Four Errors Of The Health and Wealth Gospel (Part 4)

The prosperity gospel can sound like pure encouragement, but once you test its claims against Scripture, the message starts to crack. We sit down to name four specific errors at the heart of the health and wealth gospel and the wider Word of Faith movement, and we explain why these aren’t small disagreements or “different emphases” but distortions that move the center from Christ to earthly success.

We work through the claims that Christ redeemed believers from poverty, that poverty is a curse, that faith is a mechanism for obtaining wealth, and that God’s favor is measured by money. Along the way we bring the Bible to the forefront with passages like Luke 9:58, 1 Corinthians 4, Hebrews 11, James 2, and Philippians 4, showing how Jesus, the apostles, and faithful saints often experience suffering, need, and weakness without losing God’s approval. We also lean on historic, careful definitions of biblical faith, because “Christian-sounding” words can be used in unchristian ways.

This conversation is for anyone trying to discern what’s true, anyone who has been pressured by “you don’t have enough faith,” and anyone who wants a steadier hope than circumstances can provide. If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s wrestling with prosperity teaching, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And Prior Recap

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Welcome back to Catechizing Conversations. My name is Pastor Sisko Victum, Pastor at Lebanon Valley Presbyterian Church here in Lebanon County, and I'm joined by Micah, Disciple Makers lead staff at Lebanon Valley College. Welcome, Micah, again.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Happy to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Glad that you're back with us. And uh last time we were together, we looked at how the Health and Wealth Gospel is not a variation of Christianity. It is in uh Paul's language, a different gospel, altogether different kind. And so we've been looking at this movement, often called Prosperity Gospel, Health and Wealth Gospel, often called Word of Faith, and we'd named the dangers and attempted to establish why this is dangerous. And what we want to do today is identify four specific errors at the heart of the health and wealth gospel, four places where this movement doesn't just bend the truth,

Four Errors That Shatter Truth

SPEAKER_01 1:40

it shatters it. So let's talk about the four errors of the health and wealth gospel. And certainly there's a lot more, but we can at least start here.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

I think I can get us started at least with the big problem. Uh and we've talked about this so far in the past couple of episodes, but really the prosperity gospel fundamentally redefines salvation, blessing, suffering, faith, and God's promises. Right. We've already talked about that. While while it uses biblical language and you know, Christianese, it often shifts the center of the gospel from Christ's redemptive work in the cross to earthly success.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Right. And that's what makes it so dangerous, is it it does use biblical language. So we're we're lost in a jungle of semantics that need to be defined.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

So I'd love to go through a couple of the errors and I'll read some quotes from some of these individuals, and they are sources from actual articles that anybody could look up at any time, and I'll mention them as well. But I'd love to start off with one of the quotes from Kenneth Hagen, and I'd

Error One Christ Redeems From Poverty

SPEAKER_00 2:55

love to hear your thoughts. Uh, here's here's a quote from Kenneth Hagen, and this is specifically looking at the first error being Christ redeemed believers from poverty. That's that's our first error that Christ redeemed believers from poverty. And this is what he says the curse for breaking God's commandments was threefold poverty, sickness, and spiritual death. Christ has redeemed us from all of these. And this actually comes from an article called Redeemed from the Curse of Poverty by Kenneth Hagin. So you can put that up in your search engine and you'll get right to it. But this is what he said. What are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Wow. Well, he he's he's redefining that by the stripes of Jesus we are healed, and he's seeing that healing as primarily physical and material. Now, we would agree that sin has brought poverty on the earth, that it's brought sickness on the earth. Certainly, that wasn't in paradise, and uh we we certainly would agree that sin has brought spiritual death. But where we would disagree is that Christ has redeemed us the here and now from all of these. And we we touched on this last week, and that was there's glorification that's coming. You know, that we are not glorified now. If you pinch me, I'm gonna feel it, right? Um I'm subject to sickness. We live on an earth that we're that has not been glorified. So I think that's where we would start. Totally different timetable we're working with here. He's saying that God would invade this world with complete healing if you have enough faith. So that that's their get out of jail free card, you know, because if it doesn't happen, they'll say you don't have enough faith. And and so we look at Jesus himself, right? When he when he walks the earth, Luke 9, 58. Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. And then he said, Follow me. I mean, you know, so there that was not a call into prosperity.

unknown 5:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Yeah, I mean, who who would say, uh, I don't have anywhere to live, come follow me as your calling card for a movement, right? You know, like I I live in a big mansion, come and follow me, you know, right? I look at my fleet of cars, come and follow me. But he says, I have nowhere to lay my head, come and follow me. So his mission obviously then wasn't for the material. And we see that in the Gospel of Mark, don't we? When it says that he was healing people, and the crowds got thicker and thicker and thicker, and then he would say, We need to go to the next town and preach the gospel. His primary mission was not to alleviate disease. Now he came up, he came and went about doing good and healing all that were pressed to the devil, and all should be qualified because there were others, there were many who were not healed, but his mission was to go to the cross.

unknown 6:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

It was not to bring physical prosperity to a sin-filled world.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

That's so true. Yeah, I think I think oftentimes we we uh conflate that. And I think that's what they're doing. They are in essence saying, yes, Christ is the one who completely and utterly sets us free from all of those things. And he goes as far as to say, in that after that quote, that they were free from the curse of the law, and that includes poverty. So his idea is that poverty is connected to the curse of the law, which is fairly interesting in itself when you think about what did the law, what was the law made to do? It was made to show us our sin. So, in in other words, he's equating poverty to sin. He's in essence saying, like, you are living in sin if like your perspective is I am poor and I am not actively in faith asking that God will make me rich. Which is it's interesting because even when you mentioned what you said about Jesus and in Luke 9, it's I wonder if we would just change the wording a little bit. Or maybe just, I don't know, maybe just read the message out of Luke 9.58 and just read it to to Hagen or any of these guys, it'd be like, yep. And then don't tell them that it was Jesus, they'll be like, oh no, I wouldn't follow that guy.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

Right. Right. Yeah. So the focus is on the material, which is a is a tremendous disservice to the gospel and in many ways contrary to the gospel. First Corinthians 4 11. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor working with our own hands. We when reviled, we bless, when persecuted, we endure, when slandered, we entreat. We have become and are still like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. Uh again, not something that's going to attract uh the masses. And yet this is the Apostle Paul speaking.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Yeah, great passage. I I think that's fairly clear. It's fairly clear that that is exactly the call. And I wonder what they would say to that. What about the Apostle Paul?

unknown 8:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Hebrews 11 37. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword, they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised. Now that that's a I mean, I that that should be a death blow to the prosperity gospel. Yeah. But of course they'll say, well, God has intended something better for us. And yet none of that is attractive. None of that being a saint that is commended in the eyes of God is attracted attractive to the world. I was thinking about when you were talking about poverty, you know, that that's a that's a wide scale as well. The the poor living in 2026 are richer than some of the greatest kings in the past.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

The conveniences that we have and so forth. So, you know, what what what do they mean by to be delivered out of poverty? I think what they mean is that we we'll have more than enough, we'll have abundance, we'll have plenty, and for some that'll mean having a jet and having a mansion and so forth. When this is demonstration that they have faith and that they're blessed by God. And yet when I read uh Hebrews 11, 37, that's not the picture I'm getting of a man or woman of God. It's not determined by their lack of money or their abundance of money.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Yeah, and it's exactly the situation that we see Paul bring up in Philippians 4, verse 11, even, where he says, Not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content, for I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, which oftentimes we just kind of take 13 as isolation, but he's he's showing us there very clearly. He knows what it means to be in need, right. In poverty.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Yeah, and and and again we're not saying that to have wealth is inherently evil. God in his providence makes people wealthy through their skill and through their industry and and and through sometimes what we would see as happen stance and chance. God can make people tr his people extremely wealthy. And there's of course warnings to the rich, but there's not inherent evil in the wealth. But we're saying that following Christ does not guarantee wealth, nor having faith in Christ, trusting him, means you're going to have the American dream. In fact, that brings tremendous temptations.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

Absolutely. Yeah, we're in essence saying Christ's Christ's redemption doesn't redeem us specifically from poverty as if it was a deep spiritual condition that was promised that we'd be delivered from.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

You have Westminster Confession 5.5 here in your notes. And wonder if this is what you were referring to uh 5.5 is on Providence. Is on God's

Providence Suffering And God’s Purposes

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Providence, is that correct? Yeah, Westminster Confession 5.5. Uh the most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations and the corruption of their own hearts to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts that they may be humbled, and to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin and for sundry other just and holy ends. And so God often is providence disciplines. And sometimes that may be through the means of suffering. Also, 6-6 you have in your notes here. Every sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto, doth in its own nature bring guilt upon the sinner, whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God, the curse of the law, and so made subject to death with all misery, spiritual, temporal, and eternal.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Yeah, there is a real consequence not just for our sin, but also God in his providence will utilize many means, right? As as 5-5 even mentioned, uh suffering itself, even poverty, even whatever it might be, he utilizes all of those means to humble us and to bring us into deep dependence on him. So if poverty is part of the curse removed by redemption, then why is it that as we look at all the examples we just looked at, and specifically when we look at our Redeemer, Jesus Himself, He Himself was poor and left glory and power and splendor for the sake of redeeming us to himself. If that was a curse, then we would say that Jesus was accursed. And which is heresy. Which is heresy, and we would we would say that he was cursed for us in the tree as as he bore our sin and received the wrath of God. But they're saying in his life he was accursed.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

He wasn't living the American dream. Right. Yeah. And and so this is this health wealth gospel, and this particular error, Christ redeems believers from poverty. And yeah, I get I guess you could also say the errors that Christ redeems believers from all sickness. Well, what's the second error here?

Error Two Poverty Branded A Curse

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Yeah, I think I think they might sound similar, but the first one is that Christ redeemed believers from poverty. But specifically, the second error is that poverty in itself is a curse. So, and and we touched upon it a little bit, but I'd love to just at least mention uh one thing. Kenneth Copeland said this. I realized God had already redeemed me from the curse of poverty. And then he's referring, this is this is in his article, Strike It Rich, is what it's called. And this is him reflecting on his wealth. He's like, I realize God has already redeemed me from the from the curse of poverty. He's provided and and now I'm I'm wealthy, and he correlates it to in that sense, this is the ought. That's how he places it in the article. It's not a this is a good thing, which you and I would agree, as we've been saying this whole time, that wealth is not evil in itself, but it's not an ought. And that's how they they're putting it. It's if if you are poor, you are cursed, and the ought is God blesses us, and God's blessing equals financial stability, and not actually not even stability, but financial increase in a way that is supernatural. And I don't necessarily think that that is what the scriptures teach or what we really see. And we've talked about a lot of these things already, but that's Yeah, James 2.5.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Listen to my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which has promised to those who love him? Then it's then he starts talking about how you've dishonored the poor man. And again, we've been saying how this health and wealth gospel really is reproach to our brothers and sisters who are poor, truly are poor, in monetary means to say that in some way they are not the Christian Christians that they should be. Now, this is a message that is attractive to the people in the West. It's a it's a message that's attractive to our culture. I I think you mentioned it in our last episode. The reason why this is an attractive message is because it's the bend of our human hearts to want power and wealth. These are gods that we worship. We worship the gods of the of the sports world, of the of the entertainment world. And and in a sense, we want to mimic them, but we just want to tape Jesus on on over it, right? To say, well, we're Christian, and so the means of uh our great wealth is Jesus gave it to us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Yeah, and just to be clear, I these specific errors I think are specifically tied to the wealth piece, in the sense that there are plenty of other errors that we can tackle, but these specific ones are specific quotes from these individuals tailored towards why God gives us wealth and how we must be wealthy if we are in Christ.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

Mm-hmm. Right. If you're if you're not, you're doing something wrong. Yeah. And and I don't mean financially. I mean there are practical wisdom principles that if we're not saving, we're spending more than we make, so forth. But when we're talking about the health and wealth, wealth gospel is if you're not succeeding financially, then you are doing something wrong in your Christian faith.

unknown 18:55

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

And often it's that you're not giving to them like you should. You need to give more. But but it's a we we joke about these things, but it's a it's a detrimental, dangerous, unhealthy doctrine that is deceptive, and it is an absolute shame that it's been welcomed into the church without being repudiated. Luke 6, 20. Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Which is, in essence, we we understand that the context of that is the reality of being poor in spirit and hungering and desiring over you know, desiring Christ. However, I I've heard that passage be utilized by them to see to say the opposite of that, of saying that, you know, the poor, you know, are those who cry out, right? And God is the one who gives them riches. So in essence, they tie it spiritually to say, well, if you're poor, you'll cry out to God and God will richly supply. And we would both look at that and say, that's not what he had in mind.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

And that's why this Health and Wealth Gospel has found a home in some of the poorest areas of not only our nation, but in the world. So you you go to the Congo, you go to uh some places in Africa, you go to some places in Asia and the Philippines. I talked about being Cambodia, and there was prosperity gospel, literature there, Philippines, uh other areas where it seems to go in Latin America has also seen this strong move of the word of faith gospel, uh, where there's poverty because it's holding out hope that you can get out of your poverty, but it's not doing it through the principles of God's word, it's doing it through a false

Error Three Faith Turned Into A Tool

SPEAKER_01 21:05

doctrine.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

Yeah, that's a great point. And I think that that even takes us to the next error, which is to them, then faith becomes a mechanism to obtaining wealth. So, and this is a a quote from from Kenneth Copeland, same same article, strike it rich. He says, From this day forward, my needs are met according to God's riches and glory by Christ. And he further says, that decision, right, of him in essence relying upon Christ is the exact decision that connected him to the power of God. So, in other words, he's in essence saying, Because I am in Christ, according to the riches of God, that means. That everything that I want is mine, and I am not connected to that power of God. So I can supply and I can declare, is what they then also say. So faith becomes not necessarily an anchor in their faith, but it becomes the mechanism of how they continue to increase in wealth. Yeah, what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Right. Yeah. I'm going back to the I I love the sort of catechism. You know, because if you've had a a wrong definition of these words, blessing, faith, covenant, I'm going to go back to the divines that spent literally years to scripturally define these terms. What is biblical faith? Has nothing to do with connecting you to wealth or some mystical power. It has everything to do with faith in Jesus Christ. That's a saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation. That the just shall live this way. As he's offered us to us in the gospel. That's biblical faith. Biblical faith is like the man on the edge of a cliff, and you know, there's an army coming after him, and in order to save himself, he has to leap and grab a hold of the branch on a tree that's before him. And he could stand there on the edge of that cliff and be cowardly, be afraid, be sweating bullets, right? But he he jumps and he he grabs that branch. Or he could be a man who is full of strength and confidence and bravado, you know, a hero type of man, and he leaps and he grabs hold of that branch. It doesn't matter if he's cowardly or if he's the man of bravado and and the hero, the heroic man. What matters is the strength of the branch. It's Jesus. How strong is the branch? And our branch is Christ. And so it's not about my faith, it's not about your faith. It's about Christ. And when we receive and rest upon him alone, even if it's a weak faith, he's a strong savior. So you're you're right. I'm glad you bring out these erroneous ideas of faith that's taught by Kenneth Copeland because it's a distortion of faith. It's faith in faith. Yeah. It's not faith in Christ.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

Yeah, it's it's it's the idea of, you know, our as as you beautifully put it, it's it's not on how much we hold on to God, it's how much he holds on to us. It's it's his hold upon us, it's his blessings, it's it's him, right? Like, and I I think often what they miss is the fact that the faith doesn't guarantee prosperity, faith trusts God regardless of the circumstances. We see that in Hebrews 11. We see that all over the scriptures. It's so good. Faith is not what we are in essence holding on to, right? Like I don't hold on to my faith. You know, as weird as that may sound, I hold on to Christ, the author and perfecter of my faith. Right. And I think that's what that's what that's what you're saying. Yes, it's not holding on to this magical, weird thing. It's it's a person. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 25:23

And then there's a couple areas we can go there. That that's why a lot of this word of faith uh babble comes from New Age and Eastern mysticism. That's actually some of its roots. But I was thinking, you know, in this health and wealth gospel, there's no place for the weak. In this prosperity gospel, there's there is no place for the porn spirit. And if you're weak, if you're struggling, i i if if you are stumbling, uh there's not a place for you there because you're supposed to be this powerhouse at all times.

unknown 25:58

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

And it becomes so detrimental, emotionally unhealthy, mentally unhealthy, because the focus is always on you. You're all am I do I have enough faith? Do I this, do I that? And and so it's a very introspective the consequences of this are very introspective that you're constantly looking at yourself when the true believer is constantly looking out at Christ, in our weakness, in our struggle, maybe even in our sense of depression or despondency, we're looking to Christ saying, He's enough. I am not enough, but he is enough. Amen. So the fourth

Error Four Wealth Measures God’s Favor

SPEAKER_01 26:40

error as we look at we're looking at four errors of the health and wealth gospel. And to review, error number one is Christ redeems believers from poverty. Error number two is poverty is a curse. Error three is faith becomes a mechanism to obtain wealth. And and what is the fourth error?

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Yeah, the fourth error is that God's favor is measured by wealth, which is so dangerous. And and Joel Osteen put it this way: it's God's will for you to live in prosperity instead of poverty. So the idea is, and this isn't just one quote, this is there's multiple times that he he specifically, Joel Osteen, refers to God's God providing wealth as a measurement of this is how we know we're in the will of God. This is how we know that we found favor with God, which then leads me to the question what about Job? What about Jeremiah? I mean, Job is seen as the man who found favor with God. Jeremiah as well. What about John the Baptist? What about Paul? What about majority of the rest of the apostles? And that leads us, what about Jesus? I mean, all of them suffered. All of them were a stench to the people. What do we what do we do with that? Were they lacking God's favor? Right. You know?

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Right. Jesus is the sinless man and his result was crucifixion. That that that's not the end result that the prosperity gospel promises. And uh that's Jesus himself. But yeah, you're so right. And I and I think I'm glad you brought out Joel Estein because I think he's made this message palpable. You know, some of the some of the other names, Kenneth Hagen, Kennet Copeland, Kreflo Dollar, much more demonstrative. Some of the error is perhaps more clear to some, at least it should be. But Joel has been a much more palpable, welcoming, uh, guy smiley type uh of individual that has by just looking at his the size of his church, he's brought in a lot of people, and yet it's the same message, just regurgitated in a different voice, in a different form. If God's will, he's saying it's God's will for you to live in prosperity.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

Absolutely. And I, you know, one of the people that we probably will inevitably talk about more, especially if we get into the little gods doctrine, is Benny Hinn. And Benny Hinn is also in the prosperity gospel, health and wealth. And I I have I started reading a book by his nephew.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Costi.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Yeah, Costi Hinn. Uh it's called God Greed in the Prosperity Gospel. And he actually said this. He says the prosperity gospel is a false gospel because it because it places the focus on the gifts rather than the giver. I thought that's really helpful. It's really good. And this is, I mean, you read his this guy's story, he has his testimonies on on YouTube, and you hear how Costi Hinn was there with his uncle. He was part of it of the ministry team. He was the one, you know, carrying people when they fell back and and was part of all those things. And he has a lot to say about this. But that was that was a good idea.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Sure. Yeah, I love that. And I love the the fact that you know you you mentioned Costi Hinn because maybe someone's listening today and they're in this movement. We're in the they're in a prosperity gospel church and uh word of faith church, and we want to say there's hope for you. There's hope to to hear the true gospel, and our prayer is that what we're saying will confront the errors that you've been told and cause you to rethink these things, cause you to cry out to God in repentance for this horrific doctrine. And if you've been preaching this or teaching this, that you too would repent and and realize that, as James says, not many of us should be teachers because we will receive the stricter condemnation. And this is a detrimental, grievous, false gospel that has been preached, and it's it's worthy of the trash heap. We can't say it any strong. Can we say it any stronger than that? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Amen.

The True Gospel And Local Invites

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

Well, as we close today, and we say that with all seriousness, we want to see people free and find the truth in God's word. Micah has laid out these four errors that promises what Christ never promised and neglects what Christ explicitly did promise and what he explicitly did call us to, which is take up your cross and follow me. This gospel, this false gospel promises wealth. It is Christ who promised a cross. It promises earthly abundance, but Christ promised heavenly treasure. This prosperity gospel promises freedom from suffering, but Christ promised that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. The true gospel is not that Jesus died to make us rich. The true gospel is that Jesus died to reconcile sinners to God. And what what something to rejoice about, amen? Amen. Praise the Lord. Yeah. That no matter how much we have or how little we have, what we have we don't deserve. And God in his mercies has saved us through Christ and brought him brought us to himself. We pray that that's true for you, and we pray that you'll you'll join us again for next time in this special edition of Catechizing Conversations. If you live in the Lebanon County area, we would love to meet you. If you're a student at Lebanon Valley College, come and introduce yourself to Micah, staff director there at Lebanon Valley College Disciple Makers. If you're looking for a church, we'd love to have you come and visit us at Lebanon Valley PCA here in Lebanon Kentley. Well, the Lord bless you and have a wonderful day.