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I agree entirely with the first part of your comment; however, how do you explain Paul in Thessalonians when he said that the dead in Christ shall rise first and then we who are alive will be caught up to meet Him in the air?
Quite so, but it would be according to the sovereignty of God for a particular purpose in His own mind; not because the individual "believed" or sought for it.
If his faith is in believing God to provide for him wealth and prosperity then who are you to try to hinder his faith? All throughout the OT we read about the great wealth God gave to His people. He even told the Israel people to go and possess the land.
If wealth and riches come to you just by believing and accepting, you should have them right now. You wouldn't have to work hard for them like normal people would. You could become a prosperity preacher, promising wealth and riches to those who contribute their $30 seed faith to your ministry, because those guys are the only ones who are getting wealthy in ministry these days. We normal people have to work for our income. Or you could take lottery tickets each week and believe that you will win the several million dollars first prize.
There is a prayer in Psalms 118:25 that I think you should understand.
Quoting Scripture out of its natural context to prove a point is not convincing. I'm not opposed to Christian believers having wealth, because many, through God's sovereign grace are rich; but they did not acquire their wealth by covetous means or hungering and thirsting for it. And those who are wealthy, know that they received it as an unsolicited gift from God and for a particular purpose and they are willing to allow the Holy Spirit to guide them as good stewards of their money. George Mueller received millions of dollars during his ministry, and he gave all of it away to those in need. That is why God kept providing him with all the money he needed to support his ministry. Smith Wigglesworth was one of the greatest examples of faith in modern history, and yet when he died, all he owned was a modest three bedroom bungalow in Bradford England. When Oral Roberts died, all he owned was a modest condominium and a relatively small bank balance. This is worlds away from a false prosperity teacher extorting money from mom and pop couples with modest incomes to use for his own gratification and extension of his mansion, land, motor vehicles and jet aircraft. You don't see those covetors giving the bulk of their incomes away to missions.
Prove that I quoted scripture out of context.
And what is the house in these verses?
This is another case where you are misusing and applying scripture disregarding its context, purpose and application.
The fact is that this world and everything in it will pass away, and that those who are friends with the world are no friends of God, and this includes those who hunger after worldly riches and goods. God promises to meet all our needs according to His riches in glory. All we can expect through God's grace is that we will be provided with shelter, food, and clothing; but there is no guarantee about the quality of these things. In Haiti, many faithful live in tin shacks, have just enough food to get them by, and clothes that are a little better than rags, but the quality of their faith in Christ far surpasses those in the west who live in expensive homes, have the highest labelled clothing, and eat the best of food. But good luck to you if you are questing after wealth and riches. I hope you will get there so that you can build "bigger barns" (ie: larger homes) and live a life of leisure so you no longer have to work for a living; but beware that one day your soul will be required of you. What will it profit you if you gained the whole world (owned all the wealth, businesses, and gold) and end up losing your soul? I am not the first who said it. Jesus said it first.
Yes! Solomon had all the riches, homes, assets, and wives that he desired, yet at the end of his life, it all amounted to nothing, prompting him to say, "All is vanity". This is an object lesson for those who are questing after wealth and riches. When a person gets old and can no longer have the quality of life to enjoy it all, there is nothing left because the person has spent his life going after money and goods and has put Christ in second place. That is the price to pay for neglecting to leave everything in the hands of a sovereign God.
As per usual you gave me your interpretation of what you believe.
Of course the Scripture says that the more God gives to a person, the more is expected of that person. If you are desiring greater wealth and prosperity then you need to be prepared for the extra responsibility that brings. If God gives you wealth and you use it just for yourself, then you could be in a position at the Judgment when it will be revealed that you embezzled what God gave you instead of being a good steward, obeying God in how He wants you to use the wealth He gives you. People like Kenneth Copeland, who is using his wealth for his own gratification, will be revealed as a thief and an embezzler of what God put in his care. The Scripture talks about the deceitfulness of riches, that draws the heart away from Christ. Jesus told the rich young ruler to give his riches away and to follow Him, not because the young man was wealthy, but that Jesus knew that his heart was in his wealth and the only way to get his heart right was to separate himself from his wealth. Because the young man's heart was in his wealth, it was dragging him down into hell, and in the end, it was not his wealth that blocked him from being able to follow Jesus, it was his heart that was in his wealth. Kenny Copeland preached that poor people are faithless and of no account to God. That shows how deceived the man is to believe a demonic doctrine like that.
Yes the entire word of faith movement is from the devil and his cohorts in crime.
