Is the doctrine of effortless prosperity and wealth a teaching of the New Testament?

Is the doctrine of effortless prosperity, success, and wealth a teaching of the Old Testament or New Testament?
Many radical grace preachers will say, "Of course, New Testament. Effortless preaching or preaching of abundant life and spiritual blessings can only be grace under the New Testament. When it comes to material prosperity, riches, and success, it must be grace too. It is unearned, undeserved, and unmerited favor from God. Have you gone to a shopping mall or food court which has very few people? But as soon as we step into the place, people would just stream in ? What, lunch time? Oh, no, this is the evidence of God's favor in our lives ! But the preaching of repentance is the teaching of the Old Testament! "
I will tell them, Oh, really? Preaching of repentance is from the Old Testament? I see. I know why you said that. I will explain it in a moment later. But, now, I can tell you that the preaching of effortless material prosperity and blessings is from the Old Testament too. Hence, I am not surprised that the Pharisees could have preached effortless prosperity to the Jews and made them confess it regularly for blessings too:

• Deu 6:10-11 KJV  And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,  (11)  And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;

Effortless and lawless prosperity is not a new teaching; it's in the Old Testament!
So, we understand that effortless teaching or theology was not something new. It could have been radically taught by the lawless Pharisees too. Obviously they did not have God's laws and commandments in their hearts; yet they would tell the people to know the blessing of Abraham and the blessing of Deut 28 by heart. However, they removed God's laws and commandments, replaced all the words 'curses' with with their words 'blessings', and put the names of their enemies in the Bible verses that have the curses or warning for them. They could have preached 'replacement theology' too:

• Deu 28:1-8 KJV  And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:  (2)  And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.  (3)  Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.  (4)  Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.  (5)  Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.  (6)  Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.  (7)  The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.  (8)  The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
• Deu 28:15-45 KJV  But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:  (16)  Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.  (17)  Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.  (18)  Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.  (19)  Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.  ..  (30)  Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.  (31)  Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.  (32)  Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.  ..  (39)  Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.  ...  (44)  He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.  (45)  Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:

Many will argue, "What makes you think that the Pharisee were the 'effortless' or 'lawless' teachers?  They would keep many laws and oppress the people with God's laws..."
I will tell them, Yes, the Pharisees might think that they had kept the laws. But Jesus would not think so. If they would do and teach God's laws, Jesus would have praised them and call them great because Jesus said:

• Mat 5:18-20 KJV  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.  (19)  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  (20)  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Hence, Jesus did not say that we should be as righteous as the Pharisees, but He said we should be more righteous than the Pharisees who were hypocrites. In another words, 1. All the Jews must still repent even though they thought that they were as righteous as the Pharisees, 2. All of us, who are now in Christ should never follow the deceivableness of unrighteousness (2Th 2:10) that is in the Pharisees or hypocrites too.)

In fact, Malachi and Jesus confirmed that many religious leaders and Pharisees had departed from God's commandments and preached their lawless, effortless, or Godless doctrine: 

• Mal 2:1-17 KJV  And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.  ..(7)  For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.  (8)  But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts... (17) Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
• Mal 3:15 KJV  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts... (13) Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?  (14)  Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?  (15)  And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
• Mat 15:4-9 KJV  For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.  (5)  But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;  (6)  And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.  (7)  Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,  (8)  This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.  (9)  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
• Mar 7:13 KJV  Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
• Mat 7:22-23 LITV  Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many works of power?  (23)  And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; "depart from Me, those working lawlessness!"
• Mat 23:27-28 LITV  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened graves which outwardly indeed appear beautiful, but within are full of bones of the dead, and of all uncleanness.  (28)  So you also indeed outwardly appear righteous to men, but within are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
   

So, from these Bible verses, I am not surprised that the Pharisees were 'great preachers' of the effortless and lawless doctrine too. I will now ask the radical grace preachers, Is there any difference between your effortless or lawless teaching and their lawless teaching? Yes, the difference is you believe and confess the name of Jesus, but they don't. You believe in the blood of Jesus Christ and therefore you think that you have fulfilled all the laws and commandments by just believing in Him, but they believe in the blood of the animals and therefore they thought that they had fulfilled all God's commandments by just shouting out the word 'Corban' !

• Mar 7:11-13 KJV  But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.  (12)  And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;  (13)  Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

Hence, I would think that the effortless doctrine that you preach and the doctrine that the Pharisees preached are the same even though you believe in the blood of the Lamb. You may think that you have believed in a more powerful blood which can cleanse more sins and make you more righteous than the Pharisees. But Paul said that thinking of the blood of Jesus for this purpose would put in danger of sinning willfully which no sinners and ordinary believers can commit. In another words, sinning willfully is a term or situation which no murderer, sinners, or carnal believers can commit, except the Jews and the believers who have already understood the knowledge, the truth, and the power of the blood, and yet they would take advantage of this to remove, hide, and corrupt their sin conscience to repent. That's why I am not surprised that those who have become lawless may have already put themselves into the danger of sinning willfully by taking advantage of their knowledge and confidence in the blood to oppose the preaching of repentance, destroy people's sin conscience to repent, gain crowds, and prosper themselves.

• Heb 10:2-31 KJV  For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins... (26) For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,  (27)  But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.  (28)  He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:  (29)  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?  (30)  For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.  (31)  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
  But can we twist it and argue that this warning is not for God's people? No, it says very clearly that God will judge His people; not other people. When He used the comparison of a sorer punishment, He confirmed again that He was comparing and warning two of His people - one who despised Moses' law under the Old Covenant, and another who will dishonour the Spirit of grace under the New Covenant. Please think, who were able to despised Moses' law? Of course, nobody except the Jews or God's people who were given the law? Similarly, who can dishonour the Spirit of grace? Of course, no one, except God's people who have been given the grace of God too?

That's why I has indicated at the top of this post that I knew why most effortless or lawless preachers who preach prosperity would corrupt the preaching of repentance and lie that preaching of repentance is from the Old Testament. I would condemn their preaching as a lie because it can stop people from repenting when it tells people to 'believe only' or to repent by changing their mind about God only (by having good opinion of God only).   


Effortless and lawless prosperity was never preached by the Lord and the Apostles in the New Testament
I have shown you how the effortless prosperity, favor, or wealth could have been preached by the Pharisees and the false prophets who had departed from God's laws and commandments.
Next, we should look at the teaching of the Lord and the Apostles. Do we find their preaching of effortless prosperity in the New Testament?
However, If you have to do a lot of imagination and assumption to argue Jesus and the Apostles had preached prosperity (eg. based on the following Bible verses), you will need to find more Bible verses to convince us:

• 3Jn 1:2 KJV  Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

In fact, if you read the whole chapter written John, you will realize that the above Bible verse was just his greeting to the believers. However, after that, John hardly preached on prosperity. Instead, he preached that he had greater desire for the believers to walk in the truth (not in prosperity):

• 3Jn 1:3-4 KJV  For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.  (4)  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

Hence, we may say that it is God's desire or the Lord's desire for the believers to prosper; but can we say that it is the Lord's desire to preach prosperity based on the Bible verse above? I don't think so.      


Effortless and lawless prosperity would become pale against the teaching of Jesus Christ
In contrast with what was preached by the Pharisees, the teaching of the Lord was a teaching with a total difference. It was not effortless or lawless compared with the teaching of the Pharisees. It was above the  Pharisees' teaching and laws. It was above the Ten Commandments:

• Deu 28:1-8 KJV  ..  (2)  And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. (3)  Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and Blessed shalt thou be in the field.  (4)  Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.  (5)  Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.  (6)  Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and Blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.  ..(7)  The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.  (8)  The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.  
• Mat 5:1-20 KJV  And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:  (2)  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,  (3)  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  (4)  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.  (5)  Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.  (6)  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.  (7)  Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.  (8)  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.  (9)  Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.  (10)  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  (11)  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  (12)  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.  (13)  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.  (14)  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.  (15)  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.  (16)  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.  (17)  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.  (18)  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.  (19)  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  (20)  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

lawlessness would gather against the Word again in the end time
No wonder, the Pharisees were so angry with Jesus that they wanted to kill Him. To them, Jesus was preaching another gospel which destroyed their effortless or lawless lies. Their promises and gospel was made pale before the real Spirit of God's commandments in the Lord's sermon on the mount in Mat 5, 6, and 7. Although the sinners and His disciples were all shocked to know that His gospel and sermon was more 'demanding' than the teaching of the Pharisees, they knew that Jesus was from God and His words were words of eternal life.  Only the Pharisees, the false prophets, wandering stars, the 'frogs', 'donkeys', 'wolves', and the 'snakes' in the end time would mock and try to give people the false impression that His words are hard sayings, testing, or jokes for them. 

• Joh 6:59-69 KJV  (59) These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.  (60)  Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? ...  (63) It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. .. (66)  From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.  (67)  Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?  (68)  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.  (69)  And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
• Jud 1:3-13 KJV  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.  (4)  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ ... (13) Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
• Rev 16:13-15 KJV  And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.  (14)  For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.  (15)  Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. .. Rev 19:11-15 KJV .. (13)  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.  (14)  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.  (15)  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God... (19) And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

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