The New Conspirators

I am reading a new book called THE NEW CONSPIRATORS by Tom Sine. Sine is a northwest guy who has been questioning whether the American church has been activity involved in the Kingdom of God in the present day, here and now. I just started it and it has some cool stuff that our churches should be discussing on a regular basis. He mentions a speech he gave to a group of Arab Christians in Lebanon in 2001. In that speech, Sine emphasized that our world is now like a huge global neighborhood. He predicted that our economy would have a direct effect on the rest of the world like no other period in history. This global economy is not stable. Sounds much like what we are experiencing in our world economy today. He also mentioned how the modern mindset of Christian parents has caused them to raise their kids to pursue values that are purely financial and individualistic. According to studies conducted by Sine on college campuses, the number one thing that keeps Christian students from getting into mission work is their parents. Hum?
Sine makes an interesting theory in blaming Ben Franklin (a proclaimed Deist), for the modern embrace of the prosperity gospel in many churches today. Franklin criticized the Puritan mindset of virtue as the end goal of life. Franklin, according to Sine, taught in his classic POOR RICHARDS ALMANAC that virtue is good as long as it leads to blessings in material wealth and status. While blaming any number of the founding fathers who embraced Deism as their chosen religion, I believe the prosperity gospel goes way back to a Christian emperor named Constantine and his philosophy that religion should be front and center in an empire. Any thoughts?

Curtis, In These Places, Oregon USA