Blessed is he who shops at Saks Fifth Avenue
Mrs. Hilliard’s gift list is well within the theology of the church, a segment of American protestantism known as “health and wealth” churches…. It’s a powerful message, and one that moves congregations to expect their pastors to display the material symbols of God’s favor, the Louis Vuitton handbags and the Saks Fifth Avenue wardrobes.
Though I admire and respect the teachings of Jesus Christ (as well as those who endeavor honestly to follow them), I am sickened by aspects of Christianity that in the final analysis are little more than an open and craven bastardization of the tenets of Christianity. “Health and wealth” churches go right to the top of my list.
There is nothing in the Bible that expressly forbids he accumulation of material wealth, but neither does it condone using Christianity as a smoke screen for self-enrichment and self-aggrandizement. Call me silly, but I grew up being taught that Christianity was about charity, service, and trying to make our world a better, more peaceful place to be.
Christianity is not about driving a Lexus, living in a million-dollar home, carrying Louis Vuitton handbags, or taking long vacations in the south of France. Not that there is anything inherently bad or evil about any of these things, unless you happen to build your theology in a way that justifies, nay, encourages the accumulation of material wealth. Who says you can’t take it with you?
But next month may mark a breakthrough in Houston fundraising for its innovative marketing, its creative packaging.
The fundraiser is for Bridget Hilliard, the energetic and articulate wife and co-minister of Pastor Ian V. Hilliard.
Their church and ministry, the New Light Christian Center, is one of Houston’s biggest and fastest growing….
If you hurry you can get tickets ($100 each) for the March 12 celebration. Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards are accepted.
It’s going to be quite an affair. Men are instructed to wear black tuxedos, and women cream or gold formals.
So why, you ask, am I calling it a fundraiser rather than a birthday party?
Because of the link called “Gift Ideas.”
It’s a short list:
- Monetary gifts.
- Designer handbags: Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton.
- Gift certificates: Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Escada.
That’s it: cash, gift certificates to upscale shops or designer handbags in which to stash the loot.
And is any of this booty to be used to feed the hungry or heal the sick? Get real. No, this bounty is designed to upgrade Mrs. Hilliard’s lifestyle, pure and simple. After all, don’t you think her God wants her to have a Louis Vuitton handbag for all of her service to the church? Of course He does, silly….
Again, no reasonable person would begrudge the Hilliards a degree of material success. But when your theology CALLS for you to pursue the aggregation of material wealth at the expense of the actual teachings and meaning of the Gospel, something is horribly amiss.
But it has a negative power as well, one that hit me more than 30 years ago when I was researching a Catholic charismatic church in Birmingham, Ala., where a priest was engaging in faith healing.
God wants you to be well, he told his parishioners, and if you have faith you will be.
In long conversation one evening I asked him how to interpret cases in which he prays over infants with incurable diseases when the infants are not then cured.
“We don’t really understand for sure,” he said. “But we think it may be because someone close to the child, a parent or other relative, may not have enough faith.”
If God wants us all to be healthy and wealthy, disease and poverty are likely due to the personal moral failings of the poor and sick or, in the case of children, of their parents.
So poor people of the world repent.
Blessed are they who shop at Saks.
And those of who are limited to shopping at Kohl’s can no doubt count on burning in Hell.
