What happens to rich preachers in a recession?

“First of all, we don’t have two Rolls-Royces. And secondly, the one Rolls-Royce that was purchased was purchased by the donors, or the members of the church, and it was a surprise to me. I had no idea they were doing it.”
– Creflo Dollar

Christianity Today reports on a real tear jerker: Prosperity preachers are facing the possibility of scaling back on their lavish lifestyles during these hard financial times. Kenneth Copeland, for example has learned that he will have to pay taxes on one of his jets. Oh the humanity! What’s next? Fewer diamonds for Gloria?! Will TBN have to do with fewer pieces of gilded furniture? Will Benny Hinn be able to continue paying for his gravity-defying comb-over?

Craig Blomberg, author of a 2001 study of prosperity theology, said he expects the movement to “take a small hit among those who recognize that it can’t deliver on what it promises.”

But many followers could view the financial difficulties as consequences for sin and personal failings—from Weeks’s assault conviction to the Whites’ divorce—and determine to try that much harder to please God and prosper themselves, he suggested.

“Some may well interpret this as judgment on the leaders who have abused their positions or proved immoral in other respects,” said Blomberg, a New Testament professor at Denver Seminary. “And many may simply assume this is the time to call others and themselves to an even truer faith so that the ‘system will work’ as it is supposed to in their minds.”

Read the entire article HERE.