Chris Smalley
Sanctification and the Prosperity
Gospel
Sanctification and the Prosperity Gospel
Chris Smalley
Abstract
Proper sanctification that is biblically based and theologically solid is a big deal to Christians.
However, the Prosperity Gospel movement stands in the way of a new Christian’s spiritual
development and leads them down a decidedly different path that is not biblically based or
theologically solid. The problem is, it is also an ever growing movement within the Church, with
more adherents than some denominations combined. This growing Prosperity Gospel movement
poses an even bigger threat to the new disciple in Christ and some contemporary congregations,
by leading the Christian believer to live out an alternative form of theology that is not supported
by Scripture. In starting out with key definitions for sanctification, the author delves into a brief
history of the Prosperity Gospel movement and some of its key leaders. The paper concludes with
three strong ministry implications the Prosperity Gospel movement has on discipleship and
evangelism.
INTRODUCTION AND ISSUE STATEMENT
It seems to me that you can’t spend more than five minutes inside a Christian bookstore or watch
a church worship service on Sunday morning without hearing some form of message about the
Prosperity Gospel. I was first introduced to this “gospel” when I was in my first year at (then)
Northwestern College in 1990. And I have to admit, I was rather captivated with the idea.
Growing up, I came from a single-parent family home. We didn’t have much. But we had each
other, our faith, and a supportive extended family. In that sense, I thought I was rather wealthy.
But, we never had new cars, nice furniture, or a big bank account. And we certainly never went
on any fancy vacations! So, when the idea of this prosperity gospel was introduced to me as a
young adult by a wealthy senior pastor of a large local charismatic church, I wanted to know
more about how make this gospel ‘work’ for me. Once I learned the process, however, I found
myself repeating something my grandfather taught me as a kid, “If it sounds too good to be true,
it probably is.”
The problem, at least for me, isn’t that it just that it sounds too good to be true. The
bigger problem for me is that gospel does not have a strong Biblical or theological leg to stand
on – if any. While this contemporary interest paper will expose the dangers of following and
believing the prosperity gospel – in light of sanctification (or the process of growing in Christ), I
will not make any positional statements on it. Although, I easily could. Instead, I will look at
how it’s defined, provide some background information and a brief history of the prosperity
gospel, and finally, look at some of the many implications it has for evangelical Christians and
their sanctification process.
What is Sanctification?
Before I get too far into this topic, I feel it appropriate to set out some definitions of key
terms that we will be dealing with for the remainder of this essay. One of them is sanctification.
According the Millard Erickson, sanctification “is meant the continued transformation of moral
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and spiritual character so that the believer’s life actually comes to mirror the standing he or she
has in God’s sight. While justification is an instantaneous act giving the individual a righteous
standing before God, sanctification is a process making the person holy or good.”1
And because sanctification is seen by most Christian leaders as a key part of our lives in
Christ, the University of Northwestern – St. Paul has made it a part of their Doctrinal Statement.
In Part V, under the heading of The Holy Spirit, the statement reads, “We believe in the Holy
Spirit, who came forth from God to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment,
and to regenerate, sanctify, and comfort those who believe in Jesus Christ (John 16:7–8).”2 From
this statement, we can safely agree that one of the main duties of the Holy Spirit is to aid in the
sanctification of the believer.
What is the Prosperity Gospel?
Author and host of the popular radio show, The Bible Answer Man, Hank Hannegraaff
has written extensively on the prosperity gospel movement. In 2009, Hank updated and
expanded his book, Christianity in Crisis. In this work, Hannegraaff summarizes the theology of
Ken Hagin, who many consider the modern father of the prosperity gospel. Taken from Hagin’s
booklet, How to Write Your Own Ticket with God, Hannegraaff writes:
In the opening chapter, titled “Jesus Appears to Me,” Hagin claims that while he was “in the
Spirit,” Jesus told him to get a pencil and a piece of paper. He then instructed him to “write down:
1, 2, 3, 4.” Jesus then allegedly told Hagin that “if anybody, anywhere, will take these four steps
or put these four principles into operation, he will always receive whatever he wants from Me or
from God the Father.” That includes whatever you want financially. The formula is simply: “Say
it, Do it, Receive it, and Tell it.”
1. Step number one is “Say it.” “Positive or negative, it is up to the individual. According to what
the individual says, that shall he receive.”
2. Step number two is “Do it.” “Your action defeats you or puts you over. According to your
action, you receive or you are kept from receiving.”
3. Step number three is “Receive it.” We are to plug into the “powerhouse of heaven.” “Faith is
the plug, praise God! Just plug in.”
4. Step number four is “Tell it so others may believe.” This final step might be considered the
Faith movement’s outreach program. 3
How did the Prosperity Gospel Get Started?
1. Millard J. Erickson Christian Theology
Second Edition. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1988), 890.
2 University of Northwestern – St. Paul website Doct
.
rinal Statement No pages. Cited 12 January 2014
<http://www.unwsp.edu/web/about/doctrinal-statement> (12 January 2014), emphasis mine.
3. Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2009), 74-75.
2
While the actual definition of the prosperity gospel is somewhat debatable, there are few
polemics when it comes to its founders. According to Dr. Kate Bowler, Assistant Professor of the
History of Christianity in the United States at Duke Divinity School, E. W. Kenyon is credited as
the man that was the originator of the Prosperity Gospel. In her book, Blessed: A History of the
American Prosperity Gospel, she writes, "Though little known outside of pentecostal circles, the
evangelist E. W. Kenyon serves as our journey's guide. His evangelical appropriation of this
concept of spiritual power channeled New Thought and pentecostal streams, shaping the
prosperity movement into, to borrow a title from Norman Vincent Peale, 'A Guide to Confident
Living.'"4
Fast forward 60 years to the 1940s and 1950s. According to Bowler, Granville "Oral"
Roberts was the primary leader of the prosperity gospel. She writes,
He lacked the preternatural healing power of William Branham, whose prophecy and angelic
visitations whetted pentecostals' thirst for new signs and wonders. Neither did he, like Gordon
Lindsay, rally diverse ministers behind the common cause. Rather, he eclipsed other ministers
because of his shrewd ability to anticipate the new frontiers for ministry in radio, television, and
education.5
The main point that Bowler makes here is that, even though Roberts did not possess the
same gifts or abilities that his predecessors had, he was able to have a greater impact –
and thereby get his prosperity gospel message out to more people - because of his ability
to leverage his use of mass communications to propagate his message. While this alone
was not a bad thing, as many other evangelists, including our own esteemed former
university President Billy Graham, used these methods during the same time period. It
was an emerging technology that they used to their advantage.
However, an interesting thing happened with Oral Roberts. It seems that he
created his own words to describe his prosperity gospel. As Bowler writes,
By 1956, his periodical Healing Waters had become Abundant Life, and readers could request the
free pamphlet 'God Has a Surplus for You.' His influential catchphrases summed up his
triumphant theology: 'God is Greater,' Turn Your Faith Loose,' and 'Something Good is Going to
Happen to You.' Oral Roberts's cheerful reminder to 'Expect a Miracle' reconciled two opposing
poles –predictability and otherworldliness– that (Ken) Hagin codified in his law of faith. Faith you
cause the supernatural to bend miracles to the will of everyday believers.6
Bowler makes a profound point: Roberts had achieved what few before him had been able to do.
By creating his own catchphrases for his specific brand of prosperity gospel theology – and by
harnessing the power of multiple streams of mass communication methods – he had gained the
following of a much larger American audience than Kenyon, Branham or even Ken Hagin could
4. Kate Bowler Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel (New York, NY: Oxford University
Press, 2013), 11.
5. Bowler, Blessed, 48.
6. Bowler, Blessed, 48-49.
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have ever imagined. This propelled the Prosperity Gospel ‘movement’ to greater popularity and
now has more adherents than some denominations combined.
Today, Joel Osteen is the poster child for the prosperity gospel movement. With an
average weekly attendance of over 43,000 people, Osteen and his wife, Victoria, lead Lakewood
Church – the largest congregation in the United States. They purchased the former Compaq
Center in Houston, Texas for $7.5 million in 2010, and Joel Osteen made a lumps sum payment
of $11.8 million to lease the 606,000 square foot space through 2024.7 Osteen wrote his first
book, Your Best Life Now, in 2004 and it debuted at the top of the New York Time Bestseller list,
where it stayed for nearly 2 years and has sold over 4 million copies since its release nearly 10
years ago.8 Those are impressive numbers for any author, especially when it’s your first book.
Despite his critics who have said his books and teachings lack Biblical and/or theological
content, Osteen has become very popular in Christian and secular circles. Say what you will
about the man known as “the smiling pastor”, but Joel Osteen has done just about everything he
can to ensure a bright future of the prosperity gospel movement.
Ministry Implications and Closing Thoughts
As anyone can imagine with a controversial and questionable theology like this, there are
many ministry implications for the prosperity gospel. Perhaps the most dangerous of them all is
the impact this has on new disciples – or those that have only recently made first time decisions
for Christ. If the latest statistics are still correct, 85% of first time decisions for Christ happen
before the age of 18. Given the reality of this statistic, many new Christians are vulnerable to
false teachers. Therefore, it is vitally important that those who are new in Christ get the right
understanding of what it means to trust God for their provisions in their life. For this reason
alone, proper discipleship on areas like prayer, tithing, serving, and studying the Bible are crucial
elements to help a new Christian along their sanctification process. Any exposure to the
teachings of the prosperity gospel could hinder a new believer’s Biblical understanding of these
spiritual disciplines.
Another key area of ministry implication is with evangelism. Whether it’s preaching the
Gospel to a large audience or one to one personal evangelism, the way in which evangelists
describe God and the way He blesses the believer needs to be done with theological and Biblical
accuracy. Otherwise, there is a great danger in that message being received is one that could be
taken as a prosperity gospel. Evangelists need to stick to the basic points of the Gospel, and not
get side-tracked by the amazing blessings that God provides the believer. Those types of stories
can come later to serve as an inspiration to spur the disciple on to serving others and loving God.
The main points of the Gospel need to be that there is a Savior that came to live a sinless life so
that He could die for your sins, and that He rose again so that they could have eternal life. Any
additions to these main points that give new believers the idea that God will bless them with
7. Bradley Olson, "Lakewood to buy former Compaq Center for $7.5M" in Houston Chronicle, 3 March
2010, <http://www.chron.com/life/houston-belief/article/Lakewood-to-buy-former-Compaq-Center-for-7-5M1715379.php> (12 January 2014).
8. Lakewood Church website "An Inspiration to Millions." Lakewoodchurch.com, No date cited,
<http://www.lakewoodchurch.com/Pages/new-here/Joel-Osteen.aspx> (12 January 2014).
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abundant health and wealth simply for coming to faith in Christ are very misleading and
deceptive.
Although there are many more implications that I could discuss, the third area and final
area that I will mention has to do with discipleship. Since sanctification and discipleship are
linked together at the hip (metaphorically speaking), this is an important ministry implication.
Therefore, strict and Biblical discipleship that is theologically based is essential. I cannot
overstate this point. While it may be considered “contemporary” or seen as appealing teaching
because of the author’s popular status within the Christian community, pastors and teachers need
to be careful with the training materials that they use to disciple new believers. Because
sanctification is the goal for Christians, having the right discipleship training from the very
beginning plays a huge part in their spiritual growth. Discipleship training that is free of any of
the prosperity gospel’s themes and references should go a long way in bringing the new believer
to becoming more like Christ with every passing day. And while some pastors and teachers may
like what these false teachers have to say about the prosperity gospel, it’s important for them to
point out the fallacies of these teachings, refute them from a Biblical standpoint, and direct them
on a path that leads to a greater and truer sanctification.
While many Christians would like to believe that the prosperity gospel is real, the truth is
there is no Biblical or theological truth to its claims. Just like any father who loves his children,
God does want us to be happy, healthy, and provided for in all our needs. But, the way in which
we receive these blessings and gifts from God are not dependent on our actions. They are – and
always will be – God’s divinely appointed gifts, not something we can merely claim.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bowler, Kate Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel New York, NY: Oxford
University Press, 2013.
Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology, Second Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1988.
Hanegraaff, Hank, Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2009.
Lakewood Church website. "An Inspiration to Millions." Lakewoodchurch.com No date
<http://www.lakewoodchurch.com/Pages/new-here/Joel-Osteen.aspx> (12 January 2014).
Olson, Bradley. “Lakewood to buy former Compaq Center for $7.5M.” Houston Chronicle 3
March 2010. <http://www.chron.com/life/houston-belief/article/Lakewood-to-buyformer-Compaq-Center-for-7-5M-1715379.php> (12 January 2014).
University of Northwestern – St. Paul website “Doctrinal Statement” No pages.
Cited 12 January 2014 < http://www.unwsp.edu/web/about/doctrinal-statement > (12
January 2014).
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