Confessing It Means Possessing It

Word Faith celebrity, Kenneth Copeland, says, "What you are saying is exactly what you are getting now. If you are living in poverty, in lack and want, change what you are saying...The powerful force of the spiritual world that creates the circumstances around us is controlled by the words of the mouth." Kenneth E. Hagin, who served for many years as Copeland's mentor, echoes his protege: "Your right confession will become a reality, and then you will get whatever you need from God."

Positively confessing something is the very first step to getting what is wanted (i.e., healing, a new boat, someone to marry, etc.). The "force of faith" coupled with a carefully conceived positive confession is really the only way to produce results because such methods are what releases God's ability to bring about the things desired: "God's word conceived in the heart, then formed with the tongue and spoken out of the mouth becomes a spiritual force releasing the ability of God."

The stress placed on correct "speaking" often leads to some rather interesting instructions on how to "make" God work:

What do you need? Start creating it. Start speaking about it. Start speaking it into being. Speak to your billfold. Say, "You big, thick billfold, full of money." Speak to your chequebook. Say, "You, chequebook, you. You have never been so prosperous since I owned you. You're just jammed full of money." Say to your body, "You're whole, body! Why, you just function so beautifully and so well. Why, body, you never have any problems. You're a strong healthy body." Or speak to your leg, or speak to your foot, or speak to your neck, or speak to your back...Speak to your wife, speak to your husband, speak to your circumstances; and speak faith to them to create in them and God will create in them what you are speaking.

This exhortation, as humourous as it sounds, masks a cruelty that comes through whenever someone in the Word Faith movement faces trials. Just as positive words have the power to create positive (good) results, negative words have the power to create negative (bad) results, at least to the Word Faith followers. Consequently, those suffering have only themselves to blame, say the Word Faith teachers. As Frederick K.C. Price says, "If you keep talking death, that is what you are going to have. If you keep talking sickness and disease, that is what you are going to have, because you are going to create the reality of them with your own mouth. That is a divine law." (Walter Martin)