The prosperity gospel: Selling Jesus for 30 pieces of silver
… “The prosperity gospel: A Global Epidemic
The words of Jesus Christ
I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me.’
“The righteous will then answer him, ‘When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we ever see you a stranger and welcome you in our homes, or naked and clothe you? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?’
The King will reply, ‘I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these members of my family, you did it for me!’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Away from me, you that are under God's curse! Away to the eternal fire which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels! I was hungry but you would not feed me, thirsty but you would not give me a drink; I was a stranger but you would not welcome me in your homes, naked but you would not clothe me; I was sick and in prison but you would not take care of me.’
“Then they will answer him, ‘When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and would not help you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you, whenever you refused to help one of these least important ones, you refused to help me.’
Matthew 25: 25-35
Can faith in God survive contemporary Christianity?
That is what so many are worrying about today as they watch young people leave religious institutions in droves.
Why are young people leaving the churches? Many of them are raised in Christian homes but see the duplicity of religion. They do no see the religion leaders or followers practicing the words of Jesus Christ, which turns them off.
Many believe in God and have deep spiritual beliefs. So many things turn them away from religion.
One of those that they see is the “prosperity gospel.” which is antithetical to everything Jesus preaches in the New Testament.
What is the prosperity gospel?
It is simple. Those who follow this nonsense are trying to ignore what Jesus has said about feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, and in addition, it is quite similar to what Judas did to Jesus on his last night on earth.
So, here is a succinct definition,
A very basic definition of the prosperity gospel can be described as this: God’s plan is for you to live your best life now. Health, wealth, and happiness are guaranteed on Earth for all who follow Jesus. Heaven is simply the eternal extension of your temporal blessings.
The prosperity gospel’s theological foundation can be traced to at least three twisted versions of biblical truths. Prosperity preacher’s twist these in order to legitimize their version of the gospel.
Costi Hinn, “The prosperity gospel: A global epidemic,” Reformanda, February 8, 2019
This is a good piece, but I disagree when he says that this has a “theology foundation.” It is simply an extension of capitalistic garbage that is philosophically opposite to the beliefs of Jesus Christ.
“Disillusioned by a broken religion”
What do we do when the church looks nothing like Jesus?
Many followers of Jesus feel disillusioned by a broken religion—one that loves political power, promises prosperity, and feeds on fear. We desperately try to rationalize how a loving God can be connected to unloving churches, institutions, and people. We can no longer deny that our version of Christianity is not just imperfect but has been coopted to inflict violence, racism, abuse, hate, and even death.
The question before many Christians is no longer how their faith can survive within a secular culture. It’s how their faith can survive Christianity itself.
Stephen Mattson, “ ‘The Great Reckoning’: Surviving a Christianity That
Looks Nothing Like Christ,” Goodreads, October 23, 2018
Mattson’s short piece in Goodreads summarizes his book and what so many struggle with today. How can a loving God allow so many to distort his teachings?
How did we get to a position where the words of Jesus are distorted by hucksters, which is what these people are?
Many love the idea of making big bucks without see that they are selling Jesus
When did this nonsense become mainstream? Oral Roberts saw the light and became a multi-millionaire,
Long before the Catholic Church was selling indulgences, the correlation between ministry, money, and manipulation was crystal clear. The Bible even describes Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8:9-24) as a magician who thought he could buy the gift of God with money. Specifically speaking, the modern day roots of the prosperity gospel go back approximately seventy years. It was during the 1950’s that this divergent gospel pioneered its way into the mainstream evangelical scene and nobody at the time could have imagined that it would spread across the globe.
Born in 1918, Granville “Oral” Roberts was, in many ways, the lead prosperity pioneer. He went from being a local pastor, to building a multi-million dollar empire based on one major theological premise: God wanted people to be healthy and wealthy.
Oral Roberts didn’t mince words about his version of Jesus or the gospel. He adamantly taught and defended his belief that Jesus’ highest wish is for us to prosper materially and have physical health equal to His peace and power in our soul.[i] He twisted the Bible to make his point and would teach that it was Jesus who said, in 3 John 1:2, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou may prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth,” when in fact that was the Apostle John’s loving way of greeting his readers at the time. John’s greeting is comparable to the first line of many of our modern day e-mails that begin with, “Hi! I hope everything is going well for you.”
Costi Hinn, Reformanda, February 8, 2019
Judas sold his soul for 30 pieces of silver, yet these people do not see the duplicity of their ways. They do not realize that what they are doing is completely opposed to what Jesus stood for: Humility.
St. Augustine
Jesus insisted the the most important characteristic of people was humility, yet people with money are anything but humble,
Humility is considered by St Augustine to be the foundation of all other virtues – the trait that lays the groundwork on our journey toward holiness. During his own conversion, “he came to see clearly that only a person with humility can follow Christ.”
We can often spot when humility is present in someone’s life but translating that to our own lives is not so simple. In addition, since humanity can never exemplify humility to its fullest extent, we struggle to see the full picture of how it can change hearts and shape our world.
So how are we to comprehend this ever-important virtue? Look to our savior Jesus Christ, in whom every human characteristic was perfected and enriched. We find the essence of humility in the human nature of Jesus.
Cameron Edman, “The astounding humility in Jesus’ human nature,” Catholic Stand, February 18, 2018
The prosperity allows for no human humility. It is all about pride, about making big bucks and then bragging about it since it is part of God’s plan.
We have to renounce the prosperity gospel as Christians. There is no theological foundation for such a practice.
It is greed and pride, not humility.
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