Philosophy
 

Prosperity gospeledit

From Christianity Knowledge Base

The Prosperity gospel also known as Word of Faith, Prosperity theology, Health and Wealth Gospel, Word-Faith or simply Faith, is an often un-orthodox movement within Pentecostal and charismatic churches worldwide. Its central doctrine is that worldly health and prosperity are promised to all believers, and are available through faith, though this is generally never explicitly stated in the Bible in the context which most churches use it in, and in most cases fails to be Biblically supported due to 1 John 2:15. it has also become known as "Health and Wealth", although this is a term usually applied perjoratively by its critics. Other names, reflecting major aspects of the movement, include "Name it and claim it" and "Positive Confession".

Contents

[edit] Origins

Word-Faith teachings trace their roots to Essek Kenyon (1867-1948), a New England evangelical pastor who taught that health and finances were the right of every believer who would claim the promises of Scripture through faith. Claiming promises was done by believing and verbally confessing the relevant scriptures, and thus Kenyon coined the phrase, "What I confess, I possess."

Pentecostal preacher Kenneth Hagin (1917-2003), of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was heavily influenced by Kenyon's writings, and began teaching the same doctrines as early as the 1930s. Hagin is often referred to as being the "father" of the modern Word-Faith, movement. He elaborated on Kenyon's theology of confession, preaching a four-part formula for receiving God's promises: "Say it; do it; receive it; tell it."

Other preachers in Tulsa were mentored by "Dad" Hagin, and began to preach the same doctrines. The most prominent of these is Kenneth Copeland.

[edit] Teachings

[edit] Healing

The Word-Faith movement teaches that physical healing was included in Christ's atonement, and therefore is available here and now to all who believe. Frequently cited in favor of the doctrine is Isaiah 53:5: "By his stripes we are healed."

Because Isaiah speaks in the present tense ("we are healed"), many of the most prominent Faith preachers teach that believers should deny the symptoms of sickness, and instead positively confess that they are already healed.[1] Sickness is an attempt by Satan to rob believers of their divine right to total health.[2]

Most do not openly advocate dispensing with medical treatment, although some, such as Fred Price, have claimed to be strong enough in faith that they no longer need medicine.[3]

[edit] Little 'gods'

A common Faith teaching is that believers are "little gods", a known catchphrase of the New Age movement. Kenneth Hagin wrote that God "made us in the same class of being that He is himself," and that the believer is "called Christ" because "that's who were are, we're Christ!"[4] According to Hagin, by being "born again", the believer becomes "as much an incarnation as Jesus of Nazareth".[5] Kenneth Copeland says Adam was "not a little like God ... not almost like God ... not subordinate to God even",[6] and has told believers that "You don't have a God in you. You are one."[7] A common theme in Word-Faith preaching is that God created man as "an exact duplication of God's kind."[8] The generally New Age attitudes of these sort of writers often betray a lack of respect for God's authority, and are possibliy violations of the 1st commandment; their attitudes could somewhat be classified as dangerous, due to the apparent elevation of man to god-like status they seem to preach.

This has predictably proved one of the most contentious doctrines with the movement's critics, who consider it heresy. Hanegraaff contends the 'little gods' doctrine is on a par with the teaching of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Jim Jones.[9] In response, Faith defenders have claimed the teaching is simply underscoring the biblical view of the believer's "true identity in Christ", and is no more heretical than similar-sounding claims by C.S. Lewis and the Eastern Orthodox Church, though they seem to have cited no verses in the Bible or specified anything from the Eastern Orthodoxy or C.S. Lewis to substantiate this claim.[10]

[edit] Prosperity

According to Word-Faith theology, financial prosperity and wealth was also included in the Atonement. This is based on an interpretation of the words of the apostle Paul: "Yet for your sakes he became poor, that you by his poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9).

It is frequently taught that Jesus and the apostles were rich, and therefore believers should expect the same financial success.[11] However, Jesus spoke of those who follow Him as being "out of the world", and that one should not store up worldly wealth where rust and decay can ruin things, but rather, to obtain treasure and riches in heaven. It is likely that the Word-Faith theology concerning this subject fails to understand (or simply ignores) the context of the New Testament, which certainly appears to relate to riches in heaven as opposed to riches of the world.

[edit] Faith & confession

In Word-Faith teaching, the central element of faith is "confession". The doctrine is often labelled "Positive Confession". Noted Word-Faith teachers such as Hagin and Charles Capps have argued that God created the universe through the power of the spoken word (Genesis 1), and that humans were created with the same power to speak things into being by their words. Thus, making a positive confession (by reciting a promise of Scripture, for example) has the power to cause things to happen. Word-Faith preachers have likened faith to a "force", which may mean that they consider man's faith to be causing things to happen all on its own as opposed to God causing people's prayers to come true. [12]

Conversely, according to Word-Faith teaching, "negative confession" can bring about negative results, and therefore believers should be careful to watch their words. This is often based on a literal interpretations of Proverbs 18:21: "Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and they that love them will eat the fruit thereof."

[edit] Preachers & ministries

Proponents of the doctrine in the United States include Creflo Dollar, Frederick K.C. Price, Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, Marilyn Hickey, Rod Parsley, T.D. Jakes, Jesse Duplantis, Oral Roberts, Joyce Meyer, John Avanzini and Keith Butler, among others. Many of these pastors appear regularly on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, whose founders and directors Paul and Jan Crouch are also proponents of the Word-Faith doctrine.

In Australia, Pastor Brian Houston of Hillsong Church promotes Word-Faith doctrine. In South Africa, Ray McCauley is the movement's chief proponent, and in the United Kingdom, Clive Pick and Paul Scanlon are among the main Word-Faith preachers.

[edit] Critics & controversy

One of the earliest critics of the movement was Oral Roberts University's Professor Charles Farah, who published From the Pinnacle of the Temple in 1979. In the book, Farah expressed his disillusionment with the movement's teachings, which he argued were more about presumption than faith.[13]

The following decade was to see several severe critiques of the movement, including Dan R. McConnell's A Different Gospel, in which the author followed the research of scholar Dale H. Simmons in suggesting that the Faith teachings had their origin in the metaphysical cults of the 19th century, in particular New Thought and Christian Science.[14]

In 1993, Hank Hanegraaff's Christianity in Crisis charged the Faith movement with heresy, and accused many of its churches of being "cults". He accused the Faith teachers of "demoting" God and Jesus, and "deifying" man and Satan, as per the Word-Faith proponents frequent comments mostly affirming this belief of theirs. [15]

Other critics, such as Ole Anthony, Norman Geisler, Dave Hunt and Roger Oakland, have denounced Word-Faith theology as aberrant and contrary to the teachings of the Bible. Critics have also condemned the teachings on wealth, arguing that the Bible condemns the pursuit of riches, which it most certainly does. Proverbs 23:4, Proverbs 28:20, 1 Timothy 6:7-10, Matthew 19:23-24, Mark 10:23-25 Luke 18:24-25

[edit] Relevant passages

[edit] Resources

[edit] Criticism of Word of Faith

[edit] Support of Word of Faith

[edit] Notes & references

  1. ↑ Kenneth E. Hagin, Right and Wrong Thinking, (Kenneth Hagin Ministries, 1966)
  2. ↑ Jerry Savelle, If Satan Can't Steal Your Joy..., (Harrison House, 1982)
  3. ↑ Frederick K.C. Price, Faith, Foolishness or Presumption?, (Harrison House, 1979)
  4. ↑ Kenneth E. Hagin, Zoe: The God-Kind of Life, (Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Inc., 1989)
  5. ↑ Kenneth E. Hagin, "The Virgin Birth" in Word of Faith Magazine (December 1977)
  6. ↑ Kenneth Copeland, "Following the Faith of Abraham", (Teaching tape, Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1989)
  7. ↑ Kenneth Copeland, "The Force of Love", (Teaching tape, Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1987)
  8. ↑ Charles Capps, Authority in Three Worlds, (Harrison House, 1982)
  9. ↑ Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity in Crisis, (Harvest House, 1992)
  10. ↑ James R. Spencer, Heresy Hunters: Character Assassination in the Church, (Huntington House, 1993)
  11. ↑ John Avanzini, "Was Jesus Poor?" (videotape)
  12. ↑ Kenneth Copeland, The Force of Faith, (KCP Publications, 1989)
  13. ↑ Charles Farah, From the Pinnacle of the Temple, (Logos, 1979)
  14. ↑ D.R. McConnell, A Different Gospel, revised edition, (Hendrickson, 1995)
  15. ↑ Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity in Crisis, (Harvest House, 1993)


[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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