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WORD OF FAITH IS FOUND WANTING

by Jeffrey Hagan  
9/01/2014 / Christian Apologetics

by Rev. Jeff Hagan, DCE, DMin, (ThD)

Introduction:
In the 20th century some within Christianity started moving in a direction decidedly different than what had existed for 1900 years prior. The most drastic and severe departures were that which have morphed into what is known today as the "Word of Faith" movement. This movement gained significant momentum in American culture mostly due to the proliferation of its teachers by way of mass media outlets like cable TV in particular the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The movement quickly attracted a large following by appealing to the internal desires of humanity to be healthy and prosperous. Combined with the "alleged underpinnings" of Scriptural authority, this has become the most widespread form of modern Christianity (if we can call it Christianity). And though the movement itself is clearly un-Christian, as this article will briefly show, many genuine, God-fearing, truly regenerated believers have fallen under the hypnotic spell of these charismatic "teachers" who make grandiose promises but, inevitably, fail to deliver.

The Word of Faith movement is a merging of aspects from a variety of religions. Word of Faith doctrine is made up from a combination of Christianity, Christian Science, New Age, and Easter Mysticism. At it's core it promotes a theology that diminishes God and deifies man. And all along the way, it twists the Gospel and destroys the lives and faith of countless people.

2 Corinthians 11:3-4
"But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Forif someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough."

2 Peter 2:1-2
"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. Andmany will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed."

The Movers and Shakers:
Many of the more recognized TV preachers are proponents of the Word Faith movement. While the following is just a partial list, I hope it proves helpful in identifying some of them by name so that people will at least be aware of the general perspective behind the teaching of these well-known speakers. In my years of research I have obtained numerous quotes directly from many of these leaders, but in anattempt to keep this brief those will not be used in this particular article. If one would like to dive into this deeper there are a plethora of resources available online. Here are some of the more popular leaders of this movement:

-JesseDuplantis
-PaulaWhite
-CharlesCapp
-MylesMunroe
-DutchSheets
-CrefloDollar
-Pauland Jan Crouch
-BennyHinn
-KennethHagin
-PaulYonggi Cho
-MarilynHickey
-KathrynKuhlman
-JoyceMeyer
-FrederickK.C. Price
-RobertTilton
-MorrisCerullo
-RodneyHoward Browne
-Kennethand Gloria Copeland
-JoelOsteen

Teaching/Doctrine:
The Word of Faith Movement (WOF) can be identified by several doctrinal errors that are put together much differently than the orthodox, principles of biblical hermeneutics allows. The doctrines of WOF are usually concocted by either taking biblical passages completely out of context or appealing to a supposed "new revelation" from God that allegedly clarifies, or even goes beyond, what the Bible says.

By taking verses out of context, the WOF teachers are able to "proof-text" their doctrines and make them appear biblical. And if another text contradicts the doctrine they are toting they simply allow the obscure passage to interpret the clear passage(s). Which is the exact opposite of sound hermeneutics. To claim the teachers are receiving new revelation (which is understood to be the very word of God) is to pass off the notion that what they say is then as authoritative as the Bible itself. They usually, but not always, deny this when it is pointed out to them, but they do present these "new truths" in this way, and their followers receive them this way. The result is that people start looking to the teachers as their source of Truth instead of searching the Scripture for themselves (as the Bereans did in Acts 17:11) to see if what is being taught is actually true. Or, they read their Bibles only through the false lens that their teachers have created. This type of interpretation blurs the entire biblical message and redirects the focus from the glory of God to the glory of man. In fact, it demotes God and deifies man.

Following are eight essential WOF doctrinal perversions used by WOF teachers. Not all WOF teachers use every single one of these in the same way, and, in a lot of cases, the doctrines overlap; however, each does reflect a fundamental departure form sound, orthodox, biblical theology which leads to dangerous and heretical doctrine.

GOD

WORD OF FAITH ON GOD:
God is subject to the authority of man. In giving dominion to Adam over the earth, God resigned from His sole authority and willingly put Himself under the "will and word" of His creation. Also, WOF teachers repeatedly speak of visions where they have seen God and describe Him as looking just like a man. Kenneth Copeland, along with others, have even provided God's height and weight.

ERROR:
This doctrine reduces God to some kind of cosmic genie in a bottle. WOF teachers promote the idea that because God is bound by His Word, man can use God's Word to force Him to do things. This clearly strips God of His Kingly status. A God like this is neither sovereign nor omnipotent (all powerful). Further, to say that God has a physical form violates the biblical testimony of God as Spirit (John 4:4) and breaches the doctrine of God's omnipresence (everywhere present), and to say that God the Father is made manifest in all His glory before the eyes of man contradicts the passages where it is said that no one can see God and live (Exodus 33:20; John 1:18; 6:46).

SUPPORTING SCRIPTURE:

1 Timothy 6:15-16 (ESV)
"...he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who ALONE has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom NO ONE has ever seen or can see. To HIM be honor and eternal dominion. Amen" (emphasis added).

Job 42:1-2 (ESV)
"Then Job answered the Lord and said: "Iknow that YOU can do ALL things, and that NO purpose of yours can be thwarted" (emphasis added).

Psalms 115:3 (ESV)
"OurGod is in the heavens; he does all that HE pleases" (emphasis added).

Ephesians 1:11 (ESV)
"In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works ALL things according to the counsel of HIS will..." (emphasis added).

1 Chronicles 29:10-12 (ESV)
"Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: 'Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. YOURS, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for ALL that is in the heavens and in the earth is YOURS. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above ALL. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over ALL. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all'" (emphasis added).

MAN

WORD OF FAITH ON MAN:
Because man is created in the image of God they claim he is a "copy" of God. This means that Adam had a divine nature. The Fall, however, caused Adam to lose his divine nature and authority to Satan who now has dominion over the earth. After conversion, man gets that divine nature back and, with it, a "creative power" that can be exercised with enough faith and a verbal "positive confession." Man is, therefore, described as a "little god."

ERROR:
This doctrine erases the dividing line between the Creator and His creation. Further, it reeks of dualism, which is the idea of equal and opposite powers instead of the biblical teaching of God alone as sovereign over ALL things. The historic position of the church has always been that the imago Dei (image of God) means that man is created with a mind, will and emotions; that he is uniquely created, and that he is assigned to have dominion and stewardship over the earth. It has never been understood to mean that man has the very nature of God, and it definitely has not been understood to mean that man has any sort of authority over God.

SUPPORTING SCRIPTURE:

John 17:3 (ESV)
"And this is eternal life, that they know you the ONLY true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (emphasis added).

Isaiah 43:10 (ESV)
"'You are my witnesses,' declares the Lord, 'and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me NO god was formed, nor shall there be any after me'" (emphasis added).

Isaiah 29:16; 45:9; 64:8; Jeremiah 18:6; Romans 9:21
"You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, 'He did not make me'; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, 'He has no understanding'"?

Psalm 24:1 (ESV)
"The earth is the LORD'S and the fullness thereof, the WORLD and those who dwell therein" (emphasis added).

REVELATION

WORD OF FAITH ON REVELATION:
Their pastors/teachers are uniquely "anointed" in order to receive "revelation knowledge" that speaks directly to a specific doctrine or to a person's condition or situation. This revelation is the true and accurate Word of God. It is to be incorporated into one's life and obeyed.

ERROR:
WOF teachers often speak as if the "revelation knowledge" they have received is just as infallible as Scripture. This presents at least two major problems: first, it frequently leads them into a mess of conflicting and contrary statements that are impossible to resolve; and, second, it is a form of what is known as the Gnostic heresy a special knowledge that others attempt to receive but are never able to obtain. It is often preceded by "God told me to tell you..." or a statement very similar to this. The clear implication is that the teacher has some sort of mystical knowledge that allows them to be more likely to hear from God than those sitting under their teaching. Personally, if someone approaches me with "God told me to tell you" I typically do one of two things. I say, "Really? Well, thanks but I'll wait for God to tell me Himself," or, "I sure hope your finger is pointing to a Bible passage."

SUPPORTINGSCRIPTURE:

Deuteronomy18:20-22 (ESV)
"But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have NOT commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of OTHER gods, that same prophet shall die.' And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?'when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does NOT come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has NOT spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him" (emphasis added).

Isaiah 8:20 (ESV)
"To the TEACHING [LAW] and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to THIS word, it is because they have no dawn" (emphasis added).

CONFESSION (BOTH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE)

WORD OF FAITH ON CONFESSION:
Speaking something out loud makes it true, it actually makes it happen whether it's good or bad. Words literally contain power. The actual words we speak are encapsulated with creative power. "What you confess, you possess" is a common mantra of theirs.

ERROR:
This idea taken from passages telling of how God "spoke" creation into existence, is another twist on the "we are gods" theme. It results in crediting the believer for whatever is good in his or her life and blaming the believer for whatever is bad (health/sickness, riches/poverty, etc.) based entirely on the words they speak. The foolishness of this doctrine can be clearly seen in Scripture where Job, David, Jonah, and others all made negative confessions that did NOT result in a negative reality.

SUPPORTING SCRIPTURE:

Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV)
"For my thoughts are NOT your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are MY ways higher than YOUR ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (emphasis added).

2 Corinthians 4:13-14 (ESV)
"Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, 'I believed, and so I spoke,' we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence" (emphasis added). - In context, Paul quotes Psalms 116:10 to show that, in the midst of struggles (4:7-12), "believing" and "speaking" are the spirit of faith, NOT to have the believing and speaking change the situation, but to illicit praise, dedication, and confidence that the grace of God is sufficient. The mouth speaks what is in the heart (Luke 6:45).

FAITH

WORD OF FAITH ON FAITH:
Faith is a "force" that, when adequately held, will bring about whatever is believed to be true (e.g. "I am healed," "I havereceived a raise," "I will get a brand new car," etc., when these things are not yet true). God created the world "by faith," and provided mankind with the same kind of faith that He has. This was corrupted in the Fall, but can be reclaimed and restored by believers.

ERROR:
This kind of faith requires the individual to completely ignore the reality of the present and envision the desired reality instead. WOF proponents prescribe putting faith in faith, whereas Scripture teaches that faith is being sure, or confident, that what God says is true, and that the object of faith is not the power of faith, it's not faith in faith itself, the object of our faith is God. Further, this doctrine attributes creative ability that belongs to God alone to mankind. God alone is able to speak things into reality. As a matter of fact, WOF teachers say that even unbelievers exercise faith and can "will" things into existence. Lastly, WOF relies on misinterpreting Mark 11:22 which they twist to teach Jesus is instructing His followers to have the "faith OF God." This "faith of God" theology is what steers much of their movement. They claim that God operated by faith in creation and we are instructed to have that same faith. However, that is an inaccurate translation of the text. "The objective genitive construction of this phrase is most sensibly translated 'have faith in God.' The preponderance of Scriptural evidence that supports this correct translation doctrinally is simply ignored by the Word of Faith movement" (SteveCurtis).

SUPPORTING SCRIPTURE:

Hebrews 1:11 (ESV)
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

Romans 3:25-26 (ESV)
"Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith IN Jesus" (emphasis added).

POVERTY AND SICKNESS

WORD OF FAITH ON POVERTY AND SICKNESS:
All negative situations in a person's life are brought about by Satan because of either sin in the person's life or their lack of faith. If you are sick, it's your fault. If you are poor, it's your fault.

ERROR:
This doctrine strips God of His sovereignty and elevates Satan to the position of sovereign ruler over everything that is not "reclaimed" by believers. Further, it denies that God may sovereignly use any means, good or bad, to mature, teach, or even correct believers. And lastly, it denies the simple reality that evil is present all around us because we live in a fallen world.

SUPPORTING SCRIPTURE:

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (ESV)
"So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, 'MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will BOAST all the more gladly OF MY WEAKNESSES, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (emphasis added).

Psalms 119:75 (ESV)
"I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness YOU have afflicted me" (emphasis added).

Hebrews 12:11 (ESV)
" For the moment all discipline SEEMS painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it" (emphasis added).

1 Timothy 5:23 (ESV)
"No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your FREQUENT ailments" (emphasis added).

2 Timothy 4:20 (ESV)
"Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ILL, at Miletus" (emphasis added).

PROSPERITY AND HEALTH

WORD OF FAITH ON PROSPERITY AND HEALTH:
So much could be said here but let's just mention two: A) God never wills that believers suffer physically or materially. They teach that "by His stripes we are healed" means that physical healing is always available if the believer has enough faith and makes their "positive confession" or "names it and claims it." B) Jesus was rich, after all he did need a treasurer, and he wore "designer clothes." It is God's will that all believers be rich too.

ERROR:
Besides the horrible exegesis of the first part of the above, and the complete foolishness of the second portion, this doctrine leads believers to hang on to false hopes that, when they are not met, leave them much worse off than they were before.

In regards to interpreting Isaiah 53:5, "But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed" (ESV), this verse is dealing with atonement, which is the healing of our sin. The passage continues on to discuss the "guilt offering" of the Messiah and the fact that He would "bear thesins of many." In context, it is clear that the subject of these verses is sin and not sickness and disease. Peter makes a similar reference to this verse in 1 Peter 2:24 when he writes, "He himself bore our SINS in his body on the tree, that we might die to SIN and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed" (emphasis added).

Let me repeat, this is a verse about the atonement, and the atonement is concerned with taking care of the moral blockade that separates us from God. And that moral blockade is NOT sickness or disease; it is SIN.

While Scripture, in both narrative and teaching passages, does indicate that God does heal physically, it never makes any sort of universal claim that He will do so. And as we saw with the verses directly above, which is the basis for the WOF doctrine, they completely misinterpret it at best, and purposefully twist it to deceive at worst.

As for Jesus being rich, and that it is God's will that every believer should be rich, Scripture clearly refutes this. Regarding Jesus' material status, Scripture gives us the following:

-Jesus was born in very humble circumstances, in fact it was in a manger in a stable. (Luke 2:7)
-Jesus had to use a borrowed room for the Last Supper. (Mark 14:13-14)
-Jesus had to ride in town on a borrowed colt. (Mark 11:1-6)
-Jesus was even buried in a borrowed tomb. (Matthew 27:57-60)

We also see in Jesus own words that "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" (ESV).

CONCLUSION

I would like to close this article out with a simple list of eight reasons, although there are many more, for rejecting the WOF heresies. These eight items are paraphrased, changed, quoted, edited, altered, and/or adapted from an article by Tricia Tillan which included ten reasons for doing the same.

ONE it relies on "revelation knowledge."
TWO it turns our Omnipotent God and Creator into a weak "faith-being" who is at the "mercy of His own universal laws."
THREE it turns the Son of God into a born-again man who had to die and be reborn in hell.
FOUR it deifies man and demotes God.
FIVE it turns redemption into a "restoration of dominion for mankind."
SIX it replaces prayer with "confession," and the will of God with the "manipulation of forces."
SEVEN it denies the reality of sin and sickness in our world.
EIGHT it puts the focus on ourselves and this life instead of God and eternity.

Jeff Hagan is the President of True Grace Ministries and Theological Institute. Interested? www.preacherjeff45.wlxsite.com/truegracetheolgical

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