I have just completed my third viewing of American Gospel: Christ Alone and am overwhelmed by a myriad of emotions: hope and comfort but also shock and anger. All three viewings have moved me to tears — partly from a renewed appreciation of the Gospel of grace, but also from a newly discovered hatred of the prosperity gospel.
Now available on Netflix, American Gospel is a documentary that powerfully unveils the importance of good theology because “bad theology hurts people.” By piecing together conversational vignettes, video footage, and audiotapes, the documentary contrasts the beauty of the Gospel with the ugly truth of the prosperity gospel as taught by the Word of Faith movement. It dawned on me that while the former promises freedom, the latter enslaves with fear.
The Gospel Versus The American Dream
The documentary begins with representatives from the American evangelical community sharing their insights into the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The breadth of representation is refreshing with people from all backgrounds — male and female; White, Black, Asian, and Latino; pastors, theologians, former atheists, and recovering drug addicts — sharing their testimonies of faith from a wide range of life experiences.
We hear stories of people who met the person of Jesus and received the gospel as a free and unmerited gift of grace (Ephesians 2:8). This means that no matter how “good” or “bad” one is perceived to be, all came to the same conclusion: We are sinners in need of a Savior and salvation is in Christ alone — a comforting truth that leaves no room for spiritual superiority or inferiority amongst believers. The show employed helpful visual diagrams to present the Gospel in an easy-to-understand format. My weary heart was refreshed, once again, by God’s amazing and sustaining grace for a sinner like me.
However, I quickly learned that American Gospel is as confronting as it is comforting. The tone of the documentary quickly changed as we learned the insidious meaning behind the documentary’s title. We are introduced to teachers of the “Word of Faith” movement such as Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyers, and Joel Osteen. Preaching to stadium-sized congregations, these leaders teach the prosperity gospel, which essentially states that “right faith” will lead to a life of health, wealth, and happiness — the foundational values of The American Dream. As we are shown images of pastors living in luxury, I realized that American Gospel is relevant to Australians like myself as well. After all, aren’t we influenced by the values and pursuits of The Great Australian Dream? Haven’t I been taught to value health, wealth, and happiness?
As the pursuit of prosperity is contrasted with remarkable testimonies of suffering, the documentary poses some confronting questions to its viewers. Is it really God’s will for believers to be healthy and wealthy? Are sickness and suffering a consequence of lack of faith? Who do we love more: the Giver or his gifts? What is of greater value: a temporary physical healing or eternal spiritual healing? At a time where the Western world longs to be “great again,” any promise of prosperity is going to be attractive, but what happens when prosperity is snatched away…perhaps by a worldwide pandemic?
It’s 2020, and the Christian church cannot be shy about talking about sin and suffering. Believers in the Western world need to be equipped with right theology so that they can discern false teaching. The thought of church leaders preaching prosperity during a pandemic is gut-wrenchingly sad, which is why I appreciated the many testimonies that spoke of God’s sovereignty and purpose in suffering: Katherine Bergers who came to faith despite being diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder, Pastor Matt Chandler who battled with brain cancer, Justin Peeters who was born with cerebral palsy, and the late Nabeel Qureshi, who died of stomach cancer at 34 years old. Their stories are a remarkable example of true and tested faith as well as the peace, joy, and eternal life that can be found in Christ alone.
Wanting To Be Like God Versus Loving Your Neighbor
The Word of Faith movement is grounded in the teachings of E. W. Kenyon, who claimed that “the believer is as much an incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth.” The worship of prosperity is justified if Jesus is robbed of his deity and humans are elevated to a god-like status. In other words, if humans share “the same spiritual DNA as Jesus” we can harness God’s healing powers and become even greater than Jesus himself. So instead of imaging God for his glory, we can become like God for ours — the exact motivator that led to original sin.
“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5)
American Gospel then introduces us to former members of the Word of Life movement who share their firsthand experiences. We learn of believers who when faced with poverty or sickness were blamed for “lacking faith,” “having doubt,” or “not giving enough.” We hear stories of people who denied being sick and passed away because they refused to put their faith in human doctors. We see video footage of people with mild ailments being “healed” on the church stage, while those with incurable conditions — Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and dying children hooked to breathing machines — “screened out” from accessing their promised “miracles”.
It was at this point that I felt a new and burning hatred for the prosperity gospel. Jesus was God who preached truth and laid down his life for the church. In contrast, prosperity teachers use their godlike status to distort the truth and to abuse their church for personal gain. Jesus had once rebuked leaders like this. In Luke 20:45-47, Jesus highlights the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who were devouring widow households so that they could dress and dine in luxury. Despite knowing the Law, they abused their power and knowledge by failing to “love thy neighbor”.
We are living in a moment in history where first-world idols of health and wealth have toppled over like dominoes. In six months alone, Australian news has been dominated by fire, flood, drought, sickness, domestic violence, racism, and police brutality. Our hurting world is crying for healing and a hope unchallenged by suffering. Will the church step into this space with the Gospel — the single source of truth that can actually save? Or will we stick to comfortable half-truths of “God loves you,” expressed with flattery and freebies?
The Miracle Of Faith In Christ Alone
In 2003, I stepped into an Evangelical church for the first time as an angry and angsty teenager. I had many questions for how a “loving” God could allow pain
and suffering in my life. American Gospel helped me to see that I wasn’t flattered into the church with a “God loves you because you’re amazing” half-gospel nor was I condemned with Christian moralism to “do more” or “be better.” Rather, my church leaders lovingly shared the entire gospel so that my faith could take root even in the soil of sin and suffering.
Over the years, the Gospel has rebuked my deluded sense of sovereignty, but it has also opened my eyes to the mercy of my Maker. As a recipient of grace, I want to follow Jesus because in him, neither sin nor suffering can threaten my salvation; in him I am forgiven and free.
The documentary ends with a powerful exhortation to have faith in Christ alone because no matter the circumstances, he is still worthy of our love and trust. We are shown intimate video footage of Nabeel Qureshi’s final days in his battle with cancer. Laying in the hospital bed he prays: “Lord we know you are able, please heal, please come through, but if it shouldn’t be your will— your sovereign will at the end of the day—then I trust you, and I love you anyway.”
Dying at the age of thirty-four, Nabeel was a Christian who clung to Christ to the point of death. While physical healing would have been miraculous, the fact that he loved Christ in the face of death is the greatest miracle of all. American Gospel reminded me that God uses suffering to fashion sinners into the image of the crucified Christ, and to keep us hopeful for the Day when sin and suffering will be no more. As I anticipate eternity in a landscape of suffering, I want to learn to pray: “not my will, but yours”, and “I trust you and love you anyway.”
I pray that my faith in Christ alone to be my life’s miracle.