Now this is very interesting and shows events do come full circle. It seems there is a prominent protestant who is fighting what he calls the “Prosperity Gospel” — something he says certain evangelicals preach.
When I first read this, it reminded me of watching Pat Robertson some years ago as he pitched for donations. He would tell his viewers that if they donated to him (or, presumably, to their church) God would reward them, and often read letters from people who claimed that after having sent him money they could not afford, some good fortune happened upon them, Praise God!, and it more than made up for what they thought they couldn’t afford to donate.
My next thought was that it was about those preachers who live the high lifestyle and make no apology for it, that the Bible makes provision for prosperity be you clergy or lay.
It’s sort of the former, actually. Here is what J. Lee Grady told Christianity Today, via Matt Friedeman’s post on the American Family Association’s Rightly Concerned Blog.
J.Lee Grady didn’t wait for an economic recession to battle the prosperity gospel. He has been fighting it for years.
Grady is the editor of Charisma, the magazine that serves as a gathering tent for Pentecostal and charismatic Christians. Its columns and advertisements feature some of the most prominent names in the movement — and some of the most frequent targets of Grady’s criticism.
“I don’t want to lump all of those people and everything they teach under the umbrella of indulgences,” Grady says. “But if they’re doing manipulative things to get people to open their wallets, and twisting Scripture just like it was done during medieval times, we ought to challenge that. All we know to do is to get on the housetops and shout for reform.”
Other evangelicals have long criticized the teaching that God promises his followers wealth and happiness. But few within the movement have made their calls for repentance so public.
“Martin Luther had to say something, or they were going to keep selling indulgences. Now we have that going on in our midst,” Grady told Christianity Today in his Orlando office. “If someone says, ‘Send your $100 to be saved,’ that is selling indulgences, and there are people doing that on Trinity Broadcasting Network.” The TV corporation’s fundraising appeals have been among Grady’s most frequent targets.
A leading protestant mind calling out ministers for selling indulgences? Wow! That is one way to look at it. You never know where you may get some intellectual support for an argument. In the case of Catholic Apologetics, we may have an unusual ally in Mr. Grady.
