Now, a big question in the minds of many Christians is does
Satan bless people financially? Many times it looks as though the
ungodly men have all the money, but this is not true. There is
more wealth hidden away than they will ever possess. The Bible
says plainly that God will cause us to have the hidden wealth of
the world, the hidden riches of the secret places (see Isaiah
45:3). The Word tells us that “…the wealth of the sinner is laid
up for the just” (Proverbs 13:22). Why then does the sinner
have it? Because there are certain facts of financial law that will
work when put to work. Israel has proven this. God taught
Abraham certain things that the Jews are using today, and they
are still working. You won’t find a Jew who believes in poverty
because poverty is not in the Old Covenant. It is in religion, not
in the Bible. It was put into Christianity as a religion during the
Dark Ages when the Word was taken from the people and put
away in monasteries. Poverty oaths were fed into Christianity
when the religious hierarchy took over. The men operating it
were not born-again men.

You can look at the world’s system of finance and see a perfect
picture of Satan’s whole pattern. It can be stated in just a
few words—“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and
to destroy” (John 10:10).

How do you kill a body of water? Stop it from flowing.

How do you kill a physical body? Stop it from functioning.

How do you kill the Body of Christ financially? Pile up all
the money in reservoirs and stop it from moving. Satan is a
deceiver. Absolutely nothing he does is a blessing. Proverbs
1:32 confirms this, “The prosperity of fools shall destroy them.” It
may look as if he is blessing, but he always destroys. He always
presents a dead end, no way out. In fact, if you want to discern
between the work of God and the work of Satan, remember:
Satan always tells you there is no way out, but Jesus says, “I am
the way” (John 14:6). If it is doubt, defeat or discouragement, it
is from Satan—ALWAYS.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

God first began dealing with me about the laws that govern
prosperity in 1967. I was conducting a series of meetings in a
very small church in a very small town in the Texas panhandle.
For years I had entertained the idea that success was not an
accident, that luck has nothing to do with it. I had read books
of different kinds on this idea but had not found any answers
that satisfied me. It didn’t occur to me that the Bible was written
by the most successful individual alive—God!

In those early days of following the Lord’s teaching, it
seemed that He was very hard on me. I could see no reason for
Him to be so strict. Of course, I had no idea then that, in less
than 10 years, prime interest rates would soar to heights as
never before. Who could dream that the fuel shortage, food
shortage, paper shortage, etc., would come storming their way
into our lives.

When Gloria and I first began to put the things we were
learning into practice, we had nothing around us but problems.
I had returned to college at the age of 30 and from there God
called us into a full-time ministry in His service. We were deeply
in debt and lived in surroundings that were very poor. The job
God called me to do required that I travel extensively preaching
and teaching His Word, but our car was completely worn out.
We had no clothes. I had lost 75 pounds and, obviously, none
of my clothes fit. The trousers on some of my suits had been
altered so many times that, instead of two back pockets, it
looked like one big pocket! I could go on and on about our
situation, but it’s easy to see that we had less than nothing. We
were thousands of dollars in debt.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries