a shrine to his hammers, then I will certainly get concerned about all those hammers he has. If a rich person is rich because he has made money his god, and climbed over other people to get it, that is definitely the wrong way to have and use money.

Even the Bible says that money is an answer for... all things. It can be used to procure food, shelter, all the things we need in life. Just having it, or having more of it than someone else, doesn't make someone an intrinsically bad person, or even a lesser Christian.

some of the above equates to this: if someone said, "i eat peanut butter & jam sandwiches all week", people would hardly respond & think nothing of it. but if someone said, "i eat out 3 to 4 times a week at gourmet restaurants & drink expensive wine", people would think your bragging!

I've eaten a peanut butter and jam sandwich at a gourmet restaurant before. It was delicious! The bread was better than anything I can bake at home, the peanut butter was far above standard jif and skippy, and the jam was incredible.

Had to brag about it too.

i still haven't seen or heard of someone eating a gourmet dinner at a fast-food place!

I do all the time. I work at a McDonald's, but I bring my lunch from home.

I've yet to see one that didn't seem, or proven to be, fake. So saying God spoke to them is also fake. These people know exactly what they're doing and saying and why.

People follow them because it's a nice message. Rub the genie bottle that is God and He'll grant you all your wishes.
And if you notice, many of these people target poor people. Black people in the ghetto seem heavily targeted as I've seen countless people from these areas hold to that belief. Also starving Africans. Many, if not most, of the Africans that have joined this site seem to hold these views.
You tell desperate people to scrounge up their pennies and send them to you and God will pay them back 10 fold, those people will come up with the money.
Prosperity preachers are a special kind of evil. Heartless people, in my view.

Prosperity in Christianity is super popular right now and I'm glad it is. Who does the treasure of this world belong to? God or the devil? It belongs to God right. The devil simply steals it.

In the same way, the treasures of the world belong to the children of God. Think of it like a king adopting a child. That child has the king's inheritance.

The problem with your Jesus is poor statement is that it simply isn't true. Jesus was very wealthy. How do I know? The Bible says he was a rich man, but for our sake became poor. The bible says a caravan of camels brought treasure including gold to him (the average caravan was about 500-10,000). King Herod watched all these caravan of camels going by with treasures. Do you understand now why the worldly king felt so threatened? He killed every baby under 2 for it after all. He knew a king was born... and he knew bc 3 kings were giving great treasure to that baby, making him even wealthier.

Christians today with their "I have enough or a little is fine for me" bc it's comfortable and they are just looking out for themselves. Thinking it's humble, but they're looking out only for themselves. Verses making a lot of money and advancing God's kingdom.

Think of it like this: Does God want his wealth in the hands of the wicked or in the hands of the righteous? The logical answer would be the righteous. The wicked are buying drugs, prostitutes, trafficking, murdering, etc with it. It's like a seed. You want the seed planted in the right soil to grow. Yet it keeps getting stolen.

If that's true why are so many Christians poor? It's stolen... bad people in charge government etc or they lack a skill needed for wealth or their subconscious thinks Jesus was poor so we need to be poor. Both schools and churches have brainwashed people into believing they should be poor.

As far as God speaking to people, you could say God always speaks to us. But yes you can learn to hear God. It has happened to me before once while praying and other times after falling asleep. I can lucid dream and astral project so you can hear others. For example your thoughts throughout the day often are actually spiritual beings. You will talk to them in dreams... very strange. I started when I was 27 I believe and I'm on a break from it. Have kids and just too tired for it. 😆 But I definitely enjoy it... life is not what we've been told. I went through the school system. There's a reason they want kids to think we came from monkeys and call us animals. They want us poor and ignorant of the spiritual. An animal can't create things (aside from what they all are programmed to do) or even understand that they are dreaming. That's why God calls us "little gods."

I enjoy the information age that is here. While there's of course a lot of lies and hurt out there. The truth is there as well... waiting to be discovered.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5). God Bless You

I suggest you run away from that behavior immediately.... astral projection is satanic in origin.. I don't know about "lucid dreaming" but I suspect it is of the same source.
We were told to not participate in sorcery/witchcraft, etc, because it is of satan.... that stuff scares me.

What? Africans hold the view of not being wealthy? That’s not real!