The topic for this week is the prosperity gospel, also known as the “health and wealth gospel,” the “name it and claim it gospel” and the “word of faith gospel.” There are no specific questions for us to answer this week. We are simply to examine the prosperity movement in the light of Scripture. We will begin by looking at an overview and brief history of the prosperity gospel, discuss the growth of the movement and finally test the prosperity gospel dogma against Scripture.
Prosperity theology found its place of nurture within the Pentecostal movement of the late 19th and 20th centuries. The theology is the mixing of “New Thought metaphysics, positive thinking, and American individualism paraded as biblical truth.”[1] The father of New Thought was Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802–1866).[2] Quimby’s theories intrigued E.W. Kenyon (1867-1948), the founder of the Faith Movement. Kenyon took Quimby’s theories and infused them with the theological opinions of the time.
Among these beliefs are that God created the natural universe but does not influence it supernaturally. A second is the radical idea that the mind and body are different and distinguishable from the other. A third belief is the “deification of man,” or in other words people making themselves their own god. These beliefs among others lead to the teaching that to change your current situation only requires you saying the right words. [3] The overall belief of the prosperity theology is, God wants every “professing Christian” “to be healthy and wealthy” and “if prosperity is not present in [their] lives …, then God’s blessing may not be upon them.” [4]
The prosperity gospel has spread around the world. This me-centered theology is “one of the fastest growing religious movements on a global scale”[5] Modern forms of media have helped the prosperity gospel explode within the evangelical movement. In the TIME article “Does God Want You to Be Rich?” from September 10, 2006, the authors referenced a TIME poll in which “17% of Christians surveyed” adhered to the prosperity gospel movement. [6] That same poll also found that 61% of those surveyed “believed that God wants people to be prosperous” and 31% “agreed that if you give money to God, God will bless you with more money.”[7] A 2006 Pew poll found that of those in the Pentecostal faith surveyed, 95% Nigerians, 90% South Africans and 85% Kenyans believed that “God would ‘grant material prosperity to all believers who have enough faith.’”[8] Additionally the same poll found that approximately 90% of the same group believed “religious faith was ‘very important to economic success’” [9]
So, as we examine the prosperity gospel in the light of Scripture, for example Ephesians 1:3-23, we come to the realization that the prosperity gospel is not a Christ centered theology, but instead a man centered theology. God is seen as the giver of privileges and entitlements to anyone who has the faith. The prosperity gospel is about personal gain and wealth used to build a personal kingdom and not the Kingdom of God. This is a consumer centered worldly driven religion.
Scripture teaches
that the blessings we receive are from the grace God bestows upon us, and not because
we are eligible for worldly entitlements. Through our faith in Christ, we have
been, “chosen, adopted, redeemed, and forgiven by the Lord.” [10]
These are the spiritual blessings that God our Father bestows on us. It is
through Jesus Christ that we receive the “eternal inheritance” of the Holy Spirit.
[11]
It is in the spiritual blessings and eternal inheritance that we are to
honor and glorify God. The prosperity gospel fails to honor and glorify God and
instead honors and glorifies man.
[1] Russell S. Woodbridge, “The Bankruptcy of Prosperity Theology: An Unprofitable Gospel,” Theology for Ministry 3, no. 1 (2008): 6.
[2] Woodbridge, “TBPT: AUG,” Theology for Ministry 3, no. 1 (2008): 6.
[3] Russell S. Woodbridge, “The Bankruptcy of Prosperity Theology: An Unprofitable Gospel,” Theology for Ministry 3, no. 1 (2008): 7.
[4] J. S. Sexton, “Prosperity Theology,” ed. Martin Davie et al., New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic (London; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press; InterVarsity Press, 2016), 710.
[5] Dan Lioy, “The Heart of the Prosperity Gospel: Self or the Savior?,” Conspectus Volume 4 (2007): 42.
[6] http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1533448-2,00.html, Accessed 6/28/19
[7] http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1533448-2,00.html, Accessed 6/28/19
[8] https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/july/12.22.html , Accessed 6/28/19
[9] https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/july/12.22.html , Accessed 6/28/19
[10] Dan Lioy, “The Heart of the Prosperity Gospel: Self or the Savior?,” Conspectus Volume 4 (2007): 60–61.
[11] Dan Lioy, “The Heart of the Prosperity Gospel: Self or the Savior?,” Conspectus Volume 4 (2007): 60–61.