Lesson 7: Prosperity Theology

William was watching Benny Hinn on television. Hinn told about how he and another preacher had held a healing service. He said that so many people got healed and left their wheelchairs that the empty wheelchairs were in the way. William wondered if miracles like that really happened and if they were a sign of real Christianity.

Read 2 Corinthians 11 aloud.Write a paragraph that summarizes this scripture passage. What contrasts do we see in this passage between Christian faith and false faith? 

Introduction

Those who believe a prosperity theology are not united in one organization. The religion is also called the “Faith Movement” or “Word of Faith Movement.”

Ministries based on prosperity theology are usually started by individuals who gain attention with unusual doctrines and talented preaching. Each ministry is built on a person who becomes a religious celebrity. Examples are Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Morris Cerullo, Myles Munroe, and Kenneth Hagin.[1]

Many people believe that these teachers are renewing churches to a level of spiritual power that has rarely been experienced since the first generation of the church. They are charismatics, but they teach new doctrines that do not represent all charismatic and Pentecostal Christians.

The prosperity teachers attract people out of other churches. They say that every believer will be rich and healthy if he learns how to use faith.

They claim that many miracles happen in their ministry, but most of the miracles do not have good evidence. The people who are getting rich are the ones who are getting donations from their followers.

► What examples of prosperity preachers do you know?

Doctrines of the Prosperity Theology

The teachers of the prosperity theology emphasize new revelation, and many of their doctrines are not in the Bible.

They are most known for their teachings about faith, emphasizing that every person can have health and wealth. They promise that every person can be healed. They say it is God’s plan for every Christian to be rich.[2]

Statue of Oral Roberts’ hands (60 feet high or 19 meters high): 

They believe that faith is a universal force that man can use, just as God uses it.[3] They think man can use it without depending on God and without trying to know God’s will. Hinn said, “Never pray thy will be done.”[4] Hagin said, “I pray by demanding my rights.”

Their doctrines about faith are based on doctrines of God that are different from historical Christianity. Their doctrines do not make a consistent system. For example, they would claim to believe in the Trinity, but they make statements that contradict that claim.

They believe that God the Father is a physical man who made Adam as a copy of himself. They believe that faith is the impersonal power and substance of the universe. They believe that God uses the power of faith to create and do miracles, and that we can use it the same way. They believe that just as God spoke the world into existence, believers can speak things into existence.

Kenneth Hagin said that every believer is as much an incarnation as Jesus Christ. Kenneth Copeland said that Adam was not almost like God, but an exact copy. They emphasize that because people are copies of God, they should be able to do what God does. Hagin said that any believer with knowledge of the Word could have defeated Satan in hell like Jesus did. Hagin said that man before the Fall could stand in God’s presence without any inferiority, and lived on terms equal to God. Copeland said man was not created to be the servant of God but an associate of God.[6]

Benny Hinn said that the believer does not need to depend on Jesus because the believer is everything that Jesus is, or was, or ever will be.

They believe that God gave authority over the earth to man, and man gave it to Satan. They believe that God cannot do anything in the earth unless people give him permission.[7] They believe that God does not own the earth or rule over it.[8]

► What is wrong with the prosperity teachers’ view of God? What is wrong with their view of faith?

International Replication of the Religion

Many new churches with the prosperity gospel have begun in various countries. Many of them imitate things they see of American teachers on television. Some use books and videos from prosperity preachers in America.

Sometimes new leaders start their own new denominations and try to build a religious kingdom on their own personality. Their group may become like a cult by claiming to have new revelation, so they can offer things that no other church has.

Teachers of the prosperity theology claim to represent real Christianity. But if a person understands and believes all the doctrines of the prosperity theology, it is inconsistent for him to also believe the scriptural gospel.

Now go back and read the footnotes for the entire section on Prosperity Theology together. All students should look up the referenced Scripture verses and take turns reading them to the group.

Responding to the Prosperity Theology

Paul wrote to Corinthian believers to correct a misunderstanding that they had about the Christian life. See 1 Corinthians 4:8-13. Many of them had been very poor before becoming Christians. They thought that because they became children of God, with faith and spiritual gifts, they could begin to have wealth and status in the world. Paul said, “You are full, you are rich, you have ruled like kings.” We know that he was talking about their claims and not reality, because then he said, “I wish you really did rule, and that we could rule with you.” He went on to say that even the apostles as leaders of the church suffered poverty and had low status in the world. Though they had great faith and spiritual gifts, they sometimes were hungry, homeless, and worked to support themselves. Faith is not a guarantee of wealth.[9]

In another passage, Paul explained that all creation is still suffering the results of the curse on sin. See Romans 8:22-23. All living creatures suffer and struggle to survive. He said that even Christians still suffer physically and are waiting for the time when their bodies will be redeemed. Though we are saved, yet not all of the results of salvation have been finished. We will still have sickness, aging, and death until we get to heaven. Sometimes God heals, but we are not guaranteed that we can live free from all physical problems.

Hebrews 12 records the lives of many heroes of faith. They accomplished great things because they believed the promises of God and obeyed God. One of the evidences of their faith was that they were able to endure hard times for the sake of their faithfulness to God. Not only did they suffer persecution from the world, they suffered need. Many of them were homeless and lacked food and clothing (Hebrews 11:37-38). They did not suffer these things because they had no faith, but because they had faith. They were willing to lose everything in the world for the sake of their relationship with God.[10]

► What is some biblical evidence that faith does not guarantee wealth?

The Bible warns against the love of money. See 1 Timothy 6:6-10. The person who is trying to be rich will fall into spiritual traps and end up with much sorrow. The love of money causes every kind of evil. We are to be satisfied with the necessities.

The prosperity theology attracts sinners by appealing to worldly goals instead of calling for repentance.

The prosperity theology does not give a realistic Christian view of human suffering.

The prosperity theology creates a proud attitude that is disrespectful to other churches, older Christians, and even God.

The prosperity theology makes pro­mises that God does not make, leading to disappointment and loss of faith.

The Lord’s Prayer is an example of a Christian attitude. It contrasts with the attitude of the prosperity teachers who claim power and honor themselves. See the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. In this prayer we find that the priority is the kingdom and glory of God, and everything is to be submitted to his will.The biblical gospel is a message of hope to the person who knows that he is guilty of sin and wants forgiveness and peace with God. The relationship with God begins with repentance and submission of our will. The Christian lives in daily obedience to God, humility, and surrender to God’s will. God invites us to bring all needs to him in prayer, but we must accept his will in every situation. God promises that everything is under his control and that he will work everything for our good, but he does not promise to take away all suffering immediately.

► How should a Christian’s attitude about healing and money be different from the attitude the prosperity teachers show?

[1] Others include Oral Roberts, Frederick Price, Robert Tilton, Charles Capp, and John Avanzini.

[2] The Bible warns us that there will be teachers who teach what people want to hear (2 Timothy 4:1-4).

[3] The Bible tells us that faith is what causes us to believe God and seek what he gives (Hebrews 11:6).

[4] But Jesus said for us to pray for the Father’s will to be done (Matthew 6:10).

[6] “Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry, for idolatry is at bottom a libel on his character.... A god begotten in the shadows of a fallen heart will quite naturally be no true likeness of the true God. ‘Thou thoughtest,’ said the Lord to the wicked man in the psalm, ‘that I was altogether such an one as thyself.’”  
- A.W. Tozer

[7] The Bible says that God is the Judge of the whole earth and takes action in it (Genesis 18:25).

[8] The Bible says that the earth and everything in it belongs to God (Psalm 24:1).

[9] “But whoever says in the Spirit, ‘Give me money,’ or something else like this, you must not listen to him. But if he tells you to give for the sake of others who are in need, let no one judge him.”  
- Didache (from 1st century of the church)

[10] “How strange it is that people professing Christianity can suppose that with a worldly spirit, worldly companions, and their lives governed by worldly maxims, they can be in the favor of God or ever get to the kingdom of heaven!”  
- Adam Clarke, Christian Theology, 252

Teachers of the prosperity gospel claim that they believe in one God and that they worship Jesus as the Son of God who accomplished our salvation. However, their leaders say that man is a complete copy of God and can do what God does. To emphasize the uniqueness of God and Jesus, use the sections from the Handbook of Doctrine:

(2) There is only one God.

(9) Salvation is only by the atonement of Christ.

Their doctrines of faith are based on their view of God as a man who uses faith. That gives them the reason to think that man can do the same. See the Handbook of Doctrine for

(3) God the Father is not a man.

Anne was blind when she began attending a church that believed the teachings of the “faith movement.” They told her to claim perfect sight by faith. She did not get healed. They told her that she did not have enough faith. They told her that something in her life was wrong and prevented God’s will from being done for her. She became discouraged, lost her joy, and even stopped praying. Eventually she realized that the church people were only trying to defend their theology. They wanted her to be healed, not for her own sake, but because she didn’t fit their theology. She realized that God had not left her, and she determined that she would hold to the joy of her relationship with God.

Now read 2 Corinthians 11 again. Write a paragraph explaining the message this passage has for a follower of the prosperity gospel.