"THE Prosperity Gospel"

THESIS STATEMENT: The prosperity gospel causes Christians to trust in a false hope of God's provision. It teaches unbiblical promises of physical health and material wealth and ignores the sinful depravity of mankind and the paramount need for redemption.

INTRODUCTION: The prosperity gospel is a current and destructive theology that is rampant in the Christian church today. The prosperity gospel ultimately is a false gospel and is based on the concepts that God desires all human beings to be physically and materialistically wealthy. Simpson agrees, "It is commonly acknowledged that the Word of Faith movement has problems. Even many of its adherents are willing to admit that it has been guilty of excesses."1 For an individual to receive these blessings, they must participate with God and believe that they will receive these blessings out of faith. This theology tickles the ears of Christians and unbelievers alike. There is no basis for this in scripture, in fact, the bible teaches quite differently. The danger of this theology is that it distorts God's character and significantly reduces His divine position. God is viewed as a blessing dispenser rather than our sovereign Creator and Savior. He becomes obligated and duty-bound to bless mankind with health and material wealth rather than rule with authority and grace. I will evaluate the prosperity gospel in the light of

Simpson, William M R. "The significance of Andrew Perriman's Faith, health and prosperity in the Word of Faith debate." Journal Of Pentecostal Theology 16, no. 1 (October 1, 2007): 64-96. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 13, 2012).

scripture and verify that this is a corruption of the true gospel. My critique will follow this content format:

a. A Sketch of the Prosperity Gospel: i. History of the Prosperity Gospel: ii. Modern Prosperity Gospel and its Effect: b. The Biblical Response: i. Physical Health: ii. Material Wealth:

BODY: A Sketch of the Prosperity Gospel: History of the Prosperity Gospel Although the prosperity gospel movement teaches this theology is biblical, the true roots only trace back to about the nineteenth century to Phineas P. Quimby (1802 1866). Quimby was heavily involved in occultism and mind power practice and became fascinated with it. Enns writes, "This doctrine is traced to Phineas P. Quimby, who studied spiritism, occultism, and hypnosis, and influenced Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science."2 Even in his early days, he traveled in road shows putting on hypnotic exhibitions to demonstrate the power

Enns, Paul P. (2008-02-01). The Moody Handbook of Theology (Kindle Locations 14523-14524). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

of thought over circumstance. Thus, Phineas P. Quimby is known as the "Father of New Thought". The Encyclopedia Britannica describes New Thought as: "a mind-healing movement that originated in the United States in the 19th century, based on religious and metaphysical (concerning the nature of ultimate reality) presuppositions. The diversity of views and styles of life represented in various New Thought groups are difficult to describe because of their variety, and the same reason makes it virtually impossible to determine either membership or adherents."3 It is this New Thought movement that taught that sickness, and other circumstances, originate in the mind and correct thinking was the remedy. Dresser detailed, "While engaged in his mesmeric experiments, Mr. Quimby became more and more convinced that disease was an error of the mind, and not a real thing."4 It is from this movement that many others sprouted such as the theology of the prosperity movement. E.W. Kenyon (18671948) was responsible for popularizing this methodology more modernly. He taught the same essential principles as the New Thought movement and was one of the first proponents of the "Word of Faith" movement which is a form of the Prosperity Gospel and which teaches the same doctrines. This theology has continued and grown rapidly to this day.

Modern Prosperity Gospel and its Effect The Prosperity Gospel as we see it today is thriving. Its popularity has developed through numerous books and popular television programs. Many evangelists and televangelists such as Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Oral Roberts, John and Joel Osteen, Charles Capps and many more have launched the Prosperity Gospel into the homes of millions.
3

Encyclopdia Britannica Online, s. v. "New Thought," accessed May 04, 2012, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/412169/New-Thought.
4

Annetta Gertrude Dresser, The Philosophy of P. P. Quimby, 3d ed. (Boston: George H. Ellis Co., 1899), under Historical Sketch, http://cornerstone.wwwhubs.com/quimby1.htm (accessed May 4, 2012).

Many of vulnerable hearers are attracted to this theology because the basis of hope in the message is, as the name implies, prosperity. Wright explains, "We define prosperity gospel as the teaching that believers have a right to the blessings of health and wealth and that they can obtain these blessings through positive confessions of faith and the sowing of seeds through the faithful payments of tithes and offerings."5 One can see that within this definition lays the roots of Quimby's New Thought principles and the power of the mind over circumstance. The problem with the Prosperity Gospel is that this message of false hope is wrapped in the disguise of Christianity. Quimby's New Thought was not wrapped in a biblical disguise however; prosperity proponents discovered that even Christians would entertain this teaching if it could benefit them with relief through material wealth, or physical healing. Paul wrote about this in his second letter to Timothy, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths" (vs. 3-4). This is precisely what is found in the Prosperity Gospel. People crave to be taught the things that they already want to believe "their own passions".

The Biblical Response: Physical Health The Prosperity Gospel teaches that it is God's will that every person live a life free from illness and injury. One of the passages often used to prove this is "with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). The proponent claims that one of these stripes was cancer and another arthritis but that illness could never be God's best for anyone. Another popularly quoted verse is,
5

Wright, Christopher J H., John Alembillah Azumah, and J Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu. "Lausanne theology working group statement on the prosperity gospel." Evangelical Review Of Theology 34, no. 2 (April 1, 2010): 99102. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 13, 2012).

"Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him." (Mark 11:23). Therefore, by claiming God's power over healing you will be healed of any infirmity. The problem is the assumption that God wants to heal everyone. This is in stark contrast to the context of the bigger picture of scripture. Although God is not the author of sin, He does not waste fallen creation but uses it to bring about His utmost glory and eternal good to those who love Him. God is not sinful by allowing sin to be. Consider the patriarch Job who is a classic example of a man who was afflicted with suffering in almost every horrific way possible. In a very short period if time, Job loses all his children, his trade of livestock, and also his health. In chapter 2, Job is afflicted with an illness that covers his entire body. Job attributes this illness to Satan's evil doing, "So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head" (vs. 7). However, three verses later Job claims that God has allowed this to occur, "Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?' In all this Job did not sin with his lips" (vs. 10). How does this biblical example sit in light of the Prosperity Gospel? Did God not allow calamity in the life of Job purposefully? Of course He did and in all this calamity, God received the glory from Job's God-focused worship even throughout the losses and illnesses he suffered. Job's response brought God the utmost glory; "Though he slay me, I will hope in him" (Job 13:15). We see other evidences of God allowing illness and sickness in the lives of people purposefully to bring Himself the utmost glory. In John chapter 9, Jesus' disciples ask about the blind man. They ask, "who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (vs. 2) Jesus

responded that no one sinned for this man to deserve blindness. This man was born blind so, "that the works of God might be displayed in him". To summarize John 9, God caused this man to be born blind so that the healing work of Jesus Christ would be put on display. Scripture even provides evidence of the Apostle Paul leaving some ill rather than simply healing them, "Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus. 6 If God wanted everyone healed what was Paul doing here? The last example is the Messiah Jesus Christ. Jesus was brutally beaten, scourged and executed crucifixion style on a Roman cross. This too God allowed to happen for an ultimate good "to those who love Him" (Rom 8:28). If the God-man was susceptible to this suffering in His human life is mankind not? Jesus answers this question when He stated, "A servant is not greater than his master." (John 15:20). Mankind, including Christians, can expect to suffer also. These passages are confirmation that it is not always God's will that everyone be healed or for everyone to be disease free. He is not a blessing vending machine that an individual can turn to for personal blessings. God has a purpose for all things and He wastes nothing. He is not obligated to heal anyone because He has never promised to heal everyone and that is where the Prosperity Theology fails. Even the very bad things in life are under God's sovereign control and will ultimately be used for "the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28). This is confusing for those who teach and believe the Prosperity Gospel. They teach that God wants them to be healthy and all they must do is tap into God's will by confessing healing. However, when they are not healed, they alone are guilty of the blame because they did not have the proper faith to be healed. Sarles questions, "The confession of faith, it is believed, will cure any
disease or physical handicap, since healing is always the will of God and has been provided for in the
6

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 2 Ti 4:20.

Atonement. But what if the words are spoken and faith is exercised and healing does not take place?"7

This is a terrible theology that is unbiblical and detrimental to those who God has not chosen to heal and causes bitterness against God. So many are deceived into this theology because human beings desperately want relief from calamity and healing when they are sick. The bible speaks little about physical relief in this life. Christians can avoid this deception by understanding biblically that God may choose to set aside our temporary happiness to work a more grand work for our eternal good and His glory. Paul, speaking of suffering explained, "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:17-18). Paul describes mankind's sufferings in this life "light momentary afflictions" that are "preparing us" for eternity. Peterson stated, "God uses the suffering that already exists in fallen creation to bring about, however fragmentarily, new life, new creation, and new being."8 He also explains, "The move to affirm Gods presence in suffering without attributing the suffering itself to God reflects a growing (though often implicit) tendency among theologians today."9 Again, the Prosperity Gospel of physical health rejects the acceptance of suffering and discards the God glorified response to suffering taught in scripture.

Material Wealth
7

Sarles, Ken L. "A theological evaluation of the prosperity gospel." Bibliotheca Sacra 143, no. 572 (October 1, 1986): 329-352. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 13, 2012). 8 Peterson, Daniel J. "We preach Christ crucified: rejecting the prosperity gospel and responding to feminist criticism using Luther's second theology of the cross." Dialog 48, no. 2 (June 1, 2009): 194-201. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 13, 2012).
9

Peterson, Daniel J. "We preach Christ crucified: rejecting the prosperity gospel and responding to feminist criticism using Luther's second theology of the cross." Dialog 48, no. 2 (June 1, 2009): 194-201. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 13, 2012).

Material wealth is another tenet that is taught by the proponents of the Prosperity Gospel. According to this theology, God desires that everyone be financially rich and all that must be done is for the individual to collaborate with God by faith and pursue those riches without limits. Speaking of the Prosperity Gospel in Africa, Paul Gifford said, "the success which these churches see as the right of a Christian covers all areas. God will meet you, in the standard phrase, 'at the point of your need.' In practice, however, success refers primarily to financial prosperity."10 Who wouldnt want this offer of riches? It is no wonder so many are giving this a try. Common prosperity passages include, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10); "You do not have, because you do not ask" (James 4:2); and "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit" (Isaiah 48:17). These verses are, of course, taken grossly out of context and interpreted by the agendas of the prosperity preachers. Hellstern remarks, "the faith teachers believe that the Kingdom of God on earth already exists and that it is the responsibility of Christians to begin to demand back from Satan the good things of life (particularly money) and to begin to live on this earth as what they like to call, "King's kids."11 The bible, on the other hand, has a much differently to say about money. drastically different. Concerning the possession of money, the bible speaks far more negatively about the gain of money. Jesus explains in Mark 10:25, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." In light of this passage, would God desire and yearn for everyone to be rich? This is a difficult contradiction to that of the wealth gospel message. Paul goes even further and denounces not only the idol of wealth but also
10 11

Gifford, Paul. "Expecting Miracles: The Prosperity Gospel in Africa," The Christian Century, ]viy 10,2007, 20. Hellstern, Mark. "The "me gospel" : an examination of the historical roots of the prosperity emphasis within current charismatic theology." Fides Et Historia 21, no. 3 (October 1, 1989): 78-90. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 13, 2012).

honor, "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (Phil 3:8). The bible condemns the indulgence and covetousness. In fact, Paul equates sexual immorality with covetousness, "sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you" (Eph. 5:3). Paul uses the Greek word pleonexia () to describe "the annexing of more". Chasing after more, bigger, and greater idols is condemned in God's word. Machado explains, "The kind of person attracted to the prosperity gospel is one who
understands that material consumption is a good thing, even a godly act, and it is the mixing of evangelical faith with an uncritical embrace of capitalism that makes these believers a new kind of neoliberal twenty-first-century Christian. And the number of these Christians is on the rise."12

The Apostle Paul speaks in depth about pursuing money in 1 Timothy 6:6-11: "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." Paul explained such things as "if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that" and "People who want to get rich fall into temptation into ruin and destruction" this is hardly the theology of Prosperity/Health and Wealth Gospel. Paul even warns that, "Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." A wise truth-seeking Christian will heed this warning and follow Paul's instruction. Be very careful about annexing more.

12

Machado, Daisy L. "Capitalism, immigration, and the prosperity gospel." Anglican Theological Review 92, no. 4 (September 1, 2010): 723-730. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 13, 2012).

Lastly, the Prosperity Gospel is simply a false gospel. It omits the overarching theme of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It avoids emphasis on man's sinful depravity and the desperate need for God's gift of grace and redemption through the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ upon the cross. It ignores mankind's biggest problem, the sin debt problem that separates man's relationship with God. Speaking of Prosperity Gospel preacher Joel Osteen, Koch writes: "He rarely, if ever, speaks about sin and death and chooses not to address such contentious issues as homosexuality and abortion. In fact, his teachings, along with those of similar preachers such as Joyce Meyer, are often referred to as Christianity Lite since they avoid the tough but traditional teachings of orthodox Christianity and are closely associated with the secular self-help movement."13

CONCLUSION: The Prosperity Gospel's theology is the false promises of physical and monetary relief however, ignores sin and repentance. It encourages Christians to indulge in their greed and selfish desires rather than seeking after God first. This is a dangerous theology that is 'feeling' oriented rather than 'truth' oriented and lacks explanations when the blessings go unfulfilled. It is a false hope, which is unbiblical as I have explained and ultimately fails to recognize that God controls all things to bring about His glory and our eternal good. It is laced throughout scripture, even from Genesis 3, that God has promised to rescue and restore mankind. He did not promise and is not obligated to solve everyone's physical and financial problems or other temporary circumstances in this lifetime. Rather He promised to resolve man's biggest problem. our unbearable sin debt. As John the Baptist saw Jesus Christ coming from afar he declared, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). John did not include anything other than man's biggest problem.

13

Koch, B.. The Prosperity Gospel and economic prosperity: Race, class, giving, and voting. Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, In Dissertations & Theses: Full Text [database on-line]; available from http://www.proquest.com (publication number AAT 3378362; accessed April 13, 2012).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Annetta Gertrude Dresser, The Philosophy of P. P. Quimby, 3d ed. (Boston: George H. Ellis Co., 1899), under Historical Sketch, http://cornerstone.wwwhubs.com/quimby1.htm (accessed May 4, 2012). Encyclopdia Britannica Online, s. v. "New Thought," accessed May 04, 2012, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/412169/New-Thought. Enns, Paul P. (2008-02-01). The Moody Handbook of Theology (Kindle Locations 1452314524). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition. Gifford, Paul. "Expecting Miracles: The Prosperity Gospel in Africa," The Christian Century, ]viy 10,2007, 20. Hellstern, Mark. "The "me gospel" : an examination of the historical roots of the prosperity emphasis within current charismatic theology." Fides Et Historia 21, no. 3 (October 1, 1989): 78-90. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 13, 2012). Koch, B.. The Prosperity Gospel and economic prosperity: Race, class, giving, and voting. Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, In Dissertations & Theses: Full Text [database on-line]; available from http://www.proquest.com (publication number AAT 3378362; accessed April 13, 2012). Machado, Daisy L. "Capitalism, immigration, and the prosperity gospel." Anglican Theological Review 92, no. 4 (September 1, 2010): 723-730. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 13, 2012). Peterson, Daniel J. "We preach Christ crucified: rejecting the prosperity gospel and responding to feminist criticism using Luther's second theology of the cross." Dialog 48, no. 2 (June 1, 2009): 194-201. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 13, 2012). Sarles, Ken L. "A theological evaluation of the prosperity gospel." Bibliotheca Sacra 143, no. 572 (October 1, 1986): 329-352. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 13, 2012). Simpson, William M R. "The significance of Andrew Perriman's Faith, health and prosperity in the Word of Faith debate." Journal Of Pentecostal Theology 16, no. 1 (October 1, 2007): 64-96. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 13, 2012). The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 2 Ti 4:20.

Wright, Christopher J H., John Alembillah Azumah, and J Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu. "Lausanne theology working group statement on the prosperity gospel." Evangelical Review Of Theology 34, no. 2 (April 1, 2010): 99-102. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed April 13, 2012).