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Author: J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu
Date: 14.07.2010
Category: Prosperity Gospel
Editor’s Note: This Cape Town 2010 Advance Paper has been written by J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu as an overview of the topic to be discussed at the Multiplex session on “Poverty, Prosperity and the Gospel.” Responses to this paper through the Lausanne Global Conversation will be fed back to the author and others to help shape their final presentations at the Congress.
This essay reflects on aspects of the Gospel of Prosperity and how it is mediated through contemporary African Christianity. The teaching that, in addition to salvation, the Christ event also brings with it prosperity in health, wealth and general success is associated mainly with neo-Pentecostalism. These movements started burgeoning in Africa from the late 1970s and have been very successful in building mega-sized urban congregations that have proven very attractive to the upwardly mobile youth. Their innovative use of modern media technologies including extensive television and radio ministries means that African neo-Pentecostal teachings have become very popular. The rapid publication of books, which invariably contain sermons preached, contributes to put neo-Pentecostal teaching into public space. Wherever they are found, the emphasis on material success made possible through faith, positive confession, faithful tithing and gifts to the anointed of God who lead them, is an essential part of their teaching.
God is certainly a God of prosperity but definitely not a God of consumerist values and materialism. The materialistic orientation of the Gospel of Prosperity means that the triumphs, glory and honor of the Cross are emphasized to the neglect of its representation of pain and suffering. If triumph is always assured, Chris Green notes in a recent work, it becomes nearly impossible to handle failure, defeat and suffering(1). The theology of success and power expounded by the ministries under study here tends to neglect the experiences of those within the community whose testimonies do not necessarily reflect material abundance, if not extravagance. In this essay, I examine the prosperity aspects of African neo-Pentecostal Christianity in the light of Martin Luther’s theologia crucis (2), which for him, was the essence of true theology. In an essay the Finnish Pentecostal theologian Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen writes that theologia crucis has emerged as the theme underlying all of Luther’s theology. In this theology, Martin Luther, Kärkkäinen notes, attacks a false kind of thinking about God and man, ‘the theology of glory’, by pointing to the decisive importance of the cross of Christ, where we meet the suffering God. Theologia crucis also introduces two opposite kinds of love: God’s love that is directed towards bad, sinful men and women who are nothing in themselves and human love that always seeks its own best.
Martin Luther knew very well, according to Tom Smail, that the sinful hearts of men are always looking for ways to evade the cross, and in many ways neo-Pentecostal theology may have done that by promoting a theology of glory with sometimes very little to say to those who are weak and suffering or may be losing in life. At a recent church service in a Pentecostal church in Accra, Ghana, a Nigerian preacher informed the congregation that God had asked him to receive the day’s offerings in USA dollars, for God was about to do something big in their lives. In their bid to promote this newly found theology of glory, some churches may even be straying into the sale of indulgences, something that Luther attacked vehemently in the process of reformation. In contrast to the charismatic theology of glory, Kärkkäinen explains, Luther’s theologia crucis takes seriously God and human beings and their relationship held in tension in a world filled with sin and suffering. (3)
From ‘Calvary Road’ to ‘Harvesters International’
One of the factors that gave rise of neo-Pentecostalism in Ghana was the rise of evangelical youth musical groups like the Calvary Road Incorporated, Joyful Way Incorporated, New Creation and Come Back [to Jesus] Incorporated. In the late 1980s, Calvary Road became a church and underwent a name change to Harvesters International. In a personal interview with some members of the group on what necessitated the change of name, their response was that ‘Calvary’ was a problematic word associated with agony, pain and suffering. In most African traditions, as we also encounter in Old Testament thought, names have a way of influencing life’s circumstances. The members of Calvary Road had come to believe that the overall impact of the name Calvary on their members had not been very positive: ‘our members were struggling too much in life’, one member told me. So the name was changed to something more positive, ‘Harvesters’, so that members will continue to ‘harvest’ the good things that God has ordained for those who believe in him.
This explanation must not necessarily be taken to be the official explanation for the name change. Nevertheless it is important because generally one of the hindrances to prosperity, African traditions generally believe, is the negative effect that names have on people. In this particular instance, it looked like the Cross represented by the name ‘Calvary’ was being superannuated in favor of a name perceived to hold better promise. When they come to Christ, neo-Pentecostal prosperity preachers would teach, Christians harvest his promises in material and other blessings. We reflect on these teachings by interrogating the theology of prosperity as has been preached in Africa against the backdrop of the importance of the cross in the theology of Martin Luther. I will point out that precisely because of the reason given for the transition from Calvary Road Incorporated to Harvesters International, the Cross of Christ seems to receive little attention in the prosperity hermeneutic of the new Pentecostalism. This is not an African phenomenon as such. For instance, Tom Smail who is himself a neo-Pentecostal or charismatic Christian, notes that, the whole shape of neo-Pentecostal theology with its emphases on ‘experience, glory and power’ makes it difficult for the full meaning of the Cross or Calvary in Christian theology to be realized.
The Reformation and Religious Innovation in Africa
Allan H. Anderson, arguably one of the leading voices in the academic study of the global Pentecostal movement, has referred to 20th century African initiatives in Christianity as an ‘African Reformation’. (4) Most of these movements belong to the Pentecostal and charismatic traditions, but Anderson’s designation is still relevant because they share Martin Luther’s call for a Christianity that emphasized the authority of the Word of God, the weightiness of sin, the graciousness of Christ, the vitality of faith and the spiritual nature of the church. (5) Martin Luther contrasted what he called theologia crucis, theology of the cross with theologia gloriae, the theology of glory. The theology of glory and power represented by the Gospel of Prosperity must be scrutinized in the light of that which Calvary represented, the Cross. In the African context within which I work, renewal movements have been described as movements of reformation in their own right, but they have developed a certain penchant and proclivity for things that reflect glory and power including seeing material things as reflective of God’s favor. It might therefore be interesting to see how African neo-Pentecostal theology with its emphasis on success, promotion and prosperity responds to a theology of the Cross. The following testimony from the church of Nigerian prosperity preacher, Bishop David O. Oyedepo’s Winners’ Chapel is illustrative of the prosperity mindset we are dealing with here:
There was a time in my life when I was known as a failure, but God has turned my captivity around. It is just like a dream. Where a man fellowships really determines a lot of things about him. I had been born again six years before I joined this church, yet I was a failure, people were always coming to sympathize with me, but when I joined this church in 1995 everything changed. The only car my family had before then was stolen and getting a replacement appeared impossible. But to the glory of God in October 2000, He gave me a Mercedes Benz car. I have also been able to dedicate a new mansion God blessed me with to the glory of His name. To crown it all, another car was recently added to my family. I have every reason to celebrate the faithfulness of God. (6)
On the interface between a theology of the cross and a theology of glory, Tom Smail writes:
Much preaching and teaching in the renewal nowadays—perhaps in contrast to its earlier beginnings—consist more of testimonies to and anecdotes about the present-day works of the Spirit than of expositions of the word of Scripture. …Bolstered up by what has happened to us and by the testimonies of others, we can easily come to see ourselves as living in a world of supernatural power that leads us from triumph to triumph where the weak, desolate sufferer of Calvary has been left far behind or at any rate has ceased to dominate the scene. (7)
Speaking specifically to the African context, one of Africa’s foremost theologians, Kwesi A. Dickson, surmises that no matter what the cultural perspective might be, the matter of the death of Jesus Christ and its significance cannot be ignored. Christians everywhere, and from whatever cultural background, he notes, must react to the central belief of the cross of Christ. (8) At the heart of God’s revelation is the work and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Cross is the means by which the divine agenda of salvation was executed. At the same time Pentecostals remind us that to be a Christian is not just to be a sinner justified by grace, not just to embark on the long process of sanctifying moral transformation into the likeness of Christ; it is also to be empowered by the Holy Spirit and endowed with his many and varied gifts for mission. That kind of message can be empowering especially if considered in the light of the manifesto of Jesus Christ as written in Luke 4:18,
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
I am a witness to the ways in which the neo-Pentecostal movement has, by its theology of empowerment, enabled many people to make sense out of their lives and improve their circumstances through commitment, hard work and moral change. Some have received healing, deliverance and graces that could have come only through the power of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, this theology of liberation has been presented by many in a one-sided fashion that overlooks the high and painful cost of discipleship, service and sacrifice that Jesus also spoke about. The result is that these success and promotion, well-being and empowerment, fruitfulness and breakthrough theologies, have become the dominant themes of African neo-Pentecostal Christianity. Such an emphasis finds fertile soil in Africa. This is partly because traditional religions constitute survival strategies that attempt, by whatever means possible, including cursing real and imaginary enemies, to exterminate obstacles to power and prosperity. It explains why, in my observation, prayers of vengeance have gradually become part of the prosperity mindset. The question that arises is how theologia crucis has been understood within the context of African neo-Pentecostalism with its emphasis on prosperity, success and triumphalism, which is partly informed by the instrumental purposes that religions serve in African traditions.
There is no doubting the fact that in the African context Pentecostalism has contributed to the growth of Christianity and to making Africa one of the major heartlands of global Christianity. In spite of its massive contribution to the modern reformation and renewal of the church, Tom Smail points out that the disproportionate neo-Pentecostal emphases on success and prosperity ‘make it difficult to recognize the close and intimate relationship between the renewing and empowering work of the Spirit and the center of the gospel in the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus.’ (9) We also learn from Green that a new paradigm is emerging even for Western Pentecostals that privileges personal empowering experience and interprets suffering as an infringements on ‘rights’ guaranteed by the ‘blessing of God.’ (10) Such a situation, Smail says, creates imbalances for neo-Pentecostal theology because as he notes ‘we are indeed rejuvenated and empowered at Pentecost, but we are judged, corrected and matured at the Cross.’ (11) For those Pentecostals who are now used to the prosperity or name-it-and-claim-it message, Kärkkäinen suggests it might be helpful to hear the following words from Martin Luther:
He, however, who has emptied himself through suffering no longer does works but knows that God works and does all things in him. For this reason, whether God does works or not, it is all the same to him. He neither boasts if he does good works, nor is he disturbed if God does not do good works through him. He knows that it is sufficient if he suffers and is brought low by the cross in order to be annihilated all the more. (12)
Martin Luther was concerned with how Christian theology arrived at its main ideas and he was clear that the primary source of Christian theology was not the scholastic tradition but the Bible. Parker explains the centrality of the ‘Word of God’ to Luther’s theological ideas as follows:
The phrase ‘the Word of God’, or the ‘Word’ simply, is a key-phrase in Luther’s thought. It meant to him, not just the Scriptures formally regarded as inspired…but something wider—namely, the message and content of the Scriptures, that is, the gospel concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the sum and substance of what God has to say to man. (13)
The gospel concerning Jesus Christ is a gospel of the cross, once a symbol of shame but now of hope and salvation. Each one however, is also called upon, in a spirit of self-denial, to take up his or her cross and follow the Lord. In response to why neo-Pentecostals have generally failed to develop a theologically and pastorally adequate understanding of suffering, Green refers to the movement’s failure to begin with the experiences of Jesus ‘as the epistemological groundwork and framework for their theological reflection’. (14) Jesus Christ is gracious and Luther stressed the point that the incarnation, lowly manhood, and patient suffering of the Son of God all prove that his attitude towards humankind is really one of overflowing love. That love is what sent Jesus Christ to the cross, and Luther was right in pointing to the cross and the humiliation, suffering and uncertainties associated with it as being at the heart of the Christian message.
The Cross as Stumbling Block
Since its adoption as the main symbol of the Christian faith and identity, the cross has been the source of many Christian debates and interpretations at both the popular and theological levels. So Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ and him crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength (I Corinthians 1:18-25).
The neo-Pentecostal over-emphasis on material prosperity, breakthroughs, power, health, wealth and success as indicators of God’s favor, has the potential to undermine the central message of the Cross as demonstrating God’s power or glory through weakness. At the beginning of the African neo-Pentecostal revival in the late 1970s, a lot of traditional Christian beliefs were turned upside down because they did not speak to glory and power. During the taking of wedding vows, for example, couples were taught to say ‘for better for best’ instead of the traditional ‘for better and for worse’; they were asked to say ‘for richer, for richest’ instead of ‘for richer, for poorer’. Names of neo-Pentecostal churches and ministries told the same story: Victory Bible Church; Conquerors Chapel International; Overcomers Ministries International; Winners’ Chapel; and Holy Ghost Power Ministries International. The favored religious symbols are the eagle symbolizing power and achievement and the globe symbolizing the international orientation and influence of these ministries. It is not being suggested that the new churches should focus on poverty and self-demeaning terms and expressions because, after all, the death of Christ also symbolized victory for those who believe in him. What is of concern here is the over-emphasis on the themes of power and glory that makes those who go through pain and suffering feel they remain outside of God’s grace, protection and care or are even under some kind of judgment for the non-fulfillment of Christian obligations, especially, the payment of tithes and offerings.
Luther and the Cross
These difficulties with the cross of Christ are not unique to African Pentecostalism but I argue that the African worldview in which religion is a survival strategy and in which faithful religiosity is rewarded with abundance, prosperity and increase has, to some extent, influenced Pentecostal thought forms on the meaning of the cross in unique ways. Pentecostal scholar Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen begins his essay referred to earlier by quoting an important statement on the cross by Martin Luther:
Now it is not sufficient for anyone, and it does him no good to recognize God in his glory and majesty, unless he recognizes him in the humility and shame of the cross. (15)
Martin Luther’s initial criticism of the disproportionate emphasis on the glory of the Christian faith began with the way in which the papacy taught nothing concerning the blessed saints of God ‘except to cover them with extravagant praise and laudation, and to praise them for exalted devotion and celestial joy.’ This he noted was done to the neglect of the fact that they had once been human beings on earth and had suffered and felt the adversities, misfortunes and frailties of men. In consequence, Luther further noted, they were ‘turned into idols and men have been taught to call upon them, instead of the Lord Jesus Christ, as intercessors, mediators and helpers in need, to the shameless blasphemy and denial of our blessed Savior and high-priest, Jesus Christ. (16)
Similarly, according to Luther, Mary as the mother of Jesus Christ is falsely imagined and exalted as if she had never suffered temptations, faltered or failed in reason. Contrary to human reason, Luther avers, God deals with his saints in manners that may be contrary to human reason and that ‘the more highly he endows them with grace and exalts and honors them, the deeper he thrusts them into sorrow and suffering, yea, even into dishonor, shame and desertion:
Human reason would undoubtedly teach and advise God not to permit his own Son to be shamefully and ignominiously dealt with as a murderer and malefactor, and allow his blood to be shed, but rather see to it that the angels should bear him on their hands, all kings and nobles fall at his feet and render him all honor. For human wisdom consists in this, that is neither sees, nor seeks, nor desires anything except that which is high and precious, and that which brings honor; and again, neither shuns nor flees from anything more readily than dishonor, contempt, suffering, misery, and the like. (17)
Martin Luther points out that God reverses this order which belongs to the human realm and deals with his own Son harshly through the cross in a way that goes against the grain of human thought. It is for the same reason that St. Paul refers to the way of the cross as being ‘the foolishness of God’ according to Jewish and by extension human thought. In those thoughts a deliverer conquers by might and power rather than succumb to humiliation and death in a way reserved for common criminals. Thus the mind of Christ differs from the mind of men and women, for though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but he ‘emptied himself’ and took on ‘the form of a servant’ (Philippians 2). This is a step that even Peter failed to appreciate through his attempt to discourage Jesus from proceeding to Jerusalem where it seemed only arrest, humiliation, pain and death awaited him. Luther concludes that God permits afflictions to come upon his loved ones not necessarily from wrath or lack of grace ‘but from motives of great grace and mercy, in order to show us how, in all things he deals with us in a friendly and paternal manner and how faithfully he cares for his own and so guides them that their faith may be more and more exercised and become stronger and stronger’. (18)
African Christianity and the Cross in Lutheran Thought
Pentecostal/charismatic Christianity, Kärkkäinen rightly points out, has (re)introduced to Christian spirituality an ideal of victorious Christian living, an intensive faith expectation, and emphasis on spiritual power overcoming life’s problems. To that end, he explains, the Pentecostal/charismatic movement would lose something very crucial if they stopped talking about faith, healing, power and miracles, and for the neo-Pentecostal and charismatic Christians in particular, material prosperity through the principles of positive confession, faith and sowing and reaping. The downside of this overemphasis on physical success is also described by Kärkkäinen:
What has been much more problematic to Pentecostals/charismatics is the negative side of the Christian life: disappointments when the healing did not come, agony when one faces the death of a loved one despite prayers of faith, the tragedy of financial breakdown, and so on. In fact, many Pentecostals and charismatics have been left with few options: either to deny experiences that seem to shatter one’s faith, to blame oneself or other persons involved for the lack of faith, or to give up one’s faith. Pentecostal preachers do not often tackle the problem of prayers unanswered or faith disappointed. Rarely does one find in Pentecostal/charismatic periodicals honest consideration of life situations where a prayer of faith was either not answered or was bluntly rejected. (19)
In African neo-Pentecostal churches and programs, the main indicators of God’s approval are often luxurious cars, frequent trips abroad on first class tickets, palatial homes and not in a few cases, testimonies of good health without any hints of ill health. In the process of ‘healing and deliverance’ aimed at releasing people from blockages to success and prosperity, individuals have also been encouraged to change their traditional African names because those names, it has often been discerned, carry negative connotations that follow people through life. African traditional names like ‘Bediako’ meaning warrior, some teach, could lead to a person ‘warring’ his or her way through life; ‘Abebrese’ meaning agony, could translate into a life of pain and suffering; and in one case ‘Fraenyiwa’, loss of eyesight, was supposed to have led to actual blindness in the bearer of that name. The theology of name change means that the story of Jacob’s encounter with the angel at which his name was changed to Israel and the story of Jabez whose name meant ‘sorrow’ but asked God for expansion to his territory, receive good mention in Pentecostal/charismatic preaching.
In one intriguing but sad case, a popular African charismatic church refused to be responsible for the funeral service of a Ghanaian member because he had passed away before the ‘biblically mandated’ minimum age of seventy years promised in the Psalms. Interestingly, the deceased died during an armed robbery attack, and in African traditions, those who die such violent deaths are not classified and honored as ancestors. By refusing to take responsibility for the funeral of a member for that reason, the church concerned had actually unknowingly taken the same stance as traditional religions would, because in those traditions violent deaths are often associated with the breach of taboos and curses resulting from evil deeds. A key expression in this neo-Pentecostal theology of glory and of power is ‘dominion’ which refers to a Spirit-led ability to be on top or win all the time. In the process, those whose circumstances do not speak to power, wealth, strength and victory and who need encouragement in the Lord, are left without testimonies.
Conclusion
Tom Smail concludes from observing the neo-Pentecostal overemphasis on power and success that ‘a spirit who diverts us from the cross into a triumphant world in which the cross does not hold sway, may turn out to be a very unholy spirit.’ (20) That may sound harsh, given the sometimes empowering nature of this gospel that encourages people to work hard in order to better their lives in contexts of poverty, squalor and deprivation. Nevertheless the shift from theologia crucis to theologia gloriae does not completely fit the purposes of God in Christ. To make up for the shortfalls, African neo-Pentecostals have generated a series of healing and deliverances rituals to take care of those demons perceived to be responsible for every lack of progress in life. This has itself led to a situation of deliverance-fix, in which some move from one healing camp to the other in search of the causes and therefore antidote, to whatever evil destinies perceived to be ahead of them.
Even Jesus Christ has been reinvented in some neo-Pentecostal theologies as one who not only wore designer robes but also rode on the most luxurious means of transport of his day into Jerusalem. In contrast to some of these teachings that undermine Luther’s theologia crucis, we learn from Smail that there is a closer connection between the passion of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit that one may think. Jesus Christ was named as God’s sacrificial lamb who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29-33) and yet it is in ‘going away’ following his death on the cross that Jesus promises a new Comforter, the Spirit of truth who would be with the disciples forever. Thus he concludes that the Spirit is the Spirit of Calvary; the power by which he works is the same kind of power by which Jesus defeated the powers of evil by sharing our suffering and shouldering our sin on the cross. Again following the resurrection, it is the same crucified hands that are outstretched to impart the presence of the Spirit.(21) Thus a genuinely Pentecostal theology of the Cross, Green avers, ‘must explain how Jesus’ death affects…the Spirit’s work in and through the Pentecostal community for the world’s sake, and it must do this in ways commensurate with the Pentecostal tradition’. (22)
In conclusion, Smail cautions that uncritical and unqualified use of power language could easily create the impression that every single struggle in life could very easily be prayed away or even that we can simply confess our way into success and prosperity. The Gospel of Christ can be very empowering because through the cross Christ defeated the powers of evil, but their influence is not taken away in every case as such. In some circumstances we are, through the cross, given grace so that we would be able to bear the difficult circumstances of life with dignity and thereby lead lives that testify to God’s goodness. Like St. Paul, God could sometimes say, ‘my grace is sufficient for you and my strength is made perfect in weakness. If the example of St. Paul is anything to go by, then ‘God’s purpose in such situations is not always to take us out of what is threatening to hurt or destroy us, but is sometimes rather to take us through it. Our ultimate victory comes not from escaping evil but from being given the ability to endure and bear it, the way that Jesus bore it on the cross, so that the death that was its ultimate destructive onslaught upon him became the way to his own Easter victory and to the world’s salvation’. (23)
© The Lausanne Movement 2010
Keywords: Prosperity, gospel, neo-Pentecostal, charismatics, cross, theologia crucis, Martin Luther, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Tom Smail, theology, glory, Calvary Road, Harvesters International, power, reformation, traditional religion, suffering
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Comments: 20
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Conversation Post Comment
United States
I think in many respects prosperity gospel shares the same issues that ancient Israel had. They desired mortal man for a king when God was their king. They desired a king that would regain their national identity as David once did and God sent God’s Son to be their/our Savior. We seek financial prosperity when God is offering something so much more rewarding--true relationship with God. Yes, many live in extreme poverty, many live in capitalists society where the rich get richer and the poor get poor--still, there is so much more to God than 30 pieces of silver.
15.07.2011
United States
I must admit I didn’t know that the prosperity teaching was so popular in Africa. I think that in it’s own unique way prosperity teaching seems to give people hope for a brighter future especially those who are in poverty strictened areas; however, you’re right a gospel that ignores the cross is not the true gospel. I do believe in the Word of God it says ask anything in my name and I will do it.I do believe that if we obey God we will be blessed but when we pray we need to pray God’s will be done and not ours.In every life a little rain must fall. Trials and tribulations come to make us strong and better witness for God remember weeping may endure for a night but joy does come in the morning.No one wants to suffer all the time .God so graciously helps us bare our cross so it won’t be so heavy.I do believe that if we believe the Word of God, confess the Word out loud and pay our tithes that we will be bless exceedingly, abundantly above all we can ask or think according to the power that work in us. God wants us to prosper so we can be a blessing to others.It is not about us but God working through us and we give Him the glory for His marvelous works.
16.03.2011
United States
@ journey:
Journey,
I have been thinking a lot about the issue surrounding prosperity. People do not remember that God’s blessings are not limited to finances only. God blesses us spiritually which should be the blessing we seek after. God will provide the rest.
10.04.2011
United States
@ PAHayes:
Everyday that we live God gives us a new mercy. He gives us air to breath, food to eat, clothes to wear, health and strenght,etc these are just a few of the things God does for us daily. You’re right He blesses us daily. He’s not our Santa Clause He’s our savior. We should just worship Him for who He is andnot just for what He does.
10.04.2011
Netherlands
I enjoyed reading your article with your attention to the cross, 1 Corinthians, and Martin Luther.
Sections from 2 Corinthians like 2 Cor 2:14-3:6, 4:7-12, 6:1-12 could also be used in support, too. Paul’s conduct is as cruciform as his gospel.
Thank you again for your posting.
19.10.2010
United States
Thank you for this sensitive yet truthful article. I pray that the message may be taken to heart by all delegates to Lausanne III. Any message that does not have the cross as its central theme is not a Christian message. The message of the cross is what distinguishes us from other faiths. All flesh would prefer to be healthy, happy, wealthy and wise, but in a fallen world, that is not always the case. No flesh can embrace the Cross without being crucified by it.
The health and prosperity gospel wars against the Great Commission. A person who truly believes that it is their spiritual birthright to have only success would be poorly equipped to lay down their lives and go live among an unreached tribe for however long it took for the Church to be firmly implanted in that culture.
Of course we are not to glorify illness and poverty, either. That, too would be a form of idolatry. But we are told in Matthew ot not worry or concern ourselves with our own probision because that is what the heathen do. Instead we are commanded to pray, in that great Kingdom prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread." There is no mention of building mansions or laying up wealth. It was simply a request that God would grant us whatever we need for that day to advance His Kingdom and make disciples of all nations.
17.10.2010
South Africa
What an insightful view to the topic at hand! I think that if all of us could just get back to the foot of the Holy Cross, and view the world from there, MAYBE, we would see Jesus better and realize that what He wants for us is the best according to His will!
07.10.2010
Switzerland
Thank you, J Kwabena, for your good assessment of the prosperity gospel in general and your fitting illustrations in particular. A few days ago I came across the book ’The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity’ by US-Korean Professor Soong-Chan Rah. His message: Embracing the theology of suffering. Hearing from you the same message, I have the impression the whole global church is called to bear her cross once again and correct her one-sided theology of celebration. Stressing both theologies (theologia crucis and gloriae) has never been easy.
Blessings
Michael H
06.10.2010
Ghana
Thanks J A-G for your article and SIGA Ministries for sharing your experience.
The prosperity gospel in Ghana and probably the rest of Africa also has its roots in the USA. In Ghana, young people who had come to faith in Christ read books by leaders like Hagin, Copeland etc and watched their ministries on TV. Some moved out of their local churches and started their own churches which at first attracted mainly other young people but grew bigger and spawned other churches. This is why the more avid following was at first among urban, educated, upwardly mobile youth. (J A-G Maybe a bit of history will help put things in perspective)
I disagree with you Tim that Africans may be susceptible to the prosperity gospel because of any unique views about wealth or "exponential wealth from Millinium Development aid" or any kind of aid. Otherwise how do we explain its popularity in the USA and elsewhere.
As in all cultures, it is the Holy Spirit who works through ordinary people (like all of us) to proclaim with humility the whole truth of God’s Word in our local setting irrespective of its peculiar problems. By his grace it is possible to expose younger leaders to more "balanced" biblical teaching that does not glorify wealth or suffering and which can be passed on the same way as the prosperity gospel got passed on; hence this discussion.
03.10.2010
Kenya
@ Araba_S:
Interesting – that America is to be given credit for African movements. … ? Do they really deserve such credit? Yes, Hagin is propular in Africa, but that for a reason that was there, I believe, before Hagin arrived. (Spiritual means to material gain have been around for along time.)
I haven’t had great opportunity to explore prosp. Gospel in ‘other places’ like the USA, but I should say it is in many ways a ‘majority world’ phenomenon.
It is sad that things should be analysed in this way, I think. The majority world is not encouraged to study itself, or to take interest in itself, but always (?) to take interest in ‘the West’ as its model. Then even causation is credited to the West. We in the ‘poor world’, I suggest, are not nothing, not a blank slate on which the rest of the world is writing. We have a long history – as long as everyone else’s, only it is not written. It is capable of influencing as well as being influenced.
03.10.2010
Costa Rica
@ Jim_Harries:
Yes, everything really is all about us (Americans, that is)! The reason that I give much ’credit’ (i.e. blame) to prosperity gospel peddlers from the USA is the simple truth that they pour unfathomable amounts of money into translating their messages into majority world languages, disseminating it via mass media, traveling around the world in their private jets, and sending their own ’missionary evangelists’ (who stay in nice hotels accompanied by a translator) to reinforce their message. Maybe they don’t do that in Africa, but by the mention of names like Hagin and Copeland (and likely Hinn and some others) I am guessing that they do.
In this part of the world, where every other TV channel is religious programming, they are absolutely the dominant force, along with some very influential Latino counterparts. A person responds to the gospel and wants to learn more about being a Christian, so they turn on their TV. A tin shack with a dirt floor will a television set inside. The airwaves are saturated, and it is coming from the United States.
As far as African susceptibility to the prosperity message is concerned, I obviously know very little about African traditional theologies (though I have read a variety of essays on African liberation theologies). However, I think that the cross-cultural, global proliferation and acceptance of the PG message attests to its roots lying beyond any particular cultural predisposition, even though people will often find ways to retrofit new concepts and beliefs into existing norms of their particular culture. Since it goes deeper than the particularities of any given culture (to the core of human nature), we see it everywhere. It is also nothing new. Before the Word became flesh, the prosperity gospel was. God raised prophets such as Amos and Jeremiah to combat the perversion that wealth and prosperity are signs of God’s blessing. The temptation to fall for a “too good to be true” message has always been around, I guess. So I guess there also will always need to be true prophets willing to speak out against it.
05.10.2010
United States
My sincere thanks to Kwabena and Jim for the article and comments. I feel better informed about the African prosperity movement and the neo-Pentecostal tradition, and I look forward to learning more in the future.
I am curious if this particular conversation better fits within, or is dependent upon, a broader one about the Bible’s teaching on wealth, poverty, health, sickness, generosity and resources. That is, perhaps it is the case that to only look at the movement from the perspective of the cross doesn’t offer us as full of a biblical perspective as we need to properly understand the issues involved? That broader perspective might, perhaps, be of service in thinking about whether or not international travel, use of a car, and high levels of education delegitimize theologians or others from critiquing the neoPentecostal teachings on wealth. I’m inclined to think that the consumption of those goods and services can and often are done in a spirit of genuine humility and desire to serve God and others, and as such, those actions may greatly please God. I’m also inclined to think this bigger picture does give us a good basis for wanting others, especially those in situations of poverty, to create and benefit from greater wealth, health, and social opportunities. But there are certainly mitigating factors that, at some point, should give us pause: the acquisition of a Mercedes-Benz and a mansion seems to be going well beyond the kind of material prosperity that God, in Scripture, seems to be interested in providing for his people. Where we draw these lines is not going to be easy to do! Offering humble rebuke of error can be a great challenge.
At the same time, I recognize that my own socioeconomic position may bias me to justify actions that others see as crassly materialistic. If the patterns of our lives demonstrate generosity, sacrifice, serving others, and contributing to the common good, I think this tends towards building credibility when we call others to do the same. Without knowing either of you, I cheerfully allow the benefit of the doubt that both of you sincerely seek to follow the Lord as faithful stewards of all that he has entrusted to you, and I hope to grow to greater faithfulness in my own use (or giving) of the resources entrusted to me.
14.07.2010
Costa Rica
@ Carson_Weitnauer:
Dear Carson,
You touch on a valid point a lack of broader teaching on those subjects you listed (wealth, poverty, etc.). Indeed, biblical illiteracy is a serious problem, no matter where on the globe a person resides. Even in congregations where literacy is high, Bible knowledge is not. We can be literate and interpret things differently, but do it from a perspective of being informed, rather than running with one, two or ten passages of scripture that seem to support what we want to hear,We could start by looking at—what a novel idea—the life and teachings of Jesus.
It seems to me that once a person is ’sold’ on the prosperity gospel it is difficult to persuade them otherwise, that is, until they become so disillusioned after they fail to see positive financial results in their own lives or begin to realize that the only people increasing in wealth are the preachers.
You also mention stewardship. Stewardship education is the primary way I provide an alternative voice where I live (Central America). I get invited to do seminars on the topic, sometimes I think because the pastor believes that I will support the prosperity message by urging the listeners to give more generously, but that’s not exactly what they get (though tithing is part). For me, the starting place for understanding stewardship is Psalm 24.1 “the earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, and all who dwell therein.” Realizing that I own nothing, because God owns everything, so my job is to use what I have according to his purposes, changes things a bit.
I appreciate your comments. Thanks!
Ruth
04.10.2010
Costa Rica
In reading this article, I was immediately struck by the similarities I have encountered here in Central America. Perhaps the reasons the people here are susceptible differ, but the prosperity gospel has infected the evangelical church, propagated by those who claim the gift of prophecy. After all, if the Lord is speaking, who am I to question it? Of course, this ignores the biblical model of prophets sounding the call for repentance. Receiving one of these prophecies is all about me and what God is goin to do for me.
Two books were very helpful for me to understand the underpinnings of the neo-pentecostal prosperity movement in Latin America. One is called No creáis a todo espíritu by Justo L. Gonzalez, which addresses Latin America in particular (I do not know if it is available in English). The other, which is available in English is Thus Saith the Lord? by John Bevere, which analyzes the prophetic movement driving the prosperity gospel in the USA. The fact that 99% of what Bevere writes also rings true in my context reveals that there is a very direct connection between the two. The prosperity movement here has its roots in the USA, and the presence of these propagators is increasing, while those of a more balanced persuasion remain mostly silent. Both groups are culpable, one because of what they do and say, and the other for its lack of interest.
I recently attended an encuentro for pastors and their spouses. It was hosted by a group from the Deep South, all of whom were dressed in fine clothes, preaching to a group of uneducated, poor, struggling pastors, many of whom live in tin shacks with dirt floors. The Americans all shared powerful testimonies of how God has blessed them. Then they prophesied regarding various illnesses that the “Lord was healing at that very moment.” They prophesied the “promotion” of various individuals to positions of greater importance in the church. Then each couple was called forward so that the hands of these prophets might cause them to be “slain in the spirit.” And of course, they all fall down, except for Carlos and myself. Whatever spirit it is that is slaying them, I have to conclude is not the Holy Spirit, because a direct encounter with the Holy Spirit would be an earth shaking, life changing event, no? Then they handed out booklets by Kenneth Hagin, one about receiving a healing, and the other about why some people lose their healing that they received at such an event (it’s all their fault because of a lack of faith to receive the healing).
These are pastors who succumb to this, and they come from all sorts of denominations. Assemblies of God, Methodist, Mennonite, Church of the Prophesy, but the differences are indistinguishable, because they have been overtaken by the prosperity movement. Why are they so susceptible to this? In part, I believe that this culture and its Roman Catholic heritage predispose them to accept the authority of the powerful without questioning its legitimacy. In part it is because they have had no access to a sound theological education, so they minister by imitating those who appear to be successful at it. But the prosperity movement runs rampant in the United States as well, without those excuses. Many a mega-church in the United States has been built by the prosperity gospel. Even those who renounce such an overt perversion of the gospel believe it to a certain extent, because the “American Dream,” as allusive as it might be for many, has become synonymous with “prosperity.” And this we broadcast to the entire world.
I am really pleased to see the conference addressing the topic ... thank you!
27.09.2010
United States
Thank you, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu for your paper, and thank you, Jeff Korum, for your comment. I am usually horrified by the Prosperity Gospel and what it entails. You both point out it can be beneficial if taken in the right way. We all know that an imbalanced emphasis on self-denial can lead to excesses in the other direction as well.
14.09.2010
United States
Thank you, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu for your paper, and thank you, Jeff Korum, for your comment. I am usually horrified by the Prosperity Gospel and what it entails. You both point out it can be beneficial if taken in the right way. We all know that an imbalanced emphasis on self-denial can lead to excesses in the other direction as well.
14.09.2010
Ghana
Thank you, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, for contrasting the gospel of the cross with the gospel of glory (i.e., the so-called "prosperity gospel") and for your distinction between prosperity and consumerism/greed. When I came to West Africa in 1994, I was taken aback by the ubiquitous presence of the health and wealth message, and I was quite uncomfortable with it. But the confrontation forced me to reexamine my own lifestyle expectations and what I hoped others could achieve. Who doesn’t want a certain level of prosperity? I hope that my children will be well educated and grow up in healthy surroundings. What parent doesn’t have those desires? Likewise, I have no joy in seeing people suffer. The command to help those in need (1 John 3:17) is a command to help people prosper--at least to a certain level. God himself demonstrated sympathy toward people’s well being when he delivered the Israelites out of slavery. But the prosperity message turns the Good News on its head when it asserts that our well being is the goal of the Gospel. Rather, self-denial is our road and God is our goal. Thank you, Mr. Asamoah-Gyadu, for clarifying that for us.
13.09.2010
Argentina
Muchas gracias por esta excelente presentación
02.09.2010
Kenya
Response to Kwabena
A few thoughts in response to this article:
1. The author has not considered that ‘prosperity gospel’ in a sense is explanatory rather than causative – but these two can be hard to distinguish in ATR (African Tradition Religion). For example – someone getting sick and dying must have a cause, which means that if they get sick and die, a cause is sought for and assumed to be there – e.g. prescribed adultery. In parts of Africa, increases in wealth are exponential (especially where aid is being brought en-masse, e.g. by Millennium Development Project) – so in a sense prosperity Gospel is no more than ascribing credit for such unexpected boon.
2. African theologians, and really Western theologians, are caught in a trap of illegitimacy. For Kwabena to write as he has, and to be given the role of presenting at Cape-Town – clearly he has travelled internationally, owns a car (?) and has high level education so as to get ‘international-English’. (I say this without knowing personal details. I am surmising, as I think many Africans will surmise.) Who is he then to tell us to ‘suffer’? Telling us that real Christians should suffer, is like trying to stop others from sharing in his cake. It can be seen as a selfish act; which will get little respect in many African circles.
3. Acquisitions of wealth are very problematic in many African contexts, as they are easily followed by witchcraft attack. Those who have wealth are pre-occupied in seeking for ‘protection’ against attacks by the jealous. One nature of such protection, is the God ‘of the West’, as clearly he is able to keep wealthy people (Westerners) protected. Praise to him for this ability is creative of that ability. As if I said that ‘Bob is a great car mechanic’ that will encourage him to take the time to repair my car. If we praise God for being ‘the provider of limousines’, that will encourage him to provide, and make him aware that he is appreciated in that role. The result of and cause of an event are again ‘mingled’ in the African view.
4. There is a kind of ‘self-deception’ going on in East (and West?) Africa – that African people have ‘left behind their traditions’. Instead, they are ‘Westernised’ (which we can call Christianised). Once one is ‘Westernised’, then of course one expects to acquire the wealth for which the West is known. Use of English is supposed to make this cultural shift. The church becomes a part of all this.
So, some solutions? Theologians really need to lead the way. That is – stop using English, and refuse those icons of wealth. Those theologians who do such (especially on the African side) are ‘nobodies’ to Lausanne. They will be ‘nobodies’ to much of the current globalised world. Fewer and fewer will take much notice of them … Where are the Saint Anthony’s of today? (http://www.abcgallery.com/saints/anthony.html ) Probably not preparing for an air-flight to Cape Town. Such theologians have a particularly difficult time in ‘evangelicalism’ in Africa, because of the latter’s roots in the West with all the ‘wealth’ that this implies. Such theologians are, frankly, very few and far between.
14.07.2010
Switzerland
@ Jim_Harries:
Excellent! Thanks for your help!
23.08.2010
Kenya
Thanks for your comment Carson. Your response illustrates the kinds of self-examination that can easily arise. Self-examination I guess is always good. As is to reduce one’s dependence on materialism.
Something that I did not overtly mention in the comment below is what is often (somewhat misleadingly) known in Africa as witchcraft. How else to describe it? It is hard to know how to describe in a European language something that is not very prevalent in that shape and form in Europe (or USA). This is of course an issue in inter-cultural communication which we are now engaged in – what of things that are there that the other party is not seeing, kind of thing?
You will appreciate I think, through it being relatively common knowledge, that the African view of what can in English be called ‘community’ is different from that in the West. In some ways it is a kind of ‘obligatory’ view. That is, all are part of a community of the living, the dead, and the not-yet-born, and all have an obligation to all the above. This obligation is enshrined in traditions passed down by the (already) dead. Part of the extant community ethic is the necessity to share. Anyone who does not share is seen as anti-community. That is, there is a tendency in the parts of this continent with which I am familiar, to see others’ property as your own. If someone refuses to follow that principle (i.e. does not share with me), then that is where witchcraft comes in.
That is where, as you point out, it can become very difficult to progress. I have nothing against Kwabena, and I believe know nothing more of him than I have discovered in this his post. But I feel also a relentless pressure (living in East Africa) always to be giving things to everybody. To stand up to the pressure is to face the evil eye. To give in to it totally – is of course to be engulfed in poverty. This makes it especially difficult to speak against the prosperity gospel on this continent. Detractors from the prosperity gospel seem to be advocating poverty – and who really wants poverty? Some will ‘conceal’ their wealth. But, because ‘people’ know that some can conceal their wealth, not displaying wealth will not convince others that you don’t actually have it. So then you might as well flout your wealth, as either way you will be under attack. (In practice I think to conceal has value.)
The ‘real enemy’ in all the above however is witchcraft, in other words, the often deeply held belief in the need for wealth to be shared, and mystical attack on those who do not share. The activities of the West can at times unfortunately empower this view – as Westerners are these days queuing up to give to ‘Africa’.
Because prosperity gospel is a part of all this, countering it must be more than proof verses, and must draw on scholars other than those in the West who happen not to like the prosperity gospel. It is a part of a megga phenomenon arising from neo-colonial intrusion into Africa. That is not to say that the theologian does not have a role to play. Very much he has. Witchcraft is a slippery adversary to deal with however. What voice do you have, when you are the victim of the jealousy of your listeners (readers)? The way out currently being found is to tell them “You could also be wealthy like me”, and in a sense that is the only ‘way out’ in Africa. That is a kind of ’sharing’.
To read more about African ethics on wealth, see Maranz, David, (2001). African Friends and Money Matters: observations from Africa. Dallas: SIL International. On how impossible it is to get away from prosperity gospel in Africa today, look at Harries, Jim, ’’The Name of God in Africa’ and related contemporary theological, development and linguistic concerns.’ Exchange, Journal of Missiological and Ecumenical Research. 38 (2009) 271-291 and more generally go to www.vulnerablemission.com
14.07.2010
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