Does faith in Christ mean persecution, or health and wealth?
As we come to the end of the ‘hall of faith,’ chapter 11 of Hebrews, we see the unique, difficult and trying circumstances that the Old Testament heroes of the faith went through – “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after welcoming the spies in peace. And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I recount Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, as well as David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, performed righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouth of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong from weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and floggings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, mistreated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in desolate places and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11: 30-40)
A very popular false gospel today is the prosperity gospel. It is a Pentecostal movement which began with Oral Roberts in the 1950’s. There are many well known individuals who proclaim, or have proclaimed this gospel: Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, E.W. Kenyon, Kenneth E. Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, John Hagee, Creflo Dollar, Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Juanita Bynum. Prosperity gospel teachings may include the following: 1. Jesus died to take away every sickness in this life and atoned for the sin of financial poverty. 2. Believers will inherit many tangible blessings in this life. 3. You must give to get. 4. Poverty and afflictions come from a lack of faith, and you must ‘name it and claim it,’ and word of faith teaches that your words have spiritual power.
We are warned in the Bible about the love of money – “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evils, and some by aspiring to it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1 Timothy 6: 10) When we look at the lives of people in the hall of faith, and at Paul and the other apostles’ lives, we see something different. We see that suffering is often associated with faith in Christ. When Paul was dealing with the false teachers in Corinth, he differentiated his apostleship from the false apostles by illustrating what he had been through in his ministry – “Are they ministers of Christ? – I speak as if insane – I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, in beatings without number, if frequent danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked – a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the desolate places, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brothers. I have been in labor and hardship, in many sleepless nights, in starvation and thirst, often hungry, in cold and without enough clothing.” (2 Corinthians 11: 23-27)
In contrast to the wealthy prosperity gospel preachers, we see many Christians under severe persecution today. One example comes from Afghanistan, where most Christians have converted from Islam and are not allowed to practice their faith openly but where turning away from Islam is seen as shameful and punishable by death under Islamic or Sharia law. The Taliban took over in August of 2021 and have been enforcing Sharia law. Those who become Christians often need to flee the country for safety. This information comes from Open Doors World Watch List.
Jesus warned His disciples when He told them – “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” (John 15: 18-19) The prosperity gospel preachers are teaching ‘another gospel.’ It is not the gospel of the Bible. It is basically telling people what they want to hear and taking advantage of them to make money. It is a form of religious fraud. Religious fraud needs to be exposed for what it is!
REFERENCES:
The McArthur Study Bible, 2nd Edition. 2020. Thomas Nelson.
https://learn.ligonier.org/articles/field-guide-on-false-teaching-prosperity-gospel
https://www.britannica.com/topic/religion
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10312994
file:///C:/Users/skayl/Downloads/Afghanistan-Full_Country_Dossier-ODI-2025.pdf
