Deception in the Church

 A growing number of pastors, teachers, and evangelists within the Charismatic/Pentecostal/Evangelical/Prosperity circles of the Christian church are advancing what has come to be known as the "Word Faith" movement. Its major leaders include Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Frederick K. C. Price, Jesse Duplantis, Sid Roth, Joyce Meyers and David (Paul) Yongii Cho, who pastors one of the largest churches in the world in Seoul, Korea.  Other well-known Word Faith personalities include Gloria Copeland, Robert Tilton, John Avanzini, John Osteen, T. L. Osborne, Charles Capps, Marilyn Hickey, Jerry Savelle, J.D. Jake,  Morris Cerullo, Casey Treat, Dwight Thompson, Hinn, John Hagee, Rodney Brown, Creflo Dollar and Richard Roberts. The Christian Broadcasting Networks that endorse and support these people are Daystar and Trinity Broadcasting Network.

I want to make it clear I do not believe that every word these ministers/teachers say is deception.  I listen to Joyce Meyers and Joel Osteen regularly, but they do freely stray from the Gospel when it fits their needs.  That is why it is so important for everyone to study and know scripture for themselves so they can discern truth from deception.  Christians are told to compare any teachings, and the gospel they bring, to the Word of God and to cast off any that contradict Scripture (Acts 17:11; Galatians 1:6-9; 1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Trinity Broadcasting Network’s worldwide platform has mainstreamed Word Faith theology to the lives of millions of Christians who would not otherwise have encountered Word Faith theology.  Christianity in the western world has been so heavily influenced in many quarters by this movement that now many consider it the main thrust of the charismatic movement. 

In Europe these doctrines are brought in through visiting USA speakers and their materials, and by influential local pastors and leaders (all looking to get rich) - and also through the "GOD Christian Channel" which concentrates on many of these teachers/evangelist/pastors via Satellite and Cable TV. Recently England refused to allow Hinn to enter their country because they did not want their citizens exposed or conned by him anymore.  The Word Faith movement took hold in Africa rapidly because local ministers were influenced by the wealth of the evangelist from the United States.

The leaders of this movement are quick to attack anyone who questions their teachings.  They claim those that question are "sowing division in the body" or lack faith or lack belief in God’s ability to heal, or they may even claim they are demon possessed. No man on earth today has the power to instantly heal one after another.  Why is there never any medical proof of these healings?  

A classic example of this can be seen in a quote from Word-Faith teacher Kenneth Hagin: "When the Lord was dealing with me concerning the prophet's (HIS) ministry, GOD said that if a church doesn't accept my ministry then I should go my own way, shake the dust off my feet against them (CURSE THEM) so to speak; but GOD would remove their candlestick (THEIR POWER).  GOD said that judgment must begin in the house of God, and If a church won't accept  MY ministry, then they wouldn't accept His Word if it came from His own mouth and even GOD can't help them."

If a person reads into the sacred text something that does not belong there and is not consistent with sound exegesis and hermeneutics, then Christians have a right an should challenge and expose error and point out who these mistaken teachers are (Acts 20:28-31 & 2 Timothy 2:16-18).  It does not mean that these teachers are not true Christians, although they may not be.  It does not mean that we should love them any less.  It simply means that an error has been found and exposed and should be dealt with in love for the truth, and compassion for those that could be damaged by the deception.

The spiritual mentor of today's Word-Faith teachers is Essek W. Kenyon, a man who was greatly influenced by the metaphysical mind science cults such as Christian Science, Unity School of Christianity, and Church of Religious Science and who received his theological training from the Emerson School of Oratory in Boston, Mass.  The founder of that institution, Charles Wesley Emerson, is on record as being a member of the Mother Church of Christian Science from 1903 to 1908.

After leaving the school - it is not clear from records whether or not he graduated - Kenyon settled in Seattle, Wash., where he was pastor of the New Covenant Baptist Church and broadcast a radio program, "Church of the Air," until his death in 1948.  Kenyon's Gospel Publishing Society published materials from his writings and broadcasts.  It is from these publications that most of the presumptions of the Word-Faith teachings are drawn, but most believe they originated from Kenneth E. "Dad" Hagin. The truth is that Hagin got most of his doctrines from Kenyon and his daughter, Ruth Kenyon Houseworth.

The bedrock of Word-Faith doctrine is what Kenyon calls "new creation realities." For the rest of the Word-Faith assertions to work, man first must be exalted to a high position.  Word-Faith teaching puts man on the same level as Jesus Christ.  This is done by assembling Scripture passages to purportedly prove that once a man is in Christ, then the "new creature" spoken of in 2 Corinthians 5:17 has the same spirit as God.   Kenyon writes: "You see, man is a spirit being.  He is in the same class with God.  He was created in the image and likeness of God.  He had to be in order to become a partaker of the Divine Nature.  Creflo Dollar today says “We are little “gods” all of us that accept Christ become “little gods”.   Creflo Dollar says the only thing human about us is our physical bodies all else is the a same as God.

Kenneth Copeland writes in “Now We Are In Christ Jesus, p. 5”. that Hagin says, "The believer is as much an Incarnation as Jesus Christ.”  Kenneth Copeland says, "Jesus is no longer the only begotten son of God" (Now We Are In Christ Jesus, p. 24). "We are the Word made flesh, just as Jesus was."  So, in the Word-Faith teaching, Jesus loses his uniqueness.  The believer is elevated to the position of being a God-man the same way Jesus was a God-man.  They claim that the only difference is Jesus obtained his position by birth and the rest obtain it by a re-creation of the spirit.  Read  Isaiah 44:8: "Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any" ( Isaiah 43:10; John 1:18;  John 5:44; John 17:3; James 2:19; 1 Timothy 2:5; Colossians 1:14-17; Hebrews 1:2-3).  Joyce Meyers teaches the same thing we are all Sons of God just as Jesus Christ is.  Christ is no longer the only begotten Son of God.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland and Fredrick Price say the blood of Christ did not pay for ours sins.  Christ suffering and blood on the cross was not enough to pay our sin debt.  That Jesus lost all his spirituality and God the Father forsake Christ and sent Him to suffer in hell for three days.  Christ paid our sin debt in hell not on the cross.  Gloria Copeland even added if the cross had been enough the two thieves that hung on crosses by Jesus could have paid our sin debt.  Read Hebrews 12:2: "Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross [not torture in hell], despising the shame.”  "In whom [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:7).( Psalm 139:7-8; John 5:26; 10:17-18; 19:30;  Colossians 1:19-20;  2:13-15; Revelation 1:5). 

the Word-Faith plan of redemption says:  Man was created as the "same order of being as God."  A spirit temporarily housed in a body.  He was given dominion over the Earth.  When he committed "high treason" by following Satan instead of God, man then gave up the divine nature and took on the nature of Satan.  Satan then became the god of this world and man thereafter was born with the satanic nature.  "Suddenly, God was on the outside the earth looking in", (Kenneth Copeland, Our Covenant With God, p. 8).  They say Satan rules the earth and God is ruling heaven and God has no power on earth until Jesus Christ comes again.

On the cross, the plan of redemption merely began.  It was there that Jesus took on the nature of Satan, lost His divinity, became a mortal man, and went to hell.  There He suffered torture at the hand of Satan until God said "enough." Having kept the Law of God perfectly, the man Jesus was declared to be "illegally" in hell.  At that point, Jesus' spirit was re-created.  He again had the divine nature - Jesus was then born again!   Just as we are born again or recreated when we accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah.  Re-created men "now have the nature of God... the ability of God" (E.W. Kenyon, What Happened from the Cross to the Throne, p. 82).  There are no verses in Scripture to support this blasphemous theology - read Exodus 8:10: "There is none like unto the Lord our God"  Exodus 9:13-14; Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; 2 Samuel 7:22; Isaiah 46:9; Jeremiah 10:6; Hosea 11:9).

Word Faith ministers use different interpretations of words that are not the correct Greek or Hebrew.  They make the words fit their needs for example I was amused when Charles Capps said Concerning the statement in Job 1:21, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away," Word-Faith teacher Charles Capps says, "Job did say it, but it is not a true statement.  It is a lie. ... Job was not under the anointing when he made that statement" (The Tongue - A Creative Force, pp. 8-9).  A few weeks prior the same teacher said EVERY WORD IN THE BIBLE IS TRUE!!

When this kind of fanciful Bible interpretation is used, the Scriptures can be made to say anything you want them to say.