4 Simple Ways to Identify the Prosperity Gospel

4 Simple Ways to Identify

the Prosperity Gospel

The prosperity gospel is also sometimes called the health and wealth gospel, word-faith theology, or simply the faith movement.

The prosperity gospel comes in different shapes and sizes, but at the heart of it is the teaching that God desires all Christians to prosper in every aspect of their lives. While this includes prospering in things like having healthy relationships, those who teach some version of prosperity theology usually emphasize financial and physical health.

If you ask someone if they affirm prosperity teaching, they usually won’t admit it. So, how do you know if someone is simply affirming the biblical truth that God is our provider and that God heals, or if they are moving into prosperity teaching?

How can you identify the prosperity gospel?

These four factors won’t guarantee that you have found a prosperity teacher, but they will help you identify if you might be in the presence of one.

1) Key Phrases

Those who have an emphasis on the health and wealth gospel tend to use speak of: • Divine destiny • Divine health • Divine wealth • Declaring your faith • Releasing your faith • Speaking A, B, or C over your life • Declaring A, B, or C over your life

2) The Church Name

While it isn’t always the case, churches that have the prosperity gospel as an underlying theme (it’s not always explicit) sometimes have names like: • Victory Center • Word of Faith Church • World Changers • Winners Church • Overcoming Faith Church

While I’m not suggesting these are bad people, the following people are among the teachers that scholars typically identify

with the prosperity gospel:

(Please take a DEEP breath here…

Your favorite preacher just might be on the list…yikes!)

• Kenneth • Charles Capps • Morris Cerullo Copeland • John Hagee • Jim Bakker • Fred Price • Rod Parsley • Joyce Meyer • Benny Hinn • Paul Morton • Joseph Prince • Joel Osteen • Eddie Long • Andrew Gabriel • Creflo Dollar • Jesse Duplantis ;) • Paula White • Jerry Savelle • T. D. Jakes • Miles Munroe

Certainly others could be named, not to mention those in smaller churches without fame.

4) If You are Watching Someone on American Christian TV

Again, certainly not every Christian who is featured on a TV show includes the prosperity message in their teaching, but many of the people I just listed above do have TV shows. In fact, if you go to the daily broadcast schedule of Daystar Television or Trinity Broadcasting Network, you will see that the majority probably do.

In case you haven’t guessed, I’m not really a prosperity theologian—I just play one on TV.