A Comparison

1) God’s Word Teaches:

God promises Salvation and Forgiveness of Sins.

Acts 13:38—“Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins;”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

God promises to make one materially wealthy and healthy.

2) God’s Word Teaches:

Jesus warns of the dangers of riches.

Matthew 19:23, 24—“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

Promises that which Jesus warns about as being dangerous.

3) God’s Word Teaches:

We are to pray asking for God’s will to be done.

Matthew 6:10—“Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

Insist on God’s will that He makes you wealthy.

4) God’s Word Teaches:

As God wills, He provides and heals.

1 John 5:14—“Now this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

A promised complete healing here and now.

5) God’s Word Teaches:

God is the Sovereign Creator who alone has all authority, who speaks and creates.

Genesis 1:6—“Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.”

Jude 25—“To God our Savior, Who alone is wise Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

Men have the same authority as God and men speak and create.

6) God’s Word Teaches:

The holy God is infinitely above man in every way. Jesus is God with the Father.

Psalm 47:2—“For the Lord Most High is awesome; he is a great King over all the earth.”

John 10:30—“I and My Father are one.”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

Men are little gods and Jesus is abased and not glorified.

7) God’s Word Teaches:

Jesus atoned for our sins on the cross. Jesus suffered in His humanity. Jesus is fully and eternally God.

1 Peter 2:24—“who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we have died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”

Mark 10:45—“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give His life a ransom for many.”

Colossians 2:9—“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

The atonement took place in hell and Christ’s death was a ransom paid to Satan. Christ died spiritually then took on humanity’s “satanic nature” by becoming obedient to Satan and was “born again” (recreated) in hell. Jesus gave up His deity and took on Satan’s nature to die for our sins.

8) God’s Word Teaches:

Biblical Christianity focuses on sound doctrine, worship, service, sacrifice and ministry.

Luke 24:52—“And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.”

2 Timothy 3:14, 15—“But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

Focuses on promised physical, financial, and material blessings.

9) God’s Word Teaches:

The Holy Spirit is a Divine Person.

John 14:26—“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

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Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

The Holy Spirit is a power that men use.

10) God’s Word Teaches:

The Jesus of the Bible is the God/Man and the only Savior of the world.

Matthew 11:27—“All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

John 8:40—“’But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.’”

Acts 4:12—“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

Jesus often sounds like a divinely empowered man that other men are to become like.

11) God’s Word Teaches:

Biblical faith is a trust in the will of God.

Hebrews 11:1—“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

Faith is a formula by which spiritual laws which govern the universe are manipulated.

12) God’s Word Teaches:

Biblical confession is the confession of one’s sins and of Christ’s person and grace.

Romans 10:9—“that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

Positive confessions determine everything that happens to one and provides anything one desires.

13) God’s Word Teaches:

A warning to beware of the covetous and exploitative.

2 Peter 2:3—“By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

A promise of riches to those who will give to their ministries.

14) God’s Word Teaches:

By one’s fruits you will detect the false prophet.

Matthew 7:15, 16—“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn-bushes or figs from thistles?”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

A usually false promise of wealth and health which embitters those who are exploited.

15) God’s Word Teaches:

We are to confess our sins to God and, when appropriate, to each other.

1 John 1:9—“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

Discourages confession of sin because it isn’t a “positive confession”.

16) God’s Word Teaches:

God alone is Sovereign.

1 Peter 4:11—“To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

Men share God’s authority, are little gods, and therefore have a creative and determinative power and therefore a divine right to health and wealth.

17) God’s Word Teaches:

We are to worship God spiritually and in truth.

John 4:23—“‘But the hour is coming and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.’”

Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Teaches:

A use of cultic and mind science techniques.