By Elizabeth Prata
The Benny Hinn-style of prosperity gospel is well known and easily seen among those Christians with even a snippet of discernment. The Hinn-style prosperity gospel, labeled ‘hard prosperity gospel’ in the article below, promises instant health or wealth, or immediate financial gains. These prosperity gospelers frequently use terms like ‘breakthrough’, urge positive confessions, (AKA ‘name it and claim it’), and press their audiences for donations they call ‘seed faith’ giving. Joel Osteen is one of these. So is Kenneth Copeland.
Discernment help: John Piper, Six Keys to Detecting the Prosperity Gospel. This essay is well-written and clear.
But there is another type of prosperity gospel that is much harder to detect. As always, that old serpent is subtle. It is in fact the first quality we learn about him, from Genesis 3:1. The first mention in the Bible of the serpent tells us of his subtlety. The word means cunning in a bad way, crafty, or shrewd. So it stands to reason satan adjusts his methods of deception. The “softer prosperity gospel” is one of those.
At 9Marks’ article quoted below, we learn of this more subtle prosperity gospel which in the quote below, says assumes its audience knows the Gospel already:
This is not a new concern. Others have described facets of this prosperity gospel under names like moralistic therapeutic deism, Christless Christianity, and the commodification of Christianity. In truth, all three descriptors overlap to describe a prosperity gospel that is easily missed, because it is seems reasonable to Christians who love God and the American Dream.
That said, the ‘soft prosperity gospel’ can be just as ruinous as the hard prosperity gospel. Any deviation from Christ’s standards for life and doctrine is ruinous. Why? Because any deviation comes from either our flesh, the world, or from satan, and stands opposed to Christ’s Good News. Just because it’s soft does not mean it’s less hard on the soul.
9Marks: “While evangelicals have traditionally decried the prosperity gospel in its “hard” form, there is a softer form of this teaching that is all too common among us. Often undetected by Bible-believing Christians, it assumes the gospel and leads its adherents to focus on things like financial planning, diet and exercise, and strategies for self-improvement. In contrast to the hard prosperity gospel, which offers miraculous and immediate health and wealth, this softer, subtler variety challenges believers to break through to the blessed life by means of the latest pastor-prescribed technique.”
I liked the use of the term “assumes the Gospel”. Too often as a Christian ministry whose goal of presenting information to its audience assumes its audience as Christians already know the Gospel. However, genuine Christians need to be reminded of it all the time. And we can never assume that anyone reading or listening to our output is actually a Christian and/or already knows the Gospel. The Gospel as Good News should be shared incessantly to one and all.
The 9Marks article mentioned diet & exercise as a location for one of the ways softer prosperity gospel enters in. Among the Christian circles I frequent, which focus on women, there is a huge emphasis on diet and exercise. It’s also called ‘wellness’. I’ve written previously about the trad wife & crunchy Christian woman. In these realms it seems a softer prosperity gospel abounds. Angela Mitchell of Raising Apologists has done a yeoman’s work on this topic as well. See some of her links below.
Wellness Christianity is not the only potential soft prosperity pitfall, of course. The pitfalls exist in spheres of financial planning, self-improvement, and other American style problems we think we have.
We do want to be healthy, plan wisely with our finances, and improve ourselves. That is not the issue. The problem comes when promoters of a soft prosperity shift the focus from Jesus’ blessedness to the blessings.
The 9Marks article continues with presenting 5 trademarks of soft prosperity.
- Soft prosperity elevates “blessings” over the blessed God.
- Soft prosperity detaches verses from the redemptive framework of the Bible.
- Soft prosperity diminishes the curse that Christ bore and the blessing of the Holy Spirit.
- Soft prosperity relies on pastor-prescribed therapeutic techniques.
- Soft prosperity largely addresses first world, middle class problems.
It is easy to get drawn in to these, so please take a look at the article and see if you have or haven’t been fooled by these subtleties. If you have, of course Jesus will accept your repentance and the Spirit will respond to your request to be strengthened in discernment. If you have not been taken in, pray in praise to Jesus that He has delivered you from this error. Remember we do nothing on our own. We always abide in Him.
9Marks- A softer prosperity Gospel: more common than you think
Further Resources
Ligonier: The Soft Prosperity Gospel
Raising Apologists: A Plea for Christians to be Discerning about Wellness
Raising Apologists Highlights on Homeopathy (On Instagram)
Raising Apologists Highlights on Wellness part 1
Raising Apologists Highlights on Wellness part 2
the-end-time.org 