Resources on the Prosperity Gospel/Health & Wealth/Word of Faith
I'm looking for a resource that refutes the claims of the Prosperity Gospel/Health & Wealth/Word of Faith movement. I've come across a few books and several articles that disagree with them. But I haven't come across anything that actually refutes their "proof texts." Any recommendations?
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Richard J. Ward - CHARISMATIC CHAOS by JOHN MacARTHUR. The book is 300 pages, and I have just finished reading the HARDBACK COPY, which I own. It is a book with a lot of information to digest; but JOHN MacARTHUR does an excellent job of refuting their claims with a solid foundation of Scripture. It is a book that you really need to read a second time. I only wish LOGOS had this, but they don't.
However, you can find JOHN MacARTHUR'S book STRANGE FIRE on VYRSO, and his commentary on 1 CORINTHIANS in LOGOS might be of help to you.
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Richard, you may find Hank Hanegraff's Christianity in Crisis: The 21st Century to be a helpful resource along these lines.
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THE CHECKBOOK BIBLE: THE TEACHING OF HOBART E. FREEMAN AND FAITH ASSEMBLY (revised and expanded) Kindle Edition
I wrote this review for Amazon about this book.
By Dave L on September 13, 2015
Verified Purchase"This book provides great insight into the Word of Faith Movement. The Glory Barn and Faith Assembly tragedy can be viewed as a "lab test" for everything that can go wrong with this movement if pressed to the limit. Essentially, these poor people began trusting their faith rather than God and the outcome was disastrous."
The group focused more on health and healing but taught the prosperity gospel as well. But I believe the underlying principles are the same across the entire word of faith movement. It's available for Kindle for about $3.
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Isn't this the teaching of John Bedere (And others like Joel Austin, etc.)?
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I'm not a Joel fan (Houston).
But the text does support the concept thu-out the OT, and smack into Peter's Pentecost speech (Joel). Again, not my cup of tea. But seeking 'against' has its limitations.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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Denise said:
seeking 'against' has its limitations.
Which is why one extreme error is usually countered by an error to the other extreme, while in the middle rests the truth. A perfect example is the first resourced recommended above "Strange Fire" which swings all the way to the error in the other extreme. Dr. Michael Brown's "Authentic Fire" presents a cogent middle ground, while fully repudiating the errors of the Prosperity Gospel and it's false teachers.
Logos 10 | Dell Inspiron 7373 | Windows 11 Pro 64, i7, 16GB, SSD | iPhone 13 Pro Max
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James Taylor said:
Dr. Michael Brown's "Authentic Fire" presents a cogent middle ground, while fully repudiating the errors of the Prosperity Gospel and it's false teachers.
https://vyrso.com/product/52045/authentic-fire-a-response-to-john-macarthurs-strange-fireAt $11.99 at the moment, several dollars down on the normal price and only slightly above Kindle.
I am not a charismatic but think your comment was very restrained!!
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Thanks for the link JohnB
Logos 10 | Dell Inspiron 7373 | Windows 11 Pro 64, i7, 16GB, SSD | iPhone 13 Pro Max
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Personally, I would avoid Charismatic Chaos since it unnecessarily muddies the waters (IMO). I engaged with his book for my undergraduate dissertation and found that John MacArthur was overly reductionistic in his arguments and often cited extreme examples of fraud or the ridiculous as a way to 'debunk' all who hold to a continuation of the miraculous gifts (whether WoF or not).
On the other hand, Hank Hanegraaff's Counterfeit Revival takes a square aim at the WoF movement and hits the bullseye. Not only does Hank undertake a charitable and balanced critique of their key teachings in light of scripture, but also gives an extremely helpful historical overview. Not to mention that Hank's claims and conclusions are thoroughly investigated and rigorously fact checked. Edit: I recommend starting here.
In addition to that, you might find Don Carson's Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14 helpful also (https://www.logos.com/product/6875/showing-the-spirit-a-theological-exposition-of-1-corinthians-12-14) as a balanced middle ground between the cessationism of MacArthur and extremes of WoF.
Also if you have academic access to journal, this one by Doug Moo is also excellent: https://www.galaxie.com/article/trinj09-2-04
Finally, for some background reading, you may also found this book on the Foundations of Pentecostal Theology helpful too (https://www.logos.com/product/2476/foundations-of-pentecostal-theology); especially the chapter on the doctrine of divine healing. Most (all?) WoF teachers hold to foundationally Pentecostal beliefs even if they then build their own tower of Babel on top of it.
Hope that helps. Blessings, Liam
Carpe verbum.
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