Christianity and Wealth: The Case of Prosperity Gospel in Ghana

The modern materialistic culture that has become commonplace in Christianity contradicts Christ's teaching of wealth and poverty. While Christ did not teach socialism or asceticism, he did not also teach materialism; instead, he taught and cautioned his disciples about the allurement of wealth or materialism. Christ, in Luke 18:25, said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." We all know Jesus was using hyperbole to make a point. Nevertheless, he reminded his hearers about the danger of wealth and its attachment to the present world.

Many preachers and Christians have abandoned this caution or admonition by Jesus and placed material possession at the center of their teachings and practices. The great Greco-Roman moral philosopher, Epictetus, reminds us of the self-defeating impulse of greed when he writes, "When children stick their hand down a little goody jar they cannot get their full fist out and start crying. Drop a few treats, and you will get them out! Curb your desire — do not set your heart on so many things, and you will get what you need." For Epictetus, "Wealth consists not of great possessions, but of few wants." Christ came not only to save us from our sins but to teach and show us the best way of living.

Jesus was not against riches per se, but he was against the excessive obsession with money and wealth. Though few of Jesus's followers were well-placed, they used their resources to support his ministry. They also changed their perspectives on acquisitiveness and greed. For instance, Zacchaeus, the tax collector, repented and offered to make restitution. For Zacchaeus, seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness was his priority. Wealthy women in Christ's ministry also supported him. Luke writes in Luke 8:2-3, "The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women supported him out of their means."

The prosperity preachers err when they conclude that the believers should be wealthier than the unbelievers. They have a faulty understanding of the nature of the Fall and the reality of common grace. We have to understand that there are times when God privileges the believers over the unbelievers, and there are times when he treats them without any distinction. Jesus' answer to the Jews who thought the Galileans killed by the Fall of the tower were more sinful than the others was quite revealing.

In Luke 13:1-4, the evangelist writes, "Now there was some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the others because they suffered this way? Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were guiltier than all the others living in Jerusalem?" In this world, the judgment of God is not proportioned to the degree and heinousness of our sins. Nevertheless, there will be a day of just recompense: when God the righteous judge, “will render to every one according to their deeds." (Acts 10:34, 35)

The great apostles would be taken aback if they were to hear the present-day prosperity messages dragging the name of Christ through the mud. Apostle Paul was a tentmaker or leatherworker and only accepted financial support from his Christian communities as long as they were not members of the community he was preaching to. He turned down the financial contribution from the Corinthians while he was with them, preaching to them. Jewish Rabbis learned and practiced trades, unlike the Greeks and the Romans: working with their hands. Paul's practice of working with his hands attracted some criticisms, which he strongly defended, saying that working allowed him to freely offer the gospel to his hearers and Christian communities without hindrance. In 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 1 Corinthians 4:12; and 2 Corinthians 11:27, Paul writes that he worked "night and day."

Paul also warned his audience about the allurement of wealth. In 1 Timothy 6: 6-10, the great apostle elucidated the effects of excessive preoccupation with money. He writes, "But godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing into the world and can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

Instead of preoccupying himself and his communities with money and wealth, the apostle advised people he called "Men of God" to do the following: "But you, a man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness." Nevertheless, the apostle was not against riches per se because wealthy men and women in the church sometimes supported him. For there were rich people in his Christian communities

Apostle James also cautioned his hearers about wealth; in James 1:9-11, we hear these words, "Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wildflower. The sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls, and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business." The apostle reminded his hearers of the eschatological reversal of the rich and poor fortunes. Thus, in the messianic kingdom, the deprivation and exploitation of the poor by the rich will be reversed: the present hierarchies and statuses will be overturned when God's purpose is fully realized in the future kingdom.

James sounded this alarm in the concluding chapter of his epistle: "Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last few days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves on the day of slaughter."

In Revelation 18:17, John gave dire predictions about the destruction of the world's economic systems. He writes in Revelation 18:17, "In one hour, such great wealth has been brought to ruin! Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off." God is the protector of the poor and denounces social and economic injustices. The prophet Amos criticizes the sins and attacks the superficial piety of the leaders of Israel: the middle class, the government, the king, and the priesthood, who were exploiting the poor.

Likewise, in 2 Peter 2:1-3, Apostle Peter has this to say about false prophets who will exploit the gullible ones out of greed. "But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping."

The Shepherd of Herman, one of the earliest Christian books that almost earned admission into the Bible, has this to say about the poor man and the rich man, "The rich man has much wealth, but is poor in matters relating to the Lord because he is distracted about his riches; and he offers very few confessions and intercessions to the Lord, and those which he does offer are small and weak and have no power above. But when the rich man refreshes the poor and assists him in his necessities, believing that what he does to the poor man will be able to find its reward with God — because the poor man is rich in intercession and confession, and his intercession has great power."

Adam Smith, the father and founder of modern capitalism, in his earlier work, "The Theory of Moral Sentiments," observed that "Extreme economic inequality tends to corrupt the morals of the very wealthy, who are freed from having to behave morally in order to earn the sympathy and approval of others..." Adam Smith was a professor of Moral Philosophy before writing “The Wealth of Nations.”

The eminent Pentecostal scholar Gordon Fee, in his book, "The Disease of the Health and Wealth Gospel,” writes, "I am convinced that many of the better-known figures in this movement (Prosperity Gospel)-example, Oral Roberts, Kenneth, and Gloria Copeland, Kenneth Hagan, Robert Schuller – are not devious people out to get rich at the expense of others. Nonetheless, their message is a dangerous twisting of God's truth, which can ultimately appeal only to human fallenness, not our life in the Spirit."

One can substitute the names of their Ghanaian and Nigerian counterparts: the protégées of Rev. Idahosa of Nigeria. Their unbiblical teachings and practices have had deleterious effects on the moral character of the Christian communities in Ghana and Nigeria. Our nation's moral and social bankruptcy is partly attributed to these unbiblical teachings that have infected the soul of the Christian community. It is high time we returned to the true gospel bequeathed to us by Christ and his apostles.