Why I Still Believe in the Prosperity Doctrine

As a young man I attended various denominations searching for the "right" one God had for me. Among those were the charismatic and Pentecostal type church groups. These groups taught disappointing doctrine. They taught things like name it and claim it (blab it and grab it), speaking in tongues and the prosperity doctrine. A lot of these preachers (such as Kenneth Copeland) claim to be speaking directly from God, claim that they have literally seen Jesus face to face. But what is the truth? Here are my personal experiences in some of these churches and why I still believe in some of the doctrines they teach, particularly the prosperity doctrine.

My original experiences in these type churches were good until it turned to the area of relationships. Increased income had started, but did not stay. But when it comes to relationships this was most faithless bunch of preachers I had ever seen. A "Word of Faith Church" came to near where I lived at the time. I attended this church in Texas and met a couple who I had attended high school with the wife in Indiana. She did not see this as a "chance" meeting and neither did I. She invited me to attend and I did.

After a few Sundays when the invitation was given I raised my hand, every one who raised their hand was called forward. When I went forward the leaders started praying individually for every one up front and the congregation was stretching out their arms to us. When they came to me, a literal fire came out from behind the cloth. Whether they had some method of faking that fire or it was really God-given or satan given I do not know. But I questioned it and the leaders got angry until I quoted I John 4:1 which says to try the spirits and not believe them all.

That was not the end of the situation. After the service was over, I was ushered to a back room where I was instructed to speak in tongues. Problem was God was not telling me to speak in tongues.Words were given me to speak, I felt like saying "sha na na" and calling it speaking in tongues. I left the church for years but visited on occasion until a friend came along who showed me God's love. He demonstrated God's love to me by his actions.

Since then the house my brother and I resided in was repossessed by the bank, I have lost my job and when I had it, it did not pay too much money, especially towards the end. I found just a little later that my boss had shut his doors. And after the loss of his house, my brother is missing and we really do not know where he is. So, why do I still believe in the prosperity doctrine?

The simplest answer to that question is because the Bible teaches it. Not in the way it is often taught, but it is there. The word "Blessed" often means "prosperous in the Bible. I've also learned that prosperity is not just about money, but about anything one does in life. Money can be involved, but faith must be involved too. Psalms 1:1-3 tells us that whatever the righteous does shall prosper. And no it's not necessarily because you don't have enough faith that things don't work out.

I also learned that the prospering may not be in this life. I use to sit in these churches and wonder why people in wheelchairs kept coming back week after week and did not get healed. Then I heard one preacher talk about a situation that involved his family member and he said she would be healed, either in this life or the next one. Then I understood a little more about their beliefs.

Scriptures like ask and you shall receive (Matt. 7:7) are in line with the prosperity doctrine if used properly. There are problems with charismatic/Pentecostal style churches as there are with all church groups on earth, but there are also things we can learn from these people. In addition, I've had some success with prayers for some things being answered. However, "it works" is not a valid reason to do something.

The main reason to believe in the prosperity doctrine is that it is scriptural. Psalms 1:1-3, Gen. 24:21, Gen. 24:40-42, Gen. 24:56, Gen. 39:2-3, Gen. 39:23, Gen. 29:9, Josh 1:7-8, Judges 18:5-6, Psalms 35:27, Psalms 118:25, Psalms 122:6-7, Prov. 17:8 and Ecc. 7:14 are among the scriptures that indicate God wants his children to prosper. So, whether in this life or the next may you always prosper in following God and prosper in all that you do within His will.