From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Word of Faith | |
---|---|
Classification | Protestant |
Theology | Neo-charismatic movement, Prosperity Gospel, New Apostolic Reformation |
Founder | Kenneth Hagin |
Origin | 1966; 57 years ago United States |
Word of Faith is a movement within charismatic Christianity which teaches that Christians can get power and financial prosperity through prayer, and that those who believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection have the right to physical health.[1]: 8 The movement was founded by the American Kenneth Hagin in the 1960s, and has its roots in the teachings of E. W. Kenyon.[1]: 5–6
History[edit]
The Baptist minister E.W. Kenyon (1867–1948) is generally cited as the originator of Word of Faith’s teachings. Kenyon’s writings influenced Kenneth Hagin Sr., the recognized «father» of the Word of Faith movement.[2]: 76 Hagin, who had founded a ministry known as the Kenneth E Hagin Evangelistic Association, started disseminating his views in the Word of Faith magazine in 1966, and subsequently founded a seminary training Word of Faith ministers.[1]: 6–7
Teachings[edit]
Distinctive Word of Faith teachings include physical, emotional, financial, relational, and spiritual healing for those who keep their covenant with God.[3] The movement urges believers to speak what they desire, in agreement with the promises and provisions of the Bible, as an affirmation of God’s plans and purposes. They believe this is what Jesus meant when he said in Mark 11:22–24[bible 1] that believers shall have whatsoever they say and pray with faith. The term word of faith itself is derived from Romans 10:8[bible 2] which speaks of the word of faith that we preach.[4]
Healing[edit]
The Word of Faith teaches that complete healing (of spirit, soul, and body) is included in Christ’s atonement and therefore is available here and now to all who believe. Frequently cited is Isaiah 53:5[bible 3], «by his stripes we are healed», and Matthew 8:17[bible 4], which says Jesus healed the sick so that «it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet, ‘Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses’.»
Because Isaiah speaks in the present tense («we are healed»), Word of Faith teaches that believers should accept the reality of a healing that is already theirs, first by understanding that physical healing is part of the New Testament’s promise of salvation. It is reinforced by confessing the Bible verses which assert this healing and believing them while rejecting doubt. This does not deny pain, sickness, or disease, but denies its right to supersede the gift of salvation in Isaiah 53:5 and many other passages.[5] According to adherents, sickness is generally Satan’s attempt to rob believers of their divine right to total health.[6]
Prosperity[edit]
Word of Faith teaching holds that its believers have a divine right to prosper in all areas of life, including finances, health, marriage, and relationships.
Word of Faith preachers such as Creflo Dollar and Kenneth Copeland claim that Jesus was rich, and teach that modern believers are entitled to financial wealth.[1]: 30 [7]
Faith and confession[edit]
In Word of Faith teaching, a central element of receiving from God is «confession», often called «positive confession» or «faith confession» by practitioners. Practitioners will claim and affirm they have healing, well being, prosperity, or other promises from God, before actually experiencing such results. They do so in demonstration of their faith, which they believe will ultimately result in the fulfillment of their words. While similar, it should not be confused with Norman Vincent Peale’s positive thinking theology focusing on the individual, as evidenced by the motto, «Faith in God and believe in oneself».[8] Noted Word of Faith teachers, such as Kenneth E. Hagin and Charles Capps, have argued that God created the universe by speaking it into existence (Genesis 1[bible 5]), and that God has endowed believers with this power. Thus, making a «positive confession» of God’s promise and believing God’s word stirs the power of resurrection which raised Christ from the dead (Ephesians 1:19-20[bible 6] Ephesians 3:20[bible 7]), and brings that promise to fulfilment. This teaching is interpreted from Mark 11:22-23[bible 8]. A more recent variant of positive confession is «decree and declare».[9] Word of Faith preachers have called faith a «force».[10]
Conversely, «negative confession» can harm, so believers should be conscious of their words. This is argued on the interpretation of Proverbs 18:21[bible 9], «Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and they that love them will eat the fruit thereof», also Numbers 14:28[bible 10], «…saith the Lord, as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do», among other scriptures.
Criticism[edit]
Many of the movement’s essential beliefs are criticised by other Christians. Christian author Robert M. Bowman, Jr. states that the word of faith movement is «neither soundly orthodox nor thoroughly heretical».[11]
One of the earliest critics of Word of Faith teaching was Oral Roberts University professor Charles Farah, who published From the Pinnacle of the Temple in 1979. In the book, Farah expressed his disillusionment with the teachings, which he argued were more about presumption than faith.[12]
In 1982, one of Farah’s students, Daniel Ray McConnell, submitted a thesis, Kenyon Connection, to the faculty at Oral Roberts University, tracing the teaching back through Hagin to Kenyon and ultimately to New Thought, and calling the distinctive Word of Faith beliefs a heretical «Trojan Horse» in the Christian church. McConnell’s repeated this argument in his book, A Different Gospel, in 1988.
One of McConnell’s classmates, Dale H. Simmons, published his own doctoral research at Drew University, arguing that Kenyon was influenced by heterodox metaphysical movements and the Faith Cure movement of the nineteenth century. In 1990, The Agony of Deceit surveyed the critiques of Word of Faith doctrines. One of the authors, Christian Research Institute founder Walter Martin, issued his personal judgment that Kenneth Copeland was a false prophet and that the movement as a whole was heretical.[13]
Milder criticisms were made by William DeArteaga in his book Quenching the Spirit. He concedes some New Thought influence in Kenyon’s teaching, but argues that Kenyon’s views helped the church rediscover some biblical truths. Arguing similarly but in an opposite direction is Robert M. Bowman, Jr., formerly of the Christian Research Institute. His book The Word-Faith Controversy is more sympathetic to Kenyon’s historical background yet more critical of his doctrine than is DeArteaga’s work.
Baptist evangelist Justin Peters, an outspoken critic of the Word of Faith movement, wrote his Master of Divinity thesis on Benny Hinn and has appeared frequently as an expert on Word of Faith pastors in documentaries and TV news stories. In his seminar «A Call for Discernment», he traces the movement’s origins to the Phineas Quimby’s New Thought Movement and Mary Baker Eddy’s Christian Science in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In contrast, Pastor Joe McIntyre, now head of Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society in Washington, argues that the primary influences of Kenyon were A.B. Simpson[14] and A.J. Gordon of the Faith Cure branch of the Evangelical movement. McIntyre’s version is told in the authorized biography, E.W. Kenyon: The True Story.
That same year, Pentecostal scholar Gordon Fee wrote a series of articles denouncing what he called The Disease of the Health-and-Wealth Gospel.
In 1993, Hank Hanegraaff’s Christianity in Crisis charged the Word of Faith movement with heresy and accused many of its churches of being «cults.» He accused the Word of Faith teachers of «demoting» God and Jesus, and «deifying» man and Satan.[15] Hanegraaff has focused a significant portion of his anti-heresy teaching since the 1990s on addressing and refuting Word of Faith teachings.
Other critics, such as Norman Geisler, Dave Hunt and Roger Oakland, have denounced Word of Faith theology as aberrant and contrary to the teachings of the Bible. Critics have also condemned the teachings on wealth, arguing that the Bible condemns the pursuit of riches.[16][17]
John Piper points out that Christ warned the apostles that they would suffer great persecution[18] for his sake: except John, all eleven, after Judas Iscariot, suffered martyrs’ deaths. In a January 2006 sermon entitled «How our Suffering Advances the Gospel,» Piper stated bluntly that «the prosperity gospel will not make anybody praise Jesus; it will make people praise prosperity.»
‘Little gods’ belief[edit]
Many Word of Faith teachers use phrases such as «little gods» to describe believers. Kenneth Hagin wrote that God had created humans «in the same class of being that he is himself,»[19] and reasoned that if humans are made in God’s image, they are «in God’s class»,[20] and thereby ‘gods’.[20][21]
Many Evangelical critics have condemned the «little gods» teaching as cultic. Hank Hanegraaff, for example, contends the ‘little gods’ doctrine is on a par with the teaching of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Jim Jones.[22]
See also[edit]
- Full Gospel
- Chris Oyakhilome
- Abundant life
- Margaret Court
- Sam P. Chelladurai
- Word of Faith Ministries
- Word of Faith Fellowship
Bible passages[edit]
- ^ Mark 11:24, King James Version (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^ Romans 10:8, King James Version (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^ Isaiah 53:5, King James Version (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^ Matthew 8:17, King James Version (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^ Genesis 1, King James Version (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^ Ephesians 1:19-20, King James Version (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^ Ephesians 3:20, King James Version (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^ Mark 11:22, King James Version (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^ Proverbs 18:21, King James Version (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^ Numbers 14:28, King James Version (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- Romans 12:2
- Matthew 11:25-30
- Galatians 5:1
- Mark 11:12-25
- Colossians 2
- Hebrews 6:1-2
- 1 Corinthians 3
- Galatians 3
- Romans 7:1-6
- Matthew 18:1-6
- 1 Corinthians 2:6-16
- Matthew 17:14-20
- Matthew 20:1-16
- Matthew 8:5-18
- Matthew 25:14-30
- Luke 19:11-27
- 1 Corinthians 13
- Matthew 22:36-40
- John 21:15-19
- Matthew 16:13-20
- Matthew 6:5-14
- Matthew 7:15-23
- 1 John 4:6
- 2 Peter 2
- Jude
- 1 Corinthians 5
- Hebrews 11-13
[23]
Notes and references[edit]
- ^ a b c d Harrison, Milmon F. (2005). Righteous Riches: The Word of Faith Movement in Contemporary African American Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195153880.
- ^ Pugh, Ben (2017). Bold Faith: A Closer Look at the Five Key Ideas of Charismatic Christianity. Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 9781498280341.
- ^ Word of Faith Statement of Faith, Christian forums.
- ^ Gilley, Gary E, The Word-Faith Movement, Rapid net.
- ^ Kenneth E. Hagin, Right and Wrong Thinking, (Kenneth Hagin Ministries, 1966)
- ^ Jerry Savelle, If Satan Can’t Steal Your Joy…, (Harrison House, 1982)
- ^ Blake, John (22 October 2006). «Was Jesus rich? Swanky messiah not far-fetched in Prosperity Gospel». The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on 4 November 2006.
- ^ «How We Help».
- ^ Denver Cheddie, Is Decree and Declare Scriptural?, Bible Issues, bibleissues.org
- ^ Kenneth Copeland, The Force of Faith, (KCP Publications, 1989)
- ^ The Word-Faith Controversy, Watchman.
- ^ Farah, Charles (1979), From the Pinnacle of the Temple, Logos.
- ^ «Walter Martin’s Warning to the Church». Let Us Reason Ministries. 1988. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
- ^ King, Paul L, A.B. Simpson & the Modern Faith Movement, Hope, faith, prayer.
- ^ Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity in Crisis, (Harvest House, 1993)
- ^ «How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.» Luke 18:24.
- ^ «But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort», Luke 6:24.
- ^ Mark 10:30
- ^ Kenneth E. Hagin, Zoe: The God-Kind of Life, (Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Inc., 1989)
- ^ a b E. W. Kenyon, The Father and His Family (Lynnwood, WA: Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society,
32nd printing, 1998 [1916, 1937]), p.34 - ^ Kenneth E. Hagin, New Thresholds of Faith (Tulsa, OK: FLP, 2nd ed, 1985 [1972]), p. 56.
- ^ Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity in Crisis, (Harvest House, 1992)
- ^ «Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages». biblehub.com.
External links[edit]
- Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society
- Kenneth Hagin Ministries
I’m often asked to assess what others teach. I do not do this lightly, but it is necessary. Before reading this page, or any of the pages about specific people, I recommend that you read What is a False Teacher?, which explains what the Bible says about false teachers, and why I would bother to research who they are and what they say.
The Word of Faith movement is a pseudo-Christian cult. While there is no central authority in the Word of Faith movement, and no official set of beliefs, adherents share a set of basic unbiblical beliefs about God, the nature of the universe, the nature of humanity, and more. At the bottom of this article is a list of Word of Faith teachers. Based on their stated beliefs, each should be considered a false teacher.
Word of Faith theology is strongly connected to the New Thought metaphysics movement of the 1800s. Among other things, Phineas Quimby taught that illnesses could be cured by right thinking. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science, was his patient. They both taught that humans are divine, and taught the “law of attraction,” which are foundational doctrines of Word of Faith teachers.
E. W. Kenyon, considered the father of the movement, studied Quimby’s teachings, as well as Science of Mind, Christian Science, and Unity School of Christianity (all non-Christian cults). Kennith Hagin studied under Kenyon, Kenneth Copeland studied under Hagin. These three men are primary to the movement.
Word of Faith teachers combine a variety of unbiblical ideas. Because each teacher is independent, they might teach things slightly differently, but they all share the same foundational errors. Some of these false ideas include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Faith is a force, and words are the containers for that force
- Being made in God’s image means that we share in His divine nature
- Salvation brings health and wealth as the right of all believers
- God speaks to Word of Faith leaders directly
We should acknowledge that every Word of Faith teacher also says many things that are true. It would be unwise, however, to look the other way when lies are mixed with truth. To make their claims appear coherent, these teachers must twist Scripture and distort its obvious meaning… and go beyond what God has said to fanciful ideas about the spiritual realm.
False teaching leads to confusion about God, disappointment when misplaced expectations aren’t met, and – at worst – never actually being saved. While we should be very careful about labeling anyone a false teacher, the dangers of false teaching should not be minimized or ignored. The Bible warns again and again about false prophets and false teachers, so no believer should take such things lightly. The goal is not to say bad things about anyone, but to correct errors and teach clearly what God has said. Biblical teaching leads to increased trust in God, peace, joy, and new life.
Word of Faith is generally considered a branch of the Charismatic movement. Not all Charismatics are in the Word of Faith movement, but virtually all Word of Faith teachers are Charismatic. Unfortunately, these false teachers have become so prominent that they are, in essence, the public face of charismatic Christianity.
Faith is a force?
The name “word of faith” comes from the most basic belief of all Word of Faith teachers. Faith, they claim, is a force. Words are the containers of that force. When we speak faith-filled words, we release the power of faith and we get what we speak.
This is the same unbiblical claim made by all who teach the law of attraction. The idea is that speaking positive words brings success, health, and prosperity, while speaking negatively brings trouble, failure, sickness, and disease. This “law” has been promoted by self-help gurus and positive-thinking adherents from Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret to Oprah Winfrey, Eckhart Tolle, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, and beyond. Napoleon Hill taught that “whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Common expressions include “name it and claim it” and the tongue-in-cheek “blab it and grab it.”
Kenneth Hagin is usually considered the father of the Word of Faith movement. His ideas have been adopted, repeated, and expanded by most Word of Faith teachers. Some call him “Dad Hagin.” Here are a few quotes from Hagin that express this ‘positive confession’ idea:
- Kenneth Hagin: “Faith changes hope into reality.”
- Kenneth Hagin: “Believe it in your heart; say it with your mouth. That is the principle of faith. You can have what you say.”
- Kenneth Hagin: “It used to bother me when I’d see unsaved people getting results [miracles], but my church members not getting results. Then it dawned on me what the sinners were doing: They were cooperating with this law of God – the law of faith.”
Quotes from some other Word of Faith teachers:
- Joyce Meyer: “Words are containers for power.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “Words bring things to pass. Whether they bring to pass things that work for you, or against you, depends on what you confess.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “God cannot do anything for you apart or separate from faith. Faith is God’s source of power.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “Faith was the raw material substance that the Spirit of God used to form the universe.”
- Joel Osteen: “Your words have creative power. And one of the primary ways we release our faith is through our words.”
While there are hundreds more quotes just like these, you get the idea: according to Word of Faith teachers, we get what we say. This is a problematic idea, as it uses “faith” in a way that can be redefined in any way the teachers sees fit. When you combine the words of Scripture with new definitions, anything goes.
The tongue has power
A primary concept in the Word of Faith movement is that the tongue has power… that is, the act of speaking words out loud has a spiritual and, eventually, a physical effect on the universe. While Proverbs 18:21 does say that “the tongue has the power of life and death,” the Bible does not teach that our words alter reality. Proverbs is a book of divinely-inspired Scripture, but it’s a bad idea to make theology from wise sayings.
Here are some quotes from Word of Faith teachers on this subject:
- Joel Osteen: “Do you know you can cancel out God’s best plan with your own negative words? If you go around talking defeat all the time it’s going to stop God from bringing it to pass.”
- Joel Osteen: “Friends, you’ve got to change the atmosphere with your words… you and I can call in good things. Start calling in victory! Start calling in divine health! Start calling in abundant life! If you do that you will begin to see it come to pass. You can prophesy your future.”
- Benny Hinn: “You limit the power of angels when you speak negative, complaining, unbelieving words instead of speaking what God has declared.”
- Marilyn Hickey: “Eve had to speak wrong words before Satan could act. Hell can act only on your words, so every negative word you speak sets hell into activity.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “Today, as believers, we have that same God-like ability to speak those things which be not as though they were.”
- Jim Feeney: “When you speak the Word of God, you are tapping into limitless power!”
- T.D. Jakes: “As long as Jesus was talking on the cross he couldn’t die. It was only when he shut his mouth and hung his head in the locks of his shoulder that death could come and take him because he had so much life in his mouth that as long as he was talking, death couldn’t get near him.”
- Creflo Dollar: “What do you think’s gonna happen when God Almighty declares, ‘I want you to create a universe. I want you to speak to these worlds and like I said ‘Light be,’ you say, ‘Light be,’ Like I say, let there be a firmament in the midst of the firmament, you do the same’?”
- Jesse Duplantis: “You choose when you live, you choose when you die. Death and life is in the power of your tongue, not God’s.”
God has faith?
According to Word of Faith teachers, this is how God created the universe. He didn’t exercise His own power, but activated the already-existing power of faith by speaking words that contain that power.
- Kenneth Copeland: “God did not create the world out of nothing, He used the Force of His Faith.”
- Andrew Wommack: “God actually created everything with words. He spoke creation into existence, and the substance of His faith manifested into what we can now see.”
- Joyce Meyer: “He created the world with faith-filled words.”
Because Genesis tells us that God said “let there be light” and there WAS light, they claim that God spoke faith-filled words to accomplish His goal. This unbiblical idea has a number of implications.
Redefining “faith”
First, the meaning of faith comes into question. The definition of faith is trust, or confidence, in someone or something. For example, you have faith that your couch isn’t going to explode when you sit on it. You have some level of confidence that the driver of the car coming toward you is unlikely to swerve into your path. If we trust someone who’s untrustworthy, or if our couch actually does explode, we learn that our faith may be misplaced. By these examples, we see that faith has two parts:
- Faith has an object: the person or thing we choose to trust, like our couch or another driver. There’s no such thing as “having faith in faith.”
- Faith includes some level of uncertainty, as our faith may be misplaced.
God cannot have faith. Why? Because God knows all things! God doesn’t TRUST that something will happen. God doesn’t have CONFIDENCE that something will happen. God has KNOWLEDGE… He already knows what will happen.
God is not the creator of everything?
Next, the unbiblical idea that faith is a force suggests that this process exists independent of God. The claim is that this is just the way the universe works; God uses it, and we can too. Hagin, as noted above, claimed that non-believers can take advantage of this universal law. It’s not God, or even faith in God, that makes things happen. To get what you want, you simply follow the formula.
Another implication of God creating the universe with faith-filled words is that He did not CREATE this process. He only taps into it, as you or or supposedly can… as non-believers can. That means that God is not truly sovereign because He is subject to this rule. If God doesn’t follow the process, He won’t get the results He wants. That also means that something exists that God did not create. That begs the question: where did this “law” come from? According to Word of Faith teachers, it’s certainly not from God.
We are little gods?
You and I can, they say, change reality itself by speaking in faith. This elevates humanity to the same level as God Himself. We can do the same things that He can do by using the same techniques He used. That’s a bold statement!
Let’s examine it for a moment. How is it possible that you and I can do what God can do? Why would Creflo Dollar suggest that we can create our own universe, just as God did? It’s all in their understanding of the nature of humanity.
We are, they say, “little gods.” We are, they say, in the same spiritual class as God. Many claim that Adam wasn’t “made in God’s image,” but was an exact duplicate of God. This elevates humanity far beyond what the Bible describes.
- Kenneth Hagin: “The believer is as much an incarnation of God as Jesus Christ… the church hasn’t realized yet that they are Christ. That’s who they are. They are Christ.”
- Kenneth Hagin: “Man… was created on terms of equality with God, and he could stand in God’s presence without any consciousness of inferiority… He made us the same class of being that He is Himself.”
- Joyce Meyer: “If cattle has another cattle, they call it cattle-kind. What’s God supposed to call [us]?”
- Benny Hinn: “God came from heaven, became a man, made man into little gods, went back to heaven as a man.”
- Paul Crouch: “I am a little god. I have His name. I am one with Him. I’m in covenant relationship. I am a little god. Critics be gone!”
- Creflo Dollar: “You are gods because you came from God and you are gods.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “When I read in the Bible where He says, “I AM,” I just smile and say, yes, I Am too.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “You don’t have a god in you. You are one.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “You have the same creative faith and ability on the inside of you that God used when He created the heavens and the earth.”
- Bill Winston: “Adam is the exact duplicate of God, made in His image.”
- Earl Paulk: “Until we comprehend that we are little gods and we begin to act like little gods, we cannot manifest the Kingdom of God.”
- Morris Cerullo: “The whole purpose of God was to reproduce Himself. …you’re not looking at Morris Cerullo, you’re looking at God, you’re looking at Jesus.”
- Rory Alec: “And therefore you are gods; you have been purchased by the blood of Jesus.”
- Charles Capps: “God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness. The word likeness in the original Hebrew means an exact duplication in kind. Adam was an exact duplication of God’s kind!”
This is, of course, nonsense. It panders to our desire to be important, to be competent and self-sufficient and good. We are not those things without God’s help. On our own, we are broken, and unable to even come to God on our own. The Bible is clear that there is a gigantic difference between God and man… between Creator and His creation. We are not little gods, and no amount of Scripture-twisting rationalization will make us little gods.
The Ransom Theory
Jesus’ death was an “atonement.” That is, He died to make things right between God and man. History reveals a number of theories about the nature, scope, and extent of the atonement. More could be written on this, of course… but the Ransom Theory is the favorite of most Word of Faith teachers. It’s an entirely unbiblical idea, outlined this way:
- God only deals with people through covenants (agreements).
- God gave Adam dominion over the earth. Adam lost dominion to Satan when he sinned.
- That ‘locked God out’ of earth.
- To remedy the situation, God made a covenant with Abraham to regain access to earth.
- The culmination of that agreement was that Jesus would die to pay a ransom to Satan, who was the rightful ruler of earth.
- After He died, Jesus went to Hell and was tortured as payment for our sins.
- When payment was made, Jesus was born again and God regained dominion over the earth.
- This was how God tricked Satan into getting the earth back.
Of course, none of the above is biblically accurate.
- God does not always deal with people through covenants. For example, what covenant did God have with Pharaoh? None.
- God has always had dominion over the earth, and shared that dominion with humanity.
- God has always been able to do whatever He wants on earth. The Bible is chock full of examples.
- God’s covenant with Abraham was not to regain access to earth, but to work through Abraham’s descendants to bring salvation to the world.
- Satan is not, and has never been, the ruler of the earth… rightful or otherwise.
- Jesus was not tortured in Hell for our sins. His death on the cross paid the penalty for our sins.
- Jesus was never born again. That would imply that He had been destined to Hell for His own sin, and that He paid the penalty for His own sins to be born again. Jesus never sinned.
- God did not need to trick Satan… He is not a deceiver, but Satan is.
At its heart, the Ransom Theory claims that God is not all-powerful, lost a fight with Satan, tricked him to get His creation back, and can only reach His goals with man’s permission.
- E.W. Kenyon: “God has been obliged through the long period of human history to recognize Satan’s legal standing, and legal right and authority… Adam had legally transferred to him the authority with which God had invested him.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “God’s on the outside looking in. He doesn’t have any legal entree into the earth.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “Satan conquered Jesus on the Cross and took His spirit to the dark regions of Hell.”
- Benny Hinn: “We get the mind of God about His will, we pray it. When we pray it, we give him legal right to perform it.”
- Frederick K.C. Price: “God can’t do anything in this earth realm except what we, the body of Christ, allow Him to do.”
- Myles Munroe: “God could do nothing on Earth, nothing has God ever done on Earth, without a human giving him access. So he’s always looking for a human to give him power permission. In other words, God has the power, but you have the permission. God has the authority and the power, you’ve got the license. So even though God could do anything, he can only do what you permit him to do.”
- Myles Munroe: “Heaven depends on earth for interference. If He could just find two people like you and I to agree. We agree for God to do this thing. Then God says, ‘Thank you very much for permission!’ Then He can come.”
Demoting God, Promoting Man (and Satan)
Virtually every religion, and every pseudo-Christian movement, has a different description of God and mankind. Word of Faith teachers describe God in ways that make Him less than what the Bible describes, and describe humanity in ways that far exceed both Scripture and reality.
- Kenneth Copeland: “God’s reason for creating Adam was His desire to reproduce Himself… He was not a little like God. He was not almost like God. He was not subordinate to God even… Adam is as much like God as you could get, just the same as Jesus… Adam, in the Garden of Eden, was God manifested in the flesh.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “Jesus has a beginning and an end.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “Jesus took on the nature of Satan when He was on the cross.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “I was shocked when I found out who the biggest failure in the Bible actually is… The biggest in all the Bible is God! He lost His top-ranking, most anointed angel, the first man He ever created, the first woman He ever created, the whole earth and all the fullness therein, a third of the angels at least! That’s a big loss, man! I mean, you figure it all, that’s a lot of real estate, brother, gone down the drain. Now the reason you don’t think of God as a failure is He never said He’s a failure. And you’re not a failure till you say you’re one!”
- Kenneth Copeland: “When Adam originally sinned he gave his god nature to Satan. God could not intervene since He had made Adam the god of the earth. God was left on the outside looking in.”
- Creflo Dollar: “Let this mind, let this attitude be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.’ So now, what mind, what attitude is it that you want me to make sure that this same attitude is in me?… ‘Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God.’…Now, if I’m to take what he said here and put it on, then my whole attitude now should be I have equality with God….Now somebody says, well it’s hard to think that way. Well, keep saying it….Talk yourself into it.”
- Creflo Dollar: “Jesus didn’t come as God, He came as a man, and He did not come perfect… How many of you know the Bible says God never sleeps nor slumbers? And yet in the Book of Mark we see Jesus asleep in the back of the boat.”
- Creflo Dollar: “God needs your consent and cooperation to bring forth manifestation in the earth!”
- Robert Tilton: “We make our own promises to do our part, then we can tell God, on the authority of His word, what we would like Him to do. That’s right, you can actually tell God what you would like His part in the Covenant to be.”
- Frederick K.C. Price: “Jesus was on the earth just a man, not the son of God.”
- Kenneth Hagin: “Originally, God made the earth and the fullness thereof, giving Adam dominion over all the works of His hands. In other words, Adam was the god of this world.”
- Rodney Howard-Browne: “Take your hands off Jesus as the head of the church and trust the Holy Ghost the unseen one, that he will lead you…”
Continuing revelation
A common thread in the Word of Faith movement is that teachers often claim to have received private, personal messages from God. These revelations almost always change or distort what we see in the Bible. While God can and (I believe) does speak to believers, nothing that God would say to you or to me would contradict what He has already said through Jesus and His disciples. Unfortunately, many – if not most – of the claims to this continuing revelation from God turn out to contradict what all believers can find in Scripture.
It’s easy to conclude that these teachers claim to hear directly from God so that what they say will be accepted and believed… especially when the claims contradict God’s Word. It’s very common to hear Word of Faith teachers complain that those who criticize them are, by extension, criticizing God Himself… as though their words are God’s words.
A little truth mixed into a big fat lie
A lot of folks will point out that the words we speak do have an effect on how our lives turn out. This is true, but it’s only half of the story. For example, telling a child again and again that they not artistic is likely to discourage them from engaging in artistic activities. Telling someone over and over that you love them is likely to convince them that you do. We can all agree that what we say, and how we talk to others, can be a great encouragement or do incredible damage to one’s self-confidence. Our words often turn into self-fulfilling prophecies.
However: the other half of the story is that Word of Faith teachers turn this basic principle of psychology into a pseudo-spiritual principle. Rather than simply pointing out the effect our words can have on ourselves and others, they teach that words, when spoken in faith, create reality. This is, of course, nonsense.
First, if that were true, then God would not be truly God. Instead, God would be operating by rules He did not create. Picture this: God wants to create a cow, so He tries to speak a cow into existence. According to the outlines of Word of Faith teachers, His success rate would depend on 1) the amount of faith He has, and 2) speaking the words out loud. If He doesn’t meet the requirements, He would fail in His efforts.
Second, it that were true, then we really could have anything we want. All we have to do is “manifest” our faith by speaking the right words with the right mindset. Pretend for a moment that this is true… why then have Word of Faith teachers failed to manifest peace on earth, or a cure for cancer, or teleportation devices? Imagine all of the good they could do if they didn’t need to travel by private jet… they could arrive at their destination in minutes, with no pollution, and be home in time for dinner!
No, the law of attraction is nonsense… and dressing it up in spiritual clothes makes it spiritual nonsense. This teaching is entirely incompatible with biblical Christianity.
The prosperity gospel
While there may be exceptions, virtually all Word of Faith teachers teach a “prosperity gospel.” Salvation, they claim, includes more than forgiveness of sins and eternal life… it includes prosperity in every area. Some boldly claim that God wants us to be rich, while others couch their claims about money in a more general statement like “God loves His children, and wants them to prosper.”
There’s no question that God wants His people to prosper. The question is what God means by prosperity. Jesus offers us abundant life (John 10:10), but that does not mean that every faithful Christian will be financially prosperous. Jesus Himself had no home. He told His disciples to go out without money, relying on the hospitality of those they met on the way.
The apostle Paul encouraged the church in Corinth to take up a regular collection for the church in Jerusalem. Why? Because Christians in Jerusalem often lived in poverty. The churches in Thessalonica and Philippi were poor. Word of Faith teachers would, based on what they teach, have to conclude that these believers were lacking in faith. You know, Peter and James and John (leaders in the church at Jerusalem)… they somehow missed the lesson on speaking faith-filled words, and had trouble making ends meet. Paul – against the advice of folks like Kenneth Copeland – learned to be content whether he was well-fed or hungry, whether he was living in plenty or in want.
These promises of financial gain are very common among Word of Faith teachers, and they extend this idea to Jesus and His disciples as well.
- Creflo Dollar: “Jesus bled and died for us so that we can lay claim to the promise of financial prosperity.”
- Creflo Dollar: “Some people come to me and say, well I came here to get some peace, not money, and I tell them, you need money otherwise you ain’t gonna get no peace. Some people say it’s about peace, joy and love. No! It’s about money!”
- Creflo Dollar: “What’s the Gospel to those who are poor? Prosperity!”
- Leroy Thompson: “The Lord told me, this is the end time message. He is coming to look for His church without spot or wrinkle. But one of the biggest wrinkles the church has is being broke!”
- Jesse Duplantis: “The very first thing on Jesus’ agenda was to get rid of poverty!”
- Jesse Duplantis: “If I give $50 you mean God will give me $5,000? Yes! If you give $1000 in the offering this morning, will God give you $100,000 by tomorrow? Yes!”
- Joel Osteen: “If you are struggling financially, then you have not got the victory.”
- Frederick K.C. Price: “Jesus and the disciples were rich, only rich people could take off for three and a half years.”
- Frederick K.C. Price: “That’s the reason why I drive a Rolls Royce. I’m following Jesus’ steps.”
- T.D. Jakes: “If you obey GOD you will never be broke another day in your life.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “I am a billionaire, because the assignment that the Lord gave me, He said: I want you to begin to confess the billion flow.”
- Robert Tilton: “Being poor is a sin.”
- Robert Tilton: “The only time people were poor in the Bible is when they were under a curse.”
- Jerry Savelle: “You can’t live the good life if you are broke.”
- John Avanzini: “John 19 tells us that Jesus wore designer clothes.”
It’s noteworthy that while Jesus healed the blind and the sick, and even raised the dead, we see nothing in the New Testament about Him giving anybody money. Jesus talked about money a lot, but most of those were warnings about relying on wealth for security.
Healing (part 1)
Another primary concept among Word of Faith teachers is that Jesus’ death and resurrection ensures – makes available – healing for every believer. That includes physical healing from sickness and disease, but also from poverty and mental illness. Usually one must, they claim, believe that healing is theirs… in spite of continuing symptoms. This system of not allowing any questions or doubts allows them to disqualify criticisms about healing by suggesting that the sick person lacked faith, had doubts, or didn’t confess their victory consistently enough.
The New Testament contradicts this view. While we are told to pray for healing, and we see that faith plays a part in whether a person is healed, at no point are we taught by Jesus or His disciples that being saved means that one no longer suffers from such things. On the contrary, we see in Romans 5 that “we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” If healing is guaranteed for all believers, we would certainly not glory in suffering.
Word of Faith teachers make unbiblical claims about healing. A few quotes:
- Kenneth Hagin: “Healing belongs to you. It belongs to you because sickness is of the enemy.”
- Kenneth Hagin: “God is glorified through healing and deliverance, not through sickness and suffering.”
- Kenneth Hagin: “Healing is the privilege of every member of the Church today provided through Jesus’ death on the Cross.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “To stay sick when Jesus has provided healing would be living far below your privileges as a child of God.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “The price Jesus paid at Calvary was the full price, covering every area of human life: spiritual, mental, physical, financial, and social. Our redemption is complete.”
- Frederick K.C. Price: “You can’t glorify God if you are sick.”
- Marilyn Hickey: “Christ has redeemed me from the curse of poverty, sickness and spiritual death.”
Healing (part 2)
It’s one thing to make the claim that following Jesus will bring healing from sickness and disease. It’s another entirely to show that the claim is true. Healing, some say, often happens gradually. When Jesus healed someone, they weren’t told to claim their victory over time, or to maintain a positive attitude to keep their sickness from coming back. Word of Faith teachers (along with other unbiblical movements like Christian Science), when confronted with people who are not healed, or with sicknesses that return, claim that the problem lies with the sick, not with the supposed healing.
- Kenneth Hagin: “There has been criticism of mass healing meetings because, in many cases, the healings do not last. This is true because where a mass faith is present, people can be helped temporarily. However, to maintain their healing, these people should continue to feed on God’s word.”
With a few notable exceptions, the death rate for humans is still 100%. If physical healing was purchased for us on the cross, why would anyone with enough faith die? When we think carefully about this idea, we can see that Word of Faith teachers die just like the rest of us… regardless of what we believe:
- E.W. Kenyon died in 1948.
- Kenneth Hagin died in 2003.
- T.L. Osborn died in 2013.
- Charles Capps died in 2014.
- Jan Crouch died in 2016.
- Morris Cerullo died in 2020.
- Paul (David) Yonggi Cho died in 2021.
- Ernest Angley died in 2021.
The truth is that Word of Faith teachers get sick and die, just like the rest of us. If they can speak health into existence, why can’t they also speak youth into existence and become younger? Why can’t they speak longevity into existence, and live forever?
Weird Ideas
This section is a kind of catch-all for some of the wacky things that certain Word of Faith teachers have said. They might not fit into one of the categories above, but need to be included. When you claim that God is speaking to you directly, what you say must 1) make sense, and 2) match what we see in Scripture. This stuff is just crazy.
- Kenneth Copeland: “He’s [God is] very much like you and me. A being that stands somewhere around 6′ 2, 6′ 3, that weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of a couple of hundred pounds, little better.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “God is a spirit-being with a body, complete with eyes, and eyelids, ears, nostrils, a mouth, hands and fingers, and feet.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “God and Adam looked exactly alike.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “Jesus existed only as an image in the heart of God, until such time as the prophets of the Old Testament could positively confess Jesus into existence through their constant prophecies.”
- Kenneth Copeland: “Heaven has a north and a south and an east and a west. Consequently it must be a planet.”
- Myles Munroe: “The Bible never says that Jesus really died, you know. The word used in the Hebrew is he breathed out. Expired is the word.”
- Myles Munroe: “Suddenly, in front of this tremendous multitude of people, the glory of God appeared. The form that I saw was about the height of a man 6 feet tall, maybe taller, and twice as broad as a human body, with no distinguishing features such as eyes, nose, or mouth.”
- Benny Hinn: “God’s original plan is that the woman was to bring forth children out of her side… Adam gave birth to his wife out of his side. It was sin that turned the thing around.”
- Benny Hinn: “God has 9 parts. God has a body, soul and spirit. Jesus has a body, soul and spirit. Holy Spirit has a body, soul and spirit.”
- Benny Hinn: “Adam could fly like a bird.
- Benny Hinn: Adam could swim underwater and breathe like a fish.”
- Benny Hinn: “Adam went to the moon.”
- Benny Hinn: “Adam walked on water.”
False Teachers and Concepts in the Word of Faith movement
- A.A. Allen
- Andrew Wommack
- Benny Hinn
- Bill Winston
- Brian Houston
- Charles Capps
- Chris Oyakhilome
- Creflo Dollar
- Dwight Thompson
- Earl Paulk
- Earnest Angley
- Eddie Long
- EW Kenyon
- Frederick KC Price
- Jerry Savelle
- Jesse Duplantis
- Jim Feeney
- Joel Osteen
- John Avanzini
- Joseph Prince
- Joyce Meyer
- Juanita Bynum
- Kenneth Copeland
- Kenneth Hagin
- Kim Clement
- Leroy Thompson
- Marilyn Hickey
- Mike Murdock
- Morris Cerrulo
- Myles Munroe
- Norvel Hayes
- Oral Roberts
- Pat Robertson
- Paul Yonggi (David) Cho
- Paul and Jan Crouch
- Paula White
- RHEMA Bible Training College
- Robert Tilton
- Rod Parsley
- Rodney Howard-Browne
- Rory Alec
- Steven Furtick
- Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN)
- T.D. Jakes
- T.J. McCrossan
- T.L. Osborn
- Todd White
- William Branham
- … and more. Unfortunately, there are a LOT of people in the Word of Faith movement. Hopefully, you’ll be able to spot them quickly by comparing what they say with what other false teachers have said.
See the complete but incomplete False Teachers List
Disclaimer
Don’t bother commenting or emailing me about how I’m just wrong. It’s a waste of your time and mine. If you have something to say, include Scripture. I am far from perfect, and I can be wrong… so I don’t do any of this lightly, and I’m open to correction.
Don’t bother telling me how this person or that person helped you. It’s a waste of your time and mine. Nobody teaches lies and falsehoods all the time. In researching these topics, I’ve heard a LOT that I appreciated, and have been inspired by even those who are otherwise far from the truth. The number of times someone is right is irrelevant to the question of whether they also teach false things. We should appreciate anyone who teaches us the truth, but that doesn’t mean we should uncritically follow them when we see significant problems in their lives, in their ministries, and in their teaching. Neither your opinion nor mine matter here. What matters is what the Bible teaches, and whether those who preach and teach in Jesus’ name are teaching falsely.
If you can provide evidence that one of these people has recanted their false teaching, please let me know. I would love to amend their article to show that they have changed what they teach.
Finally: we who follow Jesus should not consider false teachers our enemies. If they’re not saved, we should pray for their salvation. If they are saved, we should pray that God will lead them to teach only the truth.
See also: a list of Bible Teachers I Can Recommend
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Всемирное движение евангельских христиан, которое учит, что христиане могут получить доступ к силе веры через речь
Слово веры | |
---|---|
Классификация | Евангелизм, |
Богословие | Неохаризматическое движение, Евангелие процветания |
Регион | Мир |
Основатель | EW Кеньон, Кеннет Хейгин |
Происхождение | 1980; 40 лет назад (1980 г.) США |
Слово веры (также известное как Слово-Вера или просто Вера) — всемирное евангелическое христианское движение, которое учит тому, что Христиане могут получить доступ к силе веры через речь. Его учения можно найти по радио, Интернету, телевидению и во многих харизматических конфессиях и сообществах. Движение отвергает бедность и физические страдания как необходимые для благочестивой жизни или как прославление Иисуса Христа. Он учит, что спасение, обретенное Иисусом на кресте, включало богатство и процветание для верующих.
Содержание
- 1 Историческое происхождение
- 2 Учения
- 2.1 Исцеление
- 2.2 Процветание
- 2.3 Вера и исповедание
- 3 Критики и споры
- 3.1 Критики
- 3.2 ‘Little спор богов
- 3.3 Иисус умер духовно
- 4 См. также
- 5 Отрывки из Библии
- 6 Примечания и ссылки
- 7 Внешние ссылки
Историческое происхождение
Евангелист EW Кеньон (1867–1948) обычно упоминается как создатель учения «Слово веры».
Сочинения Кеньона повлияли на Кеннета Хейгина старшего, признанного «отца» движения «Слово веры». Дуглас Макконнелл представил убедительные доказательства того, что все основные идеи Хейгина исходят из работ Кеньона
Учения
Учения об отличительном слове веры включают в себя физическое, эмоциональное, финансовое, родственное и духовное исцеление или процветание для тех, кто умело управляет своим заветом с Богом. Движение побуждает верующих говорить то, что они хотят, в соответствии с обетованиями и положениями Библии, как подтверждение планов и целей Бога. Они верят, что именно это имел в виду Иисус, когда сказал в Марка 11: 22–24, что верующие будут иметь все, что они скажут, и молиться с верой. Сам термин «слово веры» происходит от Послания к Римлянам 10: 8, где говорится о слове веры, которое мы проповедуем.
Исцеление
Слово веры учит, что полное исцеление (духа, души, и тело) включены в искупление Христа и поэтому доступны здесь и сейчас для всех, кто верует. Часто цитируется Исайя 53: 5, «ранами Его мы исцеляемся», и Матфея 8:17, где говорится, что Иисус исцелял больных, чтобы «сбылось сказанное пророком Исайей: Сам принял наши немощи, и понесли наши болезни ».
Поскольку Исайя говорит в настоящем времени («мы исцелены»), Слово веры учит, что верующие должны принять реальность исцеления, которое уже принадлежит им, во-первых, понимая, что физическое исцеление является частью Нового Обещание спасения в Завете. Это подкрепляется исповеданием библейских стихов, которые утверждают это исцеление, и верой им, отвергая сомнения. Это не отрицает боль, болезнь или недуг, но отрицает свое право заменить дар спасения в Исаии 53: 5 и многих других отрывках. По мнению приверженцев, болезнь, как правило, попытка сатаны лишить верующих их божественного права на полное здоровье.
Процветание
Согласно учению Слова веры, Бог желает его людей, чтобы процветать во всех сферах жизни, включая финансы, здоровье, брак и отношения. Слово веры учит, что Божье благословение дает Его народу возможность выполнять библейские обещания. Таким образом, страдание исходит не от Бога, а от сатаны. В служении Кеннета Коупленда говорится, что Бог не использует страдания для нашей пользы, и эта идея является «обманом сатаны» и «абсолютно противоречит Слову Божьему». Если кто-то не преуспевает, то это потому, что он дал сатане власть над своей жизнью, и Бог не будет делать ничего, кроме тех случаев, когда верующий приглашает его.
Утверждается, что Иисус и апостолы имели мирское богатство, владение домом и бизнесом. В пользу этого утверждения приводятся следующие аргументы:
- Способность Иисуса путешествовать, явно не работая, чтобы заработать себе на жизнь в течение трех лет
- Ссылки Иисуса и апостолов на владение домом
- Иисус имел казначея (Иуда Искариот )
- Иисус, общавшийся с высшими эшелонами общества
- Чудесная способность Иисуса распоряжаться изобилием — накормить 5 тысяч человек, найти налоговые деньги в рыбе, рассказать Петру, где рыба переполняла его сети и т. д.
- Предприятия, которыми каждый из апостолов, по-видимому, владел / работал
Это противоречит традиционному взгляду на Иисуса как на бедного странствующего учителя. Основываясь на их убеждении, Иисус и его апостолы были богаты, исторические примеры богатых христиан и обещания процветания в Ветхом и Новом Заветах, сторонники Слова веры учат, что современные верующие также имеют доступ к благословению финансового богатства. Такие учителя, как Кеннет Коупленд, утверждают, что полное процветание действительно Согласно учению апостола Иоанна : «Возлюбленные! желаю тебе преуспевать и быть здоровым, как процветает душа твоя» (3 Иоанна 2). Коупленд утверждает, что «когда семена процветания посажены в вашем сердце, в вашей воле и в ваших эмоциях… они в конечном итоге приносят большой финансовый урожай».
Вера и исповедание
В Обучение Слову веры, центральным элементом получения от Бога является «исповедание», которое практикующие часто называют «позитивным исповеданием» или «исповеданием веры». Хотя оно и похоже, его не следует путать с Норманом Винсентом Пилом ‘ s позитивное мышление теология, сосредоточенная на личности, о чем свидетельствует девиз «Вера в Бога и веру в себя». Известные учителя «Слова веры», такие как Кеннет Э. Хейгин и Чарльз Кэппс утверждал, что Бог сотворил вселенную, воплотив ее в существование (Бытие 1), и что Бог наделил верующих этой силой. Таким образом, сделав «положительное исповедание» Божьего обетования и вера в Слово Божье возбуждает силу воскресения, воскресившего Христа из мертвых (Ефесянам 1: 19-20 Ефесянам 3:20), и приносит это обещание к исполнению. Это учение интерпретируется от Марка 11: 22-23. Более поздний вариант положительного признания — это «указывать и заявлять». Проповедники «Слова веры» называют веру «силой».
И наоборот, «негативное исповедание» может навредить, поэтому верующие должны осознавать свои слова. Это аргументируется толкованием Притчей 18:21: «Жизнь и смерть во власти языка, и любящие их вкушают плод его», а также Числа 14:28, «… говорит Господь, как вы сказали мне в уши, так и я сделаю «среди других мест из Священных Писаний.
Критики и споры
Критики
Некоторые христиане часто критикуют многие основные убеждения движения, поскольку они расходятся с христианской ортодоксией. Христианский писатель Роберт М. Боуман младший утверждает, что движение за слово веры «не является ни строго ортодоксальным, ни полностью еретическим «.
. Одним из первых критиков учения« Слово веры »был Университет Орала Робертса профессор Чарльз Фарах, опубликовавший книгу «С вершины храма» в 1979 году. В книге Фарах выразил разочарование в учениях, которые, как он утверждал, были больше о самонадеянности, чем о вере. 175>
В 1982 году один из учеников Фары, Дэниел Рэй МакКоннелл, представил на факультете Университета Орала Робертса диссертацию «Kenyon Connection», проследив путь обучения от Хейгина до Кеньона и, в конечном итоге, до Новой мысли, и назвал отличительные верования Слова веры еретическим «троянским конем » в христианской церкви. МакКоннелл повторил этот аргумент в своей книге «Другое Евангелие» в 1988 году.
Одно из Одноклассники Макконнелла, Дейл Х. Симмонс, опубликовали собственное докторское исследование в Университете Дрю, аргумент Отметим, что Кеньон находился под влиянием гетеродокса метафизических движений и движения Faith Cure девятнадцатого века. В 1990 году журнал «Агония обмана» провел обзор критики доктрин «Слово веры». Один из авторов, основатель Христианского исследовательского института Уолтер Мартин, высказал свое личное мнение, что Кеннет Коупленд был лжепророком и что движение в целом было еретическим
<68.>Более мягкую критику высказал Уильям ДеАртеага в своей книге «Утоление духа». Он допускает некоторое влияние Новой мысли на учение Кеньона, но утверждает, что взгляды Кеньона помогли церкви заново открыть некоторые библейские истины. Аналогичным образом, но в противоположном направлении, рассуждает Роберт М. Боуман-младший, ранее работавший в Институте христианских исследований. Его книга «Противоречие слова и веры» более сочувствует историческому фону Кеньона, но более критически относится к его доктрине, чем работа ДеАртеаги.
Баптистский евангелист Джастин Питерс, откровенный критик движения «Слово веры», написал свою диссертацию на тему «Магистр богословия» о Бенни Хинне и часто появлялся в качестве эксперта по пасторам «Слово веры» в документальных фильмах. и телевизионные новости. В своем семинаре «Призыв к проницательности» он прослеживает истоки движения от движения «Новая мысль» Финеаса Куимби и Мэри Бейкер Эдди христианской науки в конце 19 — начале 20 вв.
Напротив, пастор Джо Макинтайр, ныне возглавляющий Общество публикации Евангелия Кеньона в Вашингтоне, утверждает, что на Кеньона в первую очередь повлияли А. Симпсон и А.Дж. Гордон из отделения евангелического движения «Faith Cure». Версия Макинтайра изложена в официальной биографии Э.У. Кеньон : Правдивая история.
В том же году пятидесятнический учёный Гордон Фи написал серию статей, осуждающих то, что он назвал Болезнью Евангелия здоровья и богатства.
В 1993 году Христианство Хэнка Ханеграафа в кризисе обвинило движение «Слово веры» в ереси и обвинило многие его церкви в том, что они «культы. » Он обвинил учителей Слова веры в «унижении» Бога и Иисуса и «обожествлении» человека и сатаны. Ханеграаф сосредоточил значительную часть своего учения против ереси с 1990-х годов на рассмотрении и опровержении учений Слова веры.
Другие критики, такие как Норман Гейслер, Дэйв Хант и Роджер Окленд, осудили теологию «Слово веры» как ошибочную и противоречащую учению Библии. Критики также осуждали учение о богатстве, утверждая, что Библия осуждает погоню за богатством.
Джон Пайпер указывает, что Христос предупреждал апостолов, что они будут подвергаться великим гонениям за него: кроме Иоанна, все одиннадцать, после Иуды Искариота претерпел мученическую смерть. В январской проповеди 2006 года, озаглавленной «Как наши страдания продвигают Евангелие», Пайпер прямо заявила, что «Евангелие процветания никого не заставит хвалить Иисуса; оно заставит людей восхвалять процветание».
Противоречие «Маленькие боги»
Многие учителя «Слова веры» стремились подчеркнуть полное значение статуса верующего как дитя Божьего (через Христа), используя такие фразы, как «маленькие боги» «описать их — практика, которая вызвала некоторую критику со стороны некоторых других слоев христианского сообщества. Кеннет Хейгин писал, что Бог «создал нас в том же классе, что и он сам», и что верующий «назван Христом», потому что «это то, кто мы есть, мы Христос!» Согласно Хейджину, будучи «рожденным свыше», верующий становится «таким же воплощением, как Иисус из Назарета». Хейгин, как и Кеньон, объясняет, что люди созданы по образу Бога. Поскольку Бог есть дух, люди, по сути, тоже должны быть духом и «принадлежать к классу Бога» и, следовательно, «богам». Кеннет Коупленд говорит, что Адам был «нисколько не похож на Бога… не почти как Бог…», и сказал верующим, что «в вас нет Бога. Вы один». Основываясь в первую очередь на Псалме 82: 6, в котором говорится: «Я сказал: вы боги и все вы, дети Всевышнего», это также было подтверждено Иисусом, ссылаясь на этот отрывок из Иоанна 10:34. Распространенной темой в проповеди «Слово веры» является то, что Бог создал человека как «точное копирование Божьего вида». (Евреям 1: 3, Иоанна 14:12 и т. Д.). Это не доказывает, что человек может работать независимо от Бога, но скорее то, что верующий может жить вБоге.
Страдать В документальном фильме «Дети», освещающем некоторые учения движения «Слово веры», Крефло Доллар преподает доктрину «маленьких богов» своей общине, основываясь на идее, что «все воспроизводится по своему роду»:
Доллар: «Если лошади собираются вместе, что они производят?».
Собрание: «Лошади!». Доллар: «Если собаки собираются вместе, они производят что?». Собрание: «Собак!». Доллар: «Если кошки собираются вместе, что они производят?». Собрание: «Кошки!». Доллар: «Итак, если Божество говорит:« Давайте сделаем человека в наш образ ‘, и все порождает себе подобных, тогда что они производят? ». Конгрегация:« Боги! ».
Доллар:« Боги. Маленькие «г» боги. Вы не люди. Только человеческая часть вас — это плоть, которую вы носите ».
Это учение выдвинуло самые резкие обвинения в ереси. Хотя Церковь Иисуса Христа Святых последних дней, цитируя Библию и раннюю христианскую церковь, учит, что люди могут стать богами после эонов возвышения, ученый СПД Стивен Э. Робинсон объявил учение «маленьких богов» еретическим. (Точка зрения СПД также считается еретической в господствующем христианстве.) Многие евангелические критики осудили учение о «маленьких богах» как культовое; Хэнк Ханеграаф, например, утверждает, что доктрина «маленьких богов» находится на одном уровне с учением Махариши Махеш Йоги и Джима Джонса. Джастин Петерс, впервые столкнувшийся с доктриной «Слово веры», произошел в возрасте 16 лет, когда целитель «убил [его] в духе» в попытке вылечить его церебральный паралич, утверждает в «Призыве к различению», что учение «маленьких богов» является основой Слова веры, сосредоточенного на здоровье и богатстве: «Бог никогда не должен быть болен, и бог никогда не должен быть бедным». Защитники Слова веры ответили, что это учение просто подчеркивает библейский взгляд на «истинную идентичность верующего во Христе».
Критики, такие как христианский апологет и основатель CARM Мэтт Слик и автор критики Библии У. Гэри Филлипс, полагают, ссылаясь на Священные Писания Псалмы 82: 6 и Иоанна 10:34, где сказано, что люди есть боги, использует эти места Писания вне контекста. Эти стихи первоначально были адресованы судьям Израиля, которых они называли богами не потому, что они сами были божественными, а потому, что они провозгласили приговор истинному и единственному Богу. Еврейские и греческие слова, используемые в обоих Священных Писаниях для обозначения «богов», также могут применяться к магистратам и могут быть переведены как «могучие». Однако сам Иисус использует этот же отрывок в 10 главе Иоанна, чтобы указать на свою божественность.
Иисус умер духовно
Иисус умер духовно (сокращенно JDS) — это точка зрения на заместительное искупление Христа, в котором Иисус, как считается, претерпел как физическую смерть (на крест) и духовная смерть (в аду ) как полное наказание за грех. С этой точки зрения духовная смерть (определяемая как отделение от Бога) считается высшим наказанием за первородный грех, и сторонники утверждают, что Иисус должен был понести полное наказание за грех для своей заместительной жертвы. быть эффективным. Соответственно, сторонники точки зрения JDS также учат, что Иисус был духовно рожден свыше при воскресении. Не все учителя «Слова веры» верят в это, скорее они проповедуют нечто похожее на Терзание ада. Группа «Слово веры» действительно верит, что землетрясение в аду было частью плана искупления, и что сам Иисус никогда не был грешником, но на кресте Иисус был оставлен Богом в качестве платы за все грехи.
Э. Кеньон, служитель, важный для движения «Слово веры» и некоторых других пятидесятнических деноминаций, популяризировал идею о духовной смерти Иисуса в своих книгах «Что произошло от креста к престолу» и «Отождествление: роман во искуплении». Утверждается, что Кеннет Э. Хейгин преподавал идеи JDS, но такие цитаты — одиночки, вырванные из контекста. Кеннет Хейгин упомянул Иисуса, сеющего ад в «Имя Иисуса» (издание 1978 г.), что заставило многих поверить в то, что он поддерживает JDS. Кеннет Коупленд действительно утверждал, что Иисус пострадал в аду, и что воскресение Христа соответствует опыту возрождения свыше верующего. Хотя это не основная доктрина движения, она получила определенное осуждение за это убеждение. Например, Д. МакКоннелл утверждает, что это учение ересь.
См. Также
- Полное Евангелие
- Сэм П. Челладурай
- Крис Ояхиломе
- Изобильная жизнь
- Маргарет Корт
- Сэм П. Челладурай
- Служение Word of Faith
- Товарищество Word of Faith
Отрывки из Библии
- ^Марка 11:24, Версия короля Джеймса (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^Римлянам 10: 8, Версия короля Джеймса (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^Исаия 53: 5, Версия короля Джеймса (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^Матфея 8:17, версия King James (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^3 Иоанна 1: 2, Версия Короля Иакова (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^Бытие 1, Версия Короля Джеймса (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^Ефесянам 1: 19-20, Версия короля Джеймса (Оксфордский стандарт, 1769)
- ^Ефесянам 3:20, Версия короля Якова (Оксфордский стандарт, 1769)
- ^Марка 11:22, Версия короля Джеймса (Оксфордский стандарт, 1769)
- ^Притчи 18:21, версия короля Якова (Оксфордский стандарт, 1769)
- ^Числа 14:28, версия короля Джеймса (оксфордский стандарт, 1769)
- ^Псалтирь 82: 6, Версия Короля Джеймса (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^Иоанна 10:34, Версия Короля Джеймса (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^Евреям 1: 3, Версия Короля Джеймса (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- ^Иоанна 14:12, Версия короля Якова (Oxford Standard, 1769)
- Римлянам 12: 2
- Матфея 11: 25-30
- Галатам 5: 1
- Марка 11: 12-25
- Колоссянам 2
- Евреям 6: 1-2
- 1 Коринфянам 3
- Галатам 3
- Римлянам 7: 1-6
- Матфея 18: 1-6
- 1 Коринфянам 2: 6-16
- Матфея 17: 14- 20
- Матфея 20: 1-16
- Матфея 8: 5-18
- Матфея 25: 14-30
- Луки 19: 11-27
- 1 Коринфянам 13
- Матфея 22: 36-40
- Иоанна 21: 15-19
- Матфея 16: 13-20
- Матфея 6: 5-14
- Матфея 7: 15-23
- 1 Иоанна 4: 6
- 2 Петра 2
- Иуды
- 1 Коринфянам 5
- Евреям 11-13
Примечания и ссылки
Внешние ссылки
- Общество по публикации Евангелия Кениона
- Служение Кеннета Хейгина
The Word of Faith movement or word-faith theology developed in the latter half of the 20th century in mainly Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. Its beginnings trace back to an early twentieth century evangelical pastor, E.W. Kenyon (1867-1948), who preached that God would award financial and other gifts if the faithful would ask. Kenyon coined the phrase, «What I confess, I possess.» Kenneth E. Hagin is often credited with being the father of the modern Word of Faith movement, using a four-part formula he claimed to have received from Jesus: «Say it; do it; receive it; tell it.»
Proponents of the doctrine include Oral Roberts, Kenneth & Gloria Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Jerry Savelle, Charles Capps, Bill Winston, Creflo Dollar, Charles Nieman, Hobart Freeman, Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, T.D. Jakes, and Marilyn Hickey, among others. They teach that Christians must claim the grace God has promised them, whether in material goods, health, social position, or roles within the church.
Teachings
Faith
Probably the most distinctive teaching of the word-faith movement is «an idealized and prescriptive conception of faith that diminishes the relational and personal dimensions of Christian spirituality… [They push] the logic of faith to an idealized and absolute conclusion» [1].
Health and material prosperity
The word-faith movement promotes «an enthusiasm for material prosperity as a concrete expression of the goodness of God towards his people that is difficult to square with the high value placed, for various reasons, on poverty in the Bible, and which is likely to compromise the church s prophetic voice.» [2]
The «health and wealth» teachings have been heavily criticized for avoiding scripture that warns against material prosperity (e.g. Luke 6:20, Matthew 19:24, Ezekiel 16:49, James 2:5) and tells of the importance of helping the poor (e.g. Isaiah 58:5-7, Luke 12:33 Mark 10:21, Acts 20:35, Psalm 82:1-5; Proverbs 19:17, 21:13, 22:9, 24:31, 29:7; Luke 20:37-42, Acts 10:5).
- See main page: Prosperity gospel
Salvation history
The word-faith movement teaches «a narrative of salvation history that is at odds with mainstream evangelical thinking at a number of crucial points» [3].
Christ’s Spiritual Death
«Spiritual death means something more than separation from God. Spiritual death also means having Satan’s nature. Jesus tasted death, spiritual death, for every man.» (Kenneth E. Hagin, The Name of Jesus (Tulsa, OK: Kenneth Hagin Ministries, 1981), 31.
«The righteousness of God was made to be sin. He accepted the sin nature of Satan in His own spirit. And at the moment that He did so, He cried, «My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?» You don t know what happened at the cross. Why do you think Moses, upon instruction of God, raised the serpent upon that pole instead of a lamb? That used to bug me. I said, «Why in the world would you want to put a snake up there the sign of Satan? Why didn t you put a lamb on that pole?» And the Lord said, «Because it was a sign of Satan that was hanging on the cross.» He said, «I accepted, in My own spirit, spiritual death; and the light was turned off.» (Kenneth Copeland, «What Happened from the Cross to the Throne» (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1990), audiotape #02-0017, side 2.
«He (Jesus) accepted the sin nature of Satan in His own spirit.» (Kenneth Copeland; «Christianity in Crisis» by Hank Hanegraaf, pg. 157-158, quoted in «Kingdom of the Cults» by Walter Martin, pg. 501)
Man’s Divinity
«I am a little God! Critics be gone» (Paul Crouch, «Praise the Lord,» TBN, July 7, 1986, quoted in «The kingdom of the Cults» by Walter Martin pg. 504)
«We are a class of Gods! You don’t have a god in you, you are one.» (Kenneth Copeland, leader of Kenneth Copeland Ministries; «Christianity in Crisis» by Hank Hanegraaf, pgs. 110, 116, quoted in «Kingdom of the Cults» by Walter Martin, pg. 504)
«The eternal life He (God) came to give us is the nature of God…It is, in reality, God imparting His very nature, substance, and being to our human spirits…Many in the great body of Full Gospel people do not know that the new birth is a real incarnation. They do not know that they are as much sons as daughters of God as Jesus…Jesus was first divine, and then he was human. SoHe was in the flesh a divine human being. I was first human, and so were you, but I was born of God, so I became a human-divine being.» (Kenneth Hagin, «ZOE: The God-Kind of Life,» (1989): 1-2,27,40, quoted in «Kingdom of the Cults» by Walter Martin, pg. 505)
«The believer is as much an incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth.» (Kenneth Hagin «The Incarnation» in the Word of Faith, Dec. 1980: 14, quoted in «Kingdom of the Cults» by Walter Martin, pg. 505)
«We are the Word made flesh, just as Jesus was.» (Gloria Copeland, Kenneth Copeland Ministries; Crenshaw, «Man of God», 202, quoted in «Kingdom of the Cults» by Walter Martin, pg. 505)
Other info
- Proponents of the Word of Faith movement promote a trichotomous view of the nature of man (cf. Nature of man).
Quotes
- «There is a marked desire to shock, which goes with the showmanship of the Word of Faith movement but which may also echo the background buzz of polemic and debate with mainstream Christianity. Word of Faith teachers have a habit of making theologically provocative statements that may appear much less scandalous when unpacked. The tabloid theologizing is designed to disrupt traditional assumptions and generate excitement about the life of faith on a routine basis.» [4]
Resources
Criticism of Word of faith
- Charismatic Chaos by John MacArthur (ISBN 0310575729)
- Christianity in Crisis by Hank Hanegraaff (ISBN 0890819769)
- Counterfeit Revival by Hank Hanegraaff (ISBN 0849942942)
- New Wine or Old Deception by Roger Oakland (ISBN 0936728620)
- Occult Invasion by Dave Hunt (ISBN 1565072693)
- Seduction of Christianity by Dave Hunt (ISBN 0890814414)
- When New Wine Makes a Man Divine by Roger Oakland (ISBN 0963779745)
- Righteous Riches. The Word of Faith Movement in contemporary African American Religion by Milmon F. Harrison (ISBN 019515388)
Support of Word of Faith
- The Laws of Prosperity by Kenneth Copeland (ISBN 0881149527)
- The Tongue: A Creative Force by Charles Capps (ISBN 0892740612)
- What You Say Is What You Get by Don Gossett (ISBN 0883680661)
- The Anointing by Benny Hinn (ISBN 0785271686)
- Feast of Fire by John Kilpatrick (ISBN 0963709038)
- I Believe in Miracles by Kathryn Kuhlmann (ISBN 0882706578)
- God’s Generals by Roberts Liardon (ISBN 0883689448)
Notes
See also
- Trichotomy and Humanity
External links
Critical
- The Prosperity Movement: Wounded Charismatics, by Roger L. Smalling
- The ‘Word-faith’ Movement, by Chris Hand
- The Word-Faith Movement, by Gary Gilley
- An Examination of the Word-Faith Movement, by Richard Vincent
- Conclusions: Word of Faith and Evangelical Unity (PDF)
- Positive Confession (Watchman Fellowship)
- Word-Faith Theology (Watchman Fellowship)
- Word Faith Theology and Mormonism (Watchman Fellowship)
- Word-Faith Movement, by Clete Hux (Watchman Fellowship)
- Ten Reasons To Reject Word of Faith Teaching, by Tricia Tillin
- What’s Wrong With The Faith Movement? (Part 1, Part 2), by Hank Hanegraaff
- Faith in Faith or Faith in God?, by Hank Hanegraaff
- Word-Faith Movement (ApologeticsIndex.org) — Scroll down to Word-Faith Movement section
- Heresies Of The Word-Faith Movement
Favorable
- Ten Reasons NOT To Reject Word-of-Faith Teachings — A Response to the tract written by Tricia Tillin Titled Ten Reasons To Reject Word-of-Faith Teachings
What is the Word of Faith or Positive Confession Belief?
December 10, 2018
Jack Wellman
Is the Word of Faith or Positive Confession movement biblical?
Power in the Word
There is power in the Word of God. Not so much in the word of man. Of course, our words can hurt others and they can also build others us. We know that “With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor” (Prov 11:9a), and that “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” (Prov 12:18). Clearly, words matter. For example, we know that “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Prov 15:1), but beyond this, is there power in our words…even supernatural power? We know God’s Word has power. The Apostle Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom 1:16). The Word of God comforts the afflicted but afflicts the comfortable. On one hand, “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18). God’s Word has the power to bring about what He wills. We can promise something by giving our word, but circumstances may prevent us from keeping our word, however there are no barriers to God and His Word. In referring to the universe, the psalmist wrote that God “spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm” (Psalm 33:9), and He says, “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). When “God said, “Let there be light”…there was light” (Gen 1:3), but what about the power of words in human beings? Like, for example, in the Word of Faith movement?
Positive Confession
There has been a huge movement that has seemingly swept across the world and it’s called Word of Faith or Positive Confession. Word of Faith portends that Christians can access the power of faith or fear through words or speech. This has nothing to do with churches that go by the name of Word of Faith because this movement is nondenominational, and its appeal is often material things and not spiritual ones. They base their teachings loosely on Jesus’ saying, “whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” (Matt 21:22), but what happens what they “speak in faith” is contrary to the will of God? Isn’t God’s will supreme over ours and infinitely better?
Word of Faith
One prisoner told me that God had informed him that a certain prisoner had a “dark soul,” whatever that meant, and I assumed it wasn’t good. He was sure God had told him in “his spirit” that this man claiming to be a believer was not who he claimed to be. The problem soon became apparent that he was wrong. The prisoner the man had accused of “having a devil” ended up living in a more godly manner than of all of them. What if, in child-like faith, a young child was told, “Speak to the cookie jar. Speak to it to be all full of cookies.” Clearly, God’s will is not for the child to gorge themselves on cookies, but to the child, it’s the perfect “word of faith” or positive confession. The child’s will is for a full cookie jar so they can eat them, but the parent knows that’s not good for them. One Word of Faith preacher even said, “Speak to your wallet. Be full of money you billfold.” Some Word of Faith teachers quote Jesus to support their teachings. In one place Jesus said, “If you can believe! All things are possible for one who believes” (Mark 9:23), but what if the Apostle Peter had prayed in faith, believing that God would answer his positive confession that Jesus would not have to die on the cross? Remember, that was Peter’s will, however, Peter’s belief or positive confession would have no bearing on what the Father’s will was, because clearly, it was the will of the Father to send the Son to the cross (Isaiah 53:10).
God’s Will Verses Ours
We are told by Jesus to pray to the Father through His name, and for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, but Jesus never says, “Pray to God the Father through Me that your will is done.” Jesus does say if you pray and believe, all things are possible, but never does our will supersede God’s will. What if we speak forth someone’s healing, but God’s will is to end their suffering and take them home to be with Him? Do human words have more power or is our will more important than God’s? Obviously not, so praying for God’s will is always best because at times, we don’t even know what to pray for (Rom 8:26-27). Praying for His will to be done here on earth is infinitely better than to pray for our wills to be done. A young child may want to play with a shiny new kitchen knife, but mom knows they’ll hurt themselves, and so she says, “No!” and puts them in a place the child can’t reach. In similar fashion, God’s ways are superior to our ways. What we pray for may not be for our best. God knows what’s best for us, even if it doesn’t look the best at the time (Rom 8:28). God is sovereign over all things. Our words, no matter how positive they are, are not sovereign over God’s will!
Rights-Based Faith
You cannot manipulate faith or positive confession to create wealth or material blessings. God alone has the power to make rich or poor (Deut 8:18; 1 Sam 2:7), so it’s wrong to teach a “rights-based” faith, where you deserve to be healthy and wealthy. They surmise that Abraham was rich, so why not them, but they fail to see that most of the members of the New Testament church were poor and had little power, money, or influence. Sadly, Word of Faith teaching often (not always) focuses on physical things rather than spiritual things…on possessions rather than on the Person of Christ! The point is, not many mighty, noble, or powerful are called (1 Cor 1:26), so it seems, the very ones the world despises are often the very ones God seeks to save.
Conclusion
Every faith healer will die someday. Every one of them will need hearing aids or glasses (or contacts) eventually. A physical healing is wonderful. God does heal today, but the greatest healing of all is spiritual. It is the new birth (John 3:3-7). God answers the prayer of the believing saints…don’t’ get me wrong, but He does not give human words the same power to create or effect the supernaturally as He does. God alone has this power. He may work through human instruments, but only if it is within the will of God and not the will of someone who makes a positive confession or has a word of faith. Sadly, if there is any real power in our words, it’s the power to hurt, shame, destroy, and even kill. There is the power of life and death in our words. Scripture does speak about the power of our words, but not in a good way. The Word of God says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits” (Prov 18:21).
Article by Jack Wellman
Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is a writer at Christian Quotes and also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.