Orthodox Prosperity Preachers?

Dr. Carl Trueman makes the case that one can vehemently trumpet confessionalism and still be a cultic, money-hungry, devourer of the sheep.

He writes:

So just because somebody preaches the gospel, uses the name of Jesus every other sentence and cries when they talk about the lost does not guarantee that they are not a cult leader or simply in it for what they can get out of it.

The key is the culture. One must ask cultural questions of such men, not simply doctrinal ones. Is the culture of their church or organisation transparent? Are there clear lines of accountability which flow both ways, from the leadership to the grassroots and from the grassroots to the leadership? Is opposition to leadership decisions addressed in an open fashion or via thuggish backroom manoeuvres and public derision and isolation of critics? And one interesting question which I remember a pastor once asking in a pulpit when I was college student: how far above the average economic level of the congregation or funding constituency does the leadership live? That little old lady putting her ten dollars in the plate each Sunday or sending in her pledge -- is she funding a lifestyle for functionally unaccountable leaders which is lavish beyond words and built on gospel rhetoric, on not-for-profit tax breaks and on an overwheening sense of entitlement? That can be quite an interesting gauge of whether the church or ministry takes seriously its role as steward of the money it receives. It is, after all, easy to prostitute yourself to the prosperity gospel when your own prophecies of material wealth are effectively underwritten by the desperate dreams of the poor and destitute which you yourself have helped to create and upon which you prey with a depraved and insatiable hunger.

Cultists and con-men are identifiable only by their culture, not by their confessions.

This is another reason for the desperate need for more confessionally Reformed churches. Why so? Because the best thing to do if you find yourself in the clutches of such a pastor is to leave.

Paul Helm on Philosophical Theology

I'm currently going through Francis Turretin's Institiutes of Elenctic Theology and am now on the part wherein Turretin explains the valid use of reason in the engagement of theology (in Volume 1). He makes the case that reason's relationship to theology (or philosophy to theology) is not one wherein the former is principial to the latter, but precisely the other way around.

Philosophical thought bows its head to theology in matters wherein finite reason reaches its limits in terms of doctrines of Scripture that fall into the category of incomprehensible (mysteries).

It is noteworthy that Turretin, while in no way speaking of it as salvific on its own, claims natural theology as being precursory to supernatural theology, in that by virtue of being endowed with the Imago Dei and the testimony of the created order, man knows of God, and this by virtue of reason.

In this interview, Paul Helm agrees with Turretin:

The Admirability of the Manifestations of Common Grace

"Whenever we come upon these matters in secular writers, let that admirable light of truth shining in them teach us that the mind of man, though fallen and perverted from its wholeness, is nevertheless clothed and ornamented with God's excellent gifts. If we regard the Spirit of God as the sole fountain of truth, we shall neither reject the truth itself, nor despise it wherever it shall appear, unless we wish to dishonor the Spirit of God. For by holding the gifts of the Spirit in slight esteem, we condemn and reproach the Spirit Himself. What then? Shall we deny that the truth shone upon the ancient jurists who established civic order and discipline with such great equity? Shall we say that the philosophers were blind in their fine observation and artful description of nature? Shall we say that those men were devoid of understanding who conceived the art of disputation and taught us to speak reasonably? Shall we say that they are insane who developed medicine, devoting their labor to our benefit? No, we cannot read the writings of the ancients on these subjects without great admiration. We marvel at them because we are compelled to recognize how eminent they are.

But shall we count anything praiseworthy or noble without recognizing at the same time that it comes from God? Let us be ashamed of such ingratitude, into which not even the pagan poets fell, for they confessed that the gods had invented philosophy, laws, and all useful arts. Those men whom Scripture calls 'natural men' were, indeed, sharp and penetrating in their investigation of inferior things. Let us, accordingly, learn by their example how many gifts the Lord left to human nature even after it was despoiled of its true good."

— John Calvin, Institutes, 2.2.15.


It is the duty of the Christian to recognize, to appreciate, and to give God glory for the many manifestations of His common grace, even though these come through the efforts of the unregenerate. In any field of endeavor, excellence and achievement evince the favor of God, though that not necessarily being of the redemptive kind.

But while this is true, Scripture admonishes us towards the exercise of discernment. It is one thing to recognize the hand of the Spirit of God in cultural and worldly conquests, and another to be taken captive by the "hollow and deceptive" philosophies of this passing age. The redemptive revelation of God can never be found in the formulations of darkened minds, though modern Evangelicalism has seemingly gone out of its way to employ precisely these formulations in the way it presents its understanding of God and reality.

The truth which describes the bridging of the gap between God and man can be found in no other place than the special revelation of God in Scripture through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is this truth that the Holy Spirit utilizes to effect that radical transformation involving the refashioning of the human heart into the likeness of Christ. This is foolishness to the man steeped in the world's "wisdom", and yet it pleased the Lord to save His elect through the utter incomprehensibility of the proposition.

So let us, as Christians, become masters of the arts and sciences. Let us be the pundits of history, philosophy, and the languages, knowing full well that He is the same God we serve and worship who is the bestower of these good gifts to both the beloved and the damned.