There is a very strong link of the gospel according to the almighty dollar and Satanism, Most people have hard about the four gospel accounts, but that is not all, there is new gospel. It is the most common gospel in the world today which has won the hearts of many.

The gospel according to the almighty dollar has been referred to by different names by different people; some have called it the gospel according to modern day preachers, the gospel according to the stomach, the gospel according to what you want, the gospel according to bodily desires and the gospel according to what you confess. No matter the name, this gospel centers on the worldly things like prosperity, money, favours, and health.

It is increasing becoming difficult for people to shield them selves from the attractive teachings that suggest believers can control their financial destiny. The pastors who preach this gospel have a wide access to the media and given the fact that many people have financial constraints; the spirit of worldliness will drive them toward this gospel. This gospel is sweet but its fruits are less than desired.

The prosperity movement introduced a new culture of sowing which convinces Christians to view their financial support to the church as investment opportunities to "sow" their way out of debt to receive God's bountiful blessings. Under such an ideology, preachers train their members to applaud when it is time to collect offerings because God "loves a cheerful giver.” It is true God loves a cheering giver but the bible never says that God loves a cheerful giver who gives while expecting something in return as Pentecostal pastors stress it.

Prosperity theology emphasizes that God will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing to the faithful Christian who consistently gives money to his church. This pervasive ideology helps churches secure more resources while allowing pastors to enjoy large salaries and unprecedented wealth

This gospel is a darling of Satan, It was handled down to the Pentecostals through Kenneth Hagin by Kenyon from the Gnostics. There a few things in the world which make people forget about heaven than this gospel and that make it so dangerous to a Christian. This is why Satan loves it so much, he is very aware that when people focus their minds on happiness and prosperity here and now, they will definitely be within his control.

While preaching this gospel on trinity broadcasting network, Pastor Price said

“It’s a matter of your faith, you got one dollar faith, and you ask for a ten thousand dollar item. Its gonna work, Jesus said “according to your faith” not “according to his will” if you want a bicycle, you are gonna get it¹

According to this wealth and health gospel God always wills the financial prosperity of every Christian, therefore, for a believer to live in poverty is living outside God’s intended will. The first short coming of such a gospel is that it is not biblical; however, we very well know that Satan twisted the scriptures to lie to Jesus in the desert, in the same way his followers are also doing the same in order to fit their “gospel” into the scriptures.

Pastors move every where using words like “you can have what you say”, “the reason you have not been healed is that you don’t have enough faith”, “we can write our ticket with God if we decide what we want,” “ believe that it is yours and confess it” “God wants you to be rich and healthy”. Such words seem sweet and nice to hear but no matter how much one tries to cloth the wealth gospel in biblical cover, it is simply not biblical. It is a gospel which centers on the self rather that on God

The gospel type

In these days, it is very common to find some one saying “God is blessing your business right now, He is making you fertile so that you may produce, and He is directing favour to you, Put your hand on the TV set or touch where you are filling pain, God is working, He is solving all your employment problems, I can see He is preparing a partner for you”

I am not saying it is bad to get a partner, or a promotion or a good job, Its just that, all those things are not part of the gospel. They are not supposed to be over emphasized since none of them contain salvation. They point to the world while salvation point to heaven. This a satanic snare to make people so taken up with what is in store for them in this world while forgetting the second coming of Jesus.

The Pentecostal gospel presents a theology of distorted vision of God and the Christian life. God is the supplier of financial prosperity, health, and victory when the believer uses their faith. Pentecostals holds the concept that God's children should "eat the best, drive the best, and wear the best." little emphasis on suffering of Christ, the cross, or even self-denial.

The Pentecostal pastors give messages in their churches over different members that God is going to make them millionaires, make them super anointed, give them a world wide ministry, or give them great fame! As a result the members are hooked on their wonderful pastors who prophecy good things even though over the years none of the prophesies ever come to fruition.

This type of gospel can not be true because it is not universal; it is so discriminative and selective. A pastor can spend a whole sermon telling his followers how God is going to make them rich thus excluding those who are already rich for the all of the sermon. It can not be true since it can not be applicable to all Christians irrespective of their class, education, and social context. It is so un fair to tell congregants that all of them will be like Bill Gates if they continue to sow their financial seed.

People come up the front and give testimonies of how they bought plots, or got the visas. These convince others that God’s plan for them is prosperity too. Words like “you will be fulfilled and given in abundance” are common in this gospel. It is also important to note that many who once deceived others of what God has done for them have come up to repent after they left Pentecostalism.

In this gospel, God is seen as a no-lose lottery in the sky, a cosmic money machine in which you put in a coin and wait for millions while your “casino buddies” (in this case your fellow Christians) whoop and holler (or shout “Amen” ) and wait for their turn in line. In this sort of system, God’s reason for existing is to give what we want, if we had no needs, God would probably just disappear after all.

This gospel, when approached from the prosperity posture, prayer degenerates into coercions, where in “name it and claim it”, believers become devoted to forcing God until he agrees to do what they want. This gospel also attempt to arm twist the Almighty into increasing comforts and underwriting life styles. It is a gospel of selfishness by selfish beings.

“Faith” becomes a crowbar to break down the door of God’s reluctance, rather than a humble attempt to lay hold of his willingness. God is treated as an object, a tool, and a means to an end. God’s blessing on financial giving is turned into money – back guaranteed whereby he is obligated to do precisely whatever we want him to do. Many have developed that phrase “confess and posses” They forget that confess has its roots in the word repent (not claim), which is a total misuse of the word.

For you to understand clearly the nature of this new gospel, let me present some quotation from major Pentecostals pastors who preach there gospel from the prosperity point of view.

A famous Pentecostal pastor, Charles Fill More, of the Unity School of Christianity had his re-edition of psalms 23 as below;

“The lord is my banker; my credit is good. He makes me lie in the consciousness of omni present abundance; he giveth me the key to his strong box (treasury), he restoreth my faith in his riches; he guideth me in the path of prosperity for his name sake. Yea, though I walk in the very shadow of debt, I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me, He prepares a way in the presence of the collector, He fills my wallet with plenty, my measure runneth over, surely goodness and plenty will fall me all the days of my life, and I shall do business in the name of the lord”³

This gospel, when approached from the prosperity posture, prayer degenerates into coercions, where in “name it and claim it”, believers become devoted to forcing God until he agrees to do what they want. This gospel also attempt to arm twist the Almighty into increasing comforts and underwriting life styles. It is a gospel of selfishness by selfish beings.

“Faith” becomes a crowbar to break down the door of God’s reluctance, rather than a humble attempt to lay hold of his willingness. God is treated as an object, a tool, and a means to an end. God’s blessing on financial giving is turned into money – back guaranteed whereby he is obligated to do precisely whatever we want him to do. Many have developed that phrase “confess and posses” They forget that confess has its roots in the word repent (not claim), which is a total misuse of the word.

For you to understand clearly the nature of this new gospel, let me present some quotation from major Pentecostals pastors who preach there gospel from the prosperity point of view.

A famous Pentecostal pastor, Charles Fill More, of the Unity School of Christianity had his re-edition of psalms 23 as below;

“The lord is my banker; my credit is good. He makes me lie in the consciousness of omni present abundance; he giveth me the key to his strong box (treasury), he restoreth my faith in his riches; he guideth me in the path of prosperity for his name sake. Yea, though I walk in the very shadow of debt, I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me, He prepares a way in the presence of the collector, He fills my wallet with plenty, my measure runneth over, surely goodness and plenty will fall me all the days of my life, and I shall do business in the name of the lord”³

 The Bible does not have kind words for people who use religion as way of getting rich, it says “…evils suspicions and constant arguments from people whose minds do not function and who no longer have the truth. They think that religion is away to become rich.” Timothy 6:5. Such people existed even in days of Paul and the apostle had to call them ‘people whose minds do not function’ which shows how dangerous this kind of gospel can be to a Christian.

Many Pentecostal celebrations are held every;. In these events Pastors collects millions and millions of shillings through offering from the poor followers. However before the events, many people are used to give testimonies on radios and television so as to induce others to attend. These testimonies are most of the time materialistic; words like ‘when I attended, I bought a plot and obtained a visa’ are common. Others give testimonies about their supposed change of health. It is just absurd that little about the cross or the second coming is mentioned in these testimonies.

Then the materialistic teaching of sowing the seed, this teaching is one of the major reasons why Pentecostals churches are always full with members. Followers are drip-fed on these teachings. This requires followers to give part of their earnings to the church in offerings and tithes in turn for the promised blessings.

The expected dividends on these are divine blessings. With a church full of young company executives and businessmen, every service guarantees enormous revenue expecting God to turn on his tap of blessings. Others give cars, generators, musical equipment and chairs to the church. I believe that returning to God is a good thing but if it is done while expecting blessing then it turns out to be a sin.

 References to this articles can be found in my own book " I Found Satan Preching" and more info is loaded on my new site