Wherever the true gospel makes inroads, we can be sure that false gospels will follow close behind. Wherever the true gospel begins to win the hearts of men, we can be sure that false gospels will begin to compete with it. And sure enough, one of the most attractive, most deceptive, and most pernicious of today’s false gospels is the one known as the “prosperity gospel.” The prosperity gospel promises that those who love God will inherit not only the eternal riches of heaven, but also the temporal riches of this world—health, wealth, and every kind of earthly prosperity. It originated in the United States, made vast inroads in North America, and then traveled far beyond so that no continent and no country is untouched by it.

This gospel of health and wealth is the subject of a new book by Sean DeMars and Mike McKinley: Health, Wealth, and the (Real) Gospel: The Prosperity Gospel Meets the Truths of Scripture. The authors approach the subject from different angles, DeMars as one who was once drawn in by it and who attempted to claim its every promise, and McKinley as one who has merely been wooed by it and counseled others through it. Together they write for two audiences: those who belong to churches that faithfully embrace the true gospel of Christ Jesus but who may have friends or family members who have been drawn into the false gospel of prosperity, and those who know or suspect they belong to a church that advocates it. For both audiences they want to ensure they know how to identify this false gospel and, at the same time, how to identify the true message of the Bible and the true promise of the Christian faith. “If prosperity gospel teachers aren’t teaching what Jesus taught, then we absolutely cannot afford to coddle them or tolerate their message. In the end, you should judge everything you hear and read (including this book!) by the truths of Scripture. We intend to make the case that the prosperity gospel is a dangerous lie that must be exposed and resisted.”
And that is exactly what they do in the book’s seven brief chapters. DeMars and McKinley first expose the heart of the prosperity gospel by describing its four common teachings: that God wants to bless us materially, that God wants us to speak with power, that God does not want for us to suffer, and that God wants us to live the victorious, prosperous life. After describing and briefly countering these teachings, they show how the prosperity gospel misuses the Bible by reading it through a man-centered perspective, by taking verses out of context, by confusing the covenants, by reading proverbs as promises, and so on. In chapter three they address promises of health and happiness and in chapter four the promises of wealth. In both cases they show how a proper understanding of Scripture radically contradicts the claims of the prosperity gospel.
To this point the book treads fairly familiar ground, but in the final three chapters it takes some unique and interesting directions. Chapter five asks whether TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) viewers go to heaven, which is a clever way of asking whether people who adhere to the prosperity gospel—and those who teach it—are actually saved. “It’s certainly possible,” they say, at least for those who adhere to it, provided they have been saved by grace through faith. After all, even true believers can be warped by false doctrine. Chapter six asks whether we should pray or do other forms of ministry with those who teach it and chapter seven encourages introspection by showing how those who are theologically astute—and even those who hold to reformed theology—can succumb to soft forms of the prosperity gospel. “Perhaps the best way to keep the arms and tentacles of the prosperity gospel from wrapping themselves around our hearts is to continually remind ourselves of the goodness and beauty and strength of our God. He alone has the power and wisdom and authority to determine the course of our lives. And He alone has the love and goodness and kindness that deserve our allegiance.”
With the prosperity gospel now extremely popular and still possibly ascendent, it is crucial that we know how and why it differs from the true gospel and that we equip ourselves to help those given over to it. Health, Wealth, and the (Real) Gospel serves this purpose well. It is a book you’ll benefit from if you read it yourself and a book you should be prepared to distribute to others. May the Lord use it to rescue his people and purify his church!

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I am new to the writings of George Herbert Morrison, but was quickly taken with this quote about the Bible—about the way it meets our needs and the way it satisfies our spiritual hunger. I hope you’ll enjoy it too!

Whenever the Almighty satisfies his creatures, he gives them drink as abundant as the seas. Think of the Bible—an ancient book and yet intensely modern and practical. Think of the ages that have gone since it was written; think of the life we [now] live and of the stress and strain unknown in the quiet East; to me it is wonderful that the Bible should be of any use at all now and not have moved into the quiet of libraries to be the joy of the unworldly scholar.
But one thing is certain—the Bible meets the need of modern life. As a practical guide there is no book to touch it. There is not a problem you are called to face and not a duty you are called to do, there is not a cross you are compelled to carry and not a burden you are forced to bear but your strength for it all will be as the strength of ten—if you make a daily companion of your Bible.
The Bible never offers a drink from shallow waters. There, you do not find a set of petty maxims, but the everlasting love of God; you do not find any shallow views of sin, but a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And that is the secret of the Bible’s permanence—when our little systems have ceased to be, for sin and sorrow and life and death and duty, it gives us drink “as abundant as the seas.”
Think of Jesus in relation to his words. If ever words were as water to a thirsty world, surely it was the words that Jesus spoke. How simple they were and yet how deep! How tender and full of love and yet how searching! There are those whose lives so contradict their words that when you know the people you cannot listen to them. And there are those who are so much less than their own words that when you come to know them you are disappointed. But what people felt about Jesus Christ was this, that when all was uttered, the half was never told, for at the back of all his words there was himself, deeper unfathomably than his deepest speech. That is why the words of Christ will live even when heaven and earth have passed away. You can exhaust the cup or drain the goblet, but you cannot exhaust the spring fed from the deeps. And just because the words of Jesus Christ spring from the depths of that divine humanity, they will save and strengthen the obedient heart to the last recorded syllable of time.

It is one of the realities of the Christian faith that skeptics love to criticize—the reality that there are a host of different denominations and a multitude of different expressions of Christian worship. But while believers have become accustomed to responding to this criticism with a sense of shame, I choose to see it in a different light. I choose to see each tradition as highlighting different aspects of God’s purpose for the local church. As a prism refracts the light and separates it into its component colors, the differing traditions refract the Bible’s varying commands and emphases. And this is why I feel at home in so many different churches.
I feel at home in a Brethren church. I feel at home because of its commitment to simplicity in worship and to the necessity of celebrating the Lord’s Supper on a weekly basis. Such churches are meek and humble and committed to honoring the Lord in ways that may be unflashy but are faithful to the Scriptures. They look with longing and pleading for the return of Jesus Christ. I always count it a joy to break bread with the Brethren.
I feel at home in an Anglican church. It feels familiar because its worship is so thoroughly steeped in Word and prayer. While there is always a sermon (though probably one shorter than I am accustomed to) and while there is always song (though often fewer than I am accustomed to) the service is structured around reading the Word and both corporate and private prayers. I love to participate in those readings and prayers knowing that as I do so, I am engaged in a tradition that wraps the world and spans the centuries.
I feel at home in a Presbyterian church because of its commitment to sound doctrine and expositional preaching. Few traditions have raised up as many powerful preachers as the Presbyterians or created as many resources to assist them. Few traditions have thought as deeply about what they believe and described it as thoroughly as Presbyterians have done through their catechisms and confessions. Few documents in the history of the Christian church surpass the Shorter Catechism and the Westminster Confession for depth and beauty.
I feel at home also in those Presbyterian churches that hold to a strict interpretation of the regulative principle. Such churches will only worship in ways the Bible explicitly commands. I admire them for their commitment to principle even as it extends all the way to singing only the Psalms and singing them without instrumentation. Where so many other traditions neglect the psalms, this tradition sings them exclusively and joyfully. I feel at home among them.
I feel at home in a Dutch Reformed church because it values simple, formal worship followed by warm and charitable hospitality. I admire the way they give such care to catechizing their children and often to building and supporting schools to educate them. Plus, almost no church sings louder or stronger than a Dutch Reformed church. (If you want to find men who still sing with confidence and gusto, this is where you will find them.)
I love to learn from them, I love to observe what they do so well, and I love to see how God blesses their labors to build his kingdom and declare his glory.Share
I feel at home in many non-denominational churches as well, though most fit at least one of the descriptions above or below. Every church has its reasons to formally associate with other churches or to remain independent, and I respect those who choose to persist outside a denominational structure.
Of course, I feel at home in a Baptist church, for I myself am Baptist. As I search the Scriptures for its instructions on what a local church ought to be and how it ought to worship, I see it describing something very much like a church structured around the London Baptist Confession. I love the emphasis on evangelism. I love the emphasis on celebrating the baptism of one who has professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I love the balance of structure and freedom that permeates its worship services.
And while I am confidently and convictionally Baptist, I do love to experience other churches and consider it a blessing to worship among other traditions that teach the same Scriptures and preach the same gospel. I have worshipped in a host of churches spanning every continent and have found that I love to learn from them all, I love to observe what they do so well, and I love to see how God blesses their labors to build his kingdom and declare his glory.