APOSTLE EDWARD SSEWANYANA: JESUS WAS NOT POOR

The body of Christ is facing an attack from the Anti-prosperity cult backed up by the lies of the devil and sheer ignorance of the scriptures. Ignorance is the devil's breeding ground and the scriptures testify that "my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). The very thing that led the Jews to crucify Jesus was ignorance about His Messiah-ship which they failed to discern from the very scriptures they possessed as Peter testifies in Acts 3:17. This article will examine whether Jesus, our example in every way (1Jn 4:6) was really poor or not and whether prosperity is part of the gospel or was just an unnecessary mixture. One of the arguments brought forward against prosperity is that Jesus lived in abject poverty and so all ministers and laymen should follow the same example. You are about to find out that you were duped all along when you examine the volume of evidence to the contrary from the Bible. Jesus Himself preached and lived prosperity (Luke 4:18 & John10:10).

7 Reasons Showing That Jesus Was Not Poor:

1. Gold offered to Jesus at His birth:

"And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh" (Matt 2:11) The scriptures show us that wise men came from the East carrying gifts for Jesus Christ at His birth. The gold or money was there to provide for Jesus from the very onset of His life.

2. Jesus had a house:

"They said unto him (Jesus), Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour" (John 1:38-39). Andrew and John asked Jesus where he was staying and He gladly invited them over for a night. This is contrary to what religion teaches concerning Jesus having nowhere to lay His head (Luke 9:58) where He was simply informing a zealous man who wanted to follow Him everywhere that His was an itinerant ministry and the man should be ready for the challenge of sleeping in one hotel or inn after another. It was an established fact that Jesus' house was in Capernaum (Mark 2:1) and He was not a mere vagabond or muzigo (one-room) dweller.

3. Jesus supplied the needs of the 12 Apostles and their families:

"He (Jesus) went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him" (Luke 8:1). Jesus provided for the needs of the Apostles and their families for 3½ years.

4. Jesus had 1,000,000/= in His treasury at one time:

"He (Jesus) answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? (Mark 6:37). A penny or denarius was a single day's wage in Israel at the time. Converting to Ugandan currency a laborer’s wage would be 5,000/= a day thus 200x5000 gives us 1,000,000/= that Phillip declared was available to buy bread for the multitude.

5. Jesus wore designer clothes:

"Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout" (John 19:23). Jesus wore a very expensive coat or robe without seam that even Roman soldiers had to gamble for it.

6. Jesus did not ride on second-hand donkies:

"Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither" (Luke 19:30) Jesus only rode on donkies (colts) on which no man had ridden before. He would cruise a first-hand Hammer today!