Lies of the Prosperity Gospel

Days 21 & 22 in the Art of Dying Well by St. Robert Bellarmine

Day 21: One of my regular readers had great questions related to the issue of equating wealth with God’s blessings, because of the abuses related to the popular yet heretical movement called ‘The Prosperity Gospel’ (Think of some wealthy preachers who fly in private jets, drive expensive cars, live in mansions, and associate this lifestyle with being especially blessed by God). Although it is true that anything good we have does come from above (see James 1:17), it doesn’t mean that those who are religious and rich are particularly favored by God. Remember, it is difficult for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God as our Lord says. It also doesn’t mean that if you are obedient to God that He is going to bless you with lots of material riches. Although the Lord will take care of us, and He will make us rich in the fruits of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, self-control, etc.), it doesn’t mean that the poor will literally become wealthy or well-off. Sadly, some poor Christians believe the false message of the ‘prosperity Gospel’ throughout the world (United States, South America, Africa, India, etc.), and they become ‘poorer’ while their pastor becomes ‘richer.’

Bellarmine’s main point about being a good steward of wealth in ‘The Art of Dying Well’ has nothing to do with the prosperity Gospel, and he actually refutes it’s very error in today’s reading by bringing up the story of the Rich Man (mamed Dives in Church tradition) and the poor man, Lazarus:

“There is another passage in the same Gospel of St. Luke, which may be considered as a kind of commentary on the unjust steward: ‘There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores. Desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, and no one did give him; moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in hell."

This Dives (The Rich Man) was certainly one of those who supposed he was master of his own money, and not a steward under God; and therefore he imagined not that he offended against God, when he was clothed in purple and linen, and feasted sumptuously every day, and had his dogs, and his buffoons. For he perhaps said within himself: " I spend my own money, I do no injury to any one, I violate not the laws of God, I do not blaspheme nor swear, I observe the sabbath, I honor my parents, I do not kill, nor commit adultery, nor steal, nor bear false witness, nor do I covet my neighbor’s wife, or anything else."

But if such was the case, why was he buried in hell? Why tormented in the fire? We must then acknowledge that all those are deceived who suppose they are the "absolute" masters of their money; for if Dives had any more grievous sins to answer for, the Holy Scripture would certainly have mentioned them. But since nothing more has been added, we are given to understand that the superfluous adornment of his body with costly garments, and his daily magnificent banquets, and the multitude of his servants and dogs, whilst he had no compassion for the poor, was a sufficient cause of his condemnation to eternal torments.

Let it, therefore, be a fixed rule for living well and dying well, often to consider and seriously to ponder on the account that must be given to God of our luxury in palaces, in gardens, in chariots, in the multitude of servants, in the splendor of dress, in banquets, in hoarding up riches, in unnecessary expenses, which injure a great multitude of the poor and sick, who stand in need of our superfluities; and who now cry to God, and in the day of judgment will not cease crying out until we, together with the rich man, shall be condemned to eternal flames.

*This reflection was supposed to be sent out yesterday, but since I had a busy day doing an interview (A Sneak Peak into Amish Church Life to be released soon!) and lots of video editing, it was a day late! So here are 2 Days in 1 for this email.

Day 22: Chapter 6 on the Virtue of Piety

I grew up falsely thinking that a ‘pious person’ was someone who was ‘religiously prideful’ in the negative sense. (Perhaps this came from the mainstream media). In truth, piety refers to someone who shows great reverence and awe toward God. A pious person is someone filled with a sense of worship at all times and has a godly fear (the healthy kind) about them. They know that God is God, and they are not. He is the Sun, and they are the planet that revolves around Him. To rebel against this order is to cause the universe itself to collapse!

If we are to ‘die well,’ then we must die with a sense of pious love towards God and even worship Him with our dying breath. (It was reported that the last words of Pope Benedict XVI were ‘Jesus, I love you’ which is a great example of this!)

Bellarmine writes,

“What is piety? A virtue, or gift of the Holy Spirit, by which we regard God, and worship Him, and venerate Him as our Father. We are therefore commanded so to deny ungodliness, that we may "live piously in this world;" or, what amounts to the same thing, so to live piously in this world, that we may deny all ungodliness. But why are these two mentioned, since one would be sufficient?… For there are many Christians who seem pious by praying to God, by assisting at the adorable sacrifice, by hearing sermons, but, in the meanwhile, they either blaspheme God, or swear falsely, or break through their vows. And what else is this, but to pretend to be "pious" towards God, and yet be impious at the same time?

…Our God is a jealous God, "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me: and showing mercy unto thousands to them that love me, and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:5-6). This the Son of God Himself has taught us by His own example, who, although meek and humble of heart, "when he was reviled, did not revile; when he suffered, he threatened not;" but when he saw in the temple "them that sold oxen, and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitters," being inflamed with great zeal, He made a scourge of little cords, and the money of the changers he poured out, their tables he overthrew, saying: "My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves" And this He did twice once in the first year of his preaching, according to St. John; and again in the last year of his ministry, according to the testimony of three Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, & Luke).