Pentecostal Church on Prosperity Gospel (Essay Sample)

Pentecostal economics and prosperity gospel Student’s Name Department Name, School Name Course Code: Course Name Instructor’s Name Date of Submission Pentecostal Economics and Prosperity Gospel 1 The History of Pentecostal church in Prosperity Gospel over the globe American Pentecostalism is a Christian denomination that draws its identity from the euphoric power of the early Church on the Jewish festival of Pentecost, detailed in Acts 2:1–4 in the New Testament. The movement, which is notable for its fervent worship, believes that the miraculous gifts and occurrences recorded in the Bible are still present to Christians who are "filled with the Spirit" via an event known as "baptism by Holy Spirit. These manifestations and abilities encompass divine restoration, prophesy, and, most significantly, glossolalia, often known as "speaking in tongues," a sort of ecstatic vocalization that Pentecostals associate with the supernatural phenomena described in the New Testament. The beginnings of Pentecostalism may be traced back to the Wesleyan-inspired Holiness movement of the nineteenth century, which sought Christian perfection via "entire sanctification," a post-salvation experience that is supposed to enable Christians to live a blameless life. The majority of believers associated sanctification with Holy Spirit baptism (Kgatle, 2022). By the late nineteenth century, Holiness had evolved into an ecumenical, multicultural movement whose most passionate adherents desired to reclaim the authority and traditions of 1st-century "Apostolic" Christianity, anticipated the Second Coming of Christ, and supported free worship. The Prosperity Gospel may be dated back to the late nineteenth century in the United States. In this early era, the emphasis was on the individual's conviction in the capacity of the mind to open God's benefits via accurate thinking and speech. This doctrine sparked certain Christian Science beliefs, such as the notion that reality is wholly spiritual and the material world is an illusion. That sickness is a mental error that may be rectified not necessarily via medicine but through prayer. The prosperity gospel was part of the New Thought Movement. The New Thought movement originated in the 1880s and had three key teachings: 1 High anthropology states that if maximized, the human potential may accomplish redemption regardless of if a person communicates with God. 2 The movement's doctrine relied on the power of positive thinking, where the tangible world is only a notion that exists only in the mind. 3 Christians partake in God's creationist power, which means they may get the same power God used to establish the world and utilize it to achieve what God pledged via the atonement. What started as a New Thought Movement evolved into the Faith Movement, also known as the 'Word of Faith Movement' or the 'Positive Confession.' This trend became increasingly noticeable after World War II revivals (the 1940s and 1950s), but it gained maturity in the late 1970s. Faith, as per The Faith Movement, is a metaphysical rule. This law can tie God's word into legal promises and can be shown and quantified in terms of health and prosperity. Proponents of the New Thought Movement, such as William Kenyon, state that Christians should seek God's benefits, including bodily healing because they are already entitled to receive everything they desire because of the atonement. When you pray, you are no longer seeking God's will. Rather, it is about announcing the hidden truth via faith and receiving concrete benefits from the Lord. Matthew 7:7, Mark 10:24, and Romans 10:17 are some of the favorite verses cited to support the claim (Adedibu, B. A., & Igboin 2019). Strong confidence in the power of speech was central to this doctrine, and speaking in tongues became popular in many Pentecostal and Charismatic organizations. Similarly, the practice of calling God's different names and Jesus' name gained popularity. According to prosperity theology, Christ's atoning death does not just free believers from spiritual sin. It also keeps them physically healthy (Cf. Isaiah 53:5). You preserve this freedom via fervent prayer, regular fasting, and positive thinking, which implies that you feel the healing has occurred. If someone is prayed for but does not receive healing, it is their fault because they lack faith or they are under God's condemnation for sin or sins done but not acknowledged. Wealth is rightly seen as a blessing from God the Provider. According to the prosperity gospel, unseen faith should result in concrete financial rewards. The prosperity gospel goes even further, claiming that the size of your wallet indicates the amount of your faith (Adedibu, B. A., & Igboin, 2019). Most prosperity gospel preachers believe that a spiritual rule of positive affirmation guides success. Poverty, according to certain prosperity gospel Pentecostals, is a spiritual problem that must be tackled via positive repentance. Someone else argues that God has promised to shift the wicked's money into the bank accounts of the virtuous. Others might argue that the Old Testament is replete with wealthy individuals, such as Adam and Eve, well before Fall, Abraham, and King Solomon (Adedibu, B. A., & Igboin 2019). Nevertheless, money arrives once certain rules are followed. One of the most important regulations is to give directly to the preacher or religious leader rather than to the Church for God's purpose. Triumph is a spiritual and legal right secured by atonement for the believer, but absolute victory requires whole devotion. The term "breakthrough" is frequently used. Nothing can prevent one from being the victor. Furthermore, nothing can hold you back. Nonetheless, people must observe the spiritual commandment of donating diligently, fasting regularly, and chanting Jesus' name. The current situation of a Pentecostal church in prosperity Gospel Pentecostals generally see success and wealth as types of healing whenever a Christian transcends failure, poverty, and backwardness to live a life of adequacy and abundance. To be affluent, one must give generously and selflessly to the spread of the Gospel or 'plant seed money or sow seeds of faith,' as some neo-Pentecostals put it(Appa & Mabefam, 2020). Some pastors underlined that the greater one contributes to God's work, the richly one gets. Indeed, evangelicals have been harshly critical of the issues of such doctrine.  Evangelicals have challenged the ideology of the teaching, which disregards Jesus' instruction on the poor; a mistranslation of the purview of the atonement; the mistaken notion that offering automatically equates to prosperity; ignoring interpretations and explaining (De White, 2018). Scriptural messages to endorse prosperity without depending on the context of the scriptures, idolising money, and tangible resources, ignoring suffering as a spiritual virtue. The inordinate lifestyle and corruption amongst certain individuals are not anything new. As the Charismatic Renewal became denominationalism into solid religious organisations with bureaucratic processes in the 1980s, the movement placed a strong emphasis on healing, divided into four key categories. The first is bodily healing, which is fundamental to all Pentecostal denominations. Second, healing is designed expressly with the worldview of evil, witchcraft, and the realm of spirits in mind. When harmful energies are expelled out of this realm, Pentecostals receive healing. This is known as 'Deliverance (Appa, & Mabefam, 2020).' Third, the progressive element of Pentecostalism is mirrored in what is known as Success and Prosperity, which is restoration over the individual's socioeconomic challenges, allowing the believer to inherit the privileges of Christianity. Finally, Pentecostals expanded their healing operations to a nation's socioeconomic and political problems. This is known as 'Prayer for the Nations.' However, since the mid-1980s, prosperity has grown in popularity and has established a unique theological emphasis. Winning or fruitfulness are recurring topics in church sermons emphasizing wealth to a certain group of Christians. In reality, neo-Pentecostal congregations are urban in style, appealing to the affluent middle class. Second, the congregations' business structure, sophisticated marketing strategies, and modernising inclinations have aided the apparent success of this prosperity emphasis. In practice, communications with this emphasis have proven motivating, reassuring, and reflect triumphalism. Indeed, the founders frequently demonstrated the power of the messaging through their showy and lavish lifestyle. Some people fly to the West for medical treatment, and some have purchased private aircraft. There are also structures and educational investments, such as privately held universities, that promote this (Appa & Mabefam, 2020). Members frequently provide tales of 'supernatural financial breakthroughs.' Spiritual retreats have evolved from rural evangelical camp gatherings to prosperity seminars in city five-star hotels. In general, business images of success portray this priority and motivate members to pursue economic and social mobility. Most prosperity preachers frequently present ideas or keys to joining the wealth covenant. Dreaming big and expanding one's horizon are among these keys, as are having faith, strict adherence to God's control, sowing seeds or offering plentifully and sacrificially, partaking in the miracle meal,' i.e., the Eucharist, providing a positive confession, exercising faith unreservedly, using anointing oil, asserting the power in Jesus' blood, and so on. Overall, this focus among neo-Pentecostals emphasizes that one should not live below one's means but instead try to contribute value to the resources God has made accessible to people and always endeavour to grow economically and socially. The challenges in t...