I have a confession.<\/p>\n
When I was in college, I read a book by a prominent megachurch pastor. The author told me to live like a child of God. He told me God wanted to bless me. He also mentioned that if I only believed, God would give me the nicest house in the neighborhood. That seemed to make sense.<\/p>\n
The author explained that he once wanted the nicest house in the neighborhood, and God gave it to him. Here was a man with evidence. Not only did he have the story about the house, and other anecdotes, he also had a very nice set of white teeth (Ah, supernaturally white, I thought).
This was my first introduction to what is popularly called the \u201cprosperity gospel\u201d\u009d or the \u201chealth and wealth\u201d\u009d gospel. At the time, the logic seemed airtight: \u201cIf it worked for him, why shouldn\u2019t it work for me?\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
If I had dug a bit deeper, though, I would have seen the actual reason it worked for him and not for me. It\u2019s because the prosperity gospel is a pyramid scheme.<\/p>\n