Part 5, Prosperity gospel

A tale of two sons

Let us move on to an extensive dissertation by brother Copeland concerning the parable of Jesus, the Prodigal Son. In this passage brother Copeland attempts to draw a distinction concerning the brother of the prodigal son being someone who has a problem with “littleness of thinking”. But first, we need to give brother Copeland his due for stating the gospel clearly… Only to take away the good news at the last second.

We have seen from the Word that God has established His covenant in the earth, but what about the new covenant? The Word says it is a covenant of righteousness based on better promises. As we have read in Deuteronomy, God called Israel stiff-necked and unrighteous. According to the new covenant, we have been made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. God does not see us a stiff-necked people. (He sees us many times as an untaught people because we do not know the covenant, but we are not stiff-necked and unrighteous.) He sees us through the blood of the Lamb: spotless, blameless, beyond reproach. Israel was the servant of God; we are the sons of God (see Galatians 4:7). We need to realize our rights as His children and citizens of the kingdom of God.20

Although there are many points that could be picked on here, let’s stick with brother Copeland’s use of the gospel in this case. Are we to assume that even after Jesus paid the full price for sin, we still are somehow missing out on the benefits of salvation? He continues:

To illustrate, let’s look at the parable of the prodigal son from Luke 15. For many years we have read this story without realizing its full significance, and it has a very important application in the area of prosperity which has been entirely overlooked. As we have read about the prodigal son coming home, we’ve stopped there. Our minds have been on him, but what about the other son? The prodigal son took his inheritance and squandered it. When he returned home, his father killed the fatted calf and threw a big party welcoming him with open arms. Then the other son came in, saw what had happened and got mad at his father. He said, “I have stayed with you, and you have never even given me a little goat. Yet when he goes off and wastes his money, you celebrate by killing a calf for him!” Then his father said, “But, son, everything I have belongs to you.” In other words, he was saying, “You could have had a fatted calf anytime you wanted it. It belongs to you. I’m pleased that your brother has come home, but you could have had it for the asking!” You see, the other son would have settled for a goat when the calf was his all the time! The inheritance belonged to both sons; only one took advantage of it. The older son did without because of the littleness of his thinking. Most Christians are cheating themselves out of their full inheritance in Jesus Christ because of the littleness of their thinking. By not knowing their covenant, they do not know their rights as children of Almighty God!21

Note first of all that brother Copeland resorts to a frequent tactic used by “word of faith” teachers, in that rather than quote scripture verbatim as we have seen him do previously, he paraphrases the text. He also pulls the passage out of context, which leaves him with a good place from which to prove his point: The second son is a “little thinker”. That means that, since there are many Christians not prospering in their newness in Christ, they all must be suffering from the same bad thinking. Note that we have located an important connection between “word of faith” teachings and those of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, who helped found Christian Science.

The context of the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 Is found at the beginning of the chapter:

Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:1-2 NIV)

Each of the Parables in this chapter has attacks aimed directly at the Pharisees:

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. (Luke 15:7 NIV)

In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10 NIV)

The final dig comes at the end of the parable, when Jesus points up the attitude of the Pharisees toward not only the people Jesus was associating with, but Jesus himself.

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

“ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ” (Luke 15: 22-32 NIV)

The Pharisees couldn’t have missed these attacks. Indeed, this kind of language was exactly what led to Jesus being crucified. Jesus has here drawn a comparison between the brother of the prodigal son and national Israel. The brother in the parable couldn’t be angry that he doesn’t have anything, because at the beginning of the parable Jesus plainly states that the father divided his property between his two sons. No, the brother is angry because of his father, who “never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”

His father never gave him even a young goat. Even after he had worked so hard for his father. And worse yet, his father gave his wayward, sinning brother a feast upon his return. The father never gave the brother anything. Brother Copeland has missed the point of this parable, and worse, seems to be more interested in using the scripture to make his point concerning health, wealth and prosperity than striving to arrive at the truth of scripture.
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20 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, page 39
21 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, page 40

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"What's your beef with 'prosperity gospel' anyway?"

Yeah, I have a beef with the prosperity gospel (and by extension, those who teach it) . Many people have asked me about it, so here it is.

I used to attend a church where this was the default mode of the church. Basically, Sin and Grace was a small refrain, Jesus and his work on the cross for us was a background tune, and the sacraments were nonexistent. Ok, one could say I'm being picky, but the fact is that when Jesus is a side note and the normal work of the church is set aside, many abuses are made possible. Though unintentional, there can be no doubt of this.

Case in Point: One woman at the church had a nerve pinched so severely in her shoulder that she was in constant pain, running down her arm into her hand. Her arm was becoming deformed. The women at the church laid hands on her and prayed over her, and the woman was given a number of things she needed to do to "receive her healing". Nothing worked. The conclusion that the women at the church came to was that this poor woman did not have enough faith. The woman left the church and she was declared "unteachable".

When I saw this woman, later after I heard what happened, I had to make it clear to her what was going on. In all the suffering and being told her faith wasn't strong enough or she didn't have enough faith, she never gave up on her faith in Christ. She had gotten her miracle alright. Nothing could separate her from the love of God.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ro 8:38-39 NIV)

Another case was of one evening the pastor was "anointing" people so that they would "baptized in the holy spirit" and be able to "speak in tongues". Later, when the ones who didn't get their anointing were taken into a back room I could wailing and anguish from another woman who, it turned out, didn't get her anointing. Although I'm not 100 percent sure, I can guess that she was questioning whether she was a Christian or not. After all, the "spirit" had rejected her and she didn't get her anointing so she could speak in tongues.

Notice I'm not mentioning anything that happened to me personally. I wont go into those details, since my own experience might be tainted. But the actions and experience of others speaks volumes to me.

Yeah, I have a beef with the "prosperity gospel". Like Paul said, "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!" (Gal 1:8-9 NIV)

No Christ, no Gospel. No Gospel, no Salvation. No Salvation, no Prosperity. No Christ... No hope.

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Book Recomendations

The Gospel According to Dan Brown
by Jeff Dunn (Author), Craig Bubeck (Author)

There have been a lot of books written debunking "The Da Vinci Code", but this book takes a different path. Rather than going over the historical and factual errors, the authors analyze the world view presented to us in the story itself. One's worldview has a drastic effect on one's ability to interpret reality, and that is definately true of Dan Brown. The authors also dissect each of Dan Brown's novels to show how he creates a case for his world view and how he packages his "gospel" in a whodunit mystery that leads the reader on to discover the hidden "truth".

Absolutely fascinating reading. One little known fact that is revealed about Dan Brown is his abortive attempt to have a music career. If you do a search on the internet you can find some of his material.

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Part 4, Prosperity gospel

The Pelagian Code

The teachers of the prosperity gospel teach a wide variety of different ideas, but no teacher has had the same influence as Kenneth Copeland. His books have sold millions of copies, and through his TV appearances on the Trinity Broadcast Network he has reached and influenced millions of people along with dozens of other televangelists. Let us look at an excerpt from his book, the Laws of Prosperity9.

When God made man, He gave him a will that has power. It is actually a godlike will because man has the right to choose his own eternal destiny. Only a god has that kind of choice! Man was made in God’s image and given the will to make up his own mind. You can go to hell if you want to and God will protect your right…you don’t have to, but you can. On the other hand, you can choose Jesus Christ and the Word of God. In Deuteronomy 30:19, God said, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” What a privilege! The choice is yours!

As you can see, we have a minor (?) conflict here with historic Christianity. In the Canons of the Council of Orange, Against the Pelagian heresy, we find written:

If anyone maintains that God awaits our will to be cleansed from sin, but does not confess that even our will to be cleansed comes to us through the infusion and working of the Holy Spirit, he resists the Holy Spirit himself who says through Solomon, “The will is prepared by the Lord” (Prov. 8:35, LXX), and the salutary word of the Apostle, “For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). (Canon 4)

This is another defining trait of the prosperity gospel. Pelagianism has been a bane of the church throughout her long history, and continues to crop up at will throughout the body of Christ. The majority of the prosperity teachers have taught “decisional theology10”. But historically speaking this is not what the church has taught, but rather has fought valiantly against this error. It’s too bad the Kenneth Copeland didn’t finish reading in Deuteronomy, because he would have read this:

And the LORD said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your fathers, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them. (Deuteronomy 31:16, NIV)

It would appear that God already knew what the people would do.

This common Eisegesis11 of scripture, either by isolating passages from their context or wholesale misinterpretation of the words in plain English, is an overriding trait of “word of faith” and prosperity gospel teachers. Many examples of this kind of interpretation can be found throughout Christendom, of which our reformation fathers fought long and hard to correct, but no other tradition has practiced eisegesis more fervently than the “word of faith” tradition.

Covenant Confusion

One trait held in common between “word of faith” teachers and the standard Arminian12 theology is embodied in the general confusion of the Mosaic Covenant13 and the Abrahamic14 Covenant. Since it is also influenced by premilliennialism15 and dispensationalism, decisional theology is the norm. The Mosaic Covenant is seen as a fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant, Rather than the Mosaic Covenant being fulfilled by the person and work of Jesus Christ in his life, death and resurrection.

In classic Lutheran Theology, the distinction between Law and Gospel was called “a special guiding light that serves till the end of time that God’s word may be rightly divided”16. The law is everything that God commands; the Gospel is everything that God promises. In this view, it is seen that the Christ fulfills the Mosaic Covenant and extends the Abrahamic Covenant to all who believe in Him.

The conflation of the two covenants can be seen clearly in brother Copeland’s book, the Laws of Prosperity, where he makes his case for these spiritual laws that he claims governs prosperity and who can receive prosperity:

Abraham…Moses…David…Solomon…why did God bless these men? Why have so few men found the blessings of God in finance? We need to renew our minds to God’s reason for financial blessings. In the book of Deuteronomy, we see the predominant rule to remember in living a prosperous life: “And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee the power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore unto thy fathers, as it is this day” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18).

The predominant rule: God gives the power to get wealth.

Why? To establish His covenant.17

We can already see how brother Copeland is stretching the two covenants to fit each other. First, he takes a statement from God and turns it into law. It’s true that “the power to get wealth” comes from God, but brother Copeland is about to turn this away from being a work of God into a work of men.

Deuteronomy 29:9 says, “Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.” According to this, we should be prosperous in everything we do, but we must keep the words of the covenant.18

This is the beginning, from which brother Copeland quickly drives his readers off into the weeds and back under the law. As my Pastor, Gary Held, pointed out, “There is “wealth”, and then there is wealth. True riches are found in Christ, but only through trusting the Gospel. Material wealth can be accumulated by anyone, including (especially?) unbelievers. Arab oil Sheiks have no faith (in Christ) and have lots of material property”. I would add to that the example of Bill Gates. As far as I can find, he is not a Christian in any sense of the word, but is one of the most wealthy and most influential men in history. Brother Copeland believes that by obeying the law of the mosaic covenant one can become wealthy.

According to the author to the Hebrews, Jesus said:

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, O God.’ ”

First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made). Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:5-10
NIV)

Jesus fulfills the Mosaic covenant by His own body by doing the will of God. It’s difficult to see how Jesus’ atonement fits into the “word of faith” system, but from what this author can gather, it appears that Jesus simply isn’t necessary. Jesus’ finished work on the cross seems to be a side note to the prosperity gospel. Perhaps it’s the attraction of a "system", much like Romanism, where the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the beginning and the work that we do is ultimate means to the end?

St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians, whom Paul was livid at their turning away from the gospel of Jesus Christ, wrote:

The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. (Galatians 3:8-14)

St. Paul’s admonishments here concerning living under the law are clear. Living under the law brings back the curse of the law while living and walking by faith in Jesus Christ brings salvation. Even more startling is that, in that same section of his book, brother Copeland makes this claim:

You see, when you put the Word of God first in your life and it becomes your final authority, prosperity is the result. It is inevitable because the Word of God covers every situation in life. THE WORD IS FINAL AUTHORITY.19

Covers? Brother Copeland doesn’t explain what he means by “covers”. It would have been nice for him to explain how God’s word “covers every situation” but rather our brother in Christ is here trying to establish an absolute from God’s word that simply doesn’t hold. He makes a law statement by saying “put the word of God first and prosperity will result”. However, we read from St. Paul in his letter to the Romans:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:1-5 NIV)

Perhaps St. Paul is referring to the suffering that can come with great wealth? The author can’t tell from reading Kenneth Copeland’s book, but it certainly seems to be what brother Copeland is implying. One thing is for sure: In the “word of faith” system, if an individual doesn’t receive his blessing after having put God’s word first, the reasoning will always be that the individual either didn’t have enough faith, or didn’t keep God’s word first.
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9 page 11, the Laws of Prosperity, Kenneth Copeland.
10 decision theology proposes that the very act of deciding to commit one’s life to Jesus is what saves an individual.
11 Eisegesis, plural eis·ege·ses, the interpretation of a text (as of the Bible) by reading into it one's own ideas – compare exegesis. Merriam-Webster dictionary.
12 Arminian, Ar·min·i·an, of or relating to Arminius or his doctrines opposing the absolute predestination of strict Calvinism and maintaining the possibility of salvation for all. Merriam-Webster dictionary
13 Covenant made with national Israel at Mt. Sinai in Exodus
14 Covenant made with Abraham in Genesis 15
15 premilliennialism , pre·mil·len·ni·al·ism, the view that Christ's return will usher in a future millennium of Messianic rule mentioned in Revelation
16 Mueller, p. 533; Triglot Concordia, Formula of Concord p. 801, LCMS PDF document, Triglot Concordia, Formula of Concord, http://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/LCMS/TrigBOC.pdf, p. 342, “We believe, teach, and confess that the distinction between the Law and the Gospel is to be maintained in the Church with great diligence as an especially brilliant light, by which, according to the admonition of St. Paul, the Word of God is rightly divided.”
17 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, page 35
18 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, page 36
19 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, page 38

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Cooky conspiracy theories...

Want to see how far some people will go in constructing an idol? The Craftsmanship of this particular idol is astounding.

http://www.hoax-buster.org/

The guy gives a ton of "facts" that support his claim the bible is a hoax. Maybe he should read Lightfoot's How we Got the Bible (Amazon: How we Got the Bible). At least Lightfoot actually sites his sources, which the author at "hoax-buster" refuses to do because scholars are "indoctrinated"... He claims the Christian religion started in Egypt...

This is exactly why I have this blog. Once the torrent of strange ideas and socalled "facts" weigh in together, whether it's the da vinci code or stuff like this "hoax-buster", all that stands in the rubble of the postmodern revisionism is Christ and him Crucified.

This Guy believes that Jesus is a fraud. Who do you say he is?

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This week on the Whitehorse Inn Feb. 12th

This week, the boys at the Inn Discuss Postmodernism and it's effect on our culture.

http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/the_white_horse_inn/

Mike Horton notes that postmodernism is a "condition", we need to recognize that fact before we talk about the theories and definitions of what postmodernism is. I find that to be an interesting way to look this because until now the way the culture has tried to define postmodernism has been to refer to "relativism" and truth as being relative even when something can be proved true. An awesome discussion.

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Part 3, Prosperity gospel

Faith as trust v. Faith as a force

One of the primary problems in the world we live in today is a problem of definition. One person has a definition of any given concept and another may have a completely different definition. In context with today’s prosperity gospel, we have a major problem of definition in the Christian concept of faith.

A classic definition of Faith can be found in the Heidelberg Catechism (cir. 1563)

It is not only a certain knowledge by which I accept as true all that God has revealed to us in His Word, but also a firm confidence which the Holy Spirit creates in me through the gospel, that, not only to others but to me also God has given the forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness and salvation, out of sheer grace solely for the sake of Christ’s saving work. (Question 23)

Over and against this definition of faith, which is an historic definition, we have today’s “word of faith” teachers proposing a radically different view. Kenneth Copeland, in his book, the Laws of Prosperity7, writes:

“Faith is a spiritual force, a spiritual energy, a spiritual power. It is this force of faith which makes the laws of the spirit world function. When the force of faith is put to work, these laws of the spirit function according to the way God says they will.”

This is the second basis for today’s prosperity gospel. To remind the reader, E. W. Kenyon wrote:

‘When you know that "By His stripes you are healed" and you know it as you know that two and two are four, the adversary will have no power over you. When you know the Power and Authority of the Name of Jesus and that you have a legal right to use it, and the adversary lays siege to you, you will not be filled with fear. You will simply laugh at him and say, "Satan, did you know you were whipped? Leave my body." He will leave.’

When we couple these two teachings together, we begin to see how today’s modern prosperity gospel is constructed. Now granted, they are defining, to some extent, what they see as an attribute of faith, a force that creates reality. The only trouble with this belief is that it’s not found in scripture. In historic Christianity it’s understood that God’s word created the heaven and the earth, and that Jesus is the one by whom all things were made. But in “word of faith” and prosperity gospel teachings it is put forth that it is literally words that create reality.

“Star wars” Theology

This idea of the “force of faith” is reinforced in the pop culture of our day, as well as in what may be the most influential cultural event of our day. George Lucas, in his fifth installment of his movie epic, Star Wars, wrote a scene concerning the mystical energy called “the force”. The scene is in The Empire Strikes Back, and involves one of the lead characters trying to levitate an X-wing fighter. He fails, and his master gives this little dissertation on what “the force” is:

Luke Skywalker: I can’t… It’s too big…

Yoda: Size matters not. Look at me! Judge me by my size do you? And well you should not! For my ally is the force and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it. Makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the force around you. Here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere. Yes, even between the land and the ship.

Luke Skywalker: You ask the impossible.

Yoda then levitates the ship himself, and Luke Skywalker exclaims.

Luke Skywalker: I don’t believe it!

Yoda: That is why you fail.

Are we not surprised to find that Yoda’s pep talk sounds resoundingly like the confession of our churches today? Change “the force” to “the Holy Spirit” and read it again. The culture in the Americas is ingrained with this kind of thinking. If you just believe, you will succeed. This is just but one example of how popular culture has picked up on teachings such as those of Norman Vincent Peale, and made them their own.

The quote above also shows how a Gnostic8 worldview is the norm in our culture. “Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter”. The Christian worldview is best summed up in the 3rd article of the Apostle’s Creed.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,the holy catholic Church,the communion of saints,the forgiveness of sins,the resurrection of the body,and the life everlasting.

The “resurrection of the body” was the default view in the ancient church. In today’s culture this would be interpreted as grotesque, as witnessed by a large number of movies and books devoted to the subject of ‘resurrection’. Definitions are key. In the horror genre we find the norm for bodily resurrection to be portrayed and embodied as zombies (as in George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead films), vampires, (any given Dracula movie or book, or Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles) and other evil monsters, (ie, Frankenstein). In this genre, the flesh is portrayed as bad, and particularly in Anne Rice’s tomes, the spirit is seen as good.

Anne Rice’s novel, Interview with a Vampire, presents to us a classic Gnostic view of spirit and flesh, embodied in the protagonist Louis. He spends a large amount of time riddled with guilt over his ‘bodily’ desires, ie, his need for human blood, even to the point of trying to obstain from human blood and lives on the blood of rats. His flesh is presented as his biggest problem, and his spirit is presented as being good in his desire to do the right thing and not kill humans to feed his desires.

Although, to a certain extent, the good/bad dichotomy is a generalization of true Gnosticism, one must keep in mind that the average North American does not know the actual tenants of true Gnosticism, but only knows what his or her hearts tell them and where it leads them. It’s not difficult to see the Gnostic worldview in popular culture once one knows what to look for. The author of this paper believes that if his readers look closely, they will realize gnosticism is not only the default view of the culture, but is many times also the default view of the church.
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7 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, ISBN 0-88114-952-7. page 20 PDF document available at http://www.kcm.org/studycenter/finances/index.php
8 Gnosticism, a view that holds that all things material are inherently evil and all things spiritual are inherently divine.

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Everyone needs to check out Pastor Tom Baker's show, Law and Gospel...

He does two hours live on KFUO worldwide from 2pm to 4pm daily (EST).

http://www.kfuo.org/LG.htm

Also, I'm working on the next part of my properity gospel series. I came out of a church that wholeheartedly believes that stuff, which is why I think it seemed good to the Holy Spirit for me to write this paper.

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This week on the Whitehorse Inn

This week on The Whitehorse Inn, Mike Horton, Kim Riddlebarger, Rod Rosenbladt and Ken Jones talk about narcissism in the culture and the church. It almost seems as though there's a new "gospel" category to add to the list of "social gospel" and "prosperity gospel": The Narcissistic Gospel. Literally, the Gospel According to Me is the name of the game these days in all church bodies, from the lowliest non-denominational church to the mainliners to the Roman communion.

Listen to this week's broadcast at One Place and while your there sign up for the podcasts.

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Part 2, Prosperity gospel

They taught what?

One tendency in the church at large from generation to generation is to claim that the previous generation or tradition is somehow inadequate or even apostate. It’s a sinful activity, but can easily be seen in today’s charismatic groups, sighting what they believe as anti-spiritual or anti supernatural teachings and tendencies in previous traditions handed down throughout the centuries.

E.W. Kenyon wrote in his essay, Do you believe in Miracles?, that “Christianity began in miracles; it is propagated by miracles. Every New Birth is a miracle; every answer to prayer is a miracle; every victory over temptation is a miracle. When Reason takes the place of the miraculous, Christianity loses its virility, fascination, and fruitfulness.” To which, the author of this paper wholeheartedly agrees. But Kenyon goes on to write, “On the other hand, we have those who are contending for an original, miraculous, element in Christianity, but declaring that miracles ceased with the death of the apostles; that Christianity does not need the miraculous today to convince men of the Deity of Jesus.”

This claim against a strawman version of the church, a church that denies any supernatural element in the body of Christ that Kenyon writes about may have been an argument of his day, and indeed there is a sort of extremism at work in the body of Christ as whole even in our own times. But Martin Luther, the sixteenth century reformer of the Christian church writes in his small catechism explanation of the third commandment:

We should fear and love God, and so we should not use his name to curse, swear, practice magic, lie or deceive, but in every time of need call upon him, pray to him, praise him and give him thanks.

“Call upon him, pray to him, praise him and give him thanks”. Martin Luther is saying here that God is our ultimate provider, even if we don’t recognize our provision as being from God in the first place. In his explanation of the Lord’s Prayer, he writes:

What is meant by daily bread? Everything required to satisfy our bodily needs, such as food and clothing, house and home, fields and flocks, money and property; a pious spouse and good children, trustworthy servants, godly and faithful rulers, good government; seasonable weather, peace and health, order and honor; true friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.

Are Kenyon’s charges against historic Christian beliefs founded in reality? The problem with the claim that miracles are still needed in the church today is that those who press for a more “miraculous” church fail to recognize the single most important miracle God has performed. Faith is a miracle. Faith in times of trouble is a miracle. Faith in times of want is a miracle. As the apostle Peter wrote in his first epistle:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Peter 1:3-7 NIV)

“Your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire”. Placed in it’s context, this passage shows that God see’s our faith as having greater worth than even gold. Signs and wonders are not necessary when true God given faith is present. What more could a believer want? Unfortunately, believers still caught in a sinful condition often desire more than just faith from a God who reveals himself to be merciful to the highest. In fact, more often than not, sinful people want to set themselves up as God.

Early Baby Boomer Culture

Once the ideology of “positive thinking” made it’s way into the culture, it wasn’t long before it merged with protestant liberalism5. Timothy Leary, in a speech given at Berkley, September 1966, said, “Like every great religion of the past we seek to find the divinity within and to express this revelation in a life of glorification and the worship of God. These ancient goals we define in the metaphor of the present—turn on, tune in, drop out." Unfortunately, again, we have someone who is not in touch with historic Christianity and proffessing to speak for it. St. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians spoke quite plainly:

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14, NIV)

Historic Christianity is not concerned with “the divinity within”, as Timothy Leary suggested. Our faith is “objective”, rooted in the finished work of Christ on our behalf. Subjectivity, on the other hand, is a prime property of protestant liberalism. Fredrick Schleiermacher (1768-1834), the father of protestant liberalism, taught:

“As regards Christian theology, it is not its business to formulate and establish a system of objective truth, but simply to present in a clear and connected form a given body of Christian faith as the contents of the Christian consciousness. Dogmatic theology is a connected and accurate account of the doctrine held at a particular time in a given section of the Christian church. But such doctrines as constitute no integral part of the Christian consciousness — e.g. the doctrine of the Trinity — must be excluded from the theological system of the evangelical theologian.”6

Schleiermacher, of course, is not the first individual to make such statements. However, this view began to proliferate throughout Christendom, even as his views on psychology and philosophy made inroads into the culture at large. Systematic Theologian Paul Tillich (1886-1965), Student of Hermeneutics and psychologist Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911), Lutheran theologian Richard Rothe (1799-1867), and Southern Baptist E.Y. Mullins (1860-1928), to name a few were all highly influenced by Schleiermacher. Perhaps it’s easy to see how the collective works of these men and other theologians would have affected people such as E. W. Kenyon and Norman Vincent Peale.

As time wore on, and baby boomers grew up to take over the pulpits of the Americas, and “Boomer” theology began to take hold. Televangelists became the rule of the day, but in true historical fashion, most of these televangelists reacted against a perception of historic Christianity that is patently unfounded. Among evangelicals in the United States, the formula “no creed but Christ” became popular as the body of churches moved away from confessional Christianity to a more liberalistic form. The boomers early experiences with eastern cultures and religions made inroads as well, and a new experiential kind of Christianity sprang into being. Speaking in tongues became popular outside of Pentecostal traditions, setting the scene for today’s more prolific prosperity gospel.
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5 see also Fredrick Schleiermacher, protestant liberalism turned most of Christianity away from Jesus’ work for our salvation to a religion of the inner man. See also Pietism.
6 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Schleiermacher , section on religious system, paragraph 5.

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