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"Word of Faith," "Name-it, Claim-it," "Health and Wealth," "Positive
Confession," etc.
The Word Faith basically teaches that Man is a god (Are Christians little god's?) Jesus did not pay for our sins on the cross but he had to finish the job of
atonement in hell (Did Jesus pay for our sins in hell?). We can command God by our words and God wants us healthy and
wealthy (Danger of Blessings). And if we are not healthy and wealthy it is because of our lack
of faith and knowledge (Christians and Sickness). And that our world is what we speak it to be.
Any person that will take the time
to honestly look into the matter will see that it all began with the false metaphysical teachings of Essek William Kenyon.
The Bible makes it very clear, God even simplified the matter by placing it all
into one easy to understand chapter. God teaches us the following: that we should be content, we should not desire to
be rich, the love of money is the root of all evil, that many people have erred from the faith due to a love of money, then
it commands us to flee these things, (1 Timothy 6).
Some of the most Godly people in
the Bible were poor, Paul (Philipians 4:11-12), Paul's companions (1 Corinthians 4:9-13), Old Testament faithful (Hebrews 11:37) and Jesus (Matthew 8:20, 2 Corinthians 8:9).
"Supposing that gain is godliness; from such withdraw thyself...But godliness
with contentment is great gain...And having food and clothes let us be content...But they that will be rich fall into temptation
and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts...For the love of money is the root of all evil, which, while some have
coveted after, they have erred from the faith...But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness,"
1 Timothy 6:6-11.
The Christian Research Institute has this to say:
"An aberrational theology affirms essential orthodox Christianity, but it adds teachings that undermine the profession
of true orthodoxy. A heretical theology, on the other hand, outright denies essential doctrines of Christianity, and
groups that adhere to a heretical teaching are considered to be cults. Some of the best-known American television evangelists
subscribe either in whole or in part to the unbiblical teaching known as “positive confession,” the “faith”
teaching, or the “prosperity” message. Its chief representatives include Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Fred Price, Paul and Jan Crouch, John Avanzini, Benny Hinn, and Marilyn Hickey. In the past, CRI has attempted to meet with some of the people
listed above to dialogue with them concerning their false teachings; however, most of them have refused.
The major tenets of the Word of Faith movement betray the fact that it is in opposition to mainstream, evangelical
Christianity. It asserts that God created human beings in “God’s class” as “little gods.”
Before the fall, humans had the potential to exercise a “God kind of faith” and could call things into existence.
Humans took on Satan’s nature by rebelling against God in the Garden of Eden, thus losing the ability to call things
into existence. In order to correct this situation, Jesus Christ became a man, died spiritually (taking Satan’s nature
upon Himself), went to hell, was “born again,” and rose from the dead with God's nature. After this, Jesus
sent the Holy Spirit to duplicate the Incarnation in believers so they might fulfill their calling to be little gods.
It follows, then, that those who have had the Incarnation duplicated in them by the Holy Spirit (thus giving them the ability
to exercise the “God kind of faith”) should be successful in every area of their lives. Furthermore, hardships
like indebtedness, illness, and even being left by one’s spouse show lack of faith because these problems should be
eliminated by “claiming” God’s promises. While certain details of the above outlined doctrine vary from
teacher to teacher, the general outline remains the same. CRI considers this teaching in its complete form to be at
best aberrational and at worst heretical."
A Word On The Word-Faith Heresy
"Word-Faith teachers owe their ancestry to groups like Christian Science, Swedenborgianism,
Theosophy, Science of Mind, and New Thought--not to classical Pentecostalism. It reveals that at their very core, Word-Faith teachings are corrupt. Their undeniable derivation is cultish,
not Christian. The sad truth is that the gospel proclaimed by the Word-Faith movement is not the gospel of the New Testament. Word-Faith doctrine is a mongrel system, a blend of mysticism, dualism, and gnosticism
that borrows generously from the teachings of the metaphysical cults. The Word-Faith movement may be the most dangerous false system that has grown out of
the charismatic movement so far, because so many charismatic's are unsure of the finality of Scripture."
(John MacArthur, Charismatic Chaos, p. 290)
"There are many peculiar ideas
and practices in the Faith theology, but what merits it the label of heresy are the following: 1)
its deistic view of God, who must dance to men's attempts to manipulate the spiritual laws of the universe; 2) its demonic
view of Christ, who was filled with "the Satanic nature" and must be "born again in hell; 3) its Gnostic view of revelation,
which demands denial of the physical senses and classifies Christians by their willingness to do so; and 4) its metaphysical
view of salvation, which deifies man and spiritualizes the atonement, locating it in hell rather than on the cross, thereby
subverting the crucial biblical belief that it is Christ's physical death and shed blood, which alone atone for sin.
All four of these heresies may be accounted for by Kenyon's syncretism of metaphysical thought with traditional biblical doctrine."
(D.R. McConnell, A Different Gospel)
"While the Faith movement is undeniably cultic, and particular groups within the movement are
clearly cults, it should be pointed out that there are many sincere, born-again believers within the movement. I cannot
overemphasize this crucial point. These believers, for the most part, seem to be wholly unaware of the movement's cultic
theology....they represent that segment of the movement which, for whatever reason, has not comprehended or internalized the
heretical teaching set forth by the leadership of their respective groups."
(Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity in Crisis, p. 41)
"The modern Father of the Faith Movement, Kenneth Hagin plagiarized in word and content the bulk of his theology from E. W. Kenyon. All of the Faith teachers, including Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland, whether they admit it or not, are the spiritual sons and grandsons
of E. W. Kenyon. It was Kenyon, not Hagin, who formulated every major doctrine of the modern Faith Movement....The
roots of Kenyon's theology may be traced to his personal background in the metaphysical cults, specifically New Thought and
Christian science...Kenyon attempted to forge a synthesis of metaphysical and evangelical thought...The
result in Faith theology is a strange mixture of biblical fundamentalism and New Thought metaphysics."
(D.R. McConnell, A Different Gospel, pg. 184-186.)
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