Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) blogs

• Home
• Mission and Staff

Subscribe to this blog

Recent posts

• Our Challenging Way: Faithfulness, Sex, Ordination, and Marriage
• Unity, Confessions, and the Book of Order
• Come and See
• Please and Thank You
• Back to Basics on Ash Wednesday

Categories

• Theology (32)
• Worship (26)
• Faith (23)
• Spirituality (13)
• Leadership (11)
• View all categories →

Archives

• View all archives →

See all PC(USA) Blogs →

PC(USA) Home →

Have I Got a Deal for You

Karen Russell

Earlier today, in federal court, an “evangelist” went on trial for defrauding church-goers of more than $700,000 over a period of years by convincing them to invest in gas and oil ventures that promised riches and financial security. State charges are also pending for this man, who stole the life savings of some of his elderly investors. Officials say the con man would pray with people over their investments, compounding the fraud by claiming to be doing the will of God.

There’s so much wrong here, it’s hard to know where to begin commenting. False prophets who claim a direct line to God; church members so concerned with their financial security they will believe in get-rich-quick schemes; local churches welcoming this fellow into their midst; the unrepentant nature that requires a federal trial. But truly, the thing I found most disturbing was the comment section under the story. If you’ve never read the comments that are part and parcel of getting your news on-line, well, I suspect you are better off for it. It used to be that letters to the editor were the best part of the newspaper, and the comments section of newspaper web sites should capture the kind of quirky commentary that can be found in the best letters to the editor. But on-line commentators tend to be more vitriolic than the average writer of a letter to the editor. For this particular story, there was a unanimous piling-on of disdain and outrage for this so-called evangelist who used religion to bilk a fortune from the unsuspecting. I’m okay with that. But these comments, nearly without exception, drew a direct line from the man on trial to all religion, specifically all Christians. These posters, admittedly not necessarily the most nuanced of thinkers, basically said this fraudulent evangelist was no different than any other preacher, and that Christianity was a con designed to separate people from reality, to say nothing of from their money.

Jesus told us that we are the salt of the earth, the light of the world. (Matthew 5:13-14) How can it be that we, who are to influence and show the way, have become somehow synonymous with hucksters and charlatans? How is it that we make such great victims of hucksters and charlatans? Somehow, the hope that should flavor life and illuminate the darkness has been the victim of a bait and switch, it seems. We seem willing to both buy and sell a hope that is cheap, easy and based on economics and comfort.

This story of the defrauding evangelist is, sadly, neither new nor unique. For some reason, wrapping a thin coating of faith around things has become a bona fide way of doing business. Little fish in the corners of print ads. Bible verses on signs outside or menus inside. Just last night I saw a television ad for a dating service for Christians who have been waiting for God to lead them to a partner. This service claims it can speed up that process. This is just one sign of an anxious world. And in an anxious world, we try to mitigate that anxiety. We worry about our retirement, so we squirrel away money in our IRA’s. And if an evangelist offers us the opportunity to not only secure that money but help the kingdom of God, more the better. We worry about our ability to create and maintain healthy families, so we turn to Christian dating services who offer to speed up God’s timeline. We worry – and when we worry, odds are there will be someone with some product, service or platitude that will reduce the reason for our worry.

In that same sermon where Jesus told us we were salt and light, he also told us not to worry so much: “…do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25) Genuine hope goes beyond any preparations we can make. Paul told the Philippians that regardless of plenty or want he had learned the secret to contentment: the strength that comes from hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 4:12-13) This is hope that is not anchored in the security of a Swiss bank account. Secure as Swiss banks might be, even those accounts can be breached. False hope is secured to things constructed by humans – money, valuables, power, contracts, institutions – and is almost always designed to show a return in those same things. The things Jesus said weren’t all that important. Real hope is secured to Christ and shows a return in eternal things – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22) All the things that lead to contentment, and I suspect could even restore the saltiness to the salt of the earth.

• Posted at 12:53 p.m.
• Tweet