8/27/2008

Kenneth Copeland's Gospel of Prosperity

It'll Get You Rich!!

The Associated Press has written a revealing article on how the Kenneth Copeland financial empire has been built from Copeland's "Prosperity Gospel" (read it here: Televangelist's family prospers from ministry).

Copeland's relatives and friends have definitely prospered: His brother-in-law has a lucrative deal to broker Copeland's television time, his son acquired church-owned land for his ranching business and saw it more than quadruple in value, and the board members include other prosperity preachers who rake in the dough through exorbitant honorariums for speaking at Copeland events.

In our culture, in which we are trained from the time we can craw that we must be consumers and that the goal in life is to achieve material wealth, it is understandable that the "Prosperity Gospel" would become increasingly popular.

The true Gospel of Jesus Christ demands deep sacrifice, to deny ourselves for the sake of others, to not store up for ourselves treasures on earth, to take up the cross in order to follow the suffering servant.