Economics and the Church. Why The anti-Prosperity Preachers Are Wrong!-4

  In the first 3 tidbits of this series, I have emphasized the point that God’s nature is infinite! Therefore, His infinite nature is foundational to all living and non-living things of His creation. Remember, the word infinite means without boundary. Another facet of God’s nature is Fatherhood*, which means provider. So, when both facets of His nature are practically applied to His creation, the conclusion is God provides for His own without boundaries. 
  For example, scripture says God opens His hand and provides for every living thing (Ps145:16). So, as THE infinite God, He can only provide without boundaries. Let’s be brutally honest, how can God provide for every living thing: from an amoeba, to an ant, to a bird, to a lion, to all of humanity, and be limited in His provision?!? And, what’s more, the God Who provides for every living thing provides as much as those living things desire to consume!!!!
  For example, in the wild each Killer Whale eats up to 375 lbs of food per day, but in captivity, they consume up to 500 lbs a day!!! Yet, also consider that these whales exist in ‘small pods’ that contain between 6-40 whales! That’s a lot of food!!! Furthermore, elephants spend 80% of their day eating and according to Sea World consume 330-375 lbs of vegetation per day!
  On a lesser note, lions in the wild require 10-25lbs of food daily; Gorillas 40 lbs of vegetation per day; Cranes only 3 lbs per day; Pelicans 4 lbs per day; small dogs less than 1 cup of food; and large dogs 3 cups of food daily; while cats require only ½ cup of food per day.
  As one considers the daily amount of food that a zoo requires, along with the ‘kind’ of food that each animal; bird; or sea creature requires, one can easily determine that zoo animals require a great deal of work…and money---just to feed!!! Of course, as we remember that God created the earth full (Ps24:1), and that He provides for every living thing using the earth. It becomes mind-boggling the amount of sustenance God has provided to man in fulfilling His promise Psalms 145:16: “You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing” (NAS). Notice the NAS uses the word “desire”…not “needs”. In other words, my original point is that God not only provides what each living thing needs to exist…'BUT' also considers what they desire! This absolutely requires unlimited provision!!!
  Moreover, the incredible idea of ‘unlimited provision’ (Ps24:1) especially applies to mankind. For example, Jesus fed 5,000 people in Matthew 14:15-22, and in verse 20, scripture declares, “And they did all eat, and were filled.” Because some people could eat more, while others ate less, the source of the supply…had to be abundant in its capability to provide! There simply is no possible way for the apostles to estimate exactly how much food will ‘fill’ the stomachs of 5,000 men; especially when the probable number of people was upwards of 15,000, when considering the presence of the women and children!! In other words, when the disciples gave food to the people, they did not measure a certain amount, or limit the amount of food per person!! On the contrary, they fed people until they were filled! Why? Because God is a Father and cares to meet each individual person’s desire, which is the reason His provision must be abundant, i.e.more than enough! Of course, the proof of the abundant provision of Jesus is the remaining 12 baskets of leftovers!!!
  Remember, God’s infinite nature inspires His provision which means that provision must be without boundaries, and the reason it’s called ‘more than enough’! I repeat abundance is the nature of God’s provision…and His only standard!
  How do my previous points apply to financial prosperity? Ecclesiastes 5:19 declares, “Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.” This is a ‘mic-drop’ verse!!!
1.This text plainly teaches that ‘God’ gives “riches” and “wealth” to man! The Hebrew words for “riches” and “wealth” are the following:
-“riches” (nekec̨, neh´-kes) means to accumulate; treasure:—riches, wealth. -Strong’s
-"wealth” (ôsher, o´-sher) means wealth:—× far [richer], riches. -Strong’s
  I repeat, the text unequivocally declares that God gives, i.e.gifts, both riches and wealth to man!
2.The text teaches God gives to “every” man, not some men…riches and wealth! The word “every” is an all-encompassing word, which means it applies to all mankind—not just Israel!!!
3.The fact that God “empowers” man to eat from the “riches” and “wealth” means the words cannot refer to spiritual riches and wealth—because man requires physical food to be sustained.
4.The final phrase of the verse is the mic drop moment: “this is a gift of God”!! But…what exactly is a ‘gift’ of God? Although everything in the verse are gifts from God including “reward” and “labor”, however, the word “this” in the phrase “this is a gift from God” can only refer to “riches” and “wealth”—as gifts of God! Why? Because the first part of the verse says “…God has given…”; which can only mean what God gives, by the definition of the word “given”, must be a gift!!! So, when God gives “riches” and “wealth”—they are His gifts…to every man!!!! 
  Incredibly, in case one misunderstands Ecclesiastes 5:19, two verses later in 6:2, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 5:19 is repeated: “A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth….”  
  Furthermore, if one still chooses to miss the plain teaching of Ecclesiastes 5:19 and 6:2; God repeats Himself again in 1Chronicles 29:12 where King David prays: “Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all…” In other words, in merely these scriptures the Bible irrefutably and undeniably declares God gives “riches” and “wealth” to mankind…which means they are gifts!!
  However, my following point is the mic-drop, of the mic-drop moment! If God gives “riches” and “wealth” to mankind, and God is infinite in His nature, how exactly are we to interpret this? Well, if we allow the words “riches” and “wealth” to retain their original definitions—and we do---then the reason Holy Scripture uses these two words to describe what God gives to mankind is because they are the only words that can define giving according to His infinite nature!!!!  In other words, everything that man possesses is a gift from God---whether in spirit, soul, body, or natural! Because one of the ways God gives to mankind is provision for his physical needs, when He provides physical things to meet man’s physical needs, it has to be according to His infinite nature!! Therefore, if God gives money to mankind---which Ecclesiastes 5:19; 6:2; and 1Chroncles 29:12 attest to--He can only give that money abundantly! This means the reason the Holy Spirit inspired the use of the words “riches” and “wealth” in the Biblical text is because those two words appropriately define the amount of money God provides!!!
  This is financial prosperity!
 
 
Quotebit
"If our posterity neglects religious instruction...no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity."       -Daniel Webster