Do all protestants believe the prosperity gospel?

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Some seem to get upset and touchy when it is pointed out that Jesus lived a poor life, apostles too and even early Christians were not wealthy if we believe those verses that Paul is commanding Christians to provide for other believers. They respond accusing others of preaching poverty gospel. but poverty even by nuns is voluntary and is a calling and not for everyone. catholics believing in fighting real physical poverty with spiritual poverty. because when you give then you don’t have that thing anymore so you are practicing spiritual poverty. is this widespread among all protestants? some say you get wealth according to the faith you have but if this is true the apostles and early church should be the richest people in human history. they had martyrs, Mary and so many miracles.
 
Do all protestants believe the prosperity gospel?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo. oooo. no.

😉 (I was just trying to be clear)
 
Protestant beliefs about poverty and prosperity as a blessing, as most other beliefs, range on a broad spectrum across denominations and even within them. *Some *say, if you have faith, or say the right prayers, or give the right tithe, then you are guaranteed abundant material blessings; but they are (I think still) a relatively small fraction of Protestants.

Some Protestant sects, at least historically, have a doctrine of simple living, usually as part of avoiding “the things of the world” or being “of the world” (1 Jn. 2:15; Jn. 17:14)–Mennonites and Amish come to mind. But I think most Protestants fall somewhere in the middle.
 
No, not all Protestants believe in a health and wealth gospel. Mainline churches certainly don’t, such as Episcopalian, Lutheran, etc. It’s more likely to be found in Evangelicals. Still, a lot of people believe that if you work hard God is bound to bless you, or that if they are living as “good people” that nothing bad can happen to them. Nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus promise these things. Indeed, he promised just the opposite. The H&W people are basing their beliefs on OT ideas that even Jesus’ disciples held until he corrected their thinking. Trying to get them to see it, though is extremely hard because they have invested themselves so deeply in believing it. It used to be called the “silver bullet” syndrome because it was thought that nothing could happen to “good people.” It’s a false notion that has robbed many of their faith when things did go bad–they blamed God instead of their poor theology.
 
One_point said:
Some seem to get upset and touchy when it is pointed out that Jesus lived a poor life, apostles too and even early Christians were not wealthy if we believe those verses that Paul is commanding Christians to provide for other believers. They respond accusing others of preaching poverty gospel. but poverty even by nuns is voluntary and is a calling and not for everyone. catholics believing in fighting real physical poverty with spiritual poverty. because when you give then you don’t have that thing anymore so you are practicing spiritual poverty. is this widespread among all protestants? some say you get wealth according to the faith you have but if this is true the apostles and early church should be the richest people in human history. they had martyrs, Mary and so many miracles.
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Absolutely not. The prosperity/name it claim is found in some charismatic/pentecostal circles and there are many more protestants that condemn this stuff than support it. Some of the best critics are other protestants. It is not found in any historic protestant denominations at all. The reason you might think other wise is that cable channels like 700 club and TBN are run by these people.
 
Absolutely not. The vast majority of protestants, mainline, Bible only, conservative, do not.
 
Kliska said:
Do all protestants believe the prosperity gospel?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo. oooo. no.

😉 (I was just trying to be clear)
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YES, just in case the above from Kliska isn’t clear enough, the answer is NO.

It’s a belief of a small fraction of Protestants. More specifically, a fraction of Evangelicals; and more specifically still, a fraction of Pentecostals among the Evangelicals. It’s been denounced by many mainstream Evangelical leaders, including leaders of Pentecostal churches such as the Assemblies of God.
 
Most of the responses to your question seem to be coming from non-Catholics. So I’ll be one of the few Catholics to weigh in on this topic. Not all protestants believe in the prosperity gospel. I have to defend our brothers and sisters in Christ on this point. I am the only member of my immediate family that is Catholic-my wife and children are all practicing Lutherans. We have some differences in our faiths, obviously. We have discussed the prosperity gospel just recently, due to Joel Osteen just starting his SiriusXM satellite radio program.

My description of his ministry is more harsh then how my wife would describe it. I personally believe he preaches the prosperity gospel and I see what he says as dangerous. I would go so far as to say he is a heretic. While my wife might be slower to describe his ministry as harshly as I do, she still sees the danger of what he preaches. On that point, at least, we agree.
 
They don’t ALL believe it, but more believe some form of it than what most of you are saying. I do agree it’s more prevalent in the churches that aren’t part of a big denomination. It’s also more common in people of little or no formal education.

What they don’t believe is that there is any value in suffering of any kind. Most believe God put us here to be happy and if they aren’t happy they then become even more unhappy. I’ve tried telling many of them God put us hereto be Holy, and if being Holy makes you happy God loves that. But if to be happy means living in sin then that’s wrong. But if you say that most will become irate. This is probably why you see them get upset if you suggest that poverty can bring you closer to God, or something like that.
 
Actually Pentecostals and other Charismatics are among the most fervent opponents to prosperity theology in Protestantism.
 
Another definite “NO,” from someone who spent her first 52 years as a Protestant (Church of the United Brethren in Christ, then later, Episcopal Church).

As others have mentioned, if you look at many of the “televangelists,” it’s easy to come to that conclusion. There are folks who are quite outspoken against the prosperity gospel, though. I still listen regularly to Hank Hanegraff, aka “The Bible Answer Man” (equip.org/hank-hanegraaff/), who speaks quite eloquently about it. He’s even written a book called The Osteenification of American Christianity, which has garnered him backlash from the folks who want–need?–to believe in name it/claim it.
 
AbideWithMe said:
YES, just in case the above from Kliska isn’t clear enough, the answer is NO.

It’s a belief of a small fraction of Protestants. More specifically, a fraction of Evangelicals; and more specifically still, a fraction of Pentecostals among the Evangelicals. It’s been denounced by many mainstream Evangelical leaders, including leaders of Pentecostal churches such as the Assemblies of God.
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Does this mean we are NOT all one in the body of Christ? :eek:

Peace!!!
 
No, absolutely not. I think it is a relatively new thing mostly found on television. I first heard of it just a couple years ago when a friend’s sister got involved in a cultish church that preached it. The friend sent out a plea for prayer to everyone she knew to pray for her sister to see the truth and leave that church. She soon did.
 
Took2Long said:
Most of the responses to your question seem to be coming from non-Catholics. So I’ll be one of the few Catholics to weigh in on this topic. Not all protestants believe in the prosperity gospel. I have to defend our brothers and sisters in Christ on this point. I am the only member of my immediate family that is Catholic-my wife and children are all practicing Lutherans. We have some differences in our faiths, obviously. We have discussed the prosperity gospel just recently, due to Joel Osteen just starting his SiriusXM satellite radio program.

My description of his ministry is more harsh then how my wife would describe it. I personally believe he preaches the prosperity gospel and I see what he says as dangerous. I would go so far as to say he is a heretic. While my wife might be slower to describe his ministry as harshly as I do, she still sees the danger of what he preaches. On that point, at least, we agree.
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i am Catholic and I was into this stuff before becoming Catholic. I am very well aware of the different teachers in this movement of which Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyers are the latest versions. But, even if Catholics are not usually drawn to these teachers, there are many more Protestants that speak out and against WoF. A simple google search will bring up an number of Protestant web sites that are much more forceful than Catholics usually are.
 
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