A warm greeting Dear friends and brothers
Welcome to my blog
God bless you!
We sent Timothy our brother... to confirm and exhort you concerning your faith, so that no one may be troubled by these tribulations; for you yourselves know that this is what we are set for.
1 Thessalonians 3:2-3
The "prosperity gospel" has been heard for some years. According to this teaching, a Christian should not be poor or suffer disease or persecution.
Conversely, to be rich and in good health would be the proof of God's blessing and the testimony of a solid faith. This argument is supported by deformed texts from the Bible or taken out of context.
This teaching is "a different gospel. Not that there is another, but that there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ" (Galatians 1:6-7). Indeed, the one true gospel teaches man's need for salvation through repentance, and the forgiveness of sins achieved through the death of Jesus Christ the Savior. Certainly, as a consequence of this salvation, man obtains prosperity, but this is first of all spiritual and not material: the knowledge of God as Father, his communion and his hope are a source of happiness.
To adhere to this "prosperity gospel" would be to admit that the apostle Paul was not a Christian! Read verses 24-27 of 2 Corinthians 11 and you will see that Paul knew absolutely everything but material prosperity. He was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked three times, was "in labor and weariness... in hunger and thirst, in many fasts, in cold and nakedness. Besides, will the Christian have a different portion from that of his Lord, who "became poor"? (2 Corinthians 8:9).
