Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas is the story of Kirk – playing a version of himself – and his brother-in-law, Christian White. Christian is not in the Christmas spirit this year and has concerns about the rampant consumerism and hoarding of wealth that he believes is antithetical to the season and to Christian teachings in general.

Kirk, the prosthelytizing voice of the film, tells Kirk – and the audience – that they are wrong and that Christmas truly is about material things. He rationalizes this by means of skewed, not entirely accurate Bible stories and historical revisionism. Although Kirk never calls it by name, what he is doing is justifying a subset of Christianity that is commonly called Prosperity Gospel. Prosperity Gospel – sometimes called prosperity theology – is the belief among some Christians that wealth is the will of God. Financial blessings are an indicator of God’s love and such blessings should be cherished, as if good rewards must always be the result of good behavior. Prosperity Gospel is also called – sometimes derisively – American Gospel.