Session 7: What Does the Prosperity Gospel Teach?

In this session of Secret Church 18, Pastor David Platt offers an overview of the prosperity gospel, a theology that asserts that God’s aim is to make believers healthy and wealthy in this life. This is a broad category, as individuals and churches often fall somewhere along a spectrum of prosperity teaching. The prosperity gospel, which is a counterfeit gospel, teaches a distorted view of God, a distorted view of man, a distorted focus on health and wealth, a distorted understanding of salvation, and it relies on distorted interpretations of Scripture.

David Platt answers three main questions: (1) What is the prosperity gospel? (2) Why is the prosperity gospel so dangerous? (3) How should we respond to the prosperity gospel? In response to the prosperity gospel, followers of Christ should interpret and apply God’s Word rightly. Following Jesus requires enduring difficulties and trusting God in the midst of suffering. Our ultimate hope is not health and wealth in this life but rather enjoying Christ forever in a new heaven and a new earth.