Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel

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Mentioning the book of Revelation elicits all kinds of reactions—confusion, curiosity, fascination, and fear, just to name a few. I grew up in the Left Behind era, and as a child I wore a dog tag meant to inform anyone who found it among a pile of personless clothing that I had been taken to heaven in the rapture. The author notes that the emphasis upon prayer and spiritual discipline can lead to a competitive atmosphere in which people struggle to live up to the rigorous expectations set up for them (p. 194). Sadly, people can be guilted into attending meetings whenever the church doors are open (as seen also in churches which have been influenced by the Korean prosperity tradition noted elsewhere in the book). The book of Revelation is daunting and even discouraging for some believers, and we have a tendency to ignore it. Nancy Guthrie has written a wonderfully clear, accessible, and faithful interpretation of the book. The theological vision of the book is captured in her exposition, but the book doesn't stop there. Guthrie explains in a remarkable way how the book of Revelation applies to us today. Laypeople, students, and anyone who wants to understand the book of Revelation will profit from reading and studying this book.”

Belief that Jesus conquered poverty, that "faith operated as a perfect law," "drawing a straight line between life circumstances and a believer's faith. . . . any irregularities meant that the believer did not play by the rules." You can lay out a set of mortgages from a huge investment risk on the table and command God to pay them, and it will happen. Gospel of Wealth (from Carnegie's essay) defined by positive thinking, which stressed the power of mind over matter. "Positive thinking was synthetic, mixing the categories of religion, psychology, medicine, and self-hep; its prophets were not typically systematizers or intellectuals, but popularizers and doers." (31). At times, the prosperity gospel hovered so closely to its nationalistc alter ego, American civil relgion, that it appeared to be its pentecostal twin, each offering an account of transcendent truths at the core of the American character. But rather than sacralizing the founding of the United States or visions of manifest destiny, the prosperity gospel [deified] and ritualized the American Dream: upward mobility, accumulation, hard work, and moral fiber. The two shared an unshakably high anthropology, studded with traits that inspire action, urgency, as sense of chosenness, and a desire to shoulder it alone." (226). Many debates center around Revelation 20’s mention of a 1,000-year period of time in which Satan is bound and Christ reigns. Guthrie seems to take an amillennial approach, which understands this period not as a literal millennium, but as a complete era inaugurated in Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension and continuing through its consummation at his second coming.However, as the book drew to a close moments ago, I found I couldn't resent the author. I think that her "failure" to find a coherent narrative or theology in this group was not indeed her fault. It's instead testimony to the absence of coherence in the movement. It's a "spiritual" marketplace in which product pitches replace ad campaigns replace marketing strategies; I don't expect Coca-Cola to make their new commercials follow in some sort of logical line from their old ones, or to develop some sort of sustained case for why I should consider their beverage. All I expect to hear is to see a gleaming glamor shot of a model saying, "Taste the Feeling™." I expect an immediate appeal to my desire for pleasure. Searching for a unifying philosophical-theological center in the prosperity gospel is like parsing a Twinkie. Andrew Sach , Pastor, Grace Greenwich Church, United Kingdom; coauthor, Pierced for Our Transgressions and Dig Deeper Extremely useful for understanding how the system of belief fits together. I found it especially clarifying in understanding the origin and details of the idea of positive confession. Popular soft prosperity preachers today such as Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer continue the traditions of hard prosperity leaders and the promoters of Right Thinking of yesteryear, encouraging us to fix ourselves as we “Discover the Champion in You.” But this kind of “Total Victory” self-actualization requires total commitment (see below). rang true to a vision of righteous individuals bending circumstances to their vision of the good life

I approached this book with a strong bias, believing that the central tenets of the prosperity gospel are a perversion of God's message in scripture and Jesus' salvation purpose. Kate Bowler does an excellent job of outlining the historical roots of the prosperity gospel, and showed me it is much older than I had thought, and that the economic blessings it promotes really took hold in the context of the economic boom following World War II. Before that, the same founding ministers (people like Oral Roberts and Rex Humbard) had been more focused on physical healing services.This guide through the book of Revelation is exactly what is needed for individuals and groups who want to study Revelation without being intimidated. It is solidly researched and sound but written with a wide audience of readers in mind. It is engaging and winsome, with attention to personal applications. Guthrie commendably stands with readers in admitting when there are challenges and difficulties. But she encourages people not to stop when confronting challenges, but to continue to learn from what is clear in the message of Revelation. As the title indicates, the book shows us the blessings to be found in Christ.” What I often mean by the word ‘blessed’ is not even close to what Christ secured for us. If you want to know how much better, read this book.” If you’re looking for a book that pits the varying interpretive approaches of Revelation against one another or analyzes the popular theories about the apocalyptic roles of politicians, pop stars, or even energy drinks, this isn’t it. While some may find this disappointing, what this book has to offer is far greater—real hope as we navigate a fallen world and anticipate Christ’s second coming. Revelation is actually less about when Jesus will return and more about what we are to do, who we are to be, and what we can expect to endure as we wait for Jesus to return to establish his kingdom.’