Here We Go

I have written this post several times. Every time I go in a different direction with showing how Word of Faith teachers are heretical and leading people astray from the truth. But, the bottom line is, God loves you. He is God and you are not. He sent His son, Jesus, to die in your place and 3 days later he arose from the dead so you could have a complete relationship with the one living God. The only thing we have to do to stay out of hell is "confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved" (Romans 10:9-10). Simple scripture, but not an easy task.

The issues I have had with these Word of Faith teachers are many. I see scripture totally contradicting their Prosperity Gospel and their Health Gospel. But those are not what make my heart ache. If you want to believe God wants you to be rich and healthy and you live your life acting on that, I will say you are supremely sheltered and need to visit other parts of the world- or take a look in your own proverbial back yard. The teachings which disturb me the most, the ones that I believe have allowed these heretics to partially fulfill the prophesy of Matthew 7:15-16 and Galatians 1:6-9 are twofold: The Humanization of God/ the Deification of Man, and The Distortion of the Cross. We have problems, People.

Here is what the Word of Faith teachers preach regarding the Humanization of God (a.k.a.: Making God more like man)/ the Deification of Man (a.k.a Making man more like God):

1) Kenneth Copeland gives a physical description of what God looks like including height and weight in his "Spirit, Soul, and Body" tape # 01-0601.

Not so much what John 4:24 says.

2) In Copeland's tape "Following the Faith of Abraham" (# 01-3001), Copeland also states, "Adam is God manifested in the flesh." He believes Adam was not even subordinate to God.

I'm wondering how that fits in with the whole "getting kicked out of the garden" thing.

3) Faith teachers believe we are "little gods" and can have the same attributes of God.
"I say this with all respect so that it don't upset you too bad, but I say it anyway. When I read in the Bible where he [Jesus] says, 'I Am,' I just smile and say, 'Yes, I Am, too!'" states Copeland on a 1987 TBN broadcast of "Believer's Voice of Victory"

I know of an angel who tried elevate himself to the level of God and he was thrown out of heaven.

As disturbing as this may all sound, none of it can touch what the Word of Faith teachers believe and teach regarding the distortion of the cross. Two primary beliefs they have according to Gary Gilley:

1) "Christ was re-created on the cross from divine to demonic. To put it in Faith vernacular, Jesus took on the very nature of Satan himself."

Rebuttal: God does not change (Mal. 3:6) and Jesus is God so he can't change either (Heb 13:8).

2) "Your redemption was not secured on the cross, but in hell. In fact, many Faith teachers claim that Christ's torture by all the demons of hell was a 'ransom' God paid to Satan so that He could get back into a universe from which He had been banished."

Rebuttal: Satan had already been defeated with Jesus' death (Col 2:14-15). God owed him NOTHING.

Many people who follow these Word of Faith teachers don't even realize what theology they believe. They get looped in by the promise of prosperity not realizing all the while they are following and financially supporting teachers who claim to know Jesus, but do not (Matthew 7:21-23). We are a lazy and selfish people. We want what feels good and what is convenient- even at the risk of others' souls. I challenge you to look into this yourself.

Here are a couple of short videos to sum it up:

Steppin' on Toes

What do Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Oral Roberts, Marilyn Hickey, and Kenneth Copeland all have in common? They are all members of the Word of Faith movement (Jakes is actually more known for his Oneness Pentecostal beliefs but mixes in with the WF) sweeping our nation. What is wrong with that? The movement and what these teachers preach/ teach is heretical and anti-scriptural. I know some of you who read this blog follow some of these people, reading their books and participating in their Bible studies so you may take offense to this post- I'm ok with that. I challenge you to research the Word of Faith movement yourself, measure it against what scripture says, and see what you come up with. I am specifically referring to what these teachers believe and spread concerning Jesus's death on the cross, the Trinity, and the believer's role today. I too am developing my thoughts on these teachings as proposed by these teachers and will share what I find in the coming days. This is a snazzy site to start some research. The scariest part of this is my former church has propped up some of these people and I'm afraid still ascribes to some of their teachings. Some of you go there now. Could you be under heretical teaching? I'm looking into it myself. It makes my heart ache to think it true.

Remember This:

"My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. 'Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.' " Hosea 4:6

OK, quick update: I after doing some additional research I DO NOT believe our former church is under heretical teaching. They are following the Purpose- Driven model making it "seeker-friendly" which need some warnings, but I don't believe heresy is a part of that.

Heresy= the holding or teaching of) an (especially religious) opinion which differs from the official opinion (The opinion I use is the Bible.)