Former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has dismissed the concept of the “prosperity gospel”, a Christian belief that financial blessing and physical well-being are always God’s will for believers.
Mr Osinbajo, a pastor, stated that no such doctrine existed in Christian teaching while responding to Korede Komaiya, the presiding pastor of The Master’s Place International Church, during their appearance at a live debate held at Rock of Ages Christian Assembly International (RACAi).
Speaking on the debate topic, the prosperity gospel, Mr Komaiya said he found it difficult when people complained about it.
He added that he was unsure whether some churches preached giving without diligence, noting that it was biblical to encourage giving while maintaining balance.
He said, “ I don’t even understand what people are saying. Excuse me, I can’t get it. Biblical prosperity is correct, authentic, original, Godly, and is to be used for the sake of the gospel; God prospers His own. It is activated by giving. You are not to be greedy. You are to work. You are to labour. You are to be intelligent. You are to have value; you are to be a tither. You are to have a ministry. You are to have a prophet. You are to give to people in need and to people experiencing poverty.
“The covenant is the covenant, economic situation notwithstanding, circumstances notwithstanding. My submission is this: let’s come back to the balance. You practice the covenant, you embrace productivity. You embrace engagement; we can’t go to the extreme. You can’t just give. You must give sacrificially. You must work as if everything depends on it. Giving alone can’t do it, working alone can’t do it, a combination of the two is what makes the gospel work.”
Enter Osinbajo
Meanwhile, Mr Osinbajo, 69, countered Mr Komaiya, stating that there was only the gospel of Christ.
The former Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice stressed that attempts to redefine it in terms of material wealth misrepresented its true message.
“The New Testament, no matter how we slice it, we may call it anything, the prosperity gospel, with all due respect, there is no such thing. There is only a gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is only one gospel and it’s a gospel and it’s a whose words are contained in this scripture. Anything else is a perversion; anything else, there are many types of success.
“The example that the pastor gave is an interesting example where some people were bribed, people are always going to be bribed, but that does not in any way detract from the fact that when Jesus Christ, the author of our faith, satan tried to bribe him, He said look I’ll give you all this, He refused. That is the ultimate message of the Bible”, said Mr Osinbajo.
The lawyer added that the Bible’s ultimate message is that truth will prevail, no matter how long it takes.
According to him, the gospel will prevail, and it does not matter what anyone does at any time or who falls.
The scripture
Furthermore, Mr Osinbajo maintained that scripture makes it clear that many will be swayed by bribery and fall for money, but only the truth of the gospel will sustain people to the end.
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He added that he had been in ministry since 1996 and had rarely encountered churches where giving to the church or institution was not a prominent part of the service.
He noted, “If you read the scriptures carefully especially the New Testament, the number of times that Jesus spoke about giving to the poor, that giving to the poor means giving to Him, to God the number of times, the sheer number of times that Jesus Christ said even this business of building riches, building riches in heaven is given to the poor.
“The number of times in this New Testament, but if you are going to be honest with yourselves. How often is it preached? There is a portion of the service dedicated to that before the offering. The question is, why do we not emphasise what this scripture says?”
