A few days ago, I experienced a synchronicity of sorts (and more on the synchronicity part later): I, like most people in modern society, spent a relaxing evening sprawled out on my couch – with a cat sprawled out on my legs — while hypnotically flipping through an array of streaming channels, genre categories, sub-categories, recommended videos based on the sub-categories, and other categories related to the sub-categories to category craziness.
At the point of almost blacking out from my channel flipping frenzy – ok, not really, but I figure why not keep this story riveting with drama and suspense – I finally landed on a documentary called “American Gospel”, and with a summary about unmasking the truth about the *prosperity gospel*. For those of you not familiar with the prosperity gospel, think: Joel Osteen. Why is Osteen preaching from the pulpit inside a multi-thousand seat, former sports arena, to a packed house within the arena, and to the thousands of viewers around the world who watch on live stream?
It’s because Osteen has turned the Gospels into a guidebook for personal and financial success in life. Example: In a video, linked below, by a Christian apologist – someone who is anything but onboard with the prosperity gospel –the apologist watches Osteen give a sermon about the Prodigal Son parable, and then change the story from a lesson in humility and servitude to the Prodigal Son achieving success, mostly due to the robe and other riches that the father gave to the son. In other words, the whole point of the parable is the Prodigal Son abandoned his family and went far away, yet all the while going that distance so that he could collect the appropriate awards from his father – instead of, well, including that one, important verse in which the Prodigal Son feels so unworthy that he is willing to be a servant or lesser position to his family, if it means being in the father’s good graces.
This is just one of many tactics that Osteen and other prosperity gospel preachers use to teach the Bible as a self-help book for getting ahead in life – and mostly in a material way (though Osteen and company justify this as part and parcel when in a committed relationship with God).
But it turns out the movie wasn’t quite about going after prosperity gospel preachers and showing them the errors of their ways. Instead, about a quarter of the way into the documentary a few of the subject matter experts launched into a mind-blowingly wrong, epitome of straw man attacks against Catholic Christian theology. Which means the title and summary for “American Gospel” was more of a smoke screen for pushing Protestant theology on the masses, while simultaneously inventing a version of Catholic theology that many Protestants clearly think is true, yet has almost nothing to do with Catholicism. Again and again, this reminds me of Arch Bishop Fulton Sheen’s famous words: “There are not 100 people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.”
And again and again, it is way past time for the Protestants who are not well informed about Catholic theology to get the facts fully in order – and not through Protestant glasses. Protestants may counter this with, *what about Catholics who get Protestant doctrines wrong, or who do not have a good command of Scripture?* Yes, we all need to play fair and be well-informed. However, keep in mind: Many Protestant converts to the Catholic faith are former pastors and Protestant theologians who then studied Scripture and Church History through the eyes of the Apostles and hundreds of years of Church Fathers corroborating the Gospel that the Apostles taught, through the Church established by Christ: The Catholic Church.
Circling back to the synchronicity I encountered, it turned out that just one day after I had watched “American Gospel”, Trent Horn, one of my go-to Catholic apologists, coincidentally watched it as well. Even better, he made a rebuttal video for it! That means, once again, I can keep my channel low-budget, as Trent already put in the time, effort, and money to produce the outstanding rebuttal video. Thank you, Sir Trent!
As you will see in Trent’s video, he breaks down, point by point, the complete hack job about Catholicism done in “American Gospel.” Really, the part about Catholicism is painful to watch: I mean, here in the year 2022, we Catholics still need to correct the wrong assertion that we believe in a “works based salvation.” The documentary then illustrates this claim with equally wrong information about mortal sins versus venial sins and how they relate to God’s saving grace. On top of that, this whole debate further shows the semantics game about the word “works”. I don’t how many more videos Catholic theologians need to make to show exactly what we mean by “works” and how much of this involves being *morally obedient* to the salvation we have received. It’s amazing, and not in a good way, we have to defend why it’s necessary to be *morally obedient*.
Now, for those of you who have watched my “Bridging Gaps between Catholics and Protestants” series on this channel, this video may seem not so ecumenical, or that I am picking a fight with Protestants. But that’s not at all the objective. I still very much want to bridge the gaps – however, we must do that according to a real, fair, non-manipulative search for truth. Nothing less will do. We already see the less is not working. Let’s change that. Today.
“REBUTTING ‘American Gospel’ on Catholic salvation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JddkPla-pis
Critique on Joel Osteen’s sermon about Prodigal Son parable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRQSJbeWrTA