The Bible is filled with stories of miracles and certainly, every believer in Christ can believe for themselves. There is a danger, however, with the so-called prosperity gospel, because it teaches the faithful to await manifestation of things that God never promised in His word. This false teaching has thousands, if not millions, of individuals, waiting, just like Linus in the Pumpkin patch in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Year after year, and decade after decade, seemingly intelligent men and women, hold on to what they consider to be promises made by God but are really False Doctrine and misquoting scripture that is being taught by man.
Beware of false doctrine
One of the tenants of false doctrine is motivating parishioners with an annual year-end slogan. These run rampant throughout certain denominations, and people confess them like a magic charm. I was in a church, where at the end of 1996, we were taught to say, "In 1997 we will be looking like heaven." Sermons were preached indicating that the new year would bring prosperity for those who were sowing seeds. This is when you give money to a pastor over and above his or her salary.
1997 came and went so the next year the slogan became,"In 1998 we will be looking great." Every year since, in many Christian churches, there is a rhyme that is supposed to be a prophecy to guarantee unexpected finances will come in the form of money, but year after year no one's life ever changes.
The only people who move to bigger houses and newer vehicles are the preachers who teach this false doctrine because they obtain the money from people who actually need it.
The slogans continue through the years
These year-end slogans have continued throughout the decades such as "In 2002 much more for you" and " In 2004 we are going through the door".
Facebook is filled every November and December with people saying God told them the new year would be the one where God sent unexpected financial increase. 365 days go by and it starts all over again with no one addressing the fact that the miracle harvest did not manifest in the previous year.
Jesus spoke about a harvest of souls and not one that made His followers millionaires.
There is nothing wrong with a believer in Christ working hard and earning a good living, but the prosperity gospel teaches that God is required to reward the faithful givers with lots of money. The Christian Church is much divided on this issue and even though there is not one person who can say that giving extra to their pastor made them a millionaire, people still believe. This is not faith, but foolishness.
