Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel

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Some Christians avoid the book of Revelation, thinking it is only for the brilliant or the paranoid. In this clear and engaging book, Nancy Guthrie walks us through the meaning of this crucial book of the Bible, showing us how it is about blessing. This book wouldn't fit in a conspiracy theorist’s underground bunker, but it is needed for people who wonder how the fears and worries and regrets of our lives can be transformed by what Jesus showed John on the island of Patmos two thousand years ago. After reading Blessed, you will never again skip past Revelation in your Bible reading but will turn there with wonder and confidence, expecting to see Jesus. It will leave you informed, pondering, and, yes, blessed.” Blessed is practical, not only in each chapter’s closing sections but throughout the book as a whole. Guthrie explains that “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,” and this focus is evident in her writing. I recommend reading this book slowly, taking adequate time to reflect and pray, as each paragraph contains new practical implications. Second, although its prosperity angle is different, it's not charismatic, and it has no paid parish ministry, as I see it, Mormonism is a part of the prosperity gospel, too, with the same ultimate Second Great Awakening roots as the rest of the movement. Nowhere mentioned. However, on Friday October 09, 2020 I was browsing YouTube and came across a livestream of Eucharistic Adoration of youth on the vigil of Carlo’s beatification. I had a bit of an idea about what was happening, though not much because the program was in Italian. Yet, there was still something that lingered with me about the Carlo. The next day, I was able to follow live up until the Gloria (so the Beatification rite, and presentation of the relic) since I was at work that day. However, when I got home, I watched the rest of the Mass (with English commentary). Then the author of this book, Kate Bowler, who is my age, wrote a beautifully profound article on her own terminal cancer in the New York Times, and before I completed the piece I bought her book.

Bowler approaches this topic as an ethnographer, which means she is much more interested in describing the movement than taking a position on it, but I certainly would have welcome some insights from her into how she feels this highly popular stream of Christianity fits with her own personal theological views. Third biggest is tracing that part as an earlier part, and its connections to Christian fringes like the Divine Science movement of the late 19th century and the New Thought of the early 20th, that included places like Unity. How have millions of American Christians come to measure spiritual progress in terms of their financial status and physical well-being? How has the movement variously called Word of Faith, Health and Wealth, Name It and Claim It, or simply prosperity gospel come to dominate much of our contemporary religious landscape? 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.”Transformative Personal Application:Every chapter asks and answers the question, What does it mean to hear and keep this part of Revelation and thereby experience its promised blessing? Another great read from the Catholic Truth Society, and excellent volume in the CTS Biographies Series. The prosperity gospel has no room for lament and suffering. What’s a prosperity gospel believer to do in the face of suffering in the world around them and suffering in their own lives? Be positive. Think positive thoughts. Speak positive words. Dr. Bowler shares teaching from Joel Osteen that sums this up well: He surveyed the dark expanse of his audience: “You guys look like victors, not victims, to me!” A rush of applause followed. He implored them to stop dwelling on the negative aspects of their lives, because “our lives follow our thoughts.” Those who notice the rainy days or the difficult circumstances will only “draw more negativity into your life.… It’s a decision that we have to make. Don’t wait for happiness to fall on you. Just make a decision that you’re going to enjoy your life to the fullest. Every day you’re going to live that abundant life.”Honestly, I’m not strong enough to believe in the prosperity gospel. This 24/7 positivity sounds absolutely exhausting to me. Give me the laments in the psalms, not the responsibility of saying everything’s all right when it’s really not. Give me God, who lets me cast all my cares on Him, not the burden of doing life in my own strength. Give me the light, momentary affliction that’s preparing an eternal weight of glory, not this false “abundant life” of ease and prosperity. Give me true, deep, abiding joy, not some cheap substitute called happiness. Revivalist Joel Osteen preaching that attendees are victors, not victims, that they can succeed through the power of positive thinking. "It's going to be a year of promotion, a year of increase, a year of favor, a year of supernatural opportunities!" (179).

In some ways, this review hasn’t even touched upon what Dr. Bowler describes as the four themes of the prosperity gospel: faith, wealth, health, and victory. But I have chosen to highlight what stood out most to me, perhaps because it was less familiar until I actually read Blessed. It is possible to allow our difficulties to make us better and to live in such a way that we will end up better off than we were before the trouble began. We should never waste our pain. Through the wisdom distilled in this book, we can learn how to gain something from our messes, use what we've learned to stay out of trouble in the future, and allow our newfound wisdom to help other people mind blessing in the mist of their messes.

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. We are shown how Carlo’s love for God, mary and the ssaints drew his own family and later others deeper in their faith:

Thomas R. Schreiner , James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary A Focus on What Is Clear and Uncontroversial:Highlights Revelation’s call for a costly allegiance to Christ and a refusal to compromise with the world rather than focusing on interpretive approaches and disputes 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. How remarkable it is that, from such a young age, the desire of Carlo Acutis for himself and others was that we become saints! His short yet intense life of just fifteen years, spanning two centuries and crossing the threshold of the second millennium, shows how he fulfilled this desire for himself, and how he has provided a road map to holiness in our times for us all and for young people especially.” And that is what you will find in this volume. A wonderful biography. And a plan with steps to help you grow in your own holiness. Matthew Kelly likes to use the phrase “Become the best version of yourself” because when he challenged people to become ‘saints’ they said they could not do that. But they would work at becoming the best version of themselves. Carlo challenged the people he knew, those early years of online evangelization. And he challenges us today. Further on in that preface it states:I found this frustrating. Bowler is an openly professing Christian (of what sort I do not know)—I was hoping for insight, evaluation, even of the somewhat sallow kind allowed Christians writing for secular dissertation committees. I felt I got more insight into the prosperity gospel from her Times article than from her book. rang true to a vision of righteous individuals bending circumstances to their vision of the good life 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. Kate Bowler, Ph.D. is a 3x New York Times bestselling author, award-winning podcast host, and professor at Duke University. Can we truly find peace and even blessing amid the chaos, the disappointments, and the messes that life brings our way?