The Prosperity Gospel: A Distortion and Heresy Part 1

Jim Bakker was a “television evangelist” who in the 1970’s and 1980’s built a multimillion dollar mega-ministry and enterprise. In 1989 he was sentenced to 45 years in prison for convictions related to his mishandling of large sums of money. In his book I Was Wrong, the author makes the following statements:

“During my time at F.M.C. Rochester (where he was incarcerated), I observed something that it seemed to me had gotten nearly every inmate into trouble. It was something insidious, pervasive, something that I too had tried to cover and push aside in my own life—the love of money.”

“About the time of my parole hearing, I completed my study of all the words of Jesus in the New Testament. To my surprise, after months of studying Jesus, I concluded that he did not have one good thing to say about money. Most of Jesus’ statements about riches, wealth, and material gain were in a negative context.”

“I began to see that the fastest route to the pigpen begins with ‘Give me’…and the fastest route to the ‘big pen’, often begins with the same phrase ‘Give me!’

“I was wrong! Wrong in my lifestyle, certainly, but even more fundamentally wrong in my understanding of the Bible’s true message. Not only was I wrong, but I was teaching the opposite of what Jesus had said. For years I had embraced and espoused a gospel that some skeptics have branded as a ‘prosperity gospel’. I realized that for years I helped propagate an imposter, not a true gospel, but another gospel—a gospel that stated ‘God wants you to be rich!’ Tragically, too late, I recognized that at PTL (“Praise the Lord”, Bakker’s ministry) I had been doing just the opposite of Jesus’ words by teaching people to fall in love with money.”

“God has promised to bless those people who put Him first in their lives. That principle has never changed. I still believe that God blesses His people and will meet their needs. The sin is falling in love with and seeking after money and material things. He doesn’t want us to equate mere money with godliness.”

“I had studied every word of Jesus over a period of two years, and I was convinced that the prosperity message was at best an aberration and at worst ‘another gospel’ contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In retrospect, one of the main reasons I slipped into believing and preaching a distorted doctrine was because of my lack of understanding of what it really means to allow Jesus to be Lord of my life.” Note 1.

We see in Jim Bakker’s statements that through careful study of God’s Word he came to understand that his prosperity message was distorted and not the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this paper we will seek to define what the ‘prosperity gospel’ and the ‘word of faith’ teachings are about. We will also seek to understand how these teachings differ from what the Bible truly teaches about the matters of material prosperity, healing and faith. In this we will see the errors in these distorted teachings and we will see the Bible’s clear and true teaching. And we will examine the false teaching inherent in the ‘prosperity gospel’ and ‘word of faith’ doctrines. May the Lord bless this effort to contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints, for His glory and for the welfare of His church.

The “Prosperity Gospel” Defined

Wikipedia Note 2. an internet encyclopedia, defines the Prosperity Gospel as follows: “Prosperity theology, also known as prosperity doctrine or the Prosperity Gospel, is the doctrine that prosperity, particularly financial prosperity, and success in business or personal life is eternal evidence of God’s favor. This favor may be preordained, or granted in return for efficacious prayer or merit-making.”

Wikipedia also notes that, “in Fundamentalist and Evangelical churches prosperity theology is commonly a part of televangelist, charismatic, and Pentecostal churches although it is not exclusive to these traditions. Proponents of prosperity theology propound the idea that ‘God wants Christians to be “abundantly” successful in every way, including financially.’ Critics of ‘prosperity theology’ see that the major hallmark of the movement is accumulating of wealth and material goods. Also, prosperity gospel proponents cite Deuteronomy 8:18 ‘But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as it is this day’ (New American Standard Version).”

We see in context, however, that Deuteronomy 8:18 is to be understood to mean that the Jews were to know that any blessings (wealth here is the Hebrew word chayil which means ‘strength, power, ability, virtue, valor, wealth’) that they would enjoy in the Promised Land had come to them not by their own ability to acquire such blessing but their good had come to them from the hand of God who had enabled them to simply receive such blessing. They were to know that God had given them these blessings and that they had not gotten them on their own. To assume that the verse means that God wants all His people to be wealthy is to misunderstand the verse’s meaning and its context.

Wikipedia also notes: “Critics, on the other hand, claim that the doctrine is used by its proponents to become wealthy at the expense of persons who give or that the doctrine’s focus on material wealth is misguided. In mainstream Christianity or ‘New Thought’ religions (cultic and mind science groups) there is teaching that God ‘wants all people to prosper (regardless of religion), leaves it up to the individual to define prosperity (rather than defining it in terms of material wealth), and does not condone the accumulation of vast fortunes at the expense of others.’”

“Word of Faith” Defined

“Word of Faith” is defined by Wikipedia in these words: “Word of Faith (also known as Word-Faith or simply Faith), is a family of local Christian churches (www.rhema.org/church) as well as a teaching movement kindred to many Pentecostal and Charismatic churches and individual worldwide. The basic doctrine preached is that of salvation through Jesus Christ and what that ‘Salvation’ entails. It is unique to other (more established) Christian denominations in that it emphasizes speaking, stating, or confessing verses found in the Bible, called the Word of God. The belief is that if one believes the word of God and confesses it then the believer shall receive what they confessed. This act of believing and describing is described by Jesus of Nazareth in Mark 11:22 and 23. The term word of faith is derived from Romans 10:8.”

Actually in Mark 11:22 and 23 the Lord Jesus teaches that we must pray in faith, not in doubt and believe that what we ask for (in faith) we shall receive. “So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.’” (Mark 11:22, 23, New King James Version). Note 3.

The teaching of the Lord in Matthew 6:10 and James 4:3 is that we must ask in submission to the Lord’s will and not in presumption. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”(Matthew 6:10, New King James Version). “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:3, New King James Version). And we find in James 5:15, “And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” (James 5:15, New King James Version) These verses reveal that “the prayer of faith” is not a special prayer that has healing power but rather is trusting and faithful prayer. “Freedom from doubt arises from an awareness that something truly is God’s will. True faith receives what it asks for; trust in God is not presumptive arrogance but submission to his will.” Note 4.

In Romans 10:8, “the word of faith that we preach” is the gospel of Christ which is to be believed unto salvation, not a verbalized confession that seeks to acquire possessions through its own inherent power. “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach):” (Romans 10:8 New King James Version).

Further Wikipedia notes that “Word of Faith” has origins in the teaching of E.W.Kenyon (1867-1948). One phrase that he used that is still found in the movement today is, “What I confess, I possess.” Some of “Word of Faith” teachings are “That complete healing (Spirit, Soul, Body) is included in Christ’s atonement, and therefore available here and now to all who believe.” Isaiah 53:5 “By His stripes we are healed.” and Matthew 8:17, which says that He healed the sick so that “It might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet, ‘Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses.’” are frequently cited verses to substantiate complete healing.

Misinterpretation of Scripture

However, in Isaiah 53:5 we see not a promise of physical healing that is to be received by a confession but the wonderful truth that Christ suffered to the point of His body being flailed by His beatings and scourging in order to save us from our sins. Through that forgiveness of sins we receive salvation with its many benefits including physical healing and ultimately glorification (perfect healing of the entire person spiritually and physically) but Isaiah 53:5 does not unconditionally promise physical healing upon confession of the verse. And Matthew 8:17 does not promise unconditional healing. To interpret it so, in fact, twists the scripture and alters its true meaning. “Isaiah 53:4 uses ‘sicknesses’ to represent the sin for which they are the curse (Is. 53:5). Jesus came to bear the curse as well as the guilt of sin, and in His ministry He demonstrated His power over physical suffering. Yet He has not promised to remove sickness from the world or the church before the Second Coming.” Note 5.

About Matthew 8:17: “Word of Faith teaches that believers should accept the reality of a healing that is already theirs. Accepting this is done by confessing the verse or verses found in the Bible declaring they are healed (i.e. Word of Faith). It is not an act of denying the pain, sickness, or disease, but an act of receiving the gift mentioned in Isaiah 53:5. According to adherents, sickness is an attempt by Satan to rob believers of their divine right to total health. Some teachers of Word of Faith claim they no longer need pharmaceuticals, such as Frederick K.C. Price, who has claimed to be strong enough in faith that he no longer needs medicine.” relates Wikipedia.

Regarding “Word of Faith” teaching about prosperity Wikipedia comments, “financial prosperity and wealth was also included in the atonement.” This is based on 2 Corinthians 8:9 which Faith proponents believe is the basis for spiritual and material wealth. “Yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9, New King James Version). Further, “Word of Faith” proponents perceive that Jesus and the apostles “possessed a relatively substantial amount of wealth.” Supporters such as Kenneth Copeland have argued that the prosperity gospel is validated by the teachings of the Apostle John: “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth” (3 John 2, King James Version). Copeland points out that “as the seeds of prosperity are planted in your mind, in your will and in your emotions…they eventually produce a financial harvest.”

We must remark here that in 2 Corinthians 8:9 the riches the Lord enjoyed prior to His incarnation was the glory and honor that He eternally had, not money that He possessed. Likewise, believers “might become rich” not in money that we possess but in the riches of His salvation and spiritual blessing–see Ephesians 1:18 where these riches are called “the riches of His glory in the inheritance in the saints.”He humbled Himself setting that glory and honor aside to suffer and die for us sinners and so became poor for our sakes. Through His poverty we come into the riches of His salvation, that is, “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3, New King James Version). And 3 John 2 is a prayer that all would be well temporally just as all was well spiritually for Gaius.—“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” (New King James Version). To see a promise of wealth and health granted by confession misinterprets the verse.

About Faith and Confession we find in Wikipedia: “Within the Word of Faith teaching, a central element of receiving from God involves ‘confession’. This doctrine is often referred to as Positive Confession or Faith Confession. Noted Word of Faith teachers, such as Kenneth Copeland and Charles Capps have argued that God created the universe simply by speaking it into existence, and that humans have been endowed with the ability [power] to speak things into existence. Thus, making a ‘positive confession’ (by reciting a promise of Scripture, for example), generates power which enables things to come into fruition. Word of Faith preachers have likened faith to a ‘force’. Likewise, according to Word of Faith teaching, ‘negative confession’ can yield negative results, and hence believers should be conscious of their words. This is argued on the interpretation of Proverbs 18:21: ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.’” (King James Version).

In reality Proverbs 18:21 is understood to have this meaning: ‘Speech can do harm or good. The person who is fond of talk should note which way its effects go.’ Note 6.

Wikipedia reports also: “Critics of the Word of Faith teaching have called these ‘more about presumption than faith’. Walter Martin of the Christian Research Institute issued his judgment that ‘Kenneth Copeland was a false prophet and that the whole movement as a whole was heretical.’ 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.’”

Deviation from Biblical Doctrine; the Nature of God

About the “Little gods Controversy” Wikipedia makes comment: “Word of Faith ministers have been accused of teaching that believers are ‘little gods’. Kenneth Hagin wrote that God ‘had made us in the same class of being that he is himself,’ and that the believer is ‘called Christ’ because ‘That’s who we are, we’re Christ!’ According to Hagin, by being ‘born again’, the believer becomes ‘as much an incarnation as Jesus of Nazareth’. Kenneth Copeland says Adam was ‘not a little like God…not almost like God…not subordinate to God even’, and has told believers that ‘You don’t have a god in you. You are one.’”

Misinterpretation of Scripture

“Critics believe referencing Scripture, Psalms 82:6 and John 10:34, where it is said that men are gods, is taking and using these Scriptures out of context. The biblical application of these verses is addressed to the judges of Israel where they are called gods, not because they were divine, but because they represented the true and only god when they judge the people. The Hebrew and Greek words used in both Scriptures for ‘gods’ can also be applied to magistrates.” states Wikipedia.

Deviation from Biblical Doctrine; the Atonement

About Word of Faith “Jesus Died Spiritually” teaching we read in Wikipedia: “Often referred to simply as ‘JDS’, this is a teaching that in order to atone for sins, Jesus had to die both physically and spiritually. As a consequence of his ‘dying spiritually’, the faith movement argues that Jesus thus needed to be born again just as any other sinner. While making it clear that Jesus Himself was never a sinner, they argue that Jesus was ‘forsaken by God’ just as if Jesus had committed every sin in human history.” Kenyon and the later Hagin, Copeland and their followers took up this teaching. “The doctrine asserts that Jesus’ bodily sacrifice was but the beginning of the Atonement, which continued with Jesus’ suffering in Hell. It is often said that Jesus took on humanity’s ‘satanic’ nature, and was ‘born again’ in Hell. The critic D. R. McConnell has labeled the teaching heresy, believing that it compromises the teaching that Jesus’ blood atoned for sin. Critics have also expressed concern that the notion that Jesus became one in substance with Satan, and had to be ‘recreated’ and born again is an unscriptural one that strips Christ of the defining qualities of deity.”

Deviation from Biblical Doctrine; Christian Identity and Deviation from Biblical Doctrine; the Nature of God

We will now further examine comparisons and comments about the Prosperity Gospel doctrines and orthodox Bible interpretations regarding these doctrines.

Bible expositor John MacArthur, Jr. in his book Charismatic Chaos Note 7. writes: “Does God Promise Health and Wealth? The leaders of the Word Faith movement, including Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Robert Tilton, Fred Price, and Charles Capps, promise every believer financial prosperity and perfect health. Anything less, they argue, is not God’s will.”

“Virtually every false religion ever spawned by man worships a god whose function is to deliver some cargo. That is, human religions invent gods for utilitarian reasons: the deities exist to serve men, rather than the other way around. Word faith theology has turned Christianity into a system no different from the lowest human religions—a form of voodoo where God can be coerced, cajoled, manipulated, controlled, and exploited for the Christians’ own ends. If it were merely hucksterism, that would be bad enough. But Word Faith teachers have corrupted the heart of New Testament Christianity, moving the believers focus off of sound doctrine, worship, service, sacrifice, and ministry; shifting it instead to promised physical, financial, and material ‘blessings.’ These blessings are the cargo that God is expected to deliver to those who know and follow Word Faith formulas.”

Deviation from Biblical Doctrine; the Nature of God

“Word faith theology sees the Holy Spirit as a power to be put to use for whatever the believer wills. The Bible teaches, however, that the Holy Spirit is a Person who enables the believer to do God’s will. (In effect, however, their teachings depersonalize Him by consistently speaking of Him as a power to be drawn upon rather than understanding the biblical truth that it is we who are to be his instruments.)

Many Word Faith teachers claim that Jesus was born again so that we might become little gods. Scripture, however, teaches that Jesus is God, and it is we who must be born again.”

“Without some exacting corrections in the movement’s doctrinal foundations, the movement is well on its way to being established as a false cult in every sense of the term. It is, I am convinced, the closest thing on earth to the greed cults of the New Testament era, which the apostles bluntly labeled heresy. I realize that this is a grave verdict, but abundant evidence bears it out. At almost every crucial point, the Word Faith movement has tainted, twisted, garbled, misunderstood, corrupted, or obliterated the crucial doctrines of our faith.”

And John MacArthur, Jr. clearly states: “The movement (Word Faith) closely resembles some of the destructive greed sects that ravaged the early church.”

Deviation from Biblical Doctrine; the Nature of God

We continue with more of John McArthur, Jr.’s helpful thoughts regarding our subject below.

He writes: “The god of the Word Faith movement is not the God of the Bible. Word Faith teaching, in effect, sets the individual believer above God and relegates God to the role of a genie, or Santa Claus, or a valet who is at the Christian’s beck and call. Word Faith believers are their own authority. The reason is clear: Word Faith teachers do not believe God is sovereign. Jesus, according to Word Faith theology, has no authority on earth, having delegated it all to the church. Furthermore, Word Faith theology teaches that God is bound by spiritual laws that govern health and prosperity. If we say the right words, or believe without wavering, God is forced to respond in whatever way we determine. In the Word Faith system God is not Lord of all; he is not able to work until we release him to do so.”

Deviation from Biblical Doctrine; Christian Identity

“Why pray if our words have so much creative force? Indeed, some Word Faith teachers come dangerously close to explicitly denying the need to seek any help from God through prayer. Hayes believes that believers can exercise dominion over guardian angels.”

MacArthur also notes the following departures from biblical teaching in the Prosperity Gospel doctrines:

Deviation from Biblical Doctrine; Christian Identity and Deviation from Biblical Doctrine; the Nature of God

“Copeland teaches that Adam was ‘created in the god class,’ that is he was a reproduction of God. ‘He was not subordinate to God…’

“On the cross, according to Copeland, Jesus won the right for believers to be born back into the ‘god class.’ Jesus deity, according to Copeland, encompasses ‘healing…deliverance…financial prosperity, mental prosperity, physical prosperity, [and] family prosperity.’ Because believers are now in the ‘god class,’ they are guaranteed those blessings here and now.” In effect Copeland is deifying believers. MacArthur calls this blasphemous.

Other prosperity gospel proponents have said: “Until we comprehend that we are little gods, we cannot manifest the kingdom of God.” “Those who confess God’s word and say the promises of God over and over are just trying to act like God! Yes! That’s exactly what we’re trying to do: Act as God would in a similar situation…What did He do? He spoke the thing desired.”

“Morris Cerullo: He made Dwight Thompson, he made Morris Cerullo a small, miniature god. Of course! The Bible says we are created in the image of God. His likeness. Where is that godlikeness? He gave us power…He gave us authority, He gave us dominion. He didn’t tell us to act like a man! He told us to act like a god!”

“Thus have the Word Faith teachers deposed God and put the believer in his place. From that basic error nearly all their other fallacies flow. Why do they teach that health and prosperity are every Christian’s divine right? Because in their system, Christians are gods, deserving of those things. Why do they teach that a believer’s words have creative and determinative force? Because in their system, the believer is sovereign, not God.”

“The idea that any created being can be like God is and always has been a satanic lie. In fact, it was the very lie that brought the devil himself down (cf. Isa. 14:14).”

Misinterpretation of Scripture

“A reading of Psalm 82:6 (the supposed proof text for the little god doctrine) shows that God is deriding unrighteous rulers for their pride on the verge of their judgment…it was they who thought they were gods. (‘I said, “You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.”’ Psalm 82:6, New King James Version.) And “Jesus mocks the people as if to say, ‘You all think you’re gods yourselves. What’s one more god among you?’ Irony is used to provoke us, not to inform us. It is not a basis for building a theology.” reveals MacArthur.

We see that Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6 in John 10:34 which reads: “Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your law, “I said, ‘You are gods’?”” In verse 35 and 36 of John 10 (New King James Version) Jesus continues, “If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” One commentator writes about these verses; “Jesus’ argument may be understood as follows: ‘Rather than taking offense because this word is used of Me, you should examine My credentials that prove My Father has sent Me into this world.’” Note 8.

Deviation from Biblical Doctrine; the Nature of God

And MacArthur writes: “It should come as no surprise that the Jesus of the Word Faith movement is not the Jesus of the New Testament. Word Faith teachers say Jesus gave up His deity and even took on Satan’s nature in order to die for our sins. The Word Faith Jesus often sounds like nothing more than a divinely empowered man…” “Evidently it matters little to Copeland’s system whether Jesus was God or man…”

Deviation from Biblical Doctrine; the Atonement

And of great seriousness are the following comments MacArthur makes: “The atonement of Christ—his sacrificial death on the cross—was the primary work our Lord came to earth to accomplish. The atonement is a major emphasis of the New Testament and is central to all that we believe and teach as Christians. Yet the Word Faith movement’s teachings about the work of Christ are aberrant to the point of blasphemy.”

“Copeland has embraced a heresy known as the Ransom Theory of the atonement. It is the view that Christ’s death was a ransom paid to Satan to settle the legal claim the devil has on the human race because of Adam’s sin. That view contradicts the clear biblical teaching that Christ’s death was a sacrifice offered to God, not to Satan (Eph. 5:2).”

“Worse, Copeland teaches that Jesus made himself ‘obedient to Satan…[and took] on his nature.’”

Deviation from Biblical Doctrine; Christian Identity and Deviation from Biblical Doctrine; the Nature of God

MacArthur shows “And so the Word Faith movement has concocted a theology that makes sinners gods and requires the sinless Son of God to be born again. Moreover, it sees Satan as the righteous judge who exacts payment for sin from Christ. Such teaching is convoluted and totally unbiblical. It demeans our Lord and his work. Jesus does not merely have eternal life, nor did he buy it for us by paying off the devil. He is eternal life. As he said in John 14:6, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life’ (cf. John 1:4, 5:26; 11:25, New American Standard Version). Although Jesus took upon Himself human nature in the Incarnation, and although He bore our sins on the cross, He never ceased to be God. Furthermore, the atonement did not take place in hell. It was completed on the cross when Jesus cried, ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30). First Peter 2:24 says that Christ ‘bore our sins in His body on the cross,’ not in hell.”