Last week, prosperity gospel preacher Paula White officially joined the Trump administration as the head of the White House’s “Faith and Opportunity Initiative.” White, who acts as Trump’s spiritual advisor and claims to represent the interests of “evangelical” Christians, is a known proponent of what is known as “prosperity theology” — the belief that God promises a life of health, wealth, and abundance to people based on their piety and their offerings. But far from being representative of evangelical Christianity, White and the “prosperity gospel” she promotes is antithetical to it.
Learning From History
Whenever October 31st rolls around, it is not Halloween that’s on my mind, but the anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation. 502 years ago, Martin Luther nailed his “95 theses” on the door at the church at Wittenberg, Germany — a hammering that reverberated throughout Western Europe. Luther would go on to spark the Protestant Reformation, where his followers would be some of the first to be referred to as “evangelical.” But as far as Luther was concerned, he was simply confronting a heresy that had found its way into the heart of Rome.
The teaching in question was the selling of indulgences, championed by the likes of Johann Tetzel, who claimed that for a certain amount of offering you could buy your dead relatives years off of purgatory — all to fund the building of the precious St. Peter’s Basilica (beautiful building as it is). Devout present-day Catholics gag at the notion and would have cried “foul!” had they been transported to 16th century Europe.
And yet, it is a similar heresy that we face with the prosperity gospel — the idea that you can “buy” God’s favor and blessing, whether it is because of your money or your piety or your “works.” Only this time, it has found its way not into the heart of the Vatican, but in the hearts of those that self-identify as “evangelical.” Why?
Prosperity theology has found an easy target in American Evangelicalism because of our built-in consumerism and our American-esque desire to work our way up, even when it comes to God. But also worth noting is that when the 500th anniversary of the Reformation came around in 2017, I was sorely disappointed to learn that many token evangelical churches were giving it little attention. We have forgotten our heritage — what truly makes us “evangelical.”
Modern-day Christians are un-grounded people who have little time for church confessions or history that have combated false gospels for centuries. It’s no wonder why many have fallen prey to the implicit and explicit heresies that the “health and wealth” gospel promises. But more than forgetting our confessional heritage, we have forgotten the true gospel.
A Theology of the Cross
The main reason it is important to address the “prosperity gospel” is the picture of God that it paints. Is God a genie in a bottle, as it would have you believe?
When Luther started on his path at Wittenberg, he would eventually develop what would later be called a “theology of the cross” (theologia crucis) as opposed to a “theology of glory”. When many of his contemporaries were obsessed with a “theology of glory” and the Beatific vision of becoming glorified like Christ, Luther’s heart and imagination were taken to the foot of Calvary — and it captivated him. God was revealed ultimately in Jesus not by our savior’s glorified self, but by his death on the cross.
Such thought of a cruel, suffering-filled execution would repulse people who believe in prosperity theology because it runs counter to everything that they believe in. It certainly was that way for the apostles. When Jesus told them of his purpose to die on the cross for the sins of man, they automatically objected. They thought that the Messiah had come to conquer Rome. They believed in a theology of glory.
Yet Jesus repeatedly told them that he came to do his Father’s will. Galatians 3:13 says that Christ “became a curse for us,” something that prosperity theology cannot adequately address. Prosperity gospel preachers spend a lot of time talking about God’s “blessings,” but little time talking about the curse coming into the world because of sinful rebels like you and me.
But why did Jesus suffer on our behalf? Was it so that we can make it big, drive fancy sports cars and live in lavishly expensive homes? Or was it so that we could be forgiven and live a life of costly discipleship in pursuit of him?
Because prosperity preachers only believe in a theology of glory, they have little time for a crucified Savior. At the very least, it has little space in their preaching. When it does come up, it is used as a device to excuse their excessive lifestyles, effectively ignoring Jesus’ call to “take up their cross” and follow him (Matthew 16:24). Their Jesus is a counterfeit Jesus.
John Piper didn’t mince words when he said, “I don’t know what you feel about the ‘prosperity gospel’…but I’ll tell you what I feel: Hatred.” I’m convinced that God does too. As Paul once leveled in Romans 2:24, “God’s name is blasphemed among the nations because of you!”
My wife once informed me that her co-worker’s impression of evangelical Christians is based on people like Joel Osteen, who is someone that makes her co-worker want to pin his nose between his fingers. To him, preachers like Osteen are more concerned about living large and making money out of naive followers than anything else.
God’s name is still being blasphemed among the nations. We, like Piper, must be willing to call the prosperity gospel out for what it truly is: idolatry. Its believers are not in it for God. They’re in it for his money.
1 John 4:1 encourages followers to “test the spirits” to see if they confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. The Gospel accounts speak of this flesh being broken for us, and like the ancient Gnostics that the apostle John was warning about, that claim should send shivers down the spines of prosperity preachers. Though these people claim to operate in the name of Jesus, their preaching is devoid of the gospel of 1 Corinthians 15. It’s easy to say “in Jesus’ name”, but what type of Jesus are you pointing others to? To confess the Jesus Christ of Romans 10:9 over and against these counterfeit “Jesuses” is part of what it means to be a true evangelical Christian.
Christians, let us point our generation to Jesus Christ as our Savior. Let us point to Him on the cross and in the grave. Only then can we complete the story with Him in glory — ascended and sitting at the right hand of God the Father in heaven.
Solus Christus. Soli Deo Gloria.
Click here for more on the theological errors of the prosperity gospel.