A Lesser God and an Exalted Man

error-stampA long time ago in a garden far, far away, the “God” of the word of faith made man in His image and gave him two very special gifts. The first of these was something called “dominion.” This newly created being, formed out of the dust of the ground was made the “god of this world”, supreme lord over all he surveyed. This gift of dominion meant that man ruled over all his circumstances. Everything in his environment (including the weather) was now subject to him.

The second gift God gave him was seed for sowing. This came in two forms. The first type of seed given to him would be sown into the ground, producing crops of every imaginable kind. Man could determine the type and quantity of the crop he would have. He could have as much or as little as he wished.

The second type of seed took the form of faith filled words. Faith filled words dominate reality. Like His Creator before him, man could speak and everything he said would come to pass. He could have whatever he said. In fact, he not only could have, he would have all that came out of his mouth. Everything on planet earth was subject to man. Nothing was beyond his control. And he exerted that control through the use of his words.

Death and life being in the power of the tongue, no lack or sickness or poverty could continue to exist once man had spoken in faith. If there ever was lack, man could speak ‘abundance’ and everything would conform. All creation awaited man’s faith filled words to see what would be said – the seed of his words would come to fruition.

God was hoping that man would decide to speak words of life rather than death. Oh how he hoped for that! In this way, all would be well; all would be good.

But something happened that meant disaster for God and His plan. Man listened to the serpent and liked what he heard. He decided to get in league with the crafty snake and instead of choosing words that would bring life, health, prosperity and blessing, he chose the way of death. The curse of death now reigned. Sickness and poverty would gain the upper hand.

If we could imagine a father giving a new car to a son as a gift, so God, having given man the keys to His car (planet earth), He could only watch in horror as man drove the car at full speed into the ditch.

The first man had failed to use his dominion wisely. In obeying the serpent, Adam (and his race) had handed over the planet’s keys to the devil. The devil (not God) was now in charge – the ruling “god of this world.” There was now nothing God could do. His hands were tied. All He could do was hope.

Hopefully, yes, just hopefully, another man would arise who would make good decisions and restore dominion back to mankind. That was God’s hope anyway, in something called the plan of redemption.

HERESY
Here is what we know about heresy. It is almost always some truth taken to an extreme.

No one among us (or very few) would believe something that had absolutely no basis in reality. But if the one dispensing heresy can put some truth in there, like a good and wholesome sandwich, he can include healthy meat with just enough poison, and it becomes a lethal meal for anyone who partakes of it.

Ladies and gentlemen, the account you have read above here is heresy of a most pernicious and damnable kind. It is not true. It is error of the worst kind. And dear reader, this is the error taught in the word of faith movement.

Behind the words of the word of faith preacher lays a hissing serpent spewing out damnable lies about God, about man and the nature of reality. These lies are damnable for the simple reason that if they are believed, they damn the human soul forever. Yet the serpent dispenses his lies with just enough truth included so as to deceive his prey.

9 Marks of a Prosperity Gospel Church

cashD. A. Horton is executive director of ReachLife Ministries, the non-profit ministry of Reach Records. Here’s an article he wrote at the 9Marks website (original source followed by two years in theological rehab, which prepared me for the next six years of pastoring in the urban context. What’s become clear to me is that the nine marks of a healthy church provide a useful grid for assessing any church, including those that teach the prosperity gospel.

And what we find is that a prosperity gospel church is a purely anti-nine marks church.

Some of the examples in what follows are specific and may not identify with you the reader. Many however are universal and are propagated by preachers on the internet, radio, and television. Since the prosperity gospel movement is inter-denominational, the teachings expressed in this article are not to be associated with any one denomination within evangelical Christianity.

1. EXPOSITIONAL PREACHING

Preaching in prosperity gospel churches is far from expositional. Instead, the purpose of preaching is to motivate hearers to give financially, and you give to get. Preachers exploit the passages that deal with the sacrificial giving of tithes and offerings week in and week out. They instruct hearers to activate their faith by sowing a “faith seed,” thereby tapping into God’s law of reciprocity and leading to their own financial breakthrough.

Isolated Old Testament passages are often used as examples of God’s abundant reward for faith giving. One passage often used to manipulate hearers into giving more is Malachi 3:10. Prosperity preachers highlight two points from this passage. First, they tell hearers they are robbing God by not tithing. Second, they assure hearers that God wants them to test him by giving more, so that he can give them more.

But consider Malachi 3:10 in its proper context. The Israelites were robbing God by not giving enough food to the national storehouse that was used to feed the priests of Israel. So the priests were having to leave their priestly duties and take up farming to survive (see Neh. 13:10-13). God therefore exhorts Israel to test him by giving obediently. If they did, he would reward them as he did in the past (2 Chr. 31:7-10). The point of this entire passage concerns a historically specific episode in the life of Israel. Preaching it as a Christian sermon, however, requires more than transferring its commands and promises to Christians on a one-to-one basis. Yes, there are larger applications for the Christian concerning giving, but first one needs to account for the differences between old covenant and new, especially the nature of God’s promises to Israel and the manner in which they are fulfilled for the Christian in Christ.

A healthy church uses preaching to communicate God’s words to his people. It confronts the hearer with God’s truth and leads to conviction, encouragement, clarity, and a call to action. It also centers every text around the gospel in order to show the hearer how central and necessary Jesus Christ is to the believer living in obedience to God’s word. A healthy church will inform believers that the results of holy living will not necessarily be financial gain but rather godliness that honors our Lord.

2. BIBLICAL THEOLOGY

Prosperity gospel theology rests upon the foundational error that man shares a form of deity with God, such that our words carry the same creative power as God’s words. Psalm 82:6, Proverbs 18:20-21, and Romans 4:17 are popular proof texts used to support this falsehood. It is often said that man is a “lower-case god” and possesses the power to demonstrate deity by speaking things into existence, creating and controlling our destiny with words, and even mandating a frustrated and limited God to act on our behalf for our benefit. Continue reading

Out of the Word of Faith

Three Audio and Video Resources:

CONFESSIONS OF A FORMER WORD OF FAITH PASTOR
For quite some time, I shared something of an insider’s guide, as well as the powerful biblical truths God used to alert me to the gross deception. How grateful I am to God for bringing me out!

JOURNEY OUT OF HERESY AND DECEPTION

Behind every deception there lurks the crafty, hissing serpent appealing to the pride of man. “You don’t need a God.. why? You can become one,” he says. “Learn my wisdom and my laws; put them in motion and you can control your destiny and environment to make it as you please.”

REFORMED BIBLE CONFERENCE – SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2016, SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH, GLOBE, ARIZONA

SESSION ONE: DECEIVED PEOPLE, DECEIVE PEOPLE

Sermon audio:

Youtube video:

SESSION TWO: THE JOURNEY OUT OF HERESY

Sermon audio:

Youtube video:

Journey Out of the Word of Faith

Reformed Bible Conference – Saturday, March 12, 2016 – Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, Globe, Arizona

Behind every deception there lurks the crafty, hissing serpent appealing to the pride of man. “You don’t need a God.. why? You can become one,” he says. “Learn my wisdom and my laws; put them in motion and you can control your destiny and environment to make it as you please.”

Session 1: John Samson – Deceived People, Deceive People

Sermon audio:

Youtube video:

Session 2: John Samson – The Journey Out of Heresy

Sermon audio:

Youtube video:

15,000 Views and Counting

Back in September, as I guest hosted one of Dr. James White’s dividing line programs, I did a one hour teaching on the subject “Confessions of a Former Word of Faith Pastor.” The Lord seems to be using the audio and video recordings to reach people caught up in the ‘word of faith’ movement. More than 15,000 have now viewed the youtube video and I regularly hear from people being impacted. Please continue to pray that many lives will be changed as they encounter God’s word.

CONFESSIONS OF A FORMER WORD OF FAITH PASTOR
For quite some time, I was a pastor in the “word of faith” movement. On this “Dividing Line” show, I shared something of an insider’s guide, as well as the powerful biblical truths God used to alert me to the gross deception. How grateful I am to God for bringing me out!

Confessions of a Former Word of Faith Pastor

As many of you know, for quite some time, I was a pastor in the “word of faith” movement. Back in September, 2014, I guest-hosted a Dividing Line broadcast where I shared something of an insider’s guide, as well as the powerful biblical truths God used to alert me to the gross deception. Since then, the youtube video has been viewed around 12,000 times. May the Lord continue to use it to lead His elect out of the movement and into His truth.

Charismatics and the Word of Faith Movement

globe_azOn Saturday, March 28, I traveled to Globe, Arizona to attend the 2015 Bible Conference at Sovereign Grace Baptist Church. The theme was the truth about the Word of Faith Movement / Pentecostalism / Prophecy / Tongues, and Healing on demand. The Guest speakers were Phil Johnson and Justin Peters. It was a rich time together in the word of God and a real privilege to meet host Pastor John Skaggs and the kind people of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church. The teaching sessions were excellent. I recommend them highly:

Session 1: Phil Johnson: Why I am a Cessationist

Session 2: Phil Johnson: Beware the Greed Mongers: An expose of the Prosperity Doctrine

Session 3: Justin Peters: Clouds Without Water (1)

Session 4: Justin Peters: Clouds Without Water (2)

Session 5: Justin Peters: Clouds Without Water (3)

Session 6: Justin Peters: Clouds Without Water (4)