Lately I have been thinking about the Prosperity Gospel and how it impacted my spiritual journey. Though I had multiple issues with Christianity from the time I was baptized, it was the popularity of the Prosperity Gospel that truly began my disillusionment with the Church. Let me make no bones about it: I hate this doctrine. I hated it when I was good Baptist girl and I still hate it now that I’m agnostic. To me it is a gross, materialistic perversion, and it disturbs me that so many Christians support it!There was a man I learned about in Sunday School and heard about in every sermon. His name was Jesus Christ. According to the story he was born to a young single mother. He lived his whole life as a poor man. He did not seek riches, glory or power. He was a rebel who hung out with the outcasts ,saved his harshest words for the religious establishment and was eventually executed by the State.

This man was supposedly the founder of our faith. We took our name from him. But how could this be? How could these preachers with their fancy silk suits, Lincoln Town Cars and enormous homes be his emissaries? I witnessed these men preen and claim that they were entitled to such wealth and luxury. But I couldn’t comprehend it. How could the servant be greater than the Master? If all Christians were supposed to emulate the example of Jesus Christ-as I was taught-then how could we be so focused on wealth? There seemed to be a major disconnect between the two. Though I was barely sixteen years old at the time, I knew that there was something seriously wrong with this doctrine.