How the Prosperity Gospel Turned American Christians Into Inadvertent Satan Worshipers
Their belief system is no longer derived from the teachings of Christ
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." — Timothy 6:10
One of the many problems in the United States of America is that the population has been conditioned to shy away from important conversations. One example is the way we twist ourselves into knots to justify the accumulation of obscene wealth.
"Well, wealthy people earned it."
"It's not a crime to be rich."
"Not all wealthy people lie, cheat, steal and exploit their fellow human beings."
There are those who claim that this is a "Christian" nation, but it's a simple fact that the Bible denounces wealth. It's an illuminating use of AI to request a list of every Biblical passage that denounces wealth. If you do this, you'll find that it's a consistent theme.
The Bible equates wealth to evil again and again and again.
I recently misquoted the verse from Timothy as "Money is the root of all evil." It was interesting how many people commented to tell me that the quote is "The love of money is the root of all evil." First of all, that correction wasn't entirely accurate. Second, they're quoting a translation (perhaps my version was closer to the original text). Third, all three versions mean the same thing anyway.
Money is evil.
Money is Satan.
Worshiping money, according to the Bible, is the same as worshiping the devil.
When people quibble with you over the accuracy of a quote it's a form of thought terminating cliché. They want to distract from the more important argument, and divert the attention to something trivial. People do this instinctively when they experience agitation brought on by cognitive dissonance. I can't blame anyone for doing this because this is how American citizens have been conditioned to think. It's the end result of decades of pro-evil, pro-wealth cultural indoctrination.
Deep down in our hearts, we know that wealth is evil. We know that allowing a small group of people to control all the resources of the world leads to exploitation, suffering, and human oppression. But this knowledge contradicts our sense of national identity, so it makes us feel uncomfortable. We'd rather talk about anything else than push through our cognitive dissonance and explore that the Bible clearly states that wealth is evil.
"You got the quote wrong."
People say this out of the same reflexive response that causes them to take their hand off a hot stove. They don't even think about it. They don't want to think about the implications of acknowledging that wealth is evil.
We won't solve the problems of our country until we've overcome this Satanic conditioning.
But where did it come from?
Would it surprise you to learn that the people of this country didn't always think like this? Another problem that we have in the United States is we get into the habit of assuming that "it's always been that way." This applies to a number of subjects. Again, believing that allows us to ignore the tugging of our conscience and assume that there's nothing we can do to help our fellow human beings.
"There has always been racism."
"People exploit each other."
"Slavery has existed since the beginning of time."
None of these statements are true, and if you study history you'll discover the evidence. Yes, human beings are prone to brutality, but it evolves. There were periods of human history where there was no such thing as racism. Slavery has existed in the form of punishment, then for profit, then as a matter of birth. Much of the specific brutality of an age is derived from the ideological misconceptions of a society.
So, we have a moral obligation to explore whether or not our fundamental beliefs are in service to good or evil. As a critical thinker, no matter how much pain it causes you, you have to entertain the possibility that wealth is evil.
I remember a moment in a college class I took on colonial literature. We were discussing John Woolman, who was born in 1720. The professor mentioned that Woolman believed he had become too wealthy, so he began giving up his businesses out of a sense of moral obligation.
I remember everyone in the class, including the teacher, thought that behavior was bizarre. Unfortunately, our cognitive dissonance was such that we couldn't collectively overcome the compulsion to explore how prominent, successful people of the past equated wealth with evil.
Not one person was willing to say, "I agree with Woolman. Wealth is evil."
How did we get so brainwashed that we can't even have that discussion?
How did a "Christian" nation become so obsessed with defending cruel men who accumulate disgusting fortunes?
The answer is the prosperity gospel. I previously mentioned that evil ideas evolve throughout the centuries. In other articles, I've explored how the Christian church equated race with sin in order to protect the profits they were raking in from the slave trade. That's the invention of racism, but racism didn't emerge fully formed. It has steadily gotten worse and more malicious over time.
You could argue that the prosperity gospel developed independently during the slave era. The prosperity gospel is the idea that obscene wealth is a sign of God's favor. Essentially, you can sum it up like this:
Bible: "Money is evil."
Prosperity gospel: "Is it though?"
One of the reasons malicious forces are so against the idea of intellectual inquiry is that when you start doing research, you realize the things you believe don't originate where you thought they did.
For example, the image of a devil carrying a pitchfork is not in the Bible. That actually appeared in Dante's The Divine Comedy.
Simply put, devils with pitchforks is not in the Bible. Neither is the prosperity gospel. So, when somebody says "money is the root of all evil" and you're compelled to say, "No it isn't." That's not the Bible talking. That's Satan using your voice to whisper lies.
I don't believe in Satan. But I do believe in evil.
Every now and then you take a look at history and you see just how much has been stolen from good, decent, working class people. As for me, I have a contentious relationship with Christianity. I'm a survivor of Christian abuse. It frustrates me to no end that Christians refuse to have respectful conversations with me about so many issues.
One of the big problems is that modern Christianity has been so corrupted by the prosperity gospel that they completely disregard the anti-wealth message that is fundamental to the Bible. I'm talking about people who have spent years and years studying Christian thought. They've all been deceived. The prosperity gospel isn't scripture. It's a malicious perversion of scripture designed to protect and justify the existence of exploitation and oppression.
If all you quote is the prosperity gospel, you're quoting Satan.
This whole episode should lend some insight into the nature of evil. We tend to think of evil as some malicious force in a far off land. Agents of evil are probably responsible for that assumption.
"Oh, evil isn't here. Our community is perfect. Our community is great. Our community is exceptional. Our community is the best in the world. Evil lives, far, far, away," says the devil.
The truth is that half the people you brush shoulders with as you walk down the street have succumbed to evil, and everyone you meet is vulnerable to its deceits.
When you look at the prosperity gospel, it's easy to see what happened. Some bad person read the Bible, saw the teachings clearly state that money is evil, and said, "We have to do something about that." So he created this convoluted lie to justify wealth, and through the passage of time that lie has corrupted Christianity throughout the world.
The prosperity gospel has turned Christians into inadvertent Satan worshipers. This is why you meet so many people who claim to be Christians who act as if they've never read a single word of the Bible.
Throughout my whole life I've always been frustrated as to why Christianity is not a force of good in our society. There are messages in the Bible that should be common sense. We're supposed to help the poor. We're supposed to welcome immigrants. We're supposed to feed the hungry and heal the sick.
But modern Christianity in the United States of America labors to create a government that assists sexual predators and racists. They support politicians that cut social programs and increase obscene wealth for a select, privileged, few. They promote charitable giving rather than universal prosperity, and that mechanism allows the rich to determine which people get help, and which ones die.
It's plainly been corrupted into an ideology of evil and the prosperity gospel is the reason why.
Today, decent people have an obligation to push through their socially indoctrinated cognitive dissonance that compels them to instinctively justify obscene wealth. We have to become pilgrims of truth and inform the devout Christians of today that they've been misled by a Satanic lie that has been growing like a malignant tumor for centuries.
I realize that a lot of the people who read this are going to feel tempted to dismiss me. They're going to say, "That guy is out of his mind, the prosperity gospel isn't a form of Satan worship." But I challenge you to ask yourself this question, what if your dismissal is a consequence of cognitive dissonance? What if your reflexive instinct to dismiss me is because deep down in your heart, you know that I'm right? What if by persisting in your current Christian beliefs, you have inadvertently become a tool of the devil?
Finally, consider this. If I'm wrong, you will be able to prove it. Truth always wins. Don't you owe it to yourself to remain humble, practice self-reflection, and take care not to cause inadvertent harm?
The prosperity gospel is not in the Bible. It's a lie that was told later.
If you worship money, you have forsaken Christ.
Published in An Injustice!
A new intersectional publication, geared towards voices, values, and identities!
Written by Walter Rhein
Certified English and physics teacher. Editor, journalist, illustrator and novelist. walterrhein@gmail.com
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