Midweek Meditation: Second Century Wisdom (The Shepherd of Hermas)

"Remove every evil desire and clothe yourself with good and holy desire. For it you are clothed with good desire, you will hate evil desire and bridle it as you please." (The Shepherd of Hermas)

"Hold fast to simplicity of heart and innocence. Yes, be as babes who do not know the wickedness that destroys grown people's lives." (The Shepherd of Hermas)

"Those who are rich in this world cannot be made useful for the Lord unless their riches have been cut out of them. (The Shepherd of Hermas)

"7. When, therefore, the rich man reaches out to the poor those things which he lacks, the poor man prays to the Lord for the rich. And God grants to the rich man all good things because the poor man is rich is prayer, and his requests have great power with the Lord. 8. Then the rich man ministers all things to the poor, because he perceives that he is heard by the Lord, and he more willingly and without doubting affords him what he needs, and takes care that nothing be lacking to him.
9. And the poor man gives thanks to the Lord for the rich, because they both do their work from the Lord.
10. With men therefore, the elm is not thought to give any fruit; but they do not know or understand that by being added to the vine, the vine bears a double increase, both for itself and for the elm.
11. Likewise, the prayers of the poor to bless the rich are heard by the Lord; so their riches are increased, because they minister to the poor of their wealth. Therefore they both are made partakers of each other's good works."

BookPastor >> "Blessed" (Kate Bowler)

TITLE: Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel
AUTHOR: Kate Bowler
PUBLISHER: New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2013, (352 pages).

When you see names like Kenneth Hagin, Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, EW Kenyon, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland, and others, what comes to mind? That's right. It's the Prosperity Gospel! In a 352 paged book filled with research data, interviews, observations, citations from publications, and personal encounters, Bowler has put together a landmark resource for anyone interested about the history, the sociological, the cultural shifts, and the religious practices of the megastars of Christianity: The prosperity gospel megachurches. In this fascinating study of the American Prosperity Gospel movement, Bowler takes a closer look at what the prosperity gospel is all about. She studies the origins of the Word of Faith movement and how it manages to attract millions of people to believe that money, health, and good fortunes can be divinely obtained. She describes the prosperity gospel advocates and founders. She lists the different facets of prosperity gospel. In this first major study of its kind, Kate Bowler, an Assistant Professor at Duke Divinity School also seeks to find out the history of the movement; the major figures and features of the 20th Century prosperity movement in America; how the prosperity movement transforms a traditionally self-denial community into a triumphant culture; and the unifying themes among the proponents of prosperity gospel. Prosperity can be classified as hard and soft; hard meaning immediate results while soft means something more long-term.