Name it and claim it

Name it and claim it is a "theology" taught by some televangelists, faith healers, megachurches, and Pentecostal preachers. Some such teachers regard the "name it and claim it" label as derogatory and prefer to call their doctrine "Word of Faith" or the "prosperity gospel". Less kind detractors also call Word of Faith theology "blab it and grab it".

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“”… make not my Father's house a house of merchandise.
—John 2:16

The movement has its roots in the griftier parts of New Thought.[1][2][3] The movement itself became popularized through the operations of Kenneth Hagin (1917–2003), a Pentecostal preacher from Texas and later based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He taught faith healing and founded the Rhema Bible Church and Rhema Bible Training College.[4] His church was moderately famous around the state of Oklahoma for the insanely large and expensive Christmas-light display but not really notable for anything else. Hagin authored scores of booklets teaching how the Holy Spirit could make you rich, healthy, and "anointed" with spiritual gifts if you would just have enough faith to "name it and claim it".

What it is about

The gist of "name it and claim it" is that the Bible contains numerous promises from God to Christian believers, but that believers have to first "claim" the promise before it can become effective. These "promises" may include healing from disease, exorcism of evil spirits, power to engage in spiritual warfare against Satan, or various supernatural gifts supposedly from the Holy Spirit. Romans 10:13, which runs:

“”For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

is tortured to breaking point in order to suggest that anything the flock are in need of, not just salvation, can be earned simply by claiming it in the name of the lord. Passages such as Deuteronomy 28:1-14, Isaiah 53:5 and Psalm 91:1 are taken hilariously out of context in an attempt to back up this theological howler.

This basically means that all you need to do is to engage in magical thinking (in a Christian version of The Secret) and/or sympathetic magic (see the “seed” example below) to have the Good Lord shower you with worldly goods and success.

Unsurprisingly, "name it and claim it" is highly controversial among the many shades of Christianity and tends to be especially disliked by those of the left-leaning variety.

Note that God's promise of salvation is normally viewed as requiring acceptance (i.e. you can’t be saved against your will) and hence it is not in itself a distinguishing feature of name it-claim it theology to highlight the necessity of acceptance for salvation.

A variant of the "prosperity gospel" preached by figures like Mike MurdockFile:Wikipedia's W.svg, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar (no, seriously, that's his real name), Todd Coontz,[5] and James Payne[6] involves gulling their more desperate audience members into bribing God sending "seed money" directly to the televangelist with the promise of divine rewards in the form of wealth gains proportional to the size of their "seed". This was parodied by comedian John Oliver on an episode of his show.[7]

Controversial interpretation of the Bible

Since the Bible includes promises that God will meet the needs of believers, some "name it and claim it" preachers focus on this promise in particular and apply it in ways that would make the actual Jesus Christ want to vomit. Do you "need" that new car? Just name it, and claim it! Do you "need" a lot of money? Do you "need" that winning lottery ticket? You get the idea. [note 1] Often these preachers solicit money for their own lavish lifestyles by encouraging tithing, or giving 10% of one's annual income, to the corporation tax-exempt church. For example, former heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield once gave $3.5 million to Creflo Dollar after a title fight. Holyfield's house is now going through foreclosure proceedings.[8] The US Senate had some (fairly feeble) investigations into several Name it and Claim it "ministries."[9]

Large scale economic damage

This line of magical thinking may have helped to fuel the expansion of sub-prime mortgages which fed into a recent economic mess. Preachers encouraged people with bad credit-ratings to take out mortgages on homes that they could not afford because, since they were faithful Christians, God would take care of the rest. In fact, many of the areas worst affected by the housing bubble also happened to be home to churches advocating name-it-and-claim-it.[10]

Roman Catholics

Some prejudiced reactionary Roman Catholics have their own inverted version of this philosophy. In their world view, sin causes all poverty, and Jesus only extends his blessings to Good Catholics™ (however, this looks more like the concept of karma and runs counter to the conventional Catholic teachings, which emphasize charity and compassion). By contrast, liberation theology defines "sin" as "political oppression and suppressing the poor" and, influenced by Marxist views on poverty and class struggle, liberation theologians seeks to change these prevailing patterns through a very human struggle, rather than assuming that God will somehow fix things.

Prominent promoters
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See also

Notes
  1. This philosophy doesn't always work, so some churches urge responsibility in managing one's finances.

References
  1. For Marianne Williamson and Donald Trump, religion is all about themselves: The conviction that you can shape the world with your mind is an American tradition. By Tara Isabella Burton (August 1, 2019) The Washington Post.
  2. All's Right With the World by Charles Benjamin Newcomb (1897) The Philosophical Publishing Company.
  3. Thought-Force in Business and Everyday Life: Being a Series of Lessons in Personal Magnetism, Psychic Influence, Thought-force Concentration, Will Power & Practical Mental Science by William Walter Atkinson (1901) Sydney Flower, 18th edition.
  4. Founder's memorial. rhema.org (Kenneth Hagin Ministries).
  5. Todd Coontz at rockwealth.org.
  6. James Payne at jamespayneministries.com.
  7. Televangelists: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, YouTube, 16 August 2015.
  8. Pulpit Pimpin' + Rich Athletes = $$$! Part 1 and Part 2, Youtube, 19 April 2009.
  9. Rchel Zoll, Televangelists escape penalty in Senate inquiry, NBC News, 7 January 2011.
  10. "Did Christianity Cause the Crash?" Hanna Rosin, the Atlantic Monthly, December 2009.
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