Providence

I find the Gospel of Health and Wealth absolutely amazing. I understand that people want to believe that their situation is a direct result of their own actions, but completely ignoring other teachings in the bible to come up with this belief just seems odd to me. Look at Jesus's own life, he was beaten and crucified. Or Stephen, who was full of the Spirit and in sync with God when he was stoned. How does that align with Health and Wealth?

I think the most important thing that the H&W gospel have right is God's providence. That is, that God is sovereign over all events in our lives in history. One of the verses that the H&W Gospel hinges on is Romans 8:28. That is:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Does this mean that everything in your life has to be good for you? No! Look at Stephen, the best sermon preached by the new church was by Stephen in Acts 7 and he gets stoned for it. I have no doubt that this was for the good of all of God's people, but it doesn't mean that everything in life will be for your personal good. We can have faith in God's providence than we can know that any trials in our lives will be for the good of all of God's people. That's the heavenly perspective I am trying to ingrain in my life.

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