This is the first episode in a new series, God Wants You Rich.

In this first program I briefly deal with the origin of the Christianidea that material things are bad, or that material things are not asimportant as spiritual things.

The Apostle John wrote that he desired above all things that we

prosper and be in health even as our souls are prospering. In spite ofthis most Christians think that prospering is a bad thing or at best anot very important thing. If they ever hear this scripture, 3 John 2,most Christians conclude that it must not mean what it obviously says. In fact the opposite is true. John is trying to be direct and to thepoint. I believe John wrote this specifically to counter gnostic ideasthat were already effecting Christian thought toward the end of theApostle John's life. John links prosperity and health with having aprosperous soul to make the point, a point so radical to modernChristians, that material well being is just as important as theprosperity of your soul.

John was a Jew. In fact, all of the founders of Christianity were

Jewish. Jesus was Jewish. Marywas Jewish. Joseph was Jewish. Peter, James, John, Matthew and theApostle Paul were all Jewish.The Bible is a Jewish book. But this ideaabout the evil or the unimportance of the material world is not aJewish idea. The Jews believed that the material world was good. Thatgold was good. That the things of this life were good. That thepleasures of this life were good. They believed this because the Biblesaid that God had created the world and said it was good. (Check out this link to Amazon's page for Thou Shalt Prosper a book written by a Jewish rabbi. Or search the book yourself for the word "Gold" and read pages 26 and 27)

On the other hand Greek philosophy assumed that material things were evil or inferior or imperfect. (For a little background on that check out this link to Amazons page for Our Father Abraham, or search the book yourself for the word "Plato" and read pages 168 and 169.)

So here's the long and the short of it. Modern Christianity's

attitude toward material things has much more in common with the Greekphilosophical attitude toward material things than it does with theJewish, i.e. Jesus', Peter's, James', John's, Paul's, attitude towardmaterial things. How did this happen?

Video:

Quicktime:   ipod (iphone, itv)