L. It Is Pathetic That Joseph Prince & The Prosperity Gospel Preachers Have Picked Solomon As The Role Model Of Wealth & Prosperity For Their Followers To Emulate, Given The Tragic End To Solomon’s Life.
Joseph Prince said in the audio clip,
“Solomon was so disgustingly rich.
The Bible says, he drank from vessels of gold.
He made silver so common as the stones of Jerusalem.
He built God a house, a temple that cost; I made a study of this once, over 250 billion US dollars.
Not millions, billions.
Over 200 billion US dollars.
You know his daily expenses, his daily food, just one day, came to over 17,000 US dollars.
What did he eat?
Do you know the clothings, just the clothings of his priests were over 10 million?
That’s amazing!
What did they wear?
That’s amazing, isn’t it?
That he has so much wealth.”
George’s comments:
Joseph Prince paints you only the nice bits of Solomon – about how much wealth, silver and gold King Solomon possessed.
But he has hidden something heartbreaking from you – and this is about how Solomon, the richest man in the Old Testament, ended his life.
Solomon started his life wonderfully well, but he ended his life tragically.
Solomon began his reign, full of promise, when he picked wisdom over all the other things, even wealth, that God could have given him (2 Chron 1:7-12).
And God gave him both wisdom and wealth.
How wonderful would it be if Solomon had continued to be wise?
Solomon, eventually, didn’t use the wisdom God gave him, and he became a foolish man.
His wealth got the better of him, and his wisdom fizzles out too.
He preached wisdom to many in the Book of Proverbs, but he didn’t follow it himself.
If Solomon had continued with his wise ways, he wouldn’t have made the terrible decision of having 700 mothers-in-law – half in jest!
For some men, having one mother-in-law is already one too many.
On top of the 700 wives, he had 300 concubines.
How could Solomon be wise to have married 700 wives and 300 concubines?
It’s not wisdom; it’s utter folly.
The book of Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon during the twilight years of his life when he was an older man.
His opening statement in the book was profoundly negative and saddening:
“Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless” (Eccl 1:2 NIV).
I’ve personally checked that the word ‘meaningless’ was repeated 35 times in Ecclesiastes.
How pathetic it is for the so-called wisest and richest man in the then known world to get to the end of his life, and declare that life is utterly meaningless.
Solomon had all the wealth to indulge in every one of his fantasies, and he did.
The saddest thing is that the richest man in the Old Testament, with all his great wealth, came to the end of his life and said that everything is meaningless, and I gain nothing:
“Everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun” (Eccl 2:11 NIV).
The saddest thing is to get at the end of your life, mourning over the fact that you haven’t achieved anything worthwhile.
Solomon, the richest man, had tried everything with his wealth, but at the end of his life, he came to the sad conclusion that everything is meaningless:
Eccl 2:1-11 NIV
1 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless.
2 “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?”
3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.
4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards.
5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees.
7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me.
8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart.
9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil.
11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
The lesson we could learn is the futility of acquiring riches as a means of seeking pleasure (Eccl 2:1-11).
Life was meaningless because Solomon was trying to seek after these things apart from God.
More so, some of these things he sought after were forbidden by God.
As he came to the end of his life, there are several things that he advised his readers to do, which he didn’t do.
First, as a young man, he didn’t make enough time for God.
He left God out for much of his life as a young man.
That is why at the end of Ecclesiastes, in chapter 12:1, he advised the young people:
“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth…” (Eccl 12:1 NIV).
Second, what Solomon regretted most was that he had not feared God as he should as he had not obeyed God to keep His commandments:
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (Eccl 12:13-14 NIV).
Joseph Prince, given what I have written in the above about Solomon, isn’t it pathetic that you and your PG chaps have picked Solomon as the model of wealth and prosperity for your followers to emulate.
Joseph Prince, given the depressing way that Solomon had ended his life, how could you have the cheek and the nerve to pick Solomon as the example to follow in your teaching that every believer is supposed to be rich.
Solomon, is indeed, a disastrous example to follow.
Though Solomon started well, he ended his life terribly.
God had explicitly instructed him not to accumulate wealth and possessions:
“The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself… He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold” (Deut 17:16-17 NIV).
But Solomon chose to disobey God at his own peril.
It is precisely because of his wealth and prosperity that have led him astray from God.
The most important lesson Solomon had learned was that he had not feared God as he had disobeyed God’s commandments.
He teaches that we need to fear God as we will all be called to account for how we have lived the life that God has given us.
We will be called to account for whether we have kept and obeyed the commandments of God.
But, Joseph Prince, not only are you not teaching what Solomon could have learned, you teach against them.
You falsely teach that we, as New Covenant believers, must not fear God and that there are no laws or commandments that New Covenant believers must obey.
By your teaching that every Christian is entitled to be rich, which is the cause of Solomon’s downfall, and that we shouldn’t fear God or obey His commandments, your destiny and that of your followers, are unlikely to differ much from Solomon.
Solomon took 7 years to build the temple, but he took 13 years to build his own house.
1 Kgs 6:38 NASB
38 “In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts and according to all its plans. So he was seven years in building it.”
1 Kgs 7:1 NIV
1 “Now Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.”
Note that when the Bible was first written, there were no chapter and verse divisions.
These chapter and verse divisions were added at a later time.
1 Kings chapter 6, verse 38, is the last verse of chapter 6, whereas 1 Kings chapter 7, verse 1, is the first verse of chapter 7.
If you read these two verses, seamlessly, without the chapter and verse divisions – you can feel the contrast, straightaway – that Solomon took twice the time to build his house as compared to the temple.
Hence, you know where his heart is really in.
He was probably more passionate about building his own house than God’s temple.
Joseph Prince said in the audio clip,
“Solomon was so disgustingly rich.
The Bible says, he drank from vessels of gold.
He made silver so common as the stones of Jerusalem.
He built God a house, a temple that cost; I made a study of this once, over 250 billion US dollars.
Not millions, billions.
Over 200 billion US dollars.
You know his daily expenses, his daily food, just one day, came to over 17,000 US dollars.
What did he eat?
Do you know the clothings, just the clothings of his priests were over 10 million?
That’s amazing!
What did they wear?
That’s amazing, isn’t it?
That he has so much wealth.”
Joseph Prince, let me ask you – can New Covenant believers justify such amassing of wealth by Solomon given the command of Jesus not to lay up treasures on earth (Lk 12:33)?
In the next few chapters, I will unload more evidence from the New Testament scriptures that there is no justification, whatsoever, for Joseph Prince to justify the amassing of such wealth for New Covenant believers.
Although God blessed Solomon with riches, He wanted Solomon to use his wisdom to utilise his wealth to serve Him and others.
That is why God commanded Solomon to build a great temple for His glory.
But at the same time, God forbade Solomon to accumulate horses, wives, gold, or silver for himself, but he disobeyed God (Deut 17:14-20; 1 Kgs 4:26; 10:26-27; 11:1-3).
Deut 17:16-17 NIV
16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”
17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.
1 Kgs 4:26 NIV
26 “Solomon had four thousand stalls for chariot horses, and twelve thousand horses.”
1 Kgs 10:26-27 NIV
26 “Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.
27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills.”
1 Kings 11:1-13 gives a depressing commentary and a summary about the life of Solomon:
1 Kgs 11:1-13 NIV
1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.
2 They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.
3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.
4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites.
6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.
7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites.
8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
9 The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command.
11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.
12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
Solomon’s hundreds of wives turned his heart away from God, and he became an idolator (1 Kgs 11:4-10).
Could Solomon have supported the 700 wives and 300 concubines if not for his great wealth?
Definitely not.
No poor man can be a womanizer.
It takes a rich man to womanise.
Solomon was a womanizer because he was wealthy.
So, in a real sense, his wealth was the root cause that brought about all the rest of his sins.
It was his wealth that brought about his downfall.
He didn’t use his wealth to love his neighbour as himself.
Instead, he used his wealth in self-indulgence to build the biggest harem in all of history.
Wealth is at the root cause of Solomon’s ‘women problem’, which in turn is the cause of his idolatry.
It was Solomon’s wealth that made him an idolator.
Solomon would have used his wealth for the benefit of others, especially the poorer people in his kingdom.
But Solomon indulged his wealth on himself.
He disobeyed God by acquiring great numbers of horses and accumulating large amounts of gold and silver for himself.
By having 1,000 women all to himself, he has effectively robbed one thousand men of the opportunity to marry.
Given the depressing way that Solomon had messed up his life, it is totally irresponsible and insensible for Joseph Prince and many PGP to hold up wealthy Solomon as a role model for every believer who wants to get rich.
What kind of example is Solomon?
Yes, he is a wealthy man, but he is also a selfish, self-indulging, super-womaniser and gross idolator.
He has probably broken the Guinness book of records by having the most number of women in a person’s life.
Joseph Prince, let me ask you – is our goal to be like wealthy, self-indulgent, idolatrous and womanising Solomon or to be like Paul and Christ, who both exemplified a disapproving attitude towards covetousness, money and wealth (Lk 12:15,20,21; 1 Tim 6:6-10)?
Someone said about Solomon: “The world’s wisest man became the world’s greatest fool.”
Solomon, who began well, turned evil.
In the eyes of God, Solomon was not a godly but an evil king.
Solomon became an idol worshipper, promoted idol worship, did evil and disobeyed the commandments of God:
5 “He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites” (1 Kgs 11:5).
6 “So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord…” (1 Kgs 11:6).
7 “On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites” (1 Kgs 11:7).
8 “He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods” (1 Kgs 11:8).
9 The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel… (1 Kgs 11:9).
10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. (1 Kgs 11:10).
God was so angry with Solomon that He broke the kingdom into two (after his death):
“So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates” (1 Kgs 11:11).
When God has to invoke such severe punishment on Solomon by breaking the kingdom apart, it just goes to show the evil that Solomon had perpetrated against God.
With Solomon’s own admission that he had failed God (Ecclesiastes)
and God’s hopeless opinion about Solomon’s character and His severe judgement on Him,
how Joseph Prince and PGP can ever hail Solomon be our role model is beyond comprehension.
But why did Joseph Prince and the PGP hail Solomon as an excellent example to follow? – Only because Solomon was disgustingly rich.
Joseph Prince and the PGP are so blinded by riches that they failed to see that on the whole, Solomon was an evil king, who disobeyed God and became an idol worshipper.
Joseph Prince specialises in telling you just one half of the truth that Solomon was rich.
But he has hidden the other more crucial half of the truth that he had disobeyed God in Deuteronomy 17:16-17, and that Solomon did evil, became an idol worshipper as he was led into idolatry by his wives in 1 Kings 11:1-13.
Most of all, Joseph Prince has hidden and kept the most crucial lesson that Solomon could have learned in the concluding part of Ecclesiastes, in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, from you.
Eccl 12:13-14 NIV
13 “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
Solomon, indeed, had a great start, but a tragic ending.
He inherited the expanded kingdom of His father, David.
He had the privilege of building the Temple of God.
When the temple was dedicated, the glory of the Lord (smoke) filled the temple.
He was given wisdom by God, and he became the wisest man in the then known world.
But the wisest man became the most foolish man when he allowed wealth and women to lead him astray from God.
It is my personal opinion that Solomon is not in heaven but hell.
And I do not say this gleefully, but sadly.
I am totally aware that if I am wrong, Solomon will give me no peace and no sleep when I meet him in glory.
I believe it is no accident or coincidence that the two kings, King Saul, and King Solomon, were left out in the heroes of faith in Hebrews chapter 11.
Many of you may say, “How can a man who wrote three books of the Bible (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Songs of Solomon) be in hell?”
Well, if God can use the donkey to talk, and anoint King Cyprus, an unbeliever, for setting His people free from their exile, He can use anything or anyone to achieve His purposes.
The only proviso is if Solomon had, indeed, repented of his evil, his disobedience to God and his idolatry.
Even if the worst sinner, who commits the greatest sin, truly repents, God will never cast him away and will embrace him with His loving arms of forgiveness.
But there is no indication in the scriptures that Solomon had repented.
If Solomon’s regret in his later life is similar to Judas Iscariot’s remorse, and if he didn’t finally repent, then, from the authority of scriptures, I have every right to say that he isn’t in heaven because of what Jesus said, “… But unless you repent, you too will all perish… But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Lk 13:3,5).
If that is so, how could Joseph Prince and the PGP ever use Solomon as the role model for New Covenant believers to follow?
Isn’t it obvious that Joseph Prince and the PGP are blinded by the same riches in the same way as Solomon was?