Money Doctrines: Traditional versus Word of Faith Teaching

Book excerpt: There has been a significant volume of scholarly work conducted recently within the accounting literature on the role of money, investment and accounting within religious organizations. However, scant attention has been paid to modern Pentecostal understandings of money, investment and accounting. In this book we study the major money-related doctrines of American husband-and-wife televangelist Faith Teachers Kenneth and Gloria Copeland. We find the unique Copeland interpretation of "Treasures in Heaven" (Matthew 6:20) to be a complete inversion of the traditional or Anglican theological interpretation. While the traditional interpretation is that this verse refers to future rewards available after death, the Copelands argue that it refers to rewards existing now in the heavenly places in what they refer to as the believer's "heavenly bank account". The Copelands also believe in a literal "hundredfold return" on monetary and other gifts made "for the gospel's sake" (Mark 10:29-30).