2 Corinthians - Lesson 6C

• Alright guys, welcome back this morning and good to see everyone. Last week we finished our teaching by studying 2 Corinthians 6, specifically verses 2-10. And in those verses, we learned a little bit about what I called the original “Prosperity Gospel”, or maybe better entitled - The “Prosperity Gospel according to Paul”.

  • And what was it that we learned about the “Prosperity Gospel” according to Paul? We learned that prosperity, as defined by Paul, is very much right the opposite of what many churches and preachers of today define as the Prosperity Gospel.

  • And why is that? Well, specifically when speaking about prosperity, today’s preachers talk in terms of the here in and now - things we can obtain while living on this planet (especially money).

    • Paul, on the other hand, used different language when describing prosperity, or as he called it, “gain”, when talking about Christ. Listen to just a little bit of what he said in Philippians 3:7-11 about his topic:

Phil 3:7 But whatever things were gain to me, these things I have counted as loss because of Christ.
Phil 3:8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ,
Phil 3:9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
Phil 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
Phil 3:11 if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

• Such powerful language is being used here. Paul says, and I am paraphrasing here, “I must lose the temporal, to gain the eternal. Whatever I gain here, I count it as loss in view of the value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”.

  • And then in verse 10 he says,

Phil 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 

• The fellowship of His sufferings. What is that?

  • It’s the concept of our suffering on earth and creates connectivity between us and Jesus and His suffering on the cross. And this is not the only place Paul speaks in these terms, which is why Paul uses words like beatings, imprisonment, hunger, sleeplessness, mob-attacks, and labor, and then turns around and connects those experiences to things such as their personal development and growth as it relates to their relationship with God.

    • Now the question for me as it relates to the Bible’s definition of prosperity verses the Church of today’s version of prosperity, is how in the world did it get so twisted around? How did it get to a place of such opposite extremes?

• Well, I did a little research on the topic, and I want to share it with you this morning. We will call this segment the evolution of Prosperity Gospel or Prosperity Movement, and I want you to listen closely as I try and chronicle the history and evolution of of this movement. It’s going to be a little lengthy, but I hope you get a lot out of it.

  • According to historian Kate Bowler, the prosperity gospel was formed from the intersection of three different ideologies: Pentecostalism, New Thought, and "an American gospel of pragmatism, individualism, and upward mobility".

  • This "American gospel" was best exemplified by Andrew Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth and Russell Conwell's famous sermon "Acres of Diamonds", in which Conwell equated poverty with sin and asserted that anyone could become rich through hard work.

    • This gospel of wealth, however, was an expression of Muscular Christianity and understood success to be the result of personal effort rather than divine intervention.

  • The New Thought movement, which emerged in the 1880s, was responsible for popularizing belief in the power of the mind to achieve prosperity.

  • While initially focused on achieving mental and physical health, New Thought teachers such as Charles Fillmore made material success a major emphasis of the movement.

    • By the 20th century, New Thought concepts had saturated American popular culture, being common features of both self-help literature and popular psychology.

• E. W. Kenyon, a Baptist minister and adherent of the Higher Life movement, is credited with introducing mind-power teachings into early Pentecostalism.

  • In the 1890s, Kenyon attended Emerson College of Oratory where he was exposed to the New Thought movement. Kenyon later became connected with well-known Pentecostal leaders and wrote about supernatural revelation and positive declarations. His writing influenced leaders of the nascent prosperity movement during the post-war American healing revival.

  • Kenyon and later leaders in the prosperity movement have denied that he was influenced by the New Thought movement.

    • Anthropologist Simon Coleman argues that there are "obvious parallels" between Kenyon's teachings and New Thought.

  • Kenyon taught that Christ's substitutionary atonement secured for believers a right to divine healing.

    • This was attained through positive, faith-filled speech; the spoken word of God allowed believers to appropriate the same spiritual power that God used to create the world and attain the provisions promised in Christ's death and resurrection.

    • Prayer was understood to be a binding, legal act. Rather than asking, Kenyon taught believers to demand healing since they were already legally entitled to receive it.

  • Kenyon's blend of evangelical religion and mind-power beliefs—what he termed "overcoming faith"—resonated with a small but influential segment of the Pentecostal movement.

    • Pentecostals had always been committed to faith healing, and the movement also possessed a strong belief in the power of speech (in particular speaking in tongues and the use of the names of God, especially the name of Jesus).

    • Kenyon's ideas would be reflected in the teachings of Pentecostal evangelists F. F. Bosworth and John G. Lake (who co-led a congregation with New Thought author Albert C. Grier prior to 1915).

• Post 1945 Healing Revivals

  • While Kenyon's teachings on overcoming faith laid the groundwork for the prosperity gospel, the first generation of Pentecostals influenced by him and other figures, such as Bosworth, did not view faith as a means to attain material prosperity.

    • In fact, early Pentecostals tended to view prosperity as a threat to a person's spiritual well-being.

  • By the 1940s and 1950s, however, a recognizable form of the doctrine began to take shape within the Pentecostal movement through the teachings of deliverance and healing evangelists.

    • Combining prosperity teaching with revivalism and faith healing, these evangelists taught "the laws of faith ('ask and ye shall receive') and the laws of divine reciprocity ('give and it will be given back unto you')".

  • Oral Roberts began teaching prosperity theology in 1947.

  • He explained the laws of faith as a "blessing pact" in which God would return donations "seven fold",

    • He promised donors would receive back from unexpected sources the money they donated to him. Roberts offered to return any donation that did not lead to an equivalent unexpected payment.

  • In the 1970s, Roberts characterized his blessing pact teaching as the "seed faith" doctrine: donations were a form of "seed" which would grow in value and be returned to the donor.

    • Roberts began recruiting "partners", wealthy donors who received exclusive conference invitations and ministry access in exchange for support.

• In 1953, faith healer A. A. Allen published The Secret to Scriptural Financial Success and promoted merchandise such as "miracle tent shavings" and prayer cloths anointed with "miracle oil".

  • In the late 1950s, Allen increasingly focused on prosperity. He taught that faith could miraculously solve financial problems and claimed to have had a miraculous experience in which God supernaturally changed one-dollar bills into twenty-dollar bills to allow him to pay his debts.

  • Allen also taught a concept called the "word of faith" or the power to speak something into being.

• In the 1960s, prosperity became a primary focus in healing revivals.

  • T. L. Osborn began emphasizing prosperity in the 1960s and became known for his often ostentatious displays of personal wealth.

  • During that decade, Roberts and William Branham criticized other prosperity ministries, arguing that their fund-raising tactics unfairly pressured attendees.

    • These tactics were prompted in part by the expense of developing nationwide radio networks and campaign schedules.

  • At the same time, leaders of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God denomination often criticized the focus on prosperity taken by independent healing evangelists.

• Televangelism

  • During the 1960s, prosperity gospel teachers embraced televangelism and came to dominate religious programming in the United States.

  • Oral Roberts was among the first, developing a syndicated weekly program that became the most watched religious show in the United States. By 1968, television had supplanted the tent meeting in his ministry.

    • Reverend Ike, a pastor from New York City, began preaching about prosperity in the late 1960s.

    • He soon had widely aired radio and television programs and became distinguished for his flashy style.

    • His openness about love for material possessions and teachings about the "Science of the Mind" led many evangelists to distance themselves from him.

  • In the 1980s, public attention in the United States was drawn to prosperity theology through the influence of prominent televangelists such as Jim Bakker. Bakker's influence waned, however, after he was implicated in a high-profile scandal. In the aftermath, Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) emerged as the dominant force in prosperity televangelism, having brought Robert Tilton and Benny Hinn to prominence.

• Word of Faith

  • Although nearly all of the healing evangelists of the 1940s and 1950s taught that faith could bring financial rewards, a new prosperity-oriented teaching developed in the 1970s that differed from the one taught by Pentecostal evangelists of the 1950s.

    • This "Positive Confession" or "Word of Faith" movement taught that a Christian with faith can speak into existence anything consistent with the will of God.

  • Kenneth Hagin was credited with a key role in the expansion of prosperity theology. He founded the RHEMA Bible Training Center in 1974, and over the next 20 years, the school trained more than 10,000 students in his theology.

    • As is true of other prosperity movements, there is no theological governing body for the Word of Faith movement, and well-known ministries differ on some theological issues, though many ministries are unofficially linked.

    • The teachings of Kenneth Hagin have been described by Candy Gunther Brown of Indiana University as the most "orthodox" form of Word of Faith prosperity teaching.

• International growth

  • By the late 2000s, proponents claimed that tens of millions of Christians had accepted prosperity theology.

    • The neo-Pentecostal movement has been characterized in part by an emphasis on prosperity theology, which gained greater acceptance within charismatic Christianity during the late 1990s.

    • In the 2000s, Evangelical-Pentecostal churches teaching prosperity theology saw significant growth in the Global South and Third World countries.

    • According to Philip Jenkins of Pennsylvania State University, poor citizens of impoverished countries often find the doctrine appealing because of their economic powerlessness and the doctrine's emphasis on miracles.

  • One region seeing explosive growth is Western Africa, particularly Nigeria.

  • In the Philippines, the El Shaddai movement, part of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, has spread prosperity theology outside Protestant Christianity. One South Korean prosperity church, Yoido Full Gospel Church, gained attention in the 1990s by claiming to be the world's largest congregation.

    • A 2006 poll by Time reported that 17 percent of Christians in America said they identified with the movement.

• By the 2000s, adherents of prosperity theology in the United States were most common in the Sun Belt.

  • By 2006, three of the four largest congregations in the United States were teaching prosperity theology, and Joel Osteen has been credited with spreading it outside of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement through his books, which have sold over 4 million copies.

    • Bruce Wilkinson's The Prayer of Jabez also sold millions of copies and invited readers to seek prosperity.

  • In 2005, Matthew Ashimolowo, the founder of the largely African Kingsway International Christian Centre in southern England, which preaches a "health and wealth" gospel and collects regular tithes, was ordered by the Charity Commission to repay money he had appropriated for his personal use.

  • In 2017, the organization was under criminal investigation after a leading member was found by a court in 2015 to have operated a Ponzi scheme between 2007 and 2011, losing or spending £8 million of investors' money.

  • In 2007, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley opened a probe into the finances of six televangelism ministries that promoted prosperity theology: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Creflo Dollar Ministries, Benny Hinn Ministries, Bishop Eddie Long Ministries, Joyce Meyer Ministries, and Paula White Ministries.

• In January 2011, Grassley concluded his investigation stating that he believed self-regulation by religious organizations was preferable to government action.

  • Only the ministries led by Meyer and Hinn cooperated with Grassley's investigation.

  • The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States featured prayers from two preachers known for advocating prosperity theology.

    • Paula White, one of Trump's spiritual advisers, gave the invocation.

• This is just a little background on the movement. But that still begs the question, how does someone develop this type of teaching, especially when the testimony of scripture obviously teaches something right the opposite?

  • The answer to that question is why I do what I do - Context or taking God’s word out of context. Let me give you a little more insight into what I am talking about by explaining some of the Theology behind this movement.

  • Proponents of prosperity theology often cite the parable of the talents as back up to their teachings

    • Prosperity theology teaches that Christians are entitled to well-being and, because spiritual and physical realities are seen as one inseparable reality, they interpret well-being as physical health and economic prosperity.

    • Teachers of the doctrine focus on personal empowerment, promoting a positive view of the spirit and body.

    • They maintain that Christians have been given power over creation because they are made in the image of God and teach that positive confession which allows Christians to exercise dominion over their souls and material objects around them.

  • Leaders of the movement view the atonement as providing for the alleviation of sickness, poverty, and spiritual corruption; poverty and illness are cast as curses which can be broken by faith and righteous actions.

• There are, however, some prosperity churches which seek a more moderate or reformed paradigm of prosperity.

  • Kirbyjon Caldwell, pastor of a Methodist mega-church, supports a theology of abundant life, teaching prosperity for the whole human being, which he sees as a path to combating poverty.

  • Wealth is interpreted in prosperity theology as a blessing from God, obtained through a spiritual law of positive confession, visualization, and donations.

  • Believers may see this process in almost mechanical terms; Kenneth Copeland, an American author and televangelist, argues that prosperity is governed by laws, while other teachers portray the process formulaically.

    • Journalists David van Biema and Jeff Chu of Time have described Word of Faith pastor Creflo Dollar's teachings about prosperity as an inviolable contract between God and humanity.

• The prosperity theology teaching of positive confession stems from its proponents' view of scripture.

  • The Bible is seen as a faith contract between God and believers; God is understood to be faithful and just, so believers must fulfill their end of the contract to receive God's promises.

    • This leads to a belief in positive confession: the doctrine that believers may claim whatever they desire from God, simply by speaking it.

  • Prosperity theology teaches that the Bible has promised prosperity for believers, so positive confession means that believers are speaking in faith what God has already spoken about them.

  • Positive confession is practiced to bring about what is already believed-in; faith itself is a confession, and speaking it brings it into reality.

• The teaching often depends on non-traditional interpretations of Bible verses, the Book of Malachi often being given special attention. While Christians have generally celebrated Malachi for its passages about the Messiah, teachers of prosperity theology usually draw attention to its descriptions of physical wealth. Frequently quoted verses include:

  • Malachi 3:10: "'Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.'" (KJV)

  • Matthew 25:14–30: the Parable of the talents

  • John 10:10: "'I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.'" (KJV)

  • Philippians 4:19: "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (KJV)

  • 3 John 1:2: "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (KJV)

• Prosperity theology casts itself as the reclamation of true doctrine and thus part of a path to Christian dominion over secular society.

  • It contends that God's promises of prosperity and victory to Israel in the Old Testament apply to New-Covenant Christians today, and that faith and holy actions release this prosperity.

  • C. Peter Wagner, a leader of the New Apostolic Reformation, has argued that if Christians take dominion over aspects of society, the Earth will experience "peace and prosperity".

  • Some Latin Americans who have embraced prosperity theology argue that Christianity has historically placed an unnecessary focus on suffering.

    • They often view this as a Roman Catholic doctrine that should be discarded and replaced with an emphasis on prosperity.

• Prosperity-theology advocates also argue that biblical promises of blessings awaiting the poor have been unnecessarily spiritualized, and should be understood literally.

  • Prosperity churches place a strong emphasis on the importance of giving. Some services include a teaching-time focused on giving and prosperity, including Biblical references to tithing; and then a sermon on another topic which follows the offering.

  • Prosperity-church leaders often claim that a specific blessing can be exchanged for the money being donated to their ministry; some have been reported to instruct worshipers to hold their donations above their heads during the prayer.

    • Congregants in prosperity churches are encouraged to speak positive statements about aspects of their lives that they wish to see improved.

    • These statements, known as "positive confessions" (distinct from confessions of sin), are said to miraculously change aspects of people's lives if spoken with faith.

      • Prosperity churches also encourage people to "live without limits" and to cultivate optimism about their lives.

  • T. D. Jakes, pastor of The Potter's House non-denominational mega-church, has argued in favor of prosperity, rejecting what he sees as the demonization of success.

    • He views poverty as a barrier to living a Christian life, suggesting that it is easier to make a positive impact on society when one is affluent.

    • While some prosperity churches have a reputation for manipulating and alienating the poor, many are involved in social programs. Underlying these programs is a theology of empowerment and human flourishing with the goal of releasing people from a "welfare" or "victim" mentality.

• Many prosperity churches hold seminars on financial responsibility. Kate Bowler, an academic who studies prosperity theology, has criticized such seminars, arguing that though they contain some sound advice, the seminars often emphasize the purchase of expensive possessions.

  • Hanna Rosin of The Atlantic argues that prosperity theology contributed to the housing bubble that caused the late-2000s financial crisis. She maintains that prosperity churches heavily emphasized home ownership based on reliance on divine financial intervention that led to unwise choices based on actual financial ability.

  • Most churches in the prosperity movement are non-denominational and independent, though some groups have formed networks.

    • Prosperity churches typically reject presbyterian polity (Paul-lity) (or governance) and the idea that a pastor should be accountable to elders; it is common for pastors of prosperity churches to be the highest organizational authority-figure.

    • Critics, including Sarah Posner and Joe Conason, maintain that prosperity teachers cultivate authoritarian organizations. They argue that leaders attempt to control the lives of adherents by claiming divinely-bestowed authority.

    • Jenkins contends that prosperity theology is used as a tool to justify the high salaries of pastors.

• Now, this morning I realize I spent a lot of time speaking about the “Prosperity Movement”, and I did so because I feel it’s important. And why?

  • Because once again, believers are confused, and they don’t know what to believe. The overarching theme of scripture bever says, nor does it promote, “The give to get concept”. And it never teaches that healing is an automatic reality in the life of a believer, or that if we just have enough faith, or we pray in a certain way, then all the bad things of life will be reversed!

  • And how do I know this to be the case? Well, first of all I know this to be the case because I study scripture (as a whole and in context). But second, I know it to be the case because of logic and or pragmatism, meaning, I know it to be the case because the truth is, sometimes people are healed when we pray and sometimes, they are not!

    • Sometimes people are blessed financially, and sometimes they are not, and when I couple that truth with the truth of God’s consistency along with His ultimate purpose for our lives, which is what; that we are part of His plan.

    • A plan that begins here on earth and ultimately ends up with us residing with Him in Heaven. A plan that is backed up by the testimony of scripture that says, our lives here on earth are about His Glory! That our lives are not our own. That we have been bought with a price.

  • When I apply all of these truths, it’s not that hard to come to the correct conclusion about God’s prosperity verses man’s prosperity.

  • Let me also say, applying logic and pragmatism one more time, the fact that we all die and that no one is ever permanently healed is pretty firm evidence that God isn’t concerned about the here and now.

• You see, all of this data tells me why I cannot take passages from Matthew, like “the parable of the Talents”, or scriptures from Malachi, and twist them into saying something polar opposite of what we know to be true. Not to mention the fact that the prosperity gospel also teaches something polar opposite of what the Bible overwhelmingly teaches.

  • I digress on this point. I just felt it important for us to do a little deep dive into the background on this topic, since obviously it is such a powerful movement in the world today.

    • Moving on. Now at the end of last week’s teaching, I said this week I would clarify verse 8, because for some it might seem conflicting or confusing. And to do that, I want to back up and re-read last week’s verses an bring us forward in context, and this is where we will close this morning. Beginning with 2 Cor. 6:3-10:

2 Cor. 6:3 giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited,
2 Cor. 6:4 but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses,
2 Cor. 6:5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger,
2 Cor. 6:6 in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love,
2 Cor. 6:7 in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left,
2 Cor. 6:8 by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; 
2 Cor. 6:9 as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, 
2 Cor. 6:10 as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.

• Let me say this before moving on this morning. It’s interesting how Paul contrasts words so eloquently when describing he and the other Apostles lives. Specifically, as it relates to how the world views things verses how God views things.

  • It’s also interesting how Paul’s words confirm exactly what I have been teaching today on this concept of the prosperity movement. Which was what? That whatever we deem as bad from the world’s standpoint, is actually opposite with God. Just look at the contrast in Paul’s words, beginning with verse 8.

  • By glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report, regarded as deceivers and yet true. Now, before moving forward this morning, these words are the words that I wanted to clear up.

    • When Paul says, “regarded as deceivers and yet true”, he’s not saying we are regarded as deceivers and it’s true. That’s not what he is saying at all.

    • But to better understand what he is saying you have to read it in the Greek. The Greek reads this way, it says, “as imposters (not deceivers- as imposters), and yet true”. What Paul is saying is, we are imposters as it relates to this world, because we don’t belong here. In other words, we are regarded as imposters, because we are.

• Moving on in verse 9:

  • As unknown yet well known. As dying, yet behold we live. As punished yet not put to death. As sorrowful yet always rejoicing. As poor yet making many rich. And, as having nothing yet possessing all things.

  • From the world’s standpoint, Paul and the other Apostles are being dishonored. Yet in God’s eyes they are honored. The contrasts here tell us one thing, and that is we appear one way (from the world’s point of view), but in reality, we are opposite in (God’s view).

    • Dr. Thomas Constable of Dallas Theological Seminary says it this way:    

“These verses probably give us some indication of the charges that Paul's critics were leveling at him (cf. Rom 3:8; 1 Cor. 4:13).

• Human responses to Paul's preaching evidently varied greatly (v. 8), but God's estimate was positive regardless of the opinions of people.

  • These contrasts may be between human responses, or between the human and the divine responses.

  • Regardless of people's estimates of him, the great apostle continued to fight the good fight of faith (vv. 7, 9).

  • Moreover, regardless of how he appeared to be doing, in reality God was preserving and blessing him (vv. 9-10).”

    • And so, with all this said, we should get a better understanding of God’s view verses the world’s view. It is always the opposite. And, I’ll close with what might be the strongest commentary to this very fact, which shows up in Luke 17:32-33, and this is what Luke says:

Luke 17:32 Remember Lot’s wife. 
Luke 17:33 Whoever strives to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will keep it.