← Konnected Minds Podcast with Derrick Abaitey
Konnected Minds Podcast with Derrick Abaitey
Segment: Stop Using the Bible to Justify Poverty OR Preach False Prosperity
00:12:50
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- [00:00]
Commercial Narrator
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- [00:30]
Theologian/Christian Speaker
there's a very, very, very terrible issue from that angle. On the other hand, also the other extreme that believes that believers should not strive right, to do better in career, in life and have a given level of affluence are also wrong. And so what we have are two extremes that are more pronounced than the proper balance. And in about a minute or two, I think I want to put that to bed very quickly. Now, on one hand, what exactly is the gospel? There is no such thing as the prosperity gospel in and of itself, because the gospel in the context of the Bible is good news. Good news about what? It is good news about salvation. It's got a thorough salvific theme. The Bible says in Romans 1:16. I'm almost ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. For everyone who believes, it is the power of God unto salvation. Which means that the gospel in and of itself, in the right context, is salvation themed. Now, salvation from what? The word salvation, deep in its roots, is a Greek word, soteria, which actually is found from a deeper root word, sozo, which means deliverance. Now, it is deliverance from something into another, which means it is safety and salvation for man from his sins. So when you talk salvation in and of itself, it is safety from sins. Now, when you talk about sins, right, you need to understand that the salvation that a believer receives in Christ Jesus first and foremost is safety from the sin problem. Okay, are you getting this? Yep. So man is in his sins. Man has fallen short of the glory of God. We've sinned against God. The sin problem has been passed on from the first Adam through to his offsprings. I get to my point, including our progenitors. And so here's the point. Now there's a sin problem. And Christ came to put to bed that sin problem. Now you need to know this. The sin problem is a leveler. The problem of sin doesn't care about race, doesn't care about tribe, also doesn't care about the fatness of your pockets. And so the Gospel in and of itself is good news to all mankind with a specific context on salvation, saving men from their sins. Now, I'm saying this because it is very interesting, because if you say that the gospel is to give men more money and give them affluence, then the question will be, why then do I need this salvation that the gospel preaches if I can have money without believing in him?
- [03:07]
Host/Interviewer
Okay?
- [03:08]
Theologian/Christian Speaker
And so anything that you can have outside of Christ could not be the reason Christ came. And so if people could be wealthy before the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus. By redemptive sacrifice, I'm talking about his burial, his death, his burial, his resurrection, and then his glorification to the right hand of God. Now, here's the point. The point is Jesus is the only solution to the problem of sin. And the good news is that Jesus has solved the problem of sin. And so if you try to modify that gospel and make it look like the gospel is come and men will be rich, then people will look at you and tell you, I don't think I need this gospel because without Christ, I was already fine.
- [03:57]
Host/Interviewer
Is that not what exactly sometimes it looks like is happening?
- [04:02]
Theologian/Christian Speaker
That's it. That's the false gospel. That's the false gospel. The Bible doesn't teach that this is important. The Bible doesn't teach it.
- [04:10]
Host/Interviewer
But you agree that we see this
- [04:12]
Theologian/Christian Speaker
on the screens, that we see it on the screens doesn't in any way whatsoever verify it. It doesn't make it true. It doesn't at all. And so that's exactly what I'm trying to say. The fact that something is popular doesn't make it the truth. And the fact that something is less popular doesn't in any way douse its veracity. And so this is very important.
- [04:35]
Host/Interviewer
Let me stop you here for a minute. So if it's your first time watching Connected Minds or you have been here before but still have not subscribed, do us a favor, because majority of the people that watch our videos have not subscribed. This doesn't help us grow beyond what we expect. So help us by hitting the subscribe button. Thank you. Now, let's get back to the conversation. As a believer, what position must I take to really decipher what is coming towards me?
- [05:07]
Theologian/Christian Speaker
Your position, first and foremost, must be to shun the two extremes. Okay, I only talked about one extreme. The other extreme are the other believers who now feel that spiritual growth is at variance with material possessions. Now, they believe that if you're saved and if you're a Christian, you should not look to amass anything for yourself as a person. So now let me explain the right balance and the right perspective that every believer must take. The perspective is this. First and foremost, come to Christ for who he is and principally at the core, what he offers. What he offers you is eternal life. Eternal life cannot be bought with money. Eternal life could not have happened or could have been had outside of Christ Jesus. So what makes a person saved is that they believe wholeheartedly, right? That Christ died for their sins and by reason of his death, burial and resurrection, he's giving them eternal life. But I'm broke, okay, so now here comes the balance. Okay, this is it. I think we need to ensure that when you. So I don't believe in the tag, the prosperity gospel. I believe so strongly that there's a biblical look. Let me put it this way. I believe that as every Christian, right, every single believer ought to have a Christian worldview. Many people are Christian but do not have a Christian worldview. It's important. Your theology must inform and influence your philosophy. This is very important. So you might want to make sure that that is properly corporate and spelled out because a lot of Christians have been sold an idea of Jesus that isn't true. And so the right perspective that a believer must have with respect to the concept of prosperity, like people call it, is this embrace what the Bible says. For first and foremost, the Bible never ever at any point draws a distinction in terms of social class. It never tells you that the richer Christians are more Christians than the ones who are not Christian in Christ. And before him there is no Jew, no Greek, no poor, no rich. What that means is that my salvation is not more validated by my pockets. The salvation of a rich person, right, is not higher in effectiveness than that of what somebody who is not saved. However, the same Bible that tells you that all are equal before God and that God is no respecter of persons also shares you obvious and practical principles for growth. The Bible for example, tells you let he will still steal no more and let him walk, that he might have enough to give orders. The Bible also tells you there's no food for lazy man. Which means someone put it so brilliantly that every principle that you find in every self help book in the entire world is embedded in the Bible. Because when you read through the book of Proverbs, read through the book of Psalms, read through the Epistles, you see clearly what the Bible stance is. That every believer should be hard working, that every believer should do the best that they can to ensure they fend for their families. That every believer ought to be able to also understand what perseverance is. Now a motivational speaker will call perseverance diligence. They'll tell you even when the going gets tough, you must learn to reframe failure or. Well, it's also embedded in the Bible. And so here's what I'm trying to say. When you take the Bible for what it is, as primarily a textbook on salvation, right? Start from there and then also embrace the other principles that it teaches. It teaches hard work. It also teaches doing and being your best. No one will go through all of the Bible cover to cover understanding its principles and think that the Bible wants you poor. And then also no one will go through the entire Bible cover to cover and come up with a submission that the Bible says that if you are not rich, you are less spirit.
- [08:56]
Host/Interviewer
Sure. Look, I did a survey on my platforms And I had 98% request that I should have this conversation. 98% out of about a thousand 800 people that responded.
- [09:10]
Theologian/Christian Speaker
Interesting.
- [09:11]
Host/Interviewer
That made me feel as if my Christian brothers and sisters are looking for answers as to why some church leaders have made prosperity the core agenda for their message and their people. And then also why some Christians, which is what you said, don't understand the fact that they should work hard and not use biblical quotes as marketing strategy.
- [09:40]
Theologian/Christian Speaker
I think that you have to get to a point in your Christian walk where you understand what it means to be made in the image of God. The Bible says in Genesis 1, it says, Come, let us make man in our own image. Now, the image he's talking about there principally he says, and give him dominion over the entire Earth. Now any believer that thinks that all they need is Jesus and the world can take itself have actually not come to the full consciousness of who they are in God. Because God being a creator and being an intelligent designer, has empowered every single person on the face of the earth and more so believers to actually extend the dominion that is seen in heaven on the face of the earth. Which automatically means that if God created everything and put money in charge, also the entire world has been put in my care. That means that as a believer there's a natural curiosity you must have my daddy made these things and therefore I want to know more about it. I don't know where believers get and have the excuse to be mediocre. You definitely didn't get that from God. You definitely didn't. And also the popularly quote statements like, the same way it is hard for a camel to go to the eye of a noodle. So is it hard for a ritual? I think the biggest disservice that many believers do is that they lack a monotonical understanding, which means many don't know how to study their Bibles. And so what happens is that many of them read the Bible without the context. Yes, right. And like the popular statement goes, when you take the the context out of anything or when you take the text right out of the Bible, what you are left with is con. It means you're a con man. So here's what I'm trying to say. For you to thoroughly understand the context, you must check the pretext and the post text. Right. To understand exactly what the Bible is trying to say there. But here's all I'm trying to say. It is that God also worked with people who were extremely visionary. Most of the first people he worked with, right. When you read through the Pentateuch Genesis, all the patriarchs of old were actually people who for example, God did not in any way whatsoever withhold them from the material possessions that they had. The fact that God blessed Abraham and we saw tangibly that he actually blessed him and the Bible records that he grew more in influence, he had more catt. They had more goods also shows you that God is not against what you call prosperity.
- [12:20]
Host/Interviewer
Well, I mean for the average person even listening, that may be okay, let's say Abraham is Old Testament. You can even use your life, or even my life as an example that you are a believer. You still have businesses that you're doing that is paying you and I do myself. So the example may just be just the two of us that people are watching. But for me, I also think that some pastors have the duty and the responsibility to re educate church members.
- [12:51]
Theologian/Christian Speaker
Yeah, I think they do. I absolutely think they do. So I think we just need to learn to put priority first right now. By priority, I mean the priority of scriptures. And the core of every single thing that the Christian faith is hinged on is the fact that salvation is the most important need of all mankind. And that salvation comes through only one person. His name, Jesus.
- [13:20]
Commercial Narrator
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