Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 178:709 (Jan 2021)
Article: The Table Briefing: Escaping The Prosperity Gospel And Recovering The Real Gospel
Author: Darrell L. Bock

BSac 178:709 (January-March 2021) p. 92

The Table Briefing: Escaping The Prosperity Gospel And Recovering The Real Gospel

Darrell L. Bock

and

Mikel Del Rosario

Darrell L. Bock is Senior Research Professor in New Testament Studies and Executive Director for Cultural Engagement at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. Mikel Del Rosario is a doctoral student in New Testament Studies, Project Manager for Cultural Engagement at Dallas Theological Seminary, and Adjunct Professor of Christian Apologetics and World Religion at William Jessup University, Rocklin, California.

It was like a mixture between the royal family and the mafia.” In an episode of The Table called “Escaping the Prosperity Gospel,” Costi Hinn explains what it was like growing up as the nephew of faith healer and “health and wealth” preacher Benny Hinn. He compares his upbringing to “the lavish lifestyle of the royal family—wealth, servants, mansions, and security,” noting that it was like “the mafia in that we were very loyal. You never turned your back on family. It didn’t matter . . . if things were truthful or if they were lies.”

Costi Hinn eventually questioned whether faith resulted in physical health or financial prosperity, as his teachers said. On this view, wealth is a sure sign of God’s favor—an idea that has been gaining ground among those who describe themselves as “born again Christians.”1 In 2018, Christianity Today reported that prosperity gospel ideas are in some way taught to about forty percent of evangelical churchgoers,2 citing a LifeWay Research study

BSac 178:709 (January-March 2021) p. 93

suggesting that sixty-nine percent of Protestant churchgoers agreed with the statement, “God wants me to prosper financially.”3 While this is a concerning trend, Hinn’s spiritual journey out of the prosperity movement shows how God leads even those who perpetuate false doctrine to repent. In this briefing, we share a section of Hinn’s story as told on The Table, including his journey out of the movement, and the importance of recovering the real gospel.

Preaching The Prosperity Gospel

Hinn grew up around prosperity and “word of faith” ideas. His father pastored a church preaching this doctrine in Vancouver, British Columbia. As a teenager, Costi travelled widely with his uncle’s organization. He explains how this movement formed his early views on Go, what it was like to serve in the televangelist’s organization, and clarifies the cor...