In Word
Faith religion, the believer is told to
use God, whereas the truth of biblical
Christianity is just the opposite, God
uses the believer. Word Faith or
prosperity theology sees the Holy Spirit
as a power to put to use for whatever
the believer wills. The Bible teaches
that the Holy Spirit is a Person who
enables the believer to do God's will.
The movement closely resembles some of
the destructive greed sects that
infiltrated the early church. Paul and
the other apostles were not
accommodating to or conciliatory with
the false teachers who propagated such
heresy. They identified them as
dangerous false teachers and urged
Christians to avoid them.
Paul warned Timothy about:
1Timothy
6:5, 9-11 Perverse disputings
of men of corrupt minds, and destitute
of the truth, supposing that gain is
godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
But they that will be rich fall into
temptation and a snare, and [into]
many foolish and hurtful lusts, which
drown men in destruction and
perdition. For the love of money is
the root of all evil: which while some
coveted after, they have erred from
the faith, and pierced themselves
through with many sorrows. But thou, O
man of God, flee these things; and
follow after righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, patience, meekness.
Paul said covetousness is idolatry
(Ephesians 5:5) and forbade the
Ephesians to be partakers with anyone
who brought a message of immorality or
covetousness (Ephesians 5:6-7).
Prosperity teaching prohibits God from
working on His own, meaning that God is
not Lord of all because He cannot work
until we release Him to do so. Faith,
according to the Word of Faith doctrine,
is not submissive trust in God; faith is
a formula by which we manipulate the
spiritual laws prosperity teachers
believe govern the universe. As in the
name "Word of Faith" implies,
this movement teaches that faith is a
matter of what we say more than whom we
trust or what truths we embrace and
affirm in our hearts.
A favorite term in the Word of Faith
movement is "positive
confession." It refers to the Word
of Faith teaching that words have
creative power. What you say, Word of
Faith teachers claim, determines
everything that happens to you. Your
confessions, especially the favors you
demand of God, must all be stated
positively and without wavering. Then
God is required to answer. Thus God's
ability to bless us supposedly hangs on
our faith. James 4:13- 16 clearly
contradicts this teaching,
James
4:13-16 Go to now, ye that say,
To day or to morrow we will go into
such a city, and continue there a
year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Whereas ye know not what [shall
be] on the morrow. For what
[is]
your life? It is even a vapour, that
appeareth for a little time, and then
vanisheth away. For that ye [ought]
to say, If the Lord will, we shall
live, and do this, or that. But now ye
rejoice in your boastings: all such
rejoicing is evil.
Far from stressing the importance of
wealth, the Bible warns against pursuing
it. Believers, especially leaders in the
church (1 Timothy 3:3), are to be free
from the love of money (Hebrews 13:5).
Love of money is the root of all evil (1
Timothy 6:10). Jesus warned,
Luke
12:15 …Take heed, and beware of
covetousness: for a man's life
consisteth not in the abundance of the
things which he possesseth.
In sharp contrast to the Word Faith's
gospel's emphasis on gaining money and
possessions in this life, Jesus said
Mat
6:19 Lay not up for yourselves
treasures upon earth, where moth and
rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
break through and steal:
The
irreconcilable contradiction between
prosperity teaching gospel and the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is best
summed up in the words of Jesus in
Matthew 6:24, "You cannot serve God
and mammon."
