History Main / GoodFortuneFromGod

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': Supplementary materials reveal that the Wall Around The World was apparently conveniently there when humanity was fleeing the Titans; people privy to conspiracy secrets jumped on this and called it a gift from god. [[spoilers:This is a flat-out lie, but the ''Titans'' themselves were some kind of gift - which was then utterly squandered and used by a tyrant for conquest and genocide. Centuries later, after all their exploitation of the world bit them in the ass, they used the ''Titans'' to build the wall before losing control.]]

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': Supplementary materials reveal that the Wall Around The World was apparently conveniently there when humanity was fleeing the Titans; people privy to conspiracy secrets jumped on this and called it a gift from god.

This is a subtrope of DeusExMachina, which is credited for the material gain. Also compare with ReligionIsMagic and LogicalFallacies.

%%* In Thailand, there is an emerging Buddhist movement known as [[http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/may-24-2013/decline-of-buddhism-in-thailand/16592/ Dhammakaya,]] which is similar to the Prosperity Gospel in using meditation to increase material gain.

Good Fortune from God, as seen typically in RealLife, occurs with or without a deity. The higher power can be vague (as in the [[IWishItWereReal "name it, claim it"]] advice given in self-help works) or very specific (God or Jesus in churches that follow the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology Prosperity Theology movement) ]]. In the latter, it can be a tool for EasyEvangelism, and such a notion has been criticized for treating divinity like a BenevolentGenie.

* In the Music/{{Genesis}} song [[CorruptChurch "Jesus He Loves Me,"]] there is illustration of what often gives rise to this trope, and it's not always in the religious sense:

* ''Literature/GoingPostal'': Moist von Lipwig invokes this. After Reacher Gilt has the Post Office burned down, Moist fakes receiving a divine vision, runs off with a spade, and returns with an enormous pile of money (all of the money he'd stolen and stashed away before being caught). This being Ankh-Morpork, he is soon confronted by just about every priest in the city who claims that their god requires an expensive sacrifice as thanks for the windfall.

Therefore, a reader or a listener is not certain if the windfall was literally given by such a divine being or in fact could have been something truly unexpected, say, finding an envelope of cash on the ground. However, giving credit to an unseen power can have much impact emotionally.

You find yourself in hardship: out of work, business is bad, you owe for the rent, you owe for [[TheAllegedCar the rusty old car]], you owe for utilities, etc.

Then you come across what might be called an unexpected blessing. All of a sudden, or so it seems, you get money, you get a new job, you can now pay your bills, maybe you can even get a new car or a BigFancyHouse. But most of all, you are now ecstatic at your sudden good fortune.

You share this incredible story, usually in front of a group of people, perhaps at an event where your testimony is invited. Or you share it on the internet. So you tell the story and ...

you never quite say how you received your drastic change of financial health or material wealth. You HandWave this ContrivedCoincidence as a gift from an unseen or even divine force. You attribute your new-found happiness to Good Fortune from God.

The key is that one is given an unexpected blessing, usually a sudden windfall of money or property, of which how it was received is left unexplained. In not revealing the actual source, credit is given to faith in a deity, a divine being, or some other higher power. How the "blessing" was given is never explicitly stated, literally or metaphorically. This is a subtrope of DeusExMachina, which is credited for the material gain.

The being or power is considered to be the source of unexpected prosperity. In case there is any doubt about God-Given good grace being indeed God-given, proponents may cite [[AsTheGoodBookSays scripture]] to make their point.

Compare with ReligionIsMagic and LogicalFallacies.

* The terms "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charism Charism]]" and "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charisma Charisma]]" are essentially this.
* In the medieval era, the monks of the Catholic Church claimed this as the reason why they went from the poverty and persecution of Christ to an exorbitantly wealthy and prosperous entrenched power system. Some factions, like the Franciscans and the Beghards, accused the church of impiety, decadence, and not following Christ's example, and theological debates such as whether Christ owned his own clothes were very, very SeriousBusiness.[[labelnote:cf.]]''See'' Literature/TheNameOfTheRose ''for a fictional (albeit well-researched by a medieval historian) take on this topic''.[[/labelnote]] Many of these ideas influenced the Protestant Reformation.
* This was a very common belief in Protestant Europe in past centuries: that the wealthy were chosen by God to be wealthy, and the poor were made poor by God (as opposed to society/economy). The belief that wealth was the sign of God's favor led to the "Protestant work ethic" and the Western value placed on money solely for money's sake (as opposed to what it can buy). This was a core building block founding modern capitalist ideology.
* This is still a common belief. See things like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology Prosperity Theology]]. In the United States, the [[TropeCodifier Trope Codifiers]] can be seen preaching inside megachurches or on some Sunday morning religious programs.
* Similarly, historically high-caste Hindus taught that their wealth and status was the result of good {{karma}}, with the lower castes having the opposite (some still think this). Buddhists have also sometimes claimed this.
* In Thailand, there is an emerging Buddhist movement known as [[http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/may-24-2013/decline-of-buddhism-in-thailand/16592/ Dhammakaya,]] which is similar to the Prosperity Gospel in using meditation to increase material gain.
* An infamous remark by Ramzan Kadyrov, president of the Russian autonomous republic of Chechnya. He claimed that "Allah gives us money to develop the republic", while it's common knowledge that the money comes from the Russian budget to ensure Chechnya's loyalty to the federal center.

* ''Discworld/GoingPostal'': Moist von Lipwig invokes this. After Reacher Gilt has the Post Office burned down, Moist fakes receiving a divine vision, runs off with a spade, and returns with an enormous pile of money (all of the money he'd stolen and stashed away before being caught). This being Ankh-Morpork, he is soon confronted by just about every priest in the city who claims that their god requires an expensive sacrifice as thanks for the windfall.

The being or power is considered to be the source of unexpected prosperity. In case there is any doubt about [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal God-Given good grace]] being indeed God-given, proponents may cite [[AsTheGoodBookSays scripture]] to make their point.