How to counter the "Health and Wealth Gospel" movement?

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Hey everyone. Have any of you on here heard of the “Health and Wealth Gospel” movement? If you haven’t, here is an article on Wikipedia about it:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology

Anyway, I was just wondering, how does one counteract this false doctrine?
 
Holly3278 said:
Hey everyone. Have any of you on here heard of the “Health and Wealth Gospel” movement? If you haven’t, here is an article on Wikipedia about it:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology

Anyway, I was just wondering, how does one counteract this false doctrine?
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It simply doesn’t make sense, as we will all be very unwell one day, if only for the last seconds at the very end. And we won’t be able to take our assets with us. “Dang, I left my Krugerrand in the hand of my other body!!!” 🤷

ICXC NIKA
 
While ‘evangelist surfing’ on Sunday before Mass I came upon a guy on who claimed when you give to the poor, you only get back what you put in. But when you GIVE TO GOD (read ‘make all checks payable to my ministry’) you get back DOUBLE or MORE.
He was making it sound as if giving to GOD (his ministry) was like a Roth IRA while giving to the poor is just like putting your money into a back with only 1 percent interest.

You can’t make this stuff up.:cool:
 
In my Protestant days, I would watch TBN which is a Protestant religious channel. A lot of the televangelists on there promoted the “health and wealth gospel”. I never did have a good feeling about that kind of theology. They always seemed like frauds using religion to increase their own personal income.
 
John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Jesus never promised us health and prosperity.
 
For just about every verse quoted to you, if you look to the verse above or below, you will see something to the effect that only if it is God’s will, or if it will glorify the Lord, or that you must expect that you need to pick up your cross and suffer for the Lord. It is amazing how many verses there are that tell us we will not have an easy life if we follow Christ.
 
I’ve seen this type of rubbish when I flick through God tv, and some guy with a flashy suit and rolex watch seems to be trying to justify to themselves and to others why they are wealthy. This is what happens when charlatans and quacks claim to have authority to interpret Holy Scripture.
 
GeorgeTheWild said:
John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Jesus never promised us health and prosperity.
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That is definitely true George.
sallybutler said:
For just about every verse quoted to you, if you look to the verse above or below, you will see something to the effect that only if it is God’s will, or if it will glorify the Lord, or that you must expect that you need to pick up your cross and suffer for the Lord. It is amazing how many verses there are that tell us we will not have an easy life if we follow Christ.
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This is also definitely true. Thanks for reminding me of this Sally! Those who promote the “health and wealth gospel” have a really bad habit about cherry picking verses and taking them out of context.
Dpoc41 said:
I’ve seen this type of rubbish when I flick through God tv, and some guy with a flashy suit and rolex watch seems to be trying to justify to themselves and to others why they are wealthy. This is what happens when charlatans and quacks claim to have authority to interpret Holy Scripture.
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You are right Dpoc41. They claim to have the authority to interpret Holy Scripture but the fact is, they have no such authority.
 
You mean “BLAB IT AND GRAB IT” 😃

Always thought it had quite a greed element. God is NOT our HEAVENLY BUTLER. He will give us what we NEED, not what we WANT. Seems too many groups have run with scripture If you pray in His name… Well, it’s been hijacked. That is not what it means.

Jesus said to a would-be follower “sell all that you have and give to the poor’” & the young man refused. Our riches are in Christ, The Father and The Holy Spirit not what will rust, be devoured by moths, …
 
I have a relative who is at present, a follower of Kenneth Copeland and he is teaching people not to think or speak negative of anything or else you will block God from giving out His promises.

I was thinking of people who are really suffering, and what they would go through finding counselling through Copeland.
 
I’ve actually had a lot of experience with these kinds of people. It’s really sad that the majority of these prosperity teachers seem to come out of my tradition :mad:. Anyway, a lot of it is just scripture verses taken out of context. Know your Bible; these people are really good at telling a good story, for example Jeremiah 29:11,
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
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This verse will usually be quoted alone and in the context that God has a great plan and destiny for your life. Only problem is that the verses immediately before this one tell how the people of God were being sent into Babylonian exile for seventy years.

Another is the story of the starving woman and the prophet Elijah who asked for her last food in 1 Kings 17. This story is often used to say that even if a “man of God” asks you for the last thing you possessed you should give it to him and expect that God will bless you.

So know your Bible.

This theology is based on the (wrong) belief that Jesus came to earth poor and suffered so that we might be rich and blessed. The easiest way to combat this belief is to tell someone who is caught up in this false doctrine about the way that the Apostles and early martyrs suffered and died. If Jesus and they suffered in this life, we should not expect anything less.

It is also based on the “Law of sowing and reaping.” Traditionally, this was understood as sowing and reaping in terms of the harvest of souls. If you use what you have to evangelize and minister the Gospel to people, Jesus would trust you with more resources to reach more people. Somehow, it morphed into what is called “The Law of Sowing and Reaping.” If you give money, clothes, cars, watches, houses, etc (in other words “SEED”) and plant that seed in good ground (i.e. the ministry of whoever is speaking) then you will get a good harvest.

This is based on a lot of scriptures that do touch on sowing and reaping. However, these scriptures are narrowly defined usually to such things as money and other types of wealth. It is important to show someone caught up in this that these passages are being interpreted narrowly.
 
Holly3278 said:
They always seemed like frauds using religion to increase their own personal income.
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The fact that so many seem to miss this I am constantly amazed by. Scared me the other day, this fellow was looking for $10,000. time/seed …what do they call them donations?

Peace
 
KathleenGee said:
I have a relative who is at present, a follower of Kenneth Copeland and he is teaching people not to think or speak negative of anything or else you will block God from giving out His promises.

I was thinking of people who are really suffering, and what they would go through finding counselling through Copeland.
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Ahh yes. Positive Confession. The idea is that our words have power, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue.”

We can choose to speak the Word: God says I am the head and not the tale, above and not beneath, more than a conqueror; his word says by his stripes I am healed . . .

Or we can speak negative: I have cancer . . .

The idea is to express faith in God. Faith compels God’s action. He has made promises to us, and when we have faith in the promises and confess that promise, God is bound and obligated to fulfill the promise.

Some extreme followers will say that if you are sick its because you don’t have faith that God will heal you.

Of course, what these people fail to realize is that Jesus is the sum and fulfillment of all of God’s promises. As long as we have him in our lives, we can have the abundant life he promised.
 
GaryTaylor said:
The fact that so many seem to miss this I am constantly amazed by. Scared me the other day, this fellow was looking for $10,000. time/seed …what do they call them donations?

Peace
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Yeah, I had to stop watching TBN. Their telethons keep getting more and more wacky. I heard one of their speakers say once: “You say you don’t have a thousand dollars? Well use the credit card. Put Jesus on that credit card!” And of course the audience laughed and clapped.

How exactly does it honor God to go in debt so that you can give him money that he doesn’t need?
 
Very good post. We are having Thanksgiving with this relative. I really like this person, but in personal conversations, the individual keeps everything on a very superficial level…quoting Bible left and right and wanting control over what we say as well…may be to avoid curses?..also a member of Four Square Gospel that sees the Catholic Church as a man made religion.

So the behavior pretty much nails you. As two devout Christians, I am finding it better to avoid speaking of our faith or praying together because then I hear prayers to cast out the demons of religion and rituals. The fruit of private interpretation and no authority.
 
KathleenGee said:
Very good post. We are having Thanksgiving with this relative. I really like this person, but in personal conversations, the individual keeps everything on a very superficial level…quoting Bible left and right and wanting control over what we say as well…may be to avoid curses?..also a member of Four Square Gospel that sees the Catholic Church as a man made religion.

So the behavior pretty much nails you. As two devout Christians, I am finding it better to avoid speaking of our faith or praying together because then I hear prayers to cast out the demons of religion and rituals. The fruit of private interpretation and no authority.
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Yeah, there are a lot of genuine and faithful Christians in this movement. Unfortunately, their desire to be faithful to God and their lack of discernment leads them into the clutches of wolves in sheep’s clothing. These wolves use scriptures like “touch not my anointed” to avoid accountability.

Our church invited this “prophet” to hold a series of meetings. After the first week she had taken control of the church and congregants were giving her the keys to their cars and old ladies were handing in their fixed incomes.

Safe to say my family got out of there and eventually the rest of the church came to their senses and ran her out of town. My family came back to the church and helped it rebuild (it was basically torn apart after “the prophet” left and our pastor had got kicked out as well for letting her take control).

So, this type of belief opens you up to volatile faith and spiritual abuse. Just pray for your family member that God would open his eyes and heart and grant him discernment.
 
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