Army of Priests

One of the local churches, in which I have some involvement, has a pledge that the audience stands and reads before the offering is taken (I believe it has something to do with affiliation with Bill Johnson as I have also seen it happen in one other church). Whilst I don’t have the pledge written down, it is similar to this:

God, as we faithfully give our tithes and offerings we stand on your ability to provide for us. We claim that as we reach out in the supernatural we will see an abundance flow such as:

• Checks in the mail
• Favourable settlements
• Gifts and surprises
• Good health
• New opportunities
• Expenses decreasing
• Income increasing
• etc

This is the worst case of the prosperity gospel I have ever seen. Unsurprisingly, the pastor maintains that the congregation must be getting richer because the offerings increase each week. I’ve got a feeling there is another reason for this.

Not everyone in that congregation in wholly devoted to prosperity teaching. Some of these people feel that it’s not right but don’t know why. This post in my attempt to answer that question.

A rant…

I think most Christians would agree that the ‘way’ of Christ is in opposition to the ‘way’ of the world (Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 2:12; James 1:27, 4:4; 2 Peter 1:4; 1 John 2:15, 5:4, 5:19). I also think that most Christians would say the church is meant to challenge the world. But over the millennium the institution that is meant to change the world has instead becomes a propagator of its values.

The world is addicted to money. We spend most of our time either earning or spending it. We do this constantly because we have been taught that the accumulation of stuff is the chief goal of a westerners existence. From the moment we are born we are bombarded with advertisements telling us that we are somehow lacking and in need of another trinket. We watch TV shows and movies that further reinforce the view that endlessly buying things is normal and right. The brainwashing is very effective. By the time a child is two or three they will beg their mother for items in the supermarket. We are told, and believe, that endless consumption is the best way of living.

This is a destructive myth. We are the richest generation of people to ever live. The average house size has doubled since the 1970s; we have bigger TVs, more cars, and easier access to a huge variety of services. Yet despite all these technological and economic advances we have the least leisure time since the feudal ages and ever decreasing happiness indicators. We believe that buying stuff will make us happier (via more beauty, entertainment, comfort, etc) yet the statistics show that the opposite is true. Western societies are so rich, yet our youth kill themselves.

Our possessions exert a disproportionate level of control over our life. In order to own something I must first work to purchase it, then work to maintain it, work to clean it, work to insure it, and work upgrade it before eventually throwing it out and replacing it with something new. In the meantime the enjoyment we derive from it is overcome by our fear of losing it. We are very protective and jealous of our possessions. Eventually, upon examining this cycle, we have to ask if our stuff is serving us or if we are serving our stuff.

Everyday we work. We then come home exhausted, so we enjoy an easy form of entertainment like television. The advertisements of television tell us that we suck and need something to make ourselves feel or be better. So we go to the shopping centre to buy what we are told will make us feel better – a new dress, computer game, kitchen appliance, brand of bake beans, etc. To afford this we need to work. The cycle repeats. But each time the things we buy fall short of fixing the perceived problem created through advertising, so we feel continuously worse. We are trapped in a hole we cannot get out of. Using this system to fix the problems created by this system is like drinking salt water when you are thirsty.

We are addicted to money. No matter how much of it we have, we always want more. We do not know when to say, “enough.” Earlier this year the Australian federal government introduced means testing for Family Tax Benefit A. Families that earned more than AU$150,000 per year would miss out on the refund. After the announcement online web sites quickly filled with hundreds of comments from people protesting that just because they earned so much did not mean they were rich, but rather they were barely managing and needed every spare dollar they could find.

Back in November the government announced a stimulus package to help fend off a recession (Australia has thus far been spared). Part of this package included one off lump sum payments. These payments were targeted at specific demographics in order to have the greatest effect. People who did not receive a payment (like my demographic) quickly started to complain that this was not fair. They were greedy because the government was generous. A recent study has shown that of the richest 20% of Australians, 49% say they are facing severe financial difficulty. It seems the more money you have, the more money you need.

“He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 5:10)

This is bad enough for us, but made much worse by the fact that accumulating money often involves taking advantage of others. Clothes are made by child workers in deplorable conditions in order to increase profit margins. Coffee prices are artificially deflated and diamond prices inflated. Government subsidies and import controls are designed to give some people an advantage over others. The abuses are systematic and pervade every aspect of our economy. Finally, capitalist systems measure value in terms of capital. Thus the poor find themselves without basic necessities like food, water, and shelter. Billions live in extreme poverty even though no one is individually responsible.

“Behold, the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.” (James 5:4)

Then we walk into church and beg (or command) God for money. Imagine a dreadfully obese person walking into church, his body spewing over several seats, calling on God for more donuts; or an Alcoholics Anonymous group using supernatural power to get more alcohol. We should be thankful that God knows what we actually need (Mathew 6:8), and only gives us good things (7:11), because, as Oscar Wilde said (in keeping with Romans 1:24), “When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers.”

What we have done is created a spirituality that supports the very things Christ fought against (and this is an endemic problem in Christendom, not limited to the prosperity gospel). The world sets comfort and security as the highest pursuits, but Christ argued against this (Mathew 6:25-34; Luke 9:23; %%). Consumerism tries to get these things through possessions. Security features, insurance, and a steady income give us security.  Entertainment, furniture, large houses, and fashion give us comfort.

All the prosperity gospel has done is replace the means to get these things, but not the motive. Rather than working hard to keep our job, the prosperity gospel calls on God’s power to help us. Rather than going to the gym to look good the prosperity gospel says we should just pray (just ask Joyce Myer who advocates that Christians shouldn’t be ugly). Rather than install security features the prosperity gospel would have us call down angels (the person who once advocated this to me got robbed). We have the same aims as the world, but just use spirituality as a new tool to reach them. Have you ever wondered why so many people turn up for church and leave as soon as the service is over not to appear again for a week? Perhaps they interested in security in the form of eternal fire insurance, or comfort in assuming moral superiority over their peers.

“Rather than serve God and have it cost us everything, our flesh self wants God to serve us and for this to cost us nothing.  So we turn the gospel about Jesus into a gospel about us.  What can Jesus do for you?” – Greg Boyd

Jesus set up a dramatically different way living. Rather than making God a tool to get more, God enables us to give more. The apostles gave up their possessions and shared everything (Acts 2:44-45, 4:34-47). When know we are loved by God our motives change. His incredible love gives us assurance than security is not something we need to concern ourselves with, and our desire for comfort is far outweighed by the desire to reciprocate God’s love by caring for his children.

I do believe that God’s economy is an economy of abundance. But I believe this is an economy of generosity, not greed. Luke 18:29-30 says, “Jesus said to them, ‘and I assure you that anyone who leaves home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will receive much more in this present age and eternal life in the age to come.’” When we give generously to others, we hope also that others will give generously to us (and trust God to cover any gaps).

I would estimate that a typical family washing machine is used for about 5 hours a week. There are 168 hours in a week, and probably about 50 hours a week when it is appropriate to use a washing machine. That means that, theoretically, 10 families could use one machine. Instead each of these families will have a machine of their own. This equates to thousands of dollars spent on extra washing machines. This money (and the production power put into making the machines) could have been spent on so many causes. If we apply the same logic to our houses there are literally tens of thousands of dollars we could save each year.

This means there are thousands of dollars of less work we need to do each year, that’s time and energy that could be spent building relationships with family and friends (fixing the descent in those happiness indicators). In the meantime, less consumption means less abuse of the poor by the system. This is a big windfall but it does have its costs. We lose some degree of comfort, we face the physiological struggles of fighting against the system, and we have to learn to live with each other – to share.

It is ironic that we constantly pester our children to share when we adults are not willing to do the same. You wouldn’t buy two identical toys for your kids, so why do we do this as adults? We have made greed a virtue – the foundation of our economic system. The prosperity gospel has also set greed up as a virtue, except it is disguised as “faith”.

God, help me to remove the word “mine” from my vocabulary…

Why can’t we just give up on our desperate, fearful attempts to control God and just trust Him to do what He said he would do? Jesus said, “Do not worry” (Mathew 6:25-34). When I see Christians persistently talking about money, I think they are worried. The bible says, “God gives you the power to get wealth to establish his covenant.” (Deuteronomy 8:18) I’ve heard many stories of missionaries or servants thinking they’d have to call off their ministry when an extra dollar or a truck load of peanut butter turns up. I believe that God is not going to let our lack get in the way of His mission. What I don’t believe is that “establishing his covenant” requires a mansion, three BMWs and a private jet. Thank God, we already have so, so much to give. Even if you are dirt poor you can relax – God can still use you.

Seriously, we all need to stop grasping at stuff, take a deep breath, and remember God’s words: “It’s going to be ok.”

Then maybe we can get to more exciting stuff like transforming society and changing lives. See, the prosperity gospel is boring. That’s why there is so much hype and show associated with it – we need to make it interesting. But God providing for our needs or healing people is the milk of Christianity. I’ve been seeing that stuff since I was 5. The solid food – the exiting stuff – is drug addicts being set free, prostitutes finding love outside of sex, homosexuals finding acceptance, and business executives repenting. That stuff is really cool even without smoke machines, laser lights, and a high octane preacher.

But these things require that we show some of that darn inconvenient sacrificial love – even, shudder, love of enemies. Focusing on the supernatural is so much easier. One prayer and (bam!) someone is healed. It’s instant and easy because God won’t let illness get in the way of our real job – serving the poor and broken. A truly changed life cannot be made through a single prayer, it take years of work, but it is so much more rewarding.

The prosperity gospel claims to be about freedom but instead it is about captivity. It holds us captive to the same old worldly pursuits of consumerism. It’s so easy to ask God for more stuff, but it is hard to ask Him for more justice. It’s hard to stop hiding behind convenient excuses and repent of implicitly in the destructive systems that produce our material wealth. In some ways we should be thankful that much of the world is poor, because rich people consume too many resources!

Real freedom is what enables you to be dangerously generous with the poor. It enables you to pray blessings over your enemies. It enables you to invest in relationships over materials. I want that type of freedom. I don’t want to be so concerned with my comfort and security. I just want to fall in love with God.

When I was young my parents owned a business that went bankrupt (this would have been during the recession of the early nineties), as a result we lost our house and ended up living in a caravan for several years (first in a caravan park, later on an outback property). Over the entire time my parents tithed diligently and believed in God’s help. Yet the church never helped them. They assumed that our financial troubles must be due to unfaithfulness in tithing or some other sin. It was convenient for them to believe this, not so much for us.

I grew up on home brand muslibars. I missed out on school excursions and camps, and we’d search the shops for clothes that looked like the school uniform but were much cheaper (even if a little off colour). We didn’t really get a good break until the year before I started university. Yet I don’t look back at the history and feel underprivileged. I was so used to living that way I didn’t even realise we were poor. Money really isn’t that big a deal. I’ll be happy whether I am rich or poor and can serve God regardless of any circumstance.

I don’t think I have anything more to rant about…

Update

Since I wrote this (but before I posted it) the pastor of the aforementioned church was diagnosed with bowel cancer and the subsequent operations to fix this were hindered by severe complications. The prognosis is not good. A quick prayer for this church community would be appreciated.