From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part seven of a series. Read part six.

"Who stands to gain the most from this distortion of Scripture? The preachers who use the offerings to fund their high lifestyle."

As former prosperity gospel preacher Costi Hinn continues his analysis of the movement he left, he focuses on another deceptive trap of "word of faith" preaching: Men (and women) of the movement twist Scripture to mean things that God the Holy Spirit did not say. Often, they say that Scripture means the complete opposite of what God has declared. To put it more plainly, they make God a liar. Their motive is their own personal gain:

The Bible as a whole can seem intimidating, but it is simple to understand if we approach it the right way, believing what it says from the very first verse in Genesis. It's perilous to read into the text or say things about the Gospel that the Bible doesn't say.

The Bible is a compilation of Spirit-inspired writings by human authors to an audience with real-life applications for readers today. For example, when we read Paul's letter to the Ephesians, we need to keep in mind the intent of his letter and the experience of his audience at that time. The church in Ephesus had been warned about false teachers infiltrating from within (Acts 20:28). Because the newly established church was in the epicenter of false worship to Artemis (a Greek goddess), it needed sound doctrine as the surrounding culture abused and maligned marriage vows and roles. No wonder Paul dedicates the first three chapters to essential doctrines and the last three chapters to instructing Christians on how to live and worship. Knowing these contextual keys helps us properly understand the background of the letter and how we can effectively apply the Scriptures to our lives today.

The prosperity gospel ignores the age-old interpretative rules that careful scholars have used for generations. Rather than looking at context, prosperity gospel preachers take passages whose meanings are plain and twist them to say something untrue. For example, James 4:2 says, "You do not have, because you do not ask." Though this passage is speaking about covetousness, prosperity gospel preachers use this verse to encourage the "name it and claim it" philosophy in which people manifest their desires by speaking them. "Whatever one sows, that will he also reap" (Galatians 6:7) becomes a promise that if people sow more money in the offering, they will reap a greater material reward. Of course, this passage has nothing to do with money but with doing good, for which we will reap eternal rewards.

Who stands to gain the most from this distortion of Scripture? The preachers who use the offerings to fund their high lifestyle. Like an imposter taking a heartfelt letter from a king to his royal subjects and twisting it for evil purposes, prosperity preachers take the Bible and twist it into a tool for abuse. [1]

The root of these abuses is a low view of Scripture - and a high view of falsehood.

Low and High Views of Scripture

A low view of Scripture in the pulpit says that the preacher determines what is true or not true. A low view of Scripture allows men to twist Scripture. The Apostle Peter warned of this in 2 Peter 3:14-16. He spoke of those who adulterated the sections of Scripture that the Apostle Paul had already written at that time. He said that these false teachers twisted Paul's words, just as they twisted all the Scriptures.

In Paul's two epistles to the Corinthian church, we find that false teachers who had come into that congregation had told them things about the Word of God that were plainly not true. Paul wanted the believers at Corinth to understand that unlike these Scripture-twisters, he held the highest possible view of Scripture. And so, he begins one of the sections within his two epistles in which he defends his ministry to the Corinthian church by saying this:

Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:1-2)

Here is the essence of what Paul is saying in verse two: He and those who ministered with him have not handled the Word of God deceitfully. Literally, he is saying, we have not falsified the Word of God. We have not adulterated the Word of God. We have not corrupted the Word of God. He goes on to say that their ministry has been characterized by "manifestation of the truth" - more literally, a plain and forthright disclosure of revealed truth.

God's Commands for the Handling of His Word

In other words, the Apostle Paul - unlike today's prosperity preachers - was simply obeying the Bible's own commandments about how it is to be handled. In Deuteronomy 4:2 God said this to the nation of Israel as they were about to enter the promised land:

You shall not add to the Word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

And again, in Deuteronomy 12:32

Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.

And we find these words in Proverbs 30:5-6:

Every Word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.

In Matthew 5:18 we have the Lord Jesus' own words concerning the nature of Scripture. Jesus proclaimed that "not one jot or tittle" of Scripture would remain unfulfilled. The "jot" is the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The "tittle" is a tiny stroke that is added to letters of the Hebrew alphabet to indicate the specific meaning of a word in its context. The purpose and precision of God the Holy Spirit in the inspiration of the text of Scripture extend to even these minutest details. We dare not play fast and loose with it.

The Lord Jesus himself gave this dire warning at the very end of the Bible:

For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19)

In Galatians chapter one we find the same warning from the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul:

I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from Heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. But I make known to you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:6-12)

Our Safeguard From Deception

Dear friend, those who persist in preaching "another gospel, which is not another" are under God's curse. You can only follow them at your eternal peril. No false promise of health or wealth is worth the risk of your soul. Jesus said,

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel's will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:35-37)

If we follow the example of the believers at Berea, who did not even accept the spoken word of the Apostle Paul at face value but "searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11), God will safeguard us from error and deception.

References:

1. Costi W. Hinn, "Healthy, Wealthy, and Lies", Answers magazine, January-March 2022, page 73. Used by permission.

Next: The Prosperity Gospel Overcomplicates Faith

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