It’s been said that sin over-promises and under-delivers. The same can be said for the prosperity gospel. It promises temporal riches and wealth, but deprives its followers of eternal and lasting joy. This so-called “gospel” has done much damage in America, and sadly it’s being exported all over the world, especially to Africa.

In two minutes, Conrad Mbewe shows that when we’re honest with the Scriptures, the prosperity gospel makes too much of temporal riches, and too little of eternal joy. The following is a transcript of the video.

The prosperity gospel continues to be a real challenge in Africa and Zambia, because it is basically a dangling carrot. It causes people to chase after what they think they will get tomorrow. Out of thousands of people, only one or two individuals actually get an abundance of physical blessings.

When you are honest with your Bible — the narratives in the Scriptures and the epistles — you have to come to the conclusion that the prosperity gospel swallows a camel and strains a gnat. It makes too big an issue of what really is incidental as far as God’s word is concerned.

God does assure us in his word that he will look after and provide for us. But nowhere in the Bible does God assure all his people that they will have fat bank accounts and will be completely healthy. In fact, most of the promises in Scripture assume that you are going through a difficult, troublesome period — but God is coming through for you, sustaining you, enabling you from the inside to have a joy that unbelievers would not have in the kind of circumstances that you are going through.

True shepherds of God’s people must give to God’s people the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. This gift produces balanced Christians.