THEOLOGICAL WARFARE: PROSPERITY GOSPEL VERSUS LIBERATION THEOLOGY

I spotted a man kneeling and praying on a public street in Kampala today. I walked close to him, knelt beside him and prayed with him. Once he was through, I introduced myself and asked, "Sir, why were you praying here, in the middle of a crowded street?" He had just finished preaching and was about to enter his air-conditioned car. "I wanted to give God thanks," he said. During our five minute conversation, I learned that he was a prosperity gospel preacher sailing his voice on the wind to the ears of passersby. I didn't shun him at all; in fact, you'd be proud of me. I listened keenly to him, and shared with him my own passion for the social gospel. "Preaching about justice is fine," he said, "but it doesn't bring souls to the Kingdom or pay the bills?" I was deeply puzzled by what he said. Since my run-in with the prosperity gospel preacher in Trinidad who threw me out of his church, I've been trying to avoid teachers peddling this empty doctrine. But sad to say, they are abundant parasites. It's nearly impossible to avoid them!

My heart longs for the day when I will offer the eulogy for the prosperity gospel. Quite frankly, I am sick of its prevalence. This health-and-wealth, name-it-and-claim it, profess-it-and-possess-it formula is fast overtaking the social justice component of the gospel. It teaches adherents that with positive confessions, uncompromising faith, consistent tithing and seed-sewing, they will reap significant financial rewards: higher salaries, posh houses and fancy cars. Wealth, health and other material rewards are counted as evidence of God's presence and blessings. Millions of faithfuls and hopefuls across the world subscribe to this version of faith premised on the notion that God intends for all his children to be rich. And, of course, religious con men frequently reduce the gospel to this bogus device so as to entice, allure and even entrap their Pentecostal prey so that they can fill their coffers. But, when did Christianity become the "show-me-the-money" religion? Why are some many clergy women and men afflicted with affluenza?! Why have we limited the gospel to a get-rich-now scheme? And, more importantly, how did we manage to welcome such a sharp departure from community-oriented liberation theology to a self-centered doctrine of wealth and material excess in Black communities?

I would wager that the advent of televangelism in the 1970s is to be blamed, in part, for this deviation. I don't believe they created this 'give-and-then-get' promise that has become all too popular in Christendom. However, I certainly believe that they are responsible for spreading it. I imagine that as 'prophets of old' such as Robert Schuller made known their belief in opulence as an indicator of one's faithfulness to the Lord, many were drawn to daydreaming about luxury, leisure and money. (And as a matter of fact, because Pentecostal churches were, in their initial stages, very poor, yearning for wealth and prosperity was much indulged temptation.) As the laws opened up to welcome increased participation of African Americans in all facets of life, some began to veer away from the collectivist worldview that once empowered them. Personal success was no longer rooted in communalism; individual freedom was no longer contingent upon group liberation. In time, with Creflo Dollar as life coach, more began to seek their own piece of the pie. Sadly, the individual became more important than the community.

There is a theological warfare at play in the world. Will the prosperity gospel continue to have dominance in churches? Or, will liberation theology come to the fore? I suppose that only time will tell.