Prosperity Christianity Part IV and Covid-19.

They might be easy to do (Divinely speaking!) but they are not

so easy to find!

The previous parts of this series can be found as follows: Part I, Part II & Part III

I had intended Part IV to be about the tragic case of Bill Johnson's Bethel church's unanswered prayers for a resurrection. But since then there has been this post on PZ Myers' blog which showcases the following Tweet:

Right-wing pastor Rodney Howard-Browne of The River Church in Tampa Bay believes the coronavirus is a “phantom plague” designed to terrify people into receiving vaccines that will kill them.

Here, he asks congregants to turn around and greet each other. pic.twitter.com/yjS1f8lLT9

— Mark Elliott (@markmobility) March 17, 2020

The Tweet reads: 

Right-wing pastor Rodney Howard-Browne of The River Church in Tampa Bay believes the coronavirus is a “phantom plague” designed to terrify people into receiving vaccines that will kill them. Here, he asks congregants to turn around and greet each other.

Howard-Browne, of whom I've been aware for a long time, makes it into my criminally insane abominable Christian category; no two ways about it: He has a CV that few Abominable Christians could rival: Viz: Conspiracy theorist, hardened right-winger, Christian Gnostic elitist, ex-Benny Hinn lieutenant, laughing mania pied piper, father of the Toronto Blessing and finally, it is said that Browne tells Christians who criticise his laughing mania blessing they are going to Hell. More about the antics of this nasty pastor can be found at these links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Howard-Browne

https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rodney-howard-browne-used-his-sunday-service-to-spread-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories/

The reason why I link Browne to the Bill Johnson affair will become clearer as we proceed. For a start, as we have seen, Bill Johnson traces his blessedness back to Browne's legacy: Namely, the Toronto blessing.

PZ Myers entitles his blog post on Browne Christians are Selfish Awful People. That's just a little bit sweeping and unfair given that many, if not the majority of Christians, would utterly disown Browne; its like using the legacies of Stalin, Mao, Pol-pot, & Marxism to accuse all atheists of being selfish and awful. Moreover, Myers general categorisation is comparable to Browne's declaration that Christians who don't tow his line are Hell bound. It's also on a par with fundagelicals who accuse many otherwise good atheists, gay people and even fellow Christians of heinous sin for just being who they are. For fundamentalists of all flavours there is no middle ground; a miss is as good as a mile. This moral one-upper-ship is just the kind of thing that is readily used as a pretext for the persecution of those you disagree with; no matter what the details of their personality they are regarded as partakers of the same poison and therefore can all be written off as selfish and awful. This lack of discernment, found among both atheists of a "Stalinist" mentality & Christians who lean heavily toward hardened fundamentalism, doesn't take into account that people reinterpret and cherry pick "doctrines" in a way that is a function of their personality and experience and this reveals much about them as people. The "poisoned doctrine" paradigm doesn't make fine distinctions and is dehumanising. To be fair however there is some discussion on Myers' comments thread as to whether it is right to dump all Christians into the same league as Browne. Besides it is quite possible that the grumpy Myers needed to blow off some steam when he wrote his blog; after all, even as a Christian I find myself utterly repelled by Browne's  reprehensible views.

As I have already said, Bill Johnson traces he ministry's success back to the Toronto Blessing and therefore effectively back to Browne's laughing mania phenomena.  But in spite of that, in an official press release from Bethel chirch we can read the following:

As of Monday, March 16, 2020, all ministry gatherings and weekend services at Bethel campuses are postponed until further notice. Instead, Bethel will offer several online opportunities for members, attenders, and students to be a part of, including church online at www.bethel.tv streaming at 8:00 AM, 10:30 AM, 1:00 PM, & 6:00 PM PDT on Sundays moving forward.

Sensible people! I wonder what Browne, effectively a big influence on Johnson, would have to say about that! 

Finally in the same press release  I found the following a little bit ironic:

Changes to Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry: Bethel’s ministry school (BSSM) has decided to transition fully to online school sessions to continue to foster safety and health in the community. All in-person classes and gatherings at all campuses are postponed until further notice.

We have some disappointing news: As of March 10, 2020, Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) has cancelled all student missions and ministry trips between now and graduation, both domestic and international.