Actress-minister Della Reese preaches prosperity — in the present
And her message is not about sin, sacrifice or evil, but rather abundant living — not in the hereafter but in the here and now.
"There ain't nothin' up there. If you would read that Bible, you would know," she tells a hand-clapping congregation. "Jesus Christ said the only time is now. So whatever it is you want, need or desire or just like to have, you better try to get it now, 'cause this is the only time there is.
"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow may be for us and it may not."
This is the Understanding Principles of Better Living Church, where the Rev. Della Reese Lett — she uses her married name in the church — preaches prosperity. She calls the church Christian, but Jesus is described not as the Savior but as the Way-Shower, pointing to unabashedly abundant living and material success.
Hers is a faith of entitlement and personal empowerment. Change your way of thinking, her churchgoers are told, and you'll change your life. She calls it "practical Christianity" and says it stems from positive thinking.
"If you're not getting the things you want, need or desire, it's because you have not accepted that you can have them," she tells congregants. "Once you accept that you become acceptable to the Lord and he starts sending your stuff through."
Reese Lett's church belongs to a denomination started by the Rev. Johnnie Colemon in 1974, the Universal Foundation for Better Living. Colemon's mega church on Chicago's South Side fits loosely into a broadly defined New Thought movement, which includes the Rev. Frederick Eikerenkoetter, or the Rev. Ike, the flamboyant New York "success and prosperity" preacher.
"His whole thing is racism dies out in the face of money. Money kills a lot of adversity," says James Stovall, director of the church's Ministry of Arts and Culture. That's not to say church members don't believe in sacrifice and helping others. But, says Stovall, "If you don't pursue some level of success, there's nothing to give." For Reese Lett, being one with the Almighty is why she believes she is where she is — from her childhood in a Detroit slum and the Baptist faith of her mother.
As a 13-year-old, she sang with the late gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and then went on to become a gospel, blues and jazz artist herself. She broke the color barrier as a guest on "The Merv Griffin Show" and has performed in Las Vegas and in films. As millions of viewers know, she also completed nine seasons as co-star of CBS' "Touched by an Angel."
During an interview, she recalled her childhood as Deloresse Patricia Early.
"Everything was a bill in our house — there was a grocery bill, rent was a bill and the cleaning was a bill." Her father would gamble what was left, sometimes winning, sometimes losing. One time, Reese says, her mother was telling God she had everything she needed to make sandwiches but bread. Then a neighbor knocked on the door and said she and her husband had each bought a loaf of bread and offered one up. "My mother was a personal friend of God's. They had ongoing conversations," said Reese, 72.
At the Wyndham Bel Age Hotel in West Hollywood, Reese Lett's church meets in the same rented banquet room it has used for three years. The congregation, which totals about 600, is raising money to either build or buy its own building. Beneath crystal chandeliers the air is sizzling with the sounds of keyboard, bass guitar, drums, saxophone and gospel choir. "Ain't No Stopping Us!" the congregation sings.
It includes blacks, whites, Hispanics and Asians, some dressed for Sunday, others more informally. Within minutes, the Rev. Della is talking about bread again.
The Lord's Prayer, she says, is an example of how to pray. "Give us this day our daily bread. It doesn't say, 'Give us some of your bread, Lord.' Does it?"
Members of the congregation answer in unison: "No!"
"It says give us this day our daily bread. I own this bread! Give me the part I'm supposed to have today." Reese Lett's teaching that people have a God-given right to riches stems in large part from the view that humans are divine because they are part of God.
Abundance "is not necessarily just money," she adds. It's "being able to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, as much of it as you want to." That includes loving relationships and, she says, love of God. Her followers say Reese Lett has changed their lives.
"It's made a big difference. It helps me to be more in control of my life," says secretary Cynthia Hast of Los Angeles. "I understand that God is always with me. Everything I want is here for me."
Not everyone agrees with the emphasis on material success. The Rev. Ike was called a heretic when he began, and would-be converts were urged to stay away by established churches, Stovall says. But, he adds, "It's also wrong for (those) churches to preach nothing but pie in the sky when you die."
"For me, it seems ignorant to suffer when there's so much available to make you comfortable," Reese Lett tells her congregation. "I like to sit on soft things and sleep late. ... I like 45 $100 bills in my pocketbook. It kinda makes me feel like a real woman!"