Question: Where did the concept that "God is going to give the wealth of the wicked to believers" come from? The Financial K.E.Y.S. Conferences are telling people how to gain their part in the wealth. Speakers have included Bruce Cook, Lance Wallnau, Os Hillman, Cindy Jacobs, Rick Joyner, and C. Peter Wagner. The name of the conference--Financial K.E.Y.S.--refers to the teaching that money is the key to global transformation and establishing God's kingdom on earth.
Response: First Timothy 6:10 tells us, "The love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." The love of money is too often used as motivation in mind science teaching, which has influenced word faith teaching and the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). A Financial K.E.Y.S. Conference took place February 16-19, 2010, in which believers learned how the wealth of the wicked will be supernaturally transferred to them. Consider these comments from NAR "apostle" C. Peter Wagner:
If you check back through human history, you will find that three things, more than any others, have produced social transformation: violence, knowledge and wealth-and the greatest of these is wealth! ( Dominion! How Kingdom Action Can Change the World )
It is instructive that someone identifying himself as an "apostle" should fail to see the gospel as "the greatest thing" that has produced social transformation! Jesus proclaimed in Luke:4:18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."
Wagner continues:
They will not be traditional financial planners who are satisfied with annual returns of 5 percent to 20 percent or so....I have faith that we will see the biblical standard of 100 percent returns or more become the norm. (p. 196)
Proverbs:13:22A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. is "the verse" for Wagner and others promoting this theology. They are, however, selectively quoting "and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just." Bereans who check out Wagner will find that he omitted the first half of the verse. The full verse reads as follows: "A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just."
This is not some supernatural transfer of wealth. It is an admonition toward diligence. Through diligent stewardship, the Lord blesses the work of the righteous, and they store up an inheritance. In this context, the sinner wastes his money, which, in the providence of God, can end up in the hands of the just. Scripture tells us that there is nothing new under the sun (Eccl 1:9).The concepts promoted by the Financial K.E.Y.S. conferences have been around as long as have human greed and avarice.
