Here's another fun article mocking the Prosperity Gospel:

It is the notion that all you need is hard work and you will prosper – except in this case, "hard work" gets replaced with prayer and large donations to your church.

Seen that way, Prosperity lies somewhere on the same spectrum of fashionable, particularly American optimism as the 1990s self-help movement, Tony Robbins-style motivational speaking, and the kind of ultra-positive thinking stressed by bestsellers like The Secret, all of which teach that you should "fake it until you make it." Think Oprah and How to Make Friends and Influence People, but guaranteed by the love of Jesus Christ, and you've got an idea of the doctrine's seductiveness.

…a preacher might say, `If you give this offering, God will give you a house.' And if they did get the house, people did think that it was an answer to prayer, when in fact it was really bad banking policy."

My two great interests the last several years have been the "prosperity doctrine" and the "housing bubble".  It's quite fun to see them intersect.

Lending standards and poor risk management had much more to do with this financial crisis than the prosperity gospel, but it has certainly played a part.  The question going forward is how these churches survive? Will their congregants continue to tithe even when they know they won't be blessed financially. My guess, is some of them will. But a great many won't.

For those of you who are wondering what the hell is going on with our economy, I suggest you listen to these two episodes of This American Life.

The first episode (Giant Pool of Money) was produced about 4 months ago and gives the best explanation of the Subprime Housing Crisis that I have ever heard. I highly recommend it. It's incredible. The second episode (Another Frightening Show about the Economy) was produced last week, and gives an excellent accounting of what exactly is happening to our Financial System. These shows explain this economic mess in very simple terms. 

- The Giant Pool of Money (95 Cents.)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=355 

and

- Another Frightening Show about the Economy.  (Free) 

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=365

You can also get both episodes on I-tunes.  

For those of you who have I-tunes, just pay the 99cents and buy The Giant Pool of Money. It will be the best 99 cents you ever spent.

(And then buy "Live Your Life" by TI. I love that song. I'm pretty sure it's an homage to the Numa Numa guy.) 

I have to be honest, my faith in Christ is hanging by a thread. And most days I think I would be happier just being an atheist. 

That said, posts like this from other Christians, give me hope.

If the Prosperity Gospel could be widely discredited, then perhaps whatever pain America has coming because of our greed and profligacy might be redeemed.

The silver lining of this coming recession, is that it will expose the Prosperity Preachers and the evil they preach. And it may just save my Faith.

That's pretty much the gist of this article on CNN:

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 Riverside, he realized that Prosperity's central promise — that God would "make a way" for poor people to enjoy the better things in life — had developed an additional, toxic expression during sub-prime 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."

Actually, it was "greedy parishoners meet greedy brokers" and together they create FINANCIAL CRISIS THAT HARD-WORKING CATALYST HAS TO PAY OFF!

Thanks, morons, thanks.

And let me just ad, this is definitely going to financially hurt the churches who depend on the prosperity gospel for their funding. If the tithing is based solely on a love for giving, then yes, I suspect the church will survive any type of economic recession or depression. However, if the giving is based on a belief that it will make you rich, then when the smoke clears and it becomes obvious that no one is getting rich for several years, the giving is going to slow down significantly.  And that's going to make it rough for these churches to support multiple campuses. And ultimately, I think it's going to lead to a bankruptcy or two. And thus, when the Depression hits and I'm jobless, living with my parents, raising my chickens and trying to plant beans and rice in my parents back yard in North Portland, I'm going to find great solace in these failures and I will laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh…. 

Dow down 773. 

Perhaps someone should have told Wall Street about the Prosperity Gospel.

I'm of the belief that America is in for a rough couple of years, no matter what the government does.  You can only live beyond your means for so long, before the debt becomes due. And America's debt is due.   

Five years ago I traveled through China and met some very poor but very happy people. And I came to the conclusion that Americans were pretty spoiled. I think we as a people could learn to toughen up a little bit. It's gonna be painful but America will survive this financial crisis, and we will be better people for it.  

Our country is on the precipice of initiating one of the greatest bailouts in the history of the world. It will essentially completely socialize our financial system. And then you can begin referring to me a Camrade Catalyst.  

However, there is a chance to stop or at least alter the outcome. All you have to do is contact your Representative, and tell them to oppose any Bailout of Wall Street without a significant tax increase on the Finance system.

For example, this could be accomplished by a 1/4 percentage tax increase on all stock sales. Or by an increase in the estate tax. Or they could raise the capital gains tax. 

If Wall Street wants tax money, then they can pay for it through higher taxes. Don't fool yourself, someone is going to have to pay for this, and I don't want it to be me. And I don't want it to be my children. (Well, I don't actually have kids. So I don't want JP's kids to have to pay it.)  

Here's the link to finding your representative:

https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

If your Representative is a Democrat tell them you'll vote for the Republican in the fall. And vice versa, if your Representative is a Republican, tell them you'll vote for the Democrat. I worked in DC for five years, and trust me, Congress pays attention to their constituents, and they are desperately afraid of not getting elected next year.  

Anyway, I just called my Congressman. There is no reason we as taxpayers should be on the hook for the greed and stupidity of Wall Street.

Update:

George Bush and the Republican Administration wants unfettered access to 700 Billion dollars to help protect you from financial ruin. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/business/21cong.html?hp 

How come this all feels so familiar? Oh yeah, that's what they said about Iraq too.  

This is going to be a ten part series for those who are interested. 

As is evidenced by the 500 point drop in the Dow today, our economy is in some serious trouble. I'm not going to assign blame, other than to say, America has been living beyond it's means, and now it is time to pay that debt back.  

I'm also going to be very curious to see how this economic downturn affects our many "Business Churches" around the country. Because if these pastors/ceo's actually ran their churches like a business, then I suspect we're going to see some "church" bankruptcies as well.

Should be interesting.  

Guess which "companies" are full of people who believe so strongly in the "company" and their leadership that they are willing to put all their financial safety in the "companies" hand?

You guessed it, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:

"It's hard to overstate how — and I don't mean this in a weird, Waco, Texas, kind of way — Fannie and Freddie are kind of cultish companies," said the former senior Fannie employee. "True believers [are] gung-ho and work like crazy, and they believe in what they're doing and believe in their companies' mission. . . . And Fannie is chock-full of people like that. Just chock-full of true believers."

Cults don't apply only to churches.

"This is my family's financial future," said Lorrie Rudin, former director of executive compensation for Fannie Mae, who retired last year. "I worked there for 20 years, and I'm just absolutely devastated and terrified."

I feel bad for Lorrie. But this is why you don't put all your trust in leaders. They will fail you.