How the prosperity gospel has driven Nigerian Christians away from Christ

Michie · Aug 14, 2025

History has it that in the 15th century Christianity got into sub-Saharan Africa with the arrival of the Portuguese. In 1842, Samuel Ajayi Crowther suffered so much to bring the Gospel to the western part of Nigeria. In 1857, Reverend Christopher Taylor, an Igbo slave, left Sierra Leone to plant the first church in the eastern part of Nigeria. Christianity experienced significant growth in Nigeria starting in the 19th century, especially in the southern part of Nigeria. More European missionaries who were sent to Nigeria were responsible for the expansion of Christianity. These missionaries established various denominations, including Catholic, Protestant, and Pentecostal.

In the early days of Christianity in Nigeria, the Gospel was proclaimed freely. Missionaries sacrificially moved through villages and towns to make people know of Christ and His liberating Gospel message. Hospitals and schools were built, and natives accessed services free of charge. The message of the missionaries and indigenous pastors at that time was nothing but Christ and His love. It was never a product to be purchased or sold — it was a gift of grace offered to everyone.

However, in the 20th century, prosperity gospel theology was imported into Nigeria from the United States, and the message of the church changed, especially in Pentecostal churches. Another brand of Christianity replaced the Christianity that was brought into Nigeria by the missionaries. The message shifted. It was no longer about the biblical Gospel but about get-rich-quick schemes. It was no longer about Gospel ministry but about building a business. What was once a message of deliverance from death and sin morphed into a message about personal aggrandizement and financial success.

Continued below.

How the prosperity gospel has driven Nigerian Christians away from Christ

When the gospel becomes transactional and is packaged as a commercial product, Christ is obscured, and His cross becomes empty

www.christianpost.com

RandyPNW · Aug 14, 2025

Michie said:
History has it that in the 15th century Christianity got into sub-Saharan Africa with the arrival of the Portuguese. In 1842, Samuel Ajayi Crowther suffered so much to bring the Gospel to the western part of Nigeria. In 1857, Reverend Christopher Taylor, an Igbo slave, left Sierra Leone to plant the first church in the eastern part of Nigeria. Christianity experienced significant growth in Nigeria starting in the 19th century, especially in the southern part of Nigeria. More European missionaries who were sent to Nigeria were responsible for the expansion of Christianity. These missionaries established various denominations, including Catholic, Protestant, and Pentecostal.

In the early days of Christianity in Nigeria, the Gospel was proclaimed freely. Missionaries sacrificially moved through villages and towns to make people know of Christ and His liberating Gospel message. Hospitals and schools were built, and natives accessed services free of charge. The message of the missionaries and indigenous pastors at that time was nothing but Christ and His love. It was never a product to be purchased or sold — it was a gift of grace offered to everyone.

However, in the 20th century, prosperity gospel theology was imported into Nigeria from the United States, and the message of the church changed, especially in Pentecostal churches. Another brand of Christianity replaced the Christianity that was brought into Nigeria by the missionaries. The message shifted. It was no longer about the biblical Gospel but about get-rich-quick schemes. It was no longer about Gospel ministry but about building a business. What was once a message of deliverance from death and sin morphed into a message about personal aggrandizement and financial success.

Continued below.

How the prosperity gospel has driven Nigerian Christians away from Christ

When the gospel becomes transactional and is packaged as a commercial product, Christ is obscured, and His cross becomes empty

www.christianpost.com

I don't particularly like or agree with the "Prosperity Gospel." It does confuse the Faith Message with the Selfish Message of Materialism and Covetousness.

On the other hand, material prosperity, business development, and individual responsibility often follow converts to the Gospel. This is right, since "without works faith is dead." We must show that our Gospel truly does bring compassionate works to our society. Material development is a practical way of helping people and improving society.

At the same time, if we lose the message of the Cross, we will short-circuit true Christianity. Selfishness will replace obedience to God as our Lord and Savior.

It is fine to prosper materially and financially, assuming we are truly following God. The important part of the Gospel is learning what covenanting with God truly means. It is not getting God to go our way, but rather, remaining subject to God in all we do and say.

CerebralCherub · Aug 19, 2025

Yes, I have witnessed this in the UK churches first hand. Many Nigerians are products of prosperity gospel and are extremely passionate about it which is very sad to see.

Guojing · Aug 20, 2025

RandyPNW said:
I don't particularly like or agree with the "Prosperity Gospel." It does confuse the Faith Message with the Selfish Message of Materialism and Covetousness.

On the other hand, material prosperity, business development, and individual responsibility often follow converts to the Gospel. This is right, since "without works faith is dead." We must show that our Gospel truly does bring compassionate works to our society. Material development is a practical way of helping people and improving society.

At the same time, if we lose the message of the Cross, we will short-circuit true Christianity. Selfishness will replace obedience to God as our Lord and Savior.

It is fine to prosper materially and financially, assuming we are truly following God. The important part of the Gospel is learning what covenanting with God truly means. It is not getting God to go our way, but rather, remaining subject to God in all we do and say.

The bible contains:

different promises to
different groups of people at
different points in time.

That is why Paul instructs us to rightly divide the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15)

When one fails do to that and think that anything he can find in the bible is for him to claim as when he feel like it, based on Joel Osteen infamous "this is my bible...", that is failure to rightly divide the word of truth.

And one result of that failure will be the prosperity gospel.

Jipsah · Aug 24, 2025

The "properity gospel" replaces the gospel with magic. "Do this and God will reward you by giving you stuff". "Maintain this "confesion" and God will make you rich". "Pray this prayer and God must do as you say." They're no longer prayers to the sovereign Lord God, they're incantations that are supposed to force God to do as He's bidden, just as magic is simply a system of methods that are supposed to make some pagan "deity" do as they're told,

RandyPNW · Aug 24, 2025

Jipsah said:
The "properity gospel" replaces the gospel with magic. "Do this and God will reward you by giving you stuff". "Maintain this "confesion" and God will make you rich". "Pray this prayer and God must do as you say." They're no longer prayers to the sovereign Lord God, they're incantations that are supposed to force God to do as He's bidden, just as magic is simply a system of methods that are supposed to make some pagan "deity" do as they're told,

I think it was Hank Hanegraaff's book, "Christianity in Crisis," that pointed out how Kenneth Hagin, a father of the Faith movement, built his beliefs on a time when hypnosis and mind science was prevalent. This Faith and Prosperity message doesn't seem to be biblically-based, even though it draws upon biblical statements.

ViaCrucis · Tuesday at 5:34 PM

RandyPNW said:
I think it was Hank Hanegraaff's book, "Christianity in Crisis," that pointed out how Kenneth Hagin, a father of the Faith movement, built his beliefs on a time when hypnosis and mind science was prevalent. This Faith and Prosperity message doesn't seem to be biblically-based, even though it draws upon biblical statements.

Hagin largely took his message from EW Kenyon, Kenyon basically took 19th century New Thought and repackaged it in a Christian veneer.

There is a direct link between New Thought and Word of Faith through Kenyon and Hagin. WoF proponents will deny this, but it's actually pretty blatant.

This is why if you've ever noticed that WoF stuff sounds suspiciously similar to New Age stuff, it's not purely coincidence. Both WoF and New Age share a common ancestor. There is no substantial difference between "anointed prayer cloths" and "essential oil manifestation crystals" or whatever.

-CryptoLutheran

RandyPNW · Tuesday at 6:01 PM

ViaCrucis said:
Hagin largely took his message from EW Kenyon, Kenyon basically took 19th century New Thought and repackaged it in a Christian veneer.

There is a direct link between New Thought and Word of Faith through Kenyon and Hagin. WoF proponents will deny this, but it's actually pretty blatant.

This is why if you've ever noticed that WoF stuff sounds suspiciously similar to New Age stuff, it's not purely coincidence. Both WoF and New Age share a common ancestor. There is no substantial difference between "anointed prayer cloths" and "essential oil manifestation crystals" or whatever.

-CryptoLutheran

Oh yes, I remember now. Kenyon was the link between Hagin and New Thought. Thanks.

caffeinated.hermit · Tuesday at 6:40 PM

ViaCrucis said:
Hagin largely took his message from EW Kenyon, Kenyon basically took 19th century New Thought and repackaged it in a Christian veneer.

There is a direct link between New Thought and Word of Faith through Kenyon and Hagin. WoF proponents will deny this, but it's actually pretty blatant.

This is why if you've ever noticed that WoF stuff sounds suspiciously similar to New Age stuff, it's not purely coincidence. Both WoF and New Age share a common ancestor. There is no substantial difference between "anointed prayer cloths" and "essential oil manifestation crystals" or whatever.

-CryptoLutheran

I've actually heard something very similar to Word of Faith preaching at very, very conservative Holiness churches. "If you have faith, and you say it, the Lord is faithful to His promises and to His Word, hallelujah..." This is especially true of physical health, but not really wealth. This kind of makes me wonder if the predecessor to this theology is somewhere in old-school Methodism.

RandyPNW · Wednesday at 8:44 PM

caffeinated.hermit said:
I've actually heard something very similar to Word of Faith preaching at very, very conservative Holiness churches. "If you have faith, and you say it, the Lord is faithful to His promises and to His Word, hallelujah..." This is especially true of physical health, but not really wealth. This kind of makes me wonder if the predecessor to this theology is somewhere in old-school Methodism.

Word of Faith seems to go beyond faith in miracle healing. But I think you're right. Vinson Synan, a historian for the holiness/pentecostal movements did connect holiness and belief in faith healing to modern pentecostalism.

Methodism was the beginning of the holiness movement, which later expanded into a number of holiness denominations. And it was out of this movement that the Pentecostal Movement sprang. Pentecostalism was bound to take some of Methodism's features, such as holiness and the later belief, in some of the holiness churches, in faith healing.

My brother was a Missionary and Alliance pastor, the denomination being originated from the Holiness Movement. He was and is a believer in miracle healing, along with other charismatic gifts.

He is more subdued today than he was earlier however. Like me, he had been influenced by the Word of Faith movement, which became a major disappointment in its on demand miracles. Both of us now do not expect God to respond to us as we will, but as He wills.

ViaCrucis · Thursday at 12:22 PM

caffeinated.hermit said:
I've actually heard something very similar to Word of Faith preaching at very, very conservative Holiness churches. "If you have faith, and you say it, the Lord is faithful to His promises and to His Word, hallelujah..." This is especially true of physical health, but not really wealth. This kind of makes me wonder if the predecessor to this theology is somewhere in old-school Methodism.

I can't speak to any personal experience of the Holiness Churches; but the Holiness Movement did emerge from out of a primarily Wesleyan theological foundation. The language here which is reminiscent of "name it and claim it" makes me wonder if this is less about the Holiness Tradition itself, and perhaps some WoF influence entering in. Though Google searching just now also introduced me to the Keswick Movement.

I wonder if there might not be some overlapping or two-way influencing.

But that is interesting nonetheless.

Belief that God performs miracles, including healing, is certainly not a strange concept to the majority of churches regardless of tradition. Historic Churches, whether Catholic, Orthodox, or Paleo-Protestant have always recognized that miraculous works of God can happen; though the sort of anticipatory idea that I should expect miraculous healing is a modern phenomenon. From the historical perspective, the cessationist/continuationist debates which are common in many modern Protestant circles are, in a way, foreign. As if one looks at Catholic and Orthodox history, there's never been any doubt that God can (and sometimes does) operate in profoundly special ways in the world; the same is also true in the Lutheran tradition--though the Lutheran tradition emphasizes the central importance of Scripture in ruling our spiritual life against personal experience and therefore rejects "Enthusiasm"--this is not a rejection of the miraculous, but rather a confession that the miraculous, if it is real and not counterfeit, affirms the word in everything. There is nothing in Lutheranism that says God can't or doesn't cure cancer--but our life in Christ, and the Spirit's power in our lives, is always directing us to Jesus, not to "signs and wonders". Indeed, we would even argue that the miraculous is mundane when it comes to the Means of Grace: For an unbeliever to believe is nothing less than a supernatural work--a miracle--of God. That we receive, indeed and truly, the very and true flesh and blood of our Lord is absolutely a miracle. Man cannot give bread and it be God's flesh, but God meets us right down here in ordinary bread and wine, and gives nothing less than His own body and blood; the body and blood which was nailed and was shed on Mt. Calvary; the very body which He has, reigning in glory at the right hand of the Father.

Which is to say: belief that God works the miraculous has never been limited to fringe movements in Christianity. It has always been normative; but it is always within the context of confessed historic norms. Real miracles confirm the faith once and for all delivered; and do not lead us away from it.

-CryptoLutheran

caffeinated.hermit · Thursday at 12:30 PM

ViaCrucis said:
I can't speak to any personal experience of the Holiness Churches; but the Holiness Movement did emerge from out of a primarily Wesleyan theological foundation. The language here which is reminiscent of "name it and claim it" makes me wonder if this is less about the Holiness Tradition itself, and perhaps some WoF influence entering in. Though Google searching just now also introduced me to the Keswick Movement.

I wonder if there might not be some overlapping or two-way influencing.

But that is interesting nonetheless.

-CryptoLutheran

"Pentecostal scholars recognize and appreciate the groundwork laid by Higher Life advocacy of the continuation of the gifts of healing and miracle-working for the rise of the Pentecostal movement."

Interesting. I could be wrong here, but I've heard that Wesley, in his own lifetime, held some views about prolonged sickness possibly being connected to a lack of faith or lack of personal holiness. Not all of Wesley's views were necessarily as consistent through his lifetime, I think, but you're right; there does seem to be some kind of connection back to old-school Methodism.

Unfortunately, I can't find any sources to back this up right now, but it's just something I picked up over the years. May or may not be true, but seems possible.

RandyPNW · Thursday at 7:24 PM

The Origins of the Pentecostal Movement

The Pentecostal movement is the largest & most important religious movement to originate in the United States. It began in 1901 in a Bible School in Kansas…

www.hopefaithprayer.com

This can help a search into Pentecostal origins in Methodism and the Holiness Movement. It doesn't appear that the "charisms" were predominant in the earlier times of Methodism and the Holiness churches.

There was an emphasis on the gift of Healing, particularly with AB Simpson. But the main emphasis was on *experiential Christianity,* distinguishing itself from nominal, national Christianity, in which Christian practice was moral, but less spiritual. A moral lifestyle does not necessarily reflect a completely committed lifestyle.

Luther's "warm" experience, developed into Lutheran Pietism, which in turn impacted Wesley. And his Sanctification became a synonym for "true experiential conversion." Others, later, wanted to emphasize this experience even more by emphasizing the "fire" of the Holy Spirit, or the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit."

When Pentecostalism emerged, it came to be focused on the charisms, led by the "initial evidence" of speaking in tongues. But true experiential conversion remained at the center, or what it terms "the Baptism of the Holy Spirit."

Guojing · Thursday at 9:33 PM

ViaCrucis said:
have always recognized that miraculous works of God can happen; though the sort of anticipatory idea that I should expect miraculous healing is a modern phenomenon.

-CryptoLutheran

Yes, almost every Christian believed that God could heal

It is the Word of Faith churches that applied concepts from neuroscience and other concepts from New age, that says that God heals according to some kind of law.

Its like the law of gravity, if X happens, then healing will definitely happen.

FireDragon76 · 2025-08-31T12:28:15-0500

ViaCrucis said:
I can't speak to any personal experience of the Holiness Churches; but the Holiness Movement did emerge from out of a primarily Wesleyan theological foundation. The language here which is reminiscent of "name it and claim it" makes me wonder if this is less about the Holiness Tradition itself, and perhaps some WoF influence entering in. Though Google searching just now also introduced me to the Keswick Movement.

I wonder if there might not be some overlapping or two-way influencing.

But that is interesting nonetheless.

Belief that God performs miracles, including healing, is certainly not a strange concept to the majority of churches regardless of tradition. Historic Churches, whether Catholic, Orthodox, or Paleo-Protestant have always recognized that miraculous works of God can happen; though the sort of anticipatory idea that I should expect miraculous healing is a modern phenomenon. From the historical perspective, the cessationist/continuationist debates which are common in many modern Protestant circles are, in a way, foreign. As if one looks at Catholic and Orthodox history, there's never been any doubt that God can (and sometimes does) operate in profoundly special ways in the world; the same is also true in the Lutheran tradition--though the Lutheran tradition emphasizes the central importance of Scripture in ruling our spiritual life against personal experience and therefore rejects "Enthusiasm"--this is not a rejection of the miraculous, but rather a confession that the miraculous, if it is real and not counterfeit, affirms the word in everything. There is nothing in Lutheranism that says God can't or doesn't cure cancer--but our life in Christ, and the Spirit's power in our lives, is always directing us to Jesus, not to "signs and wonders". Indeed, we would even argue that the miraculous is mundane when it comes to the Means of Grace: For an unbeliever to believe is nothing less than a supernatural work--a miracle--of God. That we receive, indeed and truly, the very and true flesh and blood of our Lord is absolutely a miracle. Man cannot give bread and it be God's flesh, but God meets us right down here in ordinary bread and wine, and gives nothing less than His own body and blood; the body and blood which was nailed and was shed on Mt. Calvary; the very body which He has, reigning in glory at the right hand of the Father.

Which is to say: belief that God works the miraculous has never been limited to fringe movements in Christianity. It has always been normative; but it is always within the context of confessed historic norms. Real miracles confirm the faith once and for all delivered; and do not lead us away from it.

-CryptoLutheran

Pentecostalism has been influenced a great deal by the New Thought movement of the late 19th century, WoF even moreso.

Some streams of New Thought can be ethically oriented, such as Marianne Williamson's approach, but historically it's tended to rely alot on shallow wishful thinking and basic human greed to drive interest.

How the prosperity gospel has driven Nigerian Christians away from Christ

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