In the latest edition of the Vatican-approved Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica, two of the pope’s communication advisers, Antonio Spadaro and Marcelo Figueroa, wrote an article dated 18th July 2018 entitled, “The Prosperity Gospel: Dangerous and Different”, in which they strongly rebuked those they regard as “prosperity preachers”.
In the article, the authors named and shamed well-known and generally well-respected Christian TV preachers such as Paula White, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Gloria Copeland, Benny Hinn, and Paul Yonggi Cho, holding them responsible for spreading this “heresy” through the media and television networks such as TBN.
“Names such as Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn, Robert Tilton, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer and others have increased their popularity and wealth thanks to their focus on knowing this gospel, emphasizing it and pushing it to its limits.”
Even the American President Donald Trump got a mention in the article, being accused of associating with these pastors, and linking their message with “the American Dream”.
“It leads to the conclusion that the United States has grown as a nation under the blessing of the providential God of the Evangelical movement. Meanwhile, those who dwell south of the Rio Grande are sinking in poverty because the Catholic Church has a different, opposed vision exalting poverty.”
The authors claimed that this so-called “prosperity gospel” was born in the United States and has since spread to Africa, especially Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa, as well as in India and South Korea.
“The preachers, prophets and apostles who have joined this branch of neo-Pentecostalism have taken up more and more important posts in the mass media, published an enormous quantity of books that have rapidly become best-sellers, and given speeches that are often transmitted to millions of people via the internet and social media.”
The dangers, they note, of this “religious anthropocentrism”, is that people would not trust Jesus as their saviour or the source of salvation, but as the source of wealth and health. Such a “gospel” they claim, views poverty, sickness and unhappiness as a lack of faith, and warn that this form of belief can “overshadow the Gospel of Christ.”
The authors point out that Pope Francis has strongly warned “the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean that “a sort of prosperity gospel” at the level of pastoral work creates churches “concerned with efficacy, success, quantifiable results and good statistics. The Church ends up being run like a business in a misleading way that keeps people away from the mystery of faith.”
Speaking against the principles of seed-sowing, the authors asserted that “When all is said and done, the spiritual principle of the seed and the harvest, in this evangelical interpretation that takes it completely out of context, states that giving is above all an economic act that is measured in terms of return on investment.”
In their view, “this “Gospel,” which puts the accent on faith as a “merit” to climb the social ladder, is unjust and radically anti-evangelical.”
It is interesting to note that the Catholic Church, in speaking in such strong terms against “prosperity preachers”, fails to acknowledge that albeit the Catholic Church is exalting poverty, it has amassed immense wealth over the years, among other things, through the sale of indulgences. This practice is what is commonly known as “buying your way into heaven” by giving donations to the Catholic Church to ease your way through purgatory.
Is this a case of the kettle calling the pot black?
Don’t shoot me down. I’m just a concerned citizen.
https://laciviltacattolica.com/the-prosperity-gospel-dangerous-and-different/
Nana Akua Dede