Prosperity gospel

[pat_k]

What is wrong with all you people? Don't you understand that God favors the good with wealth? Don't you understand that those he has not favored are bad, undeserving people? If they were good, God would have favored them with opportunity and riches.

This is the word of God according to the Prosperity Gospel:

Thou shalt leave the distribution of the nation's wealth to Our Father operating through the free market.

Thou shalt endeavor to transfer an ever greater portion of the nation's wealth into the hands of the good.

Good people must not give into the temptation to offer a helping hand to those God has seen fit not to favor. They must not endeavor to create economic equality. To give into those temptations is to go against the will of God. Those who go against the will of God shall suffer His wrath; they shall lose that which He has bestowed upon them.

It is right and proper to endeavor to transfer an ever greater portion of nation's wealth into the hands of the good. It is right and proper to punish those who work to transfer the nation's wealth to the bad and undeserving. The power to transfer the nation's wealth is bestowed up the best of the best. Our father would not have bestowed such power unless he intended it be used. To shower ever greater wealth on those he has favored is to act in accord with His plan.

Amen

[Warpy]

1. Rich man's Calivinsm, heavy on the determinism, light on Jesus

and the only one in most congregations who ever prospered from prosperity gospel was the crooked preacher.

Some of my extended family got sucked into one of these churches in the 90s. Took them 6 months to realize the were being had.

[pat_k]

4. A powerful contingent that subscribes to the basic tenets...

... holds sway in the WH an Congress.

It is a belief system that plays into the "blame the victim" belief system has long been a cornerstone of conservative politics.

National Catholic Reporter
Beware the 'prosperity gospel' of the Trump administration

So there's reason to believe that Trump's rendition of civil religion will include the idea that individuals should first seek wealth and health and that prosperity is a sign that God is on your side. The inescapable corollary, of course, is that poverty and disease are signs that God doesn't think much of you...

The Whites, the Joel Osteens, Creflo Dollars and Kenneth Copelands of the prosperity gospel world have turned away from the hard words of Scripture that encourage us to have compassion and mercy for the poor. The poor, in their view, are out of favor with God and need to start pulling on their own bootstraps, though that old cliché assumes they can afford boots...

But if attitudes associated with prosperity gospel preaching take root in the Trump White House and in the Congress that now is controlled by the new president-elect's party, America's poor and needy are in for a hard time...

But it does mean that when those who get battered by our economic system — many of whom, against their own interests, voted for Trump out of frustration with that system — are tossed aside by a government marinated in the prosperity gospel, the rest of us must come to their aid and demand that everyone be treated with respect, especially those who can't afford to buy respect on the open market of American capitalism....

Time
Donald Trump's Prosperity Preachers

“It is not a far leap from televangelists marketing their vitamin shakes to a political candidate marketing his brand of steaks,” Russell Moore, the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy leader, says. “It exposes divides that were already present, and it is bringing conversations that were happening in private out into the public.”...

GOD IS GREEN

Trump does not need the come-to-Jesus conversion long required of American politicians to have the ideal testimony for prosperity believers. His economic success is the truest sign of God’s blessing...

Murdock says he has sensed Trump’s spirit is “a phenomena” needed at a time when “we smell the odor of disrespect coming from the government.”...

“The message is an end-run around political systems,” Bowler says. “It says, I don’t need the government to provide for the conditions of my life. Theologically speaking, they shouldn’t need a politician.” Trump isn’t a politician, at least until recently, yet he is the master of their own trade.

[FiveGoodMen]

2. Preachers of the prosperity gospel are calling their 'savior' a liar

A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone.

You know the commandments: 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'"

"All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

-- Luke 18:18-22 (emphasis mine)

If Jesus took a whip to the money-changers, what would he do to Joel Osteen?

[pat_k]

6. It is truly mystifying.

From article in National Catholic Report (Post #4 above).

So there's reason to believe that Trump's rendition of civil religion will include the idea that individuals should first seek wealth and health and that prosperity is a sign that God is on your side. The inescapable corollary, of course, is that poverty and disease are signs that God doesn't think much of you.

What is especially disheartening about proponents of the prosperity gospel is that they turn both the letter and spirit of the Bible on its head.

It is amazing and mystifying how often the tenets of this or that religion as "handed down" are twisted to serve some nefarious purpose. Can you think of any religious texts that utterly reject the "Golden Rule," or are so utterly devoid of compassion?

I suppose the notion that God "wants" you to be rich and healthy is a very attractive one. Perhaps those who have bought the notion that "If I am a good, Godly, Christian, I shall be rewarded with riches," are simply oblivious to the extent to which they are inviting the repugnant, unchristian, "inescapable corollary" into their psyche.

[gibraltar72]

3. Back in the day

My pastor told his flock of barely getting by folks Jesus wants me to drive a Cadillac.

[pat_k]

5. As noted in an article...

... in the National Catholic Report (Post #4 above):

there's reason to believe that Trump's rendition of civil religion will include the idea that individuals should first seek wealth and health and that prosperity is a sign that God is on your side. The inescapable corollary, of course, is that poverty and disease are signs that God doesn't think much of you.

That corollary is rarely stated by the politicians and evangelicals who subscribe to the tenets, but it has clearly been front and center in the conservative agenda. The "thou shalts" in my post may be viewed as "over the top," but I don't think I'm overstating what is going on in the heads of many who currently have control of the levers of power (both inside and outside DC). I believe those who are openly abusing power to ensure that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer are operating on a "might makes right," "prosperity gospel," or other "blame the victim" belief system. And they are being enabled by a growing portion of the electorate who are buying into the same ideas. (Tragically, many of the enablers are victims that those in power blame for their own predicament.)

[workinclasszero]

7. 1 Timothy 6:10...Matthew 19:24

1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Matthew 19:24
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

[pat_k]

8. "proponents of the prosperity gospel... turn both the letter and spirit...

... of the Bible on its head."

"Beware the 'prosperity gospel' of the Trump administration"
https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/small-c-catholic/beware-prosperity-gospel-trump-administration

It is truly mindbogglingly how so many appear to be so good at subscribing to utterly irreconcilable ideas.