Health and Wealth

[Guest CorrWaveClan]

I have a friend who is a firm believer of the Health and Wealth Gospel. She says that those who are poor or sick are suffering because that do not have enough faith in Christ as their Lord and Savior. Please help me to refute her.
-Thank you and God bless!!!

[phatcatholic]

these articles are helpful:
[url="http://www.phatmass.com/directory/index.php/cat_id/630"]http://www.phatmass.com/directory/index.php/cat_id/630[/url]

they are from non-catholic sources, but they still do a good job of refuting this movement.

here are two articles that approach this from a purely scriptural point of view (from catholic sources)
[url="http://web.archive.org/web/20030604073922/http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ440.HTM"]http://web.archive.org/web/20030604073922/...smus/RAZ440.HTM[/url]
[url="http://web.archive.org/web/20030604075349/http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ449.HTM"]http://web.archive.org/web/20030604075349/...smus/RAZ449.HTM[/url]

also, a collection of articles about the redeeming value of sickness and suffering:
[url="http://www.phatmass.com/directory/index.php/cat_id/629"]http://www.phatmass.com/directory/index.php/cat_id/629[/url]

now, as for my 0.02, this health-wealth gospel is spiritual abuse. period. i've seen first hand how detrimental this can be to people. "send me your cash donation and i guarantee you the Lord will bless you ten-fold." whatever what's even worse is that they accuse innocent people of not having enough faith whenever God doesn't respond the way they want Him to. sorry folks, God doesn't work that way. sometimes our reward isn't in this life. sometimes there's [i][b]a good reason[/b][/i] why we must suffer with some particular malady. shall we say that Paul lacked faith?? he prayed repeatedly to the Lord that he would remove the thorn in his flesh, but instead, the Lord said, "don't mind that, [i][b]my grace is sufficient[/b][/i]." we grow closer to Christ when we suffer with Him. the Christian life WILL be one of suffering. "if you want to be with me, deny yourself, take up your cross [i][b]daily[/b][/i] and follow me." its not supposed to be all "birds chirping and sun shining." all this gospel does is place false hopes and insecurities in the hearts of men. when something goes wrong, they automatically assume its all their fault. "if only i had enough faith" when in reality, carp just happens, and often times it has absolutely nothing to do with you. this gospel leaves people with a complete misunderstanding of what suffering is and what its all about. "the Lord chastises his children!!!!!!!!!" i could go on and on......

*steps off his soap box.

[note: my quotes of scripture aren't exact. i was paraphrasing]