I would like to pick up on a quote I shared from Danny Silk’s book, the Culture of Honour, in a previous article.
“Success is built through the value we maintain for the prophetic voices in our environment, because our prosperity comes through our agreements with Heaven’s culture, and the prophets clarify the reality of that culture for us and invite us to enter it.[1]”
I want you to notice there that Silk talks explicitly in terms of “prosperity”. As I said previously, this should activate our antennae. This is a call to examine all that Bethel does and says carefully through that lens. I’m not going to do that extensively here but what I want to do at this stage is focus in on some specific arguments that Silk makes here and how they link to Prosperity teaching.
Remember that one of Silk’s big themes in terms of honour culture is that we name people correctly. He says:
““A culture of honor is created as a community of people learns to discern and receive people in their God-given identities. Throughout this book we will explore some of the “names” that have enabled us to establish very specific kinds of relationships in the Bethel community. These are the relationships that attract and sustain the outpouring of God’s presence and power in our midst. The names “apostle,” “prophet,” “teacher,” “pastor,” and “evangelist” and their distinctive anointings, mindsets, and gifts create a network of relationships designed to bring the focus and priorities of Heaven to earth. Names like “free sons” and “children of light” define the way we must honor and relate to one another, particularly when addressing areas of behavior and relationships that need discipline and restoration. Descriptive names like “royalty,” “wealthy,” and “benefactor” shape our relationships with our resources and with the wider community that the Church is called to bless and encounter with the love and power of Heaven.[2]
One justification he uses for this are these words of Jesus:
“He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.”[3]
He sees this as the evidence that we are to name and honour people correctly in order to receive the right reward. Now, one of the important things to remember when reading Scripture is that you need to read the whole statement to get to the punchline. Here it is:
“The one who welcomes you welcomes Me, and the one who welcomes Me welcomes Him who sent Me. 41 Anyone who[p] welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet[q] will receive a prophet’s reward. And anyone who[r] welcomes a righteous person because he’s righteous[s] will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And whoever gives just a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple[t]—I assure you: He will never lose his reward!”” (Matthew 10:40-42).
The statements about prophets are framed by two things. First, that those who welcome us are welcoming Jesus. Second that the one who gives just a cup of cold water to a little one, the least of disciples won’t go unrewarded. In other words, the stuff about prophets and even righteous people is not about the need to correctly honour such people. Rather, it is that even the least act of welcome to the least of people is in Jesus’ name and so as much to be rewarded as the big boys, the prophet and those with righteous status. It seems that the point Jesus intends to make takes us in the opposite direction to the point Silk makes.
This whole idea of honouring by naming fits in well with prosperity thinking. That’s where we get the idea of “name it and claim it” from. It’s the idea that you can have whatever you claim but you have to name it right. Prosperity Gospel is the Rumpelstiltskin of the Church. You can have whatever you want but you have to have the right thoughts and go to the right person at the right time, in the right place, with the right amount of money (tithe) so that all your dreams may come true. This is so different to what Jesus actually says.
[1] Silk, Danny. Culture of Honor: Sustaining a Supernatural Enviornment: Sustaining a Supernatural Environment (pp. 65-66). Destiny Image. Kindle Edition.
[2] Silk, Danny. Culture of Honor: Sustaining a Supernatural Enviornment: Sustaining a Supernatural Environment (p. 26). Destiny Image. Kindle Edition.
[3] Silk, Danny. Culture of Honor: Sustaining a Supernatural Enviornment: Sustaining a Supernatural Environment (p. 26). Destiny Image. Kindle Edition.
Faithroots 