Socio-Religious Implications of Prosperity Gospel in Nigerian Churches: An Evaluation

Abstract

Prosperity Gospel is prevalent in Nigerians Churches. Its spread cuts across sectional and denominational boundaries in Christianity. However, its content is fraught with heresies as some preachers consider it as necessary evidence of a believer’s salvation. This paper aim is to examine factors responsible for the spread of prosperity gospel and evaluate its socio-religious implications in Nigeria. The work adopted a combination of historical, interpretative and evaluative approaches as research methods. The paper revealed that, there are positive and negative socio-religious implications of prosperity Gospel among churches in Nigeria. The work thus posits that, prosperity teaching is not strange to the bible. However, over emphasis on material possession on wealth as tantamount to genuine evidence of salvation as some prosperity preachers argue is heretical and therefore, should be discarded.

Keywords: Church, Nigerian, Social, Religion, and Prosperity gospel