For months, I have been plagued with the idea of writing a piece that focuses on why so many religious leaders are promoting the concept of prosperity in the form of materialism. You know what I referencing, we have all seen them on tv, heard them on the radio; we have even received their emails.

These religious leaders make promises on behalf of God, stating that if you do this (which usually involves giving them money or sowing seeds into their ministry), God will bless you. These same religious leaders also promote the idea that if one does not possess a great deal of worldly possessions, then they are truly not being blessed by God. Evidently,

they must have skipped right past first five books of the New Testament, which documents example after example of individuals leaving their wordly possessions and following Christ. For them, the blessing was in having the privilege to give up everything to follow Christ.

 Unfortunately, in the church today, Bentleys, Lexus, Rolex, Gucci, and Prada are more revered names than Jesus, God, The Holy Spirit, the Crucifixion, Brotherly love, or the Resurrection.

I am a follower of Christ, so for me, the fact that our churches, especially our African-American churches are using the quantity of material goods

as a means of measuring God's blessings on one's life is extremely disturbing to me. True prosperity has nothing to do with what we possess materialistically. The secular world is beginning to realize this. That is the reason that so many of us that have served in corporate America, cultivating lucrative careers are walking away and finding our true destinies (prosperity) in simplistic lives as servants for others. We live out our destinies as educators, homemakers, nurses, etc.

 Jesus said it best when a rich young man came to him, asking what must he do in order to gain eternal life. Jesus instructed him to give all that he had to the poor and come and follow him. The rich

young man refused and left Jesus' presence. I wonder how many others have done the same thing? The bible says that, " As he watched him go, Jesus told his disciples, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for the rich to enter God's kingdom? Let me tell you, it's easier

to gallop a camel through a needle's eye than for the rich to enter God's kingdom." (Matthew 19:23-24)

So, it stands to reason that if anyone reads this passage, they must settle the question in their mind, soul, and spirit, what type of

prosperity do I want, materialism or true prosperity of the spirit, mind, and soul that only

God, not things can give?

Unfortunately, that question is not coming from many of our pulpits

today. Far too many religious leaders count on the marketing concept

of "sow a seed, get blessed" for their own livelihoods. The reality

is that many of our churches, especially our African-American

mega-churches are mostly supported by lower class, single heads of

households that are living from paycheck to paycheck. High gas prices

take away from their food

allowances.

They have to choose between using monies to pay for a prescription

each month or paying their electric bill. Then we have the religious

leaders that stand up in the pulpit every Sunday and say if you are

struggling, you are not being blessed by God. This is so far from the

truth. Once again, they must have skipped The Bible in its entirety

if they promote this

school

of thought.

Struggle is one of God's most precious gifts to us in His effort to

work

His

character out in us. Besides, the last time I checked, Jesus did not

have matching "his" and "hers" Bentley's, nor did He live in a gated

community, nor did He employ a entire entourage of henchmen to

"protect" Him from the people as though He were a celebrity. In fact,

when His disciples tried to keep the people from Him, he rebuked them.

I believe that God is very displeased with the state of our modern day

churches under the leadership of our materialistic, corporate-minded,

selfishly driven leaders. They do just enough in the community to say

that they are doing something, but do not do enough to change the

world as Jesus did and has called upon us to do.

Martin Luther King, Jr. put it best when he said,

"There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during

that period when the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed

worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was

not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of

popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of

society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town the power

structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for

being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators." But they went

on with the conviction that they were "a colony

of

heaven," and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in

number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be

"astronomically intimidated." They brought an end to such ancient

evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest. Yes, I see the Church

as the body of Christ. But,

oh how we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and

through fear of being nonconformists.

We want to blame and criticize the nation's leaders for the horrific

disaster of Hurricane Katrina and for the millions of wasted resources

on the Iraqi war. Yet we do not want to take accountability for the

fact that as the church, we did not and have not done all that we have

been called to do. New Orleans has a church on almost every corner.

Why could they have not organized to ensure that as many people were

evacuate out of the city

as

possible during the hurricane? Why is it that we misappropriate

millions

of

dollars, as churches to building shrines to ourselves, holding

conference after conference, hosting concert after concert; knowing

that true ministry takes place outside the church as Jesus advised?

We are in no position to criticize Bush or anyone else. It would be

nothing less than hypocrisy.

It is time for a spiritual revolution regarding true prosperity.

Unfortunately, it is clear that it cannot begin with our religious

leaders. They are far too comfortable, passive, and out of touch with

God's true heart to lead the revolution, so it must begin with those

of us that are in the trenches that understand that we get God to

change the world, not to change our financial status.