ABSTRACT
Prosperity gospel preaching is a double-barrelled socio-religious phenomenon which is fast becoming one of the most significant expressions of Christianity and is remarkably wielding a pervasive influence within the Nigerian religious space. As a dominant strain of popular spirituality, prosperity gospel has remained a major socio-cultural force in Nigeria. The study generally attempts a comprehensive study of prosperity gospel in Nigeria and specifically, it examines the impacts and conflicting views on the reasons for the shift in emphasis of prosperity preachers from asceticism to materialism. The study is crafted using phenomenological approach for its richness and objectivity. The results show that prosperity preaching is currently the major preoccupation of the Pentecostals and has challenged endemic poverty in Nigeria through its emphasis on spiritual and economic empowerment programmes of the prosperity purveyors which is engendering remarkable social, economic and spiritual transformation in the Nigerian society. But the Pentecostals’ undue emphasis on giving as an investment for future prosperity occasioned by wrong interpretation of Scriptures by prosperity preachers resulting to misinformation and misapprehension of people about prosperity has negatively impacted on a broad spectrum of the Nigerian Christians and churches financially, socially and spiritually. At the moment, there seems to be a gradual paradigm shift in the orientation of people from hard labour to idleness and from holiness to worldliness in Nigeria. In view of the foregoing, the work, in recognition of some positivism of prosperity gospel draws its conclusion that the impacts of prosperity gospel are more damaging than beneficial in Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The emergence of prosperity gospel preaching dates back to the 19th and 20th centuries. It is currently a universal phenomenon that is frequently preached in urban areas especially in churches and on the electronic media. It has commanded scholarly attention, debates and literature on the subject. Historical records abound that prosperity preaching began in the United States of America (USA). This was precipitated through the formative role played by Essek William Kenyon who lived from 1867-1948, and who is said to have initially put in place the cardinal principles for prosperity gospel preaching (Young, 2005; Mumford, 2012). The principles Kenyon develop was probably cultic in origin (McConnell, 2007). However, Kenneth Erwin Hagin (1917-2003) seems to have borrowed heavily from Kenyon’s ideology and developed his own prosperity theology. It is established that Kenyon’s ideologies were also adopted, propagated and popularized by television and faith preachers in the 1950s like William Branham, Oral Roberts and Gordon Lindsay among several others (Okwori, 1995). Prosperity preaching was handed down to posterity under different nomenclatures such as “word faith” or “word of faith movement”, “positive confession”, “faith formula”, or “faith message”, “hyper-faith”, “health and wealth theology”, “name it and claim it gospel”, “blab it and grab it gospel”, “gospel of success”, and “prosperity gospel” as it advanced down through the ages (Jones, 2006; Achunike, 2007; MacArthur, 1992). For the purpose of this study, prosperity preaching, prosperity gospel or prosperity gospel preaching will be used interchangeably. McConnell (1990) informs that right from its source in the USA, prosperity gospel emphasizes the “Three “Ps”: Power, Prestige and Prosperity” (p. 170).
As a student, the televangelists significantly influenced Benson Andrew Idahosa (1938-1998), a Nigerian, at Christ for the Nations Bible Institute in the USA (Emeka, 2002). History shows that within this epoch, prosperity preaching blossomed and was transported to different parts of the globe by people who contacted the various purveyors of prosperity preaching in the USA (Okwori, 1995). At the turn of events in the 1970s, Idahosa responsively brought and planted his Nigerian version of the prosperity message somewhat slightly at variant to the USA version, giving it an African context (Emeka, 2002). Idahosa, pioneered prosperity gospel preaching in Nigeria and thus emerged its true Nigerian father (Ojo, 2013).
Prosperity gospel certainly is a global subject. It is known that right from the inception of prosperity preaching in Nigeria, many Nigerians are ever enthusiastic about it and are vigorously pursuing it in the same manner that people are captivated about religion and are deeply engrossed in its activities. This desire and search for prosperity probably cuts across all religions and all fields of human endeavour. This seems to account for the reason prosperity churches are proliferating in contemporary Nigeria. In the observation of Iheanacho (2009), the more these prosperity churches multiply in Nigeria, the more “They gradually shift emphasis from spirituality and eternal life to earthly life course, here and now” (p.106). Without doubt, prosperity as preached in Nigeria has enjoyed great patronage from the masses. Most Nigerians are probably embracing prosperity messages for its promise of wealth and health (Gwamna, 2013). Added to this is the fact that prosperity preaching is probably thriving in Nigeria gloriously because of African.
