Following is XtnYoda's answer to a question on another board about the "prosperity gospel." You will find at the end that the temptations of the "prosperity gospel" are actually quite old...

Deu 29:9, "Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do." (ESV)

I suppose this verse in Deuteronomy is the foundational verse for the "prosperity" gospel. Problem is that "prosperity" in the bible doesn't mean the same thing it means in the English language. We of course tend to stick our idea of material things onto the idea of being prosperous... but not scripture. In the OT the idea of "prosperity" actually revolves around the idea of a person "finishing what they start." Or if you will, bringing to a successful conclusion what one lays their hands too. Thus Christ's admonitions about not putting one's hands to the plow and then looking back... etc.

Isa 52:13 My servant will be successful... (GW)

Introducing the majestic Isaiah 53, we find the above curious statement. That "successful" is the same Hebrew word translated "prosper" in Deuteronomy 29:9 above. Some translations do say, "My servant will prosper." (Bishops, Geneva) Immediately after declaring that God's servant would prosper, God then goes on to describe the "suffering servant" that is to suffer more than any other person... and that is God's idea of prosperity? In this case... yes... the reason? The servant came to "bear the reproach of many" and the servant finished what he came to do... that is biblical prosperity.

When our Lord cried out, "It is finished!"... that is a victorious statement of biblical prosperity... might not look very prosperous to the bystander... Jesus... hanging there dead on a cross... but... Jesus came to die to appease the wrath of God Almighty and he finished what he came to do.

Now I will grant you, that if people would adopt this understanding of "prosperity" and finish what they start... like schooling, homework, job assignments, relationships... then they might actually also appear successful as far as acquiring things as well...

One little interesting side note... in Eve's encounter with the serpent that went something like this...

"So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise...(Gen 3:6)

that "make one wise" thing... is the same word that can be translated "prosperity." If you will the old serpent said that the fruit was,

"desirous to make one prosper."

The old serpent is still dangling that fruit out there and this time wrapped in the "prosperity gospel"... so called.

XtnYoda, shalomed