The Health and Wealth Gospel: What's Going on Today in a Movement That Has Shaped the Faith of Millions [Paperback]

Bruce Barron (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 203 pages
• Publisher: Intervarsity Pr (January 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877843279
• ISBN-13: 978-0877843276
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,775,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars We Want Health and Wealth More Than Jesus, February 11, 2012

By 

Bradley P. Hayton - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Health and Wealth Gospel: What's Going on Today in a Movement That Has Shaped the Faith of Millions (Paperback)

During a time when conservative Christians seem to be finding the Devil or the New Age movement under every bedsheet, Barron brings balance, objectivity and sensitivity. He probes the teachings of prominent preachers like Charles Capps, Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland, examining their history, biblical roots and influence. Their three main beliefs - divine healing, financial prosperity, and positive confession - have been taking hold in millions of Christian households throughout the nation.

Barron traces the movement primarily through America, from Gordon, Simpson and Dowie, to the early Pentecostal Parham, McPherson and Wigglesworth, to its connections with Oral Roberts and Kathryn Kuhlman. He distinguishes the movement from Christian Science, as well as the nature of Christ's healings, demonstrating both the positive and negative aspects of the movement. Barron evaluates the prosperity aspect of their teachings, summing up with a quote from Loren Cunningham (YWAM) that "God promises to meet our needs, not our greeds." Barron sums up his evaluation of positive confession by saying "though their desire to encourage strong faith is biblical, the faith teachers miss the mark when the try to establish inviolable laws by which faith is supposed to operate" (p. 107). He also criticizes their emphasis upon faith as enabling God to act in our lives. In conclusion, though, Barron doesn't condemn those preach the health and wealth gospel. He finds many things to commend in their teachings. Even they themselves caution against the excesses of the movement. Yet Barron sees a natural tendency for those more popular preachers in the movement to preach instant health and wealth, since it draws more publicity and crowds, and more giving, to support their growing movement and the expenses of their ministries.