A Dangerous Theology

There is a dangerous theology in the church today that is blinding believers. It teaches that if you only have enough faith you as a believer will not ever experience sickness, poverty, hardship, or suffering. I say this teaching is dangerous because it sets the believer up for disappointment and heartache, when hardships do come along. It makes the believer either think that there is something wrong with his/her faith and that God let them down. Some have walked away from their faith because they were never able to come to grips with the tragedies that struck their lives. They felt God had cheated them and let them down. Imagine the added pain that their God had betrayed them.
I have searched scripture to see where this health, wealth, and prosperity theology is. However, I could find no evidence to back it up. What I found said just the opposite. Scripture promises that we will be persecuted, to consider ourselves privileged to be persecuted, and that persecution does not have to separate us from the love of God. This is quite the contrast.
I remember the day vividly. Less than a month earlier my husband has his first grand mal seizure, then two weeks later we found out that I was pregnant. Then the pregnancy started having problems and our car was not working properly. I was on my way back to the doctor’s office when the overheated light came on and smoke was coming out from under the hood. I did eventually make it to the doctor’s office. The doctor and I discussed that I was probably going to lose the baby. My heart was broken and I was alone. Victor was at work, my family was two states away, and I could not drive the car home. I did not know what to do. I was having trouble getting a hold of someone to come pick me up. Someone to listen to me and understand how devastated I was because I wanted to have that baby more than I wanted my next breathe of oxygen. Eventually I got a hold of Vic’s friend Curt. While I was waiting for Curt to arrive I decided to read a little. The verse popped out at me that day. A verse that expresses the truth about suffering. Jesus was talking with his disciples when he said, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. Jesus told this to his disciples just following him telling them that he was going to leave them.
Jesus did not want them to have false expectations. He wanted them to know reality. The realities about their grief and suffering are true for us today. It was as if at that moment Jesus spoke to me saying that I was going to have trouble and heartache, but to hold on to him because he had a plan for this pain in my life. I also noticed something else in that verse. It did not say we could have trouble, or that we might have trouble. No, that verse says that we will have trouble.
If we stop there then we only get the bad part and miss the good. “Take heart I have overcome the world.” See this is where the disillusioned believer that has lived by the health, wealth, and prosperity misses out if he chooses to walk away instead of growing. She misses the good part—the overcoming part. The Bible speaks to this in Matthew 13 where Jesus is telling us the parable of the Sower. In this story Jesus tells of a farmer who scattered seed. The seed landed on four different types of soil. The first seeds landed on the path and birds came and ate them. The second seed landed on rocks and when the sun came up the plant was scorched and died because the soil was shallow and had no roots. The third seed landed amongst thorns which choked the plant. The fourth seed landed in good soil, developed roots, because a strong plant, and produced a high yielding crop.
When Jesus interprets this parable he compares the seed in the path to be those who hear the word of God and don’t understand. The enemy comes and snatches the seeds that were sown. The seed amongst the rocks is a believer who immediately accepts the word of the Lord and receives it with joy. However, he builds no roots. So when troubles come he falls away from the faith rather quickly. The seed that lands in the thorns can be compared to the believer who accepts the Lord, but the worries of life and over concern with wealth choke her faith and make it not productive. In fact in John 15 it says that unfruitful branches will be pruned off the vine. The seed that lands in the good soil is the believer who hears the word, accepts it, develops his faith, and produces a good harvest. The problem with believing that Christians do not suffer is that first of all it is not Biblical; second of all it hinders us from growing roots to establish our faith so that we can withstand suffering when it comes. Otherwise we are like the seed that lands among the rocks.
The Blessing of Suffering
If we look closely at scripture we also see that not only does Jesus promise that we will have trouble, he says we are blessed when we have trouble he tells us to rejoice. He tells us that the prophets that came before us had trouble and so will we. Jesus had trouble and so will we.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:11-12

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would accept you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. John 15:18-19
Once again we see Jesus promising that there will be suffering in this life. I can understand that there will be suffering in this life, but when I see that we are blessed when we struggle or that we will encounter suffering because we follow Christ. Those can be hard facts to swallow. What does it mean to be blessed because we are suffering? Why would a loving God allow us to suffer particularly because we are following him? Imagine the new believer who has been taught that he if he will just have enough faith he will have no sickness or financial issues or that he can name that Mercedes and claim it in the name of Jesus. Think about the disappointments when he comes to this part of the faith when suffering has intruded into his “perfect” life that he believes God has promised. Now imagine he comes to Matthew chapter 5 where it says we blessed when we are persecuted or John 15 that says the world will hate us. This believer has come to see that the Christian life he thought he signed up for is not at all what he thought.
If we look at the parable of the sower we can see that one of the blessings of suffering is that we develop a root system to strengthen us when we are suffering. We become stronger and produce a good yield with our lives. We need to be teaching this to new believers. We need to let them know that the life of faith is going to include heartache, but that we have something that the world does not—we have a loving Lord that will go with us through our suffering. He will work it out for good in our lives (Romans 8:28). He will not separate us from his love (Romans 8:35). We will have a reward in heaven.
I remember my struggle with this issue not long ago. Suffering has a way of bringing the lies we have believed to the surface for correction. Let me take you back to that day at the doctor’s office. I did not know that this was the beginning of many years of deep suffering for my family. That very night after I left the doctor’s office, I did indeed lose the baby that my husband and I named Robin Lee Vanderhoof. Then that car took more money then we had to fix it, but with a bit of creativity and some help from family we fixed it. Then for the next six months that car broke down every other weekend until we sold it. Then for the next five years we had— an average of 3 grand mal seizures per week, 3 bouts of unemployment, a business failure, rejection from our church, financial ruin, three surgeries, post-partum depression, had to sell our house before it was foreclosed on, but the Lord did give us two bright lights Caleb and Simeon were born. I was emotionally exhausted. Somewhere in the middle of all of this I had a night of seeing some problems in my own heart that the Lord ministered too. It was a Thursday night and I was in my office at the Williamson County Jail working on paperwork. My radio was on to WayFM (one of the Christian radio stations out of Nashville, TN). Then the song HELD by Natalie Grant came on.
Two months is too little.
They let him go.
They had no sudden healing
To think that providence would
Take a child from his mother while she prays
Is appalling.
Who told us we’d be rescued?
What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?
We’re asking why this happens to us who have died to live’
It’s unfair.

This is what is means to be held.
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what is means to be loved and to know
That the promise was when everything fell
We’d be held.
At that point I was still angry over losing Robin Lee even though years had passed and the other struggles. So this song hit home for me. I began to cry. Here I was working on client files and then this song catches my attention and I started crying. I remember asking the Lord “Why should I follow you when all you seem to be bringing me is heartache? If I am not protected from some suffering then why would I want to follow you anyway?” God did not strike me down with lightening or get angry with me. It was as if at that moment he said to me that he loved me and had been waiting for me to ask him that all along. At that point I began to realize that somewhere along the way I started to believe that God had put a cap on our suffering. I knew that suffering was a part of the Christian life, but I thought God had some mark that said “only this much” when it came to how much a Christian suffers. Now I was at a point further than I thought that mark was. As I broke down it was at that point that I was able to experience the comfort that the Lord gives us as we suffer. However, until I was honest with him I was not going to be able to experience that comfort.
Where are you at in your life? Maybe you are realizing at this point that you have believed the lie that says Christians don’t suffer or there is a limit to how much they suffer and you are not suffering. If that is you I challenge you to talk to Lord about this now. There are only three types of Christians when it comes to suffering—those who will suffer, those who are suffering, or those who have been through suffering. If you are not suffering right now then there will be a day when you do. Have the Lord give you a proper perspective on suffering beforehand so that you will be better equipped to accept his comfort as you go through suffering. Maybe you believed the lie that Christians don’t suffer or that there is a limit to their suffering only you are in the middle of suffering right now. You are so confused and do not know what to do. You are trying to have more faith, read more scriptures, and pray more so that your faith can remove your suffering only it is not working. I encourage you to get before the Lord and be honest about your thoughts and feelings. I can not tell you how long you will suffer or that your suffering will go away when you do this. What I can promise is the Lord will meet you right where you are, hold you in his arms, comfort you, and tell you how much you are loved. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. So hold on to Christ as you suffer, you are establishing roots in the process so that your faith will be bigger.

The Benefits of Fellowship

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to pick him up! Also if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not easily broken."

When I was a substance abuse therapist often I would talk to my clients about the dangers of isolation. It is not only dangers for one in recovery-- Isolation is dangerous for all believers. I am not talking about being alone. There is a difference between being alone and being isolated. When you are alone it means you are spending time by yourself. Some days when my husband gets home from work and I have had my fill of things. Typically going for a walk by myself or a trip to the store by myself will satisfy this. We all need time alone to re-group and refresh. That is not what I am referring to as dangerous.

Isolation is shutting others out of your life until you have shut most everyone off. It can mean to stop talking to anyone about anything or can mean simply that you stop letting those close to you know what is going on inside of you and push them away. There is a big difference. In my last article I talked about the Lord commanding us to meet together more. Isolation is doing the direct opposite-- it is stopping meeting together.

Why does the Lord tell us to meet together? The answers lie in Ecclesiastes 4. First it says that two get bettere return for their work. This is true. I think about my husband's mowing business. The day he has his hired guy working with him they get more than twice the work done on those days. When two people work together on something all the God-given energy works like synergy to get things done more efficiently. There is more creativity, more physical strength, more mental strength. This passage also indicates that it is safer to work together as well. If one falls down the other can help him up or call for 911. Think about how sad it would be to not have someone there to pick you up. Two also keep each other warm. I think this is referring to more than just physical warmth. I think it is also referring to emotional and spiritual warmth as well. I know there are days I get terribly discouraged and a good talk with a Christian friend can help encourage me. That is a form of this warmth. Think about the safety in numbers. We have all seen documentaries where an animal gets separated from the pack and is then vulnerable to attack. Then the animal is attacked. If the animal had only been able to stay with the pack he/she would not have been nearly so vulnerable to attack. Finally the passage says that a cord of three strand is not easily broken. So if we have the Lord with us we have the added protection from him. We are not vulnerable to attack because the Lord is holding us together and he is the one that provides the extra strength.

We need to trust the Lord, truly fellowship with others and remember who the source of our strength comes from.

True Fellowship

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching" Hebrew 10:24-25

This passage has continued to speak to me since I read it a month ago. There are a couple of things that strike me about this passage. First of all it talks about getting together and to do it more often as we see "the Day" appraoching. What is "the Day"? I take that to mean the end of time as we know it. That would also make sense because Scripture also says that times are going to get harder as we get to closer to the end. So it would make sense that we would need to get together and encourage each other more often.

That leads me to the next thing that strikes me. What are we supposed to be doing while we meet together? the easiest answer is to go to church. However, I want to challenge that a little bit. There is a lot of value in church services and so many wonderful things are to gained from the church services, but I don't think that is what this section of scripture is talking about. I want to make note that it does not say to meet together to sing songs, hear a sermon, and go home. That is not what these verses are saying at all.

The words I see are words that involve more intimate involvement than that. I see words like, "spur one another on to love and good deeds" and "encourage one another". That to me indicates more than just a church services. If we are going to spur one another on and encourage each other than we need to know what is going on in each others lives. So I think this passage is not referring to church services, but is instead referring to more intimate settings like having a friend over for coffee or meeting at the park or meetings of this nature where you will be more inclined to get more involved with each others lives. Then at the end of verse 25 it says to meet together in this way more often the closer we get to the end of the age.

I agree that we need to do this and likely most of us would benefit from this type of meeting more often. However, it is easier said than done with the overwhelming number of things going on in life, but I believe one of the biggest reasons this type of fellowship is happening less and less is because of social networking on the internet and text messaging. I am not saying that activities, social networking, or texting are in and of themselves bad. There is a danger though that if these things become out of focus they can stop you or I from meeting together with friends and from what I have seen in the work I used to do with teens-- they have forgotten how to have actual conversations as they sit side by side and have a conversation through text message. What I am saying is to watch to make sure that life does not get too filled with activities that it leaves no time for true fellowship. Also to enjoy your Facebook account and testing, but make sure you have actual face time fellowship too. There is so much that can not be expressed through typing and I don't want you or I to miss out on that true fellowship.

Where is your place in the battle?

I take the words of Jesus very seriously in Matthew 28: 18-20

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Ephesians 6:12 also tells us we are in a spiritual battle. The fact of the matter is we live in a hurting and dying world and we have THE ANSWER. We have according to scripture the one and only true answer. However, our culture is full of so many lies. Lies that tell us if we follow the Lord's ways that we will somehow miss out on life. Those lies lead to emptiness and further pain and heartache. Scripture says that there is a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to destruction. However, our culture and the church in America has bought into so many of the lies. It seems that the things that are truly right are considered wrong, but the things that are truly wrong are considered right.

As Christians we do have obligations to the condition of our society. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we are told to humble ourselves, pray, seek God's face, and turn from our wicked ways. We are also told in Matthew 28 (passage quoted above) to go into the world and make disciples. No where in scripture does it say for the pastor or the missionary -- it says EVERY SINGLE CHRISTIAN is to be doing this. Scripture also makes it clear that since the fall of Lucifer that there is a spiritual battle going on. Therefore, every Christian has a place in that battle.

I challenge you to get on your knees and ask God to show you where your place is in that battle and faithfully do it. What is your place in the battle?