成功神学讲道的欺骗性和致命性
当我听闻那些鼓吹成功神学的信息时，我的反应是：“如果我是非信徒，我不会加入这个基督教。”换言之，倘若那就是有关耶稣的信息，谢谢你，我不会要。
诱骗人来到基督这里寻找发财途径，是既具欺骗性又有致命性的。它具有欺骗性，因为耶稣在呼召我们的时候说：“你们无论什么人，若不撇下一切所有的，就不能作我的门徒”（路十四 33）。它具有致命性，理由是发财的欲望“叫人沉在败坏和灭亡中”（提前六 9）。接下来我恳请讲员们：
1. 不要宣讲使人们进天堂难之又难的信息
耶稣说，“有钱财的人进神的国是何等的难哪！”门徒感到吃惊，就像许多成功神学鼓吹者那般，故而耶稣使他们更加惊讶，“骆驼穿过针的眼，比财主进神的国，还容易呢。”门徒就分外稀奇，对他说：“这样谁能得救呢？”耶稣说，“在人是不能，在神却不然，因为神凡事都能”（可十 23~27）。
我要问这些成功神学鼓吹者：你们为何要宣讲这套使人们进天堂难之又难的信息呢？
2. 不要在人群中激起毁灭性的欲望
保罗谈到，“然而敬虔加上知足的心便是大利了。因为我们没有带什么到世上来，也不能带什么去。只要有衣有食，就当知足。”然而他告诫这些有发财欲望的人，含蓄地警告那些不帮助人们甩掉发财欲望，反而从中煽动的鼓吹者，“但那些想要发财的人，就陷在迷惑，落在网罗，和许多无知有害的私欲里，叫人沉在败坏和灭亡中。贪财是万恶之根，有人贪恋钱财，就被引诱离了真道，用许多愁苦把自己刺透了”（提前六 6~10）。
所以我要问这些成功神学鼓吹者：你们为何要诱使人们陷入极大痛苦，坠入万劫不复的深渊呢？
3. 不要鼓励人们追求可朽坏的东西
耶稣告诫人们不要在这地上积攒财宝。也就是说，他教导我们施与，而不是贮存。“不要为自己积攒财宝在地上，地上有虫子咬，能锈坏，也有贼挖窟窿来偷。只要积攒财宝在天上，天上没有虫子咬，不能锈坏，也没有贼挖窟窿来偷”（太六 19）。
是的，我们都积存一些东西。不过既然人有贪心的欲望，为什么你们教导这些不注目耶稣、本末倒置的信息呢？
4. 不要把努力工作当成积累财富的工具
保罗说我们不应该偷窃，而要用双手努力工作。不过做工的主要目的并不是单纯地储藏，甚或拥有，而是“获取为了给与。”“总要劳力，亲手作正经事，就可有余，分给那缺少的人”（弗四 28）。给与更多，并不是为发财致富找理由，它是呼召人们挣得更多，留得更少，这样才可以给的更多。赚200,000美元的人，没有理由过着比收入80,000美元的人更优越的生活。你要黜奢崇俭，控制消费支出，然后将剩余部分捐赠出去。
你为何要鼓励人们多多赚钱才可以慷慨解囊呢？为什么不鼓励他们谨行俭用、成为一名更加乐善好施的给予者呢？这样岂不是更能强有力地见证他们的慷慨大度，表明基督才是至宝，而非财富吗？
5. 不要在神的无价应许上面做小信的人
希伯来书作者告诉我们，要满足于我们所拥有的，否则就是在神的应许上面做小信的人。他谈到，“你们存心不可贪爱钱财，要以自己所有的为足，因为主曾说，‘我总不撇下你、也不丢弃你。’所以我们可以放胆说，‘主是帮助我的，我必不惧怕，人能把我怎么样呢？’”（来十三 5~6）。
倘若圣经告诉我们，满足于我们目前所拥有的，就能牢牢把握住神的应许，并且由此荣耀神。那么，你们为什么要煽动别人去追逐财富呢？
6. 不要将他人引向灭亡深渊
耶稣提醒我们，神的话语是赐给我们生命的，却会被财富绊住而失去作用。他说，这就像种子落在荆棘丛中，被挤死了：“那落在荆棘里的，就是人听了道，走开以后，被今生的思虑钱财宴乐挤住了，便结不出成熟的子粒来”（加八 14）。
你们为什么怂恿他人追求这些耶稣所提醒，会使我们走向灭亡的东西呢？
7. 不要使盐失味、将光隐藏
是什么使基督徒成盐做光呢？不是财富。酝酿发财欲望、追求钱财只是世俗之事，世界本是如此。成功神学之大悲剧在于，它主张人不需要属灵觉醒，就会敞开胸怀拥抱福音，只需要贪心就足够。一个人如果靠主耶稣的名发财，它既不是光，亦绝非盐。世界只不过是看到了它自己的倒影，只要对己有用，但取无妨！
我们可以借助耶稣叙述的这段文字洞悉光与盐的真义——喜乐地愿意为基督受苦。耶稣说，“人若因我辱骂你们，逼迫你们，捏造各样坏话毁谤你们，你们就有福了。应当欢喜快乐，因为你们在天上的赏赐是大的，在你们以前的先知，人也是这样逼迫他们。你们是世上的盐……你们是世上的光”（太五 11~14）。
让我们在世界上做盐做光的资本，并不是像世人那般爱慕钱财。而是愿意藉着受苦爱别人的心肠和能力，始终欢喜快乐，因为他们的奖赏是将来在天上与耶稣同在。这是不可用世间语言名状的，因为这属乎灵。用发财致富的允诺来诱骗他人接受福音，只不过是属世的作为。它既不是耶稣传扬的信息，也不是耶稣受死所成就的。
原载于desiringGod.org（渴慕神）官网，获授权转载。
Prosperity Preaching: Deceitful and Deadly
When I read about prosperity-preaching churches, my response is: “If I were not on the inside of Christianity, I wouldn’t want in.” In other words, if this is the message of Jesus, no thank you.
Luring people to Christ to get rich is both deceitful and deadly. It’s deceitful because when Jesus himself called us, he said things like: “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). And it’s deadly because the desire to be rich plunges “people into ruin and destruction” (1 Tim. 6:9). So here is my plea to preachers of the gospel.
1. Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that makes it harder for people to get into heaven.
Jesus said, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” His disciples were astonished, as many in the “prosperity” movement should be. So Jesus went on to raise their astonishment even higher by saying, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” They respond in disbelief: “Then who can be saved?” Jesus says, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:23-27).
My question for prosperity preachers is: Why would you want to develop a ministry focus that makes it harder for people to enter heaven?
2. Do not develop a philosophy of ministry that kindles suicidal desires in people.
Paul said, “There is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” But then he warned against the desire to be rich. And by implication, he warned against preachers who stir up the desire to be rich instead of helping people get rid of it. He warned, “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Tim. 6:6-10).
So my question for prosperity preachers is: Why would you want to develop a ministry that encourages people to pierce themselves with many pangs and plunge themselves into ruin and destruction?
3. Do not develop a philosophy of ministry that encourages vulnerability to moth and rust.
Jesus warns against the effort to lay up treasures on earth. That is, he tells us to be givers, not keepers. “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” (Matt. 6:19).
Yes, we all keep something. But given the built-in tendency toward greed in all of us, why would we take the focus off Jesus and turn it upside down?
4. Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that makes hard work a means of amassing wealth.
Paul said we should not steal. The alternative was hard work with our own hands. But the main purpose was not merely to hoard or even to have. The purpose was “to have to give.” “Let him labor, working with his hands, that he may have to give to him who is in need” (Eph. 4:28). This is not a justification for being rich in order to give more. It is a call to make more and keep less so you can give more. There is no reason why a person who makes $200,000 should live any differently from the way a person who makes $80,000 lives. Find a wartime lifestyle; cap your expenditures; then give the rest away.
Why would you want to encourage people to think that they should possess wealth in order to be a lavish giver? Why not encourage them to keep their lives more simple and be an even more lavish giver? Would that not add to their generosity a strong testimony that Christ, and not possessions, is their treasure?
5. Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that promotes less faith in the promises of God to be for us what money can’t be.
The reason the writer to the Hebrews tells us to be content with what we have is that the opposite implies less faith in the promises of God. He says, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” (Heb. 13:5-6).
If the Bible tells us that being content with what we have honors the promise of God never to forsake us, why would we want to teach people to want to be rich?
6. Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that contributes to your people being choked to death.
Jesus warns that the word of God, which is meant to give us life, can be choked off from any effectiveness by riches. He says it is like a seed that grows up among thorns that choke it to death: “They are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the . . . riches . . . of life, and their fruit does not mature” (Luke 8:14).
Why would we want to encourage people to pursue the very thing that Jesus warns will choke us to death?
7. Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that takes the seasoning out of the salt and puts the light under a basket.
What is it about Christians that makes them the salt of the earth and the light of the world? It is not wealth. The desire for wealth and the pursuit of wealth tastes and looks just like the world. It does not offer the world anything different from what it already believes in. The great tragedy of prosperity-preaching is that a person does not have to be spiritually awakened in order to embrace it; one needs only to be greedy. Getting rich in the name of Jesus is not the salt of the earth or the light of the world. In this, the world simply sees a reflection of itself. And if it works, they will buy it.
The context of Jesus’ saying shows us what the salt and light are. They are the joyful willingness to suffering for Christ. Here is what Jesus said, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth….You are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:11-14).
What will make the world taste (the salt) and see (the light) of Christ in us is not that we love wealth the same way they do. Rather, it will be the willingness and the ability of Christians to love others through suffering, all the while rejoicing because their reward is in heaven with Jesus. This is inexplicable on human terms. This is supernatural. But to attract people with promises of prosperity is simply natural. It is not the message of Jesus. It is not what he died to achieve.
作者：John Piper
约翰·派博（John Piper），“渴慕神”事工的创建者、教师；明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市（Minneapolis, Minnesota）伯利恒学院&神学院（Bethlehem College & Seminary）院长。
翻译肢体：翁洋
用圣经视野和实用资源装备教会领袖
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