As Protestantism sinks lower and lower into depravity, into the prosperity Gospel, into more and more division – Rome is producing preachers who still preach on sin and the social condition of humanity -
Note to Jeremy, I am not saying that I will become Catholic, but there is something yet to be said about Rome’s continued march against secularization of the Gospel Message, the embracing of Scholastic studies, and the reliance upon Theology.
Or, I could have composed this message after watching EWTN late at night realizing that all of the ‘Protestant’ channels was filled with nothing but prosperity preaching and the like, and the rest was filled with, will prosperity preaching, minus God. You know, the do what you want, and get everything you want in life. Fr. Corapi was on, and sounded, well, old-fashioned.
Related articles
- A priest’s guide: How to Swim the Tiber Safely (blogs.reuters.com)
- Grant Brooke, M.Div.: The Case for the Prosperity Gospel (huffingtonpost.com)
- Bringing the Reformation to Protestantism (geneveith.com)
- Christine A. Scheller: Prosperity Gospel: Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide or What? (huffingtonpost.com)
Joel Landon Watts is a Masters of Theological Studies student with a focus in Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific ideals of the past century. Currently, he is a TA for Old Testament at United Theological Seminary under Dr. Vivian Johnson, Associate Professor of Old Testament. His first book, Rhetorical Strategies of the Evangelist: Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark, is expected to be published by Wipf and Stock early next year. He is currently co-editing a book on moving from Fear to Faith (Energion, 2013).
Yep. I’m a life-long Methodist, but I like Fr. Corapi.
New Methodist – but I like what I’ve heard from him.
I think that the Social Gospel must be balanced with the Gospel of the Human Condition. There is a reason we have injustice in the world – so let us also preach against that while standing against those injustices.
And as a Methodist, I just want to say how refreshing it is to hear the RCC stand up for what is right, in stark contrast to the liberal agenda we get from the “leadership” of the UMC!
people just have to be careful because some fundamentalists might try to drown them on the way
If you want some prosperity preaching, here’s Jim West doing some prosperity preaching in a tithing sermon. All based on the Old Covenant tithing of Malachi 3. Some of the highlights:
” … tithing is Biblical and tithing is required according to what the Bible teaches … 90% of people are not doing what God requires them to do in terms of giving. Oh but I don’t have any money, oh but I don’t have the resources, oh but gas is too high, oh but rent is going up, oh but my mortgage is too high, and all of these excuses are used as an attempt to evade a simple responsibility, and the responsibility is you tithe 10% of your income simply because God demands it. Shouldn’t that be enough. … God commands that two men shouldn’t lay together … and we all look at that and say that’s immoral, that’s unethical, but it is equally unethical and immoral to rob God isn’t it. To be thief. To go into the presence of God and withhold what you owe him, whether it be money, praise or time. If you steal from God you’re a thief right. … You’re a thief. If you don’t tithe. Let me put it as bluntly as possible. You’re a thief. … Theft is theft. Sin is sin. … Oh but times are tough preacher. Well that’s true isn’t it. Which is why God says test me, and see if I don’t open the windows of Heaven and bless you, if you what you’re supposed to do. And maybe that’s precisely the reason that so many people are enduring so much economic hardship. They hold on and strangle what they’ve been given without fulfilling the responsibilities of sharing with others as they should so God doesn’t give them anymore. Why should He. … Trust God. Don’t you think He can take care of you if you take care of the responsibilities that He’s put into your hands. … ”
http://www.archive.org/details/Malachi3
I believe that God will take care of me. I give a free will offering to my Church based on my heart and love for God. Not based on God being some kind of extortionist, as Jim West makes out He is. Nor on the Old Covenant. Nor if I don’t put money on the plate I am robbing God. And West’s claim that you have to put 10% on the plate or God will do nothing for you is just so wrong. When I was homeless and I had no income at all, my love for God grew and He helped me. Not because I put money on plate as I didn’t have any, but because I was repenting and turning away from sin.