Mereja Forum

[Odie]

Jesus never taught to earn earthly wealth or material wealth or sought one for himself. His mission was to preach about the salvation, heavenly wealth and kingdom of God. He once said even the fox has a living place (the fox hole) but the Son of Man (Jesus) did not even have one (a living place). For practical reason, Jesus did not own a house or property; completed his service by going from place to place and staying in good Samaritans (God's servants) houses.

Christianity throughout ages became infested with false human ideas and teaching. As a result, we ended up with so many flavors of Christian faith.
Current age Christianity risks adulteration with new age ideas and movements. One of them is the concept of prosperity and motivational preaching.
Believe and receive deceit. Believe and receive, while it may have a place in faith/Christianity, there is no scriptural guarantee it will work all the time or for everybody and no indication it should be followed relentlessly.

Believe and receive deceit form of Christianity is the basis for prosperity-based preaching which has infiltrated poor countries and reached to presidential palaces and prime minister offices dangerously mixed with ethnic or all other types of politics and dictatorship.

A typical example is what is going in Ethiopia. Regime offices are full time occupied with painting roses, talking only the positive, at times out right lying and deliberately ignoring or soft speaking national calamities and condoning genocide and ethnic cleansing. Office holders waste resource on unplanned and glittering projects while ignoring the basic needs of the people.

Money does not grow on trees. Either you have to sweat to earn it or steal to get it. Money aint rain from the sky. Again, you have to sweat for it or rob it. Therefore, prosperity is either through theft or hard work. The scriptures clearly state easy money obtained undeservedly, stolen or deceived is a sin. Period. The only way you can get it right, or be rich is through hard work, which makes prosperity gospel (believe it receive the material, money) automatically wrong and a theft. You can't convince God or twist his hand to make you rich. He promised to bless your work or what you have but did not encourage you to rob others. Living in richness and extreme wealth is not in line with the New Testament life. In fact, the scriptures teach that owning what we need for the day/time is just enough. As simple as that.

The political prosperity gospel is used for political goal to tranquilize the public (specially the poor), to deceive and promote the interest of a particular group/ethnic power. Simply to control the people and brainwash them. This has to be utterly condemned in favor of religious neutrality by all national public office holders. People should never be assigned to public office by religious view but by their qualification for the job.

The Prosperity Party in Ethiopia is an amorphous, mafia like group with a trap, a misnomer, a deception and does not have the substance, or credibility to provide leadership needed by the heterogenous Ethiopian society. The most glaring and infuriating thing is the Prosperity Party was so named to avoid calling the name "Ethiopia" which the OPDO/TPLF/OLF forces hate to death. Parties often add the word Ethiopia to their names.