a (false)gospel experience

Who knew the local supermarket would be the setting for some false gospel proselytizing? I mean things can get pretty deep fairly quickly when perusing the bakery section, but during the consumption of a box of Mike'n'Ikes is surprising. In all seriousness I was caught off guard by the close proximity of this false gospel to my home. We like to think of situations like these being reserved for places "out there" without ever realizing they are right next door as well.

The conversation started simply with a man sharing some investment "wisdom" with my friend and I as we sat in the cafe section of the store. We appeased him by acting interested as he told us the wonderful benefits of buying stocks in gold and other metals. "Your yield increases by 300 percent," was the main pull of his presentation. As he carried on, we excused ourselves for some free coffee and cake samples at the other end of the store. On the trek over we discussed the focus of this man's life being money. He wanted more of it, but he also want us to get our hands on it as well. With no eagerness to head back to the table, we meandered up and down all the aisles trying to rehash our the conversation we had going before the lecture on gold stocks.

To avoid being the creepy guys who wander aimlessly around a grocery store we decided to head back to the table. Here is where the fun began. Apparently he was preparing to lay out all the cards while we took our recess. Suddenly we were being told how it was God's will for us to hear what he had to say because we needed to become rich like this particular gentleman. He sought after God's "prophets" for financial wisdom and was reaping the benefits. Apparently, he believed himself to be a "prophet" for the two of us. Before we knew it, we were encouraged to (and judge for not) take(ing) care of the widowed, needy, and fatherless. (Before I go any further, those are things the Bible says Christians are to do. I could serve those with less much more than I am now.) The encouragement was for monetary gain, while the judgment for our appearance as not overly wealthy men. According to this man, we were doing an adequate job, but there was significant room for improvement.

From here the conversation felt like I was warping from one Bible verse to another. Nearly all we taken out of context or interpreted contrary to what the rest of the Bible teaches. We were told Jesus was rich through the gifts of the magi; Abraham's blessing was riches beyond comprehension; the universe is ever expanding because the "true" followers of God are getting richer; prosperity in the Bible always refers to material possessions; shalom refers to peace in terms of our satisfaction with material possessions; and pleasing God by serving the poor is the best way to boost your savings account. We were indoctrinated to the "health and wealth" gospel to the nth degree. God is the magic genie who grants us all our wishes when we rub Him the right way.

Besides the sheer abuse of Scripture, what struck me most about our conversation was how little of a conversation it was. At first, I sat back listening to what this man was saying. I wanted to be "slow to speak," but more importantly "slow to become angry." I processed what he was saying with what I believe God declares in His Word. Eventually, my friend and I started chiming in.

"Wasn't Christ poor while on earth? Didn't he talk about having no place to rest his head? Didn't he pay taxes by fishing"

"What about Paul? He was beaten, worked for his living, went hungry, and had nearly nothing to his name. He talked about suffering a lot?"

"God's blessings aren't necessarily material things. Sure, He does give material things to His children, but there is no guarantee. He tells us to trust in Him for our basic needs, but doesn't tell us to serve Him in order to gain the rest"

"Doesn't the Bible warn us about suffering? We are told to expect it. Sometimes suffering has nothing to do with our sin or lack of devotion. If God wants us to be rich then what is the purpose of suffering?"

Unfortunately, as we asked these questions the answers never came. Instead, they were ignored or explained without any logical or coherent explanation at all. I wish I would have thought even more because the man had no regard for the problem of sin or the reason why Christ came at all. I would be interested to hear his take on these things. It can be hard coming back to those two issues when the conversation isn't directly centered around them. But his belief was based on a misunderstanding or complete ignorance of those two points. He talked about religion being bad because it makes us do things in order to gain a right standing before God. For some reason, serving God by serving others merely for the gain of material possessions is a better alternative. I would rather be concerned with the state of the souls of those around me than their bank account status. I serve God because of what He has already done on the cross, and not for what I can get out of Him.

As we left, I told the man that Wednesday night was the set day my friend and I usually meet. I'm sure he would love to talk with us as much as we would love talk with him. The difference is I could care less about how much money he is worth.