Other Distorted Views of Positive Thinkers

The faith teachers have misread the plain meaning of the words of the Bible in their context.  Gloria Copeland, Kenneth's wife, is a good example of how the faith teachers not only misinterpret but occasionally deliberately delete the words of Scripture that deny their view.  For example, Gloria Copeland quotes Daniel 3:17, 18, which is the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo where they told the king that they would not serve their gods.  These men tell us they believe it could be God's will not to save them, but they will still trust and serve Him just like Job . . . .  But this goes against the theology of the Copelands and other faith teachers who say Christians should overcome in every circumstance.  Since the words of Daniel 3:18 didn't fit her view, Gloria deleted them.  She leaves out the words "but even if He does not".  She actually cites a Scripture in her defense that were it quoted in full would disprove the point she is making.

Consider the following areas that the faith teaching has distorted.

God

Faith teaching has distorted both the sovereignty of God and the will of God.  God is no longer sovereign if He can be forced to act on the basis of what men do.  Thus, in some cases, His will can be replaced with man's will.  In essence, what God's sovereignty lacks, human sovereignty supplies.  Not even God will interfere with the believers "divine rights."

Jesus and the Atonement

Faith teachers have redefined the mission of Jesus Christ to incorporate their beliefs.  For example, J. Osteen teaches, "did Jesus die for your prosperity?  Yes."  Robert Tilton teaches, "Jesus came to deliver man from failure, and to cause him to be once again a success . . . Christians who do not believe in divine healing, who do not believe in prosperity -- they do not believe in what was atoned for  at Calvary."  Charles Capps teaches that Jesus came and died for us to get Adam's power back to rule and dominate the earth.  Gloria Copeland states, "You have a titled deed to prosperity.  Jesus bought and paid for your prosperity just like He bought and paid for your healing and your salvation . . . .  This prosperity already belongs to you."  Here you can see these four faith teachers are saying that because of Jesus' death on the cross, He bought and paid for your healing or success now.  Their conclusion is that (even if it takes time to manifest) you can claim success or immediate healing by faith.

This is wrong.  Why?  First, because it is another misinterpretation of Scripture; namely, Isaiah 53:4, 5 and Matthew 8:17.  

Secondly, it is wrong because the Bible plainly teaches that the average Christian, the Apostles, and Jesus Himself did not teach or hold this view.  Physical healing is not the instantaneous gift assumed by the faith teachers.  The Apostle Paul himself had a physical infirmity or bodily illness he simply had to live with.  Paul told Timothy to take a little wine "for the sake of your stomach [problems] and your frequent ailments."  Paul said, "Trophimus I left sick at Miletus."  Paul never once told Timothy or anyone else to "claim your healing."  He clearly did not believe the death of Christ healed believers' illnesses.  Otherwise, how did such great men of faith as Paul and Timothy fail to know and teach that Christ died for our illnesses?  Nor was Christ's death a guarantee of success in this life.  To the contrary, by worldly standards, Paul, the apostles, and the early church were highly unsuccessful.  These godly men accepted the fact of their sickness and tribulations.  Even Jesus also accepted and expected sickness and hardship among believers.  In fact, Jesus Himself taught that sickness could be to the glory of God.  Jesus said of Lazarus, "this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it "(John 11:4).

Faith

In prosperity thinking, faith is similar to the power of magic.  J. Osteen states, ". . . faith reaches out into the invisible area.  It creates the physical realm out of invisible truths."  Here the faith teachers ascribe faith as a force to be exerted upon God forcing Him to act in our behalf.  But this is wrong.  The Bible nowhere states that God relinquished His will to each one of our wills.  He knows that would be chaos.

Man

In Positive Confession,  man is considered "a god" or a godlike being.  In some ways man is the ruler of God, who is his servant.  Like the genie in the bottle, man decides what he wants and then commands or demands God to do his bidding.  In some teachings, man comes close to deification.  

As Charles Capps states, "natural men can become supernatural" . . . and are no longer totally subject to their natural ability."  For example, the miracles done in the book of Acts were not done solely and directly by God but by believers exercising their supernatural powers and influence on others.  In Acts 14:8-10 when Paul told the cripple "stand up," the result is that "spirit words received into his spirit released spiritual power in his physical body.  This creative ability of spirit words formed in his spirit and produced physical results."

Nevertheless, the idea that men are gods is denied in the Bible.  Even Paul, a man of great faith, never considered himself a god.  

Angels

The prosperity movement is overly obsessed with the demonic and has distorted biblical teaching on the angels.  Many teach that physical illness results from demons.  They do this even though Scripture clearly distinguishes physical illness and demon possession (Luke 8:2).  Frances Hunter, for example, teaches "a demon takes a look at a woman and says, 'Wow, I think I will lay a little cancer on her. . . ' so he jumps into her body . . . and before long, the woman discovers she has cancer of the breast . . . . "  Not only does such teaching produce fear of demons in people, it offers a cruel and false hope of a "quick fix" by "exorcism" to those with serious illness.  The logical conclusion of reading some of the faith teachers' instruction has been to lead many people into fear and bondage to demons.  An example of how far this can be taken is seen by Don Basham's teaching that post-nasal drip, fingernail biting, and arthritis of the knees, among many other normal ailments, can be caused by demons. 

Conclusion

Many people have been influenced by false teaching in the church.  Some of them have been hurt because these teachings have not worked.  For example, the "faith assembly" of Hobart Freeman has resulted in the deaths of almost 100 people because his people were told that seeking medical help was supposedly "a sin" and "denial of faith."  Instead they were to claim their healing.  But sadly in claiming their healing the sick all died one by one.  This is just one of the terrible consequences of false teaching.  Not surprisingly, many of the other people felt betrayed and felt like giving up on Christianity.

Jesus stated that false teachings will lead to harmful consequences (Matthew 7:17; 24:11, 12: Acts 20:30), but He said there is a way out.  Those who truly live by His Word , the Bible, can stand the pressures of life because their lives are built on His Word, the solid rock (Matthew 7:24-27).  He promises those who know and obey His Word, that they will be set free (John 8:31, 32).  Have you neglected to learn and obey His Word, relying instead on spiritual experiences and unbiblical faith?

If you are hurt, feel betrayed, and feel like giving up on Christianity, what can you do?  First, you should not continue to fellowship where false teachings are taught (Romans 16:17).  Diligently search until you find a church where the Word of God is honoured and taught accurately, where the pastor has spent years of study in an evangelical seminary.  

Second, you must learn the Word of God yourself.  Take the time and effort to learn the basic doctrines of the Bible so that you will know when it is being "wrongly divided" (misinterpreted).

You should visit a Christian bookstore and purchase some good commentaries.

Try and help those still caught in false teachings.  The Bible encourages us to reprove those following false teachings "severely that they may be sound in the faith" (Titus 1:13).

Finally, we ask some of you to consider whether you have substituted a technique of salvation for salvation itself.  Is what you consider "faith" in God really nothing more than a mechanical technique to manipulate God for your own ends?  In John 6:26, 27 Jesus said that many people followed Him only to satisfy their own hunger.  He said instead of following Him for "food that perishes" they should rather seek the "food that endures to eternal life."  Jesus went on to explain that His food that endures to eternal life was not anything material that we can possess; rather it is true knowledge of God Himself (John 6:33-35).

Augustine spoke of this true knowledge in his commentary on Psalm 73.  There he said that God Himself should be our only treasure and reward.  To seek anything but God alone is not to seek for God.  Does this depict you?  Do you love God for Himself alone or for what you can get out of Him?

-  John Ankerberg & John Weldon

For more information on Victory Churches and the Faith Movement, go to the Reference Library.  Click on any book title to get a brief overview of the book.  All books on the list are available through www.amazon.com. 

Ye Shall Be As Gods

Throughout almost two thousand years of her turbulent history, the Christian church has been set upon by many adversaries.  The Apostle Paul, in his great charge to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20, anticipated the threat of heresy, and schism in his own lifetime:

... Savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.  Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them...

[This is exactly what happened in the formation of Barrie Victory Centre -- talk to the people at Mapleview Community Church and they will confirm that this is how Barrie Victory Centre had its beginnings.  I wonder who the "savage wolves" are in this case?]

It should be observed that Paul mentions two specific categories for the attacks being made upon the Church.  The first category includes overt enemies of the faith; atheists, agnostics, sceptics, secularists, and scoffers.  It also includes non-Christian religions, the cults, and the occult.  But the "savage wolves" are even more dangerous when they are part of the second category:  "Even from your own number," says Paul, "men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them."  [The twenty or so couples who were drawn away from Mapleview Pentecostal Church in the beginning will remember exactly how this happened.]  Today the words of Paul are fulfilled in plain sight as the church is divided by schismatic sheep who mix cultic and occultic doctrine with biblical truth, perverting the Gospel of Christ.

Some, for example, teach that Christians are actually gods.  The Mormons teach that men may become gods by accepting their revelations and by submitting to their authority.  However, this is something that takes place in the future and is designated as exaltation.  Since the Mormons are genuine polytheists (i.e., believing in "many gods") as opposed to monotheists (accepting only one God), they maintain that faithful Mormons can eventually become gods in the same manner and of the same nature as Jesus Christ and His Father.  Mormonism has never been recognized by the Christian church as a bonified Christian faith since its inception in 1830 through the work of Joseph Smith, Jr.

We should not fail to note that Mormons affirm that the divinity of man is to be accomplished after the death of the body, a bad enough departure from the Christian faith but, sadly, there are those who function within the Christian church who do not hesitate to make the claim now!

The "Little Gods" Doctrine

Earl Paulk, Charles Capps, Robert Tilton, Kenneth Copeland, and Kenneth E. Hagen are among the leading proponents of the "little gods" teaching.

Earl Paulk writes "Adam and Eve were placed in the world as the seed and expression of God.  Just as dogs have puppies and cats have kittens, so God has little gods."  But, he says, "we have trouble comprehending this truth."  He adds, "Until we comprehend that we are little gods, and we begin to act like little gods, we cannot manifest the Kingdom of God."

Robert Tilton asserts, "You are . . . a god-kind of creature.  Originally you were designed to be as a god in this world.  Man was designed or created by God to be the god of this world . . .. Of course, man forfeited his dominion to Satan who became the god of this world."

Kenneth Copeland insists that "man had total authority to rule as a god over every living creature on earth, and he was to rule by speaking words.  His words would carry the power and annointing of God that was in him from the time he was first created."

Casey Treat, Pastor of Seattle's Christian Faith Centre, tells us in his taped series "Believing in Yourself" to come to the point where we feel comfortable claiming our godhood:

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost had a conference and they said, 'let us make man an exact duplicate of us' . . .

When God looks in the mirror, He sees me!  When I look in the mirror, I see God!  Oh, hallelujah! . . .

Kenneth Copeland informs us, "You don't have a god in you.  You are one!"  Others in the worlds of the cults teach variations on the above themes of human divinity.  Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God, for instance, teaches that there is a "god family" in which all Armstrongists will eventually share.  They will become just as much deity as the Father and Son.  (Armstrong denies the personality of the Holy Spirit, as do Jehovah Witnesses.)

Christian Science, the Unity School of Christianity, the Science of Mind or Religious Science, New Thought Metaphysics, and so on, believe that all humans have within themselves the "Christ-consciousness," or "Christ idea," which is allegedly the true divinity of all men.  They maintain that Jesus Christ had possessed this divinity to a greater degree than others which is what sets Him apart, but none of those groups confess the eternal deity of Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, and His unique relationship to the Father as the only "Begotten Son." (see John 1:18; 3:16).

In the mind science cults man is already divine -- in the Hindu - New Age sense of shared deity, or, as Mary Baker Eddy once wrote, "Man as God's idea is already saved with an everlasting salvation."  "God, Spirit, being all, nothing is matter," said the founder of Christian Science.  The Unity School of Christianity confirms that thesis:  "God is not a person . . . but very real, something we call life."  "The Christ, or perfect man . . . is the true spiritual higher self of every individual."

As we have previously noted, these cultic views are expressed by organizations that are recognized as outside the pale of the Christian church.  Nevertheless, the "little gods" doctrine taught by the leaders of the "Faith Movement" is firmly situated within groups generally -- but falsely -- regarded as evangelical.  It is circulated in Christian bookstores all over the United States [and Canada] and is widely disseminated via  Christian radio and television.  The president of Trinity Broadcasting Network, Paul Crouch, has taught this doctrine openly and once spent almost two hours attempting to convince me and three other ministers that we were "little gods."  Many evangelical organizations, consciously or not, are helping "savage wolves" spread such diabolical errors.

[If your church denies being part of the Faith Movement, but at the same time, recognizes the likes of Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, or Kenneth E. Hagen as spiritual leaders in any way, shape, or form, rest assured that you are part of the Faith Movement because your leaders are identifying and connecting with the leaders of the Faith Movement.  There's no denying it.  If Kenneth and Gloria Copeland or any of the leaders of the Faith Movement names appear in your weekly church bulletin for either conferences or reading materials, you are definitely involved in the Faith Movement and consequently, you believe the "little gods" doctrine which is a cultic belief.]


For more information on Victory Churches and the Faith Movement, go to the Reference Library.  Click on any book title to get a brief overview of the book.  All books on the list are available through www.amazon.com. 

Kenneth Copeland's False Teachings

In his now infamous prophesy which he claimed was "from Jesus Christ," Kenneth Copeland said that Jesus promised that new and dramatic angelic manifestations were going to increase in the church and that many "will have visitations from the Spirit realm." In this prophesy, Jesus also denied His own deity: "Don't be disturbed when people accuse you of thinking you are God...They crucified me for claiming that I was God. But I didn't claim I was God; I just claimed I walked with Him and that He was in me. Hallelujah. That's what you are doing."

Copeland attempted to avoid the implications of his prophesy by later claiming that Jesus only meant to say He never claimed to be God while on earth. But first, this is not what "Jesus" said in the "prophesy"; second, it is also incorrect since the Gospels are full of the claims of Jesus that He was God while on earth (John 5:18, 23; 8:58; 10:30; 14:9; 15:26; 20:28, 29, etc.).

Copeland has refused correction or even correspondence on the subject of the nature of Christ and has reaffirmed his position, standing by his alleged revelation and his interpretation of it. Thus, he teaches that Jesus did not come to earth as God, but as a perfect human being with the limitations this implies. Therefore, Jesus never believed Himself to be God while on earth.

Although Copeland has also taught that Jesus "was and is God manifested in the flesh," he has contradicted himself when he implies Jesus gave up His deity and came to earth only as a man. Essentially, Jesus was a man with tremendous human potential who, after the resurrection, resumed His divine nature. On earth, He had no innate powers until He was anointed by the Holy Spirit. Thus, He is our example showing that we too can do the things He did by relying upon the Holy Spirit. After all, Jesus was a reborn man; therefore, all Christians who are "reborn" should be able to do the same things He did. Copeland teaches that Christians must realize that they are not spiritual schizophrenics or half-God/half-Satan, but "you are all God."

In other words, with proper "faith" teaching and training, any Christian has the power to become a Jesus. Thus, "You have the power of God at your disposal. By getting the word deep into your spirit and speaking boldly out of your mouth, you release spiritual power to change things in the natural circumstances of your life. Jesus possessed authority in the earth, and He exercised that authority by the use of words." Copeland also teaches Jesus was made obedient to Satan, took the devil's nature, was tormented by demons, and was the first man to be born again -- in hell. Thus, imagine:

having to make yourself obedient to Satan...and to take on his nature. He allowed the devil to drag Him into the depths of hell...He allowed Himself to become under Satan's control...For three days...every demon in hell...tortured Him beyond anything that anybody has ever conceived...[but] the voice of God spoke to the death-whipped, broken, punished spirit of Jesus that was suffering in the bowels of the earth...and changed the spirit of Jesus with resurrection power! [Therefore] ... Jesus was born again...a born again man had defeated Satan, hell, and death...

Gloria Copeland reflects the teaching of her husband when she says: "After Jesus was made sin, He had to be born again...[Therefore] Jesus is a born-again man. This is the same new birth that the Good News of the gospel still offers to any man who will accept it."

What's wrong here? What's wrong is that Kenneth Copeland and his wife don't know the Bible. Kenneth, at least, confesses as much. In his Sunday, July 12, 1992, sermon he conceded: "I don't know all that much anyway. All I know is what I've learned and that's all I'm preaching...I'm not 100 percent right. Dear Lord, I don't know what the percentage is, but I expect it's probably pretty heavy on the wrong side...there are certain things I am wrong about just simply because I don't know any better."

If Kenneth Copeland confesses this state of affairs perhaps his followers should take him at his word -- and perhaps Kenneth should spend more time studying the Bible. Then he won't have to worry about being wrong most of the time "simply because" he doesn't "know any better."

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