Are You Being Deceived?

I asked myself, how in the world could any born-again believer in Christ buy into this rubbish. Well, Saints, I have the answer for you. They don't know their Bible. They don't know the very words of Jesus, Himself. They are being deceived by these false teachers. This is a part of the answer to "why". There is a lot more written on this subject in our Bibles. This only begins to touch on the answer to "why".

Matthew 24:3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"
4 And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.

Please read this very good article written by a brother, Gary Gilley. The title of the article is:

The Word of Faith Movement by Gary Gilley

Word of Faith

The fastest growing segment of Christianity today is the Word of Faith Movement, also known as the Positive Confession or simply "Faith" movement. It’s growth is at least partially due to the massive amounts of money the leaders are able to extract from the faithful. This influx of cash allows for huge buildings and extensive ministries, and more importantly, wide exposure on television, which translates into numerical growth. Not only do many Word of Faith preachers broadcast their services and campaigns, but the largest Christian-based television network in the world is owned by Faith adherents, Paul and Jan Crouch. The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), founded by the Crouches, with an estimated net worth of one-half a billion dollars, is capable of televising the Faith message (as well as many other errant messages) all over the world.
Well-known personalities within the movement include Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Robert Tilton (who is staging a come-back), Paul Yonggi Cho, Benny Hinn, Marilyn Hickey, Frederick Price, John Avanzini, Charles Capps, Jerry Savelle, Morris Cerullo and of course, Paul and Jan Crouch.

Beliefs

Faith is a Force
As is implied by the title "Word of Faith," the supporters of this movement believe that faith works like a mighty power or force. Through faith we can obtain anything we want — health, wealth, success, whatever. However, this force is only released through the spoken word. As we speak the words of faith, power is discharged to accomplish our desires. Hank Hanegraaf summarizes Hagin’s theme as found in his booklet How to Write Your Own Ticket with God:
In the opening chapter, titled "Jesus Appears to Me," Hagin claims that while he "was in the Spirit" — just like the apostle John on the Isle of Patmos — a white cloud enveloped him and he began to speak in tongues. "Then the Lord Jesus Himself appeared to me," says Hagin. "He stood within three feet of me." After what sounded like a casual conversation about such things as finances, ministry, and even current affairs, Jesus told Hagin to get a pencil and a piece of paper. He then instructed him to "Write down: 1,2,3,4." Jesus then allegedly told Hagin that "if anybody, anywhere, will take these four steps or put these four principles into operation, he will always receive whatever he wants from Me or from God the Father." That includes whatever you want financially. The formula is simply: "Say it, Do it, Receive it, and Tell it."
1. Step number one is "Say it." "Positive or negative, it is up to the individual. According to what the individual says, that shall he receive."
2. Step number two is "Do it." "Your action defeats you or puts you over. According to your action, you receive or you are kept from receiving."
3. Step number three is "Receive it." We are to plug into the "powerhouse of heaven." "Faith is the plug, praise God! Just plug in."
4. Step number four is "Tell it so others may believe." This final step might be considered the Faith movement’s outreach program (Christianity in Crisis, p. 74,75).
Kenneth Copeland states the faith formula this way: "All it takes is 1) Seeing or visualizing whatever you need, whether physical or financial; 2) Staking your claim on Scripture; and 3) Speaking it into existence" (ibid. p. 80).
Paul Yonggi Cho, borrowing from the occult, has developed what he calls the "Law of Incubation." Here is how it works: "First make a clear-cut goal, then draw a mental picture, vivid and graphic, to visualize success. Then incubate it into reality, and finally speak it into existence through the creative power of the spoken word" (ibid. pp. 83,84). If a positive confession of faith releases power, then a negative confession can actually backfire. Capps says the tongue "can kill you, or it can release the life of God within you." This is so because, "Faith is a seed. . . you plant it by speaking it." There is power in "the evil fourth dimension" says Cho. Hagin informs us that if you confess sickness you get sickness, if you confess health you get health, whatever you say you get. "This spoken word. . . releases power — power for good or power for evil," is the commonly held view of the movement. It is easy to see why the title "Positive Confession" is often applied to this group.
As you might guess the teachings of the Faith movement are very attractive to some. If we can produce whatever our hearts desire by simply demanding what we want by faith; if we can manipulate the universe and perhaps even God, then we have our own personal genie just waiting to fulfill our wishes. Frederick Price wastes no words when he writes, "Now this is a shocker! But God has to be given permission to work in this earth realm on behalf of man. . . .Yes! You are in control! So if man has control, who no longer has it? God. . . . When God gave Adam dominion, that meant God no longer had dominion. So, God cannot do anything on this earth unless we let Him or give Him permission through prayer" (Prayer: Do You Know What Prayer Is. . . and How to Pray? The Word Study Bible, p. 1178). This is certainly a theology that would appeal to the masses, and thus accounts for the Faith movement’s popularity.

The Deification of Man

Faith teachers like to teach, based upon serious mishandling of passages such as John 10:31-39 and II Peter 1:4, that Christians are "little gods." Copeland says, "Now Peter said by exceeding great and precious promises you become partakers of the divine nature. All right, are we gods? We are a class of gods!" (Christianity in Crisis, p. 116). Benny Hinn declares that "God came from heaven, became a man, made man into little gods, went back to heaven as a man" (ibid. p. 382 n. 43). Earl Paulk wrote, "Until we comprehend that we are little gods and we begin to act like little gods, we cannot manifest the kingdom of God" (Satan Unmasked, p. 97).

The Humanization of God

While man is glorified, God is humiliated in the Faith system. Copeland claims that God is a being who stands about 6’2", 6’3", that weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of a couple of hundred pounds, and has a hand span of 9" across (Christianity in Crisis, p. 121). Copeland also declares that "Adam was the copy, looked just like (God). If you stood Adam beside God, they looked just exactly alike. If you stood Jesus and Adam side-by-side, they would look and sound exactly alike" (ibid. p. 137).
Many embrace a heresy known as Tritheism which in essence teaches that there are really three separate Gods. Hinn, under supposed inspiration, explains:
Man, I feel revelation knowledge already coming on me here. Holy Spirit, take over in the name of Jesus. . . . God the Father, ladies and gentlemen, is a person; and He is a triune being by Himself separate from the Son and the Holy Ghost. Say, what did you say? Hear it, hear it, hear it. See, God the Father is a person, God the Son is a person, God the Holy Ghost is a person. But each one of them is a triune being by Himself. If I can shock you — and maybe I should — there’s nine of them. Huh, what did you say? Let me explain: God the Father, ladies and gentlemen, is a person with his own personal spirit, with his own personal soul, and his own personal spirit-body. You say, Huh, I never heard that. Well you think you’re in this church to hear things you’ve heard for the last 50 years? You can’t argue with the Word, can you? It’s all in the Word (Christianity in Crisis, p. 123,124).
Hinn, under fire, later retracted his remarks, only to reaffirm them two years later.
Jesus supposedly told Copeland, "They crucified me for claiming that I was God. But I didn’t claim I was God; I just claimed I walked with Him and that he was in me" (ibid. p. 137,8). Many of the Faith heresies concerning God can be traced to the notes found in Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible.

The Distortion of the Cross

Hanegraaf documents four atonement-related errors on the part of the Faith teachers (see footnotes in Christianity in Crisis):
First, many of the Faith teachers contend that Christ was re-created on the cross from divine to demonic. To put it in Faith vernacular, Jesus took on the very nature of Satan himself. Second, according to Faith theology, your redemption was not secured on the cross, but in hell. In fact, many Faith teachers claim that Christ’s torture by all the demons of hell was a "ransom" God paid to Satan so that He could get back into a universe from which He had been banished. Third, many Faith teachers insist that Jesus was reborn (or born again) in the very pit of hell. Fourth, Faith theology holds that Christ was reincarnated through His rebirth in hell and that those who (like Christ) are born again can become "incarnated" as well. Thus Faith teachers take Christ, the spotless Lamb, and pervert Him into an unholy sacrifice on the cross (Christianity In Crisis, p.153).

To be continued.....(Practices & Experiences)