Say No to Theology of Prosperity

by Bishop Victor Hugo Palma Paul of Escuintla, Guatemala for the Synod on the Word of God (October 2008)

Despite their good will, many Christians today fall prey to a false reading of the Bible. Amongst many Christians, an authentic understanding of the Word of God has long been crippled by the sole reliance on Scripture alone and the rejection of Tradition, as advocated since the Protestant Reformation. In this vacuum, amidst our modern culture of materialism, consumerism, and individualism, elements foreign to Christianity have slowly and insidiously been introduced to encourage a false reading of the Bible.

In their fundamentalism, certain pseudo-Christian sects and groups endorse a ‘prosperity gospel’, which in itself is grounded upon a superficial and subjective view of the human individual as the only point of reference. This has led to the use and abuse of the Word of God to promote modern forms of idolatry – money, pleasure, goods, and freedoms are pursued as ends in themselves.

Especially in developing communities where material poverty is widespread, proponents of this ‘prosperity gospel’ sow the seeds of heresy by promoting a false God who appears to be rooted in the Bible but is otherwise anything but Christian. By condemning poverty as a ‘curse’ to be avoided and extolling riches as a ‘blessing’ to be pursued, the ‘prosperity gospel’ misreads and misrepresents the Word of God.

While the need to improve the lives of the poor necessitates the alleviation of poverty and the promotion of social justice, this does not justify the corruption of the Word of God to propagate a particular view of economic prosperity. To remain true to the Word of God, the reading of Scripture must be guided by Tradition to ground our encounter with the person of Jesus Christ, who points the way towards solidarity, conversion, and communion.

quoted from http://www.stmary.sg/images/Offices/AFFO/001 Kairos 07 Dec 08 S.pdf

Called for the new evangelization

After the Pentecost, the church preach the Gospel to every creature. Jesus, just before His ascension, promise this to the disciples

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sama’ria and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 )

And indeed on the day of Pentecost, Peter preached to the people of every nation. On that day 3000 people converted and were baptized. They started to preach in Jerusalem and be God’s witnesses. In Acts chapter 8, we read that the people in Samaria received the word of God, and the Holy Spirit came upon them.

At the end of the weekdays mass reading before Pentecost Sunday, we read that Paul reached Rome, and the story closes the book of Acts,

And he lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him,
preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ quite openly and unhindered.(Acts 28:30-31)

The book of Acts gives us a glimpse of the Evangelization from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (which was symbolized by Rome).

In this age, God has poured again his spirit among his people, what is it for if not for a new evangelization?

Cardinal Paul Cordes speaks recently about the “movements” in the church

“Since the middle of the last century, he has brought men and women in movements and new [ecclesial] realities to awaken in the Church enthusiasm for evangelization, He has given them the grace to speak in a fascinated and fascinating way about Jesus Christ, to enthuse people about the following of Christ, to find in Jesus of Nazareth — just as he is proclaimed by the Church — the center of their very existences and the fount of a plentiful life.”

We are called for this new evangelization! In this age God has raised so many movements in the Church to be missionaries again to the world that the Gospel may be preached to the end of the world, starting from Jerusalem.

Fr. John Wong OFM, a parish priest in St. Mary, once gave a reflection and asked, “What is our Jerusalem? Could it be our family? What is our Samaria? Could it be our friends and colleagues? What is the end of the world that God asked us to go? Could it be a new mission field that is far away from home?”

I would like to share the concluding paragraph by Cardinal Paul Cordes, which resonates a lot in me, since I my self, have experienced this imprisonement of the “I”, and set free through people who evangelizes me.

“Despite aggressive secularization, which wants to bring all of us to the idolatry of the ‘I,’ they keep Christ as the star that guides their activities,” he said. “It’s not that they are ‘more perfect’ Christians. They are Christians like all of us. But they are special since God has prepared them better for the decisive challenge of today: the new evangelization.”

Let us pray that we may be his witnesses, not with our own strength, but with the Holy Spirit that is with us to the end of the ages.

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sama’ria and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 )