Come and Die

"When Christ calls a man He bids him come and die." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

And died Bonhoeffer did. He was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian who participated in the German Resistance against Nazism. His efforts in Abwehr (German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate Adolf Hitler led to his arrest and his death by hanging in April 1943.
Although He may have not died for preaching the Gospel, he died for living the Gospel. He stood for the things that are right and holy. He did not waver nor forsake the calling of the Gospel. He stood strong and deeply rooted in the truth. He let his convictions lead him, ultimately to his own death.
It is hard to grasp where one would get the idea that the Bible teaches a prosperity Gospel. Where is it? Answer me this, Why did Jesus die? Did He die that you may have money, cars, a nice house, good health, or good self esteem? Is that what my Saviors death means to you? Did He not have the right to give that to whom He pleased before the cross. Did it take the cross for Him to earn the right to bless those whom He saw fit. Was there no rich, no healthy, and none of good esteem, before the cross? Must you receive earthly things to give God praise? Oh you of little conviction. Do you not see your greater need? Salvation? Is that not enough? It is not enough for you because you don't see your sin, you don't see eternal damnation and most of all you don't see God. What you see is momentary, temporary, things that you have experienced a little joy in and you will pursue them above your Creator because you have not seen your need of grace and mercy, you have never had the joy that is in God alone. You have not experienced Gods love, joy, peace, or forgiveness, because you see your need for temporal earthly pleasures as more important than forgiveness. You do not see your sin the way God does. Therefor that is the only pleasure you have, and your only hope is only for more of that pleasure, so you corrupt the cross with your wicked doctrines and theology, for your temporal gain. You are of the most ignorant of men if you actually believe that you will have temporal gain if you simply attribute earthly blessings to God, or if you "worship" God because of these blessings. God does not purchase your worship little man, it is not something He desires but does not deserve regardless of your physical state. He deserves your worship and adoration whether you sleep on the streets or in a beach house, whether you have a million dollars or are in debt for a million dollars. Oh you prosperity preachers! What will you do when people find your fraud and burn your books, and stop attending you false church's. What will you have when all your money is gone and your congregations have learned the truth and left you to rot with your philosophy. When someone, from your congregation, is sick with cancer on their death bed with the most repulsive sickness and most burdensome pain, where is your promise? You liar, you speak not of God, but of the devil! When will you tell your congregations the truth? Do you not care that they die and burn, you heartless wolves! How many more shall die without Christ before you become compassionate enough to tell them they need Jesus. How many more wallets of the distressed do you have to empty before you are satisfied? You are like buzzards preying on the dead.Do you have no spine? Where is your bravery, or courage? Are you scared that your congregation might leave you, along with your paycheck because you stand for truth?
Yes Jesus said that, " The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I come that they may have life and have it abundantly." You were dead, He came to make you alive, and alive you are through Him and Him alone. The life He gives you is the most abundant life you can have, there is nothing more freeing than the forgiveness of sin, and eternal life without sin, forever in the presence of God. If you think abundance is an abundance of things, you are very shallow and deny that God is all that you need, or desire. Psalms 73:12 "Behold the wicked, always at ease, they increase in riches." Psalm 73:25-26, "Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." What is your version of an abundant life? So I say to you Joel Osteen, and and any other prosperity teachers, NO YOU ARE WRONG!! Stop and think about what you are doing!
Here is a verse for this situation.
2 Timothy 4:2-5
"Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, ENDURE AFFLICTIONS, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."