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Word of Faith Movement has deep roots in American History
What is the so-called "prosperity gospel" and what are its historical and theological roots? The world's foremost Pentecostal-Charismatic historian, Dr. Vinson Synan, offers an explanation.
by Vinson Synan
An amazing phenomenon among Pentecostals and Charismatics is spreading around the world with the force and velocity of a raging wildfire in a dry forest. It is generally known as the "prosperity gospel" or the "word of faith movement," and although many have not heard of it, the teaching is now an international force that is gaining millions of enthusiastic followers each year. Led by such popular evangelists as Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin Jr., the teaching is inspiring some of the largest churches and evangelistic crusades in the history of modern Christianity.
In South Korea, the prosperity teaching is part of the attraction in Yonggi Cho's Yoido Full Gospel Assemblies of God church that has more than 800,000 members, the largest recorded in church history. In Africa, Reinhard Bonnke weaves prosperity themes in his gigantic crusades that attract up to, and over, 1 million people in one service. In Nigeria, prosperity teaching reverberates in the preaching of David Oyedepo in his Canaanland Church in Lagos that seats some 55,000 people and is always full to overflowing. Prosperity is also a core teaching of Bishop Enoch Adeboye's Redeemed Christian Church of God which conducts a monthly all-night prayer meeting outside of Lagos that regularly attracts 1 million people. In addition, every December about 5 million people jam onto a larger field for prayer meetings, which is one of the largest gatherings of human beings on the planet. In India, crowds of half a million have gathered to hear Benny Hinn and other evangelists bring messages of health and prosperity to Christians.
In the United States, millions tune in every day to hear Kenneth Copeland proclaim the prosperity message on his Believer's Voice of Victory program, while Kenneth Hagin Jr. teaches prosperity principles to his students at his Rhema Bible Institute in Broken Arrow, Okla. In nearby Tulsa, the world famous Oral Roberts University, founded in 1965, has been pivotal in spreading the message of its founder, Oral Roberts, whom many see as the father of the post-World War II healing movement. At the same time, opponents of the teaching such as Hank Hanegraff and Ole Anthony fill the airwaves and Internet blogs with lurid denunciations of the movement. In addition, on college and university campuses, theologians and professors from many theological backgrounds regularly criticize the teaching as unabashed materialism and conspicuously gaudy displays of airplanes, fancy cars and expensive mansions. To top it all, in 2007, Sen.Charles Grassley of Iowa announced a senatorial investigation of six of the prosperity televangelists, all Pentecostals or Charismatics: Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Benny Hinn, Eddie Long, Randy and Paula White, Creflo A. Dollar and Joyce Meyer.
A Parable of the Three Sermons on the Mount
Many have wondered why the prosperity message is so popular among the impoverished masses that flock to hear it. To answer, one might imagine the idea of three sermons preached on a "smoky mountain" like many such trash dumps outside large, Third World cities where people fight with rats to salvage food and waste products to survive the grinding poverty in which they seem to be hopelessly trapped. One day, three preachers came to minister to these people: one a traditional Christian teacher, one a social gospel teacher and the other a Pentecostal preacher with a salvation, healing and prosperity gospel.
The first, a traditional Christian, knowing Jesus said, "The poor will be with you always," gave a message that has been heard for centuries. "Take comfort in your faith. Suffering builds character, and the Lord suffered, too. He will comfort you. In heaven you will have many mansions, but in the meantime, we will give you as much help as possible and try to console you." Critics call this a "pie in the sky" message.
The second, a "social gospel" teacher spoke out. The gist of his message was, "The reason you are poor is the unjust distribution of wealth, the greediness of the rich and their domination of the government and power structures of society. If we can pass laws to change the situation by taking from the rich and giving to the poor, we can eventually help you. Help us to pass just laws, or if that fails, form a revolution where you will eventually rule, and then the wealth will be equally distributed. Have patience, the government will eventually change your situation."
The third speaker was a Pentecostal or Charismatic evangelist who said in essence, "If you will believe the gospel, the Lord will immediately break the power of sin in your life and you can be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak in tongues, cast out devils and evangelize the world. You can be instantly set free from your addictions to alcohol, tobacco, sexual promiscuity and drugs, and Jesus will make you into a healthy, honest member of society. God is not against you. There is no virtue in being poor just for the sake of being poor. So God will also bless you materially as you work hard, live honestly, save your money and give a portion of your own income to others."
I will let the reader decide why many of the masses would listen to the last preacher and run down the smoky mountain as soon as possible to the nearest Pentecostal church or evangelistic crusade to find salvation and deliverance. These are the multitudes that fill the Reinhard Bonnke crusades and are crowding into Pentecostal churches, large and small, around the world. It may be that these people are now poor, but they do not intend to stay poor. They believe in a powerful Jesus who can break the bonds of sin, sickness, demonic oppression and poverty. It is indeed a very attractive message to the poor.
Deeper Roots in Church History
The Bible offers both hope for the righteous and comfort for the poor. It also uniformly condemns those who exploit and mistreat the poor. For most of Church history, the vast majority of Christians have lived in relative poverty. The Church has faithfully ministered to them and comforted them in their distress by developing a theology of suffering. While comforting the poor and afflicted over the centuries, the Church also amassed great wealth, often on the backs of the poor. In time, the Church became one of the oppressors of the masses in tandem with the kings, emperors and aristocrats who systematically took from the poor with forced taxes and tithes. The Church eventually became rich in houses and lands. In the middle ages, the Church amassed huge percentages of all land wealth on which they built cathedrals, churches, monasteries and convents. This led to the famous remark of Pope Innocent IV who, while admiring gold chests of coins owned by the Church in Rome, declared to the theologian Thomas Aquinas, "No longer can the church say silver and gold have I none." To which the theologian replied, "Yes, but neither can we say in our present day take up thy bed and walk." It seems that the Church practiced a prosperity gospel for itself but not for its common members. Indeed, it could be said that for centuries the Church exercised an "option for the rich and powerful" rather than an "option for the poor."
One of the root causes of the reformation in the 16th century was in reaction to the heavy and oppressive toll of money sent to Rome to support the papacy and build St. Peter's Cathedral. This led to the sale of indulgencies to fill the coffers of the Church in Rome. When Martin Luther objected to this practice, the reformation followed. In many parts of northern and western Europe some reformers plundered rich church lands to create new Protestant communities. In England, King Henry VIII enriched the crown by closing monasteries and convents all over England and using the money for himself.
The Protestant "Gospel of Wealth" in the Gilded Age
After gaining freedom from Rome, many Protestant churches developed not only new theological systems, but also new attitudes towards wealth. After the Pilgrim fathers colonized New England in the New World, they began preaching what became known as the "Protestant ethic" which promised prosperity if one worked hard, was honest, obeyed the Scriptures and the laws, and faithfully served the Lord. Then, God's blessings would be poured out on those who lived in what they called "the city on the hill." Many historians and economists credit this colonial "prosperity gospel" with the growing wealth in America, both before and after the Revolution. One proponent of this ethic was Benjamin Franklin whose Poor Richard's Almanac trumpeted the virtues of thrift, savings and hard work.
After the Civil War, a time of great prosperity blossomed in the Northern states because of the rising age of big industry, big railroads and big banks. Historians call this period from the Civil War to 1900 the "Gilded Age" of rich "robber barons" such as Cornelius Vanderbilt (railroads), John D. Rockefeller (oil), Andrew Carnegie (steel), James Duke (tobacco) and J.P. Morgan (banking).
There is some irony in this history for it was mainly Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Methodists and Episcopalians who promoted the "prosperity gospel" of this age. These enormously rich protestant capitalists built monumental churches and hired preachers who would give a biblical rationale for their gigantic wealth. The most famous one was the Riverside Church in New York City, which was built with Rockefeller money. He was a Baptist. Soon, preachers were tickling the ears of these rich Americans in sermons that soothed their consciences, while others wrote books carrying the same message. A new genre of get-rich books became wildly popular, such as the books of Horatio Alger telling the stories of poor, young people who became rich through hard work and smart business deals.
The theological world also joined in this chorus of prosperity. One of the most famous was the Rev. Russell Conwell, a Baptist pastor and founder of Temple University in Philadelphia, whose famous lectures based on his book Acres of Diamonds made him a rich man. He taught that anyone could find great wealth, even in his own backyard. In time, industrialist laymen also joined in. In his 1899 book, The Gospel of Wealth, Andrew Carnegie taught that great wealth brought great responsibility to the rich. He and others eventually became philanthropists who used some of their wealth to build libraries and endow universities.
This was also the age of "social Darwinism," a time in which some professors at major universities taught the rich were the "fit survivors" of evolution who deserved to be rich. This teaching, done in the name of evolutionary "science," was later used to support white supremacy in the American South and Hitler's racist Nazi regime in Germany.
The irony is that Grassley, who is a Baptist, has chosen to exclusively target six Pentecostal-Charismatic ministries is seen by many to be based on doctrines that were once championed by the Baptists themselves.
Redemption and Lift
In the 20th century, a missionary historian and missionary to India, Donald McGavran, proposed the idea of "redemption and lift" in his 1955 book The Bridges of God and his 1970 book Understanding Church Growth. In these and other works, McGavran pointed out that the greatest church growth has occurred as the result of mass evangelistic movements among the poor. One of the results of these mass conversions was the lifting en masse of whole classes of previously poor people to relative prosperity, as a result of becoming Christians.
The reasons for this economic uplift was the fact that upon conversion, former pagans abandoned their profligate lifestyles of alcoholism, sexual promiscuity and drug addiction, and became honest and hard-working members of society. They were "redeemed" and then "lifted" to a higher plane of prosperity because of miraculous deliverances from the powers of darkness, which produce poverty.
Church history is a continuing testimony to the veracity of McGavran's theory. Revivals have repeatedly broken out among the poor and disadvantaged, sometimes producing new denominations which appeal and minister to the poor. Within one or two generations, these people rise to levels of prosperity never dreamed of by their parents. The examples are too numerous to recount, but include the rise of the Baptists, Quakers, Methodists, Nazarenes and Pentecostals from extreme poverty to relative wealth in a short time. This process is now being repeated all over the world as Pentecostals and Charismatics continue to win millions of the poor whose lives are transformed by the gospel.
In McGavran's view, prosperity would not be the American idea of conspicuous displays of wealth, but for the desperately poor to have adequate housing, enough food and clothing for their families and a chance to make a decent living. For millions of the world's poor, simply having enough food to survive would be considered wonderful prosperity.
Roots of Post World War II Prosperity Teachings
After World War II, the American nation saw the dawning of a new prosperity built on the pent-up savings of the wartime years. The depression years were forgotten as every level of society moved upward on the economic scale. This was true of the Pentecostals, as well as everyone else. In 1948, two evangelists appeared on the scene who would dominate American religious life for decades. They were Billy Graham and Oral Roberts. When Roberts appeared on TV in 1953, he startled the nation with his salvation and healing crusades. Also, Roberts brought something new—a prosperity gospel that was attractive for many Pentecostals who had lived in abject poverty, as Roberts had growing up in Oklahoma. As he once said, "I tried poverty, and I didn't like it."
There were two sources for Roberts' prosperity teachings: one was the Bible and the other was Napoleon Hill's 1937 best-seller Think and Grow Rich. In the Bible, the one verse that dominated Roberts' views on healing and prosperity was 3 John 2, which says: "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers" (New King James Version). This became the golden text for the healing and prosperity teachings of Roberts and his many followers. By the time he went on television, Roberts had also become the spiritual mentor of Demos Shakarian who founded the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International (FGBMFI) with Roberts' help in 1952. Soon many Pentecostals became businessmen, and some grew very rich. Roberts and Shakarian also played large and influential roles in the appearance of the Charismatic movement in the mainline churches after 1960. In 1970, Roberts published his influential book The Miracle of Seed Faith which encouraged his followers to "sow" into his ministry "out of their need" in order to reap a "seed-faith miracle" harvest of financial blessings.
With his headquarters in Tulsa, Okla. Roberts founded Oral Roberts University in 1965, which became the epicenter of the healing and prosperity movement. His teachings also became major themes of his friends and followers. Among them were Kenneth E. Hagin and Kenneth Copeland, who came to national prominence in the era of the Charismatic Renewal movement in the mainline churches. Added to the influence of Roberts, was that of E.W. Kenyon whose books became favorite texts of Hagin and his new Rhema Bible Institute in nearby Broken Arrow, Okla. Based on Kenyon's principle of "positive confession," Hagin built a huge following among Pentecostals and Charismatics known as the "word of faith" movement.
In South Korea, Paul Yonggi Cho became a devoted friend and follower of Oral Roberts. When they were teenagers, both had been healed of tuberculosis. Incorporating the prosperity gospel into his Assemblies of God congregation in Seoul, Korea, Cho built the largest church in Christian history. Later, Reinhard Bonnke, the German Pentecostal evangelist, became a close friend of Kenneth Copeland and blended prosperity teachings with his salvation healing crusades all over Africa and the world. By the year 2000, Bonnke was preaching to the largest crowds in evangelistic history promising salvation, health and prosperity to huge crowds that flocked to his crusades.
Eventually, Africa became the world center for the mass proclamation of the prosperity message. Much of the growth of prosperity-oriented Pentecostalism in Nigeria and other lands came as the result of teaching missions by teams from Hagin's "word of faith" movement in the late 1980s. They influenced two leaders in particular who spread the message to the masses. They were Enoch Adeboye, bishop of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, and David Oyedepo, pastor of the Canaanland Church, both in Lagos, Nigeria. To further the growth of the movement, Oyedepo founded Covenant University outside Lagos on a campus that rivals ORU and Regent University, combined in size and magnificence.
American Prosperity Televangelists
Following the groundbreaking TV ministry of Oral Roberts, a number of influential televangelists have carried the prosperity message to new heights in recent years. Among these are Kenneth Copeland, Fred Price, Benny Hinn, Eddie Long, Creflo A. Dollar, Joyce Meyer and Paula White. Over the years, other, more radical televangelists made a mockery of prosperity teachings with their strident and shameless appeals for large donations and outrageous lifestyles. Some critics have accused all the aforementioned televangelists with the same extravagance.
Most of the televangelists continue to use the 3 John 2 verse, as well as others such as Proverbs 13:22: "The wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous (NKJV); Deuteronomy 8:18: It is He who gives you power to get wealth" (NKJV); Malachi 3:10: "'Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,' says the Lord of hosts, 'If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it'" (NKJV); and John 10:10: "'The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly'" (NKJV).
Most of them feel the donations given by their followers make it possible for them and their staff members to stay in fine hotels, build very nice homes, fly first class or even in ministry-owned airplanes, and be paid very high salaries. "The workman is worthy of his hire" is the usual explanation. Many say the Apostle Paul traveled first class in his day and if Jesus or Paul were here now they would take jets and preach on television in order to reach more people. They point out that the soldiers gambled over who would own Jesus' clothes after the crucifixion.
In opposition to the prosperity teachers, stand a large number of academic and religious scholars who charge the prosperity gospel is materialistic, takes money from the poor to support their extravagant lifestyles, paints an impossible goal of riches for millions of the poor, and turns God into a glorified servant who caters to their every wish. Also in recent years, the Roman Catholic Church has made unprecedented efforts to reach out to the poor, some through "liberation theology," and others through what is called the "option for the poor." So far, their efforts have not been as successful as they had hoped. It has been said that in Latin America, "the Roman Catholic Church chose the option for the poor, but the poor chose the Pentecostals." In addition, ironically, recent studies have also shown the historic "social gospel" ministries to the poor by mainline churches in the developing world have been far surpassed by the material aid given by the prosperity-oriented Pentecostal and Charismatic mega churches.
This compassion on the part of "prosperity" teachers confounds their critics. Most of the televangelists give generously to other ministries; it is part of their teaching and, they would say, the secret to their success. Copeland, for example, gives millions of dollars to the ministry of Reinhard Bonnke and other ministries. Others, like Pat Robertson and his Operation Blessing, give millions of dollars to the poor and victims of disasters around the world. Some critics think the prosperity message offers a mirage of false hope for the masses of the poor by saying, "If it does not wash in Bangladesh it will not wash in America." Yet it seems to be the poor are the most attracted to the message. To many poor people this teaching offers a ray of hope for better things through trusting God. Others seem to be influenced by the American lifestyle they see in American movies made in Hollywood.
Despite the negative attention the Senator Grassley Investigation may heap on the six televangelists, the fact remains that the gospel does offer redemption and lift to the aspiring masses of new Christians around the world. In the end, all religions would agree that poverty is evil and all would call for the alleviation of poverty and more prosperity for the masses, even if they point to different methods of achieving it. In the opinion of many, the offer of salvation, holiness, healing and Pentecostal-Charismatic power is the best cure for both spiritual and material poverty, and this message is giving more "redemption and lift" to more people than all the political theories and government programs ever conceived.
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