Today I want to talk about the gospel of extortion and the prosperity gospel. all though they may appear differently they both feed on the same two emotions, they are both fake gospels and they both come from the same camp, with the same purpose.
the gospel of extortion (hereafter TGOE) is being sold under the much more palatable name of "the prosperity gospel" this is the gospel that promises if people send in a certain amount of money they will be healed of what ever disease or illness they are afflicted with.
some times the televangelist extorting will say something like "God is telling me that some where in the United States there is a woman who has been suffering with a bad back; if she will send me all of her money, every last cent, God blesses the big givers! her back will be healed, hallelujah amen." and so every woman with a bad back in the U.S thinks he's talking to her, and some of them send in the prescribed amount. and (obviously) and then eventually, one woman is going to call into the station, saying her back feels a little better already (it's called the placebo effect, her back pain will return momentarily.) this encourages hesitant women with back pain to give money, and eventually the placebo effect strike's a enthusiastic person once again, and so she calls in. by next week the televangelist can report that 200 women called in saying they had been healed thanks to him. thus fulling the fire for another fleece-a-thon.
We see this gospel preached every day on TBN. we hear it on the radio and we sometimes even see it in our mail. don't believe me?
you can buy Miracle spring water of off Pat Robertson.
a Catholic Church in California offers a healing crucifix via mail.
several people have went to Benny Hinn or Kathryn Kulman gatherings to find they couldn't be healed because the didn't donate enough money.
I mentioned before TGOE draws on two emotions, they are fear and desperation.
fear of what will become of them if they don't donate, desperation from being in illness for so long.
so then, why is TGOE so popular? one reason:
the simple and scary fact is, people will believe ANY ONE for the sole fact that they are on the screens of boxes placed through out their house. they think "well he must know what he's talking about since he has his own tv show." but the fact is, any one could with the money can buy 30 minutes with of airtime and use it to con people nation wide.
we don't just see this in Christianity, we also see it in politics.
just for a minute, I want to talk about Fox News.
Glen Beck tells people every week that their president is a communist, and that he is purposefully trying to undermine the country and the USD. he tells people not to pay taxes (to support this communists' regime) and not to fill out their 2010 census form.
eventually, he gets a handful of fear mongers to buy into to him.
and he tells them they can't trust the dollar any more. that they need to invest in GOLD conveniently, Glen Beck's sponsor is goldline, a company that sells gold over the phone/Internet. every week Glen Beck delivers tales of terror, followed by a solution: go to a tea party, buy gold (from goldline) arm yourself.
he's making fear-mongers and the uneducated feel important,he's making them feel like they are going to save their country. and so his fanbase buys the books, buys the gold, keeps the guns loaded. (after all, a census worker could strike at any time) Beck, Copeland, Hinn and the like are out to fleece the world, to steal from the poor and the uneducated and the sick. in either the name of God or the name of Country, in some cases both,
