Treasurers on Earth: The Gospel of Prosperity
by Gerald Iversen
Young man clears his field in the drought-plagued northern heights of Ethiopia.
Image by: Paul Jeffrey
Source: Women's Division
The ¡°gospel of prosperity¡± is the belief that God wants Christians to be financially rich. It is promoted by many conservative evangelists, especially tel-evangelists. This gospel appeals to people from various incomes. It confirms to the wealthy that their wealth is proof God loves them, and that it's OK to pursue wealth, even to make it top priority. It appeals to the poor because it seems like a way out of poverty.
But, like Santa Claus, the gospel of prosperity is a lie for the poor. When poor children are good, Santa still does not come for them.
This new gospel teaches that poor believers are doing something wrong, which blocks them from God¡¯s financial blessings. It¡¯s a downward spiral: Perhaps the poor do not love God enough, or don¡¯t have enough faith or are not giving enough money to support ¡°God¡¯s work.¡±
This gospel is quite different from Jesus¡¯ teachings about abundance, which urges us to share instead of hoarding our many blessings. Abundance is ultimately based on the people being willing to share, on building community, on God's grace. Prosperity is ultimately based on the self, a "me-and-Jesus" theology.
Many tel-evangelists have become rich preaching the gospel of prosperity because their followers support them financially to keep the message coming.
The gospel of prosperity feeds directly into the worst parts of The American Dream with its focus on possessions as signs of success. It can lead to serious debt, even bankruptcy. It disregards Care of Creation.
The Word-Faith Movement
The gospel of prosperity is part of the fastest growing segment of Christianity today -- the Word-Faith Movement, also known as the Positive Confession or simply "Faith" movement. Its growth is at least partially due to the massive amounts of money the leaders are able to extract from the faithful. This influx of cash allows for the construction of huge buildings, extensive ministries, and more importantly, wide exposure on television, which translates into more followers. Not only do many Word-Faith preachers broadcast their services and campaigns, but Word-Faith leaders Paul and Jan Crouch, own the largest Christian-based television network in the world. The Crouch¡¯s Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), with an estimated net worth of $600 million dollars, is capable of televising all over the world.
The prosperity gospel is spreading widely Latin America, especially Mexico, Africa and Asia, especially Korea.
Well-known personalities within the Word-Faith Movement include Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Robert Tilton, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer and Frederick K.C. Price.
According to Word-Faith teachings, you can command, and God will make you healthy or wealthy. Followers are encouraged to give a financial offering to the preacher¡¯s ministry as a ¡°seed¡± to grow into their desired health or wealth.
The Bible and the gospel of prosperity
Elwood "Woody" Rieke, a hunger activist and retired Lutheran pastor (ELCA) living in LaCrescent, Minn, described how the Bible being used to support a gospel of prosperity:
¡°You can always pick and choose the verses you may select from your Bible.... If you only read those portions of the scriptures that make you feel comfortable or affirmed, you could easily come to believe in such a gospel of prosperity.
¡°But I would call it cheap grace, as Luther and Bonhoeffer did."
Mr. Rieke said the Gospels and some of Apostle Paul's writings demonstrate that God in Jesus the Christ offers preferential treatment to the poor and the marginalized.
¡°Our culture is caught up in a God of power and/or prosperity,¡± he said. ¡°That is not the God shown in II Cor. 12:8-9, ¡®My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made known in weakness.¡¯"
Mr. Rieke believes the gospel of prosperity dovetails with the mantras of a consumption-oriented society. When people believe in a gospel of prosperity, then the more they can spend ¨C- whether or not they need what¡¯s purchased -- the more they have been blessed.
¡°To use a baseball analogy, it¡¯s been said, ¡®People of privilege are those who have been born on third base, but feel as if they have hit a triple,¡¯¡± Mr. Rieke said.
This differs from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he said.
¡°Jesus says in Matthew 6:19-20, ¡®Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.¡¯¡±
A theology of the cross
Theologian Douglas Hall is author of The Cross in Our Context: Jesus and the Suffering World. In that book Mr. Hall questions if Christianity has taught us to love consumption and waste. Mr. Hall writes:
¡°Is there some link between our trust in God and our astonishing prosperity, our being 'first,' our superpower-dom? Many avowed Christians think so, and they can count upon a whole hoary tradition ... to back up their argument.
¡°But can we, who have at least some niggling consciousness of the victims that have been created by our abundance, continue to draw upon that argument? Can we, who have had to face the racism, classism, sexism, homophobia and other once-hidden realities of our 'Christian' culture, still avoid the crisis that 'begins with the household of God'(I Peter 4:17)?¡±
Mr. Hall contrasts a ¡°theology of glory¡± with a ¡°theology of the cross,¡± phrases first used by Martin Luther and then by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Mr. Hall wrote:
"A theology of glory confuses and distorts because it presents divine revelation in a straightforward, undialectical and authoritarian manner that silences argument, silences doubt -- silences, therefore, real humanity.... The theology of the cross is first of all a statement about God. And what it says about God is not that God thinks humankind so wretched that it deserves death and hell, but that God thinks humankind and the whole creation so good, so beautiful, so precious in its intention and potentiality, that its actualization, its fulfillment, in redemption is worth dying for."
by Gerald Iversen
Young man clears his field in the drought-plagued northern heights of Ethiopia.
Image by: Paul Jeffrey
Source: Women's Division
The ¡°gospel of prosperity¡± is the belief that God wants Christians to be financially rich. It is promoted by many conservative evangelists, especially tel-evangelists. This gospel appeals to people from various incomes. It confirms to the wealthy that their wealth is proof God loves them, and that it's OK to pursue wealth, even to make it top priority. It appeals to the poor because it seems like a way out of poverty.
But, like Santa Claus, the gospel of prosperity is a lie for the poor. When poor children are good, Santa still does not come for them.
This new gospel teaches that poor believers are doing something wrong, which blocks them from God¡¯s financial blessings. It¡¯s a downward spiral: Perhaps the poor do not love God enough, or don¡¯t have enough faith or are not giving enough money to support ¡°God¡¯s work.¡±
This gospel is quite different from Jesus¡¯ teachings about abundance, which urges us to share instead of hoarding our many blessings. Abundance is ultimately based on the people being willing to share, on building community, on God's grace. Prosperity is ultimately based on the self, a "me-and-Jesus" theology.
Many tel-evangelists have become rich preaching the gospel of prosperity because their followers support them financially to keep the message coming.
The gospel of prosperity feeds directly into the worst parts of The American Dream with its focus on possessions as signs of success. It can lead to serious debt, even bankruptcy. It disregards Care of Creation.
The Word-Faith Movement
The gospel of prosperity is part of the fastest growing segment of Christianity today -- the Word-Faith Movement, also known as the Positive Confession or simply "Faith" movement. Its growth is at least partially due to the massive amounts of money the leaders are able to extract from the faithful. This influx of cash allows for the construction of huge buildings, extensive ministries, and more importantly, wide exposure on television, which translates into more followers. Not only do many Word-Faith preachers broadcast their services and campaigns, but Word-Faith leaders Paul and Jan Crouch, own the largest Christian-based television network in the world. The Crouch¡¯s Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), with an estimated net worth of $600 million dollars, is capable of televising all over the world.
The prosperity gospel is spreading widely Latin America, especially Mexico, Africa and Asia, especially Korea.
Well-known personalities within the Word-Faith Movement include Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Robert Tilton, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer and Frederick K.C. Price.
According to Word-Faith teachings, you can command, and God will make you healthy or wealthy. Followers are encouraged to give a financial offering to the preacher¡¯s ministry as a ¡°seed¡± to grow into their desired health or wealth.
The Bible and the gospel of prosperity
Elwood "Woody" Rieke, a hunger activist and retired Lutheran pastor (ELCA) living in LaCrescent, Minn, described how the Bible being used to support a gospel of prosperity:
¡°You can always pick and choose the verses you may select from your Bible.... If you only read those portions of the scriptures that make you feel comfortable or affirmed, you could easily come to believe in such a gospel of prosperity.
¡°But I would call it cheap grace, as Luther and Bonhoeffer did."
Mr. Rieke said the Gospels and some of Apostle Paul's writings demonstrate that God in Jesus the Christ offers preferential treatment to the poor and the marginalized.
¡°Our culture is caught up in a God of power and/or prosperity,¡± he said. ¡°That is not the God shown in II Cor. 12:8-9, ¡®My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made known in weakness.¡¯"
Mr. Rieke believes the gospel of prosperity dovetails with the mantras of a consumption-oriented society. When people believe in a gospel of prosperity, then the more they can spend ¨C- whether or not they need what¡¯s purchased -- the more they have been blessed.
¡°To use a baseball analogy, it¡¯s been said, ¡®People of privilege are those who have been born on third base, but feel as if they have hit a triple,¡¯¡± Mr. Rieke said.
This differs from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he said.
¡°Jesus says in Matthew 6:19-20, ¡®Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.¡¯¡±
A theology of the cross
Theologian Douglas Hall is author of The Cross in Our Context: Jesus and the Suffering World. In that book Mr. Hall questions if Christianity has taught us to love consumption and waste. Mr. Hall writes:
¡°Is there some link between our trust in God and our astonishing prosperity, our being 'first,' our superpower-dom? Many avowed Christians think so, and they can count upon a whole hoary tradition ... to back up their argument.
¡°But can we, who have at least some niggling consciousness of the victims that have been created by our abundance, continue to draw upon that argument? Can we, who have had to face the racism, classism, sexism, homophobia and other once-hidden realities of our 'Christian' culture, still avoid the crisis that 'begins with the household of God'(I Peter 4:17)?¡±
Mr. Hall contrasts a ¡°theology of glory¡± with a ¡°theology of the cross,¡± phrases first used by Martin Luther and then by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Mr. Hall wrote:
"A theology of glory confuses and distorts because it presents divine revelation in a straightforward, undialectical and authoritarian manner that silences argument, silences doubt -- silences, therefore, real humanity.... The theology of the cross is first of all a statement about God. And what it says about God is not that God thinks humankind so wretched that it deserves death and hell, but that God thinks humankind and the whole creation so good, so beautiful, so precious in its intention and potentiality, that its actualization, its fulfillment, in redemption is worth dying for."
