Prosperity Gospel

 

Discovering the Prosperity Gospel

 

The Rise of a Parallel, Post-Biblical Christianity
by Grant Retief

Three Post-Prosperity Gospel Testimonies
with Grant Retief

A ‘Gospel’ That Almost Killed Me
by Sean Demars

The Prosperity Gospel in My Own Heart
by David W. Jones

A Softer Prosperity Gospel: More Common Than You Think
by David Schrock

 

Analyzing the Prosperity Gospel

 

The Soil of the Prosperity Gospel
by Jonathan Baer

Why Has the Prosperity Gospel Prospered?
by Miguel Núñez

Why Is the Prosperity Gospel Attractive?
by Sugel Michelén

Errors of the Prosperity Gospel
by David W. Jones

Nine Marks of a Prosperity Gospel Church
by D.A. Horton

 

Responding to the Prosperity Gospel

 

Do You Know What Your Missionaries Actually Teach?!
by Sean Demars

Money: An Instrument for Blessing, Not an Indicator of It
by John Onwuchekwa

Prosperity Preaching: Deceitful and Deadly
by John Piper

Evangelizing Prosperity Gospel Adherents
by Allen Duty

 

Book Reviews

 

Break Out!, by Joel Osteen
by Bob Johnson

Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits, by T.D. Jakes
by Steven Harris

Let It Go: Forgive So You Can Be Forgiven, by T.D. Jakes
by John Power

Various Works, by T.D. Jakes
by Greg Gilbert

Your Best Life Now, by Joel Osteen
by Greg Gilbert

Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel, by Kate Bowler
by Jonathan Baer

 

Editor’s Note:

Here’s a prediction: as Western culture increasingly turns against Christianity, the prosperity gospel will keep growing, at least for a time.

It won’t be the only false teaching whose stock rises in a spiritually bearish market. Theological liberalism in some fangled form will always lurk in the shadows, ready to mug anyone who lets down their guard. But the prosperity gospel is a uniquely attractive stock in a materially acquisitive and entitlement-driven age, so expect its share price to keep rising on exchanges around the globe. This trade is hot! God wants to provide you with gabled double-front doors, leather interiors, satisfying sex, and an all-around better you. It’s like a wedding between a Wall Street shark and a self-help guru, all decked out in the paraphernalia of a Christian bookstore.

As with any pressurized system, the growing cultural opposition to the biblical faith will send Christians and spiritual seekers in search of a relief valve, some path of least resistance that lets the God-talk continue flowing through the pipes, while the tough demands of the faith disappear through a valve door. And here it’s hard to think of a better path of least resistance than a message that promises health and wealth but is effectively post-biblical.

Prosperity is a different kind of sneaky than theological liberalism because it usually affirms the doctrines you affirm, at least with its lips. Liberalism appeals to the intellect, prosperity to the appetite. But it’s like liberalism in two ways: it exploits the evangelical inclination toward an attractional model of ministry, which builds on common ground with the culture; and it enters church buildings and sermon manuscripts wearing Christian camouflage. It sneaks in softly, gently, not with the BLING BLING of the Preachers of L.A., but with a nodding and sympathetic, “You want a healthy marriage? Jesus wants that, too.” Which of course is true. Yet little by little, the Bible becomes a handbook to your best life. Church morphs into a therapy session. And God and his gospel exist for your sake, not you for his. Hello, Shadow Christianity.

Amidst external oppositions and internal temptations, I expect the broad center of evangelical churches to move in one of two directions in the coming decade: toward prosperity squishy or biblical solidity. The latter could mean another fundamentalist retreat, or it could mean learning how to better balance our bridge-building instincts with biblical fidelity in everything from sermon scope to church structure.

The goal of this Journal is to increase awareness and educate evangelicals concerning the prosperity gospel for the sake of diagnosis and prevention. As a couple of the articles will suggest, this globally-popular American export exists on a spectrum between soft and hard, more evangelical and less. Indeed, you and I can probably find some of it in our own hearts, as one piece observes. This issue concludes with a meditation on biblical theology, because it’s in the storyline of Scripture that we find the real antidote to all proof-texting reductionist gospels. The Bible is all about the glory of God in the face of Christ. Beholding him is the pathway to the truly blessed life.

—Jonathan Leeman

Purchase a Print Edition

Free Download

PDF, ePub, and Kindle files will be sent to this email address. As part of our community, you will receive content & communication from 9Marks. You may unsubscribe at any time.