Christianity

Prosperity Preachers featured in new reality show

The Oxygen network is about to launch a reality show featuring six prosperity preachers from the Los Angeles area. The trailer above reveals a group of men who are completely under the spell of the prosperity gospel, which is no gospel at all (Gal. 1:6-7).

This is sad on a number of levels. Some of these men are bona fide false teachers, the very kind that the Bible warns us about (2 Pet. 2:1-3). Yet they will be presented to the public as what evangelicals aspire to be. I’m sure many viewers will understand these men to be a distortion of evangelical reality. But there will be many who will not. Unbelievers and skeptics will point to this sham as one more reason to write-off Christianity.

Christians grieve that this false teaching even exists and that it enslaves countless persons across the globe. We should be even more grieved that it will be displayed to an even larger audience—some of whom will buy in to the scam and others who will find in it an occasion to blaspheme (Rom. 2:24).

(HT: Micah Fries)

UPDATE: A commenter below says that at least one of the pastors–Wayne Chaney–is not a prosperity teacher. I looked at Chaney’s website and could not find any evidence of the prosperity gospel there.

32 Comments

  • Dwight McKissic

    Denny,

    Wayne Chaney who pastors a SBC church, & has spoken in California Louisiana & other SBC state conventions & evangelism conferences is one of the men on that trailer. He is not a prosperity preacher. He was not quoted on that trailer in any way that suggest that he is a prosperity preacher. I have heard him preach 12-15 times. I’ve heard nothing that remotely resembles prosperity preaching. For you to refer to all pastors there as prosperity preachers without first documenting that each of them are, is unfair & quite frankly, less than Christian. I ask you, what proof do u have that Pastor Wayne Chaney, whose church has

    • Dwight McKissic

      Dwight McKissic,

      I phone froze up didn’t finish last statement. Pastor Chaney’s church was founded by his grandfather a staunch SBC pastor. It has always been SBC from it’s inception. He is a great preacher & a good man. Your post lumps him in with everyone else without ano supporting evidence. This is unfair & I wish that you would make it clear that at least one of those pastors, Wayne Chaney, does not teach the prosperity gospel. Please correct this misinformation on him. Thanks. BTW, Pastor Chaney is the one depicted as crying on the trailer.

      • Denny Burk

        Dear Pastor McKissic,

        Thanks for the push-back. I thought the video made it sound like they were all prosperity teachers. After reading your comment, however, I decided to revise the post. I added an “update” and changed the original post so that it says “some of these men” are prosperity teachers.

        Thanks!
        Denny

  • Ken Temple

    Dwight,
    It seems it is the Oxygen network that lumps them all together and the emphasis of the clip the way it is cut is on the prosperity gospel and their sins and mistakes. Without your knowledge (which I appreciate you helping us all not lump him in with the others), just from the way the Oxygen Network filmed and cut the trailer, a person would not have known that Pastor Chaney does not fall into the theology of the others.

  • Chris Ryan

    I’m not entirely sure what it means to be a “prosperity preacher”. I think it tends to be a label which obscures more than it illuminates. Some believe that ministers must take vows of poverty. Others believe that preachers should feel free to enjoy whatever riches their congregations choose to support them with. Some preachers emphasize Malachi 3:10 while others emphasize Matthew 19:24.

    Since 1 Corinthians 9:25 counsels moderation, abt the only thing I can say is that we should not over emphasize either one, but keep our eyes firmly focused on salvation and eternal life. What that means in actual practice, however, is much more difficult to say.

  • Ian Shaw

    Chris,

    The answer to your question “what does it mean to be a prosperity preacher?”, -see Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyers and Benny Hinn.

    • Chris Ryan

      Thanks Ian. I’ll take a further look…. I’m particularly interested in Osteen. He brought my uncle back to the church & my uncle was raised a strict Pentecostal. I hadn’t taken time to explore what Osteen was abt but I’ll do so now.

    • Dwight McKissic

      Ian,

      If you are going to label someone a “prosperity preacher,” you should provide a definition & proof . I see no proof that Meyer’s or Osteen is a prosperity preacher.

  • James Stanton

    I feel bad for the members in their churches as well as the audience for this tv show. They are being sold a tainted Gospel filtered through these vessels that are in no way Christ-like.

    I think I will at least watch one episode of the show to be fair. That trailer was quite awful though.

  • Ken Temple

    Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer are prosperity teachers; and they are part of the “Word of Faith” prosperity movement. (Positive confessions, positive thinking, “little gods” doctrine; that we can control our destiny by the words we speak.)

    http://apologeticsandagape.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/by-their-own-words-the-word-faith-teachers-condemn-themselves/

    Joyce Meyer:

    Joyce Meyer says we are “little gods” and we can create our own reality with the above link by the power of “speaking them into existence”

    Victor Stephens has some videos and articles exposing her also; but you have to look for it at his sight – as his web-site does not give the direct url.
    http://www.victorstephens.com

    Joel Osteen and the Prosperity Gospel:
    http://www.svchapel.org/resources/articles/22-contemporary-issues/620-joel-osteen-and-the-prosperity-gospel

    • Dwight McKissic

      Ken,

      I just listened to the Joyce Meyer feed here. I’m sure neither one of us have the time or desire to get into a long back & forth here; but for me to understand what Meyer’s said on that feed that contradicts Scripture or sound doctrine, you will have to be very specific in pointing it out to me. I listened carefully. I heard nothing she said that contradict Scriprure, sound doctrine or SBC doctrine. Unless you have some other evidence you are slandering this woman. That can’t be pleasing to God.

      • Ken Temple

        That’s pretty amazing that you cannot see or understand that Joyce Meyer teaches a lot of things that are contradictory to Scripture – I agree that I don’t want to get into a back and forth anymore. I will leave it to you to do the research –
        Go to the Victor Stephens website and search under videos and there are two videos there that lay it out even more.

        Here is another one – Chris Roseborough does an expose on her teachings.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NDQJcXm9gyw

        apparently, you don’t know much about the word of faith/name it claim/prosperity/ health and wealth false teachings and heresies. She is not as extreme as Kenneth Copeland or Benny Hinn or Creflo Dollar, but she is part of that movement. And as a woman, she should not be setting herself up as a Bible teacher with authority. (1 Timothy 2:11-12)

        She says lots of other good things that she could be teaching to women, if she would renounce the word of faith – prosperity – little gods”- “words are containers of force -emphasis and just teach women.

        She says that we are “little gods” and have the power to speak words that shape destiny and create healing and create wealth and success/prosperity. She also taught that Jesus’ death on the cross was not enough for propitiation, she taught that Jesus had to go to hell and suffer in hell under Satan and then be “born-again spiritually”. Other videos that expose her false teachings on You tube are done by Todd Friel, Mack Slick, and Chris Rosebrough (Lutheran, Pirate Radio) have the sound clips from her.

  • Lauren Bertrand

    If, as many people here claim, Pastor Wayne Chaney is not a prosperity preacher, can anyone explain why he would what to be associated with this den of iniquity?

    • Dwight McKissic

      Pastor Chaney was asked to be on this show to provide contrast. If driving a nice car & living in a nice home makes u a prosperity preacher, then that makes every SBC seminary president a prosperity preacher. We need to be careful with this labeling & name calling without facts.

      • Dwight McKissic

        If guilt by association becomes the standard, how can we minister to a lost world, or seek to restore lost brothers to the fold unless we “associate” with them?

        • Richard Caldwell

          I agree that we need to be careful with labels. I also agree that we ought not to engage in name calling. I believe we must also affirm that at the end of the day each of us will stand before our Master to give an account for our service. But having affirmed these things may we also affirm that we must make wise choices about how we represent the ministry? If contrast is what pastor Chaney is going to provide then I pray it will be an unmistakable and thoroughly biblical one. Even if this is his desire, however (and we should assume that it is), can one be sure that the Oxygen Network, with editorial power, will faithfully present that contrast? I am not at all certain that the best way to present this contrast is by way of a television series meant by its very design to be theatrical and dramatic. For me (and again, I acknowledge that each of us has to make our own choices about these things) the best contrast would be a quiet and faithful life that proves to be powerful by the manifestation of spiritual fruit.

  • Ken Temple

    David W. Jones and Russell S. Woodbridge, Health, Wealth, and Happiness: Has the Prosperity Gospel Overshadowed the Gospel of Christ? Kregel, 2011.

    This book is written by two Southern Baptists, they both graduated from Southeastern Baptist Seminary, and are both professors, one at Southeastern Baptist Seminary, and it says the other is also a professor but is serving overseas.

    This book is very good as it offers positive chapters on what the Bible does teach about wealth, health, and suffering, with the necessary chapters of quotations of the word-faith heretics. It has extensive quotes from Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin and Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, etc. and also from Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen.

    Here is a choice quote in that book from Joyce Meyer:

    “My faith puts that power into active operation in my body. Disease has no choice. there is no chance for its survival in my body . . . That power is flowing in me and makes me whole. I believe I have received my healing, and my faith has made me whole.” (ibid, Jones and Woodbridge, page 91; – from Joyce Meyer’s book, Healing Scriptures, p. 14-15, Fenton: MO: Joyce Meyer Ministries, 2008.)

    Jones and Woodbridge point out:
    “Take, for instance, Joyce Meyer. She bodly asserts that God made her rich. Meyer tells her audience, “If you stay in your faith, you are going to get paid. I am now living in my reward.” (ibid, p. 67 – from “From Fenton to Fortune in the Name of God” St. Louis Post Dispatch – November 13, 2003, by Carolyn Tuft and Bill Smith. )

  • Ken Temple

    around the 9:50 mark here, Joyce Meyer answers a reporter who asked,

    “Do you believe that if someone gives to your ministry that more will come back to them?”

    She answered an emphatic “Yes!”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6ZIH2TFC-g&feature=player_embedded

    Earlier, she said that if Jesus was here today, He would have a big expensive corporate jet. (similar to what Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar and Fredrick Price and John Avanzini have taught – that is clear “prosperity theology teaching”. )

    • Dwight McKissic

      Ken,

      I see no difference in what she is saying than what SBC Capital Stewardship Fundraisers say when they are raising funds for Capitol Stewardship Projects. They imply or strongly suggest that the giver will be blessed and even offer testimonies to that affect. SBC people are very hypocritical on this issue. When they say it it’s called Capitol stewardship fundraising and it is alright. If Joyce Meyer says it, it’s the prosperity gospel & it’s not alright. This is hypocrisy of the highest order.

    • Dwight McKissic

      Ken,

      I believe that God blesses givers. The blessings may come in various forms, but we are repeatedly told in Scripture that the Lord loves a cheerful giver and he that sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he that sows bountifully, will also reap bountifully. Specifically, was Paul discussing monetary giving when he promised a return on the believer’s giving.

      No one could speak emphatically or definitively regarding whether or not Jesus would have flown in or owned a private jet; but I don’t see that as far fetched. Luke 8: 2,3 tells us that he allowed wealthy women to provide for him his substance. They financed his ministry. If those same ladies wanted to make an airplane available to Jesus because of the demands of a travel schedule that exceeded the 200 miles that that he traveled while on earth, I don’t see that as being out of the question.

      Those statements simply don’t qualify Joyce Meyer to be labeled as a “prosperity preacher.” I respect your right to a different opinion, but it’s just that; an opinion, just as mine is. However there is Scripture to support the notion that God will reward and bless those who diligently seek him and give sacrificially to Him(Proverbs 3: 9, 10).

      • Dwight McKissic

        Ken,

        One more thing. I know for certain that unless he has stopped driving it recently, Paige Patterson drove a Caddillac Escalade, which is a luxury car by any definition. Would Jesus ride in or drive a Escalade? In my judgement, sure he would. And I support Dr. Patterson driving one. I don’t believe that it is a sin to drive a Escalade, nor do I think that makes one a prosperity preacher.

        But if you are going to use a luxury vehicle as a standard to determine if one is a prosperity preacher, you will certainly have to put Dr. Patterson on that lists.

  • Ken Temple

    If they suggest or imply that God will certainly bless them with money, then that is wrong. You are right in that sometimes doctrinally orthodox pastors sometimes say things that seems like manipulation when they talk about giving and tithing – but that is wrong also. Using Malachi 3:10 or Luke 6:38 to manipulate people to give is wrong!

    But the Bible does say we will blessed if we give and obey God. The key is that it is up to God who sovereignly decides How He is going to bless us, and to what extent we are going to be blessed. The blessing could be another trial in order to bring us closer to him. The problem is when the applications are made that are guarantees for more money or financial success, etc.

  • Michael Karpf

    Listening to the 3rd video by Joyce Meyer, she is totally misapplying those verses. Exegesis of the Psalm 86 passage is about judges who judged unrighteously and face judgment. In John 10, Jesus is simply quoting that Psalm when the Pharisees accuse Him of blasphemy. Friends, we are not little gods. We do not have the right and authority to speak words of faith and get whatever we want. I will give Joyce credit when she emphasized helping other people. But we are not equals with God. In reading Isaiah 40, while He deeply cares about us, He is distant from us..He is not equal with us.

  • Chris Roberts

    Question for Dwight,

    Do you know what Wayne and his church teach about sin and salvation? I appreciate that the website’s core values mentions that salvation is found in Jesus alone, but I couldn’t find anything that defines what salvation is. The statement makes no mention of sin, forgiveness, or righteousness, so it’s a bit non-specific. It is not possible to include everything on a website, but I am still surprised by the omission. I tried to find a sermon or some such from the pastor on their website but the only media was a song, a promo video, and two parts of a sermon from the pastor’s wife (and you already know how I feel about that).

    A lot of what’s written on the website sounds good, but is hardly specific enough to lead to definite conclusions one way or another.

    • Dwight McKissic

      Chris,

      Wayne Chaney is a orthodox preacher in every sense of the term. He would believe about sin and salvation what the Bible teaches. Yes, he allows his wife and other gifted women to “prophesy with their heads covered.” If you object to him doing so, you will also have to object to Paul having done so and Dr. W. A. Criswell.

        • Dwight McKissic

          Chris,

          I don’t know whether or not his orthodox preaching is on line. He has preached many times at the church where I serve as pastor. If you would like and remind me by email, I will have our audio-visual guy to mail you 2-3 or however many sermons of his you like. We probably have at least 10 on file. You let me know how many you want and I will give them to you at no charge. My email address is: dmckissic@cbcarlington,org

      • Richard Caldwell

        I would appreciate the evidence that what Paul allowed is exactly what Wayne Chaney is allowing or what W.A. Criswell allowed (I’m not sure what Criswell permitted). It seems to me that the two are being equated, but there is no undebatable evidence for this. There is no proof whatsoever the Paul allowed women to preach with men present. In fact, if we allow what is clear to interpret what is less clear we would conclude just the opposite (1 Timothy 2:8-15).

        In the same way, to say that others provided for Christ, and that He allowed it, is a far distance from claiming that He would have had corporate jets and sprawling mansions. In addition, Meyer, and others who believe the prosperity gospel, do not just claim that God blesses giving, they claim that God’s will is for all believers to be materially wealthy where faith for that exists. When did Jesus teach this? Where does the New Testament teach this? I would suggest listening to these:

        John Piper on the prosperity gospel :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLRue4nwJaA

        John MacArthur on the prosperity gospel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaMAw5v9kGs

        and MacArthur on women preaching to men: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uolWyghsHxw&feature=fvwp

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