Plutonic Christianity: A New and Disturbing Heresy

The most fast-growing and flourishing Christian movement in America, the Mega Church, fits neither into the Protestant nor the Catholic mold, though its origins stem from evangelical fundamentalism. I call it a heresy (though no official church will officially deem it so), because the common doctrine of the Mega Churches, wherever they may be located, is a worship of Mammon in the guise of Christ. In short, whereas in the old days Christians spoke of "building our treasure in Heaven", we now have that message turned on its head, and their preachers speak of "building our treasure on Earth". All you have to do is "get right with the Lord", and trust He will take care of your financial needs -- if only you will believe in him enough. Thousands swarm to this sort of message, because it fits so well with the socioeconomic politics of unbridled capitalism that currently compels the thinking of just over half of the actively voting public in America. If socialism is the "work of the Devil", then capitalism must be what God loves, never mind the communal economy practiced by all the religious communities of Early Christianity. The politically-vociferous leaders of the Mega Churches also violate the law, which states that any member of religious clergy who takes an active role in politics or voices explicit political opinions nullifies their clerical immunity from taxation. And yet there is no government official who will enforce this law against them. The preachers of these churches make untold millions from the collection plate, which is represented to their congregations as a form of "investment" in the future riches that will come to them because of this material act of faith in God the Provider. This heresy attracts mostly upper middle class folk who want to feel good about their prosperity (however they came by it), as well as lower and working class folk who aspire to be like their betters (who are not their moral betters, only their socioeconomic betters). All of this plutonic sort of theology (from the Greek word, ploutos, meaning "wealth, riches") has a thread going back to one branch of the Reformation: Calvinism, which among other things of a more noble nature, taught that a person's worldly prosperity was a sign of God's spiritual favor for their future salvation. Conversely, the Calvinists taught that those who faltered economically were among those that could be counted out of God's favor. This precept came out of the pernicious theological argument first promulgated by Augustine of Hippo, who in turn deduced it from the implications of the Ten Plagues of Egypt. In the Book of Exodus, Pharaoh was prepared to free the Hebrews from bondage after each punishing plague meted out by their divine protector, Yahweh, but each time Yahweh "hardened Pharaoh's heart", so that Pharaoh reneged, resulting in more plagues that could be wrought upon the Egyptian people for their centuries-long persecution of the Hebrew minority in their midst. From this story, Augustine determined that God must will whether a person is saved or not, and therefore must actively participate in people's moral failure or success. From this seminal interpretation we eventually get, centuries later, a doctrine encouraging people to give of their hard-earned money to invest in the ethereal bank of the Mega Church, whose banker, Mr. or Mrs. Preacher, will use this "tithe" to both enrich him or herself, and otherwise ostensibly use it to play the heavenly stock market to help you win the material dividends of God's plutonic favor.