To answer this we must first explain the "seed-faith" principle. It is a combination of elements of Positive Thinking psychology, "positive confession" based on divine "laws," and a "gospel" stressing "prosperity" or health and wealth. Oral Roberts believes that his "seed-faith" principle is something that Jesus Himself revealed to him. Roberts calls it a "blessing-pact covenant." He claims this is "God's way of doing things through His Son Jesus Christ. . . and then through His followers, for the meeting of all our needs. . ."
Roberts teaches that the first principle of "seed-faith" is that God is our Source of total supply. His second principle is giving money. Giving money is "the seed of faith itself" and this "seed" can then be directed by the giver to perform miracles. His third principle is to expect a miracle. Why? Roberts says it is because this is "God's way of doing things . . . [and it is] based on eternal laws . . . laws so exact and perfect they always work for you."
Here is one of Roberts' illustrations of how giving money is the seed that produces miracles. In January of 1985 Oral Roberts sent out a letter informing his supporters that they could send for his "33 Predictions for You in 1985." These predictions were allegedly based on Roberts' exercising his "gift of prophesy" for them. The many recipients of this letter were instructed to expect "creative miracles" and money. The reader was urged to send a "seed-faith gift" which would help him get a "hundredfold return" but there was a catch. Roberts said, "If you neglect to pay attention to what He [God] is especially saying to you, then Satan will take advantage and hit you with bad things and you will wish that 1985 had never come." What could you have concluded from these statements if you didn't want to send any seed-faith money?
Even Roberts' former daughter-in-law, Patti Roberts, now questions her involvement in Roberts' ministry. Besides guilt over the excessive wealth the Roberts enjoyed, she noted "the seed-faith" theology that Roberts had developed "bothered me a great deal because I saw that, when taken to extremes, it reduced God to a sugardaddy. If you wanted His blessings and His love, you paid Him off. Over and over again we heard Oral say, 'Give out of your need.' I began to question the motivation that kind of giving implied. Were we giving to God out of our love and gratitude to Him or were we bartering with Him? . . . I believed we were appealing to their sense of greed or desperation. . . . I had a very difficult time distinguishing between the [Roman Catholic] selling of indulgences and the concept of seed-faith. . . . " Patti Roberts felt Oral Roberts was a manipulative fund-raiser and she also had a problem with his priorities -- the principles of seed-faith were given on every T.V. show, yet the gospel itself was rarely given.
Our problems with Roberts' seed-faith principles are: First, the conversations Roberts had with Jesus are suspect. If Jesus actually intended these principles for all believers, then why didn't He put them in the Bible instead of waiting until Oral Roberts arrived on the scene in the 20th century? Has the Christian church from the time of Christ and the apostles to the present been left without these divine principles? If so, how did the church manage?
Remember, Jesus supposedly told Roberts the following four things. First, "I have come to remind men of this eternal law of sowing and reaping, or of giving and receiving?" Second, Roberts claimed "Jesus" told him that his principle of seed-faith was the deeper meaning of Matthew 17:20 ("If you have faith as a mustard seed. . ."). Third, Jesus included Galatians 6:7 ("Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap") as part of these principles. Fourth, he explained that "St. Paul stated the New Testament or New Covenant is based on seed-faith."
But lets stop for a moment. Could Jesus have said these things? Is this what Paul meant? Paul did not even mention seed-faith, let alone say the New Testament is based on it. And according to the writer of Hebrews, the New Covenant is based on the Person and Work of Christ (Hebrews 9:15), not the principles of seed-faith giving, which will produce miracles for any giver.
Also, the Jesus that spoke to Roberts was mistaken about his "deeper meanings" in Scripture. This is serious, because often known cultists use "deeper meanings" to prove their unbiblical teachings or heresy in the same way. The meaning of New Testament words can always be determined by checking a dictionary and by reading them in context. Before one applies Scripture, one must first determine its true meaning. And the one true meaning of Matthew 17:20 and Galatians 6:7 is not Oral Robert's "seed-faith" interpretation, as any good commentary will show. The same can be said of the false interpretation of Galatians 6:9 stated by Roberts' "Jesus" ("let us not become weary in doing good" NIV). This is simply not a reference to seed-faith.
If we accept Roberts' claim of Jesus' additions or corrections to Scripture here, where do we draw the line? One may accept this teaching as a teaching of Oral Roberts. However, if one accepts the Bible as an authority, one cannot accept Roberts' statements as the teachings of Jesus Christ. Who, then, is really speaking to Oral Roberts? It is such a crucial question to determine who is speaking to Roberts that we present another illustration.
Jesus supposedly told Roberts that when the Bible records His statement, "It is more blessed to give than to receive," (found in Acts 20:35), that His actual words do not convey His true meaning. Jesus revealed to Roberts that, "I meant it is more productive to give than to receive." Here we must ask, would the Jesus Christ of the Scriptures who is the same yesterday, today and forever and who "never changes" (Hebrews 1:12;13:8; Malachi 3:6), be someone who would shift the meaning away from what Scripture actually records? Would the Jesus Christ of Scripture change His mind? If so, how many other verses require Jesus to give new interpretations to make them accurate? What does this do to the verbal inspiration of the Bible? The fact is that the Greek word for "blessed" (makarion) means "blessed," "fortunate," or "happy" -- it does not mean "productive." Does Roberts expect us to believe that Jesus Himself has completely changed the emphasis of His original meaning from the joy of giving to the utility of giving? The biblical Jesus said, "Freely you received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8). To lead men to expect an automatic financial return of a hundredfold simply because they gave their money is to corrupt the very purpose and nature of giving. To our way of thinking, this leads to old-fashioned selfishness; moreover, one wonders how many people have "given to get" and ended up in financial difficulty or ruin. If God does not work this way, and these seed-faith principles are really not biblical, then those who trust in them will find constant disappointment and question God's truth and loyalty.
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