Dangers of the "Prosperity Gospel"

In this months Time Magazine, David Van Biema wrote an article entitled, "Maybe We Should Blame God for the Subprime Mess". The following is just the first paragraph.

Has the so-called Prosperity gospel turned its followers into some of the most willing participants — and hence, victims — of the current financial crisis? That's what a scholar of the fast-growing brand of Pentecostal Christianity believes. While researching a book on black televangelism, says Jonathan Walton, a religion professor at the University of California at Riverside, he realized that Prosperity's central promise — that God will "make a way" for poor people to enjoy the better things in life — had developed an additional, dangerous expression during the subprime-lending boom. Walton says that this encouraged congregants who got dicey mortgages to believe "God caused the bank to ignore my credit score and blessed me with my first house." The results, he says, "were disastrous, because they pretty much turned parishioners into prey for greedy brokers."

Although Biema's research primarily began with black televangelists, fleece preachers of all races have played great roles in this theological undercurrent. I believe that unless we find our foundational truth in the Word of God, we will constantly be "blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit."

You can check out the entire article at http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1847053,00.html.
I am grateful to John Lightsey for sharing this article with me...