Articles

Articles

Miracle Money

I was passing through the channels on TV one night and caught a religious program. It was a preacher of the "gospel of wealth" persuasion. The plea is to ask for a packet "Miracle Water," use it and wait for God to send you some "Miracle Money" your way. A favorite verse of this persuasion is 3 John 2 which says, "Beloved, I pray that in all things thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." They look at this verse as if God promised you to be in health and to prosper financially. That health and wealth are yours to claim just as much as you can claim forgiveness in Christ. Certainly, forgiveness is there for people to have, it is what God offers to everybody. We all can appropriate the benefits of the blood of Christ into our lives by coming to Jesus, by believing and obeying the gospel. It is the definite promise of God to receive forgiveness through Jesus. It is not maybe you can be forgiven by the blood of Jesus, but forgiveness will happen if we come to Jesus on His terms. Even so the reasoning is that God wants you prosper and be in health just as you soul prospers. So you can claim and appropriate these blessings of wealth by trusting in God to give you "Miracle Money." But look at the text again, John said, ""Beloved, I pray that in all things thou mayest prosper and be in health." The word "mayest" is "Used to express possibility. To be possible, could, may, might." So it is not the absolute promise of God that we will prosper or that we will be in health just like we prosper in our souls. It may or may not happen. It was John's prayer that such would take place, and his desire that it may happen. John did not say to trust in God for your "Miracle Money" to come because God promised it to you. As the warning of the scriptures states, "Do not be deceived."