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Positive Confession and the Prosperity Gospel – Part 3

Dan — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:00:57 +0000

I am preparing a post on Steve Munsey, but found that I first needed to explain some of the heresies that he teaches, namely positive confession and the prosperity gospel. One of my favorite tunes is a song called “Wedding Dress” by Derek Webb. There’s a line in the song that asks,

And should I read between the lines,
To look for blessings in disguise
To make me handsome, rich and wise?
Is that really what you want?

That’s a valid question. Does God want me to be healthy and wealthy, as the prosperity gospel teaches? Most Christian leaders condemn the “prosperity gospel,” yet observers say it is enjoying new popularity in this economically tenuous time, when many people are not prospering. What’s come to be known as the prosperity gospel began as a staple of fire-and-brimstone preaching in early 20th-century revival meetings. It surged in popularity with television preachers in the 1980s, until scandals revealed that some preachers used money donated for ministry to support their own lavish lifestyles.

Now observers say the prosperity gospel is spreading among churches large and small, denominational and independent, as well as through the ministries of televangelists such as Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer, Paula White, Steve Munsey, Paul Couch and Kenneth Copeland. These pastors, critics say, encourage their followers to “sow a seed” of faith by spending money – often in the form of a donation to their ministries – in order to reap prosperity in the future. Please note that I recognize that many people have been blessed through these ministries, but I must point out their participation and support of this misleading and dangerous doctrine.

Many Christian leaders have long condemned the prosperity gospel as aberrant theology, but most did so quietly. No more. In the past year, African-American pastors met at a national conference to discuss a problem they see spreading in their denominations. Critics have even questioned the ministries of such nationally prominent megapastors as T.D. Jakes – whose Potter’s House does extensive outreach to the poor — and Joel Osteen — pastor of Lakewood Church, the largest megachurch in the country — saying their brand of divinely assisted self-improvement is just a vamped-up version of the prosperity gospel.

Listen to these quotes from and about Jim Bakker, after his release from 5 years in prison for defrauding Heritage USA investors:

“I’d always quoted 3 John 2, saying, ‘Above all things God wants you to prosper.’ I loved that Scripture. It looks great on a TV screen when you’re raising funds, and I interpreted it as God wants you to be rich. But when I got to the words of John, I said, ‘Now this don’t make sense.’ So I took the word prosper apart in the Greek and found out it’s made up of two words-the first word means good or well and the second road. It’s a progressive word, so it’s like a journey. So, here’s John saying, basically, ‘Beloved, I want you to have a good journey through life as your soul has a good journey to heaven.’ It was a greeting! Building theology on that is like building the church on ‘Have a nice day.’ …

I began to look up all the Scriptures used in prosperity teaching, such as ‘Give and it shall be given unto you.’ When I put that Scripture back into its context, I found Christ was teaching on forgiveness, not on money. He was teaching us that by the same measure that we forgive, we will be forgiven. . . .

I had gotten my sermons from other people. The Bible warns about the shepherds who get their messages from each other. I think today the reason we have another gospel and another Jesus being preached is because men have gotten their sermons from each other and from motivational teaching. A lot of what’s being taught today is simply motivational teaching with a few Scriptures put to it” (Source: The Re-education of Jim Bakker, ChristianityToday.com, Dec. 7, 1998).

“Bakker . . . says he has had a change of heart about the prosperity gospel. . . .

The same man who once told his PTL coworkers that ‘God wants you to be rich,’ now says he made a tragic mistake. . . .

‘For years, I helped propagate an impostor, not a true gospel, but another gospel,’ Bakker has said in his 1996 book, ‘I Was Wrong.’ …

‘The prosperity message did not line up with the tenor of the Scripture,’ he said. ‘My heart was crushed to think that I led so many people astray’” (Source: The prosperity gospel, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, USA, Nov. 18, 2003).

But won’t God show us more signs and wonders and great prosperity in these last days?

People keep talking about a great end times revival, when Scripture seems to suggest mass persecution and deception in His name – the “counterfeit bride” of 2 Corinthians 4:4 and Revelation 17:5, the great whore/harlot. The end times will be full of signs and wonders, where people will chase after divine healing, prosperity and health – but will miss the whole point of the gospel. In Luke 13, when Jesus was going from town to town on His way to Jerusalem, “someone asked Him, ‘Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?’ He said to them, ‘Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. . . .’ He will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’” (Luke 13:23-27). In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” We cannot chase after signs, wonders, healings and miracles and some sort of end times revival. We must seek Christ alone and doing His will, even if His will does not ask us to operate in the realm of the supernatural. This is not to say that He won’t ask us to heal and do miraculous things, but as always, we must seek Him first and allow Him to give us direction in these matters. We mustn’t try to compete with the emerging church, new wine, and G12/cell church movements, which are heretical.

Then what is the “true” gospel?

The gospel is so simple, yet it is so common for people to leave out essential elements (or to add things like physical healing or prosperity). We must understand that eternal life is a free gift (Romans 6:23). It is not earned or deserved (Ephesians 2:8-9). No one can earn their way into heaven, because we are all sinful (Romans 3:23). Because of our sinfulness, we cannot save ourselves, we are not perfect (Matthew 5:48). However, in spite of our sin, God is merciful and does not want to punish us (1 John 4:8; Jeremiah 31:3). But the Bible also tells us that God is just, and as such He must punish sin (Exodus 34:7; Ezekiel 18:4). This creates a problem! God loves us and doesn’t want to punish us, but at the same time He is just and must punish sin. God solves this problem for us in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who came to earth and was fully God and fully man (John 1:1, 14)! What exactly did He do on earth? He died on the cross in order to pay the penalty for our sins and He rose from the grave to purchase a place for us in Heaven (Isaiah 53:6; 1 Corinthians 15:1-6). Jesus Christ bore our sin in His body on the cross and now offers us eternal life (Heaven) as a free gift. This gift is received by faith (Acts 16:31), which itself is a gift from God (Romans 12:3; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Ephesians 2:8-9; Hebrews 12:2).

In light of all this, Paul says in Galatians 1:9 – “If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” The true Gospel of scripture is not a gospel of earthly prosperity nor of physical healing. It is a gospel of eternal salvation.

Thanks for reading this three-part series on positive confession and the prosperity gospel. I hope it shed some light on this dangerous heresy. Please read all three posts before trying to argue based on one of them, thank you

Positive Confession and the Prosperity Gospel – Part 1

Dan — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:00:36 +0000

I’m gearing up for a lengthy post on Steve Munsey. But there are two important heresies that first need to be understood prior to discussing his teachings. The first danger that many preachers buy into, including Munsey, Joel Osteen and many others, is the “positive confession” teaching from motivational business philosophy. It stresses the inherent power of words and thoughts. Each person predestines his own future by what he says verbally and by how well he uses spiritual laws. As such, it is as if we live in a mechanistic universe instead of a personal one. This erroneous doctrine is often taught alongside the prosperity gospel. The “prosperity gospel” is the teaching that God will reward signs of faith with health and wealth. It was popularized by a number of preachers during the 1950s, especially by Oral Roberts and his Expect a Miracle television broadcasts. It is also called “Word of Faith,” “name it and claim it,” “blab it and grab it,” “health and wealth gospel” and “positive confession.”

Let me begin by saying that I am not trying to preach some sort of intellectual legalism in how we must teach, but we must be careful to teach what Scripture is saying about prosperity, not what motivational speakers have to say misusing Scripture to back it up. The Bible guarantees no health or wealth to followers, but it does show we will have joy in suffering and that we will overcome the world. Our treasure needs to be in heaven. I am not saying we cannot accumulate earthly wealth, but if it remains the focus of our preaching it will become the object of our faith. There must be balance, we must teach the entirety of the word of God and warn people of the days ahead as well as encourage them with God’s blessings.

The basic premise of ‘positive confession’ is:

God created things by speaking them into existence.
We are created in God’s image.
Therefore we, too, can create things (or situations) by speaking them into existence.

There is great power in our words – life and death! This teaching is accurate in many respects, but we must also be careful to teach this using Scripture, not Zig Zigler and other business leaders.

Did Jesus promise to give literally anything we ask for in faith?

In Mark 11:23-24, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” On the surface, this verse seems to be saying that God will grant literally any request we make of Him as long as we believe.

However, it is important to recognize that there are limitations on what God will give, which is indicated both by the context and by other texts, as well as by the laws of God’s own nature and the universe.

Second, all passages should be interpreted in harmony with other clear statements of Scripture. As an illustration, it is clear that God does not promise to heal everyone for whom we pray in faith. Paul wasn’t healed, though he prayed earnestly and faithfully (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). Jesus taught that it was not the blind man’s lack of faith that hindered his being healed. Rather, he was born blind “that the works of God should be revealed in him” (John 9:3). Despite the apostle Paul’s divine ability to heal others (Acts 28:9), later he apparently could not heal either Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25) or Trophimus (2 Timothy 4:20). It clearly was not unbelief that brought Job’s sickness on him (Job 1:1).

Finally, when the rest of Scripture is taken into consideration there are clear conditions placed on God’s promise to answer prayer in addition to faith. We must “abide in Him” and let His Word “abide in us” (John 15:7). We cannot “ask with wrong motives,” out of our own selfishness (James 4:3). Furthermore, we must ask “according to His will” (1 John 5:14). Indeed, on all except God’s unconditional promises, this “if it be your will” must always be stated or implied. This is not a cop-out, it’s how Jesus taught us to pray!

Look for part 2 tomorrow, which will contain a great quote about praying according to God’s will.