Subject: Prosperity and Deut. 28? |
Bible Note: Greetings Kimberly! Thanks for the response! There is a lot in this post, but I really just intended on focusing on Deut. 28. We must always be sure that what we believe is based on a solid understanding of Scripture. I asked three questions. You answered the first two correctly. Moses was addressing the nation of Israel and the condition for blessing or cursing was disobedience or obedience to God's covenant. Let's fill this out a little bit though. Was Moses saying in Deut. 28 that every individual person within the nation of Israel would be blessed or was he saying that the nation would be blessed? Notice the context: a) Deut. 28:1 - "If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth." b) Deut. 28:3 - "You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country." c) Deut. 28:36 - "The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone." d) Deut. 28:52 - "They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you." e) Deut. 28:62 - "You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the LORD your God. 63 Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess." We can see from the context that these promises were addressed to a nation, not individuals. Within the nation, there would be a wide range of personal situations, some would prosper, some would not. This is why it is dangerous and incorrect to take a passage that applied to one nation and say it must therefore apply to us as well. Even if it did, the application would be to our nation, not to every single individual. **************************** Toward the end of your post you made this comment: "I am not going to continue to be happy in my current situation. This is just like saying if you live in a steel shed be glad it's not raining on your head. If you get food stamps be glad you have something to eat. Well some of us aren't happy in the system." My sister in Christ, this is exactly opposite of what Scripture commands us to do. Heb. 13:5 says, "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” " You also said, "While I was thanking them for the kindness and thanking God they quoted this scripture. It's all true. Please understand that what you say or what Benny Hinn says or what Joyce Meyer or President Bush says will not change my mind. Not because I heard it on some TV show but becasue it has been revealed in my life. "No body" can tell me that I didn't experience it." So, are you basing this belief on Scripture or your experience? Which Scripture were you refering to that this person quoted for you? Thanks for your wonderful spirit! I look forward to conversing with you again. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |