This was my first introduction to what is popularly called the “prosperity gospel” or the “health and wealth” gospel. At the time, the logic seemed airtight: “If it worked for him, why shouldn’t it work for me?” Posted on 01/27/2015 10:33:04 AM PST by SeekAndFind
I have a confession.
When I was in college, I read a book by a prominent megachurch pastor. The author told me to live like a child of God. He told me God wanted to bless me. He also mentioned that if I only believed, God would give me the nicest house in the neighborhood. That seemed to make sense.
The author explained that he once wanted the nicest house in the neighborhood, and God gave it to him. Here was a man with evidence. Not only did he have the story about the house, and other anecdotes, he also had a very nice set of white teeth (Ah, supernaturally white, I thought).
This was my first introduction to what is popularly called the “prosperity gospel” or the “health and wealth” gospel. At the time, the logic seemed airtight: “If it worked for him, why shouldn’t it work for me?”
If I had dug a bit deeper, though, I would have seen the actual reason it worked for him and not for me. It’s because the prosperity gospel is a pyramid scheme.
Here’s how pyramid schemes work.
Step One: A snazzy entrepreneur wants to make a lot of money. Said snazzy entrepreneur tells two little old ladies that if they sell his “Wow-What-A-Sham 3000,” they can make some dough to pay off their cat-sitting bills. That will cost them a startup investment of $401.76. And yes, Wow-What-A-Sham 3000 is a gimmick. But that’s okay, it’s not really about selling the product anyway; it’s about recruiting more salespeople.
Step Two: These two little old ladies recruit more little old ladies, and give them the same spiel.
Step Three: At some point, people realize no one wants to buy the Wow-What-A-Sham 3000, and no one is actually selling any Wow-What-A-Sham 3000s. All the buy-in money is funneling straight up to the top. Meanwhile, snazzy entrepreneur is up in his office, cackling, and swimming in wads of cash.
That’s a pyramid scheme.
What does this descrption have to do with the book by the prosperity pastor? Everything. Because the prosperity gospel is strikingly similar to a pyramid scheme in at least three ways.
1. It’s based on the deceptive success of the guy at the top.
I was bamboozled by the prosperity pastor’s ploy in the same way people are fooled by pyramid schemes. They see the success of the guy at the top, and think: It’s working for him, isn’t it?
Yes, it is. And that’s because someone paid for that pastor’s house. Me. I paid, when I bought the book. So do millions of others, when they bring truckloads of seed-money to his doorstep each weekend. The people who fund the prosperity pastor’s success, in other words, are the people at the bottom of the pyramid. Of course it works for him. He’s at the top.
2. It’s a lie told to desperate people.
Like a pyramid scheme, the health-and-wealth gospel feeds on the down and out. My friend Vallerian Mganga tells me that in Kenya, the health-and-wealth message is the only version of Christianity most people ever hear. My father-in-law, who mentors prisoners, tells me that he runs into this teaching routinely in the prison system. Why? Because the health-and-wealth gospel preys on people desperate for relief.
Missiologist Paul Borthwick tells of a trip to Ghana, where he witnessed a 300-pound preacher appeal to his body as proof that God had blessed him, and would bless his listener’s seed-money as well. “When you live in poverty” the missionary with Borthwick said, “you don't want to feel loved. You want God's power to make you prosper. . . . [T]hey have been taught [that] money is the way to release the power.”
The prosperity gospel isn’t just bad theology. It’s a form of oppression.
3. It feeds our idolatry.
Like the pyramid scheme, the prosperity gospel doesn’t necessarily require financially desperate people. It just needs people who are sufficiently idolatrous. We don’t fall for pyramid schemes because we’re stupid. We fall for them because we want to fall for them. We want the money, health, and esteem they offer—and we want it quick. We want to believe it can all happen with the flick of a “faith” switch in our brains. We want it desperately.
I’ll never forget the time I challenged my friend’s health-and-wealth notions with the life of the apostle Paul. She replied, “Well, Paul didn’t have enough faith.” That’s what pyramid schemes do: they compel us with our idols. Then they blind us to anything—no matter how obvious—that tells us we’re being conned.
Don’t get me wrong: I believe wholeheartedly God wants to bless me. I believe God favors me. I believe he wants me to have the best possible life. But I also believe the good news of Jesus is far better than the prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel climbs over people; Jesus descends to pick us up. The prosperity gospel oppresses the poor; Jesus identifies with the destitute. The prosperity gospel fuels our idol factories; Jesus smashes them with a vision of his glory.
The truly good news is this: Jesus’s dreams for us are weightier than the pursuit of health, wealth, and personal success. Jesus doesn’t offer self-esteem; he offers the esteem of God when we give up self-estimation (Matt. 5:3). He doesn’t offer positivity; he offers God’s profound comfort when we’re brokenhearted by sin (Matt. 5:4). He doesn’t offer the nicest house in the neighborhood; he offers hope in the resurrection when we forego personal power (Matt. 5:5). And he doesn’t offer “supernatural favor” from others, but instead offers God’s eternal favor when we’re despised on his account (Matt. 5:10-12).
In short: Jesus is a better God, a weightier God. He’s not a huckster standing on the top of the pile promising us worldly wealth. He’s a God who climbs down to the bottom of the pyramid. He lays himself flat in the dust and stretches out his arms at the cross, where health, wealth, and abundance are nowhere in sight, and he offers us his riches.
Nicholas McDonald is associate pastor at Carlisle Congregational Church, and is completing his MDiv at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is author of the forthcoming book, Faker (The Good Book Company, 2015), and blogs on art, culture, writing, and Christianity at www.scribblepreach.com.
These preachers are always telling their viewers (many of whom are poor, on Social Security, etc.,) to send the preachers money and God will then make the givers rich. Well, if giving money away will make you rich, why don’t the preachers give money to the viewers? All they’d have to do is provide an address, tell people to send them self-addressed stamped envelopes, and the preachers could stuff the envelopes with money and mail it back to the viewers! Think how rich they’d get! But no...somehow it always has to be the viewers sending money to the preachers.
I had a friend who was deeply in debt, but sending $800 a month to Jesse Duplantis and Mario Murillo. She was convinced God was going to give her many millions of dollars as a result. We, her friends, tried to reason with her, but she wouldn’t listen. She told us we were being “influenced by the spirit of doubt from the pit of Hell,” probably a direct quote from one of those preachers. Needless to say, she never got rich.
I would not want to be one of those preachers when they have to face God someday and answer for what they have done.
Wotta maroon!
We’ve got work to do...spread the word and stuff. You lose potential rewards by dying now and are of no use to God dead in this world.
John 9:4
My pastor said he has a general rule about “Christian” books. If it has the authors face on it, then he doesn’t buy it.
My general rule is that if a new trendy Christian book comes out, I don’t get it. I’ve read bits and pieces of others books when they bought them and have found them to be CRAP.
See Post #44 ... :-) ...
bkmk
bflr
I have friends who are prosperity gospel advocates.
Interestingly enough, they are still waiting for their train to come in.
I’ve been praying for their deliverance from that mindset.
I’d have been inclined to back away out of lightning bolt range......
I believe that God offers me Eternal Life as a free gift. As for this world ... He has a few other things to say:
Matthew 10:
17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; 18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. 21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. 24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
John 15:
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another. 18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
Luke 6:
20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. 22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. 23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
And I think Mormon leader "prosperity 'gospel'" quackery are even bigger whoppers!
* Are we latching on to 'prosperity gospel'? Mormon/Anti-Christian [Thread posted by Greyfoxx39, but article origin was Mormon Times]
* The Mormon Wealth Attribution [Another piece where article origin was Mormon]
* This second FR thread-posting, btw, led to Mormondiscussions.com posting a thread on this same subject: MormonDiscussions.com forum: The Mormon Wealth Attribution
Also, for details of Mormon leaders preaching such a "prosperity 'gospel'" -- see my next two posts.
Unlike the “inside-out” divine impulse of giving, Mormon leaders have made giving to be an outside-in lock-up, imposed upon from without -- or you're...
...out (of the temple, that is).
No chance for special "callings" in the church;
don't get to see your son or daughter married in the temple.
No "forever family." No living with Heavenly Father forever.
You could pay 9.99% of your income, and still be disqualified from all the above...because you broke their man-made "law."
One of the many “First Presidents” (a leader-title) of the Mormon church, Marion G. Romney chose to cite Brigham Young, who in turn was citing another Mormon general First President (Grant)...anyway, all three are in effect, preaching the "Mormon Prosperity 'gospel'":
President Grant at that time was a young apostle, and in his conference talk he said: “I wish to bear my testimony to the Latter-day Saints that all of us who will obey the commandments of God will be prospered in the land. Sacrifice doth bring forth the blessings of heaven. I bear my testimony to the truth of what Brother Lund has said today, that IFthe people will pay their tithes and offerings, they will not only be blessed in their material affairs, but they will be abundantly blessed with increased outpouring of the Spirit of the Lord. …“I bear witness to you, as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, that MATERIAL and spiritual prosperity is predicated upon the fulfillment of the duties and responsibilities that rest upon us as Latter-day Saints. [Then this.] I have rejoiced exceedingly that the debts which the people owe to the Lord in tithing have been forgiven by the Prophet of God. But I want to say to those who are able to pay those debts, it will be a great deal better for them if they will do so, notwithstanding, they have been forgiven.” (In Conference Report, Oct. 1899; italics added.)
Source: The Blessings of an Honest Tithe
Lds leader Heber J. Grant: Prosperity comes to those who observe the law of tithing. When I say prosperity I am not thinking of it in terms of dollars and cents alone, although as a rule the Latter-day Saints who are the best tithe payers are the most prosperous men, financially. (Gospel Standards, p. 58.)
Btw in the same Marion G. Romney message above, he said: From this scripture it is apparent that tithing is a debt which everyone owes to the Lord for his use of the things that the Lord has made and given to him to use. It is a debt just as literally as the grocery bill, or a light bill...
So, Mormon leaders manipulate their flock both through the "prosperity" 'gospel' AND they treat it as a bill to be paid!
Mormon leaders bring together Mormons from all over the world twice a year. At the April 2011 General Conference, Lds General Authority Russell Nelson, citing Mormon Doctrine & Covenants 85:3, said:
Not only that, tithing will keep your name enrolled among the people of God and protect you in “the day of vengeance and burning.”
Source: Face the Future with Faith [Real Mormonism]
(Ah....nothing like a lil religious fire insurance, eh?...Just keep sending me 10% and I can promise you, per Smith, that your post-life will be singe-free...Nothin' like modern-day indulgences being sold at religious fairs...Why...I wonder why Nelson didn't cite D&C 64:23-24? -- which says it even stronger:)
‘Verily, it is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is tithed shall NOT BE BURNED at His coming. For after today cometh the burning,’ that is, at the coming of the Son of Man, ‘for verily I say, tomorrow’ – that is, at the Lord’s coming – ‘all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and I will burn them up, for I am the Lord of Hosts.” (D&C 64:23, 24)
(Nothin' like a lil' threat of hellfire to get people to pay up, eh?)
“The law of tithing, as embodied in the revelations referred to, [in Sec. 119], is an immutable decree of Jehovah to His people, and admits of no evasion by those who would enjoy the blessings of the faithful on the land of Zion, or be classed among the righteous, and avoid the burning at the coming of our Lord.” (Principles of the Gospel, pp. 174-177.)
Q. What does D&C 119 talk about?
A. “Verily, thus saith the Lord, I require all their surplus property to be put into the hands of the bishop of my church in Zion," (D&C 119:1)
[Ah, it still went beyond the 10%...Mormon socialism...whereby its God "REQUIRE[s] all their surplus property to be put into the hands of the bishop of my church in Zion..." (D&C 119:1)
Since tens of thousands of Mormons aren't doing that -- and probably tens of Mormon general authorities --...they've held on to their "surplus property"...there ya have it...Law #1 that is making even Mormonism's hierarchical leaders "CAFETERIA" Mormons!!!!
Guess I should’ve read the entire thread before typing :)
It’s sort of like a gambling addiction ... even though you lose pretty much most of the time, you are sure your “big win” is right around the corner. Time to pull that lever again! ... LOL ...
True Christ followers have discernment.
The 700 Club also does a lot of good work in the US and abroad through its affiliate organizations such as "Operation Blessing", Orphan's Promise, and the American Center for Law and Justice. I do not always agree with Pat Robertson (and I can not stand his son Gordon), I do think he did a wonderful thing when he formed the ACLJ to counter the influence of the ACLU and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. The ACLJ has represented many Christians in lawsuits brought against them by these organizations.
That is VERY interesting that you should mention that because before he got saved, he was a COMPULSIVE gambler.
God delivered him from it. To an extent.
He swore of gambling, but still is quite the risk taker.
Paul had the kind of faith we should ALL strive for. He finally got to the point in his life where he could honestly and earnestly say:
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