Health Wealth and Happiness How the Prosperity Gospel Overshadows the Gospel of Christ

Be faithful in your giving and God will reward you financially. It's not always stated that blatantly but the promises of the Prosperity Gospel--or the name-it-and-claim-it gospel, the health-and-wealth gospel, the word of faith movement, or positive confession theology--are false. Yet its message permeates the preaching of well-known Christian leaders: Joyce Meyer, T. D. Jakes, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, and many more. The appeal of this teaching crosses racial, gender, denominational, and international boundaries. Why are otherwise faithful Christians so easily led astray? Because the Prosperity Gospel contains a grain of biblical truth, greatly distorted. For anyone who knows that Prosperity Gospel theology is wrong but has trouble articulating and refuting the finer points, this concise edition contains all the robust arguments of the hard-hitting original edition in a shorter, more accessible form.

Publisher: Kregal
Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9780825445071

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David W. Jones is a professor of Christian ethics, associate dean for graduate program admission, and director of the ThM program at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Russell S. Woodbridge is a professor of theology and church history currently employed in missions work in Eastern Europe.

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I've known for years that the "God wants you rich!" school of thought was screwy. But didn't know that it is not based on a twisted Christianity, but on twisted pagan roots, from Hindu, Greek philosophy and New Thought ideas. It doesn't just build on selfishness and greed, but on a false conception of God, elevation of mind over matter, an exalted view of humans as semi-gods and a warped view of salvation. (God must obey you if you have the magic of faith to force Him! Phooey on rewards in Heaven, grab it all now! Forget asking God to use your suffering to grow, get out of it fast! Sin? What's that?) Even `soft-core' proponents like Joel Osteen, Joyce Myers, T.D.Jakes and Creflo Dollar only tack on the real Gospel as an afterthought. "Send me that money so God can make you as rich as me!" is the real message. The authors not only trace the causes, but how to correct such warped thinking and lousy Bible interpretation. Michael A. Johnson