No doubt you’re familiar with the prosperity gospel, also known as “name it and claim it” and “blab it and grab it”. Your humble blog queens believe that this is a false gospel that promotes the notion that God provides good health and material prosperity for those whom He favors – those who have “enough faith”.
According to the Wikipedia article on this topic, “the prosperity gospel is often used by its promoters to elicit donations on the premise that donations will be materially repaid and rewarded through divine intervention.” This theology is usually found within the charismatic and Pentecostal traditions, but not exclusively.
Dee and I have seen this false gospel up close and personal. Here’s a true story. Around seven years ago an alumnae of the Christian school which our children have attended was involved in a horrific car accident. Miraculously she survived; however, she sustained severe burns over much of her body. She and her family had many friends with strong ties to the prosperity gospel. They prayed for a miraculous healing, as did Dee and I in our school’s prayer ministry.
To make a long story short, this beautiful young lady died several months later. To us, it was truly miraculous that she lived as long as she did. Not long after that, Dee’s older daughter, who was 15 or 16 at the time, traveled with her school choir to a competition. A few of her peers in this choir were involved in the Word of Faith movement. She couldn’t believe that some of her fellow students actually said during the bus ride: “Well, the reason why _________ (the alumnae) died is because she didn’t have enough faith.” Dee’s daughter was highly offended and rebuked the students who uttered those cruel words.
Please don’t be fooled – this is a false gospel. Most prominent evangelical leaders reject the prosperity gospel. According to the Wikipedia article: “Until March 2009, when Joyce Meyer’s ministry was accepted into the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), none of the major prosperity gospel proponents belonged to well-established evangelical organizations such as the ECFA or the National Association of Evangelicals.” This is extremely significant! Joyce Meyer likely subjected her ministry to the scrutiny of the ECFA as a result of being investigated by the Senate Finance Committee in 2008.
Prosperity Belief
Those who promote prosperity theology believe that godliness and prosperity have a causational relationship – in other words, godliness causes prosperity. If prosperity is caused by godliness, then it must be the case that the wealthiest Americans are the strongest Christians, right? Of course not!
One only needs to consider what happened to Job to know that this causational relationship is not always true. While we acknowledge that a sinful life can result in poor health and poverty, living a godly life does not guarantee excellent health and tremendous wealth.
Let’s look at several Bible verses that Kenneth Copeland would NEVER quote.
Matthew 6:19-21, 24; Luke 16:13 – “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
1 John 2:15 – “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Proverbs 22:16 – “He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich – both come to poverty.”
We will continue our investigation into the prosperity gospel (aka Word of Faith Movement) tomorrow; however, we leave you with the following statement made by Mahatma Gandhi:
“I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. The materialism of affluent Christian countries appears to contradict the claims of Jesus Christ that says it’s not possible to worship both Mammon and God at the same time.”
I am not for using terms like “heretical” or “false gospel” to describe the theological emphases of other Christians who do believe in the truth of the Bible and the basic doctrines of Christianity. I doubt, for example, that Kenneth Copeland or any of his ilk would deny anything in the Apostle’s creed.
And I think resorting to “heretical” or “false gospel” language actually gets people’s backs up, when what we are trying to do is persuade them.
The emphasis on prosperity, healing etc. is simply an incorrect interpretation of the teachings of the Bible. The effect of that, however, can be diastrous and very serious.
People who believe such things will never understand the true nature of the Chritian life and thus may robbed of true communion with Christ through suffering.
People who drink at that well are often sorely disappointed and disallusioned. I have known several of them over my years in the faith. They are all shipwrecked by a few good years in the health, wealth and prosperity movement that never can last because life doesn’t work that way.
Finally, I care nothing for what Gandhi said, as quoted above. First, he did not “like your Christ”. He rejected the claims of Christ and His work.
And he was extremely judgmental in condemning the “materialsm of affluent Christian countries”.
Each one of us reading this blog (despite how are wealth might be compared between us) is probably in the top 5% of wealthy people in the world, based on world standards and comparing what other people have. But not all of us are materialists.
Indeed, materialism is a universal problem that all people no matter how rich or poor they may be have to wrestle with. I confess that I do well some days, not so well other days, but am constantly dogged by problems relating to materialsm.
I am glad that you quoted Gandhi, however. Just don’t care much for the quote.
But you are right. How the health, wealth and prosperity guys can actually promote a focus on that seems to fly in the face of much of what Jesus said.
Anonymous,
I call this a “false gospel” because Jesus Christ IS NOT the focus of the prosperity gospel — health and wealth are their gods. These deceivers are merely using Christ for their own gain.
FYI — I have been following Kenneth Copeland and his ilk for 20 years, and they have brought much harm to the body of Christ. I have reached the point where I will no longer remain silent on this issue. Too many people are being harmed.
Deb:
I agree with you in the broad sense. But Copeland would quickly agree with everything in the Apostle’s Creed and much of the Westminster Confession and the BFM.
The problem with these guys is not that they don’t believe the Gospel. They do. BUT they go to seed on certain issues and doctrines and it actually warps the true view of the Gospel.
I simply believe from the standpoint of debate and persuasion that saying someone believes a false Gospel is akin to questionning another person’s standing before God. I know that you may not mean it in this way. But I prefer a different way of articulating things.
I am not fussing at you, at all. And I am glad you brought the topic up.
I am actually concerned about some quarters in the SBC that have Copeland-like feel. I realize that the issues are often separated, but they sure give off the same vibe to me.
I am still not feeling very well but would like to add to this conversation. I do not believe that Copeland and the others preach the true Gospel. The Gospel is not Jesus+”speak faith into reality.” These charlatans have added to the Gospel and I believe many of them know it. They have been about this business long enough to know that their followers are not becoming rich or being healed of real diseases. They also know that they are getting rich on the backs of the “poor in spirit.” Jesus called the Pharisees snakes. He warned about false prophets.
I believe that these “churches” is being investigated because these guys are liars and snakes and everyone knows it except for the poor and easily deceived. I don’t believe for one minute that these guys are sincere except sincere in wanting to get rich. This isn’t a church. It is a concerted effort on the part of false preachers to get rich and it turns my stomach.
Although the “prosperity gospel” aspect of the teachings of Copeland and other Word-Faith teachers is serious theological error, it is not the worst of the teachings common in the Word-Faith movement. Copeland, for example, teaches that Jesus divested himself of deity in the incarnation (a theory known as kenotic theology), and also that Jesus death on the cross was not sufficient for the atonement of sin, but rather that, to secure our salvation, Jesus had to go to hell to complete payment for sin. These, and other doctrines, are the heretical aspects of the teaching of Word-Faith preachers. See http://www.intotruth.org/wof/moreno1.html for a basic overview.
Junkster,
You have just explained one of the heresies I plan to cover in tomorrow’s post. I’ll also be writing about the concept of “little gods”. I hope you’ll comment then and add your wisdom.
i agree with all the comments that have been said here. really good info. to help people steer clear of the prosperity clowns in suits n’ ties. these preachers would just assume sell the soul of an infant to the the devil rather than give up their fortunes they have amassed bilking their congregations out of their hard earned money. i just wrote about the false teachers in my latest blog at my website. like you, i too want to expose the frauds like an FBI crackhouse raid. thanks for writing about the hard truth b/c alot of baby christians who never grew up get their feelings hurt unfortunately when we talk about their favorite false preachers and prophets on TBN. when you click on http://www.todaystruthwriter.com/2010/01/27/apologetics-in-psalm-821-8-are-there-other-gods-besides-elohim.html you can read the truth at my site i wrote about these shadows of darkness littering the geniune christian landscape.
j.d.,
I enjoyed reading your post on “little gods”, and I thought the video you included was terrific.
We appreciate your efforts in sharing God’s truth, and I look forward to following your blog. Love the name — todaystruthwriter.
Blessings!