Tag: prosperity gospel

Bill Gothard, founder of the Institute in Basic Life Principles, has resigned in the wake of an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse.

Sometimes the Prosperity Gospel scam does work. But guess who gets rich of it?

A former Aum Shinrikyo cult member who surrendered after 17 years on the run has now been sentenced to 9 years in prison for his participation in three cult-related crimes.

Cult leader Victor Barnard, who faces abuse charges, is missing.

Plus: The fictional True Detective series may have been inspired by the Hosanna Church child abuse case.

Benny Hinn and his traveling money machine were in Pittsburgh. Here’s why you shouldn’t fall for the scheme.

Scientology and money also go hand in hand. By why exactly did they buy that building?

Speaking of Scientology: Like the cult itself , Narconon, a drug rehab organization that uses treatments based on L. Ron Hubbard’s quackery is sinking deeper into problems.

People who preach that you have to ‘sow’ your money (‘seed’) in order to reap financial blessings do not believe their own teachings.

A former senior member of the Agape Ministries doomsday cu;lt faces a possible two-year sentence for spending three years on the run.

William Kamm, jailed for abusing underage followers whom he manipulated into believing they were to help him start an ‘immaculate race,’ won’t be released when he is eligible for parole, the parole board says.

Also: A family brainwashed by a conman who robbed them talks about the ordeal. And New York is suing Ultra-Orthodox Jews who enforce a dress code in their stores.

Plus, some parents claims St. Anthony’s Monastery near Florence, Arizona, is a cult. Also in Religion News Briefs, find out why a New Zealand politicians wants to stop Muslims from flying. And more….

To its supporters, who include some of the country’s most powerful people, Rhema is a welcome coming together of two of South Africa’s favourite pastimes, conspicuous consumption and Christianity.

To its critics it’s a prosperity cult.

Trinity Foundation, an evangelical watchdog led by Ole Anthony has been investigating evangelist Jesse Duplantis.

Investigator Pete Evans says ‘Donors expect the money they donate to the church to go to the poor and needy. Not to build mansions for the pastor.” Duplantis is building a mansion, owned by the ministry, that has 35-thousand square feet of covered space.

America’s mainstream religious denominations used to teach the faithful that they would be rewarded in the afterlife. But over the past generation, a different strain of Christian faith has proliferated—one that promises to make believers rich in the here and now.

Known as the prosperity gospel, and claiming tens of millions of adherents, it fosters risk-taking and intense material optimism. It pumped air into the housing bubble. And one year into the worst downturn since the Depression, it’s still going strong.

• In the same issue of The Atlantic: Lead us not into debt: Finance guru Dave Ramsey wins followers with a simple message: find God and lose your credit cards.