The Works of Jesus

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to my Father.  John 14:12

What are the works of Jesus, the works he spoke of to the 11 before Judas came to betray him?  Jesus himself answers my question in what he said to the 11 in John 14:11:

"Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves."

Jesus was responding to Phillip's request for Jesus to "show them the Father."  He told Phillip that there was no need for him to show them the Father because if they had seen Jesus, they had seen the Father.  Jesus wanted Phillip to take Jesus at His word, that he and the father are one.  But if Phillip couldn't take him at his bare word, he could at least believe based on the works of Jesus:

Signs and wonders, healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead.

Now we get to it.

Not only are these the works Jesus spoke of, but these are works that we who believe will continue to do by the Spirit until Jesus returns--and even greater works than these, according to Jesus himself.

Now the purpose of these works are the same as Jesus' purpose:  conviction leading to salvation.  Any miraculous work that doesn't prove people have rejected God and lead them to accept Him as God is a false work.  But if people are to be brought to God, it must be by the power of God.

We have the power of God.  We have the Spirit of Christ in us.  By the power of God and the Spirit of Christ, we will do the works of Jesus until he comes.

Is there anything GOOD about PROSPERITY MINISTRY? (Part 1)

Some ministers condemn prosperity ministry as "heretical" or "apostate" or "false teaching," or worst and most pointed of all--a "false gospel."  They believe that the very essence of the good news is negated and replaced with false promises and false hopes.  The true good news of salvation is reconciliation to God and to each other by faith in Christ Jesus; but prosperity ministers, according to the ministers who condemn prosperity ministry, preach a good news that promises first class jets, expensive Armani suits, huge mansions, and very many cars to the prosperity ministers, if their followers will "sow into their prosperity ministries."

The key to what I just said is the followers of prosperity ministers.

Who would these be?
Who would be most attracted to prosperity ministry?

Those most in need of prosperity!  The poor.  The struggling.
To them, there is a gospel that prosperity ministers preach that is good news.  And what gospel would that be?  I believe that some prosperity ministers preach (or at least started out preaching) messages like this one:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor." Luke 4:18a.

Again, the prosperity ministry probably doesn't appeal to the wealthy, or to those already experiencing prosperity. But the poor would be very drawn to a message from God to the poor.

Yet sometimes poverty has been spiritualized.  Some ministers focus on when Jesus said "blessed are the poor in heart..."  So they take Isaiah's prophecy and spiritualize it.  Ironically, these same ministers will renounce the gnostic claims that the physical body, or physical reality, is less important, if not totally insignificant, in spiritual life.  They will correct Gnosticism and focus on the resurrection of the body, the Spirit indwelling our physical bodies, and even Jesus saying "Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things (meaning food and clothing, our physical needs) will be added to you."  Matthew 6:33 (parentheses mine.)

Here's the thing:  many "prosperity ministers" agree with those who correct Gnosticism, just like many "liberation gospel" ministers agree that the physical needs of God's people are included in salvation.

I'll repeat this crucial point:
There are prosperity ministers, like "liberation gospel ministers" who mainly want to emphasize that salvation encompasses more than just the forgiveness of sin.  It encompasses healing, deliverance, and provision.  These ministers, prosperity and liberation ministers, point out that Jesus didn't just forgive sin, He healed the sick, cast out demons, and fed the hungry.  Many prosperity ministers focus on the "full gospel," if you will.  

Now there are other prosperity ministers who pervert the "full gospel," and these are the ones that are being renounced by other ministers as "heretical."  And they should be renounced.  Jesus did not come to tell His people to buy their ministers jets, Armani suits, mansions on earth, and cars filling their drive ways if they "sow their tithe into the minister's ministry."  Jesus did say that we would have trouble in this world.  That with His provisions there will also be suffering and persecution.  Yet He undeniably provided for the needs of His followers.  And the early church "lacked nothing" BECAUSE they shared everything with each other, those having much not having too much, and those having little not having too little.  AND the early churches "prosperity" promoted the preaching of the gospel and the making of disciples.  For me, this is the litmus test of prosperity ministry:

If by "prosperity" the minister means that our needs (and even our desires) will be met for the purpose of promoting the kingdom of God, for preaching the gospel and making disciples, and if the means by which this occurs is that Christians share everything they have so that no one in the body has need, so that those believers in the church who have much will not have too much, and those who have little will not have too little, then this prosperity gospel is simply the gospel. There is one gospel.  We shouldn't have to add any label to it, whether "prosperity," or "liberation," or "full" gospel.  Jesus preached one gospel that encompassed our reconciliation to God, and would result in our healing, deliverance, and provision, according to the means He established:  The Spirit of God filling and leading believers.

Yet what we unfortunately see is those who have much (many prosperity ministers) having too much, and those with little (their followers) having too little.  We see disproportionate wealth, undistributed like we saw in the book of Acts.  We don't see "mega-churches," or at least we don't hear about them, "sharing everything in common."  I'm not saying this doesn't happen, because I've actually been a witness to it happening.  I'm saying that many "mega-churches" seem like capitalistic corporations where the ones on top (the prosperity ministers) have too much--and are asking for more!!!  This is heretical...but prosperity is not.  So is there anything good in prosperity ministry?  We'll see, in the next part!

(Click HERE for part 2)