Word of Faith
This article may contain excessive or inappropriate references to self-published sources. (November 2015) |
Word of Faith | |
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Classification | Kenneth Hagin |
Word of Faith is a movement within
History
The Baptist minister
Teachings
Distinctive Word of Faith teachings include physical, emotional, financial, relational, and spiritual healing for those who keep their covenant with God.[citation needed] 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[3] that believers shall have whatsoever they say and pray with faith. The term word of faith itself is derived from Romans 10:8[4] which speaks of "the word of faith that we preach".[5]
Healing
The Word of Faith teaches that complete healing (of spirit, soul, and body) is included in Christ's atonement and therefore is available immediately to all who believe. Frequently cited is Isaiah 53:5,[6] ("by his stripes we are healed"), and Matthew 8:17,[7] 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.[8] According to adherents, sickness is generally Satan's attempt to rob believers of their divine right to total health.[9]
Prosperity
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. Prosperity is not desired for the hoarding of finances but to be an avenue God uses to fund missions for the spreading of the gospel and to help the needy.[citation needed]
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 [10]
Faith and confession
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".[citation needed] 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),[11] 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,[12] 3:20),[13] and brings that promise to fulfilment. This teaching is interpreted from Mark 11:22–23.[14] A more recent variant of positive confession is "decree and declare".[15] Word of Faith preachers have called faith a "force".[16]
Conversely, "negative confession" is believed to be harmful, and so it is taught that believers should be conscious of their words. This is argued on the interpretation of Proverbs 18:21,
Criticism
Many of the movement's essential beliefs are criticised by other Christians. Christian author
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.[20]
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 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
Milder criticisms were made by William DeArteaga in his book Quenching the Spirit. He concedes some
Evangelist Justin Peters, an outspoken critic of the Word of Faith movement, wrote his Master of Divinity thesis on
In contrast, Pastor Joe McIntyre, now head of Kenyon's Gospel Publishing Society in
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.[23] 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.[24][25]
John Piper points out that Christ warned the apostles that they would suffer great persecution[26] 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
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,"[27] and reasoned that if humans are made in God's image, they are "in God's class",[28] and thereby 'gods'.[28][29]
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.[30]
See also
- Full Gospel
- Chris Oyakhilome
- Abundant life
- Margaret Court
- Sam P. Chelladurai
- Word of Faith Ministries
- Word of Faith Fellowship
Notes and references
- ^ ISBN 9780195153880.
- ISBN 9781498280341.
- ^ Mark 11:22–24
- ^ Romans 10:8
- ^ Gilley, Gary E, The Word-Faith Movement, Rapid net.
- ^ Isaiah 53:5
- ^ Matthew 8:17
- ^ 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.
- ^ Genesis 1
- ^ Ephesians 1:19–20
- ^ Ephesians 3:20
- ^ Mark 11:22–23
- ^ Denver Cheddie, Is Decree and Declare Scriptural?, Bible Issues, bibleissues.org
- ^ Kenneth Copeland, The Force of Faith, (KCP Publications, 1989)
- ^ Proverbs 18:21
- ^ Numbers 14:28
- ^ 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 (25 May 2017), 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)