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Several years ago, the author’s thesis ‘Christian Faith and Company Culture’ was criticized for not dealing with the argument that all faithful Christians should automatically prosper as of divine right. At the time I was barely aware that such an attitude existed, but I thought it significant that the secular examiners were in a position to be able to hold it against me. Since then, however, this teaching has become well known in Britain, and together with its related dogmas, forms a corpus of beliefs which is increasingly taught and accepted around the world. Its birthplace is the United States of America, and the spread around the world seems to have been effected via two distinct routes. On the one hand, there are individuals who have travelled from America to establish new churches which preach this distinctive gospel. On the other hand, this gospel has been adopted by some established churches of the charismatic disposition. It is the purpose of this article to trace the origins of this expanding world-wide movement and to deal with some of its tenets. I choose to call this particular corpus of beliefs prosperity theology, and the movement which adheres to it the faith movement. Neither of these titles is original to me, nor are they the only ones which are used, but what I mean by them should become apparent. The origins of prosperity theology n American, Daniel McConnell, has conducted a piece of research which is extremely illuminating in establishing the origins of prosperity theology.1 His first move is to establish Kenneth E. Hagin as the father of the faith movement. Kenneth Hagin Jr. is quoted as writing of his father: ‘Almost every major faith ministry of the United States has been influenced by his ministry.’ Then, from correspondence with the major leaders with in the movement, McConnell shows that Hagan Jr. is not merely boosting his father’s ego. These leaders do in fact openly acknowledge Hagin as variously the human source of their inspiration, the fount of their teaching, and their spiritual mentor. These men include Kenneth Copeland, Frederick Price and Charlie Capps. But, if Hagin is the father of the faith movement, then he is not the author of its teaching. Hagin’s claim that the new teaching was given to him personally by Jesus through a series of divine visitations during the 1950s does not match the evidence uncovered by McConnell. He places side by side several passages from the works of both Hagin and a man called Essek W. Kenyon, and the overwhelming conclusion is that Hagin has directly plagiarized Kenyon. The word-forword uniformity of the two men is beyond the bounds of coincidence, and McConnell writes that the passages he cites are merely representative ones drawn from just eight books: ‘Many more could be cited’.…3 All of Hagins work postdates Kenyon’s, who in fact died in 1948. Therefore McConnell sums up: Whereas Hagin appears to have copied only occasionally from sources other than Kenyon, he has plagiarized Kenyon both repeatedly and extensively. Actually, it would not be overstated to say that the very doctrines that have made Kenneth Hagin and the Faith movement such a distinctive and powerful force within the independent charismatic movement are all plagiarized from E. W. Kenyon.4Having isolated Kenyon as the source of prosperity theology, McConnell has one final surprise up his sleeve—that E. W. Kenyon was not a Pentecostal. Even though he may have influenced many of the post-war Pentecostal healers, the dominating influence on his theology is in fact the metaphysical cults which abounded at the turn of the century. He actually wrote that the Pentecostal movement was as destructive as it was instructive. Kenyon attended the Emerson College of Oratory in Boston, Mass., during the last decade of the nineteenth century, a college which was at the time immersed in the metaphysical cults, and the underlying New Thought. The influence of the metaphysical cults is clearly visible in his work, and while he claims to remain resolutely Christian, and indeed explicitly refutes elements of the metaphysical cults, yet he simultaneously, often in the same breath as his rebuke, asserts the foundational beliefs of these cults.5 Ern Baxter remembers that Kenyon spoke very positively of Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (the mother of Christian Science), claiming that there was a lot that could be learnt from her.6It is clear from merely the titles of Kenyon’s books that his was a polemical aim directed against the established churches with whom he had become disillusioned. The Two Kinds of Life, The Two Kinds of Righteousness, The Two Kinds of Knowledge, The Two Kinds of Faith, The New Kind of Love, and so on, all express his desire to correct what he saw as being awry in the church of his day. Living at a time when the metaphysical cults were growing rapidly, this was Kenyon’s ‘Christian’ response—a ‘Christianized’ metaphysical cult. The mainline churches were failing because they produced no signs and wonders and Kenyon was keen to redress an anti-supernatural tendency which was driving bored Christians into joining such people as Mrs Baker Eddy. He sought to establish a teaching which provided Christians with all the benefits of the metaphysical cults, while remaining within the Christian fold. The result was prosperity theology, which is, with a very few embellishments, the theology of the present-day faith movement! In spite of this, McConnell is wrong to ignore other influences on the faith movement. For example, Kenyon rejected tongues as being altogether too subjective an experience,7 while for the faith movement, speaking in tongues is a necessary sign that one has been baptized in the Spirit. Charismatic Pentecostalism has also left its mark, especially so because such are the roots of many of those in the faith movement today. Thus, while the doctrines are undoubtedly those of Kenyon, very often the practices are those of the charismatic Pentecostals. Attitudes to wealth For we pray us you have commanded as in 1 Chronicles 16:35: ‘Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, and glory in thy praise.’52 Reports are also filtering through on to our television screens of collaboration between right-wing fundamentalist Christian mission societies in Central America and the US Foreign Office, the latter seeing the former as a potent pro-US force in an area where the rise of anti-US socialism is a constant headache: Ironically, in Britain where one of the churches is a major part of the establishment, fundamentalism does not seem to inspire nationalism. In the light of these transatlantic differences it will be interesting to see how the faith movement fares over the next few years. For example, how will the British viewing public take to televangelism? Will they be willing to finance it as Americans do? Will the traditionally reserved British character be able to cope with charismatic renewal if, as the faith movement demands, this is the only way forward? Conclusion In the end, prosperity theology is fatally flawed, and those who preach according to its tenets are surely guilty of being the teachers whom men gather around themselves ‘to say what their itching ears want to hear’ (2 Tim. 4:3). Not only do they preach an unbiblical gospel, but, and perhaps most significantly, they do not preach the uncomfortable message of Christ crucified, the one unifying factor of all Christian churches. In the blurb on the back cover of all Hagin’s books is written the following ‘Mark 11:23 and 24 keynote Kenneth E. Hagin’s life, and ministry’. Look them up, and then compare what you read with what Alister McGrath writes in his book, The Enigma of the Cross: The cross continually raises questions for the church, which dares to call itself ‘Christian’ after the one who was crucified and rose again, and yet seems to prefer to look for the grounds of its identity and relevance elsewhere than in the crucified Christ.53 Perhaps the sheer attractiveness and ease of it all should be enough to set alarm bells ringing because after all, Jesus taught that the narrow gate is the right one, though it is the hardest one to get through. Being a Christian does not ease one’s life, rather it involves carrying a cross. To preach a Christian lifestyle that must involve perfect health, enough wealth to live off the fat of the land, and the ability to call, at whim, upon God to interfere with history on one’s behalf, is to preach a faith that has no true biblical precedent. Prosperity theology is therefore heretical because its claim to be Christian cannot be substantiated, and the faith movement is to be rebuked wherever it is encountered. We need not be ashamed of our wealth or try to hide it.… Don’t be embarrassed about God’s blessing—welcome it.50 In spite of this, the preaching of the gospel of wealth is driving some people away, and it seems that it was responsible for splitting the faith movement’s church in Bath.51 Another big difference is that in America, all fundamentalist denominations including the faith movement are soaked in nationalistic fervour, America being seen as God’s mighty instrument in proclaiming his gospel to all nations. The following prayer illustrates this point: Father, in Jesus’ name we pray your wisdom will come to our president, his advisors, senators, representatives, all other government and business leaders. We pray for the economy of the United States and tor the prosperity of this country. Father, we remind you this day that: This country has always given to those in need and has never hidden her eyes from the poor; This country has given to the furtherance of the gospel in allowing full freedom for preaching, teaching, and evangelizing; This country has given to the furtherance of the gospel in that her citizens, more than the citizens of any other country, have moved out over this world to win the world for Christ; This country’s economic system has given to the gospel the equivalent of millions of dollars by exempting property used in the proclamation of the gospel from property taxes, by exempting the income of organizations which preach the gospel from income tax, and by exempting the tithes and offerings of God’s people from income taxes; Furthermore, the prosperity of this country has generated billions of dollars to be used in the spread of the gospel, and the continued prosperity of this economy represents the best hope of financing the evangelization of the world in this generation. We therefore boldly agree, according to Matthew 18:19, that, in Jesus’ name, the United States economy will experience a regeneration: That research and technology will make sudden and dramatic breakthroughs; That energy and dependence on foreign nations will come to an end and that the flow of dollars to heathen nations for oil will cease, releasing billions into the gospel; That the crippling effects of inflation will be reversed and that the United States dollar will regain strength and honour in the world; That communication capabilities will expand to the point that the entire world can be reached with the gospel message; That believers all over the United States will receive the revelation of God’s plan for prosperity and will give in abundance to the effective ministries for Jesus Christ in the earth.