A couple years ago, NPR ran a story on a huge scam that a fundamentalist church secretary had run from her church office, sending letters to as many fundamentalist address lists as she could find claiming the many vehicles in the estate of a wealthy, deceased Christian were, by his will now available for 'only minimal paperwork costs for storage and transfer of title,' to Christian believers and that the fleet this person owned included several vehicles of almost all types, so if interested, please inquire. At a thousand dollars a vehicle, people ordered up their 18 wheelers, luxury limousines, dream cars, and a few took out loans to buy multiple mid-sized American cars to launch their dreams of starting used car businesses.

The perpetrator of this hoax had literally taken in a couple of million dollars in 'these simple paperwork charges' and people waited patiently as she kept sending them letters saying delivery was pending.

Not everyone was so patient. There were people who got suspicious. Someone finally complained to the police, and then the FBI traced the scam to this secretary, confiscated her records, charged her with mail fraud, and began trying to gather witnesses.

They were astonished as they called several of the 'deceased man's beneficiaries' whose denial was so unshaeable that they not only refused to testify, but insisted angrily that unbelievers who didn't understand how God worked had no right to come between them and what the Spirit was obviously doing for them.

Prosperity Gospel picks up the odd note of entitlement to the national heresy of personal, individual salvation. I may be a worthless sinner, but now, a recipient of grace, it's all changed and God's going to do whatever I want or need.

Prosperity Gospel (Anglican and otherwise) also shows up in the same parts of Africa where we hear the most strident fundamentalist voices from Anglicans.

Obviously where AIDS is a major issue, prosperity predisposes believers to stigmatizing and blaming the victim. In that way it's the 'gospel' of Job's comforters. And like the lottery prosperity gospel preys on people who genuinely need hope to keep living. A tiny roadside church I saw with a huge, freshly painted sign, 'Winners' Church' summed that up painfully.

What keeps people loving and trusting (faithing) when it looks like all possibilities are gone? Hope. And what makes people ready prey to opportunists and con artists? Misplaced hope and a denial of skepticism (as cynicism and lack of faith). Ultimately what fuels this is the conviction that 'it's my due.'

The problem here is that it's a skillful blending of good theology and really bad theology. There is a lot of truth in this. All blessings do come from God, so whether the money did come from a real estate commission, tax refund, etc, ultimately Jesus did give it to her. There is also truth in the idea of having faith in God to provide for one's needs.
The problem seems to be that there's a fine line between trusting in God and manipulating God. Are we people of faith because God blesses us, or are we people of faith because we want to demand blessings of God? It gets sticky when trying to sort it all out. There's some of this that isn't too far from things heard in my parish's stewardship campaign, but the base theology is still noticeably different, even if you can't quite put your finger on what it is.
I think it boils down to whether we are Christians because we are responding to God's grace, or we are Christians because we want to get in on God's grace on our own terms.

Prosperity Gospel = American Civil Religion

One need not read very far into any of the four gospels to discover that Jesus taught, by word and example, detachment from possessions and worldly concerns, self-denial, sacrifice, and turning one's focus on others -- God and neighbor -- over one's own ego and appetites. The epistles written by his apostles warn against riches, possessiveness and preoccupation with wealth as dangers for Christians, temptations to idolatry and selfishness. And later saints, like Basil of Caesarea and John Chrysostom, write that everything really belongs to God (see Psalm 24:1); he allows wealth to the rich only for one reason: to share it with the poor, so the rich please him by being generous, and the poor please him by expressing gratitude; not sharing is akin to theft, in their estimation.

This stands in stark contrast to the message of the "prosperity gospel," which, much like the "rapture eschatology" popular among much of the same crowd, comes across more as self-centered escapism from want, pain, suffering and distress than as following the Christ who -- born in someone else's stable and buried in a borrowed tomb, like a charity case at the start and the end of his earthly life -- had nothing and nowhere to lay his head. By the yardstick of the "prosperity gospel," Jesus, with his lack of material success, wouldn't qualify as a "true Christian"!

In the "prosperity gospel" the focus is on receiving for oneself. In the genuine gospel of Jesus Christ, the focus is on giving of oneself to others through the deliberate practice of being humble, modest, merciful, compassionate, charitable and generous, which is precisely what our broken and hurting world needs -- much more than any prosperity. Religious dressing over the same old materialism, consumerism and narcissism that drives an overfed, affluent secular culture doesn't make them right or better. It just warps and obscures what Jesus really taught, confuses people and leaves the world no better off.

It can't be stated bluntly enough. Material success is not necessarily a blessing or sign of God's favor; it can just as well be the sinful fruit of misplaced priorities and immoral activity. And poverty is not necessarily a sign of disbelief or God's displeasure; it can just as easily be the sinful fruit of human irresponsibility and social neglect, the failure to be our brother's keeper. Christianity is not escapism. Christ Jesus is not some cosmic Santa Claus or divine motivational speaker. God is far more important than gaud. And the poor and the disenfranchised have just as much -- if not even more of a place -- in his kingdom: "God chose the poor people of this world to be rich in faith and to possess the kingdom which he promised to those who love him" (James 2:6).

Gregory Orloff

Ms. Rosin quite rightly exposes the prosperity gospel while Mr. Orloff praises the poverty gospel used by the rich to keep the exploited poor contentedly in their place with hopes for pie in the sky in the sweet bye and bye.

Faith doesn't pay the bills and neither addresses how to equitably address both the conservation and the distribution of the world's resources. Communism destroys incentives and capitalism scams the majority for the benefit of the rich for whose generosity the poor are asked to beg.

Mary's song says God "has cast down the mighty,...and lifted up the lowly." but after the brief period in which the church shared all things in common, has any of its branches taken this seriously?

Does not our theology that all things are being made new require that somehow the piety of faith and the reality of physical need be merged rather than separated from one another.

With all due respect to Mr. Woodrum, I fail to see how my post "praised" a "poverty gospel used by the rich to keep the exploited poor contentedly in their place with hopes for pie in the sky in the sweet bye and bye." I said no such thing.

Rather, I explicitly stated that, according to the Bible and the tradition of the Church, wealth is not something to be used egocentrically and self-indulgently to feel good about ourselves and puff us up with a sense of pride and empowerment as "being blessed by God" (unlike "others," by inference). No, they speak of it as something God expects us to share with others to put into practice the love for neighbor that Jesus commanded, as a tangible embodiment of the mercy, compassion and justice he advocated and the humility, modest living and selflessness he exemplified.

That mentality seems to be sorely absent from the "prosperity gospel," which has a lot to say about "believing and receiving," but doesn't say too much about living simply and avoiding extravagance in order to share our surplus with others who are less fortunate than us.

Indeed, Saint Basil of Caesarea even went so far as to tell Christians that luxury and selfishness are tantamount to theft: "When someone steals another person's clothes, we call him a thief. But if someone has the means to clothe the naked and doesn't, shouldn't we call him the same thing? The uneaten bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the unused coat in your closet belongs to the naked; the unworn shoes under your bed belong to the barefoot; the unspent money locked away in your safe belongs to the poor."

That's hardly a "poverty gospel" to keep the poor "in their place" with the mirage of a better lot in the afterlife. That's a rather bold and blatant "Don't be greedy, for God's sake -- share the wealth!"

In contrast to the "prosperity gospel," the following words bespeak a much different (and, so far as I can see, more authentic and healthier) Christian approach to money, wealth, materialism and success:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." (Matthew 6:19-21)

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." (Matthew 6:24)

"It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35)

"Religion does make us very rich, if we are satisfied with what we have. What did we bring into the world? Nothing! What can we take out of the world? Nothing! So, then, if we have food and clothes, that should be enough for us. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and are caught in the trap of many foolish and harmful desires, which pull them down to ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows. But you, man of God, avoid these things." (1 Timothy 6:6-11)

"Instruct those who are rich in this world's goods that they should not be proud and should set their hopes not on money, which is untrustworthy, but on God who gives us richly all that we need for our happiness. They are to do good and be rich in good works, generous in giving and always ready to share -- this is the way they can amass a good capital sum for the future if they want to possess the only life that is real." (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be satisfied with what you have." (Hebrews 13:5)

That's a far cry from what the "prosperity gospel" or secular consumerism preaches! Judging by words like these, it seems rather obvious that Christians are not to validate themselves, their lives, their faith or their self-worth in the eyes of God or man according to what and how much they have.

"Bread for myself is a material problem; bread for my neighbor is a spiritual one," wrote the Christian philosopher Nicholas Berdayev. The solution to economic inequity and social injustice is ultimately rooted the disposition of the human heart. Unless hearts and minds change, nothing else will. How do we, as Christian individuals, households and congregations, put our hearts, resources, budgets and surpluses at the service of others for the common good of humankind? That is the burning question.

And, to be sure, a lot hangs in the balance at to how we answer it. For on Judgment Day, according to Matthew 25:31-46, Christ will not ask us if we believed in him enough to acquire the biggest McMansion on the block, drive the fanciest Mercedes-Benz and amass the most lucrative 401K while checking our latest stock options on the most state-of-the-art cell phone. He is going to ask us if we used what possessions and profits we had to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, house the homeless, care for the sick and visit the jailed at our own expense, because we recognized him in the guise of the least of those in need.

I'm not hearing any of that in the "prosperity gospel."

Gregory Orloff

Gregory, do you have a source for your quote from Basil the Great? I like it rather a lot and find it to be an interesting counterpoint to the idea that "redistribution of wealth" is tantamount to theft.

Thanks.

-Grant Chaput

From St. Basil the Great, Homilia in illud dictum evangelii secundum Lucam: «Destruam horrea mea, et majora ædificabo:» itemque de avaritia (Homily on the saying of the Gospel According to Luke, “I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones,” and on greed), §7 (PG 31, 276B – 277A).

Text of homily in Greek and English:

http://bekkos.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/st-basil-on-stealing-from-the-poor/

All well and good to say the rich should be charitable unless of course one is poor, deserving of course, and is dependent on it.

Jesus kingdom may not be of this world, but we are and a lot more equitable distribution here and know would be most appreciated.