AMERICAN HYPER-FAITH PROSPERITY TEACHINGSAn American-Made Religious Aberration

Ernie Zarra, Instructor

RiverWay

A FEW INTRODUCTORY QUESTIONS

Is today’s “teaching” of prosperity-focused, hyper-faith Christianity really anything new?

What is the origin of these teachings? Why is the Church so quick to embrace the

beliefs and practices of these teachings? What was the issue in Genesis 3:1-7 that is

relevant for Christians in the 21 century? Why do you think so very many aberrations

to the Gospel occur in the United States?

ERNEST HOLMES (CHURCH OF RELIGIOUS SCIENCE)

“When prayer removes distrust and doubt and enters the field of mental certainty, it becomes faith; and the universe is built on faith.”

“But even in the Christian religion, much of its real meaning is hidden by words that are misleading and symbols that but few understand.”

“In principle the great religions of the world do not differ as much as they appear to.”

“The universal Mind contains all knowledge. It is the potential ultimate of all things. To it, all things are possible.”

A WORKING DEFINITION

GNOSTICISM (Gnostics)— “Those who know.” “Simultaneous with Christianity, . . . Sects

assumed a definite form, the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire being their sphere of operation at first. Their doctrines were an admixture of Judaism, Egyptian, Babylonian, and Christian creeds, astrology and magic, with much of the Jewish Kabbala also.” (Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, p. 378)

TERMS THAT REFER TO THE ABERRATIONWITHIN THE CHURCH

Gospel of Health and Wealth Prosperity Teachings Word of Faith Movement “Name It and Claim It” “Positive Confession” Movement The Prosperity Gospel

WHAT IS FOUND IN THIS SECRETLY REVEALED KNOWLEDGE?

THERE A UNIVERSAL LAW OF PROSPERITY FOR PEOPLE WHO FOLLOW IT?

Simon Magus (Greek Σίμων ὁ μάγος), also known as Simon the Sorcerer and Simon of Gitta, was a Samaritan proto-Gnostic and traditional founder of the Simonians in the first century A.D. His only Biblical reference is in Acts 8:9-24.

CHARLES AND MYRTLE FILLMORE

In a pamphlet called "Answers to Your Questions About Unity,” [we read that] Charles and Myrtle both had health problems and turned to some new ideas which they believed helped to improve these problems. Their beliefs are centered around two basic propositions: (1) God is good. (2) God is available; in fact, God is in you. The pamphlet goes on to say that: they had the inspiration that if God is what they thought - the principle of love and intelligence, the source of all good - God is wherever needed.

FILLMORE MAINTAINED:

“God gives the increase, we are told in the Scriptures. This is to be remembered, for we so often think that increase is the result of our personal efforts. Increase comes by the operation of a universal law, and our part is to keep that law . . . Never allow yourself to come under the control of the ‘I can’t man. He believes in limitations, wraps his talent in them, and hides it away in the negative earth, and no increase is possible to him. Be positive in Spirit and you will succeed.” (Fillmore, 1960, Prosperity, p. 82)

JACK ADDINGTON “Prosperity is a state of mind that carries over into

every area of living – health, wealth, happiness and companionship. Start now to develop a true prosperity consciousness and you will not only reap a rich harvest in your outer experience but with it will come a still greater blessing – a sense of security which no one can ever take from you.” Jack Ensign Addington – a successful lawyer, minister,

lecturer, and author – left a successful legal practice to become a minister. During his twenty years in the ministry, he founded two large city churches. He was the co-founder, with his wife, Cornelia Addington, of the Abundant Living Foundation, which brought his teachings to thousands of students in the United States and Canada through radio broadcasts and the publication of the Abundant Living magazine. After retiring to Kalispell Montana, Jack Addington died in 1998.

JACK ADDINGTON “Every problem known to man has an answer.

Concealed within each problem is an opportunity for spiritual growth resulting from greater understanding. The problem weils some hidden Truth that must eventually be understood. Once this Truth is discovered, it is as if a door from within through which the student steps into a larger room.”

[Addington, 1966, Your Needs Met, p. v.] "Setting and achieving goals becomes an art and

a science when one realizes that goal-achievement is governed by definite mental laws and not by luck or chance. Everyone should know these laws and how they work. Everyone should know the penalties of misusing the laws, as well as the successes that come with applying them wisely and properly.“ [Jack Addington] http://jackaddington.wwwhubs.com/

OTHER NEW THOUGHT ADVOCATES

Christian Mind Sciences, such as Christian Science, Unity School of Christianity, Religious Science, [can include Scientology also] have as their tenets the beliefs that one’s

thoughts are the divine seeds that produce divine results, according to a universal law.

Ancient Gnosticism taught this same overall ideology

UNITY SCHOOL OF CHRISTIANITY

“Ask whatever you will in the name of the Christ, the I AM, the divine within, and your demands will be fulfilled; both heaven and earth will hasten to do your bidding.” (Fillmore)

In the Church over the last 30 years a list of prosperity proponents includes . . .

KENNETH & GLORIA COPELAND

In his book, The Laws of Prosperity (1974), Copeland writes:

“In the book . . . I have shared . . . Laws of prosperity the way they were given to me from God’s Word. They are not theories; they are facts.” (p. 1)

DAVID NUNN

In the book, God’s Law of Health and Wealth,” Nunn (n.d.) states:

“Just like there is a law of health, there is a law of wealth. You don’t get t by wishing for it. You get it by obedience to God’s Word. Wealth does not come by merely thinking about it. Wealth comes by action.” (p. 10)

AGAIN COPELAND

“When a man’s soul is prosperous, his will is in line with God’s will. How can you get in line with God’s will? You can’t until you know what His Word says. His Word and His will are the same! An honest man can’t will one thing and say another. If you are in line with the Word of God, you are in line with the will of God.” (Copeland, Laws of Prosperity, p. 15)

WHAT ABOUT CHARLES CAPPS?

“If the Spirit of God knows all about God and your human spirit knows all about you, then when yours spirit contacts God’s Spirit, you have tapped the Source of all-knowledge.” (Capps, 1980, Authority in Three Worlds, p. 24)

According to prosperity teachers, the reason some people do not prosper is that “Many people are right in their hearts but wrong in their heads . . . They lack the knowledge of God. They have been taught incorrectly and have assumed certain things.”

Along these lines, Gloria Copeland writes: “The Word of God simply reveals than lack and poverty are not in line with God’s will for the obedient.” (Copeland, 1978, God’s Will Is Prosperity, p. 6.)

David Nunn agrees with Gloria Copeland: “I do not believe God wants you to be broke or

sick . . . God never intended for His people to be

broke.”

KENNETH HAGIN (FATHER OF PROSPERITY GOSPEL)

“You always get and have in your life what you believe for and say.”

“Many things happen because we think they ought to happen. Recently I read about a scientist who says that after you reach a certain age, it becomes more difficult for your brain to remember things. When I got past 40, I found that I could not remember Scriptures as well as I once did. After awhile, I simply said to myself, ‘There’s no need for this.’ After all, the brain is simply a physical organ that the mind operates through. The mind is part of my inward being—and the mind never grows old.” (Hagin, 1979, You Can Have What You Say, pp. 5, 9)

HAGIN ONCE MORE

“Defeat and failure do no belong to the child of God. God never made a failure. God made us new creatures. We are not born of the will of the flesh or the will of man, but the will of God. We are created in Christ Jesus. Failures are man made. They are made by wrong believing and wrong thinking.” (p. 9)

Gloria Copeland puts in all into perspective . . .“Christian people who believe that Christ died for

their sins have only one-half the full story. Hyper-faith teachers have complete assurance through revealed knowledge that Christ “paid the price for . . . Prosperity—a heavy price.” (p. 43)

LET’S GO BACK FOR A MINUTE

Remember those initial questions? Is today’s “teaching” of modern prosperity,

hyper-faith Christianity really anything new? What are the ultimate concerns about these

teachings for the Church and the individual who practices them?

BREAKING IT DOWN . . .

What are some of the basic principles taught by the new Gnosticism of today?

Rhema—The Spoken Word The second primary Greek word that describes

Scripture is rhema, which refers to a word that is spoken and means “an utterance.” A rhema is a verse or portion of Scripture that the Holy Spirit brings to our attention with application to a current situation or need for direction.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES SCRIPTURE CONTRADICT THE TEACHING OF THE MODERN PROSPERITY TEACHINGS? Matthew 26:11 (Poor are with you always) Mark 10:21 (Go sell everything and follow Me) James 1:27 (orphans, widows; remain unstained) John 3:16-17 (God’s love gave His Son) Matthew 8:20 (Foxes have holes, Son of Man . . .) 1 Corinthians 15:31 (“I die daily”) John 3:30 (He must increase, I must decrease) 1 John 2:15-17 (Do not love the world, nor the

things) John 18:36 (My kingdom is not of this world) Matthew 6:19-25 (do not lay up treasures) Ecclesiastes 2:1-17 (Futility of life’s pursuits) Matthew 26:39-54 (Remove this cup if possible) 1 Timothy 6:10 (love of money root of all sorts of

evil)

LET’S EXAMINE JOEL OSTEEN "Why not gain the whole world plus my

soul?" For several decades, a philosophy has been

percolating in the 10 million--strong Pentecostal wing of Christianity that seems to turn the Gospels' passage on its head: certainly, it allows, Christians should keep one eye on heaven. But the new good news is that God doesn't want us to wait. Known (or vilified) under a variety of names--Word of Faith, Health and Wealth, Name It and Claim It, Prosperity Theology--its emphasis is on God's promised generosity in this life and the ability of believers to claim it for themselves. In a nutshell, it suggests that a God who loves you does not want you to be broke. Its signature verse could be John 10: 10: "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1533448-2,00.html#ixzz0s10pTfYp

RICK WARREN’S CRITIQUE The movement's renaissance has infuriated a

number of prominent pastors, theologians and commentators. Fellow megapastor Rick Warren, whose book The Purpose Driven Life has outsold Osteen's by a ratio of 7 to 1, finds the very basis of Prosperity laughable. "This idea that God wants everybody to be wealthy?", he snorts. "There is a word for that: baloney. It's creating a false idol. You don't measure your self-worth by your net worth. I can show you millions of faithful followers of Christ who live in poverty. Why isn't everyone in the church a millionaire?"

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1533448-2,00.html#ixzz0s1135aD5

Osteen is a second-generation Prosperity teacher. His father John Osteen started out Baptist but in 1959 withdrew from that fellowship to found a church in one of Houston's poorer neighborhoods and explore a new philosophy developing among Pentecostals. If the rest of Protestantism ignored finances, Prosperity placed them center stage, marrying Pentecostalism's ebullient notion of God's gifts with an older tradition that stressed the power of positive thinking. Practically, it emphasized hard work and good home economics. But the real heat was in its spiritual premise: that if a believer could establish, through word and deed (usually donation), that he or she was "in Jesus Christ," then Jesus' father would respond with paternal gifts of health and wealth in this life.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1533448-5,00.html#ixzz0s11gEphA

Most start out by saying that Osteen and his ilk have it "half right": that God's goodness is biblical, as is the idea that he means us to enjoy the material world. But while Prosperity claims to be celebrating that goodness, the critics see it as treating God as a celestial ATM. "God becomes a means to an end, not the end in himself," says Southwestern Baptist's Phillips. Others are more upset about what it de-emphasizes. "[Prosperity] wants the positive but not the negative," says another Southern Baptist, Alan Branch of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo. "Problem is, we live on this side of Eden. We're fallen." That is, Prosperity soft-pedals the consequences of Adam's fall--sin, pain and death--and their New Testament antidote: Jesus' atoning sacrifice and the importance of repentance. And social liberals express a related frustration that preachers like Osteen show little interest in battling the ills of society at large. Perhaps appropriately so, since, as Prosperity scholar Harrison explains, "philosophically, their main way of helping the poor is encouraging people not to be one of them."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1533448-7,00.html#ixzz0s12WppaB

While they don't exclusively teach that God's riches want to be in believers' wallets, it is a key part of their doctrine. And propelled by Osteen's 4 million--selling book, Your Best Life Now, the belief has swept beyond its Pentecostal base into more buttoned-down evangelical churches, and even into congregations in the more liberal Mainline. It is taught in hundreds of non-Pentecostal Bible studies.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1533448-2,00.html#ixzz0s13AQICW

OSTEEN’S THEOLOGICAL PROBLEM AREAS

“If you want to reap financial blessings, you have to sow financially.”

“It's God's will for you to live in prosperity instead of poverty. It's God's will for you to pay your bills and not be in debt.”

“We were old sinners - but when we came to Christ we are not sinners anymore.”

“You can change your world by changing your words... Remember, death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

“You may make some mistakes-but that doesn't make you a sinner. You've got the very nature of God on the inside of you.”

“Faith activates God - Fear activates the Enemy.” “God wants us to prosper financially, to have

plenty of money, to fulfill the destiny He has laid out for us.”

“I don't want to just preach to the church. I feel like I have a broader message.”

“I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven. I don't know.”

“I've never preached one sermon on money, on just finances. I want to stay away from it.”

“If Jesus were here today, he wouldn't be riding around on a donkey. He'd be taking a plane, he'd be using the media.”

BIBLICAL TRUTHS THAT ARE UNCHANGING

Suffering produces patience ( Peter 2:20; 5:9-11; Mark 5:44; 1 Peter 4:17-19)

God using negatives, or evil consequences for good, or for His glory (Genesis 45:8; 50:20; Romans 8:28)

Our minds are not sovereign (Romans 12:2; James 3:15)

Merrill Unger wrote: “False doctrine hinders maturity.”