There’s a televangelist out there named Jesse Duplantis who perhaps you’ve heard of before. He was, was quoted in a video he did with his wife a couple of weeks ago, saying that poverty is a curse and that he is wealthy because he is blessed. Now, earlier this month, again, he did this on a live stream with his wife.
He said the following, quote. Me and Cathy, his wife, are very blessed. I’m spiritually, physically and financially blessed.
I’ve had more people criticize me over a jet. Now, this jet that he’s referring to is that he ran a donor campaign with his ministry where he asked his donors to fund a private jet. Many prosperity preachers have done this, and they have kind of said, you know, I’m doing this because of ministry so we can reach people something like, it’s a multi-million dollar jet.
Just imagine for a second, guys in the control room, imagine if we did this at FISM, if we ran a campaign instead of one for Preborn or something like that. We said, hey, you know what? I really need a brand-new truck to be able to do ministry. So you all consider giving to our ministry so that I can have a new truck or a new plane? It’d be a little odd, right, Elijah? Yeah, definitely would be.
That’s strange. So anyway, he mentions the jet. He says they still can’t get over it.
Criticize me over my house. They didn’t pay for it. I paid for it.
You understand what I say? Apparently, he lives in a $40,000 square foot mansion. And then he goes on to say, you know, that poverty is a blessing. Question mark.
He says that’s a lie. Poverty is a curse. Now, this man, Jesse Duplantis, is, along with several other big names, including Kenneth Copeland and Joel Osteen, some of the big voices in modern prosperity theology.
These are ultrarich pastors who preach the belief that if you are obedient to God, he will bless you in this life with health, wealth and happiness. And they’ll read certain passages of scripture that say things like, God rewards the righteous, he blesses the righteous, all things that are true scripturally. But as you’re going to hear me say in just a moment, there’s something deeply demonic about this belief, the prosperity gospel.
The truth of scripture is necessary here. And so we have to ask, does God bless people with financial wealth? Well, sometimes, yes, absolutely he does. Sometimes he does.
In fact, we talk about that often on the show that we believe that God does bless obedience. If you’ve invested your money faithfully with the FISM partnership, perhaps you’ve received a return. That’s a blessing from God.
That’s a good thing. But is that guaranteed? Absolutely not. And that’s really the part of the danger of the prosperity gospel is that, like so many false gospels, it’s got some truth in it, but there’s a lie in there that poisons the whole thing.
That this always happens, that God will bless you with health, wealth, and happiness in your wildest dreams coming true if you’re obedient to him. And if you are poor and if you don’t have those things, that is evidence that you are not living for God. That’s what these people believe.
Here’s the thing. We see far more in scripture, that those who are righteous will suffer for their righteousness. Paul was not wealthy.
Job lost everything because he was righteous, not because he was wicked. He lost everything because he was righteous. Our Lord Jesus himself, perfection personified, was crucified like a criminal.
That doesn’t fit with the prosperity gospel, and it gets horribly wrong. This. Here’s what it is.
It’s the belief that God will bless us with health, wealth, and happiness on this side of eternity, when the reality is those blessings are coming to us on the other side. We are never guaranteed our wildest dreams to come true in this life, but we have an inheritance that is beyond what we can imagine in eternity. And that wealth is far better than a jet or a 40,000 square foot house.
So I want to encourage you today, friends, that it is far better for you to have a portfolio that pleases God instead of having one that is just financially lucrative. You might not be rich in this life, or perhaps as rich as you could be, but I promise you, it will bring great wealth in the next life. And of course, the greatest wealth we’re guaranteed in the next life is for all of us who trust in Christ.
The inheritance is Christ himself. Salvation. Right.
Standing before God, that’s the real treasure. And if you have that, friends, no matter how much or how little you have in this world, you’ve got everything, praise God.
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