At the turn of the year, we published several articles§ cautioning against the recycled prophecies routinely dispensed by popular figures in the charismatic Christian world—grand promises of unbroken prosperity, wealth, and health, presented as definitive ‘words’ from God. This has become an annual ritual: congregations are assured of a life entirely free from suffering, illness, setbacks, or trouble of any kind.
Recently, Joe Mettle, a seasoned gospel musician in Ghana, released a single entitled ‘This Year’, in which he gave musical expression to these very promises. In the song, Mettle declares the unfolding year to be one that will overflow with testimonies and signs and wonders on every side. He sings of swimming in abundance, of waking up with spiritual fervour, and of personally living out every promise God has ever spoken. Doors, he declares, will swing open at his approach; favour will meet him at every turn; every valley in his path will be transformed into a highway; and every prophecy spoken over his life will come to pass—all of this decreed and declared over himself in Jesus’ name.
The wealth and health gospel
The theology that animates this song belongs to what is commonly known as the Word of Faith movement, or the wealth-and-health—or prosperity—gospel. In brief, this teaching frames faith as a currency with which one transacts with God. The logic runs as follows: if you have sufficient faith, you may legitimately demand from heaven’s resources—perfect health, financial abundance, and essentially anything else one desires.
In this framework, faith becomes a guarantee of success, whether in job interviews, business contracts, or even sporting outcomes. One does not ask God; one commands Him, on the basis of one’s faith. This is precisely the spirit behind Mettle’s song: I decree and declare it.
Does God actually promise these things?
What does “a year full of testimony” actually mean? What is “swimming in abundance”? In Word of Faith phraseology, terms like testimony, favour, and blessing are interpreted almost exclusively in terms of wealth and health—material prosperity. Signs and wonders, in this framework, translate to having everything you want and never being in want. The question is therefore straightforward: does the Bible actually promise believers a life of uninterrupted abundance?
The answer is no. There is not a single verse of Scripture that makes this promise. It is, plainly stated, deceptive teaching. The song invites listeners to expect to “live every prophecy and word God has spoken.” Very well. Let us take that seriously and examine what God has actually spoken.
What Jesus promised
Jesus was unambiguous about what His followers should expect in this world:
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Note the words carefully: you will have tribulation. Not “you might”, not “you will if your faith is weak”, but you will. This is a promise as certain as any other Jesus made. The comfort He offers is not the removal of hardship, but His own victory over it.
More striking still is the cost of discipleship Jesus sets out in Luke 9:23-25. The language here is arresting. Daily self-denial. A cross. The willingness to lose one’s life. This is the path Jesus calls every believer to walk—not a highway of unbroken favour, but the narrow road of self-surrender. It is also a direct rebuke to the prosperity gospel’s core logic: Jesus Himself asks what profit there is in gaining the whole world, if the soul is forfeited in the process. The very thing the prosperity gospel promises—worldly abundance—is the thing Jesus warns us not to live for.
One looks in vain for these promises in the Word of Faith repertoire.
What the Apostle Paul experienced
“I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:12–13)
Paul—who was caught up to the third heaven and authored much of the New Testament—knew seasons of genuine hunger and need, not merely as a passing phase on the way to abundance, but as a recurring reality of his apostolic life. The famous verse that follows (“I can do all things through him who strengthens me”) is not, as it is so often used, a promise of limitless achievement; it is a declaration of contentment in hardship, sustained by divine strength.
What the Apostle Peter taught
In his letter to Jewish Christians scattered across the Roman world, Peter offered no promise of comfort and ease. Instead, he called them to follow Christ’s own example of suffering:
“For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly… if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:19–21)
Peter goes on to say that it is blessed to suffer for righteousness’ sake (3:14), and that it may sometimes be God’s will for His people to suffer for doing good (3:17). Suffering, in Peter’s theology, is not a sign of weak faith or divine disfavour—it can be the precise pathway along which God leads His children.
The testimony of the early church
“…strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22)
This was the message the apostles brought to young churches: not a guarantee of ease, but a call to persevere through tribulation. It is worth noting the word must—tribulation is not presented as an unfortunate possibility for those without faith, but as a normal feature of the Christian journey.
It is precisely in the seasons of lack, the trials of faith, and the furnace of tribulation that genuine faith is proved. Anyone can profess trust in God when life is comfortable. The question that suffering asks—and that the prosperity gospel cannot answer—is whether our faith is in God Himself, or merely in the blessings we hope He will provide.
But how about Job 22:28?
A verse frequently cited in defence of the decree-and-declare approach is Job 22:28: “You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways” (NKJV). The ESV rendition reads: “You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.”
Already, the ESV translation is telling: decide on a matter carries none of the mystical, commanding force that Word of Faith teachers read into this verse. On the surface, however, the NKJV rendering appears to lend credibility to the notion that the believer has the authority to speak things into existence—to decree prosperity, health, and success, and expect them to materialise.
John Gill, one of the most thorough biblical expositors in the history of the church, addresses this passage directly. His commentary is instructive. Gill notes that strictly speaking, unfrustrable decrees belong to God alone—it is God whose counsel stands and whose purposes cannot be overthrown. When the verse speaks of a person decreeing a thing, Gill argues it is best understood in one of three ways: as a just leader whose wise decisions are ratified by heaven; as a person who, having committed their plans to God, finds them prospered and established; or—most fittingly—as a person of prayer, who lifts their requests to God in genuine faith and receives accordingly. The light that shines upon their ways is not the light of their own authority or declaration, but the light of God’s grace within them, God’s word guiding them, and God’s favour blessing their endeavours.
In other words, Job 22:28 is a promise to the person who humbly commits their ways to God—not a licence for the believer to stand in the place of God and decree outcomes into existence. The authority here belongs to God; the posture required of the believer is faith and dependence, not command and entitlement.
This reading is confirmed by the verses immediately preceding:
“Then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver. For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you…” (Job 22:25-27)
Notice the portrait of the person whose decisions are established by God. This is someone for whom God Himself is the treasure—their gold, their precious silver. Because they delight in the Almighty above all else, their desires and decisions naturally align with His will. It is no wonder, then, that God establishes them. The text offers no support whatsoever for the idea that any believer, by the force of their declaration, can command God to produce outcomes on their behalf.
A conspicuous omission
It has not escaped our attention that the song ‘This Year’ is entirely silent on the call to holy living. From beginning to end, it is preoccupied with claiming blessings, with no word of exhortation to holiness—which is, in fact, the explicit will of God for every believer (1 Thessalonians 4:3–5). It is therefore far from uncommon to find professing Christians living in open disobedience and yet fully expecting—and enthusiastically claiming—God’s blessing.
Conclusion
The theology embedded in the song This Year is a fundamental distortion of Biblical Christianity. It replaces petition with presumption, substitutes entitlement for faith, and promises what God has never promised. When Scripture is examined accurately, a different picture emerges: one in which believers are called to endure tribulation, follow a suffering Saviour, learn contentment in seasons of plenty and want, and trust a sovereign God whose ways are higher than ours.
This does not mean God is indifferent to our circumstances, or that prayer is futile. On the contrary—the Bible is full of encouragements to bring every need before God, ask boldly, and expect His faithfulness. But God’s faithfulness does not mean the removal of all hardship. It means the presence of God within it, strength sufficient for each trial, and an eternal inheritance that no earthly suffering can diminish.
The prosperity gospel does a profound disservice to Christians—particularly those in contexts of genuine poverty, illness, and suffering—by implying that their hardship is evidence of insufficient faith. It is not. Some of the most faith-filled people in Scripture suffered the most deeply: Job, Paul, Peter, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Their trials did not contradict God’s promises; they were part of them.
We call on Christian leaders, musicians, and influencers—particularly across Ghana and the wider African church—to handle the word of God carefully and accurately. The gospel is genuinely good news: not the promise of a trouble-free life, but the promise of a Saviour who has overcome the world, and who walks with His people through every valley until He brings them safely home.
Notes
- https://tgnghana.org/dont-fall-for-it-this-31st-december/
- https://tgnghana.org/new-years-eve-vigil-services-auspicious-moments-or-gospel-merchandise/
