What Is the Prosperity Gospel?
“Jesus, however, came to redeem us from Satan’s power and dominion over us… . We are to reign as kings in life. That means that we have dominion over our lives. We are to dominate, not to be dominated. Circumstances are not to dominate you. Poverty is not to rule and reign over you. You are to rule and reign over poverty. Disease and sickness are not to rule and reign over you. You are to rule and reign over sickness. We are to reign as kings in life by Christ Jesus, in whom we have our redemption.” – Kenneth Hagin
A theology which asserts that God’s aim is to make believers
We enjoy excesses.
We live like “King’s kids.”
Global Christianity today is …
Explicitly characterized by the prosperity gospel.
Approximately
96% of self-proclaimed Christians in Nigeria.
82% of self-proclaimed Christians in India.
71% of self-proclaimed Christians in Guatemala.
Subtly
What Does the Prosperity Gospel Teach?
A Distorted View of
The Father, Son, and Spirit are not distinct persons but rather manifestations of God.
“There is one God, Creator of all things, infnitely perfect, and eternally existing in three manifestations: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” – T.D. Jakes
A Distorted View of Man.
Man has spiritual power to the physical realm. “Maybe Alzheimer’s disease runs in your family genes, but don’t succumb to it. Instead, say every day, ‘My mind is alert. I have clarity of thought. I have a good memory. Every cell in my body is increasing and getting healthier.’ If you’ll rise up in your authority, you can be the one to put a stop to the negative things in your family line … Start boldly declaring, ‘God is restoring health unto me. I am getting better every day in every way.’” – Joel Osteen
The world revolves around man’s
“You don’t have a god in you, you are one.” – Kenneth Copeland
Others exist to serve you.
“I’ve come to expect to be treated differently. I’ve learned to expect people to want to help me. My attitude is this: I’m a child of the Most High God. My Father created the whole universe. He has crowned me with favor; therefore, I can expect preferential treatment. I can expect people to go out of their way to want to help me.” – Joel Osteen
A Distorted Focus on Health and Wealth.
Promises of
“God is not magnifed when you are broke, busted, or disgusted.” – Paula White
Promises of physical
“I believe that it is the plan of God our Father that no believer should ever be sick… . It is not––I state boldly––it is not the will of God my Father that we should suffer with cancer and other dread diseases which bring pain and anguish. No! It is God’s will that we be healed.” – Kenneth Hagin
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)
A Distorted Understanding of
Does Jesus save us from sin and damnation in eternity?
Or does Jesus save us from
Distorted Interpretations of Scripture.
The prosperity gospel rips texts from
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. (3 John 2)
Does prayer
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Mark 10:29-30)
Have those who claimed the benefts paid the
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases … (Psalm 103:2-3)
Is this general praise or a guaranteed
As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. (James 5:10–18)
Does faith guarantee prosperity?
Faith is patient in
Like a farmer … waiting for the harvest.
Like a prophet … speaking the truth.
Like Job …
Faith is prayerful in sorrow.
Pray when you are hurting.
Pray when you are happy.
Pray with the elders.
Pray with the church.
Confess your sins to each other.
Sin directly causes some sickness.
Sin
Intercede on behalf of each other.
The secret to power and effectiveness in prayer …
Make your wants GOD’S wants.
Ask for
The prosperity gospel
The life and teachings of
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me frst go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me frst say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is ft for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57–62)
So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:33)
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5–8)
Not the “health and wealth gospel.”
More like the “
God may accomplish higher purposes in our than in our life.
And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” (John 12:23–26)
The life and teachings of
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. (2 Corinthians 4:7–12)
Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:23–28)
Not the “prosperity gospel.”
More like the “
God may accomplish higher purposes in our
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7–10)
Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus. (2 Timothy 4:20) …
and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also. I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me. (Philippians 2:24–30)
No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. (1 Timothy 5:23)
“When Paul was taken in chains form his filthy Roman dungeon and beheaded at the order of the opulent madman Nero, two representatives of humanity faced off, one of the best and one of the worst. One lived for prosperity on earth, the other didn’t. One now lives in prosperity in heaven, the other doesn’t. We remember both men for what they truly were, which is why we name our sons Paul and our dogs Nero.” – Randy Alcorn