A warning about the “gospel” of health and wealth: The prosperity gospel
Photo Courtesy of Colby Craig
Colby Craig, Staff Writer
Prosperity is a word to describe the state of being well off in areas of health and material wealth. As the name suggests, the prosperity gospel is a line of thinking which focuses on the idea that we can accomplish anything if we have enough faith in God. Many people view this teaching as dangerous and predatory to Christians everywhere.
The prosperity gospel is often identified as the “health and wealth gospel” because of its emphasis on positive thinking and giving money to the church. As the name suggests, the prosperity gospel teaches that God wants all of his followers to prosper. The idea is riddled with out of context Bible verses, extreme emphasis on curses and blessings and the view of things like poverty and sickness being a result of a lack of faith.
The prominent area of focus in these teachings is money. Many people often associate the prosperity gospel with rich preachers who own private jets and have huge church buildings. These preachers encourage the giving of money as a way of expressing their faith. Jeffrey Rankin, a Christian studies professor at NGU, said that this is a major indicator that a church is preaching the prosperity gospel.
“I look at the lifestyle of the preacher. If the preacher is driving an extremely expensive car, he’s living in a huge mansion, he has all kinds of deals with the media. I say that’s probably going to be the first thing I look for,” Rankin said.
Some well-known prosperity churches and preachers would be TD Jakes of The Potter’s House in Texas, Creflo Dollar of World Changers Church International in Georgia and Steven Furtick of Elevation Church in North Carolina. There are many preachers who teach this idea and use the Bible as a means to justify their points.
Rankin provided some scripture which is often taken out of context to lead people into this line of thinking. Deuteronomy chapters 27 and 28 refer to many blessings and curses that would be bestowed on those who chose to follow specific or not. The idea that prosperity preachers rip from this passage is the idea that God wants to bless his followers, and through this pagan idea of the positive power of thinking, they reach the hearts of many people.
Another big passage that’s taken out of context would be the beginning of Romans chapter 8, which says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
Rankin said, “In the context, you know, Paul is dealing with the reality of what God has done for believers. That’s because Jesus has taken the condemnation for us and set us free from the law. Not only from that law that we couldn’t keep that God gave Israel, but also to what he calls earlier in Romans the law of sin and death.”
This idea of being free from condemnation has been taken by prosperity preachers to mean that believes should never face difficulty because Jesus set us free from that a long time ago.
A similar idea can be seen in one of the most popular verses in the Bible, Philippians chapter 4 verse 13, which says, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
This idea has been taught to mean that anything is achievable through believing in God, but it points more to the idea that believers are able to be content in everything because of the work of Christ.
Rankin gave a word of advice to those who wish to examine their own faith. He recommends that every believer ask themselves “what is the goal?” The prosperity gospel is popular among people who are discontent, so is the goal to glorify God, or is it to gain worldly things? If the goal has strayed from glorifying God, it’s a good indicator that something needs to change.
