prosperity
Explanation
The Joke
A man arrives in the afterlife and meets the Devil, who asks why he did not follow the prosperity gospel -- the belief that God rewards faithful people with material wealth. The man asks if the prosperity gospel preachers were right, and the Devil confirms that those people do indeed go to Hell. The man is confused: "But don't those people go to Hell?" The Devil explains that everyone goes to Hell, but the prosperity gospel followers at least get to enjoy private jets and mansions beforehand. The man realizes that mortal life was essentially a test, and the Devil cheerfully agrees -- one that the man failed by not gaming the system.
The punchline reframes the entire moral landscape. Rather than the prosperity gospel being a theological error (as most mainstream theology holds), the comic presents a universe where the afterlife is uniformly terrible for everyone, making the only rational choice to maximize earthly pleasure. The man who lived modestly gets the worst of both worlds.
The Humor
The comic is a darkly funny inversion of religious morality. Normally, prosperity gospel preachers are criticized for exploiting faith for personal gain, with the implied threat that they will face divine punishment. Here, Weinersmith removes that punishment entirely by making Hell universal, which retroactively makes the prosperity gospel the only smart play. The Devil's friendly, almost sympathetic delivery -- "Then it sounds like you got got" -- adds to the comedic cruelty, treating the man's virtuous life as a sucker's bet.
References
The prosperity gospel (also called the "health and wealth gospel") is a religious doctrine popular among certain American evangelical movements, most associated with televangelists like Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland, which teaches that financial blessing and physical well-being are the will of God for the faithful.