Each morning, while I stand on the platform waiting for my train to work, this man is smiling at me:
Once on the train, this smiling countenance welcomes me:
Neither of those books will tell you on their covers that the authors head mega-churches and are preachers of the “prosperity gospel”. Slate did a nice job of exposing some of the problems with that top guy’s theology. The bottom guy (based here in Atlanta) is under Congressional investigation because a Senator wanted to know why churches that but Rolls Royce automobiles should be tax exempt entities. And his name is not in any way ironic. Both of these books are bestsellers.
I was busy with being annoyed by these guys when a link to a web site for The Christ Corporation appeared in my inbox. At first glance, it appeared to be the logical progression for the prosperity gospel gravy train. Instead, it appears to be a poker-faced lampooning of the kinds of churches that these guys run. While checking out the site, I had that occasional feeling that lighting was going to come crashing through the window at any moment. But seriously, who are the sacrilegious here?
And of course, The Christ Corporation has a blog. It features tips for dressing for success (business casual conveys a saintly image) and some original scholarship on the nature of the Antichrist (it’s not who you think!).
And what’s with these guys’ hands? Who poses that way? This guy, while not a preacher, does the same thing…
It’s creeping me out! I guess that one guy at that success seminar at the Arena said that you gotta get those hands in the the picture - no matter how ridiculous you look.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:51 am
Love this news story: http://www.thechristcorporation.com/news.html. And I never trusted Oprah. Now we know the truth!
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:56 am
Tim, I too am fascinated by these men, their books, and their train advertisements.
I had the pleasure of catching Joel Osteen on TV the other day. It was nuts. The man is bigger than the Stones!
I’m not sure if it was his mega-church or just a random sellout crowd at an Olympic sized stadium, but it boggles my mind that so many people could be interested enough and that his hair is so well coifed.
What was it about a camel and the eye of a needle?
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:14 am
Lain, that’s not some sold out arena. That’s Osteen’s church. He bought the arena that the Houston Rockets played in before they moved in to their new crib. He packs 40,000+ in each Sunday. You have to read the Slate article to appreciate the insanity.
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
P.T. Barnum’s line about the frequency of sucker births comes to mind.
Yet one more reason never to go to Houston.
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Also, I had a co-worker in Charleston who always referred to the right reverend as Get Mo’ Dollar. I can’t see a picture of the guy without thinking of that and laughing.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Wow, you’re right about that article, Tim.
It always amazes me how the spiritual huckster is so very common in literature, yet even when the character is hyperbolized it often doesn’t live up to the real thing. I’m thinking, like, Manley Pointer in Flannery O’Conner’s “Good Country People.”
There are probably three million examples in books and pop culture…I don’t understand why I’m always so shocked to see this sort of thing in real life.