The Prosperity Gospel

I just finished reading "Bad Money" by Kevin Phillips. It wasn't exactly a page turner but there was one part that caught my eye and I can't seem to shake. He wrote about the controversial theology of "prosperity gospel." This is the idea that if one is righteous and has faith then one will prosper financially.

As one prosperity preacher explained, "believers have a right to the blessings of health and wealth and that they can obtain these blessings through positive confessions of faith and the 'sowing of seeds' through the faithful payments of tithes and offerings." Naturally many faithful find such an idea revolting but there are plenty that truly feel Jesus blesses believers with riches.

Phillips listed several mega churches that eagerly preach a "prosperity gospel" to their congregations who then go out into the world expecting wealth for their faithfulness. Unfortunately they feel so entitled to this wealth that they fall for get-rich-quick scams and other types of white collar crime.

But then he pointed out one strange anomaly: Mormons. Most likely one will never hear Mormon leaders preaching a "prosperity gospel," in fact, if anything you hear quite the opposite. After all, until 1900 or so Mormons practiced a quasi form of religious socialism. Yet for some reason Mormons are particularly susceptible to white collar crime. Phillips pointed out that Utah has the smallest population to have their own office of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mormons have been duped into giving away millions if not billions to faulty businesses, get-rich-quick scams, Ponzi schemes, and flim-flam artists.

So, the big question is why is this happening? Unlike these other churches the "prosperity gospel" is not being preached from the LDS pulpit. Could you imagine a General Authority sharing this concept during General Conference? Mormons don't, at least they shouldn't, be leaving church thinking about the money they will now make because of their faithfulness. So where is this coming from? I'm guessing the explanation is more cultural than theological but that still doesn't explain how the faulty message is being disseminated to the LDS community. If not from the pulpit then from where?