The Prosperity Gospel!

In the beginning of what we know as Christianity, the eastern world was awash with ευαγγέλια/evangélia/gospels, meaning good news.  However, this was a time when various sects competed with each other for converts, with the poor and illiterate being wooed by the faiths with their latest gospels, such as:

When Emperor Constantine conquered the East in 324, he sent his Spanish religious advisor, Osius of Cordoba, to Alexandria with letters to several Biscops exhorting them to make peace among their own. But the mission failed and Constantine, probably at the suggestions of Osius, then issued a decree commanding all Presbyters and their subordinates “be mounted on asses, mules, and horses belonging to the public and travel to the city of Nicaea” in the Roman province of Bithynia, the country of Asia. The Presbyters were instructed by the Emperor to bring with them the manuscripts, from which they orated to the rabble (that’s us!) “Wrapped and bound in leather.” http://www.rense.com/general66/hide.htm, retrieved 30/01/2018.

(A hundred years or more after Albius Theodoret, made his comments on the flood of gospels and the violence between the Christian sects, in 366, Rome saw the same. With the anti-pope Felix II (355-365) presbyter supporter, Damasus, who hired thugs to attack the official late Pope Liberius (352-366) presbyter, Ursinius, the chosen to succeed Liberius for the See of Rome. Ursinius and his followers, were massacred by the order of Damasus, which left 137 Ursinius followers dead. [J.N.D. Kelly (1986), The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, pp. 30-34, Oxford University Press, London, and New York.] Damasus (I) became the bishop of Rome, and became a saint, while Ursinius was exiled, and is classed as an antipope in the list of popes of Rome.)

Violence has always been part of Christianity, as has greed!  And it was in the 1950s that the Prosperity Gospel or “health and wealth gospel” or Prosperity Theology was first coined.  It is not an ancient text, but a perversion of the Christian gospel that claims God rewards increases in faith with increases in health and/or wealth. This teaching is based on a misinterpretation of Scripture (Matthew 25:14–30, and Luke 19:12–27), and has been widely criticized by biblical scholars and theologians.

Historical Development of the Prosperity Gospel.                                                                                         It emerged in the 1950s as a post-World War II Pentecostal movement through the ministry of Oral Roberts.  Influenced by New Thought and Muscular Christianity ideologies.  Popularized by televangelists such as Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Kenneth Copeland, and others.  Today, prominent prosperity gospel teachers include Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, John Hagee, and others.

What do you say on any part or all of this post?

Jeanne, J. E. pp. Jero Jones.