"Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." ( Matthew 11:28 )
Recently I had the pleasure of reconnecting with a young man, along with his wife and sons, who grew up with my man children. In the course of our conversation and finding out about their faith journey, because I unabashedly get around to asking everyone, they proceeded to tell me that they had left a big box church for a more gospel-centered church.
In the midst of the conversation his wife looked at me and said, "It was just so exhausting."
Later on the drive back home, I thought about her words because I knew exactly what she meant; I'd just been out of the Word of Faith Movement for so long now that I had thankfully forgotten the endless, exhaustive routine of it all. Even when we attended other denominations, I still believed the theology.
The nagging unsettledness that continually vexes one's soul if they've done their part enough to stay in God's good graces to get their needs met and keep the devil away has caused many to abandon the faith altogether. It's easy to see why there's so many deconstruction stories. God is reduced to a genie in a bottle, and you better conger up enough faith to get him to grant your wishes.
Instead of developing a relationship with our Savior, developing one's faith is the way to get God's attention and acceptance. Wow, do we really think this is how God loves his children?
The couple weren't in the same type of church, but it was still that same religious rhetoric based on "works righteousness," just a different to-do list oriented on works and one's job performance to get God and his Word to "work" for you.
Specifically in the Word of Faith Movement, ( This is another one of the nasty shoots growing out of the rotten roots. ) the leaders teach that you must develop enough faith to get the things you want by confession. ( Not to be confused with "confessing" your sins to a priest or in private prayer, but you'll see in a minute. )
Getting the answer you desire rests all on your own shoulders, and it's beyond a heavy weight to bear. You don't realize just how burdensome it is until the doctrine begins to crumble. "God is not sovereign," they say, "You are the one in control of the situations in your life, and it's up to you to develop your god-size faith." God is waiting on you to get your faith up to par so he can act on your behalf; otherwise, his hands are tied until you do.
If you've read from Genesis to Revelation, does this sound like the God of the Bible? Be honest.
To the word-faith proponents, God is little more than a puppet on a string, and you need to cherry pick some Bible verses that "line-up" with what you need and want. Then confess the daylights out of those verses along with your wish list until you have what you say, training yourself to believe in the process what hasn't actually materialized yet.
Right, I hear you, go back to my blog on the history of the movement and it shows how E.W. Kenyon based his word-faith doctrine off of Quimby's New Thought, Mary Baker Eddy's Christian Science, and the early faith-cure healers and holiness movements of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. Keneth Hagin took up the message where Kenyon left off by plagiarizing much of his work. I'll share the link at the bottom with a couple of good resources.
This false teaching is based off of Romans 4:17. Paul writing about the faith of Abraham says, "I have made you the father of many nations - in the presence of God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist."
Who is giving life to the dead and calling things into existence? Yes, that's right, God.
Why do WOF proponents think that they can do the same thing as God? Ex nihilo? Creating something out of nothing, calling into existence the things that do not exist?
One reason is because they are twisting the theology of creation and what it means to be created in God's image. WOF doctrine teaches that we are created out of the same fabric as God, deeming us too as "divine" and a "little god" with the ability to do everything that God does.
They skip right over that part in Genesis where it says, "then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground.." And God absolutely did a stellar job with that handful of dirt, but we hardly think God is made of the same substance. Or made at all. There are many aberrant beliefs in the word-faith theology; this is just one of them.
Good grief. Kenneth Copeland goes so far as to say that God told him directly, in a conversation that is so flippant and casual between him and God, that he is so much like the incarnate Jesus that he could have done what Jesus did on the cross. ( Copeland, "What Happened from the Cross to the Throne," tape #02-0017 - you can also hear it on "The American Gospel - In Christ Alone" documentary or I'm sure find it on Youtube )
"As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." ( Psalm 103:13-14 )
"The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all." ( 103:19 )
"For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time." ( 1 Timothy 2:5 )
Although Copeland and others in the WOF movement claim that as believers we can do all of the miracles Jesus did we never see them walking on water or raising the dead or multiplying bread and fish to feed the world's hungry or healing all of the world's physically and mentally ill. Copeland's followers will say that over the years he has given millions of dollars away. Is this a reason not to call out his false teaching? He should be giving.
Most reports I looked up agreed that his net worth as America's richest pastor is $300 million. I suspect it's higher. He's seen on Tik Tok bragging that he's a billionaire, but what I'm concern about in this blog is not his monetary contributions. I'm concerned about his false doctrine contributions in the lives of innocent and vulnerable people as well as new believers whose biblical theology is not yet filled out.
Mature believers, Scripture tells us, have a responsibility to look out for the weak, as well as the widow, orphan, the marginalized, and poor. ( Deuteronomy 15:7 & 11, Proverbs 14:21, Galatians 2:10, James 2:14-17, Romans 15: 1-2, Galatians 6:2, 1 Thessalonians 4:18, )
Copeland built his little gods theology off of his mentor Kenneth Hagin's aberrant beliefs that claim, "The believer is as much an incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth." ( "The Incarnation," The Word of Faith, Dec. 1980, pg. 14 )
Another of Hagin's books is entitled, "How To Write Your Own Ticket With God." This and the above should be enough information to make us flee from all things Word of Faith.
But I do understand the deception, I was in the movement. And no one loved that teaching of having what you say more than me. However, it is very possible to have a bit of the doctrine in your belief system and not be a part of the movement full sail. In fact it's very possible in light of our current church culture to have some or be confused by it which is why I write about it so much, in hopes I can help others.
Because the Bible is so much better than this.
Jesus is so much better than this. I want people to come to the real Jesus.
Even if it was possible, and it's absolutely not, I wouldn't want to be on par with Jesus. This diminishes his deity and his sacrifice. It is Christ alone who is the worthy Lamb of God. The One who died and lives again and is alone found worthy to open the scroll. ( Revelation 5:4 )
Another teacher we had at our church in Texas back in the 80's, Charles Capps, didn't even much involve God. He believed one's words did the work for you once you developed your faith enough. Because when you have a need, whether it be health, financial, relational, spiritual, whatever it may be, it's up to you to speak those answers into existence with your creative, power-filled words. Capp does away with the genie and puppet metaphors. I mean, who needs God when the "faith force" is with me?
Ironically during that time we had a prayer not be answered that may have changed the course of our lives.
The Farmer applied to the Word of Faith Rhema Bible Training College and was rejected because he was a smoker. To this day, a week doesn't go by, that the Farmer doesn't say, "I thank God for watching out for us. I thank God for his grace and mercy."
That has to be an example of how God uses the bad things in our lives for good. ( Romans 8:28 )
However, in services and special classes at our church, the Farmer and I were trained in the word-faith methodology of how to "activate" and develop our faith: to always be thinking positive thoughts, binding and loosing spirits, speaking in tongues, rebuking the devil, confessing your selected verses, declaring and decreeing, commanding and demanding, also called naming and claiming, so God could get to work for us. Or our faith. The teachers weren't consistent with each other, but that's not a big surprise.
It's exhausting trying to be a "little god," isn't it?
If you're not familiar with Word of Faith theology, you might be scratching your head right now, but yeah, that's what they believe and teach. It's exhausting. And insane. So if you don't get your need met then you didn't work hard enough to develop your faith to God's level of faith. ( It's ridiculous to even think that God has or needs faith. )
Remember there's always a bit of truth mixed in with false teaching, that's why we've got to ask the Holy Sprit to give us discernment every morning when our feet hit the floor. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
What WOF teachers instruct is a gross mishandling of the Scriptures that cultivates a shallow relationship with God who is reduced to a genie in a bottle, or worse just getting rid of God altogether.
This is not Christianity.
I know this is lengthy, and I need to cut to the chase. So here's the concern:
If I can't develop my faith enough to get an answer to a small need, then maybe I didn't develop my faith enough to believe in Jesus for salvation. Because believing for my salvation and eternal destiny has got to be something that requires a whole bunch of faith. More faith than I'm capable of mustering no matter how many times a day I declare and decree.
When someone is told that developing faith to have their needs met is up to them by the words they speak and the faith they manage to develop, this is the logical place they are going to end up. And sadly, many have.
"Am I really saved?"
"I don't see how I could be with my little faith."
"I haven't confessed enough."
"I haven't developed my faith enough."
Do you understand the danger in WOF teachers like Andrew Womack, who leads the charge in teaching that God is not sovereign, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Todd White, and the many others, in instructing their followers to develop their faith so they can get results and God to move on their behalf?
This is not the Christian Gospel, but another gospel altogether. WOF teachers and preachers do not teach the entire counsel of Scripture, and when you begin to grow in your knowledge of the Bible, you see it.
But until then it can send people either away from the faith, thinking that they will never be able to attain to it or it will send them onto a never ending hamster wheel exhausting them in the process of trying to build up enough faith and then maintain it.
Dear friends, faith is a gift, not a force we brandish and command like a lightsaber driving the enemy away and earning God's favor and blessing. No.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." ( Ephesians 2:8-9 )
God doesn't want us working ourselves into a frenzy because our works can't save us or keep us saved. Our faith can't even save us - only the object of our faith can save us - Jesus.
Jesus said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." ( Matthew 11:28 )
And this isn't physical rest - it's something much deeper and life-giving than physical rest, as the sacrifice of Christ is realized more and more in our daily lives, it results in the deepest rest of the human spirit in the knowing that Jesus has done for me what I could never do for myself - change my heart.
Now I am accepted in Christ before God - his perfect life of righteousness is imputed to me when I confess my sins, repent and trust in Jesus.
Now I can move out into the world in his strength to do the works that God has purposed for the believer. I'm not working to earn God's acceptance. That's not possible. ( Romans 3 ) But in Christ it is possible by way of his atoning work. He's done the work for me. And the good works I do now are done out of my grateful, regenerated heart.
No amount of striving to keep the law or activating some kind of super faith can earn God's acceptance or his blessings for me. They rest in Christ alone, so now we rest in him as well.
God's Word is powerful and faith comes through hearing the word of Christ, ( Romans 10:17 ) so we should be active in the Scriptures during our daily means of grace: reading and memorizing, meditating, preaching it back to ourselves, sitting under sound biblical pastors and teachers. As we grow into mature Christians through God's word, when we hear false teaching, it'll be like hearing fingernails scratching on a chalkboard.
And the beautiful thing is that when you are saved by God's grace in Christ alone, you are actually able to rest better physically because you are finally, truly resting in Him and his righteousness that is applied to you at the moment of your salvation and not your own good works or endless faith exercises.
God accepts me, not because of my work or faith, but through Christ's work alone. I am secure in Christ.
Have I said that enough?
Each day is a joy now in Christ as the Holy Spirit works through us, powerfully granting us the desire and ability to serve and obey him in our daily lives as believers where ever we are and whatever we face for his glory.
"Cast your deadly doing down -
Down at Jesus's feet;
Stand in him alone
Gloriously complete."
💜
The one I found the most helpful and thorough was Robert M. Bowman Jr's "The Word-Faith Controversy: Understanding the Health and Wealth Gospel."
Happy Weekend, Friends!
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