The Heresy of the Prosperity Gospel

Gospel Reflection for March 23, 2025, the Third Sunday of Lent - Luke 13:1-9

And there were present, at that very time, some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

And he answering, said to them: Think you that these Galileans were sinners above all the men of Galilee, because they suffered such things?

No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish.

Or those eighteen upon whom the tower fell in Siloe, and slew them: think you, that they also were debtors above all the men that dwelt in Jerusalem?

No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish.

He spoke also this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none.

And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it done therefore: why cumbereth it the ground?

But he answering, said to him: Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it.

And if happily it bear fruit: but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down. (Luke 13:1-9 DRA)

As a college student and a lifelong lover of reading, I have been shaped by many great books, but out of all of them, I would list three as the most formative: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, which first introduced me to Catholicism; St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa theologiae, which surprised me by showing that Christianity and reason are in perfect harmony; and St. Severinus Boethius’s The Consolation of Philosophy, which I first read in college and which taught me that, contrary to appearances, the good always wins and evil always loses. For this reflection, I would like to focus on the third of these and the lessons it teaches against one of the most pernicious heresies of our time, one which I have addressed frequently in my posts: the so-called Prosperity Gospel.

This heresy, popular not only in evangelical megachurches but also held implicitly by many Catholics, espouses the view that God rewards faith with worldly, material benefits. Implied with this view, and often stated explicitly by its daily believers, is the inference that, if this is true, then those who are deprived or afflicted in worldly terms must lack faith and thus be far from God’s favor. Even before the public proclamation of the Gospel, this worldview was standard in the pagan world, as the Gentiles offered sacrifices to their demonic gods not for spiritual graces or eternal salvation but for earthly benefits and rescue from calamities. Many Jews also viewed it this way, including those who argue with Our Lord in today’s Gospel. Taking all of the Old Testament promises of worldly benefits literalistically and in isolation from nuanced passages, they blamed the victims of tragedies and evils for their misfortunes, ascribing it to their sinfulness, just as Job’s “friends” did during his testing.

In truth, and as Our Lord shows in this passage, the Prosperity Gospel is the exact opposite of the true Gospel and is contrary to the whole truth of God’s covenantal relationship with man as revealed in Scripture. God does indeed give us many earthly benefits, hence St. James wrote, “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration.” (Jas 1:17) These gifts, however, are gratuitous on God’s part, not rewards for our presumed greatness. Our Lord thus said, “That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust.” (Mt 5:45)

The heresy of the Prosperity Gospel is not only false but has the power to lead many away from Christ. Who can look at the Cross and the sufferings of the martyrs and believe that the Prosperity Gospel represents authentic Christianity? Christ taught us, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Lk 9:23) He revealed to us the true meaning of love as utterly self-giving and self-sacrificing. By His redemptive suffering, He made amends for our sinfulness, and commanded us to do the same, offering our own sufferings to “fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church”. (Col 1:24) As St. John Chrysostom wrote,

For God punishes some sinners by cutting off their iniquities, and appointing to them hereafter a lighter punishment, or perhaps even entirely releasing them, and correcting those who are living in wickedness by their punishment. Again, he does not punish others, that if they take heed to themselves by repentance they may escape both the present penalty and future punishment, but if they continue in their sins, suffer still greater torment. (Catena Aurea)

Boethius knew this truth well. As a Roman stateman whose Christian faith inspired him to criticize the corruption in Theodoric’s government and its attempts to prevent reconciliation with Constantinople, he was imprisoned and eventually martyred. While incarcerated, he wrote The Consolation of Philosophy, in which the spirit of Philosophy, who is the love of Wisdom, dialogues with him and helps him make sense of his afflictions. She first states the core concern of the “problem of evil,” what is the primary reason for people doubting or leaving the Faith:

But a yet greater marvel follows: While wickedness reigns and flourishes, virtue not only lacks its reward, but is even thrust down and trampled under the feet of the wicked, and suffers punishment in the place of crime. That this should happen under the rule of a God who knows all things and can do all things, but wills only the good, cannot be sufficiently wondered at nor sufficiently lamented.

Then, she gives a profound answer: “the good are always strong, the bad always weak and impotent; that vices never go unpunished, nor virtues unrewarded; that good fortune ever befalls the good, and ill fortune the bad”. Does she contradict herself? Not at all. Throughout her dialogue, she explains that the Good is what all seek by their actions. As St. Thomas also taught, no one wills evil for its own sake: everyone necessarily desires what they apprehend as good, even if they are mistaken or willing to use evil means to achieve it. So, by failing to attain the Good, evildoers are always ineffectual, always punished and always dissatisfied, no matter what earthly rewards Satan might allot to them for their service.

This idea fundamentally changed my understanding of things when I first read it. When evil people are surrounded by wealth, fame, comfort or ease, they are still failures because they lack what they’re truly looking for in their worldliness: the Good. Yet, for those who know and love the Good, no poverty, sickness, torture or martyrdom can take it from them, something St. Boethius himself would soon demonstrate. Many Israelites who followed Moses out of Egypt wished to return to their fleshpots and even preferred the golden calf over God, but Moses offered them an infinitely greater prize: I AM. The Church offers us the same today.

As we continue our penitential journey through Lent, may we take this lesson from Philosophy to heart:

Have ye no good of your own implanted within you, that ye seek your good in things external and separate? Is the nature of things so reversed that a creature divine by right of reason can in no other way be splendid in his own eyes save by the possession of lifeless chattels? Yet, while other things are content with their own, ye who in your intellect are God-like seek from the lowest of things adornment for a nature of supreme excellence, and perceive not how great a wrong ye do your Maker… And again I say, That is no good, which injures its possessor. Is this untrue? No, quite true, thou sayest. And yet riches have often hurt those that possessed them, since the worst of men, who are all the more covetous by reason of their wickedness, think none but themselves worthy to possess all the gold and gems the world contains.

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