A Critical Evaluation and Biblical Response on Cultic

Doctrines Wrapped in Christian Lingo: Word of Faith Movement;

word of faith movement, health and wealth gospel or the positive confession.

This movement or new age thought is perhaps the most appealing and the

most attractive message ever preached (Farah, 1982). Health, wealth and

prosperity is readily attainable by utilizing one‟s faith (King and Theron,

2006; Classic faith roots of the modern word of faith movement).

Prosperity gospel or the world of faith movement is indeed a different

gospel, though they do not qualify to be called a cult like the Mormons or

the Jehovah witness yet their doctrines are cultic (McConnell, 1995). Where

did the word of faith movement began? it began with a men named Phineas

Parkhurst Quimby (great grandfather of WFM); he was known as the father

of a metaphysical cult known as New Thought. Ackerley (2016) in his work

on importing faith, highlights the key steps in the origin of this movement,

Quimby was a student of occultism, hypnosis and parapsychology, he

believed that all problems or sicknesses are caused by problems of the mind

(Crowell, 1921;The Quimby Manuscripts).

His theory about the minds ability to heal the body (The Quimby

Manuscripts, 1921) paved the way for what is known today as Christian
science- Mary Baker Eddy took from his theory in her writings on Science

and Health and further establish the Christian Science Church (Ackerley,

2016; Evans, 2017; Viars, 2001). Eddy and Quimby believed that curing

illness was connected to the mind‟s power to restore health and later by

1890‟s New Thought movement had shifted from curing diseases to creating

material success (Evans, 2017; New Thought Movement). Peters (The

Devilish Puppet Master of the Word-Faith Movement, 2013) shows how

New Thought essentially held that whatever you think about you would

attract it to yourself. This movement is basically based on the Law of

Attraction, it has its ideologies drawn from positive psychology of Martin

Seligman- so if you think positive thoughts the universe will bring you

positive and happy things to you; similarly if you think negative thoughts,

the universe will bring negative things to you, henceforth, sickness and

disease in rooted in negative thinking, so if you were sick you must have

been thinking negative thoughts.

There are many Christian Science overtones in the Word Faith

Movement, one of which is the denial of physical symptoms when it comes

to sickness and disease- which is, in fact a kind of adjustment disorder

according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders IV

(1994). If they get sick, they deny their sickness because if they
acknowledge their sickness or speak it they will bring it into existence.

Moreover New Thought ideas about individual happiness, health and wealth

are seen in the Word Faith Movement beginning in the 20th century.

#Essek W Kenyon (grandfather of Word of Faith Movement, 1867-

1948): Kenyon had ties with the metaphysical cults, new age and new

thought movements. Kenyon‟s teachings were erroneous because he taught

that God‟s creation was not „Ex Nihilo‟ (creation out of nothing) but

creation was God speaking faith-filled words and we as believers can do the

same thing. According to Kenyon faith is tangible substance and everything

that exist today is made up of faith and if matter is broken down you won‟t

find atoms and molecules you will find faith, all matter is made up of faith

and we as believers, we can use our own words of faith to speak things into

existence.
Kenyon teaches that during the fall, humans took on the nature of Satan and

made him the legal god of the world (God is the legal God of planet earth

Psalm 24:1). He teaches that there were two deaths of Jesus, one is the

physical and the other is the spiritual. After the physical death of Jesus he

was sent to hell, tortured by demons, ceased to be God and died a spiritual

death and had to be reborn- that Jesus actually had to get saved, and that is

where the atonement of our sins took place, not on the cross but in hell and

this came to be known as the spiritual death of Jesus (Atkinson and Field,

2007;2009)

Kenyon and Gossett (1981) the progenitors of the word of faith

movement or prosperity gospel or name it and claim it theology in their book

The Power of the Positive Confession of God’s Word proclaims that health

and wealth are obtained by the believers positive confession- “My

confession gives me possession…Faith is governed by our confession. If I

say I have been prayed for and I am waiting now for God to heal me, I have

cast off or repudiated my healing”. Just as God spoke things into existence

in Genesis, we can also exercise this same kind of faith and by positive

confession we can overcome all trials in life, these are the basic tenants of
Kenyons teachings. His teachings would later take root and further

popularized by Word Faith preachers.

Kenneth Hagin is the father of modern Word of Faith Movement. Like

all the Word Faith preachers, that claim that much of what they teach, they

receive directly through divine revelation and this is their way of insulating

themselves against biblical criticism (Peters, Clouds Without Waters). Hagin

said that Jesus appeared to him in 8 different occasions and in one of this

occasions Jesus Christ dictated to him these words. “Be thou are holy, what

does that mean? He is becoming sin…his parched lips cry, I am a worm and

no man…he is spiritually dead the worm” ..this highlights the doctrine of

spiritually dead Jesus (Brogdon, The New Pentacostal Message?: An

Introduction from the Prosperity Movement; McConnell, 1995) apparently

these were the exact words of Kenyon. Hagin copied these words from

Kenyon and it was definitely not a revelation from God. However, Hagin

calls Kenyon a metaphysicist and denies any metaphysical influences from

Kenyon yet he copied word for word from a person he considers a

metaphysicist (ProAmerican, Aug 5, 2005). McConnell views that this is an

indication of the origin of Word Faith Movement from a metaphysical

background and grounded with the former.

borrowing many of their teachings from Kenyon and Quimby. These

teaching has been polished over the years, not filtering out the basic

teachings and the misinterpretations, but polished, in order to fit into the

given context of the twenty-first century Christian era. Geisler (2016) says

that the power of positive affirmation and creative visualization has been

credited for a person‟s ability to control his or her reality and determine his

or her future. As such the law of attraction becomes synonymous to the will

of God.

Believes of the New Age Christianity-

Positive confession/ Faith as a Force:

„Speaking something into existence‟, is an attribute that can only be

possessed by God, it is Gods act of creation in Genesis. Only God can create

something out of nothing, and not humans. Positive confession is a belief

that if a believer speaks faith-filled words than he can have what he says,

such teachings has brought about a belief where they demote God to make

him look human and they in turn deify man into God status. Creflo Dollar

(pioneer of WFM) says that “ as spiritual being who possesses the nature of

God, we have the ability to speak things into existence just like God did
(genesis 1)”(tweet, 2014). In WFM faith is a force that you direct at God to

make him do whatever you want him to do. This faith-force can be released

only through the spoken words (Gilley, 2018). Faith preachers has a

fundamental misunderstanding of what faith actually is.

John Hagee “I believe that when a person says “I wish I were dead, he

or she invites the spirit of dead to invade his or her life. When an

unhappy wife says, my marriage is a failure, she has pronounced he

doom of this relationship… speech is that powerful”.

According to Hagee if a person verbalizes the words “I wish I

were dead” he can kill himself. If this is true, than where is the sovereignty

of God? Does God exercise His sovereign authority over men? Or do we

worship a weak God that is bounded by our words and God becomes

ineluctable by our words that he has to fulfill our every desires and go in

contrary to his purpose and plans? The WFM or the name it and claim it

preachers have no concept of the sovereignty of God. Their god is a weak,

very indecisive and it is not the God of the Bible (Peters, Clouds Without

Waters). .

Faith preachers defends their stance by misinterpreting scriptures like

Luke 1:19-20- in the account of Luke‟s gospel where the angel announces

that Zacharia and Elizabeth were going to have a baby, and when Zacharia
heard about this he started questioning and God closed his mouth in

response to his questioning. Joel Osteen interprets this account as such-

“Why did God take away his speech? It‟s because God knew that

Zachariah‟s negative words would cancel out His plans… see God

knows the power of our words, He knows that we prophesy our future

and he knew Zachariah‟s own negative words would stop His plan”.

So it seems that our words are more powerful than God‟s sovereignty

and authority and it is our words that controls and have the power to drive

God‟s sovereignty and authority. Joel Osteen in his sermon entitled

“Miracles in Your Mouth” (Feb 10, 2019) said that the words that we speak,

carries with it miracles and when we speak we are giving it the right to come

to pass. These faith teachers, teaches that faith is a force. McConnell

considers this teaching as heresy (1988) and in describing faith as a force we

depersonalize God and renders God an impersonal force that is bound to

fulfill man‟s whims and fancies. No doubt for Christians words and faith are

important- words can help or hurt but to treat words like spells from Harry

Potter by which one alters or manipulates reality is not biblical, but occultic.

This doctrine clearly misunderstands and also undermines the will of

God, His sovereignty and is a thorough misunderstanding of faith. Many

Christians who gets caught up in the „faith theology‟ and positive confession
is that they believe and respond, as if God has explained to them His will,

and plans and His thoughts- as such this things becomes God‟s will in their

perspective (Onken, 2009), their desires becomes God‟s desires, their plans

becomes God‟s plans and purpose and so God becomes an instrument or a

tool for you to fulfill your every wishes. It is without a doubt that they have

misinterpreted or overlooked Bible passages like:

Isaiah 55:8-9

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my

ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher

than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (NIV).

Romans 11:34-35

Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who was been His

counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay them?

(NIV)

These passages shows the incomprehensibleness of the mind of God

and our limited and finite mind cannot fathom the thoughts of God. Being

aware that His will is not fully known to us, we as limited beings sometimes

question His actions. And yet, because He is sovereign and is not

subservient to us, God can do as he chooses.

Our God is in heaven, he does whatever pleases Him (NIV)

Psalm 135:6

The Lord does whatever pleases Him, in the heavens and on the earth,

in the seas and all their depths. (NIV)

Ephesians 1:11

In him we were chosen, having been predestined according to the plan

of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will

(NIV).

Colossians 1:16-17

For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all

things were created through him and for him. He is before all things and in

him all things hold together (NIV).

Positive confession is a misunderstanding of faith (Pistis)

Faith is what Jesus did in his faithfulness and what we do in believing

the gospel of Jesus Christ. When Paul said Israel has been faithless (Romans

3) he does not meant that they did not have faith in any abstract power but

they have failed the plans of God, the task they were entrusted to fulfill, that

is being the light to all nations. Examining faith given this backdrop shows
the intensity of feelings does not make the object of belief true. The present

dimension of faith is the life of walking in obedience and faithfulness to God

as Christ have showed (Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God ; Atkinson

and Field, 1995). Genuine faith or faithfulness is not without works of love;

faith or faithfulness to God is synonymous to obedience (Gal. 5:6; Jas. 2:14-

26).

Little Gods doctrine:

Faith preachers, teaches that all believers are like little Gods. Quoting

the creation account in Genesis 1: 26, the Godhead (trinity) got together to

produce men in his own image and likeness and since we came from God we

are little God‟s and the only human part about us is the physical body we

live in. As dollar puts it “the real me is just like God”. The bible is very clear

that there is only one God- Exodus 20:3, 2 Samuel 22:32, Isaiah 44:8, Psalm

50:1, Romans 16:27, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:6. Looking back at the

fall of man, it was the desire to become like God that led to the fall of man,

the very first temptation and the very first sin and this is what faith preachers

teach, the very thing that led to the fall of man. Critics of WFM say that little

God‟s doctrine is literally the doctrine of demons because it was Satan

(Lucifer) who wanted to become just like God.

human beings you and I are the panicle of God‟s creation, we have the

potential and the capacity, through a saving relation, through Jesus Christ to

know God and have a personal communion with Him (Peters, Clouds

without waters). This personal communion is a gift from God, a gift not

given to any other creation and this is in no way a relationship between

equals. None of the other created beings have that privilege or that ability.

Created in the image and likeness (genesis1:26) does not denote a

relationship between equals and there is no suggestion that humans have

divine blood.

A central teaching in the Word of faith movement is taken from

Philippians 2:6-7; “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality

with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather , he made

himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human

likeness. (NIV). Word of faith teachers take this passage as Christ emptying

Himself of his divinity and so Christ performed miracles as a men who

walked in the right relationship with God as Bill Johnson rightfully puts “…

He performed miracles, wonders and signs as a man in right relationship to

God…not as God” and apparently if Jesus performed miracles, signs or

wonders as God there will be no miracles today (Johnson, 2005), this

become like God. Jesus‟ miracles were acts of compassion and mercy and it

all points to His divinity moreover, Johnson clearly misinterpreted the

metaphorical meaning of „he emptied himself‟(kenosis) and took it literally,

in addition Paul clearly indicated that His divinity continued- „being in very

nature God (Philippians 2:6-7) (Campbell, 2018).

The word faith teachers holds that Christians are like little gods, they

have powers like God and can conjure things into existence, bring health,

wealth and prosperity (Luck 2016). These teachings are problematic because

firstly, man becomes God and God becomes the channel through which man

fulfills their every desires and fancies by chanting magical words of faith

and secondly, the sovereignty of God, sovereign will of God is always in

tune with created beings.

Doctrine of fall:

According to word faith theology or the new apostolic reformation,

Adam (first man) was no different from God (YHWH), Adam was exactly

like God. But when Adam sinned he lost his Godhood, transferred it to Satan

and lost his legal right to the earth and was banished from it. So now Satan is

the legal God of planet earth. Now when a person is saved, he regains his

Godhood, he regains his deity, he becomes God again just like Adam was
before his fall. This is the reason why New Age preacher or faith preachers

profess Health and Wealth gospel, because we are God‟s and God cannot be

poor or sick. The health and wealth Gospel is so alluring to people because it

basically says, come to Jesus and he will make you rich and heal your body

they address the basic human desires. But is that the real gospel? The

Biblical gospel tells us to come to Jesus because we are sinners and if we

repent and confess our sins and believe in the risen Jesus we will have

eternal life. But on this earth we are not promised money, or healing but we

are promised persecution (2 Timothy 3:12) and this doesn‟t seem to appeal

to many.

Softening of Sin:

New Age preachers and all under this vast umbrella usually don‟t talk

about sin, but when they do they soften it and carve out the sharp edges of

sin to make it look smooth. Now sin is not something you commit against

the righteous God but sin is something that prevents you from having your

best life here on earth. According to Joseph Prince repentance is thinking

negatively to positively, in Praise the Lord program Oct. 1, 2012 he says

that repentance in Greek means metanoia which means „change in mind‟,

which is correct but when God grants repentance our minds our changed but
everything about us is changed, our desires are changed and there is fruit in

keeping with repentance (Acts 26:20), it‟s not like we perform deeds or do

charity works in order to repent but when God grants repentance there will

be evidence in your life that God has granted in your life (Matt. 3:8).

Joseph Prince in his book Destined to Reign say that “…repentance

just means changing your mind”. But when we take a closer look Metanoia

is not merely to change one‟s mind but it is the desire to enter the Kingdom

of God (Matt, 3:2; 4:17; 18:3), receiving forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38;

3:19) and responding to the grace of God (Rom. 2:4). Metanoia is something

that affects the whole being: the intellect, in that metanoia involves

changing the mind regarding a person‟s sin, recognition of guilt or regret and

helplessness before God; emotion, this involves a consciousness that sin has

an effect on mankind and is an offence to God. Metanoia is a deep sorrow

for sin and true metanoia should include a strong impulse to avoid sin and

hatred towards sin; will, metanoia is a desire to take responsibility for sin

and seek God‟s forgiveness. Repentance is indeed at the very heart of

Christian message and it is not just change of mind from positive to negative

as Joseph Prince profess. The bible does not run short of examples regarding

repentance and how repentance is not simply change of mind:

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out.

That times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

Revelation 3:19

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

2 Corinthians 12:21

I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before

you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not

repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have

indulged.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and

to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

According to Todd White (TBN, 2016) in his podcast teaches that the

reason Jesus died on the cross was because we were so valuable that heaven

needed us and heaven went bankrupt getting us back. But the Bible says

otherwise in Romans 3:10-12. If we were worth dying for than we have

redefined grace, that‟s what makes grace, grace, we were not dying for.

Grace is unmerited favor (Charis) – we do not deserve it, nor are we worthy.
 Person and work of Christ:

Many faith preachers hold a very arianistic view of Christ. Arianism

was a heresy in the early church, its core beliefs includes the deity of Christ;

that Jesus did not come as God but as a man. Jesus came as a man who

walks closely with God but was not God, Jesus later became God. New age

preachers or word of faith preachers teaches that Jesus was not God. Creflo

Dollar said-

“…Bible says God never sleeps nor slumbers? And yet in the book

of Mark we see Jesus asleep…Jesus came as a man, and at age thirty

God is now getting ready to demonstrate to us and give us an

example of what a man with the anointing can do”(Creflo Dollar,

Jesus growth into Sonship, Dec 8, 2002).

When Jesus came to this earth, he came as God-man, fully God and

fully man. Jesus as the God-Man experience many things that you and I

experience- got hungry, he got thirsty and he got sleepy, this does not mean

he was not God.

Similar to the word of faith movement is the new apostolic

reformation, this is identical to the WFM with just a little distinction. Seth

Dahl of Bethel Church, 2016 in his preaching says that he had a vision of
Jesus where Jesus picks him up and holds him and Jesus weeps and asks for

forgiveness for the hurts inflicted to him by one pastor. Moreover, Bill

Johnson, pastor of Bethel Church, in his book When Heaven Invades Earth,

(pg. 87-88) writes that Jesus laid his divinity aside (Phil. 2:5-7) as he sought

to fulfill the assignment given to him by the father. If Jesus ceases to be God

for an instant than he was never God to begin with. Looking at the attributes

of God, God cannot go against His nature i.e., God cannot lie, He cannot sin,

and God cannot cease to be God. The new age preachers says that when

Jesus was on the cross the father-son relation was completely broken for the

first time; it is already established that Jesus cannot cease to be God because

He is God and God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8) and

if Jesus cannot cease to be God yet His relationship was severed than we got

two independent Gods which sounds like polytheism and we can‟t have that

either, we belief in one God in three persons. So when Jesus said “my God,

my God, why have you forsaken me”. Jesus here is quoting Psalm 22:1, and

in quoting Psalm 22:1 He knows He applies the context of the verse to

himself. Looking at the context of this passage in Psalm 22:19, 24; David

has gotten at this point in his life where he felt like God had abandoned him

but even though he felt that way in reality God had not abandoned him. It is

a different Jesus they teach and preach, they have a different Jesus than
Jesus of the Bible and if they have a different Jesus they preach a different

gospel and a different gospel does not save.

Christian Perspective on Wealth

Christians are being lured into the snares of New Age teachings,

because they promise the basic desires of men i.e., health and wealth.

Having said that, it doesn‟t mean that God condemns wealth or possessions

per se, we see wealthy, God fearing people in the Bible like Abraham and

Job. But God rightly condemns a love of possessions, as we see in passages

like- Luke 16: 13, 1 Timothy 6:10, Hebrews 13:5- though this passages God

reveals Himself to us and drawing from these passages, it implies that love

for material things and possessions is a sign that we have a temporal

perspective and not an eternal goal. A Christian‟s standpoint should be

contentment (Philippians 4:11-13; 1 Timothy 6:6-12; Psalms 34:10b;

Hebrews 13:5). Being contended with what you have materially and

appreciating your material wealth as a blessing from God to be used in ways

that glorifies Him- to be a blessing for your neighbors is one thing (1 John

3:17; Luke 3:10-11), but when this same wealth separates you from God and

stifles your spiritual growth then this is altogether different matter.