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Dominionism: The New Christian Fascism? Is it ultimately that different from Islamic Fascism? by Sandy Simpson
Tagged Apostolic church, BENNY HINN, Bill Hamon, C. Peter Wagner, charismatic movement, Christian Fascism, Christian nationalism, Christian Reconstructionism, Cindy Jacobs, Deception in the church, dominion, dominion for god, dominion over the earth, dominion Romans 8:19, Dominion theology, dominion theology Ecumenism and one world religion, Dominion Theology preachers and money, Dominionism, end times false teachings, false Christianity, FALSE Prophets, false theology, five fold ministry, florida revival, Francis Frangipane, Franklin Hall, George Warnock, god law rules the world, horizontal apostle, John Robert Stevens, Kenneth haggin, Kingdom now theology, Kingdom-Dominion and New-Age, Kingdom-Dominion doctrine delusions, Kingdom-Dominion heresy, Lakeland revival, latter rain movement, mandate for Christian stewardship, miles Monroe, New Apostolic Reformation, New Wine movement deception, Paul Cain, peter wagner, Power theology through word of faith, Prophetic ministries, prophets, R.J. Rushdoony, Rick Joyner, roots of dominion theology is William Branham, Sandy Simpson, subdue the earth, take dominion, Tenth Crusade, the P.E.A.C.E. plan of Rick Warren, theocracy, theonomy, third wave, Todd Bentley, Toronto Revival (Toronto blessings), Triumphalism, William Branham
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Dominionism: The New Christian Fascism? Is it ultimately that different from Islamic Fascism?
by Sandy Simpson, 6/29/07
My answer to the above is "no". I will prove that in a moment. C. Peter Wagner, as the head "horizontal apostle" (allegedly the modern version of James) has finally admitted that the goal of his "New Apostolic Reformation" based on heretical Latter Rain teachings, is to take dominion over every aspect of human life in His creation.
Apostles and prophets the foundation of the Church and, um, I identify as James an apostle as my function as a horizontal apostle to bring together the people of the body of Christ not only can I do it, I love to do it. Yesterday I was the apostle with a group of about 15-20 prophets we met all day long, and these prophets many of whom are going to be speakers in this conference come under my guidance, coordination and leadership as an apostle. They each have apostles in their own networks but I mean they are under spiritually. But I'm the one that brings them together and when I bring them together things happen. (C. Peter Wagner, National School of the Prophets – Mobilizing the Prophetic Office, Colorado Springs, CO, May 11, 2002, Tape #1)
Our theological bedrock is what has been known as Dominion Theology. This means that our divine mandate is to do whatever is necessary, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to retake the dominion of God's creation which Adam forfeited to Satan in the Garden of Eden. It is nothing less than seeing God's kingdom coming and His will being done here on earth as it is in heaven. (C. Peter Wagner, letter, May 31, 2007)
Islam also holds to a very similar Dominionist theology as espoused by the likes of C. Peter Wagner.
Whoever seeks other than Islam as his religion, it will not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he will be with the losers … Slay the idolators (non-Muslims) wherever ye find them, and take them captive, and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture (the Koran) as believe not in Allah nor the last Day … Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah! (Sura [9:5,29,41], paranthetical material mine)
During a mass rally in Gaza this week, Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said, Islam will enter "every house" and become the dominant religion across the entire planet. Zahar was previously the Palestinian Authority's foreign minister. He spoke at a rally held for the late Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin, and his comments were translated by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) organization. (Mahmoud al-Zahar, Lekarev Report, 6/07)
This is the "real battle" between the Shaitan and man. Although Allah … dominates every creation, as He … is the Creator, he also wants the believers to dominate earth. They can then influence people so that kufr (unbelief) has no influence over Muslims to change their beliefs. (Allah's Governance On Earth, The Official Website of The al-Khattab Family, The Official Website of The al-Khattab Family, Unite & Conquer!!, http://www.al-buruj.com)
Iran's radical President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared on Thursday in Malaysia that Islam will be the dominant power in the "near future", the official state news agency reported. (Iran's President: Islam to dominate world in "near future", Free Republic, Iran Focus, 3/2/06)
Perhaps if Islam and false Christianity join forces they can accomplish their goal more quickly.
You might say: "Wagner is not advocating death to unbelievers as are Islamic Fascists". At this point that is true. But doesn't his statement "our divine mandate is to do whatever is necessary" leave that door open? We will examine the ultimate state of the coming (and already present) world religion which includes the apostate "Christian" church in a moment. For instance, that the Catholics have stated the Muslims worship the same God, that Evangelicals have signed on with Catholics, that many Bible societies use the name Allah in place of YHWH in Arabic Bibles, and that the WCGIP is advocating a world religion is a well known fact. But first we have to understand that our "mandate" as believers is NOT to achieve world domination at any cost.
Job 38:33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?
This is God speaking to Job. The answer is that no one can set the ordinances of heaven or their dominion over the earth. Even Satan cannot do this. He has only been given temporary "power of the air" (Eph. 2:2). Yet the new "apostles" claim they can legislate in the heavenlies.
"It is time for the apostolic leaders of nations to rise up and proclaim into the heavenlies of the nations where they have apostolic voice and authority to speak and legislate in the heavenlies." (Tommi Femrite, Open Memorandum Addressing the Twin Towers War released on 9/12/01 by C. Peter Wagner)
"We are no longer to ask God to do what he put us here to do. Rather, it is a time to make clear declarations that will change the atmosphere of our nation." (Marty Cassady, Open Memorandum Addressing the Twin Towers War released on 9/12/01 by C. Peter Wagner)
God has established governments to set policies and execute strategies in the visible world. He has established the church to do likewise in the invisible world. (C. Peter Wagner, Open Memorandum Addressing the Twin Towers War released on 9/14/01 by C. Peter Wagner)
We must not and cannot legislate dominion in or from the heavenlies. We wait upon our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to excercise His dominon over the earth at His second coming.
Ps. 49:12-15 Nevertheless man, though in honor, does not remain; He is like the beasts that perish.
This is the way of those who are foolish, And of their posterity who approve their sayings. Selah. Like sheep they are laid in the grave; Death shall feed on them; The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; And their beauty shall be consumed in the grave, far from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, For He shall receive me. Selah
Our dominion will come "in the morning". That is when the new day of the Lord has dawned starting in the Millennium (2 Pet. 1:19). For now we are to complete the Great Commission (Mt. 28:19), not take over the systems of government, businesses and social platforms of the world.
Mr. 10:42-45 But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. "Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. "And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Christians, and particularly those whom God has given as overseers of the Church, are NOT to lord it over anyone, especially God's flock. But there is a day approaching when there will arise false apostles and false prophets who will try to rule, not only the churches, but the whole world. That time has already come.
What is the end result of this Christian fascism? Ultimately it will be the same result as Islamic Fascism, Nazism and any other totalitarian structure based on religious fervor.
Mr. 13:12-13 "Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. "And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
This is in reference to "Christians". In the end times they will turn against each other, led by gangs of power-hungry heretics, and this will ultimately result in "Christian" terrorism and persecution. There is an apostate world religion coming.
Rev. 17:6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.
This is the "woman" who tries to ride the beast of world governance into dominion over the planet. In "saving the planet" for God they will trample the true saints. The Holy Roman Empire trampled true believers as did the Inquisitions. Israel did this to the true prophets. There is really nothing new under the sun … only the labels. Make no mistake. This push for world dominion will succeed for a short time just as Satan's dominion is short lived.
Re 13:7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.
But are the true saints overcome in the ultimate sense? No way! We are called to be overcomers in the face of persecution and death in preparation for the end times.
Re 21:7 "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
For the meantime the temporary authority and power will be given to the enemy and those who follow him, including the apostate global "Christian" church lead by the false apostles.
Rev. 17:7 & 13 But the angel said to me, "Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. … "These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.
If you doubt that the programs of the New Apostolic Reformation, the P.E.A.C.E. plan of Rick Warren and countless other Dominionist agendas are in league with the globalist agenda, then you need to read the NAR and Church Growth sections of my site. I need not belabor or prove that point again here. They are teaching Dominionism in direct opposition to what the Word of God says. Suffice it to say that a great apostasy is underway at this time and it will end in a strong delusion and the death of true believers.
2 Thes. 2:3-112 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, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
One of the lies those who follow heretics are believing today is the lie of Dominionism. This false theology gets believers to focus their attention on what God has NOT ordained. Then they are swept away in the pantheistic mysticism that has taken up residence in many churches, relying on their feelings to guide them. At that point they are already following the enemy and don't even know it. If they would search the Scriptures daily they would know they are a tool of the enemy. But rather than repent they continue down the path of heresy, carrying out the ridiculous edicts of false apostles, the false prophecies of self-proclaimed "prophets", and passing along the fables false teachers make up daily to tickle the ears of their followers until their consciences are branded with a hot iron and they can no longer discern truth from error. At that point they have given in to delusion. When God allowed Pharaoh many chances to repent and he hardened his heart, God finally hardened it for him. God will do the same when He ultimately sends a great delusion on those who no longer have a love of the truth. These deluded ones will end up being the same type of Fascists as their counterparts in Islam.
Re 18:24 "And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth."
The promise for true believers is that even though Satan and his masquerading apostles (2 Cor. 11:12-15) will have "dominion" over the earth for a time, in the end that "dominion" will be taken away from them.
Da. 7:25-27 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time. 'But the court shall be seated, And they shall take away his dominion, To consume and destroy it forever. Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.'
Victory is assured those who do not try to take dominion over the earth now, but wait patiently for the Jesus Christ to take dominion over the earth in His millennial Kingdom!
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/christianfascism.html
**NEWS FLASH** Faith Healing vs. the Law: Doctor wants legislation appealed that protects parents who rely on faith healing, not medicine
Tagged "Healers" trickery grand larceny, Aimee Semple McPherson, BENNY HINN, Beth Young, Carl Brent Worthington, cessationism, Children die from faith, Christian Science, Christian Science healing, Christian Science Sentinel, church of Christian science, death by faith, does go always heal, faith, faith healing, faith healing and 1974 Child Abuse Prevention and Treat, faith healing deaths, Faith healing deductible as a medical expense, Fraudulent "Spiritual" Advice, Intercessory Prayer, Jeffrey Dean Beagley, Kathryn Kuhlman, law against faith healing, laws against faith healing, Laws to protect children from medical neglect, Leilani and Dale Neumann, M.D., Marci Rae Beagley, Mary Baker Eddy, murder by faith, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, people die from faith alone, Peter Popoff, Stephen Barrett, the church of Christ scientist, thoughts on faith healing, William Branham, William McCall, Word faith, word faith deaths, word faith movement, Word-of-Faith
more about "Murdered by faith ", posted with vodpod
Faith healing vs. the Law: Doctor wants legislation appealed that protects parents who rely on faith healing, not medicine
By William McCall THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: November 29, 2008 OREGON CITY, Ore.
When Dr. Seth Asser saw row after row of flat headstones marking children's graves in a small cemetery not far from the end of the historic Oregon Trail, he knew many of these early deaths should not have happened.
The children's parents relied on faith healing, instead of doctors.
The pediatrician published a landmark study concluding many of the deaths could have been prevented if the children had received medical care.
"What struck me was the fact that it was obvious from the expressions on the headstones that the children were loved," Asser said. "So it was especially troublesome they were not afforded the care that most parents would give their children."
His study 10 years ago brought attention to the issue, and yet today three criminal cases — two in Oregon and one in Wisconsin — have revived concerns about exemptions that most states grant to parents who rely on faith healing instead of doctors to treat sick children.
Faith healing has deep roots in American history, and yet it may seem surprising that in the 21st century, children still die because parents choose not to seek medical help from physicians.
State laws across the nation exempt members of religious groups from prosecution if they choose faith healing over science. Asser and a colleague, Rita Swan, have been trying to get states to repeal such laws, arguing that safety should always come first, no matter what the parents believe.
"We can't legislate good parenting, but at least we shouldn't have laws allowing bad parenting," said Swan, who now heads the advocacy group Children's Healthcare.
But Swan and Asser have been lonely voices, partly because tragedies are rare and partly because legislators are loath to challenge parental rights, especially when they are intertwined with the constitutional right to freedom of religion.
"There hasn't been a groundswell of organized advocacy to get the laws changed," said Shawn Francis Peters, a University of Wisconsin professor and an author of a book on faith healing. "I do think there's broad public sentiment to do it, but that doesn't get things through the meat grinder of legislation."
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, at least 30 states have specific exemption laws on the books.
What does federal law say? According to HHS, nothing in the amendments to the original 1974 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, can "be construed as establishing a federal requirement that a parent or legal guardian provide any medical service or treatment that is against the religious beliefs of the parent or legal guardian."
Five states have repealed exemption laws, Swan said: Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska and North Carolina.
Some states have revised their laws, including Oregon in 1999. After a stormy debate in the Oregon Legislature, then-Gov. John Kitzhaber, a doctor, signed a compromise bill into law that eliminated the Oregon spiritual-healing exemption in some manslaughter and criminal-mistreatment cases.
Many of the exemption laws were enacted in the 1970s, promoted by two top advisers to former President Nixon — Bob Haldeman and John Erlichman — and an influential senator, Charles Percy of Illinois, who practiced Christian Science.
The religion, founded by Mary Baker Eddy just after the Civil War, embraces a form of faith healing its adherents say is unique and different from the way it is practiced by some fundamentalists.
The Church of Christ, Scientist, emphasizes that it does not prevent any members from seeking medical care, and it is quick to distance itself from other religious groups that demand prayer be the only method for healing.
"One of the mistakes people make is lumping all these groups together," said Stephen Lyons, a Boston lawyer who has defended Christian Scientists.
Church leaders also deny their lobbying efforts with state lawmakers across the country have kept the laws on the books, even though Peters and a fellow author on faith healing, Boston College historian Alan Rogers, say that the effort is intense and largely successful.
"It's remarkable," Rogers said. "Without exception, it has been the push of the Christian Science church."
Two pending criminal cases expected to test Oregon's revised law are against parents belonging to the Followers of Christ Church, the same religious sect that owns the cemetery visited by Asser in 2001.
Jeffrey Dean Beagley, 50, and his 46-year-old wife, Marci Rae Beagley, have been charged with failing to provide adequate medical care, in violation of their duties as parents.
Their 16-year-old son, Neil, died in June from complications of a urinary-tract blockage that triggered heart failure. Doctors said a simple procedure could have saved his life.
In the other Oregon case, Carl Brent Worthington and his wife, Raylene, have pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and criminal mistreatment in the death of their 15-month-old daughter, Ava, who died at home from bacterial pneumonia and a blood infection, conditions the state medical examiner said were treatable.
The Beagleys and the Worthingtons have refused to talk to reporters, and their attorneys have declined to comment, along with prosecutors.
In a third case, in Wisconsin, Leilani and Dale Neumann face reckless homicide charges in the death of their 11-year-old daughter due to complications from diabetes.
Leilani Neumann has said that the family believes in the Bible and that healing comes from God, but she said they do not belong to an organized religion or faith and have nothing against doctors.
The Followers of Christ figured prominently in a state legislative battle over the Oregon exemption that began in 1998 with the discovery of the children's graves, and the death of an 11-year-old member of the sect from complications caused by diabetes.
The political battle ended with revision of the law, but not its repeal.
"I was there" — for repeal, said Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney. And, he notes, so were churches, child health-care advocates, law enforcement and plenty of parents.
What stopped the Legislature from an outright repeal of the law was an effort to protect religious freedom and parental rights and at the same time protect children.
"We tried and tried and tried to figure out a way to speak to, to be sensitive to, and balance all those influences," Courtney said. "Did we do it? I don't know."
"These are extremely sensitive cases nationally," said Josh Marquis, an Oregon district attorney who has been part of the debate over how to balance those conflicting rights. "It's where faith meets the law."
In a 1998 study published in the medical journal Pediatrics, Asser and Swan, herself a former Christian Scientist, documented 172 faith-related child deaths in the United States between 1975 and 1995. They found that 140 of the children died from conditions for which survival rates with medical care exceeded 90 percent.
Asser notes that no government agencies systematically collect data, and reliance on faith healing is not a category listed on a death certificate.
Before federal medical privacy laws were tightened, he was able to talk to medical examiners about cases, but that has become more difficult.
Asser has tracked a handful of cases that have gotten media attention in the past decade, including deaths in Philadelphia, Massachusetts and California. But he still learns about many of the deaths only through concerned friends or family members who contact him or Swan.
And death is not the only troubling outcome when children avoid doctors because of their parents' religious beliefs.
Beth Young, a professor at the University of Central Florida, says her hip dysplasia, which could have been easily corrected when she was an infant, went unnoticed and untreated by her Christian Scientist parents. Young finally went to a doctor in her 20s to find out why it was such a struggle to walk and climb stairs.
She learned her hip joints were deteriorating — but that it was too late for a surgical fix.
"It's not going to get any better," Young said in an interview. "I think about that every day. If my parents knew how simple the treatment was, I don't think they would have ignored it. So I do feel cheated."
She added: "I can remember times when I would pray and pray and pray, and I would think that maybe I'm healed now, and then I would go check, and I'd go walk in front of a mirror or something, and then I would discover, no I'm not."
Lyons, the Boston lawyer, has drawn national attention for defending parents in faith healing cases.
He successfuly represented David and Ginger Twitchell, Christian Science parents in Boston who were acquitted of manslaughter charges in the 1986 death of their 2-year-old son from a congenital defect that caused the bowel to twist and become obstructed.
The landmark case caused enough concern to persuade Massachusetts lawmakers to abolish the religious exemption, said Jetta Bernier, executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Children.
But even when such exemptions are abolished or revised, prosecutions can be difficult so long as parents show they are sincere in their religious beliefs, legal experts say.
"The status quo is very difficult to upset," said Jesse Choper, the Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley.
http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2008/nov/29/faith-vs-the-law-doctor-wants-legislation-appealed/living/
Some Thoughts about Faith Healing
The notion that prayer, divine intervention or the ministrations of an individual healer can cure illness has been popular throughout history. Miraculous recoveries have been attributed to a myriad of techniques commonly lumped together as "faith healing. During the past forty years, several investigators have studied this subject closely and written about their findings.
Louis Rose, a British psychiatrist, investigated hundreds of alleged faith-healing cures. As his interest became well known, he received communications from healers and patients throughout the world. He sent each correspondent a questionnaire and sought corroborating information from physicians. In Faith Healing [Penguin Books 1971], he concluded, "I have been unsuccessful. After nearly twenty years of work I have yet to find one 'miracle cure'; and without that (or, alternatively, massive statistics which others must provide) I cannot be convinced of the efficacy of what is commonly termed faith healing." [1]
During the early 1970s, Minnesota surgeon William Nolen, M.D., attended a service conducted by Katherine Kuhlman, the leading evangelical healer of that period. After noting the names of 25 people who had been "miraculously healed," he was able to perform follow-up interviews and examinations. Among other things, he discovered that one woman who had been announced as cured of "lung cancer" actually had Hodgkin's disease — which was unaffected by the experience. Another woman with cancer of the spine had discarded her brace and followed Ms. Kuhlman's enthusiastic command to run across the stage. The following day her backbone collapsed, and four months later she died. Overall, not one person with organic disease had been helped. Dr. Nolen reported his findings, which included observations of several other healers, in Healing: A Doctor in Search of a Miracle , a book that I heartily recommend [2].
C. Eugene Emery, Jr., a science writer for the Providence Journal, has looked closely at the work of Reverend Ralph DiOrio, a Roman Catholic priest whose healing services attract people by the thousands. In 1987 Emery attended one of DiOrio's services and recorded the names of nine people who had been blessed during the service and nine others who had been proclaimed cured. DiOrio's organization provided ten more cases that supposedly provided irrefutable proof of the priest's ability to cure. During a six-month investigation, Emery found no evidence that any of these 28 individuals had been helped [3].
The most comprehensive examination of contemporary "healers" is James Randi's The Faith Healers [4]. The book describes how many of the leading evangelistic healers have enriched themselves with the help of deception and fraud. Some of Randi's evidence came from former associates of the evangelists who got disgusted with what they had observed.
Randi's most noteworthy experience was the unmasking of Peter Popoff, an evangelist who would call out the names of people in the audience and describe their ailments. Popoff said he received this information from God, but it was actually obtained by confederates who mingled with the audience before each performance. Pertinent data would be given to Popoff's wife, who would broadcast it from backstage to a tiny receiver in Popoff's ear. After recording one of Mrs. Popoff's radio transmissions, Randi exposed the deception on the Johnny Carson Show. First he played a videotape showing Popoff interacting with someone in the audience. Then he replayed the tape with Mrs. Popoff's voice audible to illustrate how Popoff used the information.
Randi also exposed the techniques used by evangelist W.V. Grant, who calls out people in the audience by name and describes their ailments. Grant obtains this information from letters people send him and by mingling with the audience before his show. To help his memory, he uses crib sheets and gets hand signals from associates who also use crib sheets. After one performance, Randi was able to retrieve a complete set from the trash Grant left behind! Following another performance, Randi found that some members of the audience had given false information about themselves, their ailments, and their medical care. For example, after "Dr. Jesus" had "put a new heart" into a man supposedly awaiting open-heart surgery, Randi found that the details (including the doctor and hospital named by Grant) could not be corroborated.
Grant's subjects typically are "slain in the spirit" and fall backward into the arms of his assistants. In 1986 I observed from a few feet away what happened when he encountered an elderly woman who did not wish to fall backward when he touched her forehead. Grant pushed his fingers into her neck so hard that she could not remain standing. I also watched him "lengthen" the leg of a man who limped up to the stage, supposedly because one of his legs was shorter than the other. The audience may have been impressed with this feat, but I was not. Before the show began, I noted that the man was one of Grant's assistants and walked normally.
In 1988, two investigators reported that their thorough search of the scientific literature had located only three controlled examinations of the effects of prayer by third parties on people who were unaware of the prayers [5]. Of these, one (the Byrd study described below) claimed benefit but was poorly designed, whereas the others found no benefit and were well designed [6,7]. Surprised by the small number of published studies, Witmer and Zimmerman asked 38 journal editors whether they had ever received but rejected a manuscript on the subject of intercessory prayer. They also asked the editors to ask their readers whether they knew of any such study, published or unpublished. No editor or reader responded affirmatively. Since that time four more studies have been published, two showing no benefit and two claiming a positive result.
The Byrd study, involving patients in the coronary care unit at San Francisco General Hospital, compared 192 patients who were prayed for by Christians located outside the hospital with 201 patients who served as controls [8]. The published report stated that the prayed-for group had fewer complications. However, the author's tabulation was not valid because he scored interrelated complications separately and therefore gave them too much weight. The average length of hospital stay, which was not subject to this type of scoring error, was identical for the treatment and control groups [5,9].
Another study examined what happened to anxiety, depression, and self-esteem in 406 patients who received intercessory prayer or no prayer. The prayer was offered for 15 minutes daily for 12 weeks. The researcher reported improvement in all of the subjects but found no differences between the prayer and no-prayer groups [10]. A study of the effects of intercessory prayer on 40 recovering alcoholics also found no benefit [11]. A 6-month study of 40 advanced AIDS patients exposed to 10 weeks of "distant healing" reported fewer new illnesses, physician visits, and hospitalizations in the "distant healing" group [12].
In 1999, the American Medical Association's Archives of Internal Medicine published a better-designed study of nearly a thousand consecutive patients who were newly admitted to the coronary care unit of a hospital in Kansas City. The researchers created a 35-item score sheet that was used to measure what happened to the patients during a 28-day period in which 15 groups of 5 persons ("intercessors") prayed individually for about half the patients. The intercessors were given the patients' first names and were asked to pray daily for "a speedy recovery with no complications." The prayed-for group had a 10-11% reduction in total scores even though their average length of hospital stay was similar to that of the "usual-care" group. The researchers also noted that: (a) some patients had asked hospital clergy to pray for them; (b) many, if not most patients in both groups were probably receiving intercessory and/or direct prayer from family, friends and/or clergy, so that the study was most likely measuring the effects of "supplementary intercessory prayer"; (c) although the difference would be expected to occur by chance alone only 1 in 25 times such an experiment were conducted, chance still remains a possible explanation of the results; and (d) using the scoring method of the San Francisco study yielded no significant difference between the two groups [13].
The researchers concluded that "the result suggests that prayer may be an effective adjunct to standard medical care" and that further studies should be done [13]. I disagree. The "10-11% reduction in the score sheet" may be statistically significant but is not clinically significant and probably occurred by chance.
In 2001, Mayo Clinic researchers have found no significant effect of intercessory prayer (prayer by one or more persons on behalf of another) on the medical outcomes of more than 750 patients who were followed for 6 months after discharge from in hospital coronary care unit. The patients were randomized within 24 hours of discharge into a prayed-for group and a control group. The prayer involved at least one session per week for 26 weeks by five randomly assigned individual or group intercessors [14].
Intercessory prayer studies accomplish nothing. "Believers" won't change their view if further studies are negative, and nonbelievers won't change theirs if additional studies appear positive. Prayer may help some people feel reassured when they are worried, but to me it makes more sense to spend one's time and energy on more constructive health-promoting activities. Although luck is still a significant factor, I think it is more sensible to believe that health is more likely to be influenced by prudent living than by magical thinking. Also, if praying for people worked, would strangers praying against them cause them to become sicker? Or, as one of my religious friends put it, "Is God is so stupid that he or she would respond to popularity contests?"
Fraudulent "Spiritual" Advice
Many "psychics" and "healers" offer to help with life's problems through the mail or by telephone. Some call themselves Sister, Madame, Reverend, Doctor, Father, Prophet, Madame Queen, Reverent Mother, or Reverend Sister. The purported benefits may include better luck, better health, and/or a financial benefit. Some of these individuals attempt to persuade respondents to send money repeatedly for their services. During the 1970s, for example, a "spiritual reader" who operating as "Mother McGown," "Mother Luther," and "Mother Alma" guaranteed help within three days for illnesses, loneliness, and other problems. All respondents to her ads received identical mimeographed letters stating: "I have received your letter and found out that I could help you. I have found that you have hoodoo [bad luck] in your home along with sickness and love life problems. As soon as you read this letter, call me immediately." Those who telephoned were told that their problems would be solved if they sent a specific sum of money, usually $50 (but no personal checks). Follow-up letters would then ask for more money because the problem was worse than it was initially believed to be. The Postal Service took action in response to complaints from victims who had spent money but received no results. It turned out that the perpetrator belonged to a gypsy clan whose female members operated under various names in many states. The scheme was ended when one of them was prosecuted by the Postal Service and sentenced to three years' probation by a federal judge in Austin, Texas.
Is Anyone Helped?
Is there any evidence that faith healing works? The first step in approaching this question is to specify what should be considered proof that an ailment has been healed by a supernatural method. In my opinion, three criteria must be met: (1) the ailment must be one that normally doesn't recover without treatment; (2) there must not have been any medical treatment that would be expected to influence the ailment; and (3) both diagnosis and recovery must be demonstrable by detailed medical evidence.
If I wanted to demonstrate that I had an effective new treatment method, I would take pains to document the basis for my belief. For example, if I thought I could cure cancer with prayer, I would begin by making certain that patients I worked on actually had cancer. I would obtain their records, talk with their doctors, and have independent physicians examine them to determine their current status. After administering my treatment, I would conduct careful, long-range follow-up studies and report the outcome in detail.
Has any "faith healer" ever sent for the medical records of a client? Or had a client examined by a doctor before and after healing is administered? Or inquired about a client's health months or years after the healing? Or even kept statistics to indicate what percentage of people with various ailments appear to have been helped? Or compiled data that an independent investigator could verify? As far as I know, no healer has ever done any of these things. On the other hand, many cases have been documented in which people with serious disease have died as a result of abandoning effective medical care after being "healed."
Thus, as far as I am concerned, there is no reason to believe that faith healing has ever cured anyone of an organic disease. What about functional ailments — in which the symptoms are bodily reactions to tension? Some people who visit "healers" may feel better because the experience causes them to relax or because of a placebo effect. But any benefit of this type should be weighed against the fact that people who are not relieved may conclude that they are "unworthy" and become depressed as a result. Money spent for a fruitless experience with a healer is another negative factor.
A number of religious sects favor prayer over medical care. Christian Science is probably the best known of these groups and is the only form of faith healing that is deductible as a medical expense for federal income tax purposes. Christian Science contends that illness is an illusion caused by faulty beliefs, and that prayer heals by replacing bad thoughts with good ones. Christian Science practitioners work by trying to argue the sick thoughts out of the person's mind. Consultations can take place in person, by telephone, or even by mail. Individuals may also be able to attain correct beliefs by themselves through prayer or mental concentration. "You can Heal," a pamphlet of the Christian Science Publishing Society, states that "every student of Christian Science has the God-given ability to heal the sick." Two weeks of class instruction are required to become a practitioner.
The weekly magazine Christian Science Sentinel publishes several "testimonies" in each issue. To be considered for publication, an account must be "verified" by three individuals who "can vouch for the integrity of the testifier or know of the healing." During the past few years, believers have claimed that prayer has brought about recovery from anemia, arthritis, blood poisoning, corns, deafness, defective speech, multiple sclerosis, skin rashes, total body paralysis, visual difficulties, and various injuries. Most of these accounts contain little detail, and many of the diagnoses were made without medical consultation.
As far as I know, no systematic, medically supervised study of the outcome of Christian Science healing has ever been performed. However, a recent study suggests that devout Christian Scientists, who rarely consult doctors, pay a high price for avoiding medical care. The study was performed by William F. Simpson, Ph.D., an assistant professor of mathematics and computer science at Emporia State University. Dr. Simpson compared alumni records from Principia College, a Christian Science school in Elsah, Illinois, with records from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, and published his findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Even though Christian Science tenets forbid the use of alcohol and tobacco, the death rates among those who had graduated from Principia between 1934 and 1948 were higher than those of their University of Kansas counterparts — 26.2% vs. 20.9% in men, and 11.3% vs. 9.9% in women [15]. A subsequent study comparing the mortality of Christian Scientists and Seventh-day Adventists (who also are admonished to abstain from cigarettes and alcohol) found even greater differences [16].
Rita and Douglas Swan, whose 16-month-old son Matthew died of meningitis under the care of two Christian Science practitioners in 1977, are not surprised by these statistics. Angered by their experience, she founded CHILD, Inc., to work for legal reforms that can protect children from inappropriate treatment by faith healers. She and a colleague collected and reviewed the cases of 172 children who died between 1975 and 1995 when parents withheld medical care because of reliance on religious rituals They concluded
140 of the deaths were from medical conditions for which survival rates with medical care would have exceeded 90%. These included 22 cases of pneumonia in infants under two years of age, 15 cases of meningitis, and 12 cases of insulin-dependent diabetes.
18 more had expected survival rates greater than 50%
All but three of the remainder would probably have had some benefit from clinical help. [17]
Information about CHILD can be obtained online or by writing to P.O. Box 2604, Sioux City, IA 51106.
Membership in the Christian Science Church has been declining steadily. The number of practitioners and teachers listed in the Christian Science Journal has fallen from about 5,000 in 1971 to about 1,800 in 1996; and the number of churches has fallen from about 1,800 in 1971 to about 1,100 in 2003..
Is Spirituality Helpful?
A 1996 poll of 1,000 adults found that 79% believed that spiritual faith can help people recover from disease [18]. This idea is also popular among physicians. Although many studies have found associations between various measures of religiosity and health, no well-designed study has demonstrated that religious beliefs or prayer actually benefit health [19]. In fact, one well-designed study found just the opposite. The study involved patients whose progress was followed for nine months after discharge from a British hospital. They evaluated the outpatient records and the responses of 189 patients to questionnaires. the researchers concluded that the health status of patients with stronger spiritual beliefs were more than twice as likely to be unimproved or worse [20]. Although some studies have found that churchgoers tend to be healthier and to live longer than nonchurchgoers, church attendance itself is unlikely to be responsible for the difference [21].
Can anything be done about faith healing? Believers don't see it as a problem, while most nonbelievers don't see it as a priority issue and have little sympathy for its victims. But a few things might help lower faith healing's toll on our society:
Laws to protect children from medical neglect in the name of healing should be passed and enforced. In states that allow religious exemptions from medical neglect, these exemptions should be revoked. Maybe the practice of faith healing on minors should be illegal.
Faith healing should no longer be deductible as a medical expense.
Reporters should be encouraged to do follow-up studies of people acclaimed to have been "healed."
"Healers" who use trickery to raise large sums of money should be prosecuted for grand larceny.
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/faith.html
Todd Bentley: The Culmination of the False Charismatic Revival
Tagged apostolic, Bentley, Bill Hamon, Bob Jones, C. Peter Wagner, Charismatic deception, Cindy Jacobs, Counterfeit revival, Daystar, daystar television network, Dutch Sheets, Ed Silvoso, Evangelist A. A. Allen, False Charismatic Revival, false revival, Francis Frangipane, George Otis, Jack Deere, John Dawson, Joy Dawson, Jr., Kansas City Prophets, Kathryn Kuhlman, Mike Bickle, New apostolic movement, New Apostolic Reformation, Paul and Jan crouch, Paul Cain, revival, Richard Twiss, Rick Joyner, Ruth Heflin, TBN, Ted Haggard, Todd Bentley, William Branham, YWAM
The Charismatic world has been full of the false from its inception. Being a Classical Pentecostal for fifty-six years has given me the privilege and heartache of watching their development. While no great movement of God goes without attacks from within and without, the Pentecostal revival that started in 1906 has touched tens of millions around the world. The Charismatic deception was planned by the enemy, Lucifer, to infiltrate and destroy the Pentecostal churches. It has almost totally accomplished that for which it was intended. It is an unquestionable fact that good, undiscerning, born-again believers have been unwittingly involved.
Three things that were a part of its inception were based on utterly false premises. Doctrines, the established heart of fundamental truth, was ignored and even belittled. It didn't matter if you were Catholic in doctrine, even Jesus Only, Mormon, or held any other theological position. Every doctrinal idea was accepted as being equal. Bible doctrine was out, but the gifts of a spirit were central. Kathryn Kuhlman was a star to them and embodied the heart of the movement. When the whole Word of God is not supreme, the Holy Spirit is not welcome.
Speaking in an ecstatic tongue or utterance was central stage. This presumed gift was at the heart of the movement and quickly became the door that everyone had to enter. The very idea of ecstatic speech was reduced to a gibberish trick. People were helped along the way by being told to just start forming sounds and they would turn into the gift. "Repeat after me" was a totally acceptable teaching tool. The utterance quickly developed into chants that the crowds did in concert. I literally walked out of such events with an eerie feeling of evil in the air. Please understand that I believe in the real nine gifts of the Holy Ghost, but I do not tolerate the false.
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The third false foundation of this movement was an utter rejection of a separated life. Many of the main movers and shakers hated the holiness heart of the Pentecostal churches. The great truth of sanctification and godly separation from the worldly life has been the rock solid roots of the Pentecostal world. The Holy Ghost will not dwell or manifest His glory in an unclean temple. All of this purity and devotion to Biblical standards was purposely rejected, downplayed, or downright attacked as the situation allowed. Today, the most absurd and godless lifestyle is championed and acceptable throughout the Charismatic world. Look at Todd Bentley, the present star (Spring 2008), with his tattoos and the rings in his face, along with an entire abuse of decency to see how far the purity of life has denigrated.
Those three main characteristics have been allowed and promoted until we now have this ultimate trickster, who claims himself a prophet of God. Todd Bentley is so absurd that the only way he could be accepted is by the thirty (30) plus years of conditioning. He is grotesque and diabolical. His departure from even basic truth and cultural norms leaves the wise despairing at such insanity.
Can you imagine a prophet of the true Jehovah God who is almost totally covered in tattoos which his "god" told him to get? He has rings in his ears and on his chin. As he prays for people, his main words are, "Bam, Bam, Bam." The results are ecstatic, bodily motions that range from sexual gyrating to insane stupors. This spirit does not make you wise; it makes you unwise.
There is only one thing that ties this false prophet to the kingdom of God. He represents every false doctrine, emotion, and action that I have documented in the false invasion of the Charismatic world. Some of his actions go back before the Charismatic period when it was all called Pentecostal. (Please do not confuse this with Classical Pentecostals.) Mr. Bentley is a kind of culmination of every false doctrine or idea that has plagued the Pentecostal people and their churches.
When Pentecostal churches — Church of God, Pentecostal Holiness, and the Assemblies of God, etc. — were solidly rooted in Holy Scripture, and men like Todd Bentley and the persons he is emanating came along, they were almost totally rejected and exposed. They were usually reduced to a small crowd or totally removed from the organization. That day has changed as the Charismatic world has influenced the formerly great Pentecostal organizations.
We will try to look at key persons and the doctrines they reflected that are now manifest in Todd Bentley. I will not go all the way back to Azusa Street in 1906 because I am not a historian and would need hours of research to do justice to this argument. Let's start with William Branham, one of the biggest names connected with deception and error. His meetings were attended with great signs and wonders, which he attributed to his angel who gave him his power. He was a Jesus Only proponent that called the trinitarian truth a doctrine of the devil. Todd Bentley is apparently claiming that the same angel, who accompanied William Branham, helps him and performs miracles with him.
The name Todd has given this female angel is Emma. First, there are no female angels in Holy Scripture. Angels were created before men and women, and the female gender has no place in the angelic world. The fact that women are helpmates for man is plainly stated in the Holy Bible. The name Emma is associated with many dark occultic movements and presents its own false realm. A little research will take you into a world of much confusion connected to her name. She certainly has no kinship to the work of Christ and His kingdom. Emma, if she even exists, is a fallen angel or a nephilim spirit.
Evangelist A. A. Allen, who died in the 1950s, also has a place in Todd's theology. I watched a short segment of Mr. Bentley, where a woman was standing before him showing him the oil in the palms of her hands. He clearly accepted this manifestation as coming from the presence of the anointing in the meeting. Rev. Allen was fairly big during the forties and fifties, but slowly fell into disrepute. He was the first false prophet that I remember hearing about when I was converted to Christ as a young teenager.
While the acceptance of Rev. Allen was very marginal, I do remember some sincere saints in my home church that became quite upset when I plainly stood out against the false signs he represented. I was too young to even open my mouth, but I confess that I had not learned the same. To see Todd Bentley embracing this heresy of sixty to seventy years ago is prophetic of the coming judgment of such departure from Scripture. Satan never gets a free hand from the Creator of this universe and His infallible Word. Truth will triumph.
Paul & Jan Crouch are the two most effective of all false prophets and false prophetesses of this generation. They are not far ahead of Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker, and Benny Hinn; but win the prize by the extent of their influence. Gold dust that is claimed by Paul & Jan Crouch is also claimed by Todd Bentley. I personally watched and listened to a video in which Paul explained to Benny Hinn the source of the gold falling on his garments and that of Benny Hinn. Paul claimed that the doorway into the Golden City of New Jerusalem or some part of Heaven had been left ajar. The dust had fallen out of the door and floated down on these two men. Until my Father removes the second heavens between heaven and earth, that's a long way for gold dust to fall (a few million light years).
Benny Hinn is going to need to upgrade his techniques because Todd Bentley is stealing them. The demonstrations of Mr. Bentley are very similar to Benny Hinn. They both are ready to send fire on people, which they claim is an anointing of God.
Above all of the false prophets, there is none that has gone so far from truth as Rick Joyner. He claims that he goes to Heaven and talks with Apostle Paul. He is best described as a strange astronomical traveler. When Rick met the Apostle Paul on his (apparent) first trip, he started telling the apostle what a delight it was to meet and see him. The great apostle supposedly rebuked Rick Joyner to tell him it was his pleasure, not Rick Joyner's.
Todd Bentley cannot allow any one of the past greats in the false realm to be more famous than him. Read carefully as he really tells a fantasy tale about one of his trips into the same astronomical realm,
"…. I actually saw the Apostle Paul come walking toward me onto the bridge. … He was short, not more than 5'1" or 5'2". He was bald except for a little crown of hair that came around his head. Looking very Jewish with a short, trimmed, white beard, my first thought was of a monk in a monastery! He actually had jolly cheeks and I thought: Paul you've got a little weight on you! I mean he wasn't fat but he looked a little pudgy! He sat next to me and he took his hand and placed it across my chest not saying anything. But I felt like I was receiving an apostolic blessing from a father. While he touched my chest, Abraham and David appeared out of the cloud of witnesses. Although they were very close (and yet somehow at a distance), they weren't the main focus. They were simply there as witnesses to an encounter. Next, Paul spoke to me without words spirit to spirit. I never heard one word but I had instant knowledge of what he was saying. He said that David and Abraham are true fathers — 'These are the apostolic fathers'— and I thought to myself: Why Abraham and David? He answered me by saying that there would be no gospel without Abraham."
"As I just stated, Paul told me that essentially there would be no gospel and there would be no Israel without Abraham. He said too, that there would be no gospel without David because there would be no divine Son of David in order for the kingdom and His throne to be built upon the throne of David."
"Next, I was at Paul's house and he said to eat the Book of Titus! What's more, several days later I was taken back into heaven to Paul's house! But this time I didn't go inside. I stayed outside where I saw a ladder in his back yard like the one described in Genesis 28, Jacob's ladder. [I've come to understand that there are ladders like that in heaven in order to ascend and descend into different realms because heaven has places, geographical places. For example, the first heaven is where we live on the earth; the second heaven is the invisible realm of Ephesians 6:12; and the third heaven where I was with Paul, it's the Paradise of God.] So I jumped onto the ladder and began to climb up into another realm. I saw around me that it was all clouds so I began to pull those clouds back. As I did, a hole opened up in the heavens. Immediately then, out of heaven, flowed the color green, not just a light; it was like a green liquid and it was pouring onto my eyes! When I asked God about this, He said, 'You are coming into the throne room; you are beneath the sea of glass; there is a rainbow around the throne. It's not just above the throne; it's a circle around the throne, a rainbow, emerald, green in color.'" (Excerpted from http://www.patholliday.com website.)
If this does not show the insanity of this man, I am helpless to teach you the truth.
We could continue to show a connection to the Kansas City Prophets, Bob Jones, Mike Bickle, Paul Cain, or Ruth Heflin. Todd Bentley is a culmination of an endless list of false teachers and prophets/prophetesses. Kathryn Kuhlman started an ecumenical movement, but at least stayed in the broad context of the Judeo-Christian faith. The final end of all of this abuse of truth and the Pentecostal people is to add the occult realm to the mix. Todd Bentley is mixing the entire realm of the underworld with his version of revival.
It's Time For The Father to Act
I personally believe that the end of what we call the Charismatic movement is at hand. There certainly will follow echoes of all that is happening, but the Father has never allowed the devil to have the last word. The devil and his servants will be put in their proper place. At every point of history from Genesis to Revelation, our Heavenly Father has appeared to put it all in perspective. In the Book of Revelation the great God saw this day coming and announced His plan, "Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth" (Revelation 3:9-10).
Please notice that this appears to happen right before the Rapture. The religious facade will be accountable to truth. The Remnant Saints, who refuse to bow or bend, will be acknowledged by this unholy mixture. No one that I have ever met can hate you quite like this Charismatic crowd. Their love is giddy sweet when they woo you and as bitter as hell when you reject them. A large number of good saints have testified of the hate and rejection they received when they refused to submit to this error. This is why the Bible-believing saints will be the great company that error will be required to face and to whom they will be required to confess their departure from truth.
The Latter Rain Will Fall
The Book of Joel and the Book of Acts give us the absolute promise that the false revival and noise of the current closing moments of the Charismatic deception is not the end. Here are Peter's anointed words of what is yet to occur, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke" (Acts 2:17-19).
My friends, rebuild your altar. Get ready for the Holy Spirit to give the final answer to the foolishness of men. His visitation will be sweet but powerful. It will be mighty but orderly. It will be full of emotion but divine. Best of all, He will come for His saints in the midst of His visitation.
http://www.pawcreek.org/articles_pcm/end_times/todd_bentley.htm
WORD FAITH MOVEMENT: A Call for Discernment VIDEO – Justin Peters Pt 4
Tagged are men gods, BENNY HINN, Blab it and grab it, call for discernemnt, call for discernment, Christian, Daystar, daystar television network, Deception in the church, Deification of man, Discernment, Essek W. Kenyon, Greed Gospel, health and wealth gospel, Joel Osteen, Joseph Smith, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, men are gods, Metaphysical Cults, mind sciences, Mormon, Mormonism, Paul Crouch, Phineas P. Quimby, positive confession, TBN, TRINITY BROADCAST NETWORK, Visualization, William Branham, WoF, Word faith, word faith movement, Word-of-Faith
This Seminar video by Justin Peters @ http://www.justinpeters.org/ is the best video I have seen on the Word of Faith movement. Since the seminar is available on you tube. I will be doing a series on the Word Faith Movement. Each one with a video clip from Justin's seminar.
This FOURTH POST is an article on the word faith and OCCULT groups teachings about positive confession.
I hope you will visit his site and consider buying the whole CD set to show your friends and family, or will consider asking your church about having Justin and his seminar at your church. I am going to buy the series and just may send it to a family member who is a word faith preacher. I only wish that those in the word faith movement would see that the WoF teachings are occultic and not from God. Damon Whitsell
A 30 minute DEMO video of the seminar is @ justins site here http://www.justinpeters.org/demo.htm
Positive Confession BY WATCHAMAN.ORG
Positive Confession is the belief that if a believer speaks "spiritual" or "faith-filled" words then he can have what he says. Unfortunately, this influence has invaded the church and continues to cause much turmoil and confusion.
Many of the teachers of the word-faith movement believe that words are so powerful that they can influence the physical and spiritual worlds. For example:
In The Tongue, a Creative Force (1976), positive confessionist Charles Capps, teaches that there are powerful "spiritual" words. Such words, which are ordinary words, can under certain circumstances, become vehicles for creative or supernatural power.
When "faith-filled" spiritual words are spoken (as words of power), they can alter the physical and spiritual world. Capps says, "You see there is more to it than just saying it. The words must originate from the inner man where spiritual power is released through words."
He goes on to state that "spirit words can control both the spirit world and the physical world. Because the words themselves have power, they will work for either God or man in the same manner." He goes on:
"The spirit of man is not of this world, it is of the spirit world. The creative ability of man comes through his spirit. He speaks spirit words that work in the world of the spirit. They will also dominate the physical world. He breathes spirit life into God's Word and it becomes a living substance, working for him as it worked for God in the beginning. These spirit words dominate the natural world" (p. 117-118).
What Capps is alluding to in the above statement is his teaching that since God, "by His faith" (using words) spoke this physical world into existence; the believer, using faith, can do the same. That is, the believer can speak things into existence. However, God's word is already "quick and powerful" (Hebrews 4:12), and it is referred to as the "Word of Life" (Phillipians 2:16). It is not necessary to activate it by speaking words of faith as though it were asleep or dead! Rather, it is by hearing the "living" word that one is brought to salvation through faith in Christ. (Romans 10:17)
A number of the prosperity teachers believe that the spiritual world controls and continually forms the physical world. So, if one can learn to control the spiritual world, then he can learn to control the physical world as well. This teaching then becomes the foundation for securing individual prosperity.
That is why in Releasing the Ability of God, Capps states, "You can have what you say! (because) the powerful force of the spiritual world that creates the circumstances around us is controlled by the words of the mouth. This force comes from inside us; the confession of our mouth will cause you to possess it" (pp. 98-99, parenthesis mine). This is why he teaches, "Discipline your vocabulary," and "today your word is god over your circumstances" (pp. 101-104).
Capps also teaches that the power within a Christian, within one's spirit, functions according to unchangeable laws. He says "These principles of faith are based on spiritual laws. They work for whosoever will apply these laws" (The Tongue, p. 103).
D. R. McConnell, in his book, A Different Gospel, directly traces the origin the spiritual laws taught in positive confession to the metaphysics of E.W. Kenyon, a man of 50-60 years ago whose theology was that of Pentecostal Christian Science (A Different Gospel, pp. 3-56).
McConnell records Kenneth Copeland in The Laws of Prosperity (p. 98, 101) as saying, "You can have what you say! In fact, what you are saying is exactly what you are getting now. If you are living in poverty and lack and want, change what you are saying. It will change what you have. Discipline your vocabulary. God will be obligated to meet your needs because of His word. If you stand firmly on this, your needs will be met" (Ibid., p. 173).
McConnell further states, that E.W. Kenyon's New Thought classmate, Ralph Waldo Trine, attributes the confession of prosperity to "Occult power." He says that "Trine believed that thought is a force, and it has Occult power of unknown proportions when rightly used and wisely directed" (Ibid., p. 174).
The usage of Occult powers is, of course, a practice that the Word-Faith teachers would publicly reject. Of course, this is not to say that those offering these teachings are Occultists. They are teachers who may never have thought through the implications of the practices they advocate. They may be unaware of the similarities between certain aspects of positive confession and Occulict practices. Nevertheless, the similarities do exist, and these practices are neither Biblical nor Christian.
John Ankerberg's issue of News and Views, June 1988, p. 1, reports that these words are used in religious rituals to influence both the spirit world and the material world. The report quotes Occult magician David Conway discussing the power of magical words to affect these worlds:
"Unseparable from magical speculation about words is the theory of vibrations, which supposes that certain sounds have a powerful acoustic impact on both the spiritual and astral worlds. Like the spiritual world and astral plane can in some circumstances be affected by sound, so that verbal magic may be said to derive its power not only from the idea contained in certain words, but from the peculiar vibrations these words create when spoken" (Magic: an Occult Primer, pp. 74-75).
Occultists, of course, have long claimed the true inner nature of man is powerful, capable of exercising divine ability. This is why New Ager Benjamin Creme says, for example, "One doesn't pray to oneself, one prays to the God within. The thing is to learn to invoke that energy which is the energy of God. Prayer and worship as we know it today will gradually die out and men will be trained to invoke the (inner) power of deity" (The Reappearance of Christ and the Masters of Wisdom, pp. 135-136, parenthesis mine).
The reason that positive confessionists can place so much emphasis on the inner man and his divine power is that they think the believer is a god. Kenneth Copeland says, "You don't have a god in you, you are one" (Copeland's sermon tape The Force of Love). And Kenneth Hagin says, "The believer is as much an incarnation of God as Jesus Christ" (Hagin, Word of Faith, p. 14).
To the positive confessionist, scripture passages such as Proverbs 18:21, "Death and Life are in the power of the tongue;" and James 3:8-10 are taken as proof of this doctrine, because they believe as "little gods" they have the same power as God through their own words.
Is it any wonder that Charles Capps says "The confession of your mouth even after you have prayed correctly will determine whether or not you receive. You can release the ability of God through the words of your mouth" (Releasing the Ability of God, 1978, pp. 93, 96).
For Christians words and faith are important, but there is a limit to what words can do.
It can help or hurt a close friend or a total stranger by what one says, but to treat words as if they were some "star wars" type weapon by which one alters or manipulates reality is not biblical, but Occultic. If one could change reality by the power of words spoken, then that would put man on the same level with God. This is exactly what teachers of the "positive confession," or word-faith movement, claim.
We are told by God Himself that He spoke the creation into existence (Genesis 1). He has not given that power to anyone else!
http://www.watchman.org/reltop/posconf.htm
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WORD FAITH MOVEMENT: A Call for Discernment VIDEO – JustinPeters.org Pt 3
This THIRD POST is an article from Let Us reason.org on the word faith and other groups teachings about MEN BEING GODS.
Who Wants to be a god? by LetUsReason.org
So many people seem to be convinced that the Bible teaches that we are gods. The Mormons, the New Agers and yes, there are a growing number of Christians that believe this as well. Each of these have a different variation on what this means. The Christian view comes from the influence of heretical word/faith teachers that distort the Scripture.
We would be surprised how many people actually say this or insinuate it indirectly. They point to Jesus, who said in John 10 "I said ye are gods." Many use this statement Jesus said as a Bible doctrine for believers. Let's look at several famous Bible teachers statements on this Scripture.
"We want to be gods. Jesus said, 'I said ye are gods' (John 10:34). It is with the attitude of gods in the world that Jesus wants the Christian to live." (John G. Lake: His Life His Sermons, His Boldness of Faith, Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1995, p. 13).
Is this the attitude Jesus wants? Not according to Scripture, he wants us to be dependent upon God and deny self and walk humbly, hardly a prerequisite for a god.
Lake also says "I want you to hear what Jesus said about himself. God was in Christ, wasn't He? An incarnation. God is in you, an incarnation, if you were born again. You are incarnate. " (ibid p. 196).
The mistake is-born again does not mean incarnate; it means to be regenerated. To go from something that has no life to being alive, to something that had no relationship with God to having one.
It's not surprising that Kenneth Copeland would publish Lakes statements like these since he agrees with it. As he has stated: "You don't have a god in you, you are one," "We are a class of gods." "Every Christian is a god." Benny Hinn also agrees and states unequivocally "you are god" "Christians are little gods." "I'm a God-Man." With well known men like these teaching this its not surprising so many who listen to them have picked this up.
The fact that Gurus, New Agers, Mormons and some who claim Christianity all claim we are gods and have godlike powers is strikingly similar to what Maharishi Mahesh yogi says "When you know that you are God, YOU WILL BEGIN TO LIVE GODHOOD…"' Margo Adler a witch says, "We are gods and might as well get good at it." Anton LaVey explains the core of Satanism "here is one of the essential points of Satanism, attain his own godhead in accordance with his own potential. Therefore, each man, each woman, is a god or goddess in Satanism." J.Z. Knight who Channeled the fallen spirit Ramtha pointedly says through her "You are God." Sung Myung Moon leader of the Moonie cult says this, as do so many others. Maitreya the false new age Christ (one of many) says "May this manifestation lead you to see each other as the gods you are."
What manifestation is this? It's called the mystery of iniquity that has been in the world since the fall. As David Spangler puts it– "Lucifer prepares man in all ways for the EXPERIENCE OF CHRISTHOOD (Burns: Jay Gary, The Millennium Doctor http://www.cth.com/au/corp/despatch/JayGarybk3.htm, p. 2,3, quoting David Spangler). In new age language it means Christ is the way-shower.
It should be obvious to any Christian familiar with the Scripture that to call oneself a god is a doctrine of fallen spirits, what the Bible calls demons.
Helena Blavatsky in her "the secret Doctrine" wrote: "It is claimed that there exists, for untold ages, a body of supermen"… these according to her view were initiates, the Brotherhood of the Great White Lodge and light. They are known to Theosophists as 'the Masters.' The teaching of Theosophy, therefore, consists of information either directly imparted by them" (E.R.Mcneil Theosophy to Christian faith pp.1-2) Blavatsky wrote further "Satan is the door-keeper of the Temple of the King; he standeth in Solomon's porch; he holdeth the key of the Sanctuary, that no man enter therein, save the Anointed having the arcanum of Hermes" (v. 20 and 21). [Vol. 2, Page 233). She is explaining the Luciferic initiation of those who have realized they are more than man- but supermen.
The Latter Rain movement still growing in its influence has similar affections. In the book the Pattern Son Bill Britton writes at Jesus was the "Firstfruits among many brethren and the PATTERN for many more "sons" to come. He calls this group the Manchild Company – they are the anointed ones and have the right to be called Christ. These are the ones who have reached a "very high level of anointings." It is the same spirit that is moving these people and many others today to this realization that they are god. It does not matter whether one calls it the divine spark" or self-realization or the higher self, or "god" within every man, it all leads to the same place. Or as Neale Donald Walsch, in his bestseller book "Conversations with God" writes "You are already a God. You simply do not know it." Isn't it Interesting how so many spiritual diversities can agree.
Creflo Dollar who claims he is a teacher of Christianity sums it up for everyone believing this, quoting Jn.10:34 and Ps.82:6 he states "Now, notice what He says here, "Ye are gods" small g. You are gods? Somebody says "You trying to say we're gods?" No, I'm not trying to say we're gods. He already said it. But what I want to know is Lord, how can we be gods? And He answers it in the next phrase. Because you are the children of the Most High. See if you are truly a child of God, if you were born out of God, you got to be a part of the God class. I know I'm not God. But I'm a child of the Most High…I'm a part of the God class…. But then the next verse says, "Because you did not believe you were gods, you're going to die like men." But it says you're gods. And I said now, Lord, wait a minute here. How we going to prove this? Because I kept hearing over and over again all this week, we need to have a God training class for Christians. So they can start acting … "(Our equality with God through righteousness 1/21/2001)
Notice he says Because you did not believe you were gods you will die like men. Is this what the Scripture is actually saying? It only takes a few extra words to confuse and change the meaning.
Ps. 82:6-8 'I said, 'You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.' Lets set the record straight, this Scripture does not mention little gods. Nowhere in Scripture is there a teaching of little gods along with big God, but false Gods verses the true God. So in reality to claim to be a little god is to put one in the category of a false God.
Lets go back to the beginning, when Lucifer a fallen angel shows up in the garden. Speaking to Eve he says "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3:5). When both she and Adam ate of the tree that God told them not to, they knew what evil was experientially, by believing that this fruit would make them like God it caused them to lose their righteousness God originally gave them.
After the fall Adam begot his first son Cain and other sons and daughters in his own image and likeness. All those after are in this same image. This is why the Only true God became a man. When a Christian accepts the heretical teaching of subordinate gods to a greater god they are aligned with the originator of this lie, the teaching of the occult and those who incorporate its message. They are on their way to a great deception, the very one that Paul warns in 2 Thess.2, those who refuse the truth will believe THE LIE!
Anything created disqualifies it from being God. Adam was not a god (as Kenneth Copeland and the Mormons say), and Satan is not a god. Satan is called the "god of this age" because he is worshipped, not because he really is a god by nature.
He has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.(2 Cor. 4:4). In other words he blinds people to see Christ alone is God. Satan did not tell the truth but lied to Eve when he said, "You shall be like God," and he continues to use the same lie to people today.
Paul taught that Christ (2 Cor. 4:4) ALONE 'is the express image of God (his person) (Heb.1). No prophet ever thought of them-self as the express image of the invisible God, or that if you have seen them you have seen the father, they knew better. There are too many today who are exalting mans nature to be something the Scripture says it is not. Only Jesus is the exact image of God in man. Man has the image of God but this does not make a creature God, godlike, or in the same class. There is only one God and he always existed, this is why no creature can ever be equal to its eternal creator.
The Hebrew word for "likeness" (demuth) simply means similarity or resemblance, not identity. The term itself actually "defines and limits" the word "image" (Hebrew: tselem) in order "to avoid the implication that man is a precise copy of God, albeit miniature" (R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, eds., Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 2 vols. Chicago: Moody Press, 1981, 1:192.)
God never said man is a god or in a god class as some claim. In fact, if we look at past and future history we can identify the ones who claim this.
The past- Isa. 14:12-14 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High."
It was Lucifer who through the king said he would be like God in the past. Ezek 28:2-6 "Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Because your heart is lifted up, and you say, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods, in the midst of the seas,' yet you are a man, and not a god, though you set your heart as the heart of a god (Behold, you are wiser than Daniel! Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Because you have set your heart as the heart of a god…" v:9 "Will you still say before him who slays you, 'I am a god'? But you shall be a man, and not a god, in the hand of him who slays you."
The future- 2 Thess. 2:3-4 "the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."
Everyone who claims to be a god, the true God shows they are not, by bringing death to them. Jesus will slay the antichrist, the man of sin who will be worshipped as god by the word from his mouth. Zeph. 2:11 "The LORD will be awesome to them, for He will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth"
Let's not forget in our modern time one of the worst collective murders in history. It was Jim Jones who let the idea of being a god completely deceive him and near 1,000 people were affected by going to their deaths with him. He said "It is written that ye are gods. I'm a god and you're a god" (Jim Jones, quoted in J. Reston, Jr. and N. Adams, "Father Cares: The Last of Jonestown" program on National Public Radio, 23 April, 1981.)
Satan's methodology is to lower Jesus' nature and exalt man's to be equal to Christ using the same lie he deceived himself with. We should understand from the Scripture that to claim to be a God, big or small is what Lucifer did to himself and influenced man into sin.
With this background lets to the passage that people are using to prove they are little gods.
John 10:32-39 Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God." Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods" "If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),"do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;" but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."
Notice Jesus answered them by pointing to the Old Testament, and is using it to argue His exclusive deity as the Son of God, having a unique relationship to the Father that no other has. Jesus is responding to the Jewish leaders who had accused Him of blasphemy. In Jn.10 Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees. Are the Pharisees gods? Would someone that did not believe in Christ being the Son of God and were his enemies be considered a little god by Jesus?
To understand him further we must go to a context of a passage quoted by Jesus to see what he was trying to convey. Psalm 82:1-8 "God stands in the congregation of the mighty; he judges among the gods. How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked? Selah. Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hand of the wicked. They do not know, nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are unstable. I said, "You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes." Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit all nations."
In its context it can only mean something that is not flattering. Jesus in John 10 is mocking them as if to say, You all think you're gods yourselves (rulers) and rightly so (this is a tongue and cheek expression). But you do not recognize THE God among you. The Pharisees were blinded to who Jesus truly was.
Ps. 82:6-8 'I said, 'You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.' This was addressed to the judges of Israel they were called gods not because they were divine but because they represented God when they judged the people. The word Elohim is used for God, men and angels, but it is never used for man or the angels to imply they are God but as rulers of certain positions in the world. The word here is Elohim, it is applied to an aspect of God, as God was also to be ruler and judge over the people so He installed human rulers to do the same (see Deut.19:17-18). God called the unrighteous judges of Israel "gods" (Elohim). The Psalm Jesus is quoting is a put-down of corrupt judges and leaders who were abusing their authority and it has a lot of irony in it. The word Judges is found in Ex.21:22; 22:8-9 it is Ha Elohim (other scriptures of how the acted are found in Deut.1:16;16:18; 25:1; 2 Sam.11:7).
As with any verse we need to read it in its complete context to get the whole meaning the author is writing. Then we are to go to other passages that may relate to it. Remember this is God's word and will not contradict itself. Isa. 3:13-15 "The LORD stands up to plead, and stands to judge the people. The LORD will enter into judgment with the elders of His people and His princes: "For you have eaten up the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing My people and grinding the faces of the poor?" Says the Lord GOD of hosts.
Jesus uses this to pronounce sentence on leaders who were not ruling over the people correctly. Instead they were showing partiality to the wicked and neglected defending the weak. They are wicked in that they do, they do not champion the cause of the poor or helpless. This is what Jesus is referring to in John 10 when he reminds them by quoting Ps.82. They are rulers with the authority God gave in this office. Considering this quote is in the gospel of John that upholds the deity of Christ, it makes this even more severe that certain men would take this out of the context and apply it to themselves. As v.5 says "They do not know nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are unstable."
He is conveying that if unjust judges are called to rule with power and authority, how much more the Son of God whose authority they willfully rejected. Jesus is being sarcastic in a way only those familiar with the Scripture would understand. They accused the only man who ever could legitimately call Himself "God" of blasphemy. And Jesus' response is if God called men "gods," (rulers) then Jesus is not blaspheming if indeed He is God.Jesus' point is that the word of God cannot be broken (v.35) and then points out he was sent into the world by the Father and called himself the Son of God. So He could not be blaspheming. This was all done according to the Scripture. They were given authority to rule by God but they would not bow to his authority. They did not recognize the true God was among them who called himself the Son of God.
Notice Ps.82:6 also says they 'will die as mere men and fall as one of the princes', the prince that fell was Satan. This is sarcasm. Jesus is saying 'the scripture cannot be broken' referring to the Psalm. They thought they were like God but they will die as mere men. Then they will know the difference between the true God and their own mortality of man. Ps.82 ends with verse 8 'Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit all nations.' This points to only true God who can be called God, who eventually will judge and rule over everyone justly.
Let us go elsewhere in Scripture to see if the New Testament supports the teaching of men being gods. Paul and Barnabas were mistakenly called gods: "And when the multitudes saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have become like men and have come down to us." And they began calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker … But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you in order that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth…." (Acts 14:11-15). Paul did not say, "we are not Zeus and Hermes but you are right, we are gods." He said we are of the same NATURE as you and He turned them to the only true God, the creator. Here Paul and Barnabus unequivocally denied they were divine or any type of god. Were they ignorant of their new nature? No, not at all. They knew the true God and knew their relationship to him as men; so they could never claim to be more than they really were.
If the little god theory was true Paul would not have said this but he did not believe what some men teach today and would certainly identify it as a teaching not from God but from the devil.
To imagine that we are gods when we are saved is to misunderstand our condition, even though we are new creatures in Christ. Even though the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in our lives, it does not mean that we have been deified! If man is deified, surely we also have to accept the doctrine that we are sinless! Yet, the Scriptures deny that we are sinless, even after our salvation (1 John 1:9).We are still sinners waiting for the full redemption of the body that has the sin nature.
There is something spiritually and fundamentally wrong with people who say they are gods.
And what is the affect of those who call themselves little gods? They believe they can call things into existence, they will be rich and successful like the big god they serve.
Isa. 41:21-24 "Present your case, says the LORD. "Bring forth your strong reasons, says the King of Jacob. "Let them bring forth and show us what will happen; let them show the former things, what they were, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare to us things to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; yes, do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed and see it together. Indeed you are nothing, and your work is nothing; he who chooses you is an abomination."
Here God challenges those who claim they are in control like God, and those who listen to them instead of the true God are disgusting to him. For he began his challenge to them all so they can come to a true understanding of God.
V.20 "That they may see and know, and consider and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Ps. 86:8 "Among the gods there is none like You, O Lord" Ps. 95:3 "For the LORD is the great God, and the great King above all gods." The Scripture says there exists ONLY ONE GOD; therefore any other that is called god is false by its nature. Genesis 1 says "In the beginning God." If you were not there with him as him, then you are not God or a god.
As Paul clarifies in1 Cor. 8:5-6 "For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live."
The greatest evil is to call oneself God when they are not. Since there is only one true God no one can ever be in the same class as a creature created by God. This is a delusion of unprecedented proportions to call oneself a god, it is the height of arrogance. It is the same sin in the beginning that caused Lucifer, the greatest creature God created to fall. And it is this same deception that will be rampant in the end.
Here's what the God of the Universe says in Jer.10:11: "The God's that have not made heaven and earth will perish." This means any who claims to be God [god] are in the same category according to the one true God. This certainly means all Gods with a small g or a big G. Nowhere in Scripture is there a teaching of little gods verses big God, but instead false Gods verses the true God. In reality, to claim to be a little god is to put one in the category of a false God. All those who say this will find themselves sharing the same fate of false gods. If you are one of those who believes this, its time to reconsider. You may well receive the same punishment as those other false gods who are not the one true creator.
http://letusreason.org/Wf36.htm
October 8, 2008 – 11:22 pm
Tagged BENNY HINN, Blab it and grab it, call for discernment, Christian cult, Christian cults, Christianity, Creflo Dollar, Cult, Cult Apologetics, Cults, Daystar, daystar television network, Deception in the church, Discernment, doctrines of demons, Essek W. Kenyon, GOSPEL OF GREED, Greed Gospel, health and wealth gospel, heresy, Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Metaphysical Cults, mind sciences, Paul Crouch, Phineas P. Quimby, positive confession, TBN, TRINITY BROADCAST NETWORK, Visualization, William Branham, WoF, Word faith, word faith movement, word of faith movement, Word-of-Faith
This SECOND POST is an article about Justin and his seminar. I hope you will visit his site and consider buying the whole CD set to show your friends and family, or will consider asking your church about having Justin and his seminar at your church. I am going to buy the series and just may send it to a family member who is a word faith preacher. I only wish that those in the word faith movement would see that the WoF teachings are occultic and not from God. Damon Whitsell
Minister with Cerebral Palsy critiques Word-Faith movement By Brent Thompson
VICKSBURG, Miss. (BP) — When Justin Peters was born in Vicksburg, Miss., in 1973, the doctors knew right away that something was wrong. They decided not to tell Peters' parents, who proudly took their first-born son home. It wasn't long before they, too, noticed something was different about their baby boy. At the age of 1, Peters was formally diagnosed as having cerebral palsy.
"Don't expect much from Justin," the doctor told his parents. When Peters tells that story today, a smile spreads across his face.
"Jesus always has the last word," he says.
Today, Peters has two master's degrees from Southwestern Seminary and is a staff evangelist at First Baptist Church in Vicksburg, the church where he grew up and was saved at the age of 7.
Southwestern Seminary
Years ago Justin Peters questioned his faith when he wasn't healed of cerebral palsy after attending a word of faith healing service. Today, the Southwestern Seminary graduate and staff evangelist at First Baptist Vicksburg (Miss.) leads seminars on the dangers and heresies of the so-called word of faith, or health and wealth, movement.
Cerebral palsy typically impacts body movement and muscle coordination, although Peters said it affects different people in different ways. For him, it limits use of his arms, hands, and legs. But he lives, travels, and ministers needing very few accommodations for his disabilities. He gets nearly everywhere he needs to go either on his motorized wheelchair or on his crutches. He drives his specially equipped van or flies on commercial airlines to get to his speaking engagements and revivals.
"It isn't degenerative," Peters said of his cerebral palsy. "The way I am now is pretty much the way I have always been."
He is unperturbed by his physical limitations. In fact, he is thankful to God for them, and says he likely would not be in full-time ministry if not for the effects of cerebral palsy.
Hope and struggle
"Sometimes there is something better than physical health," Peters said. "That is, like Paul said, 'God's sufficient grace.'"
But Peters has not always felt that way. When he was 16 years old, a well-intentioned family friend came to him.
"Justin, God has told me He is going to heal you," the friend said, adding that Nora Lam, a word of faith healer from China, was going to be holding a healing service at a nearby Holiday Inn.
"The prospect of being healed really resonated with me because, at the time, I could not drive, play football, or do all the things I believed were so important at that age," Peters said.
He went to see Nora Lam as well as other faith healers, but after each encounter he came away in the same physical condition. He left those encounters struggling with his own perceived spiritual deficiencies.
"I was told that physical healing is always God's will and that I would receive that healing if I had enough faith," Peters said. "I not only doubted my faith but for a season I doubted my very salvation."
Supportive parents, church, and prayer preserved Peters during those dark spiritual days. He graduated from high school, and then went on to Mississippi State University where he received a bachelor's degree in economics. Along the way Peters saw the error of Nora Lam and her colleagues. It was at MSU that Peters felt God calling him into full-time, vocational ministry. So, he headed to Southwestern Seminary, thinking he was going to be a pastor.
By 2000, Peters had obtained a master of divinity degree. During his days of seminary studies, Peters received invitations to preach revival services. This is no surprise given his preference for expository sermons, not to mention his authoritative yet conversational speaking voice.
In his preaching ministry, Peters devoted a small segment of his sermon series to address the topic of the word of faith movement. Also known as the "health and wealth" movement, the most well-known word of faith preachers are televangelists such as Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Paul Crouch, Jesse Duplantis, Creflo Dollar, and, more recently, Joel Osteen.
"I found the response to that segment of my revival sermons was just overwhelming," Peters said. Soon, what was supposed to be a small segment of his preaching turned into a bigger segment. It wasn't long before people were inviting him to preach just on the subject of the word of faith movement. He felt the Lord leading him to do additional master's studies, this time for the more academically oriented, thesis-based master of theology degree.
As he focused his theological training on the word of faith theology, what he discovered troubled him deeply.
"Health and wealth are among the most universal of human desires," Peters said. "These people play on those desires."
Eventually, Peters narrowed his academic focus to one word of faith preacher: Benny Hinn. Perhaps more than the others, Hinn holds himself out to be a faith healer. Over the years millions of people have flocked to Hinn's live events held in huge auditoriums and stadiums around the world; tens of millions more have tuned in to Hinn's This Is Your Day television program, seen in more than 190 countries.
Unsecure roots
As Peters dug into the theology and history of the word of faith movement, he was more convinced than ever that Christians needed to know the truth about it. He discovered that the movement's origins are not at all Christian; instead its roots can be traced directly to the metaphysical cults of the 19th century, Unitarianism, Christian Science, New Thought, and even back to the early-church heresy known as Gnosticism.
"These preachers blur the line between the Creator and the created," Peters said. "They demote God and deify man … To them, faith is not placed in God; faith is a force you direct at God to make Him do what you want Him to do. It is a very man-centered gospel which makes it a different gospel…. All this has been wrapped in a Christian terminology to make it more palatable."
Peters accumulated literature, video collections, and numerous articles about Hinn and other word of faith preachers. He attended several Hinn healing services and has watched myriads of programs on Trinity Broadcasting Network. He even went to Hinn's headquarters twice, seeking an interview. He was denied both times.
"Unfortunately, I had to support many of their ministries by buying their books and DVDs," Peters said, laughing.
A strong call
The faculty of Southwestern's school of theology accepted his master's thesis titled "An Examination and Critique of the Life, Ministry, and Theology of Healing Evangelist Benny Hinn." In December 2002, Peters was awarded a master of theology degree.
Shortly thereafter, Peters became a staff evangelist at FBC Vicksburg and formed Justin Peters Ministries (www.justinpeters.org). Through his ministry, he goes to speaking engagements with a three-part seminar called "A Call for Discernment."
During his seminars, he leads audiences through an examination of the word of faith movement. The first session, titled "Dangerous Doctrines," examines the metaphysical cultic origins of the movement and the doctrines it espouses, which deviate from orthodox Christianity. The second session, "Mangled Manifestations," explores the more dramatic elements of the movement such as the abuse of tongues, being 'slain in the Spirit,' and false prophecies. The third session, the one to which he relates to most personally, is "The Hurt of Healing" and deals solely with physical healing.
Using clips from video tapes and DVDs, Peters doesn't just tell Christians what the health and wealth preachers claim: He lets them see and hear for themselves what they are really teaching during their crusades and television programs.
Peters believes God is allowing this brand of blatant, dangerous heresy to continue for a purpose.
"It's a sign of the End Times," Peters said. "The Scriptures are clear that in the last days false prophets and false christs will rise 'so as to deceive even the elect.' Too many Christians today want teachers who tickle their ears."
Peters said the newest popular Health and Wealth teacher is Joel Osteen.
"[Joel Osteen's] teachings are of a slightly different stripe, but they are just another version of the prosperity gospel," Peters said. "Joel Osteen was on Larry King Live when he admitted that he doesn't use the word 'sinner.' How can you preach the gospel of Jesus Christ if you don't first get people to realize they have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? I don't doubt that Osteen is sincere, but sincerity is not the issue – truth is the issue."
God has changed lives at his seminars, Peters said. After a recent session in Alabama, a woman told him about her 8-year-old son with muscular dystrophy.
As Justin told it, "With tears streaming down her face she said, 'Justin, I've been told by so many that if I had enough faith my son would be healed. I've been told that if I loved him enough he would be healed. All of these years, I have blamed myself for my son's illness. But for the first time I now realize it's not my fault.'
"Hearing stories like this makes it all worthwhile for me," Justin said. "Next to my salvation, my cerebral palsy is one of the greatest gifts God has ever given me.
"One of the tragedies of the prosperity gospel is that it robs believers of experiencing God's sufficient grace and strength made perfect in weakness."
http://www.christianindex.org/3627.article
Tagged BENNY HINN, Blab it and grab it, call for discernment, Daystar, daystar television network, Deception in the church, Discernment, Essek W. Kenyon, Greed Gospel, health and wealth gospel, Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Metaphysical Cults, mind sciences, Paul Crouch, Phineas P. Quimby, positive confession, TBN, TRINITY BROADCAST NETWORK, Visualization, William Branham, WoF, Word faith, word faith movement, Word-of-Faith
This Seminar video by Justin Peters @ http://www.justinpeters.org/ is the best video I have seen on the Word of Faith movement. Since the seminar is available on you tube. I will be doing a series on the Word Faith Movement. Each one with a video clip from Justin's seminar. This first POST just gives an introduction and outline to the seminar. I hope you will visit his site and consider buying the whole CD set to show your friends and family, or will consider asking your church about having Justin and his seminar at your church. I am going to buy the series and just may send it to a family member who is a word faith preacher. I only wish that those in the word faith movement would see that the WoF teachings are occultic and not from God. Damon Whitsell
A Biblical Critique of the Word of Faith Movement (more commonly known as the Health and Wealth or Prosperity Gospel) http://www.justinpeters.org/
"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which you 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 unsuspecting." (Romans 16:17-18)
In addition to expository preaching, another aspect of Justin's ministry is the three session seminar which he has developed entitled A Call for Discernment. This seminar is a fair, comprehensive, biblical critique of the modern Word of Faith movement. Word of Faith theology (WoF) dominates Christian satellite and cable television and is making alarming inroads into our Baptist churches. This seminar contains dozens of audio and video clips (primarily the latter) of various WoF leaders such as Benny Hinn, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Jessie Duplantis, Creflo Dollar, etc. incorporated into a PowerPoint format. This format allows people to see and hear for themselves what these individuals are actually teaching. Everything then is, in turn, balanced with Scripture.
Each session is approximately 70 to 75 minutes in length. A Call for Discernment can be structured and scheduled according to the desires of the pastor or conference organizer.
Session 1: Dangerous Doctrines
Metaphysical Cultic Origins
Phineas P. Quimby
Essek W. Kenyon
William Branham
Kenneth Hagin Sr.
Doctrines of the WoF Movement
Positive Confession
Substance of Faith
Little gods Doctrine
Just a Man?
Spiritual Death of Jesus (SDJ)
Sin Becomes Him
"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies.."
~ 2 Peter 2:1
Session 2: Mangled Manifestations
Abuse of Tongues
Spectacular Claims
Heavenly Encounters
Bizarre Behavior
Slaying in the Spirit
Divine Revelation Knowledge
Occultic / Demonic
False Prophecies
"…that in us you might learn not to exceed what is written…"
~ 1 Corinthians 4:6
Session 3: The Hurt of Healing
Healing:
Is It Always God's Will?
Healing in the Atonement?
The Biblical Record
Requirements for Healing:
Sense of expectation
"Right Heart" and Perseverance
Why are They Sick?
Hindrances to Healing:
Not Saved
"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."
~ 2 Corinthians 12:9
A PERSONAL NOTE ABOUT A CALL FOR DISCERNMENT
A Call for Discernment is not intended as a personal attack on anyone, it is simply, as the name implies, a call to the church for discernment. It would be easy to make the assumption that this is an anti-charismatic seminar. Such is not the case. When it comes to the fundamental tenets of orthodox Christianity, charismatics are in agreement with me as a Southern Baptist. I am not charismatic, but neither am I anti-charismatic. The Word of Faith Movement, however, does at times denigrate and even deny some of the fundamental, non-negotiable truths of the Christian Faith (as documented in the seminar, especially in Sessions 1 and 2). It may be said that all Word of Faith adherents are charismatic, but not all charismatics are Word of Faith. I have had a number of charismatic pastors to attend my seminars and, to a man, they have found little, if any, with which they would disagree.
When it comes to minor, peripheral issues of the faith, we as believers in the Lord Jesus may have differences of opinion and still call one another brother and sister in Christ. When it comes to the fundamentals, however, we must all unite in stalwart defense.
I have presented A Call for Discernment in eighteen states thus far to churches of widely varying sizes. Regardless of the size of the church there are always people who will approach me telling me how either they themselves or one of their loved ones has been adversely affected by this movement. It is making alarming inroads even to our Baptist churches. One mother whose son has Muscular Dystrophy recently told me, 'Justin, ever since my son was diagnosed with M.D., I have blamed myself for his condition because I have been told that if I just had enough faith or if I loved him enough that he would be healed. Now for the first time I realize that his illness is not my fault.' It is for ladies like her and millions of others that I take the stand that I do.
Not everything that the Word of Faith teachers teach is wrong. Some of it is right. Therein, however, lies the seduction. It is a craftily packaged counterfeit gospel made to look like the real thing. A Call for Discernment is being used by God to bring clarity and understanding to a complicated and confusing issue.
Justin's Credentials
Throughout his years as a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, Justin studied at great depth the Word of Faith movement. The thesis he wrote for his Master's of Theology (Th.M.) degree is entitled An Examination and Critique of the Life, Ministry and Theology of Healing evangelist Benny Hinn.
In addition to his academic research, Justin also has attended numerous Benny Hinn crusades and has been witness first hand to the harm, both physical and spiritual, that the Word of Faith movement inflicts upon so many. As a teenager, Justin himself attended faith-healing services in hopes of being delivered from his Cerebral Palsy. Though the potential was there to shake his faith in the Lord, in the long run, these experiences had the opposite effect. Says Justin:
Some have made the charge against me that I am just bitter about not being healed. I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. Next to my salvation, my Cerebral Palsy is one of the greatest gifts (an imperfect word to be sure) God has ever allowed me to have. He has used it to keep me dependent upon Him and through it has shown me His "sufficient grace" and "strength made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9)
In 2004, Justin was featured as an expert witness for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's documentary on Benny Hinn entitled Do You Believe In Miracles
In 2006 Justin was interviewed for the documentary entitled Suffer the Children produced by Trevor Glass. This documentary shows the profound harm, both physical and spiritual, that the Prosperity gospel inflicts upon so many.
Endorsement:
"The dangers of the Word of Faith Movement are as real as they are pervasive. The message from thousands of pulpits is that God wants you to be happy, healthy, and rich. But this is not biblical Christianity, as Justin Peters so adequately demonstrates in his exceptional presentation. With clarity and credibility, Peters exposes the Word of Faith Movement for what it really is—a farce. Local churches will benefit greatly from his personal experience and vast research on this important topic."
Pastor, Grace Community Church
Sun Valley, CA
http://www.justinpeters.org/
The Cultic Views of Arnold Murray and the Shepherd's Chapel By William M. Alnor
Tagged Arnold Murray, British Israelism, Christian cult, Christian identity, Cult, Denise Murray, false gospel, first earth age, occult, Pistol packing preacher, Racism, rapture, serpent seed, Serpent seed theory, Shepard's chapel, Trinity, William Branham
For the past five years this ministry has received occasional inquires about Arnold Murray of Gravette, Ark. It seems that his message is blanketing the Delaware Valley through his "Shepherd's Chapel" television show seen several times a day on various stations, including on Channel 61 Wilmington/Philadelphia.
We were at first put off by his television attitude that is marked by frequent insults and crass language. He thunders against people who write him letters ( all delivered while he sits behind a desk in front of an American flag). We were also surprised by the strength and loyalty of his following; he is on the air in numerous major markets throughout the U.S.
But, his outward behavior is merely a symptom of his heretical doctrine. The message Arnold Murray is spreading is cultic and lethal to one's soul. And from an earthly perspective his teachings promote bigotry against Jews, blacks and all non-Anglo-Saxon people. This contrasts markedly with the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (Gal. 5:22-23).
So beware of Arnold Murray. He is a wolf in sheep's clothing and though he may rant and rave against historic orthodox teachers saying they don't know their Bibles, he is the one who doesn't know his Bible.
He:
Denies the historic doctrine of the Trinity.
Believes that men were once gods who existed prior to living on the earth.
Teaches the divisive doctrine promoted by other cults that the Anglo-Saxons are the chosen race, and America and Great Britain are the lost tribes of the children of Israel.
Denies the existence of hell.
Claims the doctrine of the rapture is "cultic."
Bestows a special honor on himself, claiming to be God's exclusive end time messenger for the world.
Falsely claims to have a doctorate degree from a properly accredited university or seminary.
But the core of his teaching centers around the sinister "serpent seed" doctrine that has been linked to various identity "Christian" and right-wing neo-nazi groups. What this doctrine teaches is that in the Garden of Eden, Eve's sin was that of having literal sexual intercourse with the serpent, which resulted in the pregnancy that produced Cain; the devil's literal offspring.
Murray says the descendants of this offspring are the "Kenites," a hybrid that include the Jews of today. These were the "Jews" who killed Christ, he has stated in his tape called "Grace: Baptism," adding that "if you have ever really believed that group was the chosen of God you were deceived by Satan!"
In the same tape Murray teaches that even among Christians the different races should have no fellowship.
But Paul says in Gal. 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Express your outrage to any television station that carries Murray and his evil message.
http://www.cultlink.com/sentinel/murray.html