Pentecostalist gathering draws worshippers with get-rich philosophy
God wants you rich, and as if to prove it His golden forefinger is pointing down through the stage ceiling at the Excel exhibition centre in east London.
This is the International Gathering of Champions, one of the largest worship meetings of Pentecostalists ever held in Britain, and the three-metre (10ft) digit hanging above the preachers is a sign that they and the 80,000 who will come to hear them are, in the words of Deuteronomy, "empowered to prosper".
It may seem like a Monty Python comedy prop, but how to get rich and then how to get richer is the message of this eight-day meeting of mostly west African and Caribbean Christians, which reaches a climax this weekend. In other words, the Bible is the business plan and Jesus is the financial adviser-in-chief.
The loudest amen went to a preacher who told a parable of an IT consultant who went forth and multiplied his salary by 10. Thousands...
Dr. Alan Cairns | 3/9/2009
Kevin Swanson | 5/12/2013
