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Christianity Today, February, 2009 |

Prosperity Gospel on Skid Row

Difficulties of high-profile pastors may reorient movement—or reinforce it.

Bobby Ross Jr. | posted 1/15/2009 09:40AM

Some of the high-flying icons of the prosperity gospel—the belief that God rewards signs of faith with wealth, health, and happiness—have run into financial turbulence.

Not all of their troubles ...

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david

Posted: January 27, 2009 1:12 PM

Hi, question. whwn you people got up this morning did you decide to just get bye with Jesus help or did you decide to go out and do something beyond mediocre and bless your family, the Gospel and yourself? This fear of money of taken step's to financially do better is scripturally lame. If Bill Gates had that attitude thousand's of people would be lookin for job's today.Jehovah said in Mal, believe it and do something with it!

odong

Posted: January 25, 2009 9:43 PM


i just read heard an exapt of a preacher(david wilkerson) on youtube he was prophesing thison the 5th of this month

Johann

Posted: January 23, 2009 8:42 AM

Wonderful! Hilarious! Oh, I can't wait to see Copleand, Dollar, Hagin, Meyers et al financially ruined! But why should WoF's followers need such a sign? The proof that the doctrine is idiotic is all around them. WoF adherents are no more wealthy or healthy than anyone else. You really have to be an idiot to believe this nonsense. Maybe we can look forward to a day when Pentecostalism as a whole is abandoned, not just one of its spinoffs.

jman	Posted: January 22, 2009 10:52 AM

What a biased and uninformed view you have Mr Ross. Have you not read in Judges chs.19 and 20 how God was faithful to the Israelites. After first they followed Him in Fasting, worshiping and prayer and then took God at his word defeating their enemies. Oh how about when Moses pursuaded Pharo to let the Israelites go and he (Pharo) sent them out with tons of riches. What do you think God was trying to show us?

DC00L1

Posted: January 21, 2009 10:30 AM

I thank God for the Body of Christ. We are many members but one body. One faith, One Lord, one Baptism. There are many groups that are teaching truly false doctrines and I believe that they should be the ones the the united Body of Christ should be attacking. I can follow the Scripture and come to an understanding tha God does enjoy his children's prosperity. I can also study Scripture and come to understand the God enjoys us being healthy wealthy and wise. When we are all of these we can help more people who are less fortunate (if there really is such a thing). Anyway God HATES division in the brotherhood and that is a message that is being lost. Stop attacking the brotherhood. Thank God for what you know and understand and use that to the best of your ability. God will hold you accountable for that. Peace.

Joe	Posted: January 21, 2009 10:17 AM


The crux of the issue is: what is "blessings?". It is primarily not material blessings. It is very clear in the history of the early church as recorded in the Bible. When God promised Abraham that his descendants will be a blessing to all nations, God was not talking about material blessings. Only in America we equate blessing with wealth and fame.

-ncb	Posted: January 20, 2009 7:51 AM

Quite frankliy, I am glad that the institutional church is taking the financial hit it deserves. The blatant and deliberate "teaching" of a mongrel "gospel" is leading to the righteous downfall of the institution and its idols and blind followers. Bible-based blogs and other sources of information detailing the deep flaws inherent with these "teachings" have been mocked and ignored by "pastors" in the upper echelons of christiandom all while fleecing and raping the sheep with reckeless abandon. This publication helps to promote this heresy by receiving advertising dollars from organizations most guilty of teaching the WOF/prosperity gospel. The publications, replete with advertising for numerous conferences, functions and events are designed to enrich "the church" to the detriment of its followers. CT is NOT taking hard enough stand against a movement that has done more damage to the masses than any secular economic disaster can mete out. You will be judged accordingly.

Basil

Posted: January 19, 2009 10:33 AM

As an observation the Word of Faith movement sites very comfortably within the American tradition. The quest for good health, living the American dream (wealth) and success are all part of who we are as Americans. You don't have to go beyond the infomercials on TV to discover that this is very true. In that respect it is an example of how Christianity has been very 'Americanized'. and that the culture has defined and transformed the faith. That cannot be all a bad thing since this type of transformation takes place everywhere Christianity exists. In the case of the WoF movement there is a deficiency in the thoughtfulness in how this takes place.

Emeka

Posted: January 19, 2009 9:36 AM


The issue of prosperity preachers has become major embarassment to all of us who have put personal faith in Christ and truly loves him. One thing we must not do is to stop exposing the hollowness of their theology and pressure tactics. If we do, their victims won't have any excuse to continue indulging those who feed fat on them.

Ros	Posted: January 18, 2009 8:40 PM


What do you expect when the self-professed "world's largest Christian network" continually hammers its viewers with the blasphemous teaching that God's favor [grace] can be bought for a sizeable donation?

Wendell Franklin Wentz

Posted: January 18, 2009 3:37 PM

P.T. Barnam has been reincarnated into television evagelists who adhere to and subscribe to the Pentecostal theology, and there are suckers born again every minute who will send their monies to those preachers who prosper while those poor people are suckered into sending their small mites to the elite in the Pentecostal jungle. Not one of those televangelists have an accredited degree from any accredited univerisity or seminary, and each one of them are literalists when it comes to Scripture. They can find the sheep and fleece them, but they never feed them! Amen. =Wendell Franklin Wentz

ReformedSteve

Posted: January 18, 2009 2:40 PM


Hopefully God will purge this evil from our churches.. For this health/wealth prophets, I wish they knew what the biblical interpretation of prophets actually was that (according to Barclay in the context of Eph. 4:10) "it is laid down that if any wandering prophet in a moment of alleged inspiration demands money or a meal, he [or she] is a false prophet."

Dr. Jailal

Posted: January 17, 2009 1:38 PM

The lust for money has always been one of the greatest evils in our history. The Bible is clear that the Gospel is about salvation and righteousness. Jesus came to rescue man from death and give him life eternal. Yet the peddlers of the gospel have compromised the Word of God for their own lusts. How many of these money grabbers have ever ministered in the poor villages of India, Vietnam, Cambodia and Africa? I have. I know firsthand the poverty of most of the Christians who live on this earth. They hold on to Jesus. For them the prosperity gospel is meaningless. They are waitng for His kingdom. Real believers know that our reward is yet to come. The peddlers of the gospel want to convince us that the kingdom has already arrived. Read again the book of Revelation and know that only when Jesus returns that the true believers will inherit their rewards. Wealth is perfectly ok if we never set our hearts on it and use it for the kingdom work NOT to make these thieves rich and powerful.

MH Constantine

Posted: January 17, 2009 3:07 AM

The poll attached to this article online asked whether the Prosperity Gospel would grow or decline because of the financial crisis. That depends on what people want to believe, doesn't it? Some will be attracted to the simplistic triumphalism and others will realize that the message is tainted almost to the point of heresy (I say almost, but I know some readers would go further.) The best result would be if those who have preached it and gotten rich off it would repent and revise their teaching. They can still encourage people to believe God, but they need not continue posturing and strutting about their wealth and the symbols thereof.

August

Posted: January 16, 2009 6:59 PM


$6 million dollar mansions, private jets, bleached blonde hair; that ain't a gift from God, that's money stolen from scamming people.

Jennifer

Posted: January 16, 2009 3:38 PM


The Word of Faith is "another gospel", a combination of Theosophy, Mormonism, Hinduism, Spiritism, & occultic ritual practice. Its been sent to humanity from the pit of hell and those who preach it are servants of Satan.

at_brown

Posted: January 16, 2009 3:04 PM

If I could reply directly I would. Please read for yourself any scriptural references or "quotations". KR, I believe the way in which you stated Deut 8:18 and Gal 3:29 is scripturally incorrect. There are slight differences in the way you worded it which, if taken as written and not looking at context, then it becomes obvious how the Biblical errancy of the Prosperity movement is propagated. Deut 8:18--does not say God makes you 'rich', but rather it is God who gives you any abilities that might allow you to be productive and produce wealth (so, don't take credit for yourself). Read v17 with v18. Gal 3:29--if you are going to use the term 'blessings' it should be singularly:'blessing'. This is talking about a specific promise and how we become sons of God through Christ as opposed to the law. A much bigger 'blessing' than any material 'blessings'. Those who are rich should use it to bless others, but we must be careful not to add to scripture or bias it to fit our preference.

KR	Posted: January 16, 2009 1:03 PM

The heart of the "prosperity gospel" (I do not use this term because it implies that something has been added to the gospel) lies in two verses: * Deut 8:18: "but remember the Lord your God! It is he who gives you the power to become rich, keeping the agreement he promised to your ancestors, as it is today." * Gal 3:29: You belong to Christ, so you are Abraham's descendants. You will inherit all of God's blessings because of the promise God made to Abraham. These promises are conditional. (Deut 8:19,20) But they are real and have not been revoked. The question is whether or not we will take God at His word. We are comfortable saying that God can save even the worst sinner, if they believe. Can we not also apply the same principle and agree that God can prosper His people even in times of economic upheaval, so we can be a blessing to others - if we believe? I say yes and issue the challenge to believe in all of God's promises, not forgetting His commands and warnings as well.

Moore Or Less

Posted: January 16, 2009 1:02 PM

Good start on a huge issue. There is so much truth in the prosperity message, but it's the twists that hurt. It has become the "Gain is godliness" message for so many. The hype and salesmanship should make them blush, but mansions and toys will salve most consciences. I am perplexed at the blind acceptance of such extravagance and waste. As I travel abroad I am embarassed to see impoversihed people supporting these pretenses out of a desperate hope. We need to look to the Word and examine such related terms as: lasciviousness, licentiousness, greed, excess and the error of Baalam. Then we can compare our beliefs and the lives that they produce against the life of Jesus and His Apostles. The road may be paved with gold, but it is only as good as where it takes you. If it loves the world and the things of the world, dresses like the world, acts like the world; then chances are good that it is of the world. Duh! What does it say for the people who promote who such leaders.

Art Vesterdal

Posted: January 16, 2009 11:47 AM

Prosperity is... well...pretty! And a lot of folks are sucked in by its so called beauty. If you look at my mortgage, you could make the same charge of me. Maybe the ministers noted in this article are the end of the road on this Prosperity highway but I think we are all guilty even if we are not under the lable of "Blab-it and Grab-it." We are supposed to be the type who "Get to Give and Give to Get" rather than those who simply plan to get. Our prosperity has been a thin veneer covering our personal greed and so with the superstar preachers perhaps I am guilty as charged... And you might just be as well.

Gary Green

Posted: January 16, 2009 10:29 AM

Today on the 700 club they started the show with the "Miracle on the Hudson" and how god answered prayer and supernaturally saved the 150 people on board. This took all of 2 minutes. They then went on for the next half hour about how when you donate to the 700 club, christians would reap a "financial blessing. Most of their first hour was about asking for money under the code words of "sowing and reaping." Disgraceful! Every televangelist I checked out today was begging for money under these same christian code words. Yet they claim that god just performed an out-and-out miracle and spent less that 5 minutes talking about it. Any reasonable person can see what these people really think and believe. Worst yet are the millions of christian followers that give to them and believe that this is how their god works. Wow.

Paul	Posted: January 16, 2009 10:15 AM


Seems like "Charismatic Movement" is code for "steal anything not nailed down". Why is American christianity so dumb, yet so nimble fingered?

Diane in Big D

Posted: January 16, 2009 9:37 AM

I was "saved" from this environment, so know it well. It has been my experience that this gospel is made up primairly of wonderful, church going, God fearing people from the lower socio-economic levels. This economic down turn will not affect them as badly as it will the middle class. They are already there! So...It is my opinion that when times get tough for these wonderful, trusting, worshiping people, that they turn to the Lord, rather than turn from Him. They trust Him because they don't have much else in which to place their trust, unlike people with "wealth". They will grow stronger, and closer to the church and the Lord. They may not have much materially, but they will give sacrificially, bless their hearts. I know, because I've been there! And it breaks my heart to see the flock being fleaced by the likes of TBN, Copeland, Hinn, Meyer, White, Bynum, and all the rest. I pray they all will repent, read the Bible and not listen to man, they must listen to God! Thank you!

Elisaury.Santo Domingo

Posted: January 16, 2009 9:18 AM


Parece que conseguir dinero es mas importante que conocer a cristo. El evangelio de la prosperida es una tergiversada idea del ser humano ambisioso y materialista.imitad a cristo

Steve

Posted: January 16, 2009 7:55 AM

Mark M. - You hit the nail on the head. John - The only hope that the Copelands, Whites and Hinns (etc) offer is false hope. With the economy in the downfall that it's in, wouldn't it be a breath of fresh air if those ministries would start selling off their millions of dollars of assets to feed and cloth the poor. Jesus said, "Go sell everything you own. Give the money to the poor" These guys should lead by example.

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