Dare to Believe

We have designated August as Prosperity Month at Unity Spiritual Center Denver, so my mind is focusing on ways to speak about the subject. Well-known prosperity teachers in the New Thought movement of today come to mind; people like Mary Manin Morrissey, author of Building Your Field of Dreams and creator of Prosperity Plus and Prosperity Plus II, and Edwene Gaines, minister, teacher and author of The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity. Those who have been in the Unity movement for some time know that Catherine Ponder was a pioneering thought leader in the realm of prosperity consciousness. Her teaching is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. If you have not yet read her book, The Prosperity Secrets of the Ages, I highly recommend that you do. There are many other prosperity teachers, but they are the ones who have, to my knowledge, had the most far-reaching and profound influence on the prosperity consciousness of our movement. 

Bestselling author, and Pastor of Lakewood Church, Joel Osteen, is a leading voice in the arena of what is commonly known as the “prosperity gospel” for those who are seeking a more traditional approach. I realize that not everyone appreciates Mr. Osteen’s teaching. Some of his peers even denounce him because he does not teach the doctrine of sin and salvation. I understand, too, that not everyone who is reading this post relates to Mr. Osteen’s approach to Scripture or even his presentation style. Regardless of what one may think of him personally or professionally, it is apparent that he is speaking to many people right where they are and to what they need in a very powerful and meaningful way. His church, the largest Protestant church in the United States, boasts an average weekly attendance of over 43,000. In addition, his televised sermons are viewed by over 7 million people weekly and over 20 million monthly in 100 countries.¹ Obviously, he is reaching people in numbers that none of those mentioned above, or probably even in the totality of our movement, have done to date.

While I do not agree with his theology, I am inspired by Pastor Osteen’s books. I truly appreciate the opportunity he provides me to reinterpret his traditional perspective into language that fits my theology. It seems that he is teaching, albeit from a traditional and more literal approach, much of what Catherine Ponder teaches from a metaphysical perspective of Scripture. In fact, there is nothing new in what Mr. Osteen teaches. He is simply teaching in a way that reaches those who still view the Bible literally. Obviously, they are a much larger segment of the population than those of us in New Thought.

As I have begun to consider my Sunday lessons on prosperity during August, I am once again drawn to read and listen to the audiobook version of Mr. Osteen’s book, Break Out! 5 Keys to go beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life. I used this book as the foundation for a series of lessons I gave nearly three years ago at Unity of Arlington. Not surprising to me, because it happens frequently when I revisit books, I am reading and hearing things that I missed before. I realize that what is actually happening is that I am reading and listening from a different perspective. I have grown in my consciousness over the past three years, so naturally, I am experiencing his words differently.

Although he doesn’t use the word, Mr. Osteen understands the power of ‘consciousness.’ In my first read/listen through, I was concerned that Mr. Osteen was attempting to brainwash the listener/reader into believing that some supernatural deity is going to favor him or her with great wealth and physical healing, and fulfill all of their dreams at any moment; once again, provided that they put God first in their lives. I wondered if perhaps his approach might do more harm than good as it first appears that he is attempting to convince us that this capricious God is waiting for us to win his favor, but without being specific about how to do that.  Additionally, this approach has the potential of leaving the reader/listener with shame, blame and guilt in the event that “God’s favor” does not manifest in their lives. 

However, on my second listen I heard something that I had completely missed the first time; something that altered my perspective. In the first few minutes of the audio book and on the fourth page of the printed version Mr. Osteen says,

“Sometimes you need faith and victory spoken over your life.  Words have creative power.  When you receive them into your spirit, they can ignite seeds of increase on the inside.  That’s the reason I’ve written this book…There are new levels of your destiny still in front of you.  But break out starts in your thinking.” 

When I heard that, I understood.  I understood why Mr. Osteen wrote the book and what he intended to activate in the reader/listener.

Whether he is conscious of it or not, Mr. Osteen is teaching the Unity message all the while remaining true to his traditional Christian roots.  His message, while presented in language that we in Unity would not use, is the same message that Unity has been teaching for over one-hundred years - life is consciousness. In effect, what he is teaching is the message that those of us in Unity have heard for years; namely, “what you think about comes about;” or “change your thinking, change your life.”  His statement quoted in the paragraph above echoes the words of Charles Fillmore, the co-founder of Unity, in the original Unity correspondence courses from 1909.  Mr. Fillmore stated,

“This substance of true words is seed, and the harvest will be rich with increase to all who recognize that their seed words have in them life, substance and intelligence. It is these qualities in words of Truth that make them so powerful in demonstrating prosperity, or health, or whatever is desired.” 

Later in the book, Mr. Osteen says, “The real battle is taking place in our thought life, those thoughts that say “It will not happen. You’re too old. You’ve made too many mistakes. You’ll never accomplish your dreams.”

Mr. Fillmore said, “True prosperity is the consciousness of abundance based on the understanding of God as the inexhaustible Resource always open to man.”

Both men are saying that our experience of prosperity is the effect of our consciousness, and our consciousness is the sum total of all our beliefs. When we fill our minds with thoughts that are grounded in the Absolute Good that God is, we will experience the manifestations of Good in our lives.  We must keep our minds stayed on the Truth.  Mr. Osteen’s book, albeit from a traditional Christian perspective, is filled with words of Truth, or seeds, that when “taken into our spirit,” (when received and believed in our consciousness) must produce evidence reflecting their nature.

In Unity, we do not believe in a God of caprice, but in the unchanging nature of God as Universal Law.  It is done unto us as we believe, not because God is up there somewhere judging us and determining when we have been good enough to earn his favor, but because the Law always works. That is why it is law. It is unchanging. It is known as the law of cause and effect, the law of mind action, the law of attraction, and by other names as well.  Life is consciousness. We are responsible for our individual consciousness. Ultimately, it appears that is Mr. Osteen’s message as well. As he says, breaking out of a current unfavorable condition begins with making a shift in our thinking.  We must be willing to change our thinking in order to affect a shift and change our lives.

Over the course of the next few weeks during my Sunday morning talks I will be exploring the topic of “prosperity” from many different perspectives. I hope you will join us as together we take these prosperity teachings “into our spirit” and begin to live them fully.

¹ Wikipedia