Series Eleven: The Dangers of False Teachers

The principal element of Word of Faith/Prosperity Gospel preaching is an appeal to the flesh. The appeals are material wealth and power over people and things, which all stoke the cravings of the flesh. Word of Faith teachers use Scripture twisting and heretical beliefs to advance their “doctrines of demons” (1 Tim 4:1). There are three main doctrines of Word of Faith/Prosperity Gospel teachers.

1. Introduction to the “claims” and “names” of the Word of Faith Prosperity Gospel
   1. Familiar names for these movements: faith formula; hyper-faith; health, wealth, and prosperity; “name it and claim it.”
   2. Some leading names in the movement: Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Charles Capps, Frederick K. C. Price, Creflo Dollar, T. D. Jakes, and Joel Osteen.
2. False teachers “speak” to the supernatural forces, “revil[ing] angelic majesties” (2 Pet 2:10; Jude 8).
   1. But true demonic forces don’t have to deal with false teachers; they already have them!
   2. They are already controlled by demonic forces; they are “deceiving and being deceived” (2 Tim 3:13).
3. Satan usually works through the false doctrines taught by these faith teachers. He entices the leaders of these movements and their followers through the heretical doctrines they preach, to perpetuate their insidious teachings.
   1. Not everyone who has become involved in these movements are unbelievers.
   2. Many are newly saved and ignorant.
   3. God for His own purposes leaves them in a spiritual “wilderness” until He delivers them to a good church for solid gospel teaching.
4. Principal tenets of the Word of Faith/Prosperity Gospel
   1. Practitioners believe they use God to get what they want. Scripture affirms, however, that God uses human beings (and all creation) to get glory for Himself!
   2. The Holy Spirit is a power, not a Person, to be used by practitioners for material gain.
   3. False teachers claim they receive new revelation given to them secretly. It is always information that has been hidden from the church for years and “given” to the false teacher for the “benefit” of the church.
5. Four heresies of the Word of Faith/Prosperity Gospel
   1. Man is sovereign, not God.
      1. Jesus gave all His authority to the church.
      2. This power is not delegated power through the work of Christ by the Holy Spirit, but direct power.
      3. God has bound Himself to spiritual laws that govern prosperity, and is bound by those laws to bestow prosperities (even to unbelievers!).
      4. If the practitioner exercises his “faith” and “belief” in those claims, then God is obligated to fulfill those claims.
      5. Word of Faith teachers are known to utter outlandish and heretical things, including:
         • having personal visitations from Jesus
         • travelling to heaven and back
         • receiving direct revelation
         • telling God what to do
         • having the creative power of God in word form
         • speaking to your problems in Jesus’ name
   2. On the cross, Jesus earned the right for men to be physically healed and to be “born again” into the God-status.
      1. For a proof text they rely on Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24: “By His stripes, you were healed.”
         • This is an example of Scripture twisting, taking a verse and stripping it from its context to support the false teacher’s position.
         • The passage from Isaiah and 1 Peter have nothing to do with our physical healing or material prosperity, but Christ’s atoning death for our sins, and our guilt imputed to Him.
      2. Another proof text they use is Psalm 82:6: “I said, ‘You are gods.’”
         • Their claim is that God declares that human beings are gods, yet the verse continues to say that we “will die like men and fall like any one of the princes.”
         • The context of the verse has nothing to do with man’s imagined deity/divinity but with our being image-bearers, the highest of God’s creation, though corrupted by sin. It is “Creator/creature” language, not testimony to our deity.
         • See John 10:33–35 for the actual intent of the verse as applied by Jesus Himself.
      3. These false teachers claim that:
         • Believers are little gods.
         • Jesus was born again, and other born-again people can defeat Satan like Jesus did.
         • Jesus’ utterance of “I AM” is something we can say of ourselves.
   3. Jesus gave up His deity to save sinners.
      1. This heresy denies that Jesus came to earth as God, and holds that He came only as a man. But in truth:
         • Jesus was fully God throughout His entire earthly existence and on the cross. He was never not God and never ceased to be God.
         • According to Hebrews 4:14–16, Jesus, as our High Priest, took a foreign guilt on Himself, yet was “without sin.” Our guilt was imputed to Him.
         • He was “made … sin” for our sake and took on our guilt (2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 2:24).
         • “Propitiation” is the word for Christ’s sacrifice that assuaged the Father’s wrath against our sin. Our guilt was charged to Christ’s account and His sacrifice satisfied God’s wrath against sin.
      2. According to this heresy, Jesus had to be punished in hell to pay that ransom. But in truth:
         • The atonement didn’t take place in hell; it took place on the cross: “It is finished” (John 19:30).
         • Jesus did not need to be born again, nor did he need eternal life; He is eternal life (John 17:3)!
         • Jesus didn’t buy our redemption for us; He is our redemption (1 Cor 1:30)!
   4. Faith is a law, a force like natural law.
      1. In contrast to the Scriptures, faith is not submission and entrustment to God; any person can lay claim to what he wants “by faith,” through positive confession.
      2. Words have creative power, you can have whatever you say, but you must say it.
      3. Practitioners believe their words have magical (“spiritual”) power behind them.
      4. They are taught to ignore the realities of sin, sickness, and weaknesses because they fear the negative influences on their positive confessions.
      5. Practitioners inevitably blame those who suffer, saying they lacked faith or failed to maintain their “positive confession.”
      6. Proof texts for Word of Faith teachers
         1. Mark 11:23–24 (NKJV): “For assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them.”
         2. John 14:14 (NKJV): “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”
            • Both of these are examples of Scripture twisting; neither of these verses in context speaks of material prosperity or man’s sovereignty over God.
            • The Mark passage has nothing to do with mountain-moving, but with faith and reliance on Christ; the passage from John is actually about the Spirit’s indwelling presence to align our will with His will.
6. Proof texts refuting the Word of Faith/Prosperity Gospel
   1. Regarding God’s absolute sovereignty: 1 Tim 6:15; cf. Pss. 47:2; 103:19; Dan 4:17.
   2. Regarding the love of money: 1 Tim 3:3; cf. Luke 9:23; 12:15; 1 Tim 6:8.