Poverty = Piety?!

To convince Christians to believe the lie that piety equals poverty, the spirit of poverty would have to convince us that Jesus, our role model, was poor. Amazingly, this demon has had tremendous success in doing that. We usually think of His being born in a manger or at one point saying that He had no place to lay His head as evidence. Larry Hutch sums up this false mind-set: "We have religiously and traditionally taught that Jesus was poor, so Christians should be poor."

Hutch goes on to point out that Mary and Joseph first went to the inn to get a room. That means they must have had money to pay for the room.

Regarding the wise men and the gifts they brought to Jesus, Hutch writes, "God was not the only priceless gift they offered Christ. Frankincense and myrrh are also precious substances. Furthermore, according to Matthew 2:1, there could have been many wise men. These gifts could have ensured that Jesus and His family lived in comfort." Why shouldn't we see that as a supernatural transference of wealth?

Consider the fact that Joseph later took his family on an unexpected two-year trip to Egypt. That certainly required substantial costs for which he had not previously budgeted. And when Jesus was ministering later on, He had a treasury that financed His ministry team.

No, the idea that Jesus was poor is a myth. He was prosperous and yet He was pious! This is not good news to the spirit of poverty.

The rest of the Bible affirms the same thing, as Chuck Pierce and Robert Heidler point out:

The Bible teaches in no uncertain terms that poverty is a curse, and the Father does not want His children walking under a curse.
         There is a lot of crazy thinking in the Church about this! Let me make this clear. Poverty does not make us holy. Most of the holy men in the Bible were not poor. Abraham was rich. Apart from one brief period of adversity, Job lived his life in incredible abundance. David was a king who enjoyed tremendous wealth. Paul had tremendous success as a church planter. He started many churches and saw many of them grow to thousands of members. All along he boasted that he had all the supplies he needed. 

C. Peter Wagner, The Church in the Workplace