Virtually every book in the Bible tells Christians that they are going to suffer in this life -- from persecution, various trials, and also from God's own will. Nevertheless, the Apostle Peter says that we are to "rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ" (1 Peter 4:13). He even connects suffering to the will of God: "So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good" (1 Peter 4:19). The Apostle Paul refers to "the Kingdom of God for which you are suffering" and tells us we can expect problems and troubles until Christ returns (2 Thessalonians 1:5-7).
Peter further tells us that we are not alone in our sufferings, for Christians "throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings" (1 Peter 5:9), and Paul, far from calling poverty "an evil spirit" to be removed by word-faith power, naturally assumes its existence (1 Timothy 5:16). And perhaps even more important, nowhere does he naturally assume the existence of prosperity, wealth, and success for Christians with the "faith."
Nevertheless Robert Tilton and others say that believers who properly exercise faith and confession never need have problems or troubles in life again. But didn't Jesus say in John 16:33, "In this world you will have trouble"?
Kenneth Hagin says that he never confesses his doubts: "I never talk sickness...I never talk disease...I never talk failure...I never talk about what the devil has done. I'm not interested in his works." Further, he even confesses that he would not tell the truth in order to maintain a positive attitude: "But if I had a headache, I wouldn't tell anybody. And if somebody asked me how I was feeling, I would say, 'I'm fine, thank you.' I would speak the right WORDS, because Jesus said in Mark 11:23, 'He shall have whatsoever he saith.'" And , "I wouldn't tell anybody if I had a doubt-thought, or a fear-thought. I wouldn't accept it. I wouldn't tell somebody if the thought came to me..." But doesn't the Bible tell us that we are to "speak the truth in love" to one another (Ephesians 4:15)?
And isn't the Bible full of "negative confessions" by Jesus, the apostles, and all the prophets? Didn't Jesus say that "each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:34)?
The Faith teachers say "Never confess fear." But the Apostle Paul himself confessed, "For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be...I fear there may be quarrelling, jealousy, outbursts of anger...arrogance and disorder. I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented..." (2 Corinthians 12:20-21).
The Faith teachers claim that we should: "never confess trouble" or Satan's ability to hinder us. But the Apostle Paul says that he wished to visit the Thessalonians, "yet Satan thwarted us" (1 Thessalonians 3:5-7).
Throughout the New Testament we find statements such as the following: "Death is at work in us"; "Outwardly we are wasting away"; "We were under great pressure far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death" (see 2 Corinthians 1:8-9; 2:4; 4:8-12, 16; 5:4).
The truth is that the Bible is full of what the Faith Movement would call "negative confessions" and yet they are the words of godly apostles and prophets -- men of great faith. If the faith teachings are true, how can this be so?
(From The Facts on the Faith Movement by John Ankerberg & John Weldon)
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