There is a widespread religious conspiracy that suffering is inherent to the gospel. Many people believe that pain and defeat, sickness and poverty, are inextricable parts of the Christian life, and that embracing these things is proof of devotion. This is a perversion of the gospel. While suffering may be present because of opposition from those who reject God, it is incorrect to assume that the gospel itself requires suffering. In fact, it possesses the power to deliver us from suffering, and it proclaims victory over all opposition.
Suffering exists because of those who reject God. When people oppose God’s authority and seek their own ways, they create environments of chaos and corruption. But if you are in a community where everyone acknowledges and submits to God, such suffering would not be a part of your experience. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a gospel of misery but a gospel of deliverance from every curse that comes from rebellion against God.
The gospel is proclaimed as a message of triumph, not as an invitation to embrace defeat. It is a message of salvation and healing, not of sickness and despair. If you think suffering is inherent to the gospel, you will be unable to handle prosperity. When you experience comfort, you will feel compelled to alter the gospel to accommodate your situation. You may begin to interpret all suffering, even that which results from your own sin or unbelief, as something good and holy, even a gift from God, and you will accept poverty and sickness as part of his plan. Such thinking leads to unfaithful stewardship of God’s grace.
Consider the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt. At first, their suffering came from the Egyptians who oppressed them. The Israelites were slaves, subjected to harsh labor and brutal treatment. But once God delivered them, their former oppressors could no longer inflict suffering upon them. After the Exodus, the only suffering they experienced was due to their own lack of faith in God, their unwillingness to trust him to overcome the problems in their new environment, like the scarcity of water or food. Instead of trusting God, they complained and doubted his intentions. They went so far as to say that God had brought them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness.
This attitude angered God. It was faithless, and it grossly distorted his character and purpose. They began to craft a theology that justified their suffering, claiming that it was God’s will for them to endure such hardships. In a similar way, faithless religion tries to justify suffering by assigning it to God, pretending it is a mark of holiness to endure sickness and poverty. Once exposed, this kind of thinking is plainly absurd. It portrays God as cruel and heartless, as if he breaks his promises and takes pleasure in watching his people suffer.
The Bible presents a very different picture of God and his intentions for his people. Take the story of Abraham, for example. Abraham put God first in everything, but this did not mean that God withheld blessings from him. God gave him Isaac, the child of promise. Even when Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac, he believed the promise so completely that he trusted God to raise Isaac from the dead. The Bible says Abraham “reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” His faith was in the promise of God, and by believing, he received both Isaac and the blessings God had promised through him. God presented the gospel to Abraham as a promise of healing, prosperity, and greatness, and Abraham’s faith was a complete trust in God’s word. He believed in God’s ability to fulfill his promise, even if it required a resurrection. This is the true heart of those who believe in the gospel of healing and prosperity. It is not a heart of greed and carnality, but a willingness to put God first, coupled with an unshakeable trust in his power to fulfill his promises.
Faithless people who preach a gospel of sickness and poverty oppose this foundation of the Christian faith. They are not promoting humility or devotion. They are denying the power of God’s word. The Faithless are proud of being poor and sick, believing that their suffering makes them more righteous, or that it is unavoidable in this sinful world, or even that it is a gift from God. One of the greatest religious lies is that we ought to settle for sickness and poverty and suffering. God does not instruct his people to embrace such conditions. He desires to bless his people so that they can enjoy his goodness and also become a blessing to others.
Settling for sickness and poverty is not Christian doctrine, but it is an affront to the nature of God and the gospel. Christians must be reminded of this truth, because the lie that suffering is necessary or holy is rampant. Faithlessness is natural for sinners, and many within religious circles are, in fact, unbelievers. It is unnatural for the unregenerate heart to have faith, to believe that God provides for his children and fulfills their desires according to their faith. They do not believe in God, and so it is natural for them to reject his promises and settle for less.
Sickness and poverty are not only undesirable, but they also destroy effectiveness. A person who is constantly struggling to survive is too preoccupied to be useful in advancing the gospel or helping others. He is too busy trying to make ends meet to care about expanding the kingdom of God. Imagine how much more effective a healthy, prosperous believer could be. He is someone who has the resources and the energy to focus on the needs of others and the advancement of God’s purposes. But if you are too proud of your suffering, you will never care to find out how much more effective you could be for God’s kingdom.
God’s intention has always been to deliver his people from oppression and to bless them abundantly. In Deuteronomy 28, God lays out the blessings for obedience: prosperity, health, protection, and abundance. God even boasted that he would be the one to give them “power to get wealth.” These blessings are for each individual and are also meant to overflow into the community, allowing God’s people to be a light to the nations. The curse, on the other hand, includes sickness, poverty, and defeat, the very things many Christians have come to accept as God’s will for them.
Jesus came to reverse the curse and to bring the blessings of Abraham to all who believe. As Paul said, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus.” Jesus did not endure the cross so that we could continue to live under the curse. He came so that we could inherit the blessings of Abraham, blessings of prosperity, health, victory, and above all, the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit.
This is why Jesus healed the sick, fed the hungry, and delivered the oppressed during his ministry. He was demonstrating the nature of the kingdom of God, a kingdom without lack, without sickness, and without oppression. When Jesus sent out his disciples, he commanded them to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. They were not merely signs to authenticate the message — they were the message. The kingdom of God is a kingdom of power, and the gospel is a gospel of blessing and deliverance.
Paul understood this. He said, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” The gospel can triumph in every intellectual debate, but it can also triumph in every other kind of confrontation: spiritual, financial, medical, and beyond. It produces noticeable benefits and effects, even miracles. These are not merely signs pointing to the kingdom — they are the kingdom. Paul said that it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
The gospel of suffering is a counterfeit gospel. Those who preach this gospel align themselves with the faithless generation of Israelites who grumbled against God in the wilderness. They are like the ten spies who saw the giants in the land and declared that it was impossible to take possession of God’s promise. But Christians ought to be like Caleb and Joshua, who saw the same giants but believed that God had given them the land.
Never boast about your suffering. Boast about the God who delivers us from suffering and empowers us to live in constant victory. Refuse to become worthless and unfaithful stewards of the gospel by worshiping the idols of sickness and poverty. Rather, believe in the power of God to deliver us from these things and to bless us abundantly. Proclaim the gospel of power, victory, and miracles to a world that desperately needs it. The gospel is supernatural and unstoppable. Miracles often occur on their own even as we preach it. This kind of gospel ministry is what will advance his kingdom and fulfill the Great Commission.