Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide? (‘Cause I Need More Room for My Plasma TV)

By Karen Spears Zacharias
Zondervan, copyright 2011, 233 pages
Examined, Analyzed and & Reviewed by Marion Aldridge,
Coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of South Carolina
Contact at marion@cbfofsc.org or 803-779-1888

Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide? (‘Cause I Need More Room for My Plasma TV) gets the award for best book title in 2011 although Overcoming Adolescence is kinda catchy too.  I was introduced to this author by a friend who wanted to invite her as a speaker to one of our Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assemblies.  After reading Double-Wide, I entirely approve of this choice.  I have read nothing else Zacharias has written, but her passion for following Jesus Christ in authentic Biblical faith, as opposed to merely reflecting Cultural Christianity, is refreshing.

The particular demon with which she wrestles in this volume is the Prosperity Gospel, the notion that if you love God and follow in the path of Jesus, you will get rich.  Name it and Claim it.

Zacharias’ methodology is to tell stories.  Nineteen chapters and nineteen stories.  Some are models of how Christians should live (The Sister, The Missionary, The Redhead) and some are models of how Christians should not live (The Evangelist, The Mogul).  Most of her stories are in the gray area of real life.  It’s not as simple as either “Follow Jesus and prosper” or “Follow Jesus and be poor.”  Zacharias lives with the nuances, but she is clear about lines that, when crossed, lead to idolatry.  She chronicles the narratives of these heroes and rogues with humor.  Her title is a clue.  She is obviously a folksy good ol’ girl story-teller from the Deep South who somehow lost her way and now lives in Oregon.  Her stories are a bit uneven in that her voice sometimes changes back and forth between presenting journalistic information non-judgmentally and, on the other hand, speaking passionately and with strong opinion.  Zacharias is at her best when she emphatically tells us what she believes:

• “There are a lot of folks prancing around treating the Bible like an algebra book and God like their personal banker.  They figure if they can do the equation just right, they’ll earn God’s approval and he’ll hand over the keys to a great vault in heaven.  Then that abundant life mentioned in John 10: 10 will finally be theirs.”
• “Whatever blessings we enjoy may be more the result of good geography than good theology.”
• “Having been there, I can tell you, there’s nothing intrinsically good about poverty.”
• “I may not be rich, but I lead a rich life.”
• “The Jesus-factor is a great selling point for everything from bobble-head dolls to theme parks to presidential bids.”
• “When it comes to the power of media marketing, the name of Jesus is a better brand than Coca-Cola, Aflac, and Nike combined.”
• “Money should be a vehicle, not a destination.”
• “Call it the law of affluence.  The more money one has the greater the greed temptation.”
• “Companies, even Fortune 500 companies, are made from mist.”
• “To suggest that any of the material blessings we enjoy are the result of our merit or our faithfulness is outright foolishness.”
• “Some people trust God with their whole heart, mind, body and soul, yet they still can’t afford a car or medical insurance.”
• “The Gospel of Entitlement is, at its core, a Ponzi scheme on steroids.”
• “Entitlement theology may very well be the bastard-child born from the mating of Calvinism’s strong work ethic with capitalism’s get-all-the-goods-you-can mentality.”
• “These charlatans are selling salve to the sick when salvation is what people really need to fix what ails them.”

I can’t improve on Zacharias’ own words.  I am glad she has agreed to speak to our CBFSC General Assembly on April 27, 2012 in Seneca, SC.  Y’all come.

My goal is to engage, comment on, interact with, reflect on, provide quotations from, and helpful insight regarding books of relevance to contemporary Christians.

Disclaimer:  As a service to pastors, Sunday school teachers and others within the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Marion Aldridge produces these book “reviews.”  His attempt to pay attention to the culture in which we live does not mean that Aldridge or CBF endorses every sentence of every book or even every sentence quoted in the review.  Quotations from the book are in italics.

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