{"id":846,"date":"2012-05-15T08:36:01","date_gmt":"2012-05-15T05:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/?p=846"},"modified":"2018-06-08T07:07:48","modified_gmt":"2018-06-08T04:07:48","slug":"a-few-problems-with-word-of-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/a-few-problems-with-word-of-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"A Few problems with &#8220;Word of Faith&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every quarter our Southern Ukraine association of churches puts on an all day fellowship\/seminar for the brothers. \u00a0They invited me to speak this time and I decided to talk about\u00a0the rise of the &#8220;Word of Faith&#8221; movement, which is unfortunately gaining a lot of speed in Ukraine as it is in many countries.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re not familiar with the Word of Faith teaching just check out\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Word_of_Faith\">http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Word_of_Faith<\/a>. \u00a0Often it is \u00a0called\u00a0&#8220;Prosperity Gospel&#8221; or &#8220;Health and Wealth&#8221;. Some of the main teachers you may have heard of such as, Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, Kenneth Hagin, Joyce Meyer and Benny Hinn to name a few.<\/p>\n<p>Their main teachings revolve around three key points:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u201cPositive Confession\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">They teach that words have power in and of themselves. \u00a0If you believe it, think it, act like it and say it, then God will give it to you. \u00a0Some go as far as to say that we can create with our words,\u00a0we must\u00a0carefully use use them because we might\u00a0accidentally\u00a0 create something! Check out this example from <a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/R8fN1PmMP5E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pastor Osteen\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Little gods<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If man is able to create with his words as God is able to create with His words then the logical conclusion is that man must be a god.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Limited God<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of course the &#8220;little god&#8221; doctrine leads to something even worse. If man is a god, then God Himself must be limited in some way. \u00a0Thus many of the Word of Faith teacher claim that God the Father has a body and is bound by laws that limit His ability to act.<\/p>\n<p>Problems with Word of Faith teaching<\/p>\n<p>The theological dangers of the Word of Faith movement are many but I would like to note just a few below.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>It places a heavy burden on the believer. Luk 11:46, Mat 11:30\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>What the Word of Faith teachers are doing is really very similar to what the Pharisees did in Jesus day. \u00a0If as a believer I am sick or poor there is only one reason; I don&#8217;t have enough faith. \u00a0In order to fix the situation I must believe and one of the main ways they ask people to exhibit their faith is by giving. \u00a0As a result most of the Word of Faith teachers are quite well off financially having made their money on the backs of their followers.<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>It puts constraints upon God. Isa 14:27 \u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>According to Word of Faith teaching God can&#8217;t act until we give Him permission with our faith and with our words. \u00a0The result is an impotent God manipulated by man&#8217;s faith and dependent upon man.<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>It ignores million of Christians who live in persecuted countries. 2Ti 3:12 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>Unfortunately Word of Faith teachers completely ignore the horrendous\u00a0persecution\u00a0of\u00a0millions of believers whose faith is most\u00a0assuredly\u00a0hundreds\u00a0of\u00a0\u00a0times stronger than theirs!<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>It places large emphasis upon man rather than God. Eze 36:22 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>I think this is the root of why they have gone astray in their doctrine. \u00a0It ends up being a very humanistic religion that raises man to heights not found in Scripture, that ignores the great problem of sin and at the same time\u00a0conveniently\u00a0lowers the majesty of God making Him man&#8217;s genie in the bottle.<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>It cheapens Christianity by making blessedness based upon the external conditions of our life. Mat ch. 5<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>How is it that Word of Faith teachers have completely missed Matthew\u00a0chapter\u00a05? Real blessing is not dependent upon the external conditions of our life. According to Jesus, real blessing is dependent on our relationship with God!<\/div>\n<p><strong><strong>Ways to avoid Word of Faith fallacy<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Make sure our preaching and teaching comes from God\u2019s Word. 2 Tim 2:15-16<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>Usually this kind of teaching creeps in slowly when we begin to lessen the role of God&#8217;s Word in our preaching and teaching. \u00a0If you listen to any of Word of Faith teacher you will find one of two things. Either they almost completely ignore God&#8217;s Word giving it a token reference or their use of Scripture\u00a0blatantly\u00a0ignores context and the most basic principles of interpretation.<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Encourage our people to investigate God\u2019s Word themselves. Acts 17:11<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>I firmly believe that as \u00a0teacher of God&#8217;s Word I need to make sure that my people don&#8217;t just take for granted what they hear from me. \u00a0I need to give them the tools to study, understand and make informed doctrinal decisions on their own.<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Make sure our focus is on God\u2019s glory. Psa 105:8<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>Let&#8217;s get back to the basics, it&#8217;s about God not about us!<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Teach people to pray for miracles and healing but we do not demand them from God. Mat 12:39 \u00a0Joh 9:3 \u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>God can and God does miracles today. \u00a0I prayed for God to\u00a0miraculously heal my son when doctors diagnosed him\u00a0with cancer. \u00a0We should pray these kind of prayers but we should not demand from God or assume that God owes us anything!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Questions: Do you agree? Is there any advice you would add to my list on how to avoid Word of Faith teachings?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every quarter our Southern Ukraine association of churches puts on an all day fellowship\/seminar for the brothers. \u00a0They invited me to speak this time and I decided to talk about\u00a0the rise of the &#8220;Word of Faith&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,31],"tags":[122,117,125,118,120,121,123,124,126,119,116],"class_list":["post-846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministry","category-writing","tag-benny-hinn","tag-doctrine","tag-false-teaching","tag-healing","tag-health","tag-joel-osteen","tag-kenneth-copeland","tag-kenneth-hagin","tag-prosperity-gospel","tag-wealth","tag-word-of-faith"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/VPR_5837.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3izZc-dE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6896,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/5-ways-the-prosperity-gospel-short-circuits-your-spiritual-growth\/","url_meta":{"origin":846,"position":0},"title":"7 Ways the Prosperity Gospel Short-circuits Your Spiritual Growth","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"October 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The peddlers of the prosperity gospel promise a short-cut to the joys of heaven that will bypass the trials of earthly life and deliver a near paradise on earth to the impatient Christian. What these slick sellers of sanctified success don't tell you is that their short-cuts really short-circuit your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/20121005-lifeclass-i-am-2-949x534-e1475490684408.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/20121005-lifeclass-i-am-2-949x534-e1475490684408.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/20121005-lifeclass-i-am-2-949x534-e1475490684408.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8193,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/jesus-wants-you-to-be-wealthy\/","url_meta":{"origin":846,"position":1},"title":"God Wants You to Be Wealthy | Gospel Mistake #1","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"July 18, 2017","format":"video","excerpt":"Jesus promised his disciples great wealth in this world if they gave up all to follow him. Sometimes this is known as the 100 fold principle. Could it really be true? Does putting your faith in Jesus not only give you eternal life in heaven but also a wealthy and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sermons&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sermons","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/maxresdefault-8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/maxresdefault-8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/maxresdefault-8.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/maxresdefault-8.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/maxresdefault-8.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8308,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/what-is-the-100-fold-principle\/","url_meta":{"origin":846,"position":2},"title":"What Is the 100 Fold Principle?","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"August 24, 2017","format":"video","excerpt":"Listen many contemporary prosperity preachers and he or she will tell you that following Jesus will get you a better car, a better job, and a nicer house. You\u2019ll attract prosperity and it\u2019s likely that random amounts of cash will just show up unexpectedly in your wallet or in your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sermons&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sermons","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8616,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/what-if-luther-wrote-his-95-thesis-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":846,"position":3},"title":"What If Luther Wrote His 95 Theses Today?","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"November 1, 2017","format":"video","excerpt":"I took the liberty to rewrite a few of Luther's 95 theses as I think he would have written them if he lived today. Let's first look at Luther's original text. In the later half of the 95 theses Luther rails against the the preachers of indulgences: Martin Luther's Theses,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sermons&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sermons","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7428,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/modern-day-indulgences\/","url_meta":{"origin":846,"position":4},"title":"Modern-Day Indulgences","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"May 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"If you think indulgences are an ancient practice of the Catholic Church that have long been forgotten, you're greatly mistaken. 500 years ago Martin Luther began the Reformation by publicly condemning indulgences as an unbiblical and unethical\u00a0way to\u00a0fill the coffers of the Catholic Church. Today many preachers are propagating a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/AdobeStock_91841985.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/AdobeStock_91841985.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/AdobeStock_91841985.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/AdobeStock_91841985.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/AdobeStock_91841985.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4147,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/when-will-persecution-come-to-american-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":846,"position":5},"title":"When Will Persecution Come to American Churches?","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"July 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Persecution of Christians is still on the rise in Eastern Ukraine where Russian separatist have taken control. Just a few days ago in the city of Donetsk the separatist seized Donetsk Christian University along with about 20 staff. For the last 23 years there really was not any significant persecution\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/persecution-flag-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/persecution-flag-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/persecution-flag-001.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9418,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions\/9418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}