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The Prosperity Gospel as a False Promise of Return

Christian prosperity teachers are some of the worst people on earth, promising that if you give to their ministries, you can expect God to pay you back and more.

Anything that feeds you, you must feed it. If you don't feed anything else, common sense says you feed what's feeding you. You bless what's blessing you.

Well, you're lending to the Lord. I know you're like me. You want God to repay you.

Nobody can repay you like Him. You cannot out give God, and so the more you give,.

The more He's going to do for you. Millions, especially the poor and the desperate, have been deceived by this false prosperity gospel. They come to Christ not because of the hopelessness of their sin, but because they expect to get something from God.

Some popular prosperity teachers have supposedly repented of their false teaching. Let's take a look at what they said, and then we'll share our conclusion about their repentance. Creflo Augustus Dollar, Jr. is an American pastor, tele-evangelist, and the founder of the non-denominational World Changers Church International, based in College Park, Georgia.

Dollar has been one of the worst proponents of the prosperity gospel. I can believe God as.

Long as I want to. If I want to believe God for a 65 million dollar claim, you cannot stop me. You cannot stop me from dreaming. The plane is 30 years old. I knew it was time to begin to believe God for a new airplane.

Our current ministry plane.

Is no longer usable. We need your help, and I ask all of our partners globally.

Get on board with Project G650. If they discover life on Mars, if you think a 65 million dollar plane was too much, if they discover that there's life on Mars, they gonna need to hear the gospel, and I'm gonna have to believe God for a million-dollar space shuttle because we got to preach the gospel on Mars.

I'm not talking about next week. I'm not talking about next month. I'm not talking about next year. I'm talking about now, prosperity. I'm talking about now, deliverance. I'm talking about now, money.

I'm talking about now, promotion. I'm talking about now. Now is the time. Recently, however, Dollar preached a.

Sermon where he said this. I want to start off by saying to you that I'm.

Still growing and that the teachings that I've shared in times past on the subject of tithing were not correct, and today I stand in humility to correct some things that I've taught for years and believed for years but could never understand it clearly because I had not yet been which has made the difference.

I won't apologize because if it wasn't for me going down that route, I would have never ended up where I am right now, but I will say that I have no shame at all at saying to you, throw away every book, every tape, and every video I ever did on the subject of tithing unless it lines up with this, and if it's one subject that the church has used for a long time to keep people in fear and guilt, it is in that subject of tithing, and it has to be corrected, and it's got to be corrected now.

I may lose some friends. Preachers may not ever invite me no more, but I think I've already been through that, so it doesn't matter. It.

Certainly seems like an encouraging sign that Dollar is saying that pretty much everything he taught about tithing was wrong. However, there are at least two serious concerns here. First, Dollar says, I won't apologize because if it wasn't.

For me going down that route, I would have never ended up where I am right now.

So Dollar is not going to apologize for scamming countless people out of millions of dollars. That doesn't sound like repentance to me at all.

Desperately giving money that many of them don't have to give because they're sick, because they have a sick spouse, their husband, their wife is sick, their child is sick, and they have given you money that they don't have to give that they could be spending for medical expenses or travel expenses or crutches or wheelchairs or oxygen tanks, but no, they've given it to you, Creflo, but.

You're not gonna apologize. Unbelievable. Is Dollar perhaps just trying to stop the criticism against his ministry without admitting that he scammed millions of dollars from his followers? Let me know what you think.

And then, in.

The very same sermon, Dollar says this, I don't want to receive it. I apologize that you hate the prosperity gospel, but that's still not going to stop his abounding provision. He's gonna keep increasing his provision on you.

He's gonna keep blessing you. He's gonna keep turning things around for you. He's gonna keep increasing you. He's gonna keep healing you because he's Jehovah Jireh,.

A .k .a. Hippity. He's gonna do it anyway. If you like this video, a subscribe helps spread the truth. Something all of these prosperity teachers have in common is that you will never hear them talk about the suffering, persecution, or the hatred of the world for teaching an offensive gospel of sin and salvation through Christ alone.

Joyce Meyer, Prosperity, and the Problem of Unrepentance

It's always about blessing and increase. Joyce Meyer is president of Joyce Meyer Ministries, one of the most popular Christian ministries in evangelicalism today. Meyer is endorsed by an unbelievable number of Christian teachers, including Beth Moore.

I want to be a blessing to Joyce. I said, I know she's gonna be a blessing to me. Chris Tomlins. At the 40th anniversary Love Life.

Women's Conference, September 22nd through 24th in St. Louis, Missouri, with Joyce Meyer, with Phil Witham, Brandon Lake, Torrin Wells, and Chris Tomlin.

Steven Furtick. You get to hear Joyce Meyer preach the Bible. Are you kidding me?

The greatest Bible teacher alive today. And Joel Osteen. We are so excited to.

Have one of our favorite ministers in all the world, Joyce Meyer, here today. Meyer's teachings are full of heresies. I'm gonna tell you something, folks. I didn't stop sinning until I finally got it through my sick head.

I wasn't a sinner anymore. He said, you know, why do people have such a fit about God calling his creation, his creation, his man, not his whole creation, but his man, little God. Do you know something?

The minute that blood sacrifice was accepted, Jesus was the first human being that was ever born again.

And when interviewed, she was completely unapologetic about teaching the prosperity gospel.

No, but you worry at all that sometimes your message will be heard by someone in the most dire circumstances. It's a sort of roulette wheel, a sort of gamble with God. OK, well, I can't pay the rent, but I'll give it to Joyce and we'll see what happens.

Do you worry at all that that may happen? I totally know I don't worry about that.

In one of Meyer's messages, Meyer supposedly repented of her prosperity teachings.

Faith is something God gives you that you need to use and release in your life. It's a powerful force, but it's not just an automatic. You put your trust in God. You put your faith in him. I'm glad for what I learned about prosperity, but it got out of balance.

I'm glad for what I learned about faith, but it got out of balance. And so every time somebody had a problem in their life, it was because they didn't have enough faith. If you got sick, you didn't have enough faith.

If your child died, you didn't have enough faith. Well, that's not right. You can't. There's nowhere in the Bible where we're promised that we'll never have any trouble. I don't care how much faith you've got.

You're not going to avoid ever having trouble in your life. Jesus said in the world there will be tribulation. Cheer up. I have overcome the world.

But is this really what repentance looks like?

Why isn't she apologizing? Why isn't she taking it? You need to stop doing that. If I taught you, we're pulling all of these materials from our shelves, all of my books that have it. I'm pulling them.

All of that shows there will be no more reruns teaching that. Hardly. Is that a recantation? Not in my estimation. Look, some things are boo-boos. You don't have to have sackcloth and ashels. Throw dirt on your animals like they did in Nineveh.

I just heard that from Mike Fabaras. Am I sinning? I'm just going to throw dirt on my animals. Like, I feel that. It's an external demonstration of my inward contrition. Did that sound like that to you?

Not to me.

Instead of admitting that her prosperity teachings were wrong, and that she deceived countless people into giving her millions of dollars, Meyer just says that her teachings got a little out of balance.

Again, like Dollar, it seems that Meyer is just trying to stop the intense criticism against her prosperity ministry without admitting just how wrong her teachings were. Benny Hinn has been one of the worst charlatan prosperity teachers in the Christian world.

Benny Hinn and the Claim of Renouncing Prosperity Teaching

And sow the seed that God has put in your heart. Let the amount come straight from the Lord, come straight from heaven, and obey. Obedience is the key. And if it doesn't hurt, it doesn't work. Trust me, I'm going to tell you that.

If it doesn't hurt on the inside, it doesn't work.

In one of Hinn's messages, Hinn also supposedly repented of teaching the prosperity gospel.

And I'm sorry to say that prosperity has gone a little crazy. And I'm correcting my own theology. And you need to all know it. Because when I read the Bible now, I don't see the Bible in the same eyes I saw the Bible 20 years ago.

And I will tell you now something that is going to shock you. I think it's an offense to the Lord. It's an offense to say, give a thousand dollars. I think it's an offense to the Holy Spirit to place a price on the gospel.

I'm done with it. I will never again ask you to give a thousand or whatever amounts. Because I think the Holy Ghost is just fed up with it. Did you hear me? I think that hurts the gospel. So I'm making this statement for the first time in my life.

And frankly, I don't care what people think about me anymore. If I hear one more time, break the back of debt with a thousand dollars, I'm going to rebuke them. I think that's buying the gospel, that's buying the blessing, that's grieving the Holy Spirit.

That's about all I will say. If you are not giving because you love Jesus, don't bother giving. I think giving has become such a gimmick, it's making me sick to my stomach. And I've been sick for a while too.

I just couldn't say it. And now the lid is off. I've had it. You know why? I don't want to get to heaven and be rebuked. No, I think it's time we say it like it is. The gospel is not for sale. The blessings of God are not for sale.

And miracles are not for sale. And prosperity is not for sale.

But immediately after saying this, Hinn went right back to teaching that if you give to his ministry, you will receive a miracle from God, which is precisely what the prosperity gospel is.

Here's what you need to do. You need to make a vow to God and say, Lord, I want to do such and such for you. Please bring me out of this problem. You will see God move on your behalf real fast.

It seems that like Dollar and Meyer, Hinn just blatantly lied to try to alleviate the intense criticism against his ministry. Todd White is a former atheist who has knowingly performed a leg lengthening scam in the name of Jesus Christ and the gospel.

Todd White, Fake Healing, and a Narrow Repentance

So what I'll do, regardless of what you believe, I'm going to pray for you, and Jesus is going to grow your leg out and heal your back.

Charlatans and snake oil salesmen have been doing this trick for decades. It's sleight of hand.

So, Father, I thank you in Jesus name. Left leg, I command you grow right now. Jesus name.

In one of White's sermons, White supposedly repented of not teaching the true gospel.

Because I feel like I haven't preached the whole gospel. And I repent. I repent. When you come into the gospel because you came in for a better life, you've come in for the wrong gospel. When you come to Jesus because he's going to give you this and give you this, you really didn't surrender.

And for some reason, it's taken me 16 years to explain it. And I feel like I've just seen something completely brand new.

Of course, it's good to hear White acknowledge all of this. However, it's telling that White did not actually repent of his leg lengthening lies or any of his numerous false teachings, such as concerning his sinlessness as a Christian.

He came and gave me this blank canvas. He came and gave me this pure heart.

And I've never violated it with anything. You can actually have the word so strong inside of your heart that you never have to slip. People are like, well, that's false. That's not true. Well, you're wrong.

I live with me. Jesus became sex trafficking on a tree. Oh my gosh. Jesus became every lustful thought on a tree. It's no joke. It's real. Jesus became child molester on a tree.

Repenting of just one of numerous extremely problematic teachings, and even blatant lies, is simply not true repentance. Besides the prosperity teachers who have supposedly repented, it's notable to recognize the prosperity teachers who haven't even pretended to repent, who continue to teach this false gospel, such as Joel Osteen,.

Ongoing Prosperity Teaching Among Unrepentant Preachers

The scripture says when you give to those in need, you are lending to the Lord and he will repay you.

There's no way you can serve me and me not serve you. The more you give to me, the more I give back to you.

Just like we discussed earlier, the tithe is the blessing connection. It's more than just paying God his 10%. You're literally inviting God into your life, and he meets you there, and he brings you what's yours as you bring him what's his, and you need to spend more time doing that, spend more time at your tithing.

And many others.

Now what's my rate of exchange for tithing? See, there's a rate of exchange on that.

As teachers who have scammed poor, desperate, and ignorant people out of millions of dollars, true repentance for these teachers would involve acknowledging their sin and deception against their followers, as well as acknowledging the utter falsehood of their previous teachings.

However, unsurprisingly, this is precisely what we do not see in their supposed repentance.