I was asked to speak in our congregation today on the topic of blessings. It was a pretty broad topic, and as I pondered on it, I decided to address the concept of prosperity gospel and how it is antithetical to the gospel that Christ established.
Here’s the text from that sermon
In the early to mid 20th century, a new kind of gospel began to emerge among various Christian denominations in the United States. Known today as the prosperity gospel, it’s basically the teaching that financial blessing and physical well-being are always the will of God, and that as we have more faith, speak more positively, and donate more to religious causes, our material wealth will increase. In other words, the more righteous you are, the more you’ll be blessed.
The prosperity gospel has a certain appeal to it, particularly among Christians living within a neoliberal capitalist society that emphasizes the importance of self sufficiency, individualism, and the accumulation of wealth.
Even the Book of Mormon has verses, which, if isolated from their context, could be interpreted as supportive of the prosperity gospel.
For example, in chapter 2 of Mosiah, King Benjamin preaches to the people of Zarahemla:
[God] has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments, he doth bless you and prosper you.
Mosiah 2:22
Even then, King Benjamin was echoing the words from generations before when Nephi wrote in what is now the fourth chapter of 1 Nephi:
And now, when I, Nephi, had heard these words, I remembered the words of the Lord which he spake unto me in the wilderness, saying that: Inasmuch as thy seed shall keep my commandments, they shall prosper in the land of promise.
1 Nephi 4:14
And just as Nephi’s words were written generations before King Benjamin spoke his, Alma the Younger spoke similar words generations after King Benjamin, in counsel he gave to his oldest son, Helaman, found in what we know today as Alma 36:
My son, give ear to my words; for I swear unto you, that inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God, ye shall prosper in the land.
Alma 36:1
There is a danger, however, in trying to wedge a 20th-century idea into a gospel originating in the humble and selfless life of Jesus.
Consider the believing saints of Ammonihah, in the Book of Mormon, who were burned alive because they believed in the word of God. How did their unwavering faith increase their material wealth?
Or the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, who took an oath of pacivity, burying their weapons deep in the earth and prostrating themselves on the ground before the advancing armies, only to be violently slaughtered by the hundreds for their dedication. How was their physical health enhanced through their righteous devotion?
Clearly righteousness doesn’t always lead to material prosperity.
Consider also the examples of Alma the Younger, King Mosiah’s sons, and Saul, all of whom were persecuting church members of their time when they received divine visitations. Certainly, righteousness isn’t a requirement for divine intervention.
And yet, how often have we heard from the pulpit that if we pay our tithing, for example, we will be blessed financially?
I’ve always been a faithful tithe payer—always—yet when Mary and I were new parents standing in a grocery store with our last $20, trying to decide between buying food for us or diapers for our newborn, I didn’t feel like we were prospering. When I was scrounging through the furniture to scrape together enough change to buy one bag of fruit for Mary, who was pregnant with our oldest child, I didn’t feel like we were prospering. When we were trying to live off of $5000 in student loans for an entire year and the income from a part-time, minimum-wage job, I didn ’t feel like we were prospering. When I had to go to the bishop to get a food order, I didn’t feel like we were prospering. When I went to that same bishop a second time because our financial situation hadn’t changed and we were still hungry the next month, but he shamed and humiliated me for not working hard enough and so I never went back for a food order from that bishop or any of the other 6 bishops we’ve had since then, I didn’t feel like we were prospering. When I was laid off from two jobs in three years, I didn’t feel like we were prospering. When I had to walk downtown from the Westside to cash my paycheque because we had no money for a single bus ride and there were no banks on the Westside at the time, I didn’t feel like we were prospering. But I never missed a tithing payment.
Furthermore, I’ve never drank even one cup of coffee, never smoked even one cigarette, never drank even an ounce of alcohol, yet my osteoarthritis, kyphosis, asthma, and scoliosis don’t feel like I’ve been blessed physically for my obedience to the Word of Wisdom. I literally cannot run without being weary. Having knees and ankles and hips where the cartilage has worn away means any extensive running I can do results in sore joints for hours, if not days. And that’s assuming I am able to overcome the overwhelming burning of my asthmatic lungs while running.
I believe that the prosperity gospel—the idea that we see material gains because of our righteousness—is out of place in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It sets people up to believe, like I did all those years ago, that if bad things happen to them, it’s because they haven’t been righteous enough.
Jesus Christ taught, in contrast, that we should live our lives independent of the accumulation of wealth.
When the rich ruler came to him, asking, “Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”, Jesus answered, “Lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.” (see Luke 18:18–22)
In our study of the Come Follow Me curriculum two weeks ago, we read the words of Isaiah, in chapter 55, that we are not to “spend money for that which is not bread and [our] labour for that which satisfieth not”. (v. 2) The prophet Jacob, one of Nephi’s younger brothers, echoed this counsel in the ninth chapter of 2 Nephi, when he said, “Do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy.” (v. 51)
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warns his followers that it is impossible for us to follow both God and mammon, or riches. He then counsels us that we’re to “take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.” (Matt. 6:25) He advises us that there‘s more to life than what we eat and that what we wear doesn’t determine the worth of our body. The entire point of this part of his sermon isn’t that the Lord will bless us with more if we’re more righteous, but rather that he’ll take care of our needs if we seek first his kingdom.
The early saints, at least according to the second and fourth chapters of Acts, seemed to follow this counsel, selling all their possessions, redistributing the proceeds to others according to their needs, and living together communally, having all things in common.
The people of the Americas, following Jesus’s visit, lived in a similar economic system, where all things were held in common and they had abolished wealth inequality. Plus, there was no longer any crime, there were all sorts of miracles, they had eliminated racism, and they continued to keep the commandments, to fast, to pray, and to meet together often to learn of God. (see 4 Nephi)
Over a century before, the people of Alma the Older, who baptized them at the waters of Mormon, were taught to “impart of their substance, every one according to that which he had”: in other words, those who had more abundantly were to impart more abundantly. (Mosiah 18:27)
It seems to me that Jesus taught us that it’s impossible to serve both God and riches because the pursuit of riches interferes with our ability to serve God.
King Benjamin, in what is now the fourth chapter of Mosiah, warns us about hoarding our accumulated wealth and refusing to redistribute it to those who need it. First, he commands us to give to those in need.
Ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.
Mosiah 4:16
Then, King Benjamin warns us against withholding our substance from those in need, based on nothing but our own prejudices and biases:
Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just
Mosiah 4:17
This is precisely what I was talking about earlier regarding the dangers of the prosperity gospel. Believing that we are blessed materially reciprocal to our obedience can foster within us a bias towards those who suffer materially, judging that they do so because of personal moral failings. “They didn’t work as hard as I did, so why should I give them some of my hard earned money?”.
However, King Benjamin harshly chastises those who harbour such prejudices:
I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this, the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God.
For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?… And if ye judge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for withholding your substance…
I say unto you, wo be unto that man, for his substance shall perish with him; and now, I say these things unto those who are rich as pertaining to the things of this world.
Mosiah 4:18–23
Even the law of consecration, which we covenant in the temple to observe, requires that we consecrate all with which the Lord has blessed us towards the establishment of Zion, a society where the pure in heart live together in unity.
Our motivation for being more righteous should never be the accumulation of blessings. We shouldn’t pay tithing because money might arrive unexpectedly in our mailbox so we can afford the rest of our bills, or live the Word of Wisdom so we might run faster than our teammates, or live the mission rules so we can marry a beautiful spouse. The bestowal of blessings isn’t a sticker chart, where we trade in our tasks of obedience for a pouch of silver or gold.
Our motivation for being more righteous should be, instead, a sincere desire to become more like Jesus, to develop a pure love for everyone, regardless of their political stripe, their sexuality, their ethnic background, or their economic status; a pure love that nurtures a sincere desire to succor those who need succor, mourn with those who mourn, comfort those needing comfort, and yoke ourselves to the burdens of others (Mosiah 18:8–9); a pure love that motivates us to lay down our life for our new friends (John 15:13), whether literally, as Jesus had done, or figuratively in a life of selfless service.
The prosperity we should seek isn’t the riches of the world, but the glory of God.
In section 93 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord promises us that if “ye keep my commandments you shall receive of his fullness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace.” (v. 20)
Grace for grace. Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, for that is how Jesus received his glory. John the Beloved, in that same chapter, said of the Saviour:
I beheld his glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us. And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace; And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness.
D&C 93:11–13
When God does bless us materially, it isn’t for us to accumulate wealth or increase status, to elevate ourselves above others. The Lord has admonished us that it is his will that the first shall be last and the last shall be first, (Matt. 20:16) that those who exalt themselves shall be abased and those who are humbled shall be exalted (Matt. 23:12). The Lord wants an egalitarian society, one free of class division, where no one has more than another, where there is no rich and poor and no bond and free, but all are alike unto God.
When we are sitting around the Thanksgiving supper table tomorrow, reciting all the blessings we are grateful for, perhaps we can take some time to ponder on why we’ve been blessed with those things. Was that blessing for our material benefit or for us to use for the material benefit of others?
WoW!!! Powerful talk!
Thanks, Mum.