For starters this is a forced choice question with two answers that has a third answer. Maybe He wouldn't want either to be wealthy. God does not care about money the way Dr. Williams presents Him here. Let us look at some topical church examples to debunk this point. One of the worst false teachers alive today is Kenneth Copeland. Yet Copeland is worth in excess of 600 million dollars. Joel Osteen wouldn't know the Gospel if it hit him in the head and yet he is worth in excess of 30 million dollars. Does anyone seriously think that God chose for them to be rich by making merchandise off of His sheep? Money and wealth are carnal benefits of this earth. We are supposed to be pilgrims and sojourners through this earth. So does that mean we are supposed to be poor? No beloved but we are supposed to be content in all situations and indifferent towards the things this world exalts.
"Wealth is a good thing; not a bad thing--unless we put it first, loving money more than we love God. It seems like a paradox, but the truth is, the people who bite on get-rich-quick scams usually suffer from a poverty spirit that comes from not knowing or applying God's Word." -- Dr. David Williams
The assumption always made by pro-wealth Christian is that money can be controlled by the flesh instead of the other way around. That it can be avoided as an idol in our lives. Yet the Bible teaches us that we cannot serve two masters. The Bible warns us how difficult it will be for the rich to enter heaven at all! The rich young ruler went away sad because he could not part with his money, even for God. I am not saying that one cannot master money instead of being mastered by it but the Bible makes it clear this is the exception and not the rule. Dr. Williams presents it as simplicity, which it most certainly is not. He continues:
"Matthew 25 tells us about three men, each given the responsibility of handling the master's money, each according to their ability. One got five, another got two and another received one. Two of the men doubled the money in business and investments. The other guy did nothing. The fellow who did not even try to increase the money given him eventually had everything taken away. He lost it all. This is exactly the result of harboring a poverty mentality. It steals, it kills and it destroys. It darkens dreams, kills plans and destroys the future of its victims.
Profit is not a sin; neither is it carnal. Profit, achievement and productivity are virtuous attributes in God's eyes." -- Dr. David Williams
Ugh. If you read the Parable of the Talents and surmise it is about managing and investing money then I suspect that you are already like the rich young ruler. Remember it is a parable beloved. The Parable of the Fig Tree is no more about figs than the Parable of the Talents is about the talents (money). It is about being about the King's business. The most valuable commodity entrusted to us is the Gospel, not money. God gives us everything and the lesson here is what are you doing with it and why are you doing it. The problem with the "other guy" is more about his view of his God as being mean and capricious. He was motivated out of fear instead of knowing who he served. There are far too many Christians who bury their salvation in the ground as this last servant did with the money his master gave him. They play church every Sunday but one day they will be asked what they did with the riches entrusted to them in knowing Christ Jesus. Dr. Williams' summation here is silly. So the final servant had a "poverty mentality?" Really? He thought God reaped where He did not sow and you think that equates to thinking like he wants to be materially poor? Again, ugh.
"God's Kingdom embraces prosperity, not poverty. The poverty spirit is a formidable obstacle that prevents the release of wealth to God's people. Those who have attracted a poverty spirit to their lives can never live up to their potential, like the failure of the one talent man in Matthew 25." -- Dr. David Williams
Wow. This is straight NAR, prosperity gospel heresy. Is Dr. Williams seriously making a biblical case that our brothers and sisters struggling for their very lives in the Middle East or in the underground church in China have attracted a spirit of poverty that is preventing the release of wealth from God unto them? How disgusting. Also, is not God, God? Are His hands tied in heaven or is He truly sovereign? Does He look somberly down upon a child in poverty in South America or even Detroit and wish He could release wealth unto them if only they would defeat that dang poverty spirit they have. God is not bound by our limitations even the ones people like Dr. David Williams create in his wickedly deceitful heart. What is even more staggeringly disgusting is the assertion that poor Christians can never live up to their potential. What is truly sad is that the Bible teaches the opposite. It teaches us that it is much harder for the rich to live up to their potential or even gain eternal life at all! The failure of the man in Matthew 25 is not about how he viewed money but rather how he viewed God. This is the idolization of material wealth. Nothing more and nothing less.
