THE LAW OF PROSPERITY
False Christianity Ralph Waldo Trine was one of the early influences on the prosperity doctrine taught by E.W. Kenyon and also by today's word faith movement. Prosperity is seen to be the result of a "law of prosperity" that can be tapped by those who understand its secrets. Hagin, Copeland, Capps, and other more modern teachers are simply repeating the metaphysical ideas of Trine.
Trine wrote:
"This is the law of prosperity: When apparent adversity comes, be not cast
down by it, but make the best of it, and always look forward for better things,
for conditions more prosperous. To hold yourself in this attitude of mind is to
set into operation subtle, silent, and irresistible forces that sooner or later
will actualize in material form that which is today merely an idea. But ideas
have occult power, and ideas, when rightly planted and rightly tended, are the
seeds that actualize material conditions."
"It is
significant to note that Trine attributes the confession of prosperity to
'occult power.' Trine believed that 'thought is a force, and it has occult
power of unknown proportions when rightly used and wisely directed.' This usage
of occult powers is, of course, a practice that the Faith teachers would
publicly reject. Nevertheless, the Faith teachers must come to grips with the
fact that those who began the practices of positive mental attitude and
positive confession attributed their ability to acquire riches to psychic and
occultic power. For example, Trine advocated the occultic practice of
visualization as a means to become prosperous. He instructs his followers in
the art of visualizing prosperity through mental suggestion and verbal affirmation."
(D.R. McConnell, A Different Gospel..., The Doctrine of Prosperity,
1988, pp. 173-74)
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