At 45!

I sat down looking at some of my old pictures and i just cannot but be grateful to my Creator ADONAI for His mercies. It is by His grace we are not consumed.
I celebrate Yahushua in my life, i celebrate all the success that has come my way, i celebrate with gladness all the mistakes i have made, i celebrate triumphs over moral and spiritual weaknesses, i celebrate my friends for their support, my family for their love and understanding, my employees for their commitment and hard work? I celebrate unmerited favors, lifting, support, helps, deliverance, salvation, provisions. Indeed He daily loads us with His goodness

FATHER THANK YOU

Hold the Door Lessons for my Kids

China Bird Flu Pandemic: UN’s FAO Alarmed H7N9 Virus Could Spread Outside China

China Bird Flu Pandemic: UN’s FAO Alarmed H7N9 Virus Could Spread Outside China

Christian Rapper Blasts Prosperity Preachers as "Fal$e Teacher$"

BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

While Jay-Z & Beyonce’s recent trip to Cuba to celebrate the couple’s fifth anniversary stirred up significant controversy, a new song by a Christian rapper, relatively unknown to the general public, is ruffling feathers in the conservative Christian evangelical community, especially amongst a gaggle of religious gurus known as “Prosperity Preachers.”

Christian rapper Shai Linne, according to Charisma News, “recently released a song [which peaked at #7 on iTunes’ Hip Hop/Rap charts] calling out prosperity gospel teachers by name.”

The 12 pastors named are -- Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, Paula White, Fred Price, Kenneth Copland, Robert Tilton, Eddie Long, Juanita Bynum and Paul Crouch – and each name is followed by the song’s refrain, “is a false teacher!”

Jay-Z and Beyonce have come under unremitting criticism from a number of long-time anti-Cuban Republican scolds, with Sen. Marco Rubio and GOP Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and  Mario Diaz-Balart leading the pack.

Despite the fact that the vast majority of U.S. visitors to Cuba last year were Cuban Americans (476,000 out of 580,000) , and regardless of the fact that Cuban Americans are a major source of funds for the Cuban government (sending nearly $2.3 billion to Cuba in 2011), “Diaz-Balart and Ros-Lehtinen said the music superstars were guilty of funding ‘the machinery of oppression that brutally represses the Cuban people’ because they went to Cuba with the permission of the Department of Treasury, which regulates the travel of Americans to Cuba,” DeWayne Wickham wrote in a recent USA Today column.

Linne calls out “prosperity preachers”

Shai Linne’s album has also caused some controversy because it is the first time a Christian rapper has used his music to criticize “Prosperity Preachers,” and name specific individuals.

“I ain't really trying to start beef, but some who claim to be part of His sheep got some sharp teeth. (They're wolves),” Shai Linne raps in the song “Fal$e Teacher$” – from his newly released album titled Lyrical Theology Part 1: Theology -- before referencing Matthew 7:16.

In the song, the performer warns that these pastors are falsely teaching that “camels squeeze through the eye of a needle.” Here’s a sample: “How dare they be specific and drop some clarity on the popularity of the gospel of Prosperity,” Turn off TBN that channel is overrated. The Pastor’s speak bogus statements, financially motivated. It’s kind of like a pyramid scheme. Visualize Heretics christianizing the American dream.”

Shai Linn also dubs these preachers’ antics as “foul and deceitful and claims that they are “treating Jesus like a lottery ticket.”

Charisma News reported that in a video posted by his record company, Lamp Mode Recordings, Linne said “he wrote the song to address an issue in the American church that is now spreading overseas—not to cause controversy.”

“You have these rallies where literally over 100,000 people will come to hear these guys talk about prosperity,” Linne told Wade-O Radio. “The people who are coming are impoverished like crazy and they're buying into it thinking that this false theology is going to be their way out of poverty. They figure, 'Hey, it must work because it's working for these guys in America.'”

An atheist for most of his childhood, Linne is Reformed in his theology. He has been collaborating with other Christian Rap artists and releasing studio albums since 2002.

According to Anthony Bradley, associate professor of theology and ethics at The King’s College and author of Liberating Black Theology, “Reformed hip-hop is a theologically driven masculinity movement.
It says no to the prom songs to Jesus in ccm, no to whiny emo Christian music for hipsters, and no to empty, shallow, individualistic Christian music lacking theological content produced out of Nashville.
”

“Linne is echoing other Reformed or Calvinist leaders, including John Piper and John MacArthur, who have been openly critical of the prosperity doctrine that has swept the globe,” Rachel Tabachnick, an independent researcher who specializes in End Times narratives, told me in an email. “Tactics of prosperity preachers around the world include convincing followers that their donations to a ministry will be returned by God in multiples of what they have given.  

“Prosperity doctrine preachers are among some of the wealthiest citizens in some African countries,” Tabachnick  pointed out. “It is common for some of these preachers to require payment for claimed ‘supernatural healing’ of HIV/AIDS and other diseases or for ‘deliverance’ or expulsion of demons supposedly causing misfortunes.”

Paula White Ministries was the first of the named prosperity preachers to directly respond to Linne’s song. Interestingly, White’s enterprises have been as controversial as they have been financially successful.

Paula White’s son responds

But Bradley Knight, White’s son and representative of PaulaWhite.org  is having none of it. In a letter to Linne, Knight  takes umbrage with Linne’s characterization of White as a “false teacher”: “…So when I hear a fellow Christian leader, whom has never had a conversation with me or my mother, call her a “Fal$e Teacher” I wonder what ‘Fal$e Teaching$’ I myself have been inculcated with since I, more than anyone else on the face of the earth, have been most exposed to her teachings.”

Knight claims to be making a modest living and “forego[ing] money for the opportunity to work for a ministry that I believe in, a ministry that I witness daily changing lives across the globe. Including and especially the continent of Africa you gave a shout out too.”

White’s son characterizes the song “Fal$e Teacher$” as “pure cannibalization without Biblical precedence.” He invites Linne to walk a mile in the White family’s shoes. At no time does Knight mention the accrued wealth of Paul White Ministries, the many controversies White has been involved in, nor the congressional investigation into her finances.

In 2007, when Paula White and her husband Randy filed for divorce, they owned private jets, high-end luxury vehicles, a Trump Park Avenue condominium and a $3.8 million place in Trump Tower on 5th Ave in New York City, as well as a $2 million dollar home on Tampa Bay.  When White was asked to respond to a May 2012 profile in Orlando Magazine, her public relations outfit,  Burson-Marsteller Public Affairs in Dallas, turned down the magazine’s request.  

Shai Linne responded to Knight’s letter, writing: “I don’t think your letter actually addresses the real issue. My song was not about you, your financial status, the genuineness of your faith, your mother’s prayers for you or the good things that Paula White Ministries does. The song was about the false doctrine that Paula White and others have publicly taught for many years and continue to teach.” In a wadeoradio.com video, Linne mentions the popularity of prosperity doctrine in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi.  After acknowledging watching many hours listening to some of the most popular prosperity teachers on TBN and noticed a pattern of them working the crowd into an emotional frenzy before asking for money. Linne calls this a scam and claims these preachers are false prophets.
(Photo: Smt1192)Sourcehttp://truth-out.org:

Tips On Staying A Step Ahead Of Kidnappers In Lagos

Tips On Staying A Step Ahead Of Kidnappers In Lagos

Foreclosing On The Prosperity Gospelers: Are They Really Christian? By Rev. Dan Vojir

The Good News: Financial problems are plaguing America's prosperity megachurches.
The Bad News: It's not happening fast enough.


     MUNSTER   | While the Family Christian Center was spending millions of dollars annually on leadership compensation, travel, meals and jet fuel, it was falling behind on its mortgage payments and racking up a list of past-due bills, a Times investigation found.
We could forgive prosperity gospel ministries if it weren't for the awful architecture. And the gaudy showmanship. And the cult-like congregations. 

And the un-Christianlike greed.

There are millions of Americans who are in need of money, struggling Americans who still manage to help their friends as best they can, still helping others to survive. They do not gamble on the Lord providing future wealth or prosperity. For flights of fantasy, they occasionally buy lottery tickets. After all, the results are just as good as any prosperity cult, maybe even better, since prosperity preachers take in everything and return very, very little. 

       According to mortgageorb.com, Pastor Munsey only informed his congregation of the 2011 lawsuit last summer, explaining that he never told them earlier because he "really didn't know what to do but trust God."
Foreclosing On The Prosperity Gospel

Although Senator Chuck Grassley (IA - R) helped focus on the excesses of prosperity gospel preachers in 2007, he didn't go far enough:

According to the report, only two of the six ministries -- Joyce Meyer Ministries and Benny Hinn's World Healing Center Church -- fully cooperated with the investigation and even implemented financial reforms.
The other four ministries, meanwhile, did not provide responses or provided incomplete ones to inquiries made by the Senate Finance Committee. These groups include   Creflo Dollar's World Changers Church International, Eddie Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Kenneth Copeland Ministries, and Without Walls International Church -- formerly pastored by both Randy and Paula White, who are now divorced. The Florida   megachurch   is currently being led by Paula White.
Despite their lack of cooperation, no penalties were handed out.
And why not? 

Capitalism Is As Capitalism Does

America, as a capitalist society, must come to terms with capitalist leaders of capitalist religious cults. We have the freedom of religion - religion that panders to the greed of the 1%. Although his political positions have been helter-skelter (to say the least) on many issues, Grassley's dedication to capitalism cannot be stressed enough. Then there is his link to The Family, the controversial, covert quasi-religious operation, and his 100% approval rating by such organizations as the Family Research Council. In order to keep those good graces, it may have been necessary for him to back off on the prosperity preachers.  

Meanwhile, Back At the Scandal Trough...

There is no denying that Eddie Long has a cult on his hands: despite financial and sexual scandals, people still keep going to his church and witnessing a outpouring of ego which is over-the-top, even by today's televangelist standards. Now Long is embroiled in a new lawsuit:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

        Bishop Eddie Long has been sued by former New Birth Missionary Baptist members who say the megachurch pastor encouraged them to invest money with a company despite being told the investor was running a $3 million capital deficit.
Too Big To Fail? 

http://www.opednews.com/index.php

ALERT: All Of The Money In Your Bank Account Could Disappear In A Single Moment

What would you do if you logged in to your bank account someday and it showed that you had a zero balance and your bank had no record that you ever had any money in your account?  What would you do if all of the money in your bank account suddenly disappeared in a single moment?  If you had not kept any paper records, which most Americans do not, it would be exceedingly difficult to prove to the bank that you actually had any money in the bank.  If you don't think that something like this could ever happen in the United States, you might want to think again.  Cyber attacks against major banks in the United States are becoming more powerful and more sophisticated with each passing month.  In fact, major U.S. bank websites have been offline for a total of 249 hours over the past six weeks.  And just last month, thousands upon thousands of Chase customers logged into their bank accounts only to discover that their balances had all been reset to zero.  Anyone that would want to cause complete and total economic chaos in the United States could accomplish it very easily by wiping out all of our bank account records.  So please do not keep all of your money in a single bank, and from now on please keep a paper copy of all of your bank account statements.  At some point it is likely that one of these cyber attacks will cause permanent damage to our banking system, and you want to be protected. The mainstream media has generally been very quiet about the massive cyber attacks against our major banks, but behind the scenes authorities are truly alarmed.  They don't know how to stop these attacks, and they just keep getting more intense and more sophisticated.
Could you imagine how you would feel if you logged in to your bank account and all of your money was gone?  That is exactly what happened to some Chase customers last month.  The following is from a recent CNET article...

JP Morgan Chase denied this evening that it had suffered a hack that many customers claimed had suddenly reduced their checking account balances to zero.
After discovering the apparently empty accounts via the Internet or mobile devices, many Chase banking customers turned to Twitter to express their frustration and show screen shots of zero balances. Other users were greeted with messages that their bank account balances were unavailable.

But this was most definitely not an isolated incident.  That same article noted that Chase and many of our other large banks have had their websites taken down for extended periods of time lately...

Customers' suspicions about a possible security breach are natural, with the zero balances appearing less than a week after a massive distributed-denial-of-service attack rendered Chase's Web sites useless for many hours. Customers trying to use the site's tools were instead greeted with a note that the site was "temporarily down."
Hackers have ratcheted up their assaults on financial institutions in recent months, using DDoS attacks to take down Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase, Citigroup, HSBC, and others.

In fact, as I mentioned above, major U.S. bank websites have been offline for an astounding 249 hours over the last six weeks alone.  The attacks just keep getting larger and bank officials are becoming very alarmed about the power of these cyber attacks.  The following is from an article that was posted on CNBC this week...

Major U.S. bank websites have been offline a total of 249 hours in the past six weeks, perhaps the clearest indication yet that American companies are prime targets in an unrelenting, global cyber conflict.
The heavier-than-usual outages are the result of a remarkable, sustained attack that began seven months ago and repeatedly knocks banks offline for hours at a time, frustrating consumers and bank security professionals alike.
"Literally, these banks are just in war rooms, sitting at controls trying to stop (the attacks)," said Avivah Litan, a bank security analyst with Gartner Group, a consulting firm. "The frightening thing is (the attackers) are not using as much resources as they have on call. The attacks could be bigger."

So who is behind these attacks?
Some are blaming Chinese hackers, others believe that Iran is behind the attacks, and yet others are convinced that it is the work of Islamic terrorists.
It is kind of frightening that they cannot positively identify who is behind these attacks.  Whoever it is, they sure do seem to have a tremendous amount of resources and they are very sophisticated.
And in the future, it may not be hackers on the other side of the globe that are attacking our banks.  In fact, if someone wanted to "recapitalize the banks", all they would have to do is wipe out all of our bank account records (including all backup records).  Suddenly trillions of dollars of "unsecured liabilities" (that is what our bank accounts are) would be wiped out and the banks would suddenly be solvent again.  Anyone that could not produce evidence that they actually had money in the banks would be in a lot of trouble.  It would be the largest single wealth transfer in the history of the world, and it would throw the U.S. economy into utter chaos.  This is a scenario that I am exploring in my new novel which will be coming out later this month.
In addition, there is the constant threat that a massive EMP burst could fry all of our electronics (including the banking records), but that is a topic that I have covered in a previous article.
And of course another way that your bank account could be wiped out in a single moment is if the government decides to "legally" steal it.  We just witnessed this happen in Cyprus.  In February, the Central Bank of Cyprus swore that such a thing could never possibly happen, but then one month later it did happen.  The politicians will lie to your face until the very day comes when they steal your money.
Sadly, a very similar thing could easily happen in the United States someday.  As I wrote about yesterday, the big banks are making incredibly reckless bets with our money.  When those bets go bad, our money could very well be used to cover those bets.
One way this could be accomplished is by using a practice known as "rehypothecation".  It sounds complicated, but it really isn't.  Basically, the banks use money that clients have entrusted to them to cover their own gambling debts.  This is how rehypothecaton is defined by Investopedia...

"The practice by banks and brokers of using, for their own purposes, assets that have been posted as collateral by their clients."

An excellent article by Jeff Nielson detailed how this could result in the big banks grabbing our money when their trillions of dollars of reckless bets go bad...

1) Our banking regulators knowingly allow financial institutions to engage in recklessly misleading (if not outright fraudulent) contracts with their clients, through the use of complex “small print” in their account contracts with clients.
2) The three largest U.S. “banks” by deposit (JP Morgan, Bank of America, Citigroup) have made bets in their own rigged casino, which total well in excess of $100 trillion, an amount which completely dwarfs their total, combined deposits (and assets).
3) A large portion of those bets occur in the $60+ trillion credit default swap market. Pay-outs in these markets can (and do) exceed 300 times the amount of the original bet. It is bets in this market which “blew up” AIG, requiring more than $150 billion in immediate government aid.
4) Following the Crash of ’08; these same banks mooched a package of hand-outs, tax-breaks and “guarantees” (i.e. future hand-outs) from the Bush regime in excess of $15 trillion, the last time their gambling debts went bad on them – and all of these banks have been allowed to dramatically increase the total amount of their gambling since then.
5) It would take only a minor change in the gambling contracts in which these bankers engage to allow their creditors to seize funds out of ordinary bank accounts.
6) The existing language for the bank accounts of these U.S. banks is possibly already so vague (and prejudicial to clients) that it would allow these banks to reinterpret the terms of these bank accounts – and allow rehypothecation to be used to rob the holders of ordinary bank accounts, people who themselves make no “bets” in markets whatsoever. Alternately, customers could be blitzed with an offer for “new and improved” bank accounts, where terms allowing rehypothecation are slipped into the contract, with the  banks knowing that the “regulators” will do nothing to warn account-holders of the gigantic risk they are taking.

But we are all covered by deposit insurance, right?
That is what the people of Cyprus thought too.
As we just saw in Cyprus, when there is a "banking crisis" sometimes government steps in and suddenly changes all of the rules overnight even though the vast majority of the population is against it.
Hopefully you can see that no bank account will ever truly be "safe" ever again.
Your money may be safe today, and your money may be there next week, but someday it could disappear in a single moment.
And the general public is definitely starting to lose faith in the banking system.  Google searches for the term "bank run" have been absolutely spiking recently.  So what should we all do to protect ourselves?
As I mentioned earlier, it is important to not have all of your money in one bank, and from now on you will want to permanently keep paper copies of all of your bank account statements.
Someday you may need those statements in order to prove that you actually had money in the bank.
Our world is becoming increasingly unstable, and at some point financial disaster is going to strike.
By taking prudent precautions now, hopefully you will be able to minimize the damage to your family.

Source theeconomiccolapseblog.com

Nine reasons to never eat processed foods again

(NaturalNews) Resisting the urge to drink that soda pop or eat those chips can be tough, especially if you have grown accustomed to eating these highly addictive foods as part of your normal diet. But once you understand a little bit more about how these and other processed foods affect your mind, body, and even your soul, it becomes easier to make healthier food choices that enrich your being rather than sap it. Here are nine motivating reasons why you should cut processed foods from your diet for good:

1) Processed foods are highly addictive. Your body processes whole foods much differently than it does refined, processed, and heavily-modified "junk" foods. Processed foods tend to overstimulate the production of dopamine, also known as the "pleasure" neurotransmitter, which makes you crave them constantly. Your body ends up not being able to resist the temptation to continue eating junk foods in excess, which can lead to obesity and other health problems.

2) Processed foods often contain phosphates that destroy your organs, bones. Many processed foods contain phosphate additives that augment taste, texture, and shelf-life. But these additives are known to cause health problems like rapid aging, kidney deterioration and weak bones, according to the Rodale Institute, which makes foods that contain them far less attractive to those in the know.

3) Fresh foods are actually cheaper than processed foods. People with junk food addictions often claim that fresh, healthy foods are too expensive. But according to numerous studies and assessments, whole foods made from scratch end up costing less per serving than their unhealthy, processed equivalents. According to Rodale, a single serving of 100 percent organic chili made with fresh ingredients and grass-fed beef, for instance, is about 50 cents cheaper to make than buying a can of chemical-laden, microwaveable chili from the grocery store.

4) Processed foods cause chronic inflammation. One of the leading causes of chronic illness today is inflammation. And studies continue to show that refined sugars, processed flours, vegetable oils, and many other nasty ingredients commonly found in processed foods are largely responsible for this inflammation epidemic. So the next time your body craves a candy bar or a box of cheese crackers, consider the fact that heart disease, dementia, neurological problems, respiratory failure, and cancer have all been linked to the chronic inflammation caused by processed food consumption.

5) Processed foods ruin digestion. Because they have been stripped of their natural fibers, enzymes, vitamins, and other nutrients, processed foods tend to wreak havoc on the digestive tract. Chronic consumption of such foods can throw your internal ecosystem off balance, harming beneficial bacteria and exposing your system to infection. So you can basically think of those gummy bears and that piece of cake as literal poison for your system, which may help deter you from eating them.

6) Processed foods destroy your mind. If you suffer from chronic bouts of brain "fog," or have difficulty concentrating and thinking normally, chances are your diet has something to do with it. And a recent study out of Oxford University lends credence to this possibility, having found that junk food consumption can cause people to become angry and irritable. Nutrient-dense whole foods, on the other hand, can help level out your mood, sustain your energy levels, and leave you feeling calmer and more collected.

7) Processed foods are loaded with GMOs. The basic buildings blocks of most processed foods on the market today are derived from laboratories, not nature. Genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), which have been linked to infertility, organ damage, gastrointestinal disorders, and cancer, are prolific in processed foods. Excess consumption of these poisons promotes weight gain, acidifies your blood, and can even permanently alter the composition and function of your intestinal flora.

8) Processed foods are loaded with pesticides. In order to effectively grow the GMOs used in processed foods, conventional farmers have to apply Roundup (glyphosate) and other pesticides and herbicides, many of which end up in the final product. According to data compiled by Rodale, breakfast cereals alone have been found to contain up to 70 different types of pesticides, including warehouse fumigation chemicals and other residues.

9) Processed foods are not actually food. One of the ways you can assess the nutritional value of food is to see how animals, insects, bacteria, and fungi respond to it. Real foods will actually rot or grow mold, for instance, while fake, processed foods remain largely the same in appearance and shape no matter what their age. As we reported recently, processed food is essentially synthetic, and the industry that produces it admits that heavy tampering and crafty modifications are necessary to make it taste real, even though it is not.
Source: NaturalNews

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/039743_processed_foods_eating_reasons.html#ixzz2QhdY86Pi

Preaching the Gospel of Bling in Zimbabwe

The young woman rocks nervously on her high heels and smiles uneasily as the prophet struts around her. She has had a hard time pinning down a man and she cannot get a job, we are told. Today, all her troubles will end. “Many men have come and promised to marry you, but nothing happens. Is that not true?” declares the prophet.
She swoons: “Yes, man of God.”
He responds: “Listen. I was with the spirit. I’m in a vision. We are travelling. By the power of the spiritual navigator, I am turning towards a junction. Unit K. Is that not where you live?”
She weeps. “Yes, pastor.”
“I am at the door. The hand of the angel of God is on the door, so I can’t see the whole number, just the numbers 7 and 5. What is your house number?” “It is number 7715,” the woman responds. Bull’s-eye. The church rises in a roaring mass, hands in the air. But wait: now for the big reveal.
“My sister,” the pastor says, rubbing his hands as if he were counting money, then holding her hand. “I see you counting money. Money. You will need a money-counting machine. Money, flowing to you.” The “hallelujahs” rise and the band responds with a burst of sound.

Prophets Makandiwa and Uebert Angel flanking their spiritual father, Prophet Victor Boteng

Poster boy of the gospel brigade

The prophet is barely into his 30s, wears a velvet jacket, floral high-collar shirt and brown pointed-toe shoes. He goes by the name Uebert Angel. He is one of the poster boys of Zimbabwe’s prosperity gospel brigade. They are in their early 30s, natty dressers who bag crowds yearning to fill the gap left by old-time religion: the promise of prosperity.

Who can resist that? The old churches still insist on Christ’s teachings to “store up your riches in heaven”. But why wait when the prophet in the velvet jacket says you can have it all here and now?
And so, over several recent Sundays, I found myself among the throbbing throngs in Harare’s churches and stadiums, getting down to Nigerian Uche Agu’s My God Is Good Oh, that impossibly catchy anthem of the prosperity gospel movement: “Everything is double-double, promotion double-double, my money double-double, my cars double woah.”
We nod quietly to the parts about salvation. To the parts about wealth, we scream with delight.
They queue before the prophet, waiting for that word to spring them from misfortune. It goes like this: you are poor because of evil spirits. What follows is a microwave exorcism: a quick rap on the forehead, sometimes a whack from the prophet’s jacket. Ardent membership, of which giving is a priority, seals the deal. Soon that elusive job, the husband, the business, is yours.
“Mine is a rich God. Why should his children be poor?” Angel says in one service.
‘The overflow’
Although Angel is hot, he is no match for his close friend, Emmanuel Makandiwa, the lanky, charismatic 34-year-old who leads the United Family International Church, easily Zimbabwe’s biggest church. Here, prosperity gospel is staple fare. Every Sunday Makandiwa draws as many as 40 000 followers. The arena he uses as his church takes only 20 000; thousands more are housed in four giant tents outside, an area called “the overflow”.

Makandiwa arrives at the City Sports Centre in Harare

To accommodate everyone, he has had to split his Sunday service into two. A third service is held in nearby Chitungwiza, at the construction site of a 30 000-seat church. Queues more than a kilometre long form at dawn for his morning service. Ushers in neon bibs ensure order, handing numbered cards to people waiting in line.
On Sunday, Makandiwa preaches about “possessing the promises”. When the devil steals from you, he tells us, he replaces what was stolen twofold. Which is why, he says, when he crashed his Mercedes Benz S320, it was quickly replaced by a brand-new S600. To that, the couple to my left spring from their chairs, roaring, Bibles thrust in the air.
This church has declared 2012 the “year of results”. What good is faith when you have no material results to show for it? it asks. So followers display stickers on their cars declaring how they have prospered: “I am a child of a prophet who brings results. This car is a result.”
On sale at a kiosk outside the arena are more stickers declaring prosperity. For a dollar, I buy the one declaring: “I have the power of influence.”
A class of partner
So, how do I get in on this prosperity stuff? I have to become a “partner”, I am told. Being a partner means that I get to be one of those members that give more to the church than the ordinary people. The more I give, the more I am blessed.
Here is how it works: there are six different classes of partnership that vary according to how much you give. Classes range from “bronze”, for giving $10 a month, to the “star” class for those who can spare $1 000 or more. You become a partner only after contributing for three consecutive months. Top partners get good seats and even get to hang around the prophet. That widow in the Bible, the one who impressed Jesus the most when she gave only a few lousy coins to the temple while the rich gave sacks of gold? She would not make ­partner, not even qualify for bronze.
On Mondays, in what used be a movie theatre in central Harare, the partners of Angel’s church meet. On the stage is a man in a grey suit and burgundy tie, warning partners against failing to meet their pledges. According to the teaching here, it is partners who are first in line when God opens “the floodgates of heaven”. There is frequent reference to this scripture — Malachi’s teachings on tithes.
These are not your ordinary, dog-collar kind of pastors. According to Makandiwa’s website: “The man of God has received and continues to receive great revelations from God combined with the unusual ability to rightly divide and teach the word of God with such accuracy and precision worthy of an international minister for the kingdom of God who is and will be noted among the great men of God in the world in this era.”
Who can resist that?
These are desperate times and people are desperate for answers to real problems. The pastors seem to have them. In fact, they know everything. “The only prophet in Zimbabwe who can prophesy your ID number,” says a press advert placed by prophet Passion Java (23), whose church is called the Kingdom Embassy.
He discovered his gift in his early teens when he saw “a set of spinning numbers in the air”, which turned out to be a schoolmate’s ID number. “I was born with a special gift. When I was young, I used to have strange dreams depicting me in heaven, surrounded by angels. I have the power to foretell one’s future,” he says.
Pulling in the numbers
Of course, with the young guns pulling in the numbers, there are bound to be haters, such as the anonymous pastor who has been taking out full-page adverts in the Sunday papers recently, raging against “greedy false prophets pronouncing false blessings”. Well, the prophets repeatedly tell us to expect this kind of jealousy.
Their marketing is snazzy and edgy to match the teachings of prosperity. Across the city, walls are covered with colourful posters. They feature prophets, dressed in colourful suits, standing next to pretty prophetesses, announcing a conference. One recently advertised conference cost as much as $100. But what is a few dollars when I will come out of there up to my eyeballs in prosperity?
In Harare, we have a conference for every problem. Having trouble being a successful man? There is the “Men’s Transformers Conference” coming soon. On the banner, below the names of Angel and Makandiwa, is an image of Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, the good robots in the Transformers TV series.
Having problems at home? There is the “Why Did I Get Married” conference for couples and the divorced. There is a picture of Angel and his wife under the title, scanned from the banner for a Tyler Perry movie.
Having trouble finding a partner? For the single and searching, there is the “One Night Stand Conference”. At the bottom, the poster declares: “When you wake up, we’ll be gone.”
Jason Moyo is a regular contributor to the Mail & Guardian
This article forms part of the Mail & Guardian’s God in Africa edition.

What do people regret the most before they die? by Eric Barker

Bronnie Ware worked in palliative care for many years, tending to people during the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. A handful of themes cropped up in the things they regretted during their final days:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

To them, these were regrets. For us, maybe the above can be a checklist of what not to do.

Bangladesh has first bird flu death

(IANS) / 8 April 2013

A two-year-old baby from eastern Bangladesh has died of H5N1 virus, the first bird flu death in the South Asian country, a senior health official said Monday.

Mahmudur Rahman, head of the country's Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), told Xinhua that "the seventh case of Influenza A (H5N1) has been confirmed from one of our surveillance sites in Comilla".

Comilla is 96 km east of capital Dhaka.

He said the male child was from Chauddogram sub-district of Comilla.

The child was admitted to Comilla Medical College Hospital, later transferred to Dhaka Shishu Hospital and then to a private clinic, Rahman said.

"The child died Feb 18, 2013," he said.

"This is the first death case of H5N1 in Bangladesh. As this child had no typical features of Influenza-like illness, his throat and nasal samples were sent for reconfirmation to CDC Atlanta, US and received confirmation April 6, 2013," he added.

According to the official, detailed outbreak investigation was conducted.

There was strong epidemiological link with backyard poultry deaths. No other case was found among contacts during the investigation, he said.

Bangladeshi authorities in December last year destroyed 150,000 birds and 300,000 eggs as the season's major outbreak of bird flu was detected in a poultry farm in Gazipur, on the outskirts of capital Dhaka.

What are the top five career regrets?

Over at Harvard Business Review, Daniel Gulati discusses his informal study of people’s biggest regrets about their career.

He talked to professionals who ranged in age and represented a variety of different industries but five ideas came up again and again:

1. I wish I hadn’t taken the job for the money.

“By far the biggest regret of all came from those who opted into high-paying but ultimately dissatisfying careers.”

2. I wish I had quit earlier.

“Almost uniformly, those who had actually quit their jobs to pursue their passions wished they had done so earlier.”

3. I wish I had the confidence to start my own business.

“A recent study found that 70% of workers wished their current job would help them with starting a business in the future, yet only 15% said they had what it takes to actually venture out on their own.”

4. I wish I had used my time at school more productively.

“Although more students are attending college, many of the group’s participants wished they had thoughtfully parlayed their school years into a truly rewarding first job.”

5. I wish I had acted on my career hunches.

“Several individuals recounted windows of opportunity in their careers, or as one professional described, ‘now-or-never moments.’”

What else do we know about regret?

I’ve posted about research into the subject of regret before. So what do we regret the most?

• You’re more likely to regret the things you didn’t do than the things you did. (The split is about 75/25.)

• Education was the biggest inducer of regret, followed by career, romance, parenting, the self, and leisure.

• You’re more likely to regret purchasing things. You’re more likely to regret not purchasing experiences.

What do people regret the most before they die? 

Bonnie Ware worked in palliative care for many years, tending to people during the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. A handful of themes cropped up in the things they regretted during their final days:

1. “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

2. “I wish I didn’t work so hard.”

3. “I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.”

4. “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.”

5. “I wish that I had let myself be happier.”

To them, these were regrets. For you, this can be a checklist of what not to do.

550 Pounds Of Dead Fish Found In Shanghai River, Weeks After Pigs Fiasco

 

Arch Daily

See Also

If You Think China's Air Is Bad, You Should See The Water

Chinese Crackdown On Pork Black Market Led To Dumping Of Thousands Of Dead Pigs

China Reportedly Finds More Dead Pigs Floating In River Hundreds Of Miles Away From First Discovery

Shanghai's rivers are in hot water for the second time this year after hundreds of kilos of dead fish were found rotting in one of the mega-city's waterways. Just weeks after over 16,000 putrefying pigs were pulled from Shanghai's Huangpu river, more than 250kg [550 lbs] of dead carp had to be retrieved from a river in the city's Songjiang district.
Mystery still surrounds the cause of death, but numerous explanations have surfaced in the Chinese media since residents first complained about the foul-smelling fish last Monday.
Theories reportedly include climate change, electrocution, an explosion or even a drug overdose.
The Shanghai Daily quoted a local government official who "speculated" the fish could have been "drugged".
"Small fish died earlier because they're more sensitive to toxins," the official, named as Mr Gao, told the newspaper.
China has become notorious for its polluted rivers, largely as a result of decades of unbridled economic growth. Last year a senior official conceded 20 percent of the country's rivers had become "too toxic for human contact".
Shanghai authorities have so far denied the "fish kill" was caused by water pollution, citing the absence of chemical plants near the river.
Whatever the cause, authorities insist there is no risk to public health or drinking water sources.
"The river's quality hasn't been affected by the dead fish so far. It remains the same level as usual," an official named as Mr Zhang told the China Daily. He did not explain what the usual level was.
Nor was there a connection between the dead carp and the thousands of rotting pig carcasses pulled from Shanghai's Huangpu last month, local environmental official Liu Fengqiang said.
One river-dweller told the China Daily he had stopped using tap water in the wake of the two scandals. "I need to trust my sources of water. I'm still haunted by the dead pigs," Shi Hua said.
Meanwhile, samples of the dead fish have been sent for testing and the fish themselves have been laid to rest.
"All the dead fish plucked out of the water were buried safely," the Shanghai Daily reported.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/dead-fish-found-in-shanghai-river-2013-4#ixzz2Q2y2GX47

Peddlers of Prosperity Gospel are Thieves

By Brilliant Pongo
A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent. And thus, my truth though some may think, is with bad intent is simple, an insincere preacher/bishop is more to be feared than a wild beast; for a wild beast may wound your physical body, but a phony bishop will wound your mind and spirit and thereby retard your spiritual growth.

Brilliant Pongo

Article after article I have pointed my Bishop friend (Chikosi) to Holy Scripture that is clear and loud about the view Jesus Christ had on money, however bishop Chikosi, still wriggles as he tries to justify his desire to enrich himself materially using his self-appointed position of Bishop and his personal interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.
The sad irony of all this is that, the truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear. In spite of this, we have a duty and responsibility to warn others. (Ezekiel 3.17-21). Consequently I warn my bishop friend that when you stretch the truth, watch out for the snapback because, If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people, the corollary of iniquities will find you, this is an eternal principle which governs the righteousness of God and His judgment which is always fair.
The proponents of the prosperity gospel tell us that Jesus spoke more about money than anything else and this is how they justify the wealth and prosperity doctrines that they teach. But the plain and simple truth of the matter is that while Jesus often spoke about wealth, He never spoke about it in the sense that it was something good to become involved with.
A closer look at Christ will reveal that His teaching on the matter of wealth is the polar opposite of today’s prosperity teachers. Matthew 6:19-21. Jesus tells his disciples,
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
To appreciate the difficulty of this statement, we need to understand Jesus’ words in light of the rest of Matthew’s gospel. Throughout Matthew, Jesus repeatedly warns his disciples about the love of money. Money often becomes idol–Mammon.
• In the Parable of the Sower, some of the seed is choked out by the “cares of this world” and “deceitfulness of riches” (Matt 13:22).
• When Jesus asks the rich young ruler to give up his riches and follow him, the rich young ruler “went away grieving, because he had many possessions” (Matt 19:22). Then Jesus tells the disciples that “it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom” (Matt 19:23). The expression “treasure in heaven” also occurs in this story (Matt 19:21).
• Jesus condemns the Pharisees because their hearts were full of “greed and self-indulgence” (Matt 23:25-26).
• Judas betrays Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (Matt 27:3-10).
• The soldiers guarding Jesus’ tomb lied for money. They said that the disciples took the body (Matt 28:12-13).
These passages show that money can be an obstacle to our faith. Some like Judas have walked away from the faith because of money. Others like the rich young ruler have refused to follow Christ because of money.
Money is a neutral thing. It represents resources. It’s a part of God’s good creation. However, it is easy for us to start to worship the creation rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25). This is idolatry. Paul says that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” (1 Tim 6:10).
In the book of Matthew Jesus warned and counselled:
“Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many . . . . . And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” – Matthew 24:4-5,11-13 (KJV)
Most agree that we are in the last days. We certainly see the “general” predictions of Jesus concerning the last days being fulfilled daily. Surely the excitement that fills so many about the as yet “unfulfilled eschatological prophecies” cannot drown out a very important part of that same prophetic utterance. The word “Christ” means anointed one. It does not take a “Harvard scholar” to see that “many have come” and are saying in our day that they have been “anointed” by God.
Matthew 7:15 (KJV) “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”

Bishop Dave Chikosi

The scripture from Matthew describes these false prophets as “ravening” or ravenous. The Webster dictionary says that this is a condition of extreme hunger that creates an uncontrollable yearning for gratification.
Driven by hunger for power or wealth, these false prophets will do just about anything to get it. So we must look at their method and their motivation. We know that all aspects of our behaviour as the Children of God must be characterized by the disciplined guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Motivation cannot be rooted in greed or the desire for fame, however cloaked under the guise of fighting the ‘demon of poverty’, many of these prosperity ministers have found a great many undiscerning who they prey on like ravening wolves only to enrich themselves with earthly material.
Jesus’ statement in Matthew 7:15 is a loud and clear warning to those who care to take heed. Jesus is warning us about false prophets for indeed they are looking for prey. But not just any prey, but someone unsuspecting, undefended and unprepared. Will you be the next victim?
How can you avoid such a fate? We must discern truth not by science or logic or higher education or through the famous or scholarly, but by the Spirit.
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. -1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (KJV)
We can be protected from the lies of the enemy as we discern the truth through the power of the Holy Spirit. False teachers and false prophets or the spirit of antichrist does not stand a chance against the knowledge of God we have and can attain through the power of the Holy Spirit. This can be accomplished by practicing the presence of God each moment of the day by a faith walk.
The root of prosperity gospel is in the greed where these preachers, whether knowingly or not, has blinded them. Despite the potential reach of their ministries to tell the world about Christ, these prosperity gospel entrepreneurs now blight the work of God which they claim to be promoting.(they are turning every verse about giving into dollars for the self-called prophets and bishops—nana mai bishop)
Prosperity gospel is exactly what it says; it teaches that you need prosperity in your material life. It doesn’t preach that you need prosperity in your ‘spiritual’ life, which the Bible teaches, but in your material worldly life.
I will not shy away from calling these self-appointed bishops frauds, charlatans and thieves, surely how does one justify teaching miracle money? (Call me of little faith, asivakomana if you can command an ATM to give you money that you know you do not have and you get thousands in your account, aah!
That is reaping were you did not sow vakomana) indeed all they are preaching is IDOLATRY, elevating wealth and possessions above God, and elevating created things above the CREATOR. This is ‘another’ gospel which Paul warned about … Galatians 1:6 …’I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.’
These preachers of the prosperity gospel are certainly perverting the true gospel of Christ Jesus. But Paul says there isn’t another gospel, but only one true gospel of Jesus.
John 10:10 …’I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.’ … Now the false preachers of the prosperity gospel will look at this Bible verse and twist it to their liking. But what did Jesus really mean when He said He came to give life more abundantly?
Was He talking about worldly possessions? Well, if you study through the whole council of God, you will see that to be a true Christian in this world you will go through persecution and tribulation (John 16:33; Acts 14:22; 1 Thess. 3:4; 1 Peter 4:12), and that you are to use what you have to help the poor.
Now does that sound like worldly prosperity and abundance? Of course not! No, Christ was talking about the abundance of His Spirit in your life, giving you peace and joy that no worldly possession can give you. He was also pointing to the abundant life that He will give us in His heavenly kingdom.
Think about this: Did the disciples and apostles receive an abundant life the way the prosperity preachers proclaim? Definitely not! They went through great persecution and tribulation for the gospel of Jesus Christ and they were killed for their faith. BUT, their life more abundant is awaiting them in the heavenly kingdom of God.
Jesus’ ministry was to the poor, the downtrodden, people on the street who could not pay their way. His ministry was to those who needed a physician. Grace is for those who need to receive it because they cannot pay for it. It was for those who were captive and needed to be set free.
Today we see ministers to the rich; preaching in ivory towers to velvet covered pews; and being chauffeured in limousines and salaried in six figures. Is this the fulfilment of the Lord’s command to make disciples?
I say the prosperity gospel peddlers are thieves, abusing God’s name and robbing the unsuspecting and If the truth hurts bishop Chikosi, you ain’t living right.

The case against Prosperity Gospel

By Learnmore Zuze
A story is told of a dog that died. The owner loved his dog so dearly that he went to his pastor and said, “Pastor, my dog has died this morning. I have one request which, if you grant, I would be grateful forever. Please, could there be a service for the poor creature?”

Learnmore Zuze

The Pastor replied, “No, we can’t have service for animals in the church. The church is for human beings and not for pets. However, there is one of the new churches mushrooming down the road, try them, maybe they will accept such a request.”
The dejected man rose from the chair and shook his head as he headed for the door on his way out. Just as he was about to leave he enquired, “Pastor, but do you think at that church they will accept a donation of  three thousand dollars for personal use by their pastor in return for the burial service?”
The Pastor shouted, “Blood of Jesus! Come back! Why didn’t you tell me all along that the dog was a Christian? Let’s have the service right way. Where is the dog?” The story may sound funny but contained therein is a deadly and Satan-induced cancer that is eating the unsuspecting church of today.
Whereas the shepherd and follower of Christ of the past focused on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and repentance, today’s follower has been schooled to believe that the focus of the Christian is the acquisition of worldly wealth.
The prosperity Gospel teaches that God wants Christians to be prosperous financially, physically and spiritually. This Gospel has taken centre stage influencing millions of people and has had startling success because of what it promises the believer.
Marketers of this gospel have touched the hearts of millions of eager listeners seeking to escape from the jaws of poverty. This gospel is premised on the idea that God wants you to be rich and to have excess in your life and that your physical possessions indicate your spiritual worthy.
Below I quoted live recorded statements by prosperity preachers.
·          “Today’s service is on Seven steps to prosperity …”
·          “If you are still a lodger then you need to understand that poverty is not from God.”
·          “Receive your house, receive your miracle…”
·          “The very moment you stepped in this church, poverty and sickness have departed from your family.” 
It’s undeniable that the Bible has many scriptures which tell of God’s blessings. However, the tragedy of those who peddle the gospel of prosperity is their myopic focus on these scriptures and reluctance to understand the core objective of the Gospel.
Did Jesus impliedly or explicitly teach that His Gospel would also be a tool for earthly prosperity? Is the prosperity gospel the urgent message that the world needs in these last days? Suppose there is a father who has a family to feed and one day brings a bar of chocolate to the excitement of his family.
The next day the man brings two more bars of chocolate and again the family is happy. The father increases the chocolate bars he takes home in the next few days much to the delight of his family.
Meanwhile, his home has run out of the basic food like mealie-meal and oil yet surprisingly, the man of the house continues to bring more chocolate. Consequently the family reaches a point where all that is left for food is chocolate.
The adamant man continues to hoard more boxes of chocolate out rightly ignoring the basic food critical for the survival of his family. Eventually, the children get wasted and emaciated from undernourishment but the father does not relent. What do you make of such a man?
Personally, I do not see anything wrong with a father bringing goodies for his family. The problem arises when all that a father brings is chocolate. Bringing chocolate becomes wrong if not evil because it now threatens the very survival of the family.
Chocolate becomes detrimental to the children if they are lacking basic food which nourishes. That illustration aptly prescribes why the prosperity gospel has become dangerous.
The prosperity gospel, just like the chocolate, has become a detrimental force used by the devil to distract Christians from feeding on the life-giving message of salvation and repentance from sin.
Prosperity is the chocolate in the life of a Christian and salvation knowledge is the basic food critical for the survival of the Christian. I maintain that the gospel of prosperity has since become an evil because it’s the only thing that Christians are bombarded with ahead of the priceless message of salvation today.
Chances are nine against one that the sermon on your TV right now is teaching you about prosperity. Ministers have become so intoxicated with preaching wealth with the effect that the poor feel out of place in today’s churches.
A theme study of the Bible demands that we do not focus on isolated verses but search for what Jesus said about wealth in general. It is the work of the devil to single out one or two scriptures and then twist them to deceive millions of people.
The evidence against the gospel of prosperity is simply overwhelming. Jesus Christ spoke against the gospel of prosperity in many ways as follows:

• Do not build for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and   rust can destroy (Matt 6:19,20) 

• ·             Foxes and birds have some where to lay their heads but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head (Matt 8:20) 

• ·             But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort (Luke6;24) 

•  It is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 19;24) 

•  …You cannot serve God and money (Matt 6; 24). 

• ·             How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.( Luke 18:12 ) 

The Prosperity gospel teaches that you need material prosperity in your life. It doesn’t teach that primarily you need prosperity in your ‘spiritual’ life, which the Bible teaches. It is my strong conviction that the emergence and popularity of the gospel of prosperity today is by no means an accident.
Remember, the Bible tells us that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and forces of darkness (Ephesians 6; 12). The prosperity gospel was designed to serve a real practical purpose. The real purpose of this gospel is to remove focus from the real matter of this world.
It is designed to overshadow the message of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The prominence given to it relegates the Second Coming of Christ to the peripheries. When was the last time you heard a speaker preach of the return of Christ?
The real message which the world needs urgently is the repentance and salvation of mankind. The wealth gospel is earthly-focused and makes the return of Christ a non event. Satan obviously has a field day to see Christians who are mindful of earthly riches, which Christ rejected.
The devil laughs with satisfaction to hear messages of earthly prosperity reverberating from Christian pulpits.
The spiritually enlightening story of the rich young ruler (Matt 19:22) was not accidentally put in the Bible. That story is well meant and sums up the case against the wealth gospel.
Christ knew human nature too well that once the pursuit of wealth becomes our goal in life then the devil has got us in his net just like the young ruler. Wealth is a god on its own. Christ would not have told the rich young man that it was impossible to serve God and money if money were not a master in its own right.
For example, if someone were to say, “A football player cannot register with both Arsenal and Chelsea.” That statement automatically tells you that both Arsenal and Chelsea are soccer teams. Christ wouldn’t have made the comparison between God and money if one of them where not a god.
Money is a master which demands to be served just like God. The rich young ruler had faithfully kept the Commandments but his heart was embedded on his wealth. He valued his wealth so much that he was willing to lose Christ for it. The point which Christ was making is this; you cannot serve God and money.
You will love one and hate the other. Prosperity preachers and seekers likewise are striving after material things of the world instead of God. The wealth gospel stands in stark contrast with Christ’s advice, “…a man’s life does not consist in his earthly possessions.”(Luke 12; 15)
Sadly, the peddlers of the gospel of prosperity remain headstrong urging millions of people into rejecting Christ’s counsel and courting destruction. They continue to teach that affluence is an indicator of godliness.
On the contrary, Christ was an embodiment of humility and he identified with the poor. He even had to make the point by being born of a poor carpenter yet he was God.
The most misleading and most mischievous belief to come out of the gospel of prosperity is the promise that being born again spells an end to poverty, pain, and suffering. Ever seen notices in the local press where people give testimonies that they were always sick and poor before they turned to Christ?
This belief is definitely not from God; at least not the God of the Bible. God never promised man that once they convert to Christianity they become immune to the sufferings of the present world. To the contrary, Paul’s conversion to Christianity marked the beginning of untold suffering for him.
Paul had enjoyed fame and belonged to the elite group which persecuted and prosecuted Christians. The very moment Paul turned to Christianity he was dogged by countless tragedies.
Reading through his horrible experiences in his letters, you will learn that: he was flogged countless times, fought wild beasts at Ephesus on his mission to spread the Word and endured inhuman jail conditions all because of Christ.
Paul is believed to have died in prison yet he stands as an iconic figure in Christianity. In fact, concerning those who flock to stadiums to preach and seek prosperity Paul left a message in one of his letters.
He wrote; “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.”(1Timothy 6:9)
Any man who sets his eyes on the cross and commits to follow Christ will square with temptation and hardship. Christ admonished His disciples that“…If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first (John 15; 18).”
The false impression given by the prosperity gospel that this sinful world is our home where we ought to build mansions and drive obscenely expensive cars is an outright lie straight from the pit of hell.  Jesus Christ himself endured excruciating pain in this world.
He had to endure the betrayal of friends and those he healed. If there was any Man who could have amassed wealth by use of miracles and attain earthly prosperity beyond measure that Man was none other than Jesus Christ. He could have led the way and enriched Himself as an example for His followers.
With an average of five thousand people following Him, He could have easily wrecked in thousands of dollars daily in offerings and buy all the gold of this world but did He? Today’s Christian ought to realize that there is a battle for the control of his mind   that is going on.
This is the last hour. Take heed that no one deceives you.
Learnmore Zuze is a Zimbabwean author and writes in his own capacity.