A word from our president, Pete Evans, about why people fall for the prosperity gospel.

Desperation is a huge motivator.  When you or someone close to you is dying or suffering, it’s natural to want to help in whatever way we can.  Or, when finances become so strapped that you or a person close to you is in anguish, there is a desire to alleviate the suffering.  So if a televangelist comes on television promising that God wants to heal and financially bless individuals, but God requires a gift first—care of the ministry of course; desperate people begin to grasp at straws and take desperate measures. It becomes a sort of heavenly lottery and plays on people’s natural greed as well.  In desperation, people give to the ministry in order to get their invisible lottery ticket and “expect a miracle”.

The televangelists use a twisted and perverted version of one of Jesus’ parables—the parable of the sower and the seed. First, the true meaning of the parable:  Jesus was talking about the seed of Christ in us—about his life in us and how it can be trampled on, choked out, or—best case—nourished.

Next, the perversion of the parable:  the seed is your money; which, planted in the good ground will be multiplied by God via health, healing, or an exponential increase in wealth based on the amount one gives.  To quote Hitler’s despicable propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” I would add, at least until the spell is broken.  The Goebbels quote is often called “The Big Lie”.