Prosperity Preachers Guilty of 'Sanctifying' Materialism, Charges Theologian

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009 Posted: 8:17:37PM HKT

It could be argued that material greed brought about the global financial recession and continues to bring other ills including profound dissatisfaction and deprivation of what rightfully belongs to others.

And rather than offering a solution to the dilemma, sadly, preachers of a certain brand are indulging materialism by giving it an aura of righteousness, Dr Mark Chan argued in a paper on greed, idolatry and contentment, recently published.

Referring to prosperity preachers, who teach that God promises every believer wealth and health, he wrote: "Preachers of the prosperity gospel are right to insist that God's blessings are not just spiritual and reserved for the hereafter, but are in fact to be experienced in the here and now.

"It is their interpretation of God's 'blessings' as material gain and freedom from sickness that is problematic," he said in the paper published in a periodical Church & Society in Asia Today of the Centre for the Study of Christianity in Asia, the mission research arm of Trinity Theological College, of which he is the editor.

The theologian went on to say that such teaching has "essentially replaced the Bible's cautionary view of wealth and its strictures against 'the love of money' with an unabashed embrace of material wealth".

Using the name of God to justify their material greed, such preachers are really guilty of 'sanctifying' materialism and 'baptising' greed, he said.

"Scratch the surface of many a health-and-wealth gospel message and one will find the deadly sin of avarice," he said, adding that in using the name of God to justify their 'selfishness' such preachers are 'sanctifying' materialism and 'baptising' greed.

"God thus becomes a means to our financial ends."

Not only have prosperity preachers drawn a large following, they continue to attract 'many thousands', Dr Chan highlighted.

"Supply always follows demand, and the fact that there is increasing interest in a gospel that makes it acceptable to be avaricious only goes to show how much the spirit of our age has infiltrated our churches."

In the rest of his essay, the theologian elaborated on the practice of contentment as a way to neutralise greed.

Contentment begins with knowing God and knowing who we are in Him, according to Dr Chan.

This means for Christians to appreciate the fact that they find their ultimate satisfaction in God. It means knowing that God will surely supply all their needs and finding their security in Him.

"Our acceptance before God is not dependent on performance or possession; it rests solely on God's grace," he said.

And then, Christians need to learn to appreciate the things God has already given them, such as the nature, animals, and human personalities. Thus, the TTC professor of theology urged believers to keep the Sabbath.

This serves as a reminder that life is more than work, money, academic achievements.

"Rather, the meaning of our life lies in enjoying God and the blessings that he so graciously bestows, living before and for him, and serving him in the world," he wrote.

Finally, believers need to live generously, setting limits on acquisition and bringing the needs of others into focus.

Concluding his paper, Dr Chan urged the Church to take up her role as an 'intentional counter-cultural force' in a world that exalts material greed and hedonism.

"By privileging generosity rather than greed, and by giving of ourselves and of our possessions to help other people rather than exploit them for our own benefits, we demonstrate our distinctiveness as a people shaped by the self-denying gospel of Jesus Christ."