The so-called “prosperity gospel” is seeing a lot of success. The gospel that “God wants you to be wealthy.” Some congregational leaders are literally demanding wealth, mansions and jets at the expense of their congregations, and the congregations are complying. They do so in hopes—and based upon promises from the ministers—that God will then turn around and make them rich as well, as to the things of this world.
Not to be outdone, Mormonism is also succumbing to the notion of a “prosperity gospel,” though the lack of a paid clergy among the lower leadership means it has to manifest differently. Rather than God “prospering” the members for paying the ministers with money, He prospers them for paying the ministers with unquestioning loyalty and obedience. And the financially successful Mormons argue that He pays handsomely for righteousness.
For example, we have LDS political hero Mitt Romney selling his multi-millionaire status as God-given “prosperity,” and teaching that we should all similarly seek to obtain and hoard such excessive wealth unto ourselves. At least within American Mormonism, we can lust for and covet such riches and not only maintain a temple recommend, but be lauded and ushered up the ranks of LDS leadership. You will never find a bishop or Stake President who is the poorest member of the flock. We obsess over rich men, especially the “self-reliant” ones, believing we can measure God’s approval of us in our “prosperity.” John Steinbeck made a remark about Americans that was indeed true, regardless of opinions about his socialist alignment, which is that poor Americans tend to view themselves as “temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” Speak to most any LDS Business College student or professor to confirm this viewpoint is alive and well among American Mormons.
But for the “prosperity gospel” to sell requires exploiting people’s ignorance of scripture. The Bible alone has enough to indict any who would claim that riches, or seeking them, or measuring God’s approval by them, are pleasing to God. We Mormons have additional scripture, with even clearer statements concerning wealth and riches and prosperity. So upholding the prosperity gospel requires we cherry-pick around those verses, focusing exclusively on statements from God where he promises to prosper the righteous, and inferring its necessary inverse conclusion that if you are poor it is because you are unrighteous.
Now, it is true that the scriptures teach that the Lord prospers the righteous.
“For the Lord God hath said that: Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.” — 2 Nephi 4:4 (see also — Alma 50:18-20; 4 Nephi 1:23)
Passages like this form the basis for the claims of the prosperity gospel, in the same way as Paul's statements provide the basis for "faith alone" doctrines. But there are a lot of good questions that can arise around such a simple statement.
- How much must God give us before we can or will consider it “prosperity”?
- Is prosperity necessarily to be understood as a blessing only, a gift with no other purpose than to please us and fulfill our own needs?
- If God is actually the owner of all the earth’s riches (1 Corinthians 10:26; D&C 38:39; D&C 104:55), can we really consider them as being “given” to us in any other capacity than that of temporary stewards (D&C 104:56-57)? Which means we are to do with them as He wills, during the brief time they are in our stewardship?
- If they are His, to be done with as He pleases, do our interests and desires concerning riches get to take precedent over His?
- Does it matter who He allows to be a steward over more, and who He allows to be a steward over less, if none of it is ours and all of it is His to do with according to His will?
We should also look at the topical context of riches and prosperity, as it becomes abundantly clear that God prospering the righteous it is not so simple as “God pays you more money for obeying Him more.”
First of all, riches are one of the most frequently denounced, cursed and warned-against things in scripture.
“He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.” — Proverbs 28:22
“But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.” — Luke 6:24
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.” — James 5:1-6
“But wo unto the rich, who are rich as to the things of the world. For because they are rich they despise the poor, and they persecute the meek, and their hearts are upon their treasures; wherefore, their treasure is their god. And behold, their treasure shall perish with them also.” — 2 Nephi 9:30
“Wo unto you rich men, that will not give your substance to the poor, for your riches will canker your souls; and this shall be your lamentation in the day of visitation, and of judgment, and of indignation: The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and my soul is not saved!” — D&C 56:16
(see also — Ecclesiastes 5:13; Matthew 13:22; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 12:16-21; Luke 16:19-25; 1 Timothy 6:9; Revelation 3:17)
Money has also had a direct corruptive influence on the Lord’s people throughout history.
“But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin. Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.” — Micah 3:8-12
Moroni even prophesied it would have the same effect upon us Mormons, “the holy church of God,” in the latter days.
“Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing. And I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts; and there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts. For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted. O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world? Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not? Yea, why do ye build up your secret abominations to get gain, and cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans to mourn before the Lord, and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon your heads?” — Mormon 8:35-40
So why “bless” us with such prosperity and riches if they have such a corrosive power upon our souls? Perhaps the answer is also in the scriptures.
“For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad…Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.” — 2 Nephi 2:11, 16
“…We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;” — Abraham 3:24-25
Could prosperity also be a trial, to see what will be done with the riches? One of the purposes of our being in this world is to prove ourselves, to be proven. We must be given the Lord’s commandments on the one hand, and the temptations of the natural man on the other, to see which we will choose. This serves to help prove your heart, for you cannot serve both God and riches, or in other words Mammon (Luke 16:13). You must choose one, and we are counseled against setting our heart on the riches of this world, for we will lose them when we go to the next world and would find no treasures awaiting us there.
“Seek not after riches nor the vain things of this world; for behold, you cannot carry them with you.” — Alma 39:14
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal; But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” — 3 Nephi 13:19-21
“Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich.” — D&C 6:7
As part of this proving, one thing we must learn is that God does not have exclusive claim to prospering us. In the temple, Lucifer declares his intention to use money—our primary measure of prosperity—to buy up for himself influence through militaries, religions and governments, the most powerful institutions of this world. He uses money to accomplish his purposes, and he knows exactly how to use it the most effectively.
On the other hand, while God does say He prospers the righteous, where does He say He is going to necessarily use money to do it? Does the Lord ever declare His intention to use money to buy up souls or churches, luxury malls and high-end housing developments, or a percentage of the state of Florida? To assume that because the Lord allows a person or institution to become rich—or “prosperous”—is not to say that He is thereby endorsing, causing, empowering or otherwise contributing to their excesses. The Lord also allows all forms of sin and wickedness in this world, but we would not attribute credit for them to Him.
The wicked are indeed frequently prospered through their wickedness (Psalms 73:3-5, 12). Most riches in this world are obtained through exploitation, digging a pit for our neighbors that we might get ahead, working “smart” to get others to shoulder the real burdens, while we pay them as little as possible and accumulate for ourselves as much as possible. It is not considered good business to deal justly with our fellow men. If they can be exploited, then they deserve to be so. It is the anti-Christ, self-reliant doctrine of Korihor (Alma 30:17), but we are parading it as though it is actually the prosperity of God. It is the false doctrine of “God helps those who help themselves,” when the truth is that God helps those who help others—at the expense of themselves—while it is the devil who snares those who seek to help themselves (Luke 17:33).
Riches in heaven are obtained by serving God and our fellow man, by sacrifice and faith, and are taught as being a gift, specifically given in the absence of money.
“And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God.” — D&C 14:7
“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” — Isaiah 55:1
We are to first seek God and His kingdom, and we are then promised that the rest of our needs will be added upon us (Matthew 6:33). This is always to be our priority. But then, once we are in a state where the kingdom of God and His righteousness really are foremost in our interests, we have this statement by Jacob:
“But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.” — Jacob 2:18-19
Jacob informs us that once we are in alignment with God and have obtained “a hope in Christ” (another topic), we are then permitted to seek after riches. Why? Because our hearts are not set on them. We aren’t interested in what the riches can do for us, or how much we can stuff into our hoard under the Lonely Mountain. We come to recognize that riches are all God’s, and they are a means by which we can serve and bless those who stand in need, thereby serving God (Mosiah 2:17). This is perfectly in accordance with the laws of God governing the use of riches.
“Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” — 1 Timothy 6:17-19
“Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.” — Jacob 2:17
“And the money which is left unto this people—let there be an agent appointed unto this people, to take the money to provide food and raiment, according to the wants of this people.” — D&C 51:8
“But it must needs be done in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low.” — D&C 104:16
As individuals become prospered or rich, the expectation is placed upon them to aid the poor, in opposition to the natural temptation to hoard and use riches selfishly. This requirement has been placed upon all the rich by God, all through history. Very few, like Abraham, choose wisely to spread their wealth and help others, thereby warranting greater treasures in heaven. The majority are overtaken by their earthly riches, discarding their responsibility to the poor, rationalizing ways to justify keeping their wealth for themselves, resulting in the frequent warnings and condemnations of riches and the rich in scripture.
In aiding the poor, bonds are meant to be created between those who give and receive aid, as they come to see themselves as members of a community together. Perhaps they were already understood as members of a community in another sense, but class disparity due to wealth has immense divisive power which must be overcome, or the community remains fragmented. The rich sacrificing their excess to the help of the poor, to lift them from poverty, is a crucial step in repairing this community fragmentation and preparing a space for Zion to come forth.
As the poor are lifted out of poverty and wealth disparity decreases, unity increases. This is only the case because it isn’t brought forth by compulsion or force, but by voluntary action on the part of all those involved. The community comes to truly care about one another’s needs, and are willing to sacrifice to fulfill them. This is the type of “people” that the Lord likes to prosper.
The Lord can and does prosper both individuals, and peoples. When the Lord works to prosper a people, all the laws and expectations placed upon individuals remain, but something new is added. For a people to be considered as Zion, they must be tried and proven as a community. They must face and overcome the greatest challenges that seek to divide and destroy communities, and one of those is prosperity.
“Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.” — Helaman 12:2 (see also — Alma 4:6-8; 45:24; Helaman 3:36; 6:17)
Most groups fail to clear this hurdle of prosperity, succumbing to pride and ambition and their wealth, and fragmentation occurs as they spiral downward into destruction. But this must be overcome if there is to be a “people” prepared here to receive Zion upon her return, in preparation of the Lord’s return. They must have no poor among them (Moses 7:18). The poor are eliminated not by screening them out, but by elevating them out of poverty and onto equal ground with those in their community. This necessarily occurs through the free exercise of agency, not coercion. As the poor are eliminated, they work together with those who have lifted them up to continue producing and contributing to the community, by which means the community can become a rich people with surprising speed.
We cannot serve both God and Mammon. God knows we’ve tried, and we are perhaps trying harder now than we have ever tried before. The nature of civilization has become deeply embedded in the worship of money, business, economy, finances, or in other words: Mammon. It influences every aspect of the population’s lives and culture, it is the basis for almost all decisions made, it even swings important matters which should not be subject to such influence, like judicial outcomes, political leadership and the functioning of our religious institutions.
Mormons sincerely attempt to worship Christ, but Babylon’s religion of Mammon pushes its head in and sidles up next to Him, demanding at very least equal importance and standing. This occurs in part because Mormonism transitioned from being a “people” to a Sunday religion, a fractional church facet of our larger lives. Babylon’s Mammon has come to represent the “real world,” while the gospel represents another world imposing on our Sundays and some weeknights. Because Mammon represents the more “real” world, it is the more real God, and it is therefore not expelled. We instead attempt to co-worship both Christ and Mammon. As this is impossible, all we have actually done is choose to worship Mammon, falsely in the name of Christ, and boom, you have the prosperity gospel.
So long as Babylon is the real world, its religion of Mammon is the real religion. We need for the gospel to become the real world, personally first and then communally, and Mammon to become the imposition. Rather than accumulate riches to falsely measure God’s prospering of us, we must spend our riches to aid the poor, to help lift them out of the bondage of debt and poverty.
A people must rise who will overcome the temptations of prosperity. That people must be made up of individuals who have chosen to overcome the temptations inherent with prosperity in their own lives. Their hearts must be such that the law of all things common (Acts 2:44; 4:32; 3 Nephi 26:19; 4 Nephi 1:3) will be lived as a natural outcropping of who they have become, members of a family. When a people’s hearts have been proven thus, then they might truly join Zion.
