On October 7, prosperity preacher Creflo Dollar posted the following on social media: “Jesus bled and died for us so that we can lay claim to the promise of financial prosperity.”
Apparently, “Creflo Dollar has carried out an apparent u-turn over a post which endorsed the prosperity gospel on his official Facebook page. The post was on the site for around 24 hours before seemingly being removed.” Andy Walton of Christian Today reported about the disappearing Facebook post:
While Dollar has been accused of promoting the prosperity gospel many times before, this was the most obvious and blatant statement of those beliefs. Soon, he was being heavily criticised in the comments under the update as well as roundly mocked for the statement, which is so clearly at odds with orthodox Christian teaching.
The statement was then removed from the Facebook page without comment from Dollar or his team. While there seems to be no trace of the original post remaining on his Facebook page, screengrabs were taken of it which are readily available online.
At Creflo Dollar Ministries, in Section B of the page The Requirements of Tithes and Offerings, Dollar makes the following defense of his claims that Jesus bled and died for us so that we can lay claim to the promise of financial prosperity. (I will also provide a screenshot below just in case this page mysteriously vanishes like Dollar recent Facebook post). Dollar claims:
Jesus bled and died for us so that we can lay claim to the promise of financial prosperity.
1. He took our sins upon Himself and exchanged them for His righteousness so that we could become enriched and abundantly supplied (2 Corinthians 8:9, AMP).
a. Because of the cross, we have a blood-bought right to be abundantly supplied.
2. God will take care of us even more than the birds of the air, which neither sow nor reap (Luke 12:24).
a. All we need to do is trust in Him enough to tithe and give offerings.
3. In the book of Malachi the people were required to give first before receiving God’s favor, and that failing to tithe and give offerings brought a curse and was the same as robbing God (Malachi 3:8-11).
a. That was under the old covenant, which is now invalid.
4. We give from our heart, because we want to. This is the approach to giving under the new covenant (2 Corinthians 9:7).
a. We now give out of appreciation, love, and thanksgiving.
b. If we give to avoid being cursed, it is giving out of necessity.
Let’s unpack these claims. Why did Jesus die? In his compressed version of the Gospel, the Apostle Paul says explicitly, “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). The Apostle Peter wrote,
For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
“Who committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. (1 Peter 2:21-24)
Jesus died for our sins, not so that we can lay claim to the promise of financial prosperity.
Dollar then quotes 2 Corinthians 8:9: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” Prosperity teachers unfortunately use this verse to teach that Jesus became poor so that we could become materially rich. But Jesus was not driving a Rolls-Royce and living in a million-dollar mansion in heaven before His incarnation. Paul is speaking about the spiritual blessings and riches of His glory which Jesus enjoyed before taking on the form of a man. Elsewhere, Paul says:
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
In this way, though Christ was rich, yet He became poor for our sakes. And if you are a partaker of His grace, you will become poor materially to make others prosper. “Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality” (2 Corinthians 8:1-2).
In the video below, Dollar was confronted by CNN about his Rolls-Royce. Dollar says, “We don’t think it looks bad because it says in Psalms 34:27 that the Lord takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.” Do you think Jesus Christ would have rolled around in a Rolls-Royce? Dollar answers, “I think he would have.”
On the contrary, Jesus said, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Luke 9:58). If Paul was meaning to say that we become physically rich in 2 Corinthians 8:9, it would contradict many other things Jesus and the apostles taught about riches (even Paul himself). For example:
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24)
Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. (Matthew 13:22)
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:23-24)
But woe to you who are rich, For you have received your consolation. (Luke 6:24)
But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. (Luke 12:20-22)
If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:3-10)
Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. (James 1:9-11)
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. (James 5:1-2)
How do prosperity preachers deal with to these verses? When asked by CNN to respond to the story about the rich young ruler, Dollar said, “If you keep reading down a couple more Scriptures, it says, ‘And he received a hundredfold of everything that he gave.'” But this is false! The rich young ruler could not enter the kingdom of God unless He did what Jesus told him to do. The statement about receiving a hundredfold was not about the rich young ruler at all (Mark 10:29-31). The rich young ruler “was sad” and “went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:29).
Dollar says, “God will take care of us even more than the birds of the air, which neither sow nor reap (Luke 12:24).” The culmination of this passage is “seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you” (Luke 12:31). Yes, God will take care of you by clothing you and feeding you (Luke 12:22-31). But God never promised us financial prosperity. “And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content” (1 Timothy 6:8). Besides, directly after the passage quoted by Dollar in Luke 12, Jesus says:
Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:32-34)
Dollar then says, “We give from our heart, because we want to. This is the approach to giving under the new covenant (2 Corinthians 9:7). We now give out of appreciation, love, and thanksgiving. If we give to avoid being cursed, it is giving out of necessity.” Paul said, “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). Dollar quotes that passage, but consider the video below where it sounds like he would rather his congregation be forced to tithe if he could. The YouTube video is a series of audio and video clips featuring Dollar. The last clip is a video of Creflo Dollar and LeRoy Thompson, another prosperity preacher, dancing across their stage on the money of congregants. In the first clip, Dollar talks about how he wanted have his ushers shoot the non-tithing members of his church. Dollar says:
Now, you know, we’re under the Blood of Jesus, so we can’t shoot and stone people like we used to. All we have to do is repent and God will forgive us and take us where we need to be. But I can tell you, man, if it wasn’t for the blood, there’d be a whole lot of us being stoned and being in Hell right now over the tithe. But for [“if not for”?] the Blood of Jesus, we’d be doomed.
I mean, I thought about when we first built “The Dome,” I wanted to put some of those little moving bars and give everybody a little card. They’d stick it in a little computer slot. If they were tithing, beautiful music would go off and, you know, [Creflo sings] “Welcome, welcome, welcome to the World Dome.” [Congregation laughs.]
But…if they were non-tithers, the bar would lock up, the red and blue lights would start going, the siren would go off, and a voice would go out throughout the entire dome, “Crook, crook, crook, crook!” [Congregation laughs.] Security would go and apprehend them, and once we got them all together, we’d line them up in the front and pass out Uzis by the ushers and point our Uzis right at all those non-tithing members ’cause we want God to come to church, and at the count of three “Jesus”-es we’d shoot them all dead. And then we’d take them out the side door there, have a big hole, bury them, and then go ahead and have church and have the anointing. [Mostly silence in the congregation, but one or two still actually laugh.]
Aren’t you glad we’re under the Blood of Jesus? [“Yeah, yeah,” from the congregation.] Because if we were not under the Blood of Jesus, I would certainly try it.
Folks, this is a serious thing.
It’s good that the Facebook post was deleted, but we have no indication that it was for the right reason of repentance. Apparently, Dollar is still preaching the same false doctrine that Jesus died for our financial prosperity.
This isn’t the only recent u-turn for Creflo Dollar. Earlier this year, Dollar backed out of his campaign to purchase a new jet after he came under fire for asking his congregation for $65 million to fund his private jet for traveling to evangelize. The video Official Fundraising Video for $65 Million Dollar Private Jet was removed from Dollar’s website, but is still available on YouTube.
I appreciated what David Ravenhill said about how Creflo Dollar can get a $65M private jet:
The solution to his problem is simple. I can’t believe he hasn’t thought of it himself. He just needs to practice what he preaches. Since he is a staunch advocate of the seed faith message, all he needs to do is enclose a check for thirty dollars in his next mailing to each of his seed-faith partners; then stand back and watch as the money begins pouring in. After all, as the saying goes, ‘What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.’ If this is a spiritual principle that works for everyone, then why doesn’t he practice what he repeatedly tells his faithful flock every week? With only a 10-fold increase he would receive $300 for every $30 he sows. That being the case, why not enclose $300 to every partner and do away with the little jet in favor of the Boeing of his choice? He could then outfit his big boy jet to accommodate his Bentley or Rolls. In that way, he doesn’t have to stoop to renting a Ford or Chevy when he arrives to wherever he’s going.
I understand his net worth is around $27 million. Not bad for a man who has learned how to fleece the flock and live high on the hog. Perhaps it’s time for him to sell all that he has and give to the poor. In that way when he gets to heaven he’ll have some treasure waiting for him. Then again he could sow his $20+ million and reap a 30, 60 or a 100-fold increase and be well on his way to becoming a billionaire.
Dollar is not only an advocate of the “seed faith” message but also the Word-Faith message. Better yet, Dollar could practices what he preaches by speaking $65M into existence. In Your Inheritance of Wealth and Riches, Dollar says:
The Bible says that wealth is stored up for the righteous (Proverbs 13:22, New American Standard). However, it will remain stored up until you claim it. Therefore, claim it now! You possess the ability to seize and command wealth and riches to come to you (Deuteronomy 8:18). Exercise that power by speaking faith—filled words daily and taking practical steps to eradicate debt. Like God, you can speak spiritual blessings into existence (Romans 4:17). Remember, doubt keeps silent, but faith speaks!
Deuteronomy 8:18 says, “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.” First of all, this was spoken to the children of Israel under the Old Covenant. Secondly, Moses was not saying that you have “the ability to seize and command wealth and riches to come to you.” Moses was exhorting the children of Israel to remember God and attribute God’s provision to themselves or their own power by saying, “My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:17).
What about Romans 4:17 and how God “calls those things which do not exist as though they did“? Word-Faith advocates heavily rely upon this verse, but have missed its true meaning. In context Paul quotes from Genesis 17:5, prior to Abraham’s promised son Isaac being born through Sarah, Abraham’s wife. God renamed Abram to Abraham (“father of a multitude” or “chief of multitude”) and promised he would be a father of many nations through Sarah even though her womb was “dead” and Abraham’s body was “already dead” (since he was about a hundred years old) (Romans 4:19). In Genesis 17:5 God spoke to Abraham saying “I have made you a father of many nations.” God spoke as if He had already done it, even though it had not yet been fulfilled. Thus, He “calls those things which do not exist as though they did” (Genesis 4:17). This is not at all a command for us to “speak spiritual blessings into existence” which, according to Dollar, “your inheritance of wealth and riches is included in the ‘spiritual blessings.'”
God has “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly placesin Christ” (Ephesians 1:3) but those spiritual blessings do not include wealth and riches. And “all the promises of God, in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20), but God has not promised us financial prosperity. Jesus bled and “died for us” (Romans 5:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:10), but not “so that we can lay claim to the promise of financial prosperity,” as Dollar claims. Word-Faith prosperity preachers resemble the irresponsible leaders of ancient Israel.
His watchmen are blind,
They are all ignorant;
They are all dumb dogs,
They cannot bark;
Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
Yes, they are greedy dogs
Which never have enough.
And they are shepherds
Who cannot understand;
They all look to their own way,
Every one for his own gain,
From his own territory. (Isaiah 56:10-12)