The Faith Movement, the Cults and the Occult

The relationship between Faith teachings and cultic theology.

Most Faith teachers have publicly stated that they are not teaching "Christian Science," "Mind Science," or "New Thought." This seems to indicate that even the Faith teachers recognize their similarities to cultic systems or at least awareness of the charges that others have made.

Nevertheless, despite the disclaimers, in many places their Faith teachings are either similar or nearly identical to those found in the Mind Science religions. The concepts of :

1. positive confession
2. prosperity and success
3. divine health
4. manipulation of creation
5. sensory denial
6. rejection of medical science

All of these teachings can be traced to the cultic Mind Science theologies of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Unity School of Christianity, New Thought, and Science of Mind. (These three groups, along with the Faith Movement, also teach that "negative confession" can produce disease, tragedy, and even death.)

In fact, some teachings and practices found in the Faith Movement are also found in other unbiblical religions and cults. For example, the concept of believers being "gods" or having divine powers is found in Mormonism and Armstrongism. The practice of "decreeing" things into existence can be seen in some occult and Eastern groups such as The Church Universal and Triumphant, and Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism.

Perhaps all this is why charismatic historian D.R. McConnell so readily documents the cultic origin of the Faith Movement through E.W. Kenyon:

[The modern Father of the Faith Movement Kenneth Hagin plagiarized in word and content the bulk of his theology from E.W. Kenyon. All of the Faith teachers, including Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland, whether they admit it or not, are the spiritual sons and grandsons of E.W. Kenyon. It was Kenyon, not Hagin, who formulated every major doctrine of the modern Faith Movement...The roots of Kenyon's theology may be traced to his personal background in the metaphysical cults, specifically New Thought and Christian Science...Kenyon attempted to forge a synthesis of metaphysical and evangelical thought...the result in Faith theology is a strange mixture of biblical fundamentalism and New Thought metaphysics.]

For example, consider how cultic influences have intertwined themselves in the doctrine of healing:

The Faith theology of healing is based, not on the ability to detect physical symptoms but to deny them. The physical symptoms are not real. They will become real, however, if the believer acknowledges their existence and fails to apply the principles of spiritual healing. Only people who do not know how to believe God for spiritual healing resort to medical science. The Faith view of medical science is cultic...and is the same view preached by the founder of 19th century metaphysics, P.P. Quimby.

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

Faith Movement - 13 Reasons for Real Concern

All characteristics listed below do not necessarily apply to each individual faith ministry or teacher. Nevertheless, the following themes are representative and they are a matter of great concern to many in the Christian community;

1. Cultic Origins or Influences – A theology based to a significant degree upon the writings of New Thought Christian, E.W. Kenyon and to a lesser degree on the Mind Science cults.
2. Oversimplification – Quick and easy solutions are offered to complex human problems. (For example, instant success formulas replace a process of life-long sanctification.)
3. Abuse of the Bible – A consistent misinterpretation of the Bible resulting from an ignorance of biblical, systematic and historical theology.
4. False Teachings – A variety of false and occasionally heretical teachings, some of which are similar to the ancient gnostic heresy.
5. Spiritual Pride – A continued refusal to enter into dialogue with other Christian brothers who have, out of love, attempted to correct the Faith teachers. (For example, at the John Ankerberg Show we have attempted this with Kenneth Copeland and others and the authors of The Agony of Deceit reveal they “sought out those in question” to make certain they understood their teaching properly: “We have asked them to reconsider their positions in the light of Scripture and have repeatedly attempted to settle the confusion behind closed doors. All attempts have failed …”
6. Spiritual Presumption – The Faith teachers claim that their individual messages are the result of direct divine revelation and / or inspiration.
7. Worldly / Humanistic Theology – A distorted philosophy of God and Christian living is presented. (God as the “magical” provider of success, health, happiness, prosperity, power, self-esteem, etc.) as opposed to knowing God as He is and serving Him according to biblical standards.
8. Experientialism – A preference for feeling and emotionalism over against concerns of the mind and intellect; the hindering of sanctification, wisdom, and discernment by placing spiritual experience over consistent biblical study.
9. Hedonism – An emphasis on pleasure and “heaven now” with an unrealistic approach to pain, suffering, and illness; in other words, a stress on man-centered happiness rather than God-centered holiness.
10. Exclusivism – The classification of those Christians outside their camp as “carnally minded,” as those who teach “unbelief” and the false traditions of men, and even as false teachers who nullify the power of God and His Word. Some have gone so far as to imply other Christians are double-minded believers who promote “powerless defeated beliefs” inspired by Satan, calling them liars and bringers of “death.”
11. Power Religion – Stressing personal power and spiritual authority as the means to command angels, control one’s environment, and gain one’s desires.
12. Lack of Balance – A teaching limited almost exclusively to stress upon “faith,” and success/prosperity/healing to the exclusion of the 99 percent of the rest of Christian living.
13. Lack of Spiritual Integrity – This constitutes a triple denial of a minister’s divine call because: 1) what is preached involves a wrong dividing of the Word of truth (the Scriptures are distorted); 2) what should also be preached (sound doctrine, moral living, etc.) is downplayed or ignored (the Scriptures are forsaken); and 3) under these conditions Christians will never grow spiritually (the Scriptures are made void).

In essence, what is being lost to millions of Christians by the Faith teachers’ missed opportunities is almost incalculable. Rather than being taught the Bible accurately, rather than having the whole counsel of God preached, and rather than having their priorities straight, millions of Christians are being given a distorted set of spiritual values and priorities which, if not corrected, will lead to further difficulties and perhaps tragedies.

All this is why many commentators have proceeded to classify the Faith Movement as heretical. As charismatic historian D.R. McConnell summarized:

There are many peculiar ideas and practices in the Faith theology, but what merits it the label of heresy are the following:

1. its deistic view of God, who must dance to men’s attempts to manipulate the spiritual laws of the universe;
2. its demonic view of Christ, who was filled with “the satanic nature” and must be “born again” in hell;
3. its gnostic view of revelation, which demands denial of the physical senses and classifies Christians by their willingness to do so; and
4. its metaphysical view of salvation, which deifies man and spiritualizes the atonement, locating it in hell rather than on the cross, thereby subverting the crucial biblical belief that it is Christ’s physical death and shed blood, which alone atone for sin.
   

All four of these heresies may be accounted for by E.W. Kenyon’s syncretism of metaphysical thought with traditional biblical doctrine.

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