Faith Teachers Confess - Their Faith Teachings Don't Work

We think everyone should listen carefully to the words of Robert Tilton and Kenneth Hagin. Robert Tilton emphasizes the following: "If something isn't working, it doesn't have any virtue or life-giving substance in it. Discard it, because it is not accurate thinking...[It is] low level Christianity..." Kenneth Hagin confesses, "Remember, it's not a disgrace to be wrong; it's a disgrace to stay wrong. If we are wrong, thank God we can straighten up and do right, no matter who we are."

If one reads the writings of the Faith teachers extensively, one discovers that both individually and philosophically they may contradict themselves. This means that a person who follows one Faith teacher is actually doing what another Faith teacher warns against. It also means Faith followers have to balance theological contradictions -- such as the need for submission to God in the context of attempting to exert independent divine authority through confession and demanding. Significantly, the Faith teachers also confess -- almost to a man -- that in practice, the Faith teachings do not actually work that well. They do not do this directly, for that would discredit their own ministries [as well as cost them a lot of money]. But they do it indirectly by continually requiring new conditions for Faith principles to operate under and by rationalizing the constant failures on the part of their followers. Thus, some teachers have felt it necessary to write books or give lectures on why the principles of the Faith Movement don't seem to be working. Invariably, it is because

1. the person does not have "proper" faith
2. the person does not have "enough" faith
3. the person has misunderstood something
4. the person has secret sin in his/her life
5. the person is merely confessing and not commanding

For example, Hagin teaches because the "currents of unbelief are so persistent" in the world that only an extremely small number of Christians will ever rise above them. In other words, only a very few participants in the Faith Movement can ever really expect Faith results.

Further, we are told that we can use spiritual laws that work by pure fiat for anyone, anytime, merely by our confessing them in true faith. But then we are told no, it is not just confession that is needed, but commanding and demanding. But according to Copeland, even this may fail because the laws really don't work inevitably and "the power of patience must be put into operation to undergird your act of faith..." Of course, if the proper working of the Faith principles is dependent upon an individual person's faith, commands, patience, circumstances, etc., then these "inviolate" principles have just died the death of a thousand qualifications and are worthless to begin with. [What more is there to say?]

(from The Facts on the Faith Movement by John Ankerberg & John Weldon)