A Biblical Response to the Word of Faith Movement

Dr. Steve Viars October 13, 2001

DOCUMENT

A Comparison of World Religions

Session 5: “A Biblical Response to the Word of Faith Movement” – REVISED 10/07/01
October 14, 2001
Pastor Viars/Dr. Bob Martin

Pastor Viars in Black ink

Dr. Martin in Blue

Pastor Viars

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Purpose/Goals of this Series:

1. Purpose:
> Our purpose is to instruct our church family on the teachings and beliefs of various world religions,
in contrast to Biblical Christianity.
2. Goals:
1. To accurately present in a culturally sensitive manner the specific world life views of various world
religions.
2. To demonstrate how each world religion differs from Biblical Christianity.
3. To equip our church to respond Biblically to the claims of these world religions
- It is not our desire in any sense to make fun of those who believe something different than we do –
I’m certain that many who hold other beliefs are very sincere in those beliefs
- However, sincerity it not the standard of truthfulness
- Proverbs even warns us about our sincerity:
• Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
B. Ground Rules
1. We are not speaking in a spirit of ill will (but we will not ignore obvious error)
2. There WILL be disagreements and differences.
3. Learn what we can about other religions while better understanding our own
C. Scriptural Warnings
- God warns us to not be gullible and believe everything we hear:
• 1 Thessalonians 5:21 Test all things; hold fast what is good.
- The Bible warns of coming deception:
• 1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith,
giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons
- The Bible warns of coming dangerous times having a form of godliness:
• 2 Timothy 3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
- The Bible warns of coming apostasy (departure from the faith):
• 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the
falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.
Point: As believers, we have to be cautious, alert, and discerning of what we hear – especially when
someone call it ‘truth.’ Sometimes we are not as discerning as we should be – discernment takes
work, study, and discipline, and is a result of God working in our hearts.
Dr. Martin

II. Preliminary Consideration

A. The Word of Faith Movement is not synonymous with the Charismatic Movement.
- Many thoughtful, committed Charismatic Christians have vocally and forthrightly opposed the
teaching from the WOFM
- Hank Hanegraaff (Christianity in Crisis ) of the Christian Research Institute, is one of the most
outspoken current critics of the word-faith movement.
- Word Faith doctrines are disseminated through radio broadcasts, tapes, books, and tracts, and
Paul and Jan Crouch’s Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). Many well-intentioned Christians who
support TBN do not know that their money goes to promoting ministries who deny the Trinity and
claim that certain essential Christian doctrines.
Crouch is aware of the heresy TBN promotes. Once after Hank Hanegraaff met with Paul Crouch to
prove that the Faith movement compromises essential Christian doctrine, Crouch looked into the
lens of the television camera and angrily declared,
 Tape ( :17 ): "Don’t even call me… if you want to criticize Ken Copeland for his preaching on faith,
or Dad Hagin, get out of my life! I don't even want to talk to you or hear you. I don't want to see your
ugly face."
- Sadly, Crouch refers to the Faith message as a "revival of truth . . . restored by a few precious
men."
B. Historical Background:
- Over a century before the Faith movement, Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802-1866), the father of
New Thought, popularized the notion that sickness and suffering have their origin in incorrect
thinking. Man creates his own reality through the power of positive affirmation (confession).
Visualization of health and wealth, and then affirming or confessing with your mouth transforms the
intangible images into tangible realities.
- Essek William Kenyon, the father of the modern-day Faith movement, was enormously impacted
by Quimby’s New Thought metaphysics. Many present-day prosperity preachers use phrases, such
as "What I confess, I possess," were originally coined by Kenyon.
C. Key Leaders in the Movement
- The Christian church was first introduced to Word Faith teachings through Kenneth E. Hagin who
plagiarized much of Kenyon's work. Hagin has impacted virtually every major Faith teacher.
- Kenneth Copeland started his ministry by memorizing Hagin's messages. His blasphemous
teachings include, “God to be the greatest failure of all time,” "Satan conquered Jesus on the Cross,"
and describing Christ in hell as an "emaciated, poured out, little, wormy spirit."
- Benny Hinn admits to frequenting the graves of both Kathryn Kuhlman and Aimee Semple
McPherson to get the "anointing" from their bones.
- Frederick K. C. Price asserts that Jesus took on the nature of Satan prior to the crucifixion.
- Robert Tilton through the religious infomercial Success-N-Life persuades the poor to give what they
could to him -- as God's surrogate -- so they too could be blessed.
- Marilyn Hickey, manipulates followers by promising to slip into a ceremonial breastplate, "press
your prayer request to my heart," and "place your requests on my shoulders" -- all for a suggested
donation.
- Paul Yonggi Cho (David Cho) pastor of the world's largest church, in Seoul, South Korea -- has
packaged his faith formulas under the label of "fourth dimensional power," completely aware of this
link to occultism.
- Morris Cerullo once informed his audience, "You're not looking at Morris Cerullo -- you're looking at
God. You're looking at Jesus."
- Oral Roberts, claimed that Jesus appeared and told him God had chosen him to find the cure for
cancer. Roberts avowed "This is not Oral Roberts asking [for the money] but their Lord." The project
was completed, but has since been "shut down and sold to a group of investors for commercial
development." Not surprisingly, no cure for cancer was ever found.
The Word of Faith Teachers is the group that would seek to convince us that Jesus and His disciples
were rich, that to be poor is a sin, to be sick is a sin, and that faith is a creative force that we can use
to shape our world just like God supposedly created this world and universe that we live in through
His "faith"!
Bible Response: Romans 16:17-18 "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions
and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such
serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive
the hearts of the simple." (KJV)
Pastor Viars
C. Are we judging?
- We can’t judge the heart of any person – their thoughts or their motives
• 1 Corinthians 2:11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man,
which is in him?
- While we must be humble about our own position, God expects us discern doctrines and to
distinguish truth from error:
• Hebrews 5:14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of
use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
• Titus 1:9 holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound
doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
D. Discernment and caution may require us to be specific regarding false teachers!
- In 1 Timothy 1:19 and 2 Timothy 2:17 Paul pointed out specific individuals for rebuke
- There is no obligation to go first to a person who has a public ministry; it is appropriate to respond
publicly – when Peter sinned publicly, Paul rebuked him publicly [Galatians 2:11]
E. Are we “stretching out our hands against God’s anointed” which 1 Samuel 26:9 forbids?
- First of all, a NT pastor or teacher of the Word is not God’s anointed in the relevant sense -- Saul
was anointed in a special way as king of Israel – not as a pastor/teacher
- Second, stretching out one’s hands against God’s anointed means they’re not to kill or do physical
harm – it certainly did not preclude rebuke.
- While David was careful not to bring physical harm to Saul when given the opportunity, in 1
Samuel 24:6-16, David did publicly rebuke Saul!
F. Summary of beliefs
- Many of the WOFM’s doctrines are linked directly to the mistaken concept that faith is a literal
substance, “a power force … a tangible force … a conductive force.”
- According to Kenneth E. Hagin, faith in one’s own faith is the secret to getting every desire of the
heart.
- In response: the faith movement’s entire theology “rests on the word ‘substance’ in Hebrews 11:1:
‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’
- WOF teachers interpret the word “substance” to mean the “basic stuff” out of which the universe is
made, but faith cannot be rightly understood to mean “the building block of the universe.”
- However, the word translated “substance” in the KJV is more accurately rendered “assurance” (see
NASB). Faith is a channel of living trust—and assurance—which stretches from man to God.
Dr Martin

III. Teachings of the Word Faith Movement

A. What does the WOFM believe?

1. God is a six feet tall being who weighs two hundred pounds with a nine inch hand span, and looks
exactly like a man. “
 Tape ( : ): ”Uncanny the way He’s very much like you and me….has a span of 8 and a I mean 9
inches across.”
2. Faith is the literal substance “that God used to create the universe, and He transported that faith
with His words.”
3. All things, including God, are subject to this “force of faith” because it works according to spiritual
“laws” of the universe. There are laws of the spirit world and its laws are more powerful than the
physical world. The world and the physical forces governing it were created by the power of faith—a
spiritual force.
 Tape ( : ): “Faith is a spiritual force ….New age is trying to this… This is a spiritual law brother!”
4. The greatest thing God conceived of and created was an exact duplicate of Himself. This
duplicate god—named Adam—was God manifested in the flesh.
 Tape ( : ): “Just the same as Jesus… he’s God manifested in the flesh… Adam in the garden was
God manifested in the flesh!”
5. Adam was anatomically male and female, and God separated the female part from the male part
to make a “womb-man” (woman). Adam named this “man with a womb” Eve. She, like Adam, was a
god.
 Tape ( : ): “They did everything together…she was Adam…she was the man with the womb!”
6. The Fall caused Adam and Eve’s divine natures to be replaced with Satan’s nature. They also lost
their rights of rulership to planet earth. Even God was barred from having full access to earth
because Adam and Eve were under His lordship when they “fell.” Through their disobedience Satan
became the god of this world.
 Tape ( : ): “God the Father cannot do anything in this earth realm without permission”
7. God formulated a scheme to take back the earth, but in order to execute His plan He had to find a
human who would invite Him or give Him permission to work within the earthly realm. Finally, God
chose Abraham and in return for allowing God to bring the Messiah through his lineage, Abraham
received unlimited health and wealth.
 Tape ( : ): “The only way God could get into the earth realm, He had to have an invitation…. And
he saw a man named Abraham”
8. For centuries God visualized Jesus. God spoke Jesus into existence through faith in the same
way that He had visualized and spoken into existence everything else. Bringing forth Jesus,
however, was dependent on Mary’s lending her faith to help form the body of the Lord out of the
literal “Word” (confession) God spoke to her. The embryo that was in Mary’s womb was the Word of
God. Mary conceived the Word in her spirit. It manifested itself in her physical body.”
9. While on earth Jesus was wealthy. He lived in a big house, had a great deal of money, and wore
the finest clothes.
 Tape ( : ): “Jesus had a nice house…Jesus was handling big money…. Jesus was wearing
designer clothes… If you had 3 oranges in the bottom of the bag… Don’t tell me you wouldn’t know
something was missing.”
10. Although Jesus declared he walked with God and God was in Him; Jesus never actually claimed
to be God. During his three years of public ministry He was ministering on earth as a human
being—a prophet anointed with the Holy Spirit.” Jesus remained sinless so He could redeem men
from their satanic natures.
 Tape ( : ): “We’re still questioning what was said about the Son of God… He did not claim to be
God… I stand corrected.”
11. To redeem humanity, Jesus died spiritually as well as physically and was given the nature of
Satan. Jesus’ death on the cross and His shed blood did not atone for our sins. The atonement took
place in hell through the devil’s torturing of Jesus’ spirit for three days and three nights. However,
Satan took Jesus illegally to hell, because Jesus had never sinned. This “technicality” enabled God
to use His “force of faith” to revive Jesus’ spirit, restore Jesus’ divine nature, and resurrect Jesus’
body. Through the resurrection process Jesus was “born again.”
 Tape ( : ): “Had to go through the same spiritual death…He did not take my sin… He became one
with the nature of Satan…His poured out, wormy, little spirit…Jesus was reborn… very pit of hell
itself… and the Holy Ghost WASN’T there… hmmm, and that is when His divinity returned”
12. When a person is born again they experience exactly what happened to Jesus. Their satanic
nature is replaced by God’s divine nature and Christians become little gods (small “g”) and are as
much an incarnation of God as was Jesus.
 Tape ( : ): ““When you say I am a Christian… I am a little Messiah walking on earth… you are a
little God on earth running around… you ARE everything He was and ever shall be”
13. As “little gods,” Christians have access to the “God-kind of faith,” which can be used to get
virtually anything they want. Since, Christians, NOT God, have authority in the earth over Satan,
sickness and disease, believers should never pray God’s will be done.
14. To obtain specific desires, Christians must do three things: (1) loose the power of the “force of
faith” by speaking or positively confessing whatever is wanted (e.g., “I am healed,” “I am not sick,”
etc.); (2) believe that whatever has been confessed will definitely be received; and (3) ignore or look
beyond the visible reality (i.e., remaining sickness, low finances, etc.) and continue claiming what
has been confessed.
 Tape ( : ): “Now hear this your words in the spirit realm create reality!…The Bible declares that
faith is a force… If you’ll make a vow of $1000 … you can release the creative force of God into
existence.”
15. God’s people should have a completely blessed life. Everything bad, including poverty and
sickness, comes from Satan. A Christian not experiencing such a life is either: (1) in sin; or (2)
lacking enough faith to bring about what is desired.
16. The power of audible confession is so great that sometimes a person can unknowingly bring
tragedy upon themselves by making negative confessions. For example, someone who jokingly says
“I feel like I’m going crazy” may actually become insane.

Pastor Viars

B. What about Christians?

1. First, the movement “uses so much evangelical and Pentecostal terminology and so many biblical
proof texts that most believers are lulled into a false sense of security as to its orthodoxy.”
2. Second, its message is “without question the most attractive message being preached today.”
- Seldom, if ever, has there been a gospel that has promised so much, and demanded so little. The
Faith gospel is… ideally suited to the twentieth-century American Christian… the Faith gospel gives
simple, if not revelational, answers. In an economy fueled by materialism… the Faith gospel
preaches wealth and prosperity.
- The Faith gospel promises health and long life to a world in which death can come a myriad of
different ways. Finally, in an international environment characterized by anarchy…the Faith gospel
confers an authority with which the believer can supposedly exercise complete control over his or
her own environment.
• 2 Corinthians 11:3–4 “I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety,
so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh
preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have
not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him”
Point: The Word Faith movement is handing out a false Jesus, another gospel, and a different spirit.
- The Word-Faith teachers ask us to put away our traditions and forget our creeds.
- Benny Hinn after teaching his audience that God consists of nine distinct substances, boasts "You
think you're in this church to hear things you've heard for the last 50 years?"
- Whenever anyone challenges their teachings they are accused of promoting division instead of
discussion.
Example: Immediately after the Christian Research Institute, a very reputable and trustworthy
counter-cult and apologetic ministry, had devoted a week of radio programs exposing the errors of
the Word-Faith movement. Paul Crouch and Benny Hinn had this to say:
 Tape ( : ): " I say "Get out of God's way! Quit blocking God's bridges! Or God's gonna shoot you if
I don't" …Dear God in heaven.. I’ve been looking for one verse… if you don’t like them kill them…
Holy Ghost machine gun, I’ll blow your head off.”
Dr. Martin

IV. How Word Faith differs from Biblical Christianity

A. WOFM denies the authority of the Bible.

- Word-of-Faith leaders see themselves as bringing new spiritual revelation to the Body. It is not sin
and disobedience that causes us to fail, but ignorance of the Word. Moreover, this revelation
knowledge is limited to the few who can receive it; the rest of us are at a disadvantage. This is
elitism – spiritual pride.
- Biblical view: 2 Timothy 4:3-4 - For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;
but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall
turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (KJV)
- The Word is God is our final authority for faith and practice
B. WOFM deny the person of Jesus Christ.
Kenneth Copeland claims that Adam looked just like God and that Jesus and Adam were
identical. Copeland also asserts, That God did not have to pay the price for our sins, it had to be a
man.
- It elevates man to equality with Jesus. A consequence of the 'Jesus-died-spiritually' doctrine is that
all born-again Christians stand in the same place of power and authority as Jesus - not by virtue of
their unity with Him, but in themselves, as men filled with the Spirit.
- Thus, the Christian walk is one of education in using the same spiritual laws as Jesus in order to
dominate the circumstances and do miracles.
- In Word-of-Faith teaching, believers do not depend on God's own power, nor submit to His will, but
feel they have the right to develop their own powers, and to discover the laws governing creation
and dominion on the earth.
- Biblical view:
• The Bible asserts that Jesus was God in the flesh. He was the God man. In John 8:58 clearly
identified Himself with the great “I AM” of Exodus 3:14 when He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM."
This statement claims existence before Abraham and equality with the "I AM" of Exodus 3:14. The
Jews understood His meaning and picked up stones to kill him for blaspheming by claiming to be
God.
• Matthew 24:4-5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. (KJV)
Pastor Viars
C. WOFM denies the work of Jesus Christ.
The Atonement (Word Faith)
1. The WOF teachers claim that when Adam fell in the garden he forfeited the nature of God and
took on the nature of Satan. They also stress the loss of dominion over the earth, not sin, as the root
problem.
Kenneth Copeland states that when Adam fell, all the dominion and authority God had given to
Adam was handed over to Satan. God did not have access to earth and needed an avenue back into
the earth. God’s access back to earth came through the Abrahamic covenant.
2. Salvation for the faith teachers is the removal of the nature of Satan from man and the restoring
of the nature of God in man. Salvation becomes a matter of re-discovering one's place of godhood
and learning to rule as kings on earth.
3. On the cross Jesus became evil, taking upon Himself the nature of Satan. Jesus died spiritually
and physically.
4. Satan conquered Jesus upon the Cross.
Copeland says that Jesus accepted the sin nature of Satan in His own spirit. And at the moment that
He did so, He cried, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?"
When Jesus He died, His blood did not atone, but He had to take upon Himself the very sin-nature of
the Devil, causing His spirit to die, and suffer three days and nights of hellish torment AS A MAN
before the Father gave the command for Him to be re-created as a re-born man.
5. Jesus descended into hell a mortal man.
- Proponents of Faith theology say that Jesus endured three days and nights of unimaginable abuse
at the hands of Satan and his hordes of demons in hell. This was God’s payment to Satan so that He
could get back into a universe from which He had been banished.
• Frederick Price: "Do you think that the punishment for our sin was to die on a cross? If that were
the case, the two thieves could have paid your price. No, the punishment was to go into hell itself
and to serve time in hell separated from God…Satan and all the demons of hell thought that they
had Him bound and they threw a net over Jesus and dragged Him down to the very pit of hell itself to
serve our sentence."
Biblical View of Jesus Christ:
• 1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring
us to God”.
• Ephesians 5:2 “Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling savour”
• Luke 23:46 “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, ‘Father, into thy hands [not
Satan’s hands] I commend my spirit”.
• Romans 5:9-10 - Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,
much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (KJV)
• John 10:17–18 “I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it
down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again”.
Dr. Martin

V. Additional doctrinal differences between and Christianity

A. Wealth Doctrine
- Financial prosperity to those in the Word Faith movement is more than just a blessing. It is an
absolute right. The emphasis in Word-of-Faith doctrine is all on success, prosperity, advancement,
gain, health and strength. Any adversity is said to be a 'lack of faith' to confess the appropriate Word.
- Ministries that emphasize prosperity have ended up in greed, manipulating believers into giving
money they can little afford. Teachings about faith have become rituals and formulas for producing
instant result; and many who could not or would not go down this road were derided and rejected as
"having no faith".
- Doctrines about man's godhood and superhuman abilities have led to arrogance, self-will and the
use of psychic powers to perform miracles instead of a simple dependency on the Holy Spirit.
• Fred Price: "Yeah, God has pleasure in the prosperity. So he must have displeasure in the poverty.
"
Biblical Response:
- Christians are to be rich in spiritual things (James 2:5), including love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23).
- Jesus said, “Lay up not for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal: for where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19–21).
- The Bible names countless individuals who, although they were righteous before God, were poor:
Paul the apostle (Philippians 4:11–12); his companions (1 Corinthians 4:9–13); the Old Testament
faithful (Hebrews 11:37).
• James 2:5 - Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the
world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? (NIV) Scripture
nowhere indicates that Jesus was wealthy.
- This is a great misunderstanding of the wisdom of God, and His plan to bring his children to glory,
for if we refuse to share in the trials, setbacks and persecutions of Jesus, we are not ready to share
His glorification. [Rom 8:17] Legions of hurt people have testified to their bad experiences, both
personally and corporately, with Word-of-Faith extremes and excesses.
Pastor Viars
B. Healing
- Consequently, those suffering have only themselves to blame, says Frederick K. C. Price, “You are
suffering because you’re stupid!” The only alternative is even worse: “If God is running everything,
He does have things in a mess.”
- Satan is painted into the Word Faith’s picture of suffering as simply an adversary who afflicts the
ignorant. According to Copeland, like Job, we are the ones who bring about our own problems by the
words we speak.
“God didn’t allow the Devil to get on Job. Job allowed the Devil to get on Job. … All God did was
maintain His [God’s] confession of faith about that man. He said “that man is upright in the earth.”
But Job, himself, said he was not upright in the earth. He said, “I’m miserable.”
- Scripture, however, indicates that God did indeed allow Job to be afflicted:
• “The Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on this
person’ ” and “the Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life’ ” (Job. 1:12; 2:6).
- Furthermore, Job did not acknowledge his misery until after he had been afflicted (Job 3:1–26).
- Word Faith teachers are forced into misinterpreting Job’s story because they hold that there is “no
glory in knuckling down and enduring a trial.” In other words, no good whatsoever can come from
suffering. Kenneth E. Hagin asserts, “You cannot find anywhere in the Bible where God causes
these things [tragedies] to happen to teach His people something.”
- In Word Faith theology all believers should thoroughly understand that their healing was
consummated in Christ. Copeland assures his followers that “God intends for every believer to live
completely free from sickness and disease.” Copeland maintains that any time a believer has a
problem receiving healing, “he usually suffers from ignorance of God’s Word.”
- The intense aversion that Word Faith leaders have toward sickness is perhaps most obvious in
Price’s sermons:
 Tape ( : ) :“How can you glorify God in your body, when it doesn’t function right? … What makes
you think the Holy Ghost wants to live inside a body where He can’t see out through the windows
and He can’t hear with the ears? … The only eyes that He has that are in the earth realm are the
eyes that are in the body. If He can’t see out of them then God’s gonna be limited.

- Such a mind-set becomes even harsher when it is coupled with the Word Faith practice of citing a
person’s personal lack of faith as the primary cause of a sickness:
 Tape ( : ) : You know some people get upset, when you something, say “well I disagree with
that…hey, go ahead and die then … let’s don’t fall out about it lets just stay in love in Jesus and you
die and I’ll just go on living.”
Biblical View:
- God does not guarantee that Christians will always be healed as long as they have enough faith
and are not in sin. Instead, His Word gives numerous examples of godly individuals who were not
healed: Paul (2 Corinthians 12:7–10; Galatians 4:13–15); Timothy (1 Timothy 5:23); Trophimus (2
Timothy 4:20); and Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25–27).
- Countless tragedies have resulted from such thinking.
• Larry and Lucky Parker, withheld insulin to their diabetic son Wesley, who died in a diabetic coma
on August 23, 1973 because of Word Faith teachings..
• Thirty-eight-year-old Christine Klear (a mother of three small children) died of breast cancer after
she and her husband decided, through “the influence of TBN,” to positively confess her healing and
forego medical treatment.
• F. Elizabeth Scott diagnosed with breast cancer in her mid-40’s trusted Hagin, Copeland, and
Marilyn Hickey and declined medical therapy. Five years later the cancer-induced pain had become
so unbearable that she began radiation therapy and “pleaded” with doctors to do something. She
died that same year.
• Mary Turk made a vow of faith to Robert Tilton, refusing medical attention for her colon/rectal
cancer. She died an agonizing death as the cancer spread throughout her entire abdominal cavity.
- Word Faith leaders have responded to these deadly fruits of their labor by blaming those who died.
The deceased simply did not have enough faith to bring about their healing.
• Price, for example, admits, “I have watched people die, and my heart went out to them, but their
faith was not developed, and it couldn’t bring the healing to pass, and they died. It wasn’t the will of
God that they die, but their faith wasn’t sufficiently developed.”
Dr. Martin

V. What can you do to reach out to those in the WOFM?

- God’s people always have been, and always will be, plagued by false teachers and false prophets
(2 Corinthians 11:13; Galatians 2:4; 2 Peter 2:1–3).
- Paul warned of two kinds of “wolves” in sheep’s clothing: those who attack the church from the
outside; and those who poison it from the inside:
• “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made
you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know
this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of
your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts
20:28–30).
- What should we do in response to this doctrinal heresy?
1. Use the Word of God accurately – Hebrew 4:12
• Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart.
2. Do not support any of these ministries monetarily.
- We would recommend that you not watch any of the Word-Faith teachers programs, purchase their
books, etc. – and encourage and warn others to do the same.
3. Model a godly Christian life – living by faith and trusting in the grace of God.
• Titus 2:10 not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our
Savior in all things.
• 1 Timothy 4:12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in
conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
• Luke 12:15 And He said to them, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for
not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."
4. Be a student of the Word yourself
• 2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
- Study the great foundational doctrines of our faith so that you won't be deceived by any false
teacher.
> Theology is not always entertaining but it is always enriching. It is a lot easier to turn on that TV
and turn off your mind but you'll be at a loss because of it, and you will miss out on one of the most
wonderful blessings of life: communion with the Living Lord.
- Don’t be afraid to take to stand for the truth and be ready to give your answer:
• 1 Peter 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to
everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and
reverence.

Pastor Viars

VI. Concluding Remarks and Invitation

Dr. Steve Viars

Roles
Senior Pastor - Faith Church
Director - Faith Legacy Foundation

Bio

B.S. - Bible, Baptist Bible College

M.Div. - Grace Theological Seminary
D.Min. - Westminster Theological Seminary

Pastor Steve Viars has served at Faith Church since 1987. He and his wife Kris were married in
1982 and have two married daughters, a son, and three grandchildren. Pastor Viars’ gifted teaching
ministry, enthusiasm for the Word of God, and organizational skills are instrumental in equipping
Faith Church. He oversees the staff, deacons, and all Faith ministries and serves on the boards of
the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors, Biblical Counseling Coalition, Vision of Hope, and
the Faith Community Development Corporation.

Read Steve Viars’ Journey to Faith for the full account of how the Lord led Pastor Viars to Faith
Church.
Source:
https://www.faithlafayette.org/resources/sermons/a_biblical_response_to_the_word_of_faith_movem
ent

Atonement in the Word of Faith Movement

Table of Contents

Introduction

Traditional View of Atonement

Cultic Origins of Word-Faith

Word-Faith View of Atonement

Critical Analysis of Atonement in Word-Faith

Conclusion

Notes

Introduction
One of the most visible movements of Christendom today is the Word of Faith movement. One can hardly
turn on a television without coming into contact with one of its purveyors. Millions of Christians follow the
charismatic leaders that are displayed on a number of Christian networks. Most are not aware of the origins or
teachings of Faith theology, particularly as it relates to essential Christian doctrine.

At the heart of Christianity is the doctrine of atonement. In this doctrine we understand the work of Jesus and
the love He and the Father shared for their creation. It is important for Christians to understand the nature of
Christ’s sacrifice and how we became reconciled to the creator of the universe.

The Faith movement has introduced cultic teaching about the sacrifice of Jesus and diminished His finished
work. This paper will first explore the orthodox view of atonement and then examine the origins of the Faith
movement and its views on atonement. The paper will conclude with an analysis of the Faith movement’s
theology on the atonement in light of the Bible and reason.
Traditional View of Atonement
The traditional doctrine of substitutionary atonement is simple yet beautiful. It is steeped in Old Testament
examples. Throughout the Old Testament, God accepted a substitute to atone for the sins of man. In the
Levitical system, an animal without defect was chosen. We see this in the example of the Passover Lamb in
Exodus 12: “The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the
sheep or the goats” (Exod. 12:5). The blood of the lamb provided protection from God’s wrath. In fact, Paul
said of Jesus “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:7). John the Baptist referred to
Christ as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John. 1:29; emphasis
added). Substitutionary atonement is also found in the example of God providing a ram for Abraham to
sacrifice instead of his son Isaac (Gen. 22:13). Christ Himself obviously saw Himself as our substitute. He
told the twelve “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom
for many” (Matt. 20:28).

To put is simply, “Christ died in the place of sinners.”[1] According to Charles Ryrie, Christ’s atonement
accomplished redemption from sin, provided both reconciliation and propitiation, and brought an end to the
law.[2]

Regarding redemption of sin, Ryrie points out “because of the shedding of the blood of Christ, believers have
been purchased, removed from bondage, and liberated.”[3] Peter writes “For Christ died for sins once for all,
the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the
Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).

Man is also reconciled to God by Christ’s death. Man fell out of fellowship with the Almighty by his
disobedience to God in the beginning in the Garden. Through Christ, we have been restored to a right
relationship with our Heavenly Father. Paul writes “But we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Rom. 5:11).

As a propitiation, God’s wrath was diverted from us and directed to Jesus for our sakes and released us from
the penalty of sin. Paul writes in Romans “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his
blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed
beforehand unpunished” (Rom. 3:25).

The cross also released man from the burden of the Law. The Law was impossible to keep. It was a weight no
man could carry. It revealed man’s corruptness but did not provide a way to deal with this corruption. Paul
writes, “Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So
the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we
are no longer under the supervision of the law” (Gal. 3:23-25). Thus, “the death of Christ opened the way for
justification of faith in Him alone.”4

The New Testament writers make it clear that Christ achieved atonement for us through His physical
death. The author of Hebrews writes “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the
body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10). Paul in his letter to the Colossians said “But now he has
reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and
free from accusation” (Col. 1:22). The apostle Peter as well makes this point apparent: “He himself bore our
sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have
been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Hebrews 2:14-15 reads “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in
their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—
and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” The writer of Hebrews also
revealed “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of
blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22).

Theses passages are all clear; we are made righteous by Jesus physical death on the cross.

Cultic Origins of Word-Faith

D.R. McConnell is his book A Different Gospel, firmly established that E. W. Kenyon is the father of the Word
of Faith movement. Kenyon derived his doctrine from such religious groups as Christian Science, New
Thought, and the Unity School of Christianity. Ern Baxter, an associated of Kenyon states that Kenyon
“undoubtedly was influence by Mary Baker Eddy.”[5] It was in the metaphysics of these cults that the
doctrines of the Word of Faith were born.

Kenneth Hagin took the teachings of Kenyon and brought them to the mainstream church. McConnell writes
“Hagin unknowingly incorporated these cultic, metaphysical ideas into the contemporary Faith
movement.”[6] He also writes “Kenyon may have authored the teachings on which the Faith movement is
based, but Hagin is the man who fashioned these teachings into the fastest growing movement in charismatic
Christendom. All of the major ministers of the Faith movement readily admit Hagin’s tutelage. He is
universally recognized in the movement as both a teacher and a prophet.”[7]

From Hagin we get Oral Roberts; from Oral Roberts we get Kenneth Copeland; and from Kenneth Copeland,
Oral Roberts, and Hagin, the followers and teachers of the Faith movement mushroomed into what we have
today.

Word-Faith View of Atonement

Unlike the traditional view of atonement, the Word of Faith view is neither simple nor beautiful. Many Word
of Faith teaches teach that Jesus had to die spiritually on the cross, that our redemption was not secured on the
cross but in hell, and that Jesus had to be reborn in hell.[8]

Atonement Included Spiritual Death

According to Faith Theology, the work on the cross by Jesus was insufficient to atone for our sins. Jesus had
to die spiritually and become sin. That is, He had to take on the nature of Satan. Benny Hinn says “Jesus
Christ knew the only way He would stop Satan is by becoming one in nature with him. You say, ‘What did
you say? What blasphemy is this?’ No, you hear this! He did not take my sin; He became my sin. Sin is the
nature of hell. Sin is what made Satan . . . Jesus said, ‘I’ll be sin! I’ll go to the lowest place! I’ll go to the
origin of it!’ . . . Think about this: He became death, so dying man can live. He became sin, so sinners can be
righteous in Him. He became one with the nature of Satan, so all those who had the nature of Satan can
partake of the nature of God” (emphasis Hank Hanegraff). [9]
Kenneth Hagin concurred with Hinn: “Spiritual death means something more than separation from
God. Spiritual death also means having Satan’s nature.”[10] Hagin also writes “Jesus tasted death-spiritual
death-for every man. Sin is more than a physical act; it is a spiritual act. He became what we were, then we
become what He is. Jesus became sin. His spirit was separated from God. And He went down into hell in our
place.”[11]

Faith teachers claim scriptural support for Christ’s spiritual death in 2 Cor. 5:21, which reads “God made him
who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” This allegedly
proves that Jesus did in fact become sin on our behalf. Kenyon supports the physical and spiritual deaths of
Christ by using Isa. 53:9 which states “He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his
death.” According to Kenyon, the Hebrew word for “death” here is plural, thus Jesus must have died more than
one death. 1 Peter 3:18 is also used as support of this spiritual death doctrine. The phrase “He was put to death
in the body but made alive by the Spirit” is interpreted to mean that Christ must have been spiritually dead in
order for Him be “made alive.”

Atonement Completed in Hell

According to Faith teachers, the atoning work of Christ had to be completed in hell. The suffering and broken
body on the cross was insufficient to reconcile us to God. Frederick K.C. Price writes: “Do you think that the
punishment for our sin was to die on the cross? If that were the case, the two thieves could have paid your
price. No, the punishment was to go into hell itself and to serve time in hell separated from God . . . . Satan
and all the demons of hell thought that they had Him bound and they threw a net over Jesus and they dragged
Him down to the very pit of hell itself to serve our sentence.”[12]

Price is by no means alone. He represents the consensus among Word-Faith teachers. Kenneth Hagin writes
“Down in the prison house of suffering-down in hell itself-Jesus satisfied the claims of Justice on the behalf of
each one of us, because He died as our substitute.”[13]

According to Kenneth Copeland “When Jesus cried, ‘It is finished!’ He was not speaking of the plan of
redemption. There were still three days and nights to go through before He went to the throne . . . Jesus’ death
on the cross was only the beginning of the complete work of redemption.”[14]

The support this doctrine Biblically, Kenneth Hagin uses Acts 13:13. The passage reads “God hath fulfilled
the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second
Psalm:‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You’” (KJV; emphasis mine). Of this passage Hagin writes
“God in Heaven said, ‘It is enough.’ Then he raised Him up. He brought His spirit and soul up out of hell-He
raised His body up from the grave-and He said, ‘Thou are my son, THIS DAY have I begotten thee.’”[15] So
according to Hagin, Acts 13:33 proves that Jesus was not God’s son until after God raised Him from hell.

Hagin also uses Acts 2:27 to bolster his claim about Jesus entering hell. This passage is a quote from Ps. 16:10
and reads “For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption”
(KJV; emphasis mine). This allegedly, is evidence that Jesus’ soul must have been in hell at some point and
that God promised to not leave Him there.
Faith teachers also use Matthew 12:40 and Ephesians 4:9-10 to support the fact that Jesus went to
hell. Matthew 12:40 states “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son
of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” According to Faith teachers interpretation
of this passage, the phrase “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” is a reference to
hell. Ephesians 4:9-10 reads “What does ‘he ascended’ mean except that he also descended to the lower,
earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill
the whole universe.” Faith teachers would point to this as clear evidence that Christ went to hell between His
death and resurrection.

Word-Faith teachers not only teach that Jesus had to go to hell to atone for own sins, but also that He won our
sins based on a technicality. In hell, Satan and every demon tortured Christ’s “emaciated, poured out, little,
wormy spirit.”[16] Since Jesus had not sinned, He did not belong in hell. By Satan taking Jesus to hell
illegally, God seized the moment based on this technicality. Copeland describes what took place in hell: “that
Word of the living God went down into that pit of destruction and charged the spirit of Jesus with resurrection
power! Suddenly His twisted, death-wracked spirit began to fill out and come back to life. He began to look
like something the devil had never seen before. He was literally being reborn before the devil’s eyes. He
began to flex His spiritual muscles . . . . Jesus was born again-the first-born from the dead.”[17] It was at this
point that Jesus whipped Satan in his own back yard and snatched Satan’s keys and emerged from hell.

In addition to these scriptural references, Faith teachers also claim to find historical support in the fact that
statements about Jesus in the Apostle’s and Athanasian creeds use the phrase “descended into hell.”[18]

So our salvation was not won on the cross, but in hell. It was in hell that Christ was tortured for our
transgression by Satan and his horde of demons. However, God the Father tricked Satan based on a legal
technicality. As a result, God used this violation by Satan as a means to redeem mankind and raised Christ up
from hell to be reborn the Son of God.

Atonement Included Healing

In Faith theology, healing is just as much of the purpose of atonement as forgiveness of sin.[19] Jesus had to
die first spiritually before He died physically because the source of sickness, sin, and poverty is spiritual and
not physical. So the atonement does not only include doing away with sin but also doing away with sickness.
Jesus not only took sin upon Himself but sickness.[20]

1. W. Kenyon talks about this healing “He [Jesus] was made sick for us and bore our sicknesses; when
He rose, the sickness had been put away and He rose in resurrection life; free from the dominion of
sickness.

Now, sickness hasn’t any right to impose itself upon us and Satan hasn’t any right to impose any disease upon
us”[21] This is echoed by Kenneth Hagin. In his book The Name of Jesus, Hagin constantly refers to E. W.
Kenyon and holds him up as an authority on the atonement. Hagin writes “We need to know that healing for
our physical bodies is part and parcel of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He not only took our sins; He
also took our infirmities and bore our sickness.”[22]
Word-Faith teacher Frederick K.C. Price writes “Jesus became sick for you. The Bible says in Isaiah that on
Calvary He was so disfigured, His body was so bent out of shape, His Spirit was so twisted, that He didn’t
even look like a man any more. Sin had crushed Him in His spirit, sickness and disease had taken hold of His
body. He had cancer, tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhea, and everything else all at one time. All of it from the
whole world, came on Him, and He took everybody’s sickness, everybody’s disease upon His own body, and
the Bible says, He didn’t even look like a human being anymore. He was totally disfigured.”[23]

Copeland reiterates the fact that healing was provided at the Atonement “The basic principle of the Christian
life is to know that God put our sin, sickness, disease, sorrow, grief, and poverty on Jesus at Calvary. For Him
to put any of this on us now would be a miscarriage of justice. Jesus was made a curse for us so that we can
receive the blessing of Abraham.”[24]

Benny Hinn writes, “The Bible declares that the work was done 2,000 years ago. God is not going to heal you
now—He healed you 2,000 years ago. All you have to do today is receive your healing by faith.”[25]

The main proof text for the doctrine of healing provided at the atonement is Isa. 53:5 where Isaiah writes “But
he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was
upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (KJV). In the words of Kenneth Hagin “I know that I am healed
because the Word says that by His stripes I am healed.”

Another proof text is Isa. 53:4. Kenyon uses this passage to support his position which he translates “He bore
our sicknesses and carried our pains”[26] His reasoning is that just as our sins were done away with at the
cross, so were our sickness since Isaiah prophesies here that Christ would take our infirmities.

Critical Analysis of Atonement in Word-Faith

Faith teachers have distorted the teaching of Scripture. They have turned the atonement of Christ into
something that Scripture never allows. They have made a holy God into a demoniac, and Satan into a
caretaker of hell. The clear teachings of Scripture have been traded in for a mystical, metaphysical salvation
from the world of the cults.

Atonement Included Spiritual Death

There is simply no evidence to support the fact that Jesus had to die spiritually. In fact, Scripture makes it
clear that our righteousness is imputed to us because of what Jesus did on the cross. Faith teachers take
passages such as 2 Cor. 5:21 and pour their own esoteric meaning into them while ignoring passages of
Scripture which clearly teach that we are made righteous by Christ’s physical death.

In response to Benny Hinn that “He did not take away my sin; He became my sin,” Scripture clearly teaches
that Jesus did in fact take away our sins. John writes “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is
lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin” (1 John.
3:4-5). John also writes “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John. 1:29). The writer of Hebrews added this: “so Christ was
sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people” (Heb. 9:28). Hinn is simply wrong. His view is
opposed to the obvious teaching of Scripture.
In response to 1 Peter 3:18 being used to prove that Christ died spiritually, the text says absolutely nothing
about a spiritual death. In fact it clearly says “put to death in the body,” indicating that Jesus’ sacrifice was
physical. The passage is communicating the fact that His spirit departed at His death on the cross and returned
and gave life back to His body at the resurrection, hence the term “made alive by the Spirit.”

In respond to using Isa. 53:9 and the plurality of the Hebrew word for death as a proof text of Christ dying
twice, it should first be noted that the whole second death theory is based on a single one word in a single
text. D. R. McConnell communicates the sentiments of at least one scholar “any doctrine that can claim only
one proof-text probably can claim none.”[27] Furthermore, in Hebrew plural nouns express majesty, rank,
excellence, magnitude, and intensity. Thus in this case the plural form of the noun was used to communicate
the fact that the death was a particularly violent one.[28]

Word-Faith teacher’s use of 2 Cor. 5:21 to support the fact that Jesus was transformed on the cross is just as
unconvincing. When Paul said “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us,” he does not mean that Jesus
literally became sin. In the words of Dr. Norman Geisler “Jesus was always without sin actually, but he was
made to be sin for us judicially. That is, by his death on the cross, he paid the penalty for our sins and thereby
canceled the debt of sin against us. So, while Jesus never committed a sin personally, he was made to be sin
for us substitutionally.”[29] Hank Hanegraaff puts it this way “While practically He was perfect and sinless,
positionally He was accounted as sinful in that all of our sin was laid to His account. Conversely, while we are
practically sinners, all of His righteousness is imputed to those who believe. Thus, through Christ’s atoning
sacrifice, we are accounted as positionally righteous before God” (emphasis Hank
Hanegraaff).[30] Furthermore, the word “sin” in this instance is used as a metonym (a word or phrase
substituted for another word of phrase). Expositor T.J. Crawford writes “there can be no doubt that the
expression is metonymical, since it is impossible that Christ, or any other person, could be literally
sin.”[31] Moreover, Christ as God is immutable. We know this from Heb. 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday and today and forever.” For Christ to become sin would be for Him to change in His very nature-
contrary to Scripture. Finally, to read this as Faith teachers would contradict clear teachings of Scripture: such
as “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10). Col.
1:22 says “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his
sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” The teaching in this passage could not be clearer. We are
made righteous by the perfect physical sacrifice of Christ.

Faith teachers fail to understand the Levitical backdrop of the sacrificial system and the Old Testament concept
of substitutionary atonement. In the Levitical concept of substitionary atonement, the sacrifice had to be
perfect and holy. Any blemish would disqualify the animal. The animals chosen for sin offering were to be
bull “without defect” (Lev. 4:3), a goat “without defect” (Lev. 4:23), and a lamb “without defect” (Lev.
4:32). This transference was symbolic, not literal. In Faith theology, the sacrifice became unholy. In the
Levitical system the opposite happened. It became holy and anyone who touched or ate it also became
holy. In the words of D. R. McConnell “The sacrificial animal did not become sin; sin was symbolically
imputed to it. It was a substitute for sin: a holy offering that atoned for sin by virtue of its perfection and
consecration to the Lord”[32] (emphasis D.R. McConnell). Scripture teaches that Jesus’ sacrifice was a fit
substitutionary offering because it was a sinless offering. Peter draws his inference from the Levitical system
when he writes “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”
Atonement Completed in Hell
In response to Hagin’s comment that Jesus did not become the Son of God until after His stay in hell; we see at
the transfiguration that Peter, James, and John heard God say “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to
him.” (Luke 9:35). Again at the baptism of Christ “And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I
love; with you I am well pleased’” (Mark 1:11). Both of these incidents are before the cross. Hagin’s
assertion that Jesus did not become the Son of God until after being raised from hell is simply not true.

Hagin’s attempt to use Acts 2:27 to support his view that Jesus went to hell also fails. Although the KJV reads
“you will not leave my soul in Hades,” this need not be the proper translation. As noted by The Bible
Knowledge Commentary, “The word translated grave in verses 27 and 31 is hadēs, which means either the
grave (as here) or the underworld of departed spirits.”[33] In fact, the NIV reads “because you will not abandon
me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.” Translating the word “grave” is more consistent
with the immediate context as well as Scripture as a whole.

When Faith teachers use Jesus’ saying in Matthew 12:40 that He will be in the “heart of the earth for three
days and three nights,” they read into the text something it simply does not say. Heart of the earth merely
refers to the time of Jesus’ burial in the grave.[34]

In regard to Ephesians 4:9-10 as proof that Jesus went to hell, the verse proves no such thing. In the words of
Dr. Geisler “Descending into the lower parts of the earth” is not a reference to hell, but to the grave. Even a
woman’s womb is described as ‘lowest parts of the earth’ (Ps. 139:15). The phrase simply means caves,
graves, or enclosures on the earth, as opposed to higher parts, like mountains. Besides, hell itself is not in the
lower parts of the earth—it is ‘under the earth’” (Phil. 2:10).”[35]

Although it is true, as Faith teachers contend, that the phrase “descended into hell” does appear in the Apostles
and Athanasian Creeds, this phrase was not in the original creeds. They did not become a part of the creeds
until the forth century.[36] Furthermore, it is the Word of God that is inspired, not the creeds which are merely
human invention.

Faith teachers ignore the clear Biblical evidence that Jesus did not go to hell at all, much less to secure our
salvation. Jesus told the thief on the cross “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke
23:43). Jesus did not say “in three days you will be with me in paradise.” Paul writes in 2 Cor. 12:2-3 that
paradise is in the third heaven, certainly not in the bowels or center of the earth. Luke 23:46 says “Jesus called
out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ When he had said this, he breathed his
last.” Jesus commits His spirit to His Father, not to Satan. In John 19:30, Jesus said “it is finished.” The
Greek word used here is tetelestai which means “paid in full.” When Jesus uttered these words “He meant His
redemptive work was completed. He had been made sin for people (2 Cor. 5:21) and had suffered the penalty
of God’s justice which sin deserved.”[37] There is simply no way for us to exegete from this passage that “the
cross was only the beginning of the complete work of redemption” as Kenneth Copeland would have us to
believe. Finished means finished and this is consistent with Scripture. Hank Hanegraaff put it this way “It is
at the cross—not in hell-that your salvation is either won or lost . . . . These teachings have transferred the
saving work of Christ from the cross to the deepest dungeons of hell” (emphasis Hank Hanegraaff).[38]
Faith teachers also have an unbiblical view of hell. Copeland interprets the phrase in Matthew 25:42 “into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” to indicate that hell is a place being run by Satan and his
demons. This is simply a misinterpretation of the text. It is true that hell was created for Satan and his demons
but as a place of torment for them. Satan, his demons, and all the unsaved will suffer the same fate-the lake of
fire. Hell is not a place that Satan and his demons torment people; it is a place where they themselves are
tormented at the appropriate time at the end of the age. Hell is no more run by demons then it is unsaved
humans. God rules heaven and hell.

Christ achieved the forgiveness of all on the cross through the suffering of His body. Hell played no role in
our redemption

Atonement Included Healing

While ultimate physical healing is in the atonement (a healing we will enjoy in our resurrection bodies),
healing of our bodies prior to our death and resurrection is not guaranteed in the atonement.[39]

Using Isa. 53:5 to demonstrate that the atonement includes healing fails. First, the Hebrew word for healed
(raphah) often refers to spiritual healing as can be demonstrated in Jer. 3:22 “Return, O faithless sons, I will
heal [raphah] your faithlessness.” “Behold, we come to You; For You are the Lord our God” (NASB). Here
God is clearly talking about spiritual healing. Second, the context points to spiritual healing. Isaiah says
in this passage “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;” all point to a
spiritual context. Word-Faith teachers have simply taken this passage out of context and improperly made it a
pre-text. The best way to interpret Scripture is to let Scripture interpret itself. Peter did just that when he
wrote “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness;
by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24, emphasis added). Peter makes it obvious that the wounds
that are healed are spiritual not physical.[40]

Third, since salvation and healing are both included in this passage, it stands to reason that they are both
accessed the same way. And since Faith teachers maintain that faith is required to access healing, if one
cannot exercise enough faith to be healed then it is just as likely that one cannot exercise enough faith to be
saved from their sins. And if one cannot exercise enough faith to be saved then he is destined for hell.[41]

Finally, the verse preceding Isa. 53:5 does speak of physical healing. Isa. 53:4 says “Surely he took up our
infirmities and carried our sorrows.” However, this prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled by Jesus during His
earthly ministry. In another example of Scripture interpreting Scripture, Matthew writes “When evening came,
many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all
the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and
carried our diseases’” (Matt. 8:17). Thus, the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled.

The Bible contains a number of examples of righteous people who were not healed. Paul admits that
“Trophimus I left sick at Miletus” (2 Tim. 4:20). Paul had to rely on God’s mercy that his friend
Epaphroditus’ deathly illness had run its course sparing his life (Phil. 3:25-26). It appears that Paul was unable
to help Epaproditus himself. Moreover, Paul was unable to heal himself. In Gal. 4:13-14, he writes “As you
know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. Even though my illness was a trial to
you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if
I were Christ Jesus himself.” Paul also suffered from a “thorn in the flesh” which he unsuccessfully petitioned
to have the Lord remove (2 Cor. 12:7-9).

Neither the example of Paul nor anyone else indicated that they were under the impression that healing here
now was guaranteed to all or that it was in any way associated with Christ’s work on the cross. They simply
accepted their situations and trusted in God’s grace for sustenance.[42]

Although God does not guarantee healing for all believers, at least not in this life, all believers will eventually
be healed of all physical aliments as well as spiritual aliments. But just as we still possess a sinful nature, we
also possess a body still in bondage to decay. The perfection of all things was brought about the work on the
cross; it just has not yet manifested itself and will not until the return of our Lord.

Conclusion
The history of man is the history of redemption. In the beginning, man was in perfect fellowship with
God. Man sinned and that fellowship was broken. The Bible gives the account of man’s journey back into
perfect relationship with his creator. This is the story of atonement. Under the Mosaic Law, man tried to earn
that relationship with God through the sacrifice of animals. The sacrifice had to be perfect and without
defect. When done correctly, the sacrifice atoned for the sins of men. This was only a shadow of the true
Atonement God had prepared before the creation of the world. That atonement manifested itself through the
life and death of Christ Jesus upon the cross on Calvary.

The story of atonement in Scripture is simple and beautiful. The wages of sin is death. All men sin and
deserve death. God in His infinite mercy provided the sacrifice, perfect and without blemish. Jesus died on
the cross in place of us. He was our substitute. He died upon the cross that we may have eternal life.

Under Word of Faith theology, the beautiful doctrine and expression of ultimate love has been marred and
made ugly. In Faith theology, Christ was not the perfect sacrifice. He was transformed into a demoniac. He
was not God incarnate, creator of the universe; He was a weak man with a weak spirit tortured and made fun of
by the devil and the demons of hell.

Fortunately, the Word Faith view of the Atonement is wrong. The entire concept is based on cultic
influences. The attempts to twist Scripture are obvious and without weight. The interpretations of Scriptures
are feeble and without foundation. Christ being God never took on a sin nature. How could the unchangeable
God change in His very nature? Christ never went to hell. How could the very creator of all things, including
the angelic beings, subject Himself to their torture when the demons who saw Him during His earthly ministry
begged him not to torment them before their time? Christ did not guarantee physical healing for all. We are
still living inside our sinful body with our sinful natures and are still subject to the laws of decay.

The cross was a triumph over Satan because Christ reversed the curse of death. However, this triumph had
nothing to do with some mythological battle in hell. Satan rules nothing. He has no kingdom of hell over
which he is sovereign. He exists solely at the pleasure of God.
Through the cross God has brought all things back to Himself. He has reconciled those who love Him and
given them eternal life. Those who reject Him will be banished from His presence forever. This includes both
people and demons. All this was accomplished with the finished work which was finished on the cross. In the
words of our Lord, “It is finished.”

Notes
[1]Charles Caldwell Ryrie, A Survey of Bible Doctrine [electronic ed.] (Chicago: Moody Press, 1995).

[2]Ibid.

[3]
Ibid.

[4]Ibid.

[5]D.R McConnell, A Different Gospel, updated ed. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1995), 25.

[6]Ibid., 24.

[7]Ibid., 55.

[8]Hank Hanegraff, Christianity In Crisis (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1997), 153.

[9]Benny Hinn, “Benny Hinn” program on TBN (15 December 1990); quoted in Hanegraaff, 155-6.

[10]Kenneth E Hagin, The Name of Jesus (Tulsa: RHEMA Bible Church, 1979), 31.

[11]Ibid., 31-2.

[12]Frederick K.C. Price, Ever Increasing Faith Messenger (June 1980); quoted in Hanegraaff, 163.

[13]Hagin, 33.

[14]Kenneth Copeland, “Jesus—Our Lord of Glory,” Believer’s Voice of Victory 10, 4 (April 1982):3; quoted
in Hanegraaff, 164.

[15]Hagin, 33.

[16]Kenneth Copeland, “Believers Voice of Victory” program (21 April 1991); quoted in Hanegraaff, 170.
[17]Kenneth Copeland, “The Price of it All,” Believer’s Voice of Victory 19, 9 (September 1991):4-6 ;quoted
in Hanegraaff, 170.

[18]Hanegraaff, 165.

[19]McConnell, 149.

[20]Tom Smail, Andrew Walker, and Nigel Wright, The Love of Power or The Power of Love (Minneapolis:
Bethany House Publishers, 1994), 81.

[21]E.W. Kenyon, The Wonderful Name of Jesus, 20th ed. (Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society, 1964), 29.

[22]Hagin, 122.

[23]Frederick K.C. Price, Is Healing For All? (Tulsa: Harrison House, 1976), 119.

[24]Kenneth Copeland, The Troublemaker (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Publications, n.d. [ca.
1970]),6; quoted in Hanegraaff, 241.

[25]Benny Hinn, Rise & Be Healed! (Orlando: Celebration Publishers, 1991),44; quoted in Hanegraaff, 242.

[26]Kenyon, 29.

[27]McConnell,126.

[28]Ibid.

[29]Norman L. Geisler and Ron Rhodes, When Cultists Ask : A Popular Handbook on Cultic
Misinterpretations (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1997), 244.

[30]Hanegraaff, 152.

[31]Thomas J. Crawford, The Doctrine of Holy Spirit Scripture Respecting the Atonement (Grand Rapids:
Baker Book House, 1954); quoted Hanegraaff, 159.

[32]McConnell, 125.

[33]Stanley
D. Toussaint, The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. John F.
Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck, and Dallas Theological Seminary [electronic ed.] (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1983-
c1985).

[34]Hanegraaff, 166.
[35]
Geisler, Rhodes, 253.

[36] Hanegraaff, 165.

[37]
Edwin A. Blum, The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. John F.
Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck, and Dallas Theological Seminary [electronic ed.] (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1983-
c1985).

[38]Hanegraaff, 152.

[39]
Geisler and Rhodes, 81.

[40]Hanegraaff, 250.

[41]Ibid.

[42]Geisler
and Rhodes, 81.

Source: http://givingananswer.org/2004/12/17/atonement-in-the-word-of-faith-movement/
Throughout history, people’s faith and their attachments to religious institutions
have transformed, argues Sumit Paul-Choudhury. So what’s next?

By Sumit Paul-Choudhury
2nd August 2019

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B
Before Mohammed, before Jesus, before Buddha, there was Zoroaster. Some 3,500 years ago, in
Bronze Age Iran, he had a vision of the one supreme God. A thousand years later,
Zoroastrianism, the world’s first great monotheistic religion, was the official faith of the mighty
Persian Empire, its fire temples attended by millions of adherents. A thousand years after that,
the empire collapsed, and the followers of Zoroaster were persecuted and converted to the new
faith of their conquerors, Islam.

Another 1,500 years later – today – Zoroastrianism is a dying faith, its sacred flames tended by
ever fewer worshippers.

We take it for granted that religions are born, grow and die – but we are also
oddly blind to that reality

We take it for granted that religions are born, grow and die – but we are also oddly blind to that
reality. When someone tries to start a new religion, it is often dismissed as a cult. When we
recognise a faith, we treat its teachings and traditions as timeless and sacrosanct. And when a
religion dies, it becomes a myth, and its claim to sacred truth expires. Tales of the Egyptian,
Greek and Norse pantheons are now considered legends, not holy writ.

Even today’s dominant religions have continually evolved throughout history. Early Christianity,
for example, was a truly broad church: ancient documents include yarns about Jesus’ family life
and testaments to the nobility of Judas. It took three centuries for the Christian church to
consolidate around a canon of scriptures – and then in 1054 it split into the Eastern Orthodox and
Catholic churches. Since then, Christianity has continued both to grow and to splinter into ever
more disparate groups, from silent Quakers to snake-handling Pentecostalists.

You might also like:

• How and why did religion evolve?
• Do humans have a religion instinct?
• How long can civilisation survive?

If you believe your faith has arrived at ultimate truth, you might reject the idea that it will change
at all. But if history is any guide, no matter how deeply held our beliefs may be today, they are
likely in time to be transformed or transferred as they pass to our descendants – or simply to fade
away.

If religions have changed so dramatically in the past, how might they change in the future? Is
there any substance to the claim that belief in gods and deities will die out altogether? And as our
civilisation and its technologies become increasingly complex, could entirely new forms of
worship emerge?
 A flame burns in a Zoroastrian Fire Temple, possibly for more than a millennium (Credit: Getty Images)

To answer these questions, a good starting point is to ask: why do we have religion in the first
place?

Reason to believe

One notorious answer comes from Voltaire, the 18th Century French polymath, who wrote: “If
God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”Because Voltaire was a trenchant critic
of organised religion, this quip is often quoted cynically. But in fact, he was being perfectly
sincere. He was arguing that belief in God is necessary for society to function, even if he didn’t
approve of the monopoly the church held over that belief.

Many modern students of religion agree. The broad idea that a shared faith serves the needs of a
society is known as the functionalist view of religion. There are many functionalist hypotheses,
from the idea that religion is the “opium of the masses”, used by the powerful to control the poor,
to the proposal that faith supports the abstract intellectualism required for science and law. One
recurring theme is social cohesion: religion brings together a community, who might then form a
hunting party, raise a temple or support a political party.

One recurring theme is social cohesion: religion brings together a community

Those faiths that endure are “the long-term products of extraordinarily complex cultural
pressures, selection processes, and evolution”, writes Connor Wood of the Center for Mind and
Culture in Boston, Massachusetts on the religious reference website Patheos, where he blogs
about the scientific study of religion. New religious movements are born all the time, but most
don’t survive long. They must compete with other faiths for followers and survive potentially
hostile social and political environments.

Under this argument, any religion that does endure has to offer its adherents tangible benefits.
Christianity, for example, was just one of many religious movements that came and mostly went
during the course of the Roman Empire. According to Wood, it was set apart by its ethos of
caring for the sick – meaning more Christians survived outbreaks of disease than pagan Romans.
Islam, too, initially attracted followers by emphasising honour, humility and charity – qualities
which were not endemic in turbulent 7th-Century Arabia.

Given this, we might expect the form that religion takes to follow the function it plays in a
particular society – or as Voltaire might have put it, that different societies will invent the
particular gods they need. Conversely, we might expect similar societies to have similar
religions, even if they have developed in isolation. And there is some evidence for that –
although when it comes to religion, there are always exceptions to any rule.
 Belief in “Big Gods” allowed the formation of societies made up of strangers (Credit: Getty Images)

Hunter-gatherers, for example, tend to believe that all objects – whether animal, vegetable or
mineral – have supernatural aspects (animism) and that the world is imbued with supernatural
forces (animatism). These must be understood and respected; human morality generally doesn’t
figure significantly. This worldview makes sense for groups too small to need abstract codes of
conduct, but who must know their environment intimately. (An exception: Shinto, an ancient
animist religion, is still widely practised in hyper-modern Japan.)

At the other end of the spectrum, the teeming societies of the West are at least nominally faithful
to religions in which a single watchful, all-powerful god lays down, and sometimes enforces,
moral instructions: Yahweh, Christ and Allah. The psychologist Ara Norenzayan argues it was
belief in these “Big Gods” that allowed the formation of societies made up of large numbers of
strangers. Whether that belief constitutes cause or effect has recently been disputed, but the
upshot is that sharing a faith allows people to co-exist (relatively) peacefully. The knowledge
that Big God is watching makes sure we behave ourselves.
Or at least, it did. Today, many of our societies are huge and multicultural: adherents of many
faiths co-exist with each other – and with a growing number of people who say they have no
religion at all. We obey laws made and enforced by governments, not by God. Secularism is on
the rise, with science providing tools to understand and shape the world.

Given all that, there’s a growing consensus that the future of religion is that it has no future.

Imagine there’s no heaven

Powerful intellectual and political currents have driven this proposition since the early 20th
Century. Sociologists argued that the march of science was leading to the “disenchantment” of
society: supernatural answers to the big questions were no longer felt to be needed. Communist
states like Soviet Russia and China adopted atheism as state policy and frowned on even private
religious expression. In 1968, the eminent sociologist Peter Berger told the New York Times that
by “the 21st Century, religious believers are likely to be found only in small sects, huddled
together to resist a worldwide secular culture”.

Now that we’re actually in the 21st Century, Berger’s view remains an article of faith for many
secularists – although Berger himself recanted in the 1990s. His successors are emboldened by
surveys showing that in many countries, increasing numbers of people are saying they have no
religion. That’s most true in rich, stable countries like Sweden and Japan, but also, perhaps more
surprisingly, in places like Latin America and the Arab world. Even in the US, long a
conspicuous exception to the axiom that richer countries are more secular, the number of
“nones” has been rising sharply. In the 2018 General Social Survey of US attitudes, “no religion”
became the single largest group, edging out evangelical Christians.

Despite this, religion is not disappearing on a global scale – at least in terms of numbers. In
2015, the Pew Research Center modelled the future of the world’s great religions based on
demographics, migration and conversion. Far from a precipitous decline in religiosity, it
predicted a modest increase in believers, from 84% of the world’s population today to 87% in
2050. Muslims would grow in number to match Christians, while the number unaffiliated with
any religion would decline slightly.
 Modern societies are multicultural where followers of many different faiths live side by side (Credit: Getty
Images)

The pattern Pew predicted was of “the secularising West and the rapidly growing rest”. Religion
will continue to grow in economically and socially insecure places like much of sub-Saharan
Africa – and to decline where they are stable. That chimes with what we know about the deep-
seated psychological and neurological drivers of belief. When life is tough or disaster strikes,
religion seems to provide a bulwark of psychological (and sometimes practical) support. In a
landmark study, people directly affected by the 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand
became significantly more religious than other New Zealanders, who became marginally less
religious.
People affected by the 2011 earthquake in New Zealand became significantly
more religious than other New Zealanders

We also need to be careful when interpreting what people mean by “no religion”. “Nones” may
be disinterested in organised religion, but that doesn’t mean they are militantly atheist. In 1994,
the sociologist Grace Davie classified people according to whether they belonged to a religious
group and/or believed in a religious position. The traditionally religious both belonged and
believed; hardcore atheists did neither. Then there are those who belong but don’t believe –
parents attending church to get a place for their child at a faith school, perhaps. And, finally,
there are those who believe in something, but don’t belong to any group.

The research suggests that the last two groups are significant. The Understanding Unbelief
project at the University of Kent in the UK is conducting a three-year, six-nation survey of
attitudes among those who say they don’t believe God exists (“atheists”) and those who don’t
think it’s possible to know if God exists (“agnostics”). In interim results released in May 2019,
the researchers found that few unbelievers actually identify themselves by these labels, with
significant minorities opting for a religious identity.

What’s more, around three-quarters of atheists and nine out of 10 agnostics are open to the
existence of supernatural phenomena, including everything from astrology to supernatural beings
and life after death. Unbelievers “exhibit significant diversity both within, and between, different
countries.

Accordingly, there are very many ways of being an unbeliever”, the report concluded –
including, notably, the dating-website cliche “spiritual, but not religious”. Like many cliches, it’s
rooted in truth. But what does it actually mean?

The old gods return

In 2005, Linda Woodhead wrote The Spiritual Revolution, in which she described an intensive
study of belief in the British town of Kendal. Woodhead and her co-author found that people
were rapidly turning away from organised religion, with its emphasis on fitting into an
established order of things, towards practices designed to accentuate and foster individuals’ own
sense of who they are. If the town’s Christian churches did not embrace this shift, they
concluded, congregations would dwindle into irrelevance while self-guided practices would
become the mainstream in a “spiritual revolution”.

Today, Woodhead says that revolution has taken place – and not just in Kendal. Organised
religion is waning in the UK, with no real end in sight. “Religions do well, and always have
done, when they are subjectively convincing – when you have the sense that God is working for
you,” says Woodhead, now professor of sociology of religion at the University of Lancaster in
the UK.
 US megachurches bring in thousands of worshippers (Credit: Getty Images)

In poorer societies, you might pray for good fortune or a stable job. The “prosperity gospel” is
central to several of America’s megachurches, whose congregations are often dominated by
economically insecure congregations. But if your basic needs are well catered for, you are more
likely to be seeking fulfilment and meaning. Traditional religion is failing to deliver on this,
particularly where doctrine clashes with moral convictions that arise from secular society – on
gender equality, say.

In response, people have started constructing faiths of their own.

What do these self-directed religions look like? One approach is syncretism, the “pick and mix”
approach of combining traditions and practices that often results from the mixing of cultures.
Many religions have syncretistic elements, although over time they are assimilated and become
unremarkable. Festivals like Christmas and Easter, for example, have archaic pagan elements,
while daily practice for many people in China involves a mixture of Mahayana Buddhism,
Taoism and Confucianism. The joins are easier to see in relatively young religions, such as
Vodoun or Rastafarianism.

Syncretism is the “pick and mix” approach of combining religious traditions and
practices

An alternative is to streamline. New religious movements often seek to preserve the central
tenets of an older religion while stripping it of trappings that may have become stifling or old-
fashioned. In the West, one form this takes is for humanists to rework religious motifs: there
have been attempts to rewrite the Bible without any supernatural elements, calls for the
construction of “atheist temples” dedicated to contemplation. And the “Sunday Assembly” aims
to recreate the atmosphere of a lively church service without reference to God. But without the
deep roots of traditional religions, these can struggle: the Sunday Assembly, after initial rapid
expansion, is now reportedly struggling to keep up its momentum.

But Woodhead thinks the religions that might emerge from the current turmoil will have much
deeper roots. The first generation of spiritual revolutionaries, coming of age in the 1960s and
1970s, were optimistic and universalist in outlook, happy to take inspiration from faiths around
the world. Their grandchildren, however, are growing up in a world of geopolitical stresses and
socioeconomic angst; they are more likely to hark back to supposedly simpler times. “There is a
pull away from global universality to local identities,” says Woodhead.

“It’s really important that they’re your gods, they weren’t just made up.”

In the European context, this sets the stage for a resurgence of interest in paganism. Reinventing
half-forgotten “native” traditions allows the expression of modern concerns while retaining the
patina of age. Paganism also often features divinities that are more like diffuse forces than
anthropomorphic gods; that allows people to focus on issues they feel sympathetic towards
without having to make a leap of faith to supernatural deities.

In Iceland, for example, the small but fast-growing Ásatrú faith has no particular doctrine beyond
somewhat arch celebrations of Old Norse customs and mythology, but has been active on social
and ecological issues. Similar movements exist across Europe, such as Druidry in the UK. Not
all are liberally inclined. Some are motivated by a desire to return to what they see as
conservative “traditional” values – leading in some cases to clashes over the validity of opposing
beliefs.

These are niche activities at the moment, and might sometimes be more about playing with
symbolism than heartfelt spiritual practice. But over time, they canevolve into more heartfelt and
coherent belief systems: Woodhead points to the robust adoption of Rodnovery – an often
conservative and patriarchal pagan faith based around the reconstructed beliefs and traditions of
the ancient Slavs – in the former Soviet Union as a potential exemplar of things to come.
 A woman dances as druids, pagans and revellers gather at Stonehenge (Credit: Getty Images)

So the nones mostly represent not atheists, nor even secularists, but a mixture of “apatheists” –
people who simply don’t care about religion – and practitioners of what you might call
“disorganised religion”. While the world religions are likely to persist and evolve for the
foreseeable future, we might for the rest of this century see an efflorescence of relatively small
religions jostling to break out among these groups. But if Big Gods and shared faiths are key to
social cohesion, what happens without them?

One nation under Mammon

One answer, of course, is that we simply get on with our lives. Munificent economies, good
government, solid education and effective rule of law can ensure that we rub along happily
without any kind of religious framework. And indeed, some of the societies with the highest
proportions of non-believers are among the most secure and harmonious on Earth.
The ‘invisible hand’ of the market almost seems like a supernatural entity –
Connor Wood

What remains debatable, however, is whether they can afford to be irreligious because they have
strong secular institutions – or whether being secular has helped them achieve social stability.
Religionists say even secular institutions have religious roots: civil legal systems, for example,
codify ideas about justice based on social norms established by religions. The likes of the New
Atheists, on the other hand, argue that religion amounts to little more than superstition, and
abandoning it will enable societies to improve their lot more effectively.

Connor Wood is not so sure. He contends that a strong, stable society like Sweden’s is both
extremely complex and very expensive to run in terms of labour, money and energy – and that
might not be sustainable even in the short term. “I think it’s pretty clear that we’re entering into a
period of non-linear change in social systems,” he says. “The Western consensus on a
combination of market capitalism and democracy can’t be taken for granted.”

That’s a problem, since that combination has radically transformed the social environment from
the one in which the world religions evolved – and has to some extent supplanted them.

“I’d be careful about calling capitalism a religion, but a lot of its institutions have religious
elements, as in all spheres of human institutional life,” says Wood. “The ‘invisible hand’ of the
market almost seems like a supernatural entity.”

Financial exchanges, where people meet to conduct highly ritualised trading activity, seem quite
like temples to Mammon, too. In fact, religions, even the defunct ones, can provide uncannily
appropriate metaphors for many of the more intractable features of modern life.
A Roman Catholic priest officiates mass on the first day of trading at the Philippine Stock Exchange in Manila
(Credit: Getty Images)

The pseudo-religious social order might work well when times are good. But when the social
contract becomes stressed – through identity politics, culture wars or economic instability –
Wood suggests the consequence is what we see today: the rise of authoritarians in country after
country. He cites research showing that people ignore authoritarian pitches until they sense a
deterioration of social norms.

“This is the human animal looking around and saying we don’t agree how we should behave,”
Wood says. “And we need authority to tell us.” It’s suggestive that political strongmen are often
hand in glove with religious fundamentalists: Hindu nationalists in India, say, or Christian
evangelicals in the US. That’s a potent combination for believers and an unsettling one for
secularists: can anything bridge the gap between them?

Mind the gap

Perhaps one of the major religions might change its form enough to win back non-believers in
significant numbers. There is precedent for this: in the 1700s, Christianity was ailing in the US,
having become dull and formal even as the Age of Reason saw secular rationalism in the
ascendant. A new guard of travelling fire-and-brimstone preachers successfully reinvigorated the
faith, setting the tone for centuries to come – an event called the “Great Awakenings”.

The parallels with today are easy to draw, but Woodhead is sceptical that Christianity or other
world religions can make up the ground they have lost, in the long term. Once the founders of
libraries and universities, they are no longer the key sponsors of intellectual thought. Social
change undermines religions which don’t accommodate it: earlier this year, Pope Francis warned
that if the Catholic Church didn’t acknowledge its history of male domination and sexual abuse it
risked becoming “a museum”. And their tendency to claim we sit at the pinnacle of creation is
undermined by a growing sense that humans are not so very significant in the grand scheme of
things.

Historically, what makes religions rise or fall is political support – Linda

Woodhead

Perhaps a new religion will emerge to fill the void? Again, Woodhead is sceptical. “Historically,
what makes religions rise or fall is political support,” she says, “and all religions are transient
unless they get imperial support.” Zoroastrianism benefited from its adoption by the successive
Persian dynasties; the turning point for Christianity came when it was adopted by the Roman
Empire. In the secular West, such support is unlikely to be forthcoming, with the possible
exception of the US. In Russia, by contrast, the nationalistic overtones of both Rodnovery and
the Orthodox church wins them tacit political backing.

But today, there’s another possible source of support: the internet.

Online movements gain followers at rates unimaginable in the past. The Silicon Valley mantra of
“move fast and break things” has become a self-evident truth for many technologists and
plutocrats. #MeToo started out as a hashtag expressing anger and solidarity but now stands for
real changes to long-standing social norms. And Extinction Rebellion has striven, with
considerable success, to trigger a radical shift in attitudes to the crises in climate change and
biodiversity.

None of these are religions, of course, but they do share parallels with nascent belief systems –
particularly that key functionalist objective of fostering a sense of community and shared
purpose. Some have confessional and sacrificial elements, too. So, given time and motivation,
could something more explicitly religious grow out of an online community? What new forms of
religion might these online “congregations” come up with?

We already have some idea.

Deus ex machina
A few years ago, members of the self-declared “Rationalist” community website LessWrong
began discussing a thought experiment about an omnipotent, super-intelligent machine – with
many of the qualities of a deity and something of the Old Testament God’s vengeful nature.

It was called Roko’s Basilisk. The full proposition is a complicated logic puzzle, but crudely put,
it goes that when a benevolent super-intelligence emerges, it will want to do as much good as
possible – and the earlier it comes into existence, the more good it will be able to do. So to
encourage everyone to do everything possible to help to bring into existence, it will perpetually
and retroactively torture those who don’t – including anyone who so much as learns of its
potential existence. (If this is the first you’ve heard of it: sorry!)

An artificial super-intelligence could have some of the qualities of a deity (Credit: Getty Images)

Outlandish though it might seem, Roko’s Basilisk caused quite a stir when it was first suggested
on LessWrong – enough for discussion of it to be banned by the site’s creator. Predictably, that
only made the idea explode across the internet – or at least the geekier parts of it – with
references to the Basilisk popping up everywhere from news sites to Doctor Who, despite
protestations from some Rationalists that no-one really took it seriously. Their case was not
helped by the fact that many Rationalists are strongly committed to other startling ideas about
artificial intelligence, ranging from AIs that destroy the world by accident to human-machine
hybrids that would transcend all mortal limitations.

Such esoteric beliefs have arisen throughout history, but the ease with which we can now build a
community around them is new. “We’ve always had new forms of religiosity, but we haven’t
always had enabling spaces for them,” says Beth Singler, who studies the social, philosophical
and religious implications of AI at the University of Cambridge. “Going out into a medieval
town square and shouting out your unorthodox beliefs was going to get you labelled a heretic,
not win converts to your cause.”

The mechanism may be new, but the message isn’t. The Basilisk argumentis in much the same
spirit as Pascal’s Wager. The 17th-Century French mathematician suggested non-believers
should nonetheless go through the motions of religious observance, just in case a vengeful God
does turn out to exist. The idea of punishment as an imperative to cooperate is reminiscent of
Norenzayan’s “Big Gods”. And arguments over ways to evade the Basilisk’s gaze are every bit
as convoluted as the medieval Scholastics’ attempts to square human freedom with divine
oversight.

A supercomputer is turned on and asked: is there a God? Now there is, comes
the reply

Even the technological trappings aren’t new. In 1954, Fredric Brown wrote a (very) short story
called “Answer”, in which a galaxy-spanning supercomputer is turned on and asked: is there a
God? Now there is, comes the reply.

And some people, like AI entrepreneur Anthony Levandowski, think their holy objective is to
build a super-machine that will one day answer just as Brown’s fictional machine did.
Levandowski, who made a fortune through self-driving cars, hit the headlines in 2017 when it
became public knowledge that he had founded a church, Way of the Future, dedicated to
bringing about a peaceful transition to a world mostly run by super-intelligent machines. While
his vision sounds more benevolent than Roko’s Basilisk, the church’s creed still includes the
ominous lines: “We believe it may be important for machines to see who is friendly to their
cause and who is not. We plan on doing so by keeping track of who has done what (and for how
long) to help the peaceful and respectful transition.”

“There are many ways people think of God, and thousands of flavours of Christianity, Judaism,
Islam,” Levandowski told Wired. “But they’re always looking at something that’s not
measurable or you can’t really see or control. This time it’s different. This time you will be able
to talk to God, literally, and know that it’s listening.”

Reality bites
Levandowski is not alone. In his bestselling book Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari argues that
the foundations of modern civilisation are eroding in the face of an emergent religion he calls
“dataism”, which holds that by giving ourselves over to information flows, we can transcend our
earthly concerns and ties. Other fledgling transhumanist religious movements focus on
immortality – a new spin on the promise of eternal life. Still others ally themselves with older
faiths, notably Mormonism.

A church service in Berlin uses Star Wars to engage the congregation (Credit: Getty Images)

Are these movements for real? Some groups are performing or “hacking” religion to win support
for transhumanist ideas, says Singler. “Unreligions” seek to dispense with the supposedly
unpopular strictures or irrational doctrines of conventional religion, and so might appeal to the
irreligious. The Turing Church, founded in 2011, has a range of cosmic tenets – “We will go to
the stars and find Gods, build Gods, become Gods, and resurrect the dead” – but no hierarchy,
rituals or proscribed activities and only one ethical maxim: “Try to act with love and compassion
toward other sentient beings.”
But as missionary religions know, what begins as a mere flirtation or idle curiosity – perhaps
piqued by a resonant statement or appealing ceremony – can end in a sincere search for truth.

The 2001 UK census found that Jediism, the fictional faith observed by the good guys in Star
Wars, was the fourth largest religion: nearly 400,000 people had been inspired to claim it,
initially by a tongue-in-cheek online campaign. Ten years later, it had dropped to seventh place,
leading many to dismiss it as a prank. But as Singler notes, that is still an awful lot of people –
and a lot longer than most viral campaigns endure.

Some branches of Jediism remain jokey, but others take themselves more seriously: the Temple
of the Jedi Order claims its members are “real people that live or lived their lives according to
the principles of Jediism” – inspired by the fiction, but based on the real-life philosophies that
informed it.

With those sorts of numbers, Jediism “should” have been recognised as a religion in the UK. But
officials who apparently assumed it was not a genuine census answer did not record it as such.
“A lot is measured against the Western Anglophone tradition of religion,” says Singler.
Scientology was barred from recognition as a religion for many years in the UK because it did
not have a Supreme Being – something that could also be said of Buddhism.

In fact, recognition is a complex issue worldwide, particularly since that there is no widely
accepted definition of religion even in academic circles. Communist Vietnam, for example, is
officially atheist and often cited as one of the world’s most irreligious countries – but sceptics
say this is really because official surveys don’t capture the huge proportion of the population
who practice folk religion. On the other hand, official recognition of Ásatrú, the Icelandic pagan
faith, meant it was entitled to its share of a “faith tax”; as a result, it is building the country’s first
pagan temple for nearly 1,000 years.

Scepticism about practitioners’ motives impedes many new movements from being recognised
as genuine religions, whether by officialdom or by the public at large. But ultimately the
question of sincerity is a red herring, Singler says: “Whenever someone tells you their
worldview, you have to take them at face value”. The acid test, as true for neopagans as for
transhumanists, is whether people make significant changes to their lives consistent with their
stated faith.

And such changes are exactly what the founders of some new religious movements want.
Official status is irrelevant if you can win thousands or even millions of followers to your cause.
 A Russian church in Antarctica, where climate change is playing out (Credit: Getty Images)

Consider the “Witnesses of Climatology”, a fledgling “religion” invented to foster greater

commitment to action on climate change. After a decade spent working on engineering solutions
to climate change, its founder Olya Irzak came to the conclusion that the real problem lay not
some much in finding technical solutions, but in winning social support for them. “What’s a
multi-generational social construct that organises people around shared morals?” she asks. “The
stickiest is religion.”

So three years ago, Irzak and some friends set about building one. They didn’t see any need to
bring God into it – Irzak was brought up an atheist – but did start running regular “services”,
including introductions, a sermon eulogising the awesomeness of nature and education on
aspects of environmentalism. Periodically they include rituals, particularly at traditional
holidays. At Reverse Christmas, the Witnesses plant a tree rather than cutting one down; on
Glacier Memorial Day, they watch blocks of ice melt in the California sun.
As these examples suggest, Witnesses of Climatology has a parodic feel to it – light-heartedness
helps novices get over any initial awkwardness – but Irzak’s underlying intent is quite serious.

“We hope people get real value from this and are encouraged to work on climate change,” she
says, rather than despairing about the state of the world. The congregation numbers a few
hundred, but Irzak, as a good engineer, is committed to testing out ways to grow that number.
Among other things, she is considering a Sunday School to teach children ways of thinking about
how complex systems work.

Recently, the Witnesses have been looking further afield, including to a ceremony conducted
across the Middle East and central Asia just before the spring equinox: purification by throwing
something unwanted into a fire – a written wish, or an actual object – and then jumping over it.
Recast as an effort to rid the world of environmental ills, it proved a popular addition to the
liturgy. This might have been expected, because it’s been practised for thousands of years as part
of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year – whose origins lie in part with the Zoroastrians.

Transhumanism, Jediism, the Witnesses of Climatology and the myriad of other new religious
movements may never amount to much. But perhaps the same could have been said for the small
groups of believers who gathered around a sacred flame in ancient Iran, three millennia ago, and
whose fledgling belief grew into one of the largest, most powerful and enduring religions the
world has ever seen – and which is still inspiring people today.

Perhaps religions never do really die. Perhaps the religions that span the world today are less
durable than we think. And perhaps the next great faith is just getting started.

--

Sumit Paul-Choudhury is a freelance writer and former editor-in-chief of New Scientist. He

tweets @sumit.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190801-tomorrows-gods-what-is-the-future-of-religion

What is the Word of Faith movement? Is it biblical?

The Word of Faith movement is a loose collection of preachers and teachers who put great emphasis on
worldly success and the power of a Christian to control their own future through positive acts. Though
almost always rejected by those who follow it, this concept is also known as "Prosperity Theology." In
short, the Word of Faith movement is not only unbiblical, it is completely heretical. This doctrine stands
opposed to concepts Christianity has taught throughout its history.

The core claims of the Word of Faith / Prosperity movement are that God's desire is for all Christians to
be happy, healthy, and wealthy. These teachers often claim that God allows a person to "speak" their
desires into reality, as though they had a creative power similar to that of God. Sickness, poverty, and
other struggles are seen as evidence of a lack of faith, or at least a poor application of it.

Simple logic goes a long way to disproving the claims of Word of Faith / Prosperity teachers. Many ask
for donations, so that those who comply will be blessed by God for their generosity. Some live lavish
lives, with mansions, private jets, and so forth. This begs the question: why don't such people send
money to those who are struggling? If it's an act of faith, resulting in blessing, for a poor person to send
them money, won't they be even more blessed if they help the poor?

In practice, of course, this is not what we see in Word of Faith / Prosperity teachings.

Biblically, Word of Faith / Prosperity theology is extremely easy to disprove. The apostle Paul was one of
Christianity's most devout, loyal, wise, and committed adherents. And yet, he suffered poverty,
persecution, and imprisonment (2 Corinthians 11:16–33). Paul actually asked God—more than once—to
remove some affliction he was suffering, and God's response was "no" (2 Corinthians 12:7–9).

If there was any truth to the teachings of the Word of Faith movement, Paul would have been healthy
and rich, not oppressed. He would have "spoken" his afflictions away. Clearly, this is not what happened.
Likewise, there are other instances where Paul was unable to "speak" healing into others, despite his
sincere desire (Philippians 2:25¬–30; 2 Timothy 4:20).

In fact, Paul described those who think of God as a way to get rich as "depraved" and lacking in truth (1
Timothy 6:5). The verses following this condemnation are the antithesis to the entire Prosperity
teaching: that we are to be content with what we have, and a desire for wealth is a dangerous
temptation (1 Timothy 6:6–10).

Job, as well, shows how bankrupt Word of Faith / Prosperity teachings are. The Bible is explicitly clear
that Job's calamities were not because of his own sin (Job 1:8). This is a teaching echoed by Jesus in John
chapter 9, where He specifically says that the man born blind was not suffering because of his sin or that
of his parents (John 9:1–3).

Another key event is Jesus' temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–11). This is the one and only
place in the Bible where material wealth and prosperity is offered in return for worship (Matthew 4:8–
10). However, this offer is not made by God. It's made by the Devil. In other words, it's perfectly
accurate to say that the claim, "worship and you'll be wealthy" is literally a message from Satan.

Said another way, there would be no reason for Satan to tempt Jesus with wealth and success, if those
are the natural and expected results of faith in God. Jesus was the most perfect person who ever lived—
there was no reason for Satan to tempt Him with something if He was guaranteed to get it already!
Wealth and privilege are not, in any sense, guaranteed for the believer.

God does not imbue Christians with the power to have anything we want, whenever we want it. God will
grant requests which align with His will. Biblically, we see clear evidence of this. Historically, we see this
in the lives of the apostles, who clearly didn’t feel God was obligated to give them every whim they
asked for. Logically, we see this in the hypocrisy and greed of those who promote the Word of Faith /
Prosperity message.

There are many well-meaning people who have been confused by the arguments of Word of Faith
teachers (2 Corinthians 11:3). The most loving thing we can do for such people is to show them the
truth, so they don't waste their efforts, lives, or resources on spiritual con artists.
Source: https://www.compellingtruth.org/word-faith.html

Herv. teol. stud. vol.65 n.1 Pretoria Jan. 2009

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Is ' divine healing' in the ' Faith Movement' founded on the

principles of healing in the Bible or based on the power of
the mind?

Stephan P. Pretorius

Department of Student Admission and Registration, University of South Africa, South Africa

Correspondence to
ABSTRACT

Many people plagued with incurable diseases or diseases that seem to be resistant to
medical treatment, in desperation turn to preachers who claim to administer divine healing.
These divine healers make certain claims, based on their interpretation of the Scriptures
and a so-called revelation of God' s will. They furthermore preach that healing and health
are included in atonement and that nobody should be sick. Illness is an indication of a lack
of faith on the part of the believer. It could also be attributed to an attack from the devil. In
order to obtain healing, a process of ignoring the symptoms, followed by an unyielding and
repeated confession of the healing needed, based on selected verses from the Scriptures, is
proposed.
This article is based on the contention that the healing practised by these divine healers is
nothing more than a ' mind-over-matter' approach, leading people into confessing over and
over that they have been healed. These practices are reminiscent of the utilisation of
affirmations that lead to positive thinking, which will evidently result in a change of
behaviour on the part of the confessor. No indication of Godly intervention seems to be
evident in this healing ministry, and neither is any submission to the will and purpose of
God.

Keywords: prosperity; divine healing; positive thinking; positive confession; faith

movement

INTRODUCTION

The post-modern era is characterised by different attempts to downplay the position of

Christianity. One way is to question the existence of God. An advertising campaign recently
launched in the United Kingdom by the British Humanist Society aims to establish the belief
that God does not exist. The slogans that have been posted on buses in London read: There
is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy life (BBC News 2009:1).

Even more alarming are attempts from within the Christian faith itself to focus on human
potential for health and prosperity, thus moving the focus from theocentric providence to
anthropocentric health and prosperity. Advocates of the prosperity gospel claim that it is
God' s will for every believer to be prosperous and healthy. The implication is that a sick or
poor person finds himself/herself outside God' s will with regard to his or her life (Sarles
1986:329). Those terminally ill or poor believers in the movement often succumb to a heavy
burden of guilt.

Divine healing, in its simplest form, is complex. Some believers are healed through prayer,
while the condition of others may deteriorate even more, regardless of prayer. Some believe
that the absence of divine healing indicates a lack of faith on the part of the believer. Others
see it as the result of insufficient faith on the part of the person praying. Perhaps divine
healing is not a reality or, if it is, perhaps only God determines who will be healed. If that is
indeed the case, does it mean that the believer' s prayer is in vain?
Some reject divine healing as fiction, lacking any basis in reality, while others recognise that
there may be some truth in it. Many view the reports of divine healing as an exaggeration of
what really happened. Another attitude is the acceptance of accounts of healing as facts and
accurate statements, which are then perceived as reality. The issue is even further
categorised, namely those with faith, those with little faith and those with no faith. The
afore-mentioned issues clearly portray not only different viewpoints, but also a limited
understanding of divine healing.

This article will attempt to focus on the spirituality of divine healing in the ' Faith Movement'
. According to the Faith Movement, divine healing is part of God' s will for the believer. The
presuppositions of divine healing in the Faith Movement will be discussed and investigated
so as to answer the question: Is divine healing, as propagated by the Faith Movement, not
merely a metaphysical process – the result of positive thinking and confessing? Information
for this article was collected by means of a literature study as well as personal experience
through years of active involvement in the movement.

DEFINING DISEASE AND HEALING

In order to determine whether a person has been healed, it is essential to understand what
is meant by disease and healing. Healing of any kind is a mystery. The intricacies of the
immune system, as it combats disease, are hard to explain, let alone understand. A cure for
viral infections has not yet been developed and the immune system must combat these
infections by itself. No one can explain why the same treatment will cure one person, but
not the next; how doctors succeed in healing one person, but not another with the same
condition; how a sick person suddenly recovers against all expectations.

To be healed implies that a person has been cured of a disease or illness. But what exactly
is meant by healing and what is understood by the terms ' disease' and ' illness' ?

A disease is a serious affliction of health with special symptoms and a name.

This term broadly refers to any abnormal condition that impairs normal functioning.
Commonly, this term is used to refer specifically to infectious diseases, which are clinically
evident diseases that result from the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including
viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites, and aberrant proteins known as
prions. An infection that does not produce clinically evident impairment of normal
functioning is not considered a disease. Non-infectious diseases constitute all other
diseases, including most forms of cancer, heart disease and genetic diseases.

(Wikipedia 2009c:1)

The real nature of disease and healing lies therein that the normal functioning of the healthy
body of the patient begins to function abnormally when it gets sick and that, when it
becomes well again, it resumes its normal functioning.

(Mes 1975:17)

The words disease and illness are negative in that they literally mean, ' not healthy' .
What is illness?

Illness is another word used to describe the malfunctioning of the human body. Illness also
refers to a lack of health, but it further points to something faulty and deficient.

(Oxford Dictionary 1970:401)

Conditions of the body or mind that cause pain, dysfunction or distress to the person
afflicted or those in contact with the person can be deemed an illness. Sometimes the term
is used broadly to include injuries, disabilities, syndromes, infections, symptoms, deviant
behaviour, and atypical variations of structure and function, while in other contexts these
may be considered distinguishable categories (Wikipedia 2009b:1).

A deficiency in the body may refer to some deformity or disability – for example someone in
a wheelchair who has lost the ability to walk due to a spinal injury. Another person may
have lost the ability to see or hear. Others may have been born with bodily defects visible
on their hands, arms, spinal cord, feet or legs. Illness can also be the result of the
malfunctioning of an organ in the human body, for example the malfunctioning of the
pancreas resulting in different levels of diabetes.

Disease, sickness and illness describe some form of abnormal functioning of the human
body, resulting in a person being described as being unwell.

Sickness and suffering constitute a mystery; the great mystery of evil. Through the ages,
many, including church fathers, have attempted to provide explanations. In the end they all
agreed that reconciling evil in the universe with the will of an all-wise and compassionate
God lies beyond human comprehension (MacNutt 1977:126).

What is meant by healing? Healing by regeneration refers to an injury that is healed through
the regeneration of cells. The cell type that was destroyed must be able to replicate. Most
cells have this ability, although it is believed that cardiac muscle cells and neurons are two
important exceptions. Healing by repair refers to an injury to cells that are unable to
regenerate, such as those of cardiac muscle or neurons.

Healing is an uncommon word in modern medicine. Therefore, it is very restricted in

ordinary medical usage. It refers only to the above-mentioned process of wound, ulcer or
fracture repair. In all these cases there is a loss of continuity of tissue, skin or bone, and
healing refers to the restoration of the continuity of the tissue by the normal process of
tissue or bone repair. If the word is used in other medical contexts it often carries the
suggestion of quackery rather than medical practice. It is therefore commonly assumed that
healing is distinguished from the normal practice of medicine (MacNutt 1977:3).

What is meant by health? Mental health refers to an individual' s emotional and

psychological well-being. Physical health is described as soundness of body, or good bodily
health (Oxford Dictionary 1970:377). Health is officially defined by the World Health
Organization as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity (MedicineNet.com 2009:1). Health thus refers to the absence
of any malfunctioning in the human body.

The ministry of divine healing, on the other hand, does not include the described processes
of healing. In ordinary usage, within the context of the divine healing ministry, however,
healing refers to the restoring of a sick person, irrespective of the illness or disease, to
health (MacNutt 1977:3).

Healing has two different meanings. Healing can take place (a) without intervention, when a
person is sick and, after a period of time, the person is healed. The meaning of healing in
this case portrays the verb as intransitive. Healing, in a broad sense, has taken place as
part of the dynamic functioning of the body that resists and combats sickness through the
immune system; or (b) something is done or someone intervenes and the person is healed.
In this case the meaning of the verb is transitive (Mes 1975:8). In this sense the disease is
viewed as something in a sick person. It is reminiscent of the rudiments of the idea
pervading all primitive medicine, and even the New Testament, which regarded disease
(both physical and mental) as evil, or as the presence of malignant spirits who had to be
cast out by magic or any other available method in order for the person to be cured (Mes
1975:16).

According to this viewpoint or belief pertaining to disease, a healer is needed. Health and its
related words were first brought to Britain by the Anglo-Saxon invaders and were used in
the translation of the Psalms and the Gospels into Anglo-Saxon. The word comes from the
Teutonic root, hal, which means ' whole' and gives us the adjectives whole, hale and holy,
as well as healthy (MacNutt 1977:3).

In the case of divine healing or faith healing, the verb is used in a transitive manner –
healing is viewed as the result of Godly intervention. Faith healing is an attempt to utilise
religious or spiritual means, such as prayer, mental practices, spiritual insights, or other
techniques to prevent illness or to cure disease and improve health. This healing is the
result of faith in the power of the Divine to heal the believing person, or in the power of the
preacher who administers the healing. Faith healers claim that they can summon divine
healing or supernatural intervention on behalf of the ill.

Faith healing does not belong exclusively to Christianity, but also forms part of the
spirituality of other religions.

Christian Science teaches that healing is possible through the understanding of the
underlying spiritual perfection of God' s creation. The world, as perceived by man, is
believed to be a distortion of the underlying spiritual reality. Healing is possible through
prayer, insofar as it succeeds in correcting the distortion.

Spiritualism holds the belief that contact between the living and the spirits of the dead is
possible. Although Spiritualism does not promote ' mental' cures, its proponents believe that
help from the spiritual world is sought and this is regarded as being central to the healing
process.

Islam believes that its followers must seek appropriate medical attention, but believes that
no medicine will work if God does not want it to work. Medicine is obtained from the doctor
for treatment and prayer to God is needed to cure the person.

The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints has a long history of faith healings. Most
healings are the result of priesthood blessings (Wikipedia Faith Healing 2009a:1– 3).
DIVINE HEALING IN A CHRISTIAN CONTEXT

Divine healing is used by the majority of Christians to refer to the belief that God heals
people through the power of the Holy Spirit. Divine healing, according to Kydd (1998:XV),
means the restoring of health through the direct intervention of God. The products of such
an intervention constitute miracles. This practice is often exercised by the laying on of
hands.

Accounts of Jesus curing physical ailments are recorded in the four Gospels. Jesus cured the
woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years and suffered much under the
physicians of the time, resulting in her financial predicament and a worsening condition.
However, Jesus also endorsed the usage of medical assistance. The actions of the Good
Samaritan who treated the battered man with oil and wine were portrayed as those of a
physician and he was presented as a role model to the disciples (Wikipedia 2009a:1).

Healing in the Old Testament

Healings took place in the Old Testament. There is the account of General Naaman,
suffering from incurable leprosy, who was healed after a sevenfold dipping in the river (2 Ki
5:14). A world-renowned ruler of Babylon was struck by a disease that affected his senses
and he started to live like an animal, but seven years later he fully recovered and resumed
his international prominence (Dn 4:33– 34). Miriam was healed of leprosy (Nm 12:13). God
even restored people to life. The Zarephath widow' s son was healed by the hand of Elijah
(1 Ki 17:17– 24). Elisha raised the Shunammite' s son from the dead (2 Ki 4:18– 37)
(Mayhue 1983:25).

If the events recorded in the Old Testament are carefully considered, the following aspects
come to the fore. God brought about affliction. This, to some believers, is a difficult aspect
of God' s character to grasp. Yet, God brought about physical affliction on numerous
occasions. God struck the first-born in the land of Egypt when the Egyptians refused to free
the Israelites from slavery (Ex 12:29– 30). Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, offered
strange fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them to do. Fire came down
from the Lord' s presence and engulfed them and they died on the spot (Lv 10:1– 2).
Ezekiel lost his wife in the midst of his prophetic ministry. God took Ezekiel' s wife so that
he could be a model of mourning for Israel (Ezk 24:16– 18).

• It seems that God has no fixed healing method. All the accounts of healing mentioned
earlier differed. Miriam was healed seven days later – after Moses had prayed for her.
Nebuchadnezzar was healed seven years later, according to God' s plan and schedule.
Naaman was healed after he had been dipped seven times in the river.

• Sickness was not only the result of sin, as saints also fell ill. Sometimes physical affliction
was brought about due to personal sin, although the person afflicted was not always the
sinner. Aaron led the people into idolatrous worship, yet the Lord smote the people but not
Aaron (Ex 32:35). The child born of David and Bathsheba died as a result of their sin (2 Sm
12:1– 23). In the case of Miriam, she was chastised because of her own sin of questioning
Moses' leadership (Nm 16:1– 50).

• Some illness (here disability) is inexplicable. Mephibosheth, for instance, was dropped as a
baby by his nurse and remained lame for life (2 Sm 4:4).
• God did not only heal those who believed. The healings of the Syrian general and the
Babylonian king serve as examples (Mayhue 1983:27– 29).

• The way God intervened in the lives of different people during this period in time leaves us
with no clear pattern of how God' s healing works. Furthermore, it does not empower us to
come up with a specific formula. Instead, it leaves one to conclude that God, in his
sovereignty, performed these miracles.

Healing in the New Testament

Healings abound in the public ministry of Jesus Christ. At no other time in history were so
many people healed. However, at the base of the many healings recorded in his ministry lie
reasons that need to be considered in order to understand the healing ministry of Christ.
Reasons given seem to authenticate the person of Jesus as the true Messiah, as well as his
authority to forgive sins and proclaim God' s kingdom (Mt 8:17; Mt 9:6; Mt 11:2– 19; Mt
12:15– 21; Mk 2:10; Lk 5:24; Lk 7:18– 23; Jn 9:3; Jn 11:4; Jn 20:30– 31; and Ac 2:22).

What form did the healings that Jesus performed take on? The following aspects of Jesus'
healing ministry are emphasised by Mayhue (1983:32– 36):

• It seems that Jesus did not perform healings arbitrarily. He did not heal everyone (Jn 5:3–
5); neither did he give signs or perform healings on request (Mt 12:39– 40). He never
deviated from the purpose of his ministry, but always directed his actions towards the
purpose discussed above.

• With the exception of three, the healings Jesus performed took immediate effect. The
healings were complete and people were restored to perfect health. No relapse occurred
after a while, and neither were there any misunderstanding about the healings – they were
perfect and complete healings. The three delays were only for minutes. For example, the
blind man at Bethsaida. When Jesus eventually spat on the blind man' s eyes he saw people
as walking trees, but when Jesus laid hands on him, his sight was restored perfectly (Mk
8:22– 26).

• Healings were abundant and pertained to different diseases and illnesses. Jesus cured the
dumb, the crippled, the lame, the blind and those suffering from leprosy.

• He never set up special times or places for the healings. As he travelled through Palestine,
he healed the people. He never selected attendants from the masses – only those few who
would see him; rather he healed all who came.

• Healings took place even if Jesus was absent. His presence was not necessary to ensure
healing. He merely thought or spoke a word and healing took place. The centurion' s slave
(Mt 8:5– 13) and the Canaanite' s daughter were healed in this way (Mt 15:21– 28).

• Jesus' healing methods varied. Christ touched the person who needed healing (Mt 8:15),
or simply gave an order (Jn 5:8– 9). He used spittle (Mk 8:22– 26) and plugged a man' s
ears with his fingers and placed spittle on his tongue (Mk 7:33– 35). Jesus mixed soil with
his spittle and placed it on the blind man' s eyes and ordered him to wash his eyes (Jn 9:6).
The afflicted touched Jesus' cloak in order to be healed (Mt 9:20– 22).
• Jesus' healing was undeniable and authentic. Not only his followers but also his enemies
were amazed and astounded by his miracles and did not deny or discredit them. The chief
priest and the Pharisees gave him credit by saying that Jesus was performing many signs
(Jn 11:47– 48).

• The healing ministry of Jesus is spread over the entire period of his ministry. The healings
he performed were not pre-arranged, but took place in the normal course of his daily
ministry. There were no big announcements of healing crusades to come.

• Jesus' ministry was unique. After Jesus had cast out an evil spirit from a dumb man, the
crowd said: ' Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel' (Mt 9:32– 33).

• Jesus' healing powers came from God the Father:

• He cast out demons by the Spirit of God (Mt 12:28).

• The power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick (Lk 5:17).

• He announced that the Son can do nothing by Himself (Jn 5:19).

• God performed signs through him (Ac 2:22).

• Christ healed because God was with him (Ac 10:38).

During the healing ministry of Jesus, he avoided public approval and reward. He ordered his
disciples rather to rejoice in the fact that their names were recorded in heaven than in the
power to heal (Lk 10:20). Faith on the side of the afflicted also seemed not to have been
necessary. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (Jn 11), as well as Jairus' daughter (Mt 9)
and the widow' s son (Lk 7). It could also be assumed that when Jesus healed the
multitudes, they were mostly unbelievers. At other times Jesus healed when faith was
displayed by someone other than the afflicted. Jesus also healed those who had faith. Jesus
healed the ten lepers who called on him (Lk 17:11– 19). Jesus' healing continued via his
disciples (Mt 10:1– 15). Seventy other disciples were also ordered by Jesus to preach and
heal (Lk 10:1– 16).

In conclusion, the healings that Jesus performed seemed to have served a purpose, namely
to authenticate the person of Jesus as the true Messiah, as well as his authority to forgive
sins and proclaim God' s kingdom. Yet, healing continued via the apostles, as can been seen
in the Acts of the Apostles.

Healing in the Faith Movement

One of the first proponents of the ' Word of Faith' , also known as the Faith Movement, was
E.W. Kenyon (1867– 1948). Kenyon' s theology can be summarised in the following phrase:
' What I confess, I possess' (Wikipedia 2009d:1).

The father of the modern-day Faith Movement, Kenneth Hagin, was heavily influenced by
Kenyon' s writings. He elaborated on the teachings of Kenyon and constructed a four-part
formula, namely: ' Say it; do it; receive it; and tell it' (ibid. 2009d:1). Many teachers of the
Bible have been influenced directly or indirectly by Kenneth ' Papa' Hagin and his '
revelation' . The most recognised include Kenneth Copeland, Jerry Savelle, Joel Osteen,
Charles Nieman, Charles Capps and Joyce Meyer.

The provision of healing according to the Faith Movement is found in atonement. A trilogy of
passages from the Scriptures is used to support this notion. The first one is Isaiah 53:5: '
By his scourging we are healed.' This means that Christ was the substitute for all forms of
illness, so that, through the cross, healing is as readily available as forgiveness of sin.
Matthew 8:16– 17 is presented in the second place to confirm Jesus' healing ministry as the
fulfilment of what Isaiah had said. A further conclusion is drawn from this passage, namely
that while Jesus healed all who came to him in those days, he still does the same today. The
third reference is to be found in 1 Peter 2:24: ' By his wounds you have been healed.'

Other important passages used to substantiate these teachings are Deuteronomy 28, which
is used to demonstrate that sickness is a curse of the Law. Galatians 3:13 is introduced
alongside Deuteronomy, to prove that Christ has redeemed the believers from the curse of
the Law, which includes the curse of sickness (Hagin 1983:11– 14). The conclusion of these
teachings is that it is never the will of God for anyone to be sick. The following statement
made by Hagin illustrates this point:

Don' t ever tell anyone sickness is the will of God for us. It isn' t! Healing and health are the
will of God for mankind. If sickness were the will of God, heaven would be filled with
sickness and disease.

Hagin (1983:16)

A whole number of passages are utilised to substantiate this claim.

How is this healing or health obtained? The possession of healing comes through the
exercise of faith. Popular phrases in these circles are: ' Name it and claim it' and ' Believe it
and receive it' . Faith is defined as speaking or confessing with authority in the full
expectation that what is spoken will happen. Underlying this view is the interpretation of
Mark 11:23– 24;

Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ' Be taken up and cast into the sea' , and
does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be
granted him.

(Mk 11:23– 24)

The believer should speak to the disease in the same manner. As Hagin phrases it: ' Faith
confessions create reality' (Hagin 1976:23). If healing does not take place, the problem is
supposedly overcome by patience and persistence. The seriously ill are exhorted to persist
in their confession and build up their faith to the level necessary to obtain the promised
healing. Bennett, another minister in the Faith Movement, gives the following counsel to
those who did not get healed immediately: ' It just means they' re not yet open to receive
the particular healing they need. We need to continue to break through the barriers that
keep us from receiving' (Bennett 1982:53).

Another characteristic of Faith Movement teachings on healing is denial of the symptoms.

Kenneth Copeland addresses the symptoms of sickness in the following manner: ' I refuse
to consider my body, I refuse to be moved by what I see and what I feel … I am going to
choose His Word, instead of what my body is saying …' (Hanegraaff 1993:244). Hagin
(1966:20) responds in the same vein: ' Real faith in God – heart faith – believes the Word
of God regardless of what the physical evidence may be … A person seeking healing should
look to God' s Word, not to his symptoms.' Copeland (2009:1) advises his followers to take
five steps based on Hebrews 4:12– 16 in order to receive healing. The steps are: find a
scripture in the word that fits your situation and that you can present; lay the promise
before the Lord and worship and pray; make your petition (write it down); prepare yourself
to receive; and praise God for the manifestation of glory. Followers are also encouraged to
make the following written declaration;

I…agree with God' s Word that these scriptures are in full operation in my life. God' s Word
is life to me and health to all my flesh! I declare it is done in Jesus' Name. It is finished!
Amen.

(Copeland 2009:1)

The assertion that one is to state or confess that something is there when in reality it is not
leads Hagin to the inevitable result of his logic, namely the denial of reality (Neuman
1990:34).

The Faith Movement has at its foundation one basic presupposition upon which everything is
built, namely that every Christian, without exception, should be physically healthy and
materially prosperous. It is included in Christ' s atonement, and therefore it is available here
and now for all who believe. Hagin (1979:21) expresses this clearly:

' I am fully convinced – I would die saying it is so – that it is the plan of Our Father God, in
His great love and His great mercy, that no believer should ever be sick; that every believer
should live his full life span down here on this earth, and that every believer should finally
just fall asleep in Jesus.'

(Hagin 1983:16)

IS THE HEALING PROPAGATED BY THE FAITH MOVEMENT DIVINE OR

OF HUMAN ORIGIN?

The healing propagated by these faith healers is viewed as divine healing, as an intervention
by God, although this intervention seems rather indirect via the faith healer and the
obedience and confession of the believer.

Evaluation of the premise of the Faith Movement teachings

It is clear from the above discussion that healing and health are viewed as a gift from God,
provided through atonement. The possession of healing, however, comes through the
exercise of faith on the part of the believer. It speaks of a kind of partnership; God has
provided and the believer must possess. Can this healing indeed be described as ' divine' ?

A few problems emerge with this approach: The first and fundamental issue to consider is
the authority of these teachings. Is the authority indeed based on a proper interpretation of
the Bible? Although many Biblical texts are quoted to substantiate the authority of their
teachings, very little or no attention is paid to literary and historical context, semantic
nuances or grammatical indicators (Perriman 2003:92– 95). This results in a set of human
ideas and principles regarding healing which is based on a distorted textual meaning.
Proponents of the Faith Movement take the ' plain meaning' of the text as the first rule, as
well as the ultimate goal of all valid interpretation. The plain meaning has, in the first place,
to do with the author' s original intent; in other words, that which would have been plain to
those to whom the words were originally addressed. It does not, therefore, have to do with
how someone from a suburbanised white American culture of the late 20th century reads
his own cultural setting back into the text through the frequently distorted prisms of the
language of the early 17th century (Fee 1984:40).

The procedure followed by these teachers is that they use their own experience as a
foundation for their teachings, and a number of Biblical verses are marshalled in defence of
their claims. In reality, however, the verses are removed from their original context and are
then misinterpreted.

Secondly, the advocates of these teachings consider the Word of God as the revealed truth
of God. No consideration is given to the verbal, plenary, inerrant inspiration of the
Scriptures. The revelations, prophecies, dreams and visions of the teachers that underlie
and support their teachings indicate an inspiration beyond the text. This is clear from many
recorded prophecies supported by the phrase: ' Thus saith the Lord' (Sarles 1986:337).

Thirdly, the doctrine of God, and especially the will of God and his sovereignty are flawed.
The proponents of the Faith Movement claim that they know God' s will. According to them
it is God' s will that everybody should be healthy. The question is, however: Did God decree
that every believer in every society and in every generation will be healthy? The Scriptures
that are utilised to substantiate this claim fall short.

Actually, evidence in the Bible portrays just the opposite. Jesus' earthly life is not typified by
material prosperity. He was born into and grew up as part of an impoverished family.
During his travels, he informed his students that he had no place to lay his head (Mt 8:20).
Also, upon his death, he left no riches behind. He was furthermore tempted and attacked by
the devil and people who threatened to hurt and even kill him.

Fourthly, the sovereignty of God is seriously undermined by the teachings of this Movement.
God is turned into a god who adheres to the demands and the wishes of human beings. It is
especially evident in the self-assured manner in which Robert Tilton describes the failure of
God' s plan with mankind in the Garden of Eden: ' God hoped for things. He had a plan. He
had desires. He hoped they would come to pass, but they failed' (Tilton 1985:113).

Tilton continues to point out that humans can inspire God. If humans start to believe, God
will start believing and things will happen (Tilton 1985:109). The sovereignty of God is
further undermined by the notion that humans can demand from God what they need. This
is clear from the phrase: ' God cannot turn against His own Word.' The above approach does
not only undermine the sovereignty of God, but indicates an exchange of roles – namely
God becomes the servant of man, who demands action.

Lastly, something on the way in which the Faith Movement deals with John 10:10, where
the abundant life offered by Christ is gratuitously assumed to imply material prosperity, and
scripture is utilised as a tool to press unaccommodating text into shape. The problem with
this approach is that Scripture is controlled by the established doctrinal position (Perriman
2003:83).
New Thought teaching

Another striking aspect of the teachings of the Faith Movement is the way in which healing
is obtained. The process of obtaining healing is as follows: have faith in the Scriptures,
which declare that healing comes through the atonement of Christ; deny any symptoms of
sickness, but instead confess the Word that declares healing; and persist with the
confession, over and over, until healing manifests itself.

Once again there are no Biblical grounds for this process. Instead it reveals a parallel with
what is known as ' positive thinking' . Positive thinking refers to the notion that change can
be created by using affirmations that lead to positive thinking. Positive thinking affirmations
are simple statements that are repeated over and over again. Through constant repetition
your subconscious mind picks up the message and you start taking action to create change.
It is a way of changing behaviour so as to achieve a goal.

Perriman (2003:66) argues that the roots of the Faith Movement lie in ' a theological
indiscretion' and that the Faith Movement is not really Christian but actually a ' cultic wolf
dressed up in Pentecostal clothing' . The source of the Faith Movement is presented as New
Thought teaching with its substitution of self-realisation for submission and self sacrifice its
opposition toward the traditional debasement of creature before Creator. Furthermore, its
power in human thoughts and words to shape its circumstances and its promises of health
and prosperity serve as a natural corollary of various spiritual laws that can be put into
action.

Perriman (2003:69– 70) continues to indicate the parallels between the New Thought and
Faith Movement. Firstly, the same elevation of humanity and emphasis on the human being'
s capacity to shape his/her own destiny exists. Secondly, the same belief in the power of
thought and language to influence material circumstances for better or for worse is
demonstrated. Thirdly, the same extensive use of the notion of spiritual laws to reinforce
the trustworthiness and efficacy of faith is evident. Lastly, the fact that the New Thought
developed alongside the rediscovery of divine healing within the Holiness movement also
suggests a strong affinity between the two metaphysics. This direct tie connecting the
modern Faith Movement with the New Thought metaphysics of the early 20th century was
already indicated earlier by McConnell (1995:70).

The proponents of the Faith Movement attempt to sanitise the metaphysical concept of the '
power of the mind' by replacing it with the ' force of faith' . According to Hanegraaff
(1993:29), they have made a distinction without a difference. Warren Felt Evans, a New-
Thought writer, wrote that ' faith is the most intense form of mental action' (Evans
1885:152). Evans explains that, in treating a patient, the effect of the suggestion (or
positive affirmation that the patient is well) is the result of the faith of the subject. It is
always proportioned to the degree in which the patient believes that (Evans 1885:152).

Hanegraaff (1993:30) continues and quotes H Emile Cady, who said that ' our affirming
backed by faith is the link that connects our conscious human need with His power and
supply.' The power in our word of faith brings all good things into our everyday life. The
parallel seems clear between the mind in metaphysics and ' faith' ' in ' the word of faith' or '
force of faith' .

This practice of the Faith Movement to obtain health shows parallels with the metaphysical
concept of the ' power of the mind' , in as much as that it can be viewed as the same thing
with a different name, namely ' word of faith' . The affirmations are the different passages
from the Scriptures that must be confessed over and over again.

The practice of obtaining healing by the Faith Movement seems to be nothing more than a
human invention that borrowed from the principles of ' New Thought' teaching, clothed it in
a Christian coat and presented it to the believer.

Table 1

Little reference is made to the sovereignty of God and his intervention by performing
miracles at his will. Neither is there a submission to the will of God, seeing that the
proponents claim to understand and know the will of God. The danger in believing that you
know God' s will is that the believer can ' control' the actions of God and demand specific
action from him, based on a twisted understanding and interpretation of his Word.

The proof is in the pudding

The question remains: Does the theology of healing propagated by the Faith Movement bear
fruit? Denial of the symptoms of sickness and repeated confession are no guarantee for
healing. Instead, it could lead to deterioration in health, and even death. The low success
rate of the proponents of the Faith Movement is definitely no testimony to, nor a
confirmation of, their teachings.

• John Osteen, the pastor of ' Word of Faith Ministries' , developed a number of medical
conditions, including heart disease, and died of a heart attack in 1999, at the age of 73.
This happened despite declaring himself healed to his congregation and stating that God
had told him that he would be preaching into his nineties. His wife developed breast cancer,
which later spread to the liver. However, she underwent traditional treatment and survived.

• Kathryn Kuhlman, a faith healer of stature, was diagnosed with an enlarged heart in 1955.
Many faith healing attempts were made, and she got the best medical treatment available
at the time, yet she died of heart failure 20 years later.

• Renowned faith healer, TL Osborn' s wife, Peggy, died of lung cancer in 1995, despite her
declaration to the congregation in 1994 that she had received supernatural healing.
Doctors, however, later determined that her ' healing' was in fact a short-lived remission as
a result of traditional treatment.

• The wife of Charles Capps, another faith healer, underwent traditional treatment for
unspecified cancer and survived.

• Joyce Meyer developed breast cancer in 1989. Although she claims that she stood on the
Word, she still received traditional treatment.

• Oral Roberts received angioplasty to treat a heart attack that he suffered (Wikipedia Word
of Faith 2009d:3).
From the above examples it is clear that it is foolish to ignore symptoms such as those of
cancer and to denounce them as decoys of the devil. Early diagnosis is crucial for effective
treatment.

CONCLUSION

Compared to the healing ministry of Jesus in the Bible, discussed earlier, the faith healers
deviate substantially.

Furthermore, the Faith Movement and its teachings on healing seem to portray a strong
parallel with New Thought teaching. Although the Bible and scriptures are presented as the
basis for healing, strong emphasis is placed on the human being' s capacity for shaping
his/her own destiny, even if it means that scripture must be bent into shape to serve this
purpose. Believers are advised to steadfastly endure and confess until the healing takes
place. The Word of God seems to be applied to serve the human desire without
consideration for the sovereignty of God. The roles of Creator and creation are exchanged.
Man demands and God provides!

Healing in the Faith Movement is not so much a result of God who intervenes, but rather a
result of human potential to overcome through the power of the mind. Faith, which is
propagated as the spiritual hands, so to speak, through which a person obtains healing from
God, also seems to have taken on another character. Indeed, this ' faith' does not rely on
the ability of God, but on the power of the repeated confession of the person in need of
healing. Divine healing is a reality, but a fundamental aspect of this healing is that God is
the healer and he acts in sovereignty at will. No man can claim that he knows the full will of
God and therefore no man can dictate to God. The healings that Jesus performed served the
purpose of authenticating Jesus as the Messiah. It seems that the majority of faith healers
attempt to identify with Jesus in a position of authority, which enables them, as gifted
persons of God, to summon divine healing.

REFERENCES

BBC News, No God slogans for city' s buses, viewed 2 February 2009, from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7681914.stm. [ Links ]

Bennett, D., 1982, Does God want everybody healed?, Christian Life, January,
n.p. [ Links ]

Copeland, K., My declaration of faith: 5 steps for receiving from God, viewed 14 July 2009,
from http://www.kcm.org/real-help/article/my-declaration-faith-5-steps-receiving-
god. [ Links ]

Evans, W.F., 1885, Mental Medicine; a Treatise on Medical Psychology, 15th edn, H. H.
Carter & Co, Boston. [ Links ]

Fee, G., 1984, ' The Gospel of prosperity – Alien Gospel' , Reformation Today 82,
n.p. [ Links ]
Hagin, K.E., 1966, Right and wrong thinking, Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Tulsa. [ Links ]

Hagin, K.E., 1976, Seven things you should know about divine healing, Faith Library
Publications, Tulsa. [ Links ]

Hagin, K.E., 1983, Redeemed from poverty, sickness and death, Faith Library Publications,
Tulsa. [ Links ]

Hanegraaff, H., 1993, Christianity in crisis, Harvest House Publishers,

Oregon. [ Links ]

Kydd, R.A.N., 1998, Healing through the centuries: Models for understanding, Hendrickson
Publishers, Massachusetts. [ Links ]

Lewis, D.C., 1989, Healing: fiction, fantasy or fact?, Hodder & Stoughton,
London. [ Links ]

MacNutt, F., 1977, The power to heal, Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame. [ Links ]

Mayhue, R., 1983, Divine healing today, Moody Press, Chicago. [ Links ]

McConnell, D.R., 1995, A different Gospel: Biblical and historical insights into the Word of
Faith Movement, Hendrickson Publishers, Massachusetts. [ Links ]

Medicinenet.com, Definition of health, viewed 15 July 2009, from

http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art. asp?arti clekey=3663. [ Links ]

Mes, G.M., 1975, Faith healing and religion, Philosophical Library, New York. [ Links ]

Neuman, H.T., 1990, ' Cultic origins of Word-Faith Theology within the Charismatic Mo

Source: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-94222009000100055

HTS Theological Studies

On-line version ISSN 2072-8050
Print version ISSN 0259-9422

Herv. teol. stud. vol.65 n.1 Pretoria Jan. 2009

10 Ways the Word of Faith Movement Went Wrong

<h1 class="articleTitle"> <a href="/opinion/the-pulse/41054-10-ways-the-word-of-faith-movement-
went-wrong"> 10 Ways the Word of Faith Movement Went Wrong</a> </h1> 9:00AM EDT 9/19/2013
Joseph Mattera
As a product of the Word of Faith movement in the early 1980s, I will forever be indebted to the
books and teachings of Kenneth Hagin Sr., Smith Wigglesworth, John G. Lake, T.L. Osborn and the
like. These were holy men of integrity who turned the world upside down with their faith and
teaching.

I learned how to pray for the sick by reading Osborn’s book Healing the Sick, and I learned how to
resist the devil by reading Hagin’s The Believer’s Authority. In reading many biographies of Smith
Wigglesworth, I have always been challenged by his utter consecration to Christ and to walk in the
light of His Word whether in or out of the pulpit. I shudder to think where I would be right now if not
for being influenced by these men and this movement.

That being said, as I continued to grow in the Lord and His Word, I saw several flaws in the teaching
and in the movement in general. This article is not meant to dampen anyone’s faith but to bring a
more balanced picture of the ways of God—especially since many have been discouraged in this
movement because they did not understand the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27) and did not have
a theology that included certain things that challenged their faith.

I have found that whenever we preach or emphasize one truth of God’s Word to the exclusion of the
others, it becomes a mixture and produces both good and bad fruit. For example, this has happened
with the hypergrace movement, as well as the view of hyperfaith. From an overemphasis on outward
holiness, we get legalism. And we come into a form of fatalism when we emphasize God’s
sovereignty at the expense of human responsibility.

However, I will go on record saying that I would much rather be with people attempting to walk in
faith and victory than be hanging out with depressed saints filled with unbelief and doubt. Also, like
most other movements, the Word of Faith movement restored to the body of Christ a biblical truth
that was neglected by the church—and in doing so, overemphasized it. But after several years, more
balance comes as folks like myself “eat the meat and spit out the bones.” Also, I believe that Brother
Hagin never approved of some of the excesses that came out of the faith camp—especially
regarding the unbalanced teachings on prosperity that came from some of his more radical
followers.

The following are some of the flaws of the Word of Faith movement from my perspective (and I
realize these are generalizations that don’t fit exactly every person classified as “Word of Faith”):

1. They preach a “rights centered” gospel rather then a "stewardship centered" gospel.
Perhaps influenced by our Jeffersonian heritage of individual rights in America, the way the gospel is
applied to individuals in the Word of Faith movement is based on personal rights in Christ. Although
this is partially true, the New Testament balances our rights in Christ with our responsibility that goes
along with these rights.

For example, in Deuteronomy 8:18, we learn that God gave believers “power to get wealth, that His
may establish His covenant.” This passage clearly teaches us the primary purpose of prosperity is
for the kingdom—not only for our individual comfort and pleasure. Many in the faith movement used
to “claim” houses and cars and attempt to use their faith merely for their own individual needs,
which, in and of itself, goes against our call to seek first His kingdom (Matt. 6:33) as a prerequisite
for our individual needs and wants being fulfilled.

2. Their dispensational belief precludes the role and importance of the Old Covenant in the
New Covenant age.

I heard Brother Hagin brag several times in his teaching sessions that he did not read the Old
Covenant because we have a new and better covenant now in Christ. The challenge with that
teaching is that he did not understand the relevance and role of the moral and civic law of God found
from Exodus to Deuteronomy—especially the Ten Commandments that were repeated over and
over again either exactly or in principle by the New Testament writers. Without the moral law of God,
we have no standard for holiness and will lack the conviction of sin the moral law gives as our
standard of holiness and ethics.

Furthermore, Hagin and others like him would only quote the Old Testament when convenient—
when it comported to his view of faith. For example, he would quote Exodus 23:25, where God told
the Jews He would take sickness from them, but he neglected to also teach that in order to walk in
health, they had to follow the strict dietary code as found in Leviticus 11. Thus, healing for the Jews
included not only claiming a promise of God but also staying away from unclean food. (In my
opinion, walking in physical health also involves having a healthy diet and lifestyle—or else we are
tempting God by intentionally violating His natural laws and then expecting Him to heal us.)

3. They have a semi-gnostic dualism regarding their view of God.

Word of Faith preachers have a simple view of God: Everything that is good is of God, and
everything bad is from the devil.
While I totally agree God is a good God, sometimes He has to bring judgment or allow things to take
place that in our natural minds may be interpreted as bad. What do Word of Faith preachers do with
passages like Isaiah 45:7, in which God says He not only brings prosperity but also disaster? Or 2
Samuel 24:13, where God told King David to choose one of three calamities He would bring upon
the land of Israel as punishment for his sin? Or Amos 3:6, which clearly says God sometimes brings
disaster to a city? What about the book of Job, where God allows Satan to afflict Job physically with
boils as well as bring disaster to other areas of his life?

I remember Brother Hagin teaching that Job doesn’t count in the New Testament because Job 42:10
says God turned the captivity of Job and that Luke 4:18 says Jesus set the captives free. That would
all be fine, except for the fact that the book of James carries the life and story of Job into the New
Testament for the church age—specifically, James 5:11 offers a lesson for us regarding God’s ways
and dealings. (Also, without the book of Job, we have nothing to say to Christians who unexpectedly
lose a loved one or experience great personal challenges and loss. Job is comforting to me as a
pastor because it shows me that God is sovereign over all things—in both the good and the bad—
even when it is hard to explain and understand in the natural. Furthermore, God never gave Job an
explanation for why He allowed disaster to strike.)

Finally, what do Word of Faith teachers say about Revelation 2:22-23, where Jesus says that He will
cast people on a bed of sickness and even strike people dead? This does not go along with the
simple dualism they teach.

Now, I will be the first to say that God’s general will, as revealed in the Gospels, is for divine health
(see also 3 John 2) and that, in general, He always wants us healthy in spirit, soul and body (1
Thess. 5:23) and that Jesus came for us to have an abundant life (John 10:10). But those in the
Word of Faith movement have such a narrow view of the Word of God that they do not have any
explanations for mysterious things that happen to us that challenge our faith. It is not always true
that something bad happened to a person because they had sin (John 9:1-3) or that they didn’t get
healed or calamity came to them because they lacked faith. Of course, the instance where Jesus
brought sickness and death in Revelation 2:22-23 had to do with disobedience, which took people
out from under the covering of the Lord (Ps. 91:1).

In summary, it is still generally God’s will to bring us health and prosperity in the context of
obedience to His Word.

4. Positive confession sometimes leads to dishonesty and superficial Christianity.

I have been around many believers who are afraid to be honest and admit they are struggling with
their faith. This brings people into bondage and even a form of superficial religion. Some believers
are like robots—when you ask them how they are doing, they routinely say, “I am blessed and highly
favored!” However, I know some of these people, and they are merely trying to keep a positive
confession even though their world is falling apart.

Now, I do believe in speaking the Word of God to our challenging circumstances and not giving in to
negative talk, but that is different from what James 5:16 tells us when he exhorts believers to
confess their faults one to another. Positive confession is good and biblical (Prov. 18:21) as long as
it doesn’t stop a person from getting pastoral counsel and being honest with fellow believers when
they need prayer.

5. Their view on prosperity is only based on giving.

While it is true that the Bible teaches we reap what we sow and that if we give, it will be given back
to us (Luke 6:38), one of the flaws of the Word of Faith movement is that it only teaches people one
side of prosperity. I believe the church needs to equip the saints not only to give but also to get, as
well as how to manage what they get while investing and saving for the future.

When we only teach the saints how to give, we limit the amount of creativity and blessing some
people can experience—because without combining giving with hard work, education and an
understanding of how to manage and create a budget, many folks will continue in cycles of poverty
even though they may experience elements of God’s provision based on their giving. God can only
bless in proportion to our ability to manage what He gives us!

In poor countries, I have found that when the only solution presented to the people for breaking
poverty is “giving to the church,” the only person who becomes prosperous is the preacher. In the
kingdom of God, the church is called to have a more empowering and holistic approach in regard to
prosperity and breaking cycles of poverty.

6. They have faith in their faith as a principle rather than it emanating out of the person of
Christ.

I have found in many instances where this movement presented faith almost as an impersonal force,
like the law of gravity. This led to teachings like “having faith in your faith.” When this is taught, it can
disconnect faith from intimacy with the Lord. The more I get to know a person, the more I can trust
them. Faith is not a force. It is a result of growing in simple trust based on growing in an experiential
knowledge of the Lord. Faith is relational. It is not an impersonal force.

7. Some pastors have modeled their church preaching after these “specialists” in the body.

Brother Hagin, T.L. Osborn, Smith Wigglesworth and the like were not typical pastors called to
oversee a flock. Thus, they were able to preach based on their primary assignment, which was faith
and healing.

The challenge is, many pastors who don’t understand this began to mimic these great men of God
and attempted to build congregations only around those three themes—faith, prosperity and healing.
That is OK if you are a traveling teacher or evangelist, but a congregation needs to have a balanced
diet of the Word that includes the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). A pastor needs to preach on
healing but also holiness; faith but also tests and trials; moving mountains but also marriage; giving
financially but also stewardship and hard work. I love preaching on faith and healing, but as a pastor
I often had to preach subjects I really did not have a great passion for but knew others needed to
hear to fully mature in the Lord.

8. It can put guilt and bondage on believers.

I have heard of many people who walk around in guilt because they are not healed or because they
are struggling financially. In some cases, I have even heard of famous faith preachers who checked
into a hospital under a different name so word would not get out that they were sick and under a
doctor’s care!

We need to have a culture of faith in our churches, but we also have to engender a culture of
humility, honesty and brokenness—admitting that we don’t always walk in victory over sin and
sickness as well as making allowances for mystery The fact is, we don’t always understand why
certain things happen to believers. (See again the book of Job.)

9. It can produce independent, narcissistic believers.

When the Word of Faith movement went from a stewardship-centered gospel to a rights-centered
gospel, it also attracted many self-focused people—people who used God as an excuse for their
lavish lifestyles and who frowned upon those living in simplicity. Unfortunately, this teaching often
appealed to the narcissistic tendencies in all of us, and many large ministries were built more upon
the American Dream of having a nice house and a nice car than upon taking up our cross and
following Jesus. Jesus said in Luke 14:33 that we have to lose everything in order to be His disciple,
but many in this movement only focus on what we gain. Truly, you can’t be resurrected until you first
go to the cross!

10. It is not connected to the cultural mandate of Genesis 1:28.

Last but not least, the Word of Faith movement did not go far enough. Instead of limiting faith to
merely believing for individual healing and health, the Word of God teaches that our faith should also
transform whole cities and subdue kingdoms! (See Isaiah 61:4 and Hebrews 11:33.) The gospel is a
blueprint to disciple and baptize whole people groups, not just individuals (Matt. 28:19-20). It not only
deals with individual sinners but systemic evil. The Word of Faith movement, though, brings faith for
individual victory but doesn’t say much about corporate victory. However, regarding the community
of believers, faith is also based on the corporate culture and anointing of a congregation. (First
Corinthians 11:27-32 and Hebrews 3-4 teach that whole congregations can be negatively affected by
a culture of unbelief or disobedience.)

The Word of Faith movement in general separated the gospel from the kingdom and, in doing so,
made it more about individual prosperity then societal transformation. When you separate the gospel
from the kingdom, you tend to become more self-focused because the Good News gets
disconnected from our responsibility to steward the earth. With the gospel of the kingdom, we
believe in individual, congregational and societal transformation!

Finally, I believe with all of my heart that there was more good than bad in the Word of Faith
movement and that it was God’s intention that biblical faith for the supernatural be restored back to
the church. All of us only know in part and see through a glass darkly—even the apostle Paul (1 Cor.
13:9,12). Consequently, it often takes years for the body of Christ to discern how to have balance
when old truths are restored. One of the keys to life is balance—and biblical balance cannot come
until we attempt to embrace the whole counsel of God!

Joseph Mattera is overseeing bishop of Resurrection Church, Christ Covenant Coalition, in

Brooklyn, N.Y. You can read more on josephmattera.org or connect with him on Facebook or
Twitter.

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Source: https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/41054-10-ways-the-word-of-faith-movement-went-
wrong