Fundamentalism is taking a beating. First, there was 'The Prophet' who prophesied in the Spirit that 'Sister 'P' would win the election, and now millions of Christian dollars are tied up in various alternative investment schemes, leaving thousands of good church people to wonder how they could have been so foolish.

And foolish they indeed are. Some guy comes along and promises a return of 10 per cent per month (so you will double your money in less than a year), but declines to provide any audited financial statements. He is not legally registered, nor is he part of the formal financial system.

Beating the banks

But then that is part of his boast: 'The commercial banks are making billions, but only pay out a 'smalls' as interest to their customers. They are getting rich off you. Put your money with me, and I will make you rich. Let us beat the banks at their own game.'

And there is a kernel of truth in the biggest lie, but the fallacy remains: Why, even if it is true that banks make superprofits off me, should I give you my money?

The Gleaner front-page headline, last Thursday (July 17), screamed, "Church lashed on Olint". In the story (written by Gleaner Religion Editor Mark Dawes), management consultant Dr Henley Morgan, himself a fundamentalist church leader, is quoted as saying, "I think we (the Christian community) have taken a black eye on this one."

Morgan said: 'On the advent of foreign-exchange trading, the key players were from the Christian community. They foisted themselves on a 'captive' audience of 'believers'.'

He said 70-80 per cent of investors in foreign currency trading investment clubs comprised church folk. "I recall there were messages being preached all over. People were just so convinced."

But the real crux of the story is when The Gleaner Religion Editor wrote: "Morgan said he had come close to being convinced by people that foreign-exchange trading was something God had sent and had opened up for the Christian community to build His kingdom".

Victims of rhetoric

Now we know why so many good Christian people rushed to put their hard-earned money into alternative investment schemes - they were victims of their own prosperity-gospel rhetoric.

They believed that God had sent Carlos Hill and David Smith and others to help Christians get rich!

Dr Morgan sees the operators of these schemes as just naive and foolish, and out of their depth:

"Morgan said he believed most of those who launched foreign-currency investment schemes, of which there are said to be about 34, did so in the utmost good faith."

'I do not have any evidence that these people had wrong motives. I think it was more naivety and unsophistication in management,' he [Morgan] said. 'You are talking about, in most cases, people who have never managed large sums of money, all of a sudden had backroom operations and you are dealing with a very complex thing, which they don't understand. I genuinely believe that possibly even David may have thought that at the end, they would have somehow right-sized; somehow they would have been able to stay ahead of the curve and maybe come back and pay everybody out and then recover.'

Henley sounds like a true believer!

I think my colleague Dawes has missed the real story here - and it is a religion story. The headline should have been 'Christians who put down cross and put up money in a hell of a mess'. Or 'Spirit-filled churches led by spirit of greed'. Or 'Prophets of prosperity produce penitents and poverty'.

People who believe that they were led by the spirit to invest their money in these schemes need to ask themselves which spirit they were being led by, for Jesus did not promise wealth, but a cross.

Gospel of the cross

"If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23) We were warned that others would come and preach "another gospel" (Gal 1:6-9). Of course, it is easier to sell a gospel of prosperity than the gospel of the cross.

Fundamentalists have already been forced to ask themselves how the prophet could have been so wrong, and various explanations have been offered.

Now, they are forced to ask themselves how their 'spirit-filled' leaders could have been so wrong. They will get every explanation, except the obvious one.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and a Roman Catholic deacon. For feedback, email columns@gleanerjm.com.