Study Finds Prosperity Preaching is a Mind-Altering Drug
By Jason
Charles on 12/5/2018
Theology & Religion
The University of Toronto released a recent study in
the journal of Psychology
of Religion and Spirituality. The
study describes a test in which Christians and Atheists were both asked to
listen to hours of prosperity preachers, it reads,
“The University of Toronto released last month a study in
the journal of Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, which named such
preachers as Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes and Creflo Dollar.
“The study included experiments where both theists and atheists were asked to
listen to a prosperity gospel message, with their feelings measured
afterward. It tested heightened optimistic bias and effects on financial
risk-taking resulting from the teachings.
“Specific to positive affect, we found that the prosperity gospel resulted in a
boost of high-arousal positive affect, even for the group of atheists. This
supports the idea that the prosperity gospel’s impact may be less about
appealing to a person’s beliefs and more about making them feel good in the
moment,” the study's authors found.” (Christian
Post)
Isn’t it interesting that the euphoric feeling produced
in people listening to prosperity preachers was found in both the theistic and
atheistic test subjects? And as the quoted study states, this effect has nothing
to do with desiring religion and sound doctrine, but everything to do with an
associated feeling or high people receive when hearing prosperity sermons.
The researchers also demonstrated this feeling of
euphoria was also linked to an increase in “risky financial behavior,”
“Indeed, the finding that the prosperity gospel seems to generate a positivity
bias even when people agree with it less, is evidence that the prosperity
experience might not be about consideration of its teachings, but more about
quick, in-the-moment emotional and motivational feel-good states.”
In their conclusions, the researchers said that “prosperity gospel messages
heighten optimistic bias and risky financial behaviors." (Christian
Post)
How convenient for these pastors, especially considering
their taste for $60 million-dollar jets. It’s like they study neural-linguistic
programming techniques, hypnotic voice commands, and marketing manuals more than
scripture itself, in a bid to hypnotize congregants out of their money, rather
than feed them sound-doctrine.
The Sunday Fix
It seems the dynamic between the “pastors” of prosperity
church congregations, is more akin to a dealer/user relationship, rather than a
shepherd/flock relationship.
This is an important distinction to make for those of us
analyzing how we bring revival back to the American church. We aren’t fighting
just ignorance, false doctrine and greed in the church, we are also fighting
what can only be termed as a physical addiction to an adrenaline and endorphin
high experienced by church-goers around the country. People in these churches
are literally addicted to their own brain chemicals when exposed to euphoric
worship services and profoundly positive, perfectly inflected public speaking.
While we would love to use sound, convicting doctrine,
to bring these folks back to the true, hard teachings of scripture, what we are
dealing with in a very true sense is drug addicts. Addicts who are more
concerned about their weekly-fix than sound, Bible teaching. If you have ever
worked to correct the behavior of a drug addict you know that reason never
prevails. These people almost have to hit rock bottom, before they begin to
self-reflect enough to initiate real change in their behavior. It has to hurt
immensely before they begin to recover.
This is truly the state of modern church goers today,
like drug-addicts they have to lose all their money, and run their lives into
the ground before they consider change. They refuse to deal with reality,
believing if they just stay positive and give enough money God will bless them.
This is a lie, how many elderly and misled congregants have been asked to give
all they have by these pulpit pimps? Like Drug dealers they have ruined
countless lives preying on the addictive behavior of their drug users.
As result the people sitting under these con-men
“pastors,” and participating in these drug inducing services have absolutely no
clue what the Bible says on pertinent issues. Take popular worship singer Lauren
Daigle, whose music has become a staple in the modern church worship service,
"Do you feel that homosexuality is a sin?" Nati asked the 27-year-old point
blank.
"I can't honestly answer on that," Daigle answered. "In a sense, I have too many
people that I love that they are homosexual. I don't know. I actually had a
conversation with someone last night about it. I can't say one way or the other.
I'm not God.
The "How
Can It Be" singer continued, "So when people ask questions like that
... that's what my go-to is. I just say read the Bible find out for yourself.
And when you find out let me know, because I'm learning, too." (Daily
Wire)
The question of whether or not Homosexuality is a sin
per the Bible doesn’t ever come up in the thousands of churches she has sung at
because that topic isn’t a feel-good, positive topic to discuss, and thus has
become off-limits. Speaking on sin doesn’t create the euphoric effect that keeps
the offering basket flush with cash. Everything is geared towards creating and
sustaining this euphoria, including Lauren Daigle who becomes nothing more than
a piece of drug paraphernalia who is passed around from church to church in an
effort to keep the high-going. Our churches are cursed in a way a crack-house is
cursed, they are trapped by addiction. The truth is, Lauren’s knowledge of the
Bible is apparently so shallow, she shouldn’t be writing worship songs, period.
Conclusion
As sad as this realization is, it isn’t a new thing.
When you really parse the language in the Apostle Paul’s letter to his
spiritual son Timothy, you see he is talking implicitly about this euphoric
addiction men have to charismatic stage presence and primal, driving music.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their
own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 2 Timothy
4:3
They will not “endure
sound doctrine”, meaning they can’t even sit in the presence of
truth-telling and hard preaching, additionally they go after “their
own lusts,” think crack-addict here, and “heap
to themselves teachers,” or men who are willing to feed these
addictions for a price knowing these people are there for a fix, nothing more.
Truly, these “pastors” are abominable to the Lord. Jesus
cursed them, pointing out how their predatory nature, and how they aim to devour
widows’ houses and all that they have without so much a thought,
Then in the audience of all the people he said unto his disciples, Beware of the
scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets,
and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts; Which
devour widows' houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive
greater damnation. (Luke 20: 45-47)
This is exactly what these prosperity pimps do in our
day, prey on the most vulnerable in society.
In terms of the issues we have with the modern church,
and the desire for a true Spirit-led revival we are dealing with addicts here.
Everything else is symptomatic to this key issue that I think largely goes over
looked when formulating ideas on how to best Wake the Church. It is little
wonder that reason is not prevailing in this fight, we are dealing with
unreasonable addicts who do not desire change.
I have written about this effect in the past in an
article I entitled, Hooked
on a Feeling: The Addictive Nature of the Modern Church Format. In
it, I follow the average congregant through their Sunday routine, demonstrating
how the whole church experience is just lustful, euphoria seeking.
Now we have a credible study demonstrating this effect in both theistic and atheistic populations. These churches are exploiting the human condition like snake-oil salesmen. Until we expose the drug-dealers for what they are, we will never make progress in this country towards real revival.