Since the founding of Christianity, there have been those who have tried to make money from it; from the Church selling Indulgences and demanding tithes to the hucksters selling the bones of supposed saints. It's just that today these criminals have access to such huge numbers of suckers.

I've never trusted 'smooth talkers' whether they are pastors or salespeople.

A person can make a lot of money if what they say makes people feel all good and rosy inside, even if the feeling only lasts a few minutes.

Religion always change and will always change to adapt to the world around it, and will always claim that it never changes XD

I agree. This is a result of wanting to remain on top while oligarchy vs. democracy progresses. This new Christianity is modeled after "The Family" in DC circles. They run on the idea that Jesus was sent for and to the ones in power. They are "the chosen." It's the same old story or pie in the sky by and by but they say you can have it right now. Just give us your money.

Religion is the root of all evil, money and greed are held in the highest regard by these so called religious leaders!!

Christians have been finding one another offensive since Paul punched Peter on the nose and told him
"Shut the fuck up fish face"

Religion is Absolutely Offensive, everyone of them..

Yuppers. It used to offend me that these morons gave christianity a bad name, lol. Now I just think they give humans a bad name

The "Prosperity Gospel" preacher are what nearly (perhaps all) televangelists are these days. Joyce Meyers, Benny Hinn, and obviously Joel Osteen are just a few of many. Jim Bakker before he was caught up in sex and financial wrong doing was promising his viewers what they needed if they contributed to his ministry or bought whatever bit of nonsense he was hocking back in the 1980's.

The article at the link below is to a Christian pastor who says he took 2 years "theological rehab" after having been indoctrinated by prosperity gospel preachers. He's not the kind of writer we would normally link here, but he has some direct experience with the subject at hand and its alternative. He writes about the characteristics of prosperity gospel churches and what he characterizes as "healthy" churches.

[9marks.org]

I've been watching "The Righteous Gemstones" on HBO. As a tv show, all the parts are not coming together for me yet, but I love all the actors, Danny McBride's creative mark is on the show (which I love), and the idea of satirizing a family of televangelists keeps me tuning in each week.

Similarly, I've been watching "On Becoming a God in Central Florida" on Showtime, which explores the life of a lower class family in the early '90s through the prism of a cult-like pyramid scheme (I think it's spoofing Amway). Again, as a tv show, it's not quite coming together for me yet, but the subject matter intrigues me, and Kirsten Dunst is always AMAZING in this part. Her performance is flawless.

You have it wrong. Their religion is money not Jesus or God.

The christians have always been violent, hateful, hypocrites.
Their current behavior is nothing "new".
They've always been offensive, and they've always run roughshod over every
other belief system. They've always been destructive.

Don't forget, the church used to sell "indulgences" to those who could afford it.
People could have their sins "forgiven" for a fee.
That was one of the practices that pissed off Martin Luther so much that he felt
compelled to nail his "Ninety-five Theses" to the door of the Schlosskirche (Castle Church), Wittenberg, Germany.

And people wonder why I'm an anti-theist.

Quite agree. It flies totally in the face of the Victorian Protestant work ethic which revolved around industry and philanthropy in general.

Admittedly their sociology was a bit skewed but it was always an eye to the future rather than immediate gratification.

As you say offensive sums it up. If I were a devout CHristian and not an armchair cherry picker I would be horrified

What floors me is that Joel Olsteen's job before inheriting his place at his church (his father was the pastor before him) was that he was a motivational speaker. In otherwords, he has more experience motivating people than he does being a preacher.

But then again, that's practically the same thing. Find a flock of gullible people and you have it made.

"We are the [rich] and chosen few,
And all the rest are damned.
There's room enough in hell for you--
We don't want heaven crammed."

The right wing has been mixing capitalism with religion for years now. And it makes some kind of sick psychological sense. If you think you believe in the right god, the most powerful god, a god that says you don't need to pay for health insurance because he won't let you get hurt or sick, a transactional god that provides you the protection of his supernatural hand in exchange for believing in him and defending him...then why WOULDN'T those "true believers" (TM) get favored status in reality through wealth and prosperity? Why WOULDN'T you float to the top of the economic scale in a universe controlled by a supernatural god you believe in? Why WOULDN'T the poor deserve their lot in life for not believing correctly, or just not being worthy of god's favor? It all makes some kind of sick and twisted sense. (Especially in light of every other way the 1% get a huge chunk of the populace to circle the wagons and destroy each other.)