Can you really argue with success?

This is a great parable told by the Internet Monk about church growth and the "new" church that is modeled by the likes of Joel Osteen and co.:

“A Parable for our Seeker-Sensitive, Purpose-Driven, Church Growth Oriented Friends”
Make sure you read the comments after the parable as well, they are just as interesting.

News about Ted Haggard (immorality), Randy and Paula White (divorce), and Juanita Bynum (domestic abuse in her 3rd marriage) have got the blogosphere talking again about the prosperity gospel-- more importantly, the failures and dangers of the message.

It's hard to argue with success. It's hard to argue to people that Joel Osteen has issues when his membership is above 15,000. It's hard to argue with Benny Hinn or Kenneth Copeland when they own multiple luxury cars, personal aircraft, and STILL have large followings. It's not like these guys are like Robert Tilton or Peter Popoff. The only difference to me is that the others haven't been caught yet......

UPDATE: I'm not saying Osteen and Hinn use radio transmissions or have committed physical fraud. I'm just saying that nothing has happened to critically injure their efforts as has happened to Tilton and Co.

I guess I am just tired with the idea that God is an investment strategy with a guaranteed return on investment and that material and physical success is guaranteed to me when Scripture is so clear that storms and troubles will come. On top of that, why do we teach people to strive for riches when Jesus makes it clear that rich people will have a VERY difficult time getting to heaven?

I saw an anonymous commenter say that the prosperity message is primarily broadcast through the power of "The Balaam Network". I googled the phrase, wondering if this was some wacked-out group. Then it finally hit me......

He was referring to TBN.

That's a conversation starter if I ever heard one.