Global Media Outreach  

Position on “word of faith” and “prosperity gospel” theologies 

Charles Spurgeon said, “Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right.”  There has never been a time in our recent history where this statement is more true. As more people are influenced by these teachings, it is more important than ever that we know how to recognize the true gospel and share it with others.

Global Media Outreach does not support the “prosperity gospel” or the “word of faith” theologies.  Both teachings distort the biblical message by claiming that material wealth and good health are direct signs of God’s favor, and blessings can be attained through positive confession and/or generous giving. These theologies lead followers to believe that God’s blessings are earned through actions and contradict the teaching of salvation by grace through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

We hope this information will be helpful to you as you work with Contacts who may have come from this religious background or who are being taught this information in churches. They need a biblical understanding of what God’s Word says and why this philosophy is contrary to what Scripture teaches. 

In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul makes it very clear that it is not always God’s will to heal at the request of his faithful servants. We should examine the further revelation Paul received as to why he did not receive healing.

It was:

• So that he would not boast or become conceited in his own experiences, influence, or possessions.

• So that God’s grace and power would be made perfect (mature, complete, manifestly accomplished) by contrast with the Apostle’s documented experience of human weakness.

• So that he could serve as an example for us, that obvious weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities do not drive disciples to despair but make them embrace the role of struggle and suffering as ways to make them keener examples of Christ’s active power

• A related principle is that we should not use prosperity and physical health as a signal of God’s favor. This is more subtle in this passage, but there is mention of the surpassing greatness of revelations Paul received as “a chosen vessel” who nevertheless suffered mishap, poverty, and illness (as Jesus had promised).

Sometimes this passage is referenced as an example that even the faithful believer is not always healed. As the above demonstrates, it is that and far more. It reveals why it is not always God’s decision to heal a faithful believer, and at the bottom of it is the true definition of faith. God is sufficient; we do not need material prosperity or even physical health to be strong. When we are at the end of our resources, we are in the best position to rely on Him.

Meanwhile, it is a defective definition of faith that proposes it means anything other than a committed reliance upon God, as Hebrews 11:1, 6 defines it:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. …And without faith, it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:1,6)

It is the Prosperity Gospel’s impersonal view of faith that has the most potential to harm our seekers, though it also has the harmful side-effect of adding to the misery of the impoverished and chronically ill.  This can lead someone to believe they are at fault for these conditions because of what they have pronounced over themselves.

There are all sorts of ways to get the gospel wrong. The Protestant Reformation was begun by zealous believers to revive awareness that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and by Christ alone. A message that does not teach Jesus is the One True and Living God is not a gospel that can save. Proposing that Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection only made it possible for a person to earn their own way to God is a false gospel. 

Making faith a force of the universe we (and even God) only harness to manifest reality in the world is another faith, just as it’s possible to have “another Jesus” or to have “no grace” by adding works. (Romans 11:6)

Known teachers: Benny Hinn, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Charles Capps, Frederick K. C. Price, John Avanzini, Morris Cerullo, Joyce Meyer, E.W. Kenyon, Creflo Dollar, Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes