Job 8:5-7
If you will seek God
and plead with the Almighty for mercy,
if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore your rightful habitation.
And though your beginning was small,
your latter days will be very great.
Tag: Prosperity Gospel has a long history
Bildad, one of Job’s “friends” is giving him counsel in chapter 8 of this book. Bildad has a very simple philosophy and it is summarized in the above passage. He believes that if Job repents and confesses his sins he will be blessed. In fact, he teaches, the more Job confesses thee more Job will be blessed. As Bildad observes Job’s state (Job has lost everything), he makes conclusion similar to most of the word today: Bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people. Therefore, since bad things have happened to Job, he must be bad. Bildad’s solution for Job is to confess and repent of his bad, and good things will begin t happen. This is the core of today’s prosperity gospel. For Bildad type preachers, mankind only has to repent, live a great life and God will bless you. Their main thought: Blessing follows repentance; much repentance - much blessing. What Bildad (and today’s prosperity teachers) failed to remember, is that Job was not bad. Remember, what GOD said about Job to start the book:
Job 1:1
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
Job 1:8
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
Prosperity preachers must cringe at the story of Job. It is completely the opposite of their teaching. Job was a great man who suffered. Bildad can’t get that. In his mind Job MUST have done something wrong and he simply needs to repent to be restored. Granted, Job, in the later end, was restored to wealth and prosperity. But, it was not because of His performance, but rather God’s amazing grace. God is not a “you-do-this-I’ll-do-that” type of God. Every good thing that happens in our life is because of God’s grace. We can rejoice in that!!! Repentance is done because we have sin in our lives and we recognize that it offends a holy and righteous God, not because we get prosperity as a result.
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