A New American Heresy
A new version of an old deception is spreading rapidly through American churches. It is quietly taking root in many congregations, shifting the focus from Christ to self.
For decades, the evangelical church in America was plagued by a false teaching about material prosperity, and a gross distortion of the gospel was promoted. Leaders of this movement lived lives of overindulgence, openly flaunting their ungodly excess. Some lived in homes rivaling those of the top Hollywood celebrities. They flew in multimillion-dollar private jets and paid for one-night hotel rooms that cost more than most of our monthly mortgages. Many are still out there deceiving those who are not biblically rooted and grounded, using mammon as the apple in their garden of deceit.
The apostle Paul had a clear understanding of these false teachers. His language was not guarded or polite. At one point, he basically called them creeps. “For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women...” (2 Timothy 3:6, ESV). Paul also proclaimed, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Prosperity Repackaged
Today, the evil one is once again putting on the garb of the angel of light in our churches, donning a sheepskin cloak to cover his wolf fangs (see Matthew 7:15). We may think the prosperity gospel has faded into the abyss, but it has been cleverly repackaged. It is in disguise. This new form may seem subtle or nuanced. It rarely speaks of money, but this new twist is from the same old infected tree.
The prosperity gospel’s false teaching was easier to recognize and avoid. However, what we are now witnessing is far more dangerous, and it’s seeping in almost unnoticed. It has taken the language of money and materialism and replaced it with success and the ability to make all your dreams come true. God is promoted as one who will not necessarily make you rich, but as one who serves you, fulfilling your dreams and your life goals. He is promoted as a genie. Rub God the right way and out comes your dream life. Read your Bible, pray, attend church, tithe, and an encouraging message will be preached that will help you reach your destiny. The focus of the Bible is on us, not on God, as if we are the heroes of every story.
▉ Elijah stopped the rain. You can stop your self-doubt and do the impossible.
▉ David slew the giant. You too can slay the giant keeping you from achieving your dreams.
▉ Peter walked on water. You can rise above the storms in your life and walk into your greatest season.
In these churches, you are inspired by a “you can do it” rallying cry. The message might motivate you to start a new business to become your own boss. Maybe you’re encouraged to become a social media influencer, hoping for a huge following. For those with an entrepreneurial drive, perhaps you’re persuaded by the idea that “you can build it.” Do you want to start your own church? These churches might inspire you to grow the biggest church.
Can you see the subtleness of these messages and how they appeal to the flesh? These churches preach the equivalent of TED Talks. They are more motivational, how-to messages than they are expository on scripture. If they use scripture, it’s often in terms of what you can achieve in life.
We all want to achieve a dream and rise above our storms. However, the problem is that these churches do not honor God and his Word. They may mention a verse or use a biblical narrative, but they do so only to communicate self-help steps to obtain success. They do not put Jesus first or glorify God above all. They do not mention sin, preach repentance, or teach the saving power of the gospel. Jesus is not exalted throughout Scripture. Instead, they use the Bible as a guiding principle to realize a dream or reach the mountaintop of achievement.
This repackaged prosperity gospel is a therapeutic, motivational, CEO-led corporation of religion. Its power is in its alluring call, and its danger is in its subtleness. When a falsehood is disguised as truth, it is harder to decipher its deception. Look online at the titles of sermons preached today: “Win Before You Begin”, “This Is Your Time”, “A New Door Is Opening for You”. It’s not quite the famous sermon title by Jonathan Edwards: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. These churches rarely welcome God-fearing, Bible-preaching ministers behind their pulpits for fear that they might challenge, rebuke, or correct their congregation.
A Self-Centered Gospel
Many people grew wise to the folly and failure of the promises from the health-and-wealth deceiver, so the crafty one devised a new twist on the American dream. Satan has taken the prosperity gospel and reworked it so it will reach more churches and be received by more people. This new movement of believing in yourself and achieving your dreams is flooding Christendom. Its heresy has inroads into every denomination, almost every national conference, and into a vast majority of podcasts and books. It has the same roots and the same source, but it’s packaged more deceptively.
Not everyone wants to be rich, but most everyone has a personal dream they long to have fulfilled. We want a nice family, a dream job, and individual recognition. These are not inherently evil desires, but they become evil when we package the church around aspirations for self-achievement. When the church forgets the centrality of the cross and makes you and me the center of its stage, that’s when the danger and deception come in.
If you attend a church that only preaches about motivation for a successful life, you have fallen prey to this generation’s new deception. If you are led by a pastor who gives TED Talks with dovetail stories and anecdotes about how to be successful but does not teach the whole Word of God, that pastor is not in line with God’s will. If Scripture is interpreted to make it all about you and how God exists to help you achieve greatness in life, then you are partaking in a church that has fallen into Satan’s new twist on a very old temptation.
The gospel is not about what you want, what looks good, or what seems like it will give you your best life now. If you seek a message that fulfills every personal aspiration and dream, then Tony Robbins or Oprah Winfrey may suit you better. The pure gospel of the cross is the call to holiness, to radical surrender of our lives as true disciples. It is putting God above us, high and lifted up as he deserves. Avoid churches modeled after self-help personalities; instead, seek those who preach the full counsel of God and all it offers.
Jesus’s brother James had a clear rebuke for those who may be tempted to embrace this sort of gospel: “you ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (James 4:3). When we pray, we should not pray for our own pleasures or the fulfillment of our own dreams but rather that God’s purposes in our lives be fulfilled.
A Crossroads for the Church
This may be the most important message I have given in America. We stand at a crossroads concerning the direction of the church in this next generation. There is a great spiritual hunger that is not being satisfied by the stage shows and pep talks of many modern churches. There is a weariness with the sermon series that highlights success and achievement. Christians are hungry for pure preaching from God’s Word. They are seeking simple worship, a community of believers who show love for one another, and a pastor who will lead their congregation into the truth.
God always has a remnant. There are churches and leaders who do not follow this new American heresy. They are in every city, suburb, and rural area. If you are hungry for more of Jesus and are tired of the hype and self-promotion, ask God to lead you to a faithful congregation. Pray for your pastor and church that they will not fall into this trap; or if they have, pray that they will see the truth and correct their path.
Be careful how you read your Bible in your personal devotions. Scripture is not all about you but about Jesus; look for him on every page. Ask God to reveal to you the nature and glory of Christ through the Bible’s stories. Check your bookshelf. Does it contain titles that might be of this new deception sweeping our nation? Instead, read the old classics by A.W. Tozer, J. Oswald Chambers, and others who were grounded in Scripture to help you apply wisdom and knowledge in your Christian walk. (See my enclosed recommended book guide.)
As believers, let’s become more God-absorbed rather than self-absorbed. James 5:5 warns against living for our own pleasure and luxury and “fattening our hearts in a day of slaughter.” Let’s turn away from a Christendom that is all about man and his abilities to achieve his dream and turn to the God of the Gospels. He is worthy of every knee bowing and every tongue confessing. He is Lord! Amen. ▉
