This video shows where a guy from the UK (Derren Brown -Miracles for Sale) took a regular guy off the streets, taught him how to do this deception and brought him right here to Texas and desperate people fell for it and merely thought they where healed until the fake faith healer told them the truth,, that he was just a scuba diving teacher who was taught to pull this deception off through hypnosis, manipulation and the power of suggestion to vulnerable and needy people.

THE WOF IS SERIOUSLY DEADLY and has killed more people than Jim Jones ever thought about (go here and look at Hobart Freemans entry http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/healthyself.html).

I know many who have lost loved ones that died because of this deception. PLEASE DON’T LET IT HAPPEN YOU OR YOUR LOVED ONES!!!

THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS VERY REAL FOLKS, HE IS ALIVE,, but these faith healers ARE NOT!!!

PLEASE ALSO SEE THESE THREE POST FROM OUR GROUPBLOG

Signs And Wonders Movement Exposed: THE VIDEO SERIES THAT EVERY CHRISTIAN MUST SEE!!!!!!! http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/04/14/signs-and-wonders-movment-exposed/

Ex-Faith Healer Mark Haville Explains The Tricks of the Fake Faith Healing Trade http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/05/26/ex-faith-healer/

Marjoe Gortner: Proof that some Christians will fall for anything http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/05/26/marjoe-gortner/

THE FOLLOWING IS FROM http://www.digitalspy.com/british-tv/interviews/a315672/derren-brown-derren-brown-miracles-for-sale.html

If you’re a fan of Derren Brown, you’ll be pleased to hear that he’s back with a new special on Monday! This time he’s exposing the murky world of faith healing, where pastors claim to be able to cure people of various ailments – in exchange for money. Derren recently chatted to reporters about the show and why spiritual healing is so dangerous, so read on to find out what he had to say!

How did you come to find out about spiritual healing?
“I grew up a Christian, and only came out of that round the time of university. I was not seeing a lot of it over here but what I did see a lot of was a much lower and harmless level where crowd hype is valued over any kind of personal experience, any depth of faith – I was going to quite a happy clappy church. Then you became aware of these healers that do exist. It always struck me as worrisome but you don’t really take it that seriously. I think coming out of Christianity altogether and just having a slightly clearer sense in my own mind of what I believed and what I didn’t believe – I just looked on that as more of a scam. It’s not like psychics and mediums where it’s like, ‘Does it really matter? People get some comfort out of it, they’re just showmen, but does it really matter?’ [Spiritual healing] is genuinely dangerous.”

How is it dangerous?
“People do not get better at all, and not only do they not got better but they’re told to throw the medicine away. Because if they take the medicine, that’s a demonstration that they don’t have enough faith and if they don’t have enough faith the healing won’t continue. Of course it never works, so everything is about the blame being put back onto the victim, for want of a better word. The people that come up on stage and bounce around and seem to be healed are basically responding to the fact that adrenaline is pumping through their veins and adrenaline is a painkiller. The next day, if anything, they’re going to be worse because they’re bouncing round and touching their toes which they shouldn’t do if they’ve got chronic arthritis! Then you’ve got all the people the cameras don’t show – people with Down’s syndrome, people in wheelchairs, people on drips and in hospital beds. At the big rallies which are where it’s just nastiest, there’s a filtering process at the bottom of the steps where the stewards filter out the people who can be brought up on stage and be shown to be healed. Anybody with an arm missing or anything that’s visible or chronic or real or an organic disease is just sent back. You’ve got the despair of people who do come up and they’re not better and they’re blaming themselves and their own faith, and then you’ve got the hordes of people who are following these healers around America – chronically ill people who are being carried in by their parents, just going from gig to gig to gig waiting for a healing and it never happens.”

What’s the money side of faith healing?
“It’s closely allied to the Prosperity Gospel – they take the idea of sow and you shall reap to be a financial incentive. So Jesus bestows blessings in the form of money and to get that money you have to give. But you’ve got to give more than you can afford otherwise you’re not really giving it in faith. You give it to your pastor and you’ll get hundredfold back. If you don’t, again you don’t have enough faith or you’ve got secret sin. We heard a story of a little girl who was 13. There was a testimonial on TV of someone who had MS, and she had paid $1,000 and been cured. This was an actress talking, it was a produced advert. This 13-year-old girl had MS, so she started saving up, mainly money from her grandmother, and eventually gave $1,000 bit by bit. Of course her MS didn’t go so she rang them up and said, ‘I don’t understand what’s happened’ and she was told, ‘Oh well, you’ve probably got secret sin in your life’. So she poured petrol over herself and killed herself. These are rare cases, but there is just misery that they leave behind. And the top names are earning far more money than any Hollywood A-lister. It’s also the mailing lists, it’s not just the people that are there putting money in buckets. And then you hear that they’ve spent thousands and thousands of dollars on room service, rentboys in one case, just all on cash. This money people put in the baskets is just being spent that night.”

The faith healers seem homophobic – is that something that motivated you?
“That’s just sort of ground into that world, into the Deep South, Bible Belt world. One of the big name healers is gay, keeps it very, very quiet – was spending the donation money on rentboys one night. It’s not a big thing for me, I don’t get fired up by that sort of thing. I think there’s a bigger picture that’s just fairly unpleasant.”

Is homophobia one of the reasons you left the church?
“Not at all – I think very few Christians are homophobic. I did go through an area of the church that was about trying to cure gay people. It was rather misjudged, but I was aware of that and I kind of flirted a bit with that… Friends of mine were in it so I was kind of aware of it. I just felt it was misguided really.”

You had a run-in with the police while filming – was that scary?
“They were very nice – they were very polite police. But we did get a criminal trespass warning. All we were doing was just driving in this area to head up to [pastor Kenneth Copeland's] church but we were suspicious because we were three vehicles who had been snooping around a bit. It was very dodgy. They were saying they’d spoken to us before and warned us about coming in which was patently untrue.”

Were you worried that it was about to ruin all your work?
“Yeah, because that Saturday we were planning a final event for our pastor to perform. They’re asking for our passport details, and I’m like, ‘Am I supposed to tell him my name?’ And then they’re giving all our details to the private security guards which certainly wouldn’t be allowed to happen here. So they’ve got my name and the pastor’s name, which isn’t real. If they wanted they could easily work out something’s going on. They also had the flyers for the show we gave them in a misjudged moment of, ‘Come along!’ That was a bit of a concern. But in the end it was alright – I think they were probably just relieved we left.”

Were you worried about the effect the show might have on the fake pastor?
“We knew it would be a real journey, and for the pastor too there would be a sense of, ‘What happens to him?’ He’s the one up there doing it. He’s the one who could be most vulnerable on all sorts of levels. There was a real duty of care for him and protecting him. It was hugely tense for all of us. We’re with this guy who’s doing a fantastic job but has never done anything like this before. It’s not smooth for him by any means. And is he going to really start getting off on this? I found it myself, rehearsing with him and just running through little bits, part of me was itching to get up there and do a little bit of it myself, just from the point of view of performance. I wouldn’t dream of doing it because when you start working with the audience you cross that moral line. But you can see how there’s a real power trip with it and how it could become really addictive. But I’m still in touch with him and I see no signs!”

He was religious at the start of the program – is he still religious?
“Yeah. One great thing about him was that he’s very sincere and had a real earnestness about it which we knew was important. There were other people in the audition group that might have been more natural performers but we knew it was going to be really tough and if all they had was the ego of the performer they might just walk away from it. Whereas somebody who wasn’t a natural performer but just had a real strong commitment to the cause, we knew would be really important.”

How do you think this show will affect people?
“There’s always a bell curve – there will be people that will just be outraged at the very idea of it at one end and there will be people who think it’s just silly and doesn’t interest them at the other. And in the middle there will be a wave of people who are either non-believers like me who think, ‘Oh, that’s terrible’ so it raises awareness. And there’ll be Christians who are sort of aware of it, but don’t take it that seriously. But seeing what goes on in the name of God is a potentially horrible thing if that’s where you come from, because it’s nothing to do with God. It’s a big thing in the show – it’s not an attack on God or faith or the church. It’s about a greedy scam which has nothing to do with God apart from the fact that they mention his name a lot.”

Would you like the show to stop people going to these faith healing events?
“You’d hope… Of course, the horrible thing is that when you’re desperate you don’t really think about evidence. If someone says, ‘Yeah, I can help you’, you just go for it, of course. It’s easy for someone who isn’t desperate to say, ‘Look, here’s the evidence’. You just hope that if you put the information out there people can make a more informed decision. I think that’s the best you can hope for.”

Do you think some Christian people will think you’re attacking their religion?
“Of course, that’s a given. I’m sure people will think that and that’s up to them. But it’s very clear in the show, I make the point very clearly and some of the people helping train our fake pastor are Christians themselves that have been in that movement and are just as horrified by it. It’s about that bell curve again – I think people in the middle will see beyond the fact that we’re talking about Jesus. That shouldn’t immediately make it offensive, when you actually look at what we’re doing. This comes just as much from a distaste as a Christian I had as much as just a human being looking at exploitation.”

Do you think the American authorities could take action?
“It’s very tricky. The church is massively powerful, it’s a huge, huge business. The authorities are reluctant to do anything because it’s about religion and it’s easier to leave them to it. I think one big thing that would help generally is a bit of a shift in tax law, because if you say you’re earning money from a church it’s tax free in the States. There’s a massive tax incentive because they’re not paying a penny on it, they don’t have to declare it, they don’t have to say where it’s going, because that donation money is largely going to nice houses and jets. It’s not like it’s going to pay for Bibles or fuelling into the Word of God. They’re just taking it and spending it on themselves.”

VIDEO SERMON: The Health and Wealth Cult by Walter Martin
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2010/06/29/video-sermon-the-health-and-wealth-cult-by-walter-martin/

Cultic Qualities of the Word of Faith Movement
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/06/04/qualities-word-of-faith-movement/

Word of Faith Brainwashing Tactics
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2008/12/19/word-of-faith-brainwashing-tactics/

Facts About the Word of Faith Cult
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/01/16/facts-about-the-word-of-faith-cult-movement/

The Word of Faith is the Fastest Growing Cult In The World
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/02/25/the-word-of-faith-is-the-fastest-growing-cult-in-the-world/

Junker Jeorge: The Dangerous Kenneth Hagin Cult
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2010/03/17/junker-jeorge-the-dangerous-kenneth-hagin-cult/

VIDEO SERIES: How a Good Church Becomes a Cult by Jerry Kaifetz
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2010/08/18/video-series-how-a-good-church-becomes-a-cult-by-jerry-kaifetz/

Ex-Word of Faith Testimony: Leaving the “River” of Charismatic/WoF Cultism by Kevin Reeves
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2010/09/22/ex-word-of-faith-testimony-leaving-the-river-of-charismaticwof-cultism-by-kevin-reeves/

Word of Faith’ers, Pentecostals, Charismatics and Cultic Anti-Denominationalism: by Damon Whitsell
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/07/08/anti-denominationalism/

Cult Tactics & Mind Control – B.I.T.E.
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/06/30/cult-tactics-mind-control-b-i-t-e/

Common Characteristics of a Cult
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/06/30/common-characteristics-of-a-cult/

The Narcissistic Cult Leader
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/06/30/the-narcissistic-cult-leader/

MIND CONTROL MADE EASY! Become a Cult Leader Today!
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/06/30/become-a-cult-leader/

Recovery for Survivors of Religious Cults
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/06/30/recovery-religious-cults/

Cults: Sociological & Theological Perspectives
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/06/30/cults-sociological-theological/

Bible definition of “Cult”
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/06/30/bible-definition-of-cult/

Is Your Church Free from Cultic Tendencies? A checklist for Responsible Christians
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/04/20/is-your-church-free-from-cultic-tendencies/

Marks of Abusive Religious Groups: w/ Want to become a cult leader? VIDEO
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/02/19/marks-of-abusive-religious-groups-w-want-to-become-a-cult-leader-video/

Understanding Spiritual Abuse: w/ TOXIC FAITH – Surviving SPIRITUAL Abuse VIDEO
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/02/19/understanding-spiritual-abuse-w-toxic-faith-surviving-spiritual-abuse-video/

END TIMES DECEPTION: Spiritual Abuse Survey: Is YOUR church a safe place? Take the Survey and see!
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/02/20/end-times-deception-spiritual-abuse-survey-is-your-church-a-safe-place-take-the-survey-and-see/

What is a (Pseudo/Christian) Cult? by Josh McDowell and Don Stewart
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/02/22/what-is-a-pseudochristian-cult-by-josh-mcdowell-and-don-stewart/

What are the Characteristics of Cults? by Josh McDowell and Don Stewart
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/02/22/what-are-the-characteristics-of-cults-by-josh-mcdowell-and-don-stewart/

Agony of Deciet: The Health & Wealth Gospel #4: The Cult of the Tele-Evangelists VIDEO
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2009/03/14/agony-of-the-health-wealth-gospel-4-the-cult-of-the-tele-evangelists/

SPIRITUAL ABUSE: An Interview with Jeff VanVonderen: Author of The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse
http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2010/08/13/spiritual-abuse-an-interview-with-jeff-vanvonderen-author-of-the-subtle-power-of-spiritual-abuse/

This sermon is one I am ambivalent to preach, there are not any funny stories or happy endings, merely a call to preserve “the faith once and for all given to the saints.” Before we dive in however, since it is the day we give to Caesar what is Caesars, I figured a thought experiment would be fitting:

1. On a dark street, a man draws a knife and demands my money for drugs.
2. Instead of demanding my money for drugs, he demands it for the Church.
3. Instead of being alone, he is with a bishop of the Church who acts as the bagman.
4. Instead of drawing a knife, he produces a policeman who says I must do as he says.
5. Instead of meeting me on the street, he mails me his demand as an official agent of the government.

Contending for the faith can be a grueling job, considering all the variations offered to us.

1. What is a proper definition of faith?
2. How can it be applied to our lives?

A sound understanding of faith may take some patience and thoughtful understanding today as we tackle just a few of the many differences between a healthy faith and the kind that leads to a very troubled praxeology**. We will take the time here to look at some of the key concepts of a healthy faith through a verse many times misapplied. How one interprets Mark 11:20-25 will tell you a lot about a person’s understanding of faith. Again, the verse we will be reading from is Mark 11:20-25, so if you are ready we will jump in.

Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 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 be done, 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. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”

This verse is often used to make the point that our faith is big enough to remove any aliment that besets us. It is often combined with another verse from Isaiah 53 that reads in-part, “by Your stripes we are healed.” As you will find, however, context and historical setting are key to a proper understanding of working out these types of verses into our everyday lives and the impact they have on our personal faith. We will cover just a few topics in this presentation, they are:

1. How these verses are misused by some, and subsequently faith;
2. we will discuss some of the Jewish cultural context and history involved;
3. and finally, we will look at an oft overlooked interpretation of these verses.

Starting with how faith is often misused by many of the faithful, we will consider what Pastor Bob DeWaay calls anthropogenic fundamentalism. The term anthropogenic fundamentalism can simply be defined for our purposes as a “man-centered faith,” rather than “God-centered faith.” Or, man trying to capture what God only provides.

E.W. Kenyon, sometimes called the grandfather of the Word-Faith movement, wrote a book entitled, Two Kinds of Faith, in which we find Kenyon saying that “a spiritual law few of us have recognized is that our confessions rule us.” Kenneth Hagin, who is known as the father of the Word-Faith movement, has taken bits-and-pieces from Kenyon and well-known faith healer William Branham and ordered them into a systematic word-faith doctrine, culminating in the opening of Rhema Bible Institute in 1974. Mark 11:23 was one of Hagin’s favorite verses he used to justify his creating verbalized capsules of thinking by “laws of faith” that control one’s circumstances with “formulas.” This was a big-deal to him, even coining the term “have faith in your faith.” In contradistinction Calvin says that…

True faith “unites us to Christ and inserts us into His body creating the bond that enables us to receive, posses, and enjoy Christ Himself.” This is Calvin’s “union with Christ by Spirit worked faith.”

True faith is God centered, and aligns us — or tries to — with God’s will. Not the other way around. There are many examples of what faith should not be, but one James Montgomery Boice mentions that can replace true faith is optimism. Which he simply defines as a “mental attitude which is to cause the thing believed in to happen.” In this “faith in your faith” aspect, you will never hear a person graduating from Rhema pray like Christ did in Matt 26:39:

“My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

A.H. Strong points out that God does “not change his mind when men pray, or when they believe… as [God] fulfills his purpose by inspiring true prayer, so he fulfills his purpose by giving faith.” Finishing his thought Strong quotes Augustine, “He chooses us, not because we believe, but that we may believe….”

You see, we want a faith that unites us to Christ and His work, nothing of ourselves. In Reformational thinking, we are not even capable of generating this kind of faith. Take note that Ephesians 2:8 ends with “it is a gift of God.” Dr. John McArthur points out that faith is included as preceding this statement. By contrast, Kenneth Hagin makes his concept of faith clear when he enumerates his understanding of Mark 11:23:

1. He believes in his heart,
2. He believes in his words. Another way to say this is: He has faith in his own faith . . . Having faith in your words is having faith in your faith.”

This “optimism” in one’s faith rather than a God Centered faith is really an old heresy that started with the early influence of Gnosticism on the Desert Fathers. If you do not know about these mysterious persons that are so influential on the emergent version of this Gnostic heresy, here is a quick introduction. These early Desert Fathers were small isolated communities that separated themselves in order to follow God in solitude. They were the early monks, so-to-speak, and were based primarily in the area stretching along the Nile river in Egypt. Originally refugees during the persecution of Christian’s at the hands of the Roman’s, later, they became outposts that attracted many Christian ascetics and hermits. About this same time and place Gnostics were busy writing their texts, the biggest find of which was at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, also along the Nile. Something I argue influenced some of these desert hermits greatly. Gnosticism that is, not the Nile. For example, paleo-theologian Thomas Oden, in his Systematic Theology mentions the following:

Amma Theodora, one of the fourth-century ascetic Desert Mothers, recognized the principle that when “one believes one is ill” the soul tends toward illness. She tells a story of a monk who was seized by cold and fever and horrible headaches every time he began to pray. … one day he said to himself, ‘I am ill, and near to death; so now I will get up before I die and pray,” yet simply by getting up, his fever abated. Merely by doing something positive – just getting up – he was taking a step of faith that tended toward his health. (adapted)

Apologist Robert Bowman documents in his book The Word Faith-Controversy Hagin’s view of “stepping out in faith”

Hagin claims that since 1933 he has never had a headache. This claim should probably be taken with a grain of salt (or perhaps an aspirin!) — since, Hagin has admitted that if he did have a headache he would never tell anyone he did. … he did admit once that his “head started hurting” but claims that by telling the devil, “In the name of Jesus I do not have a headache,” the pain went away. So when Hagin says he has not had a headache or been sick since 1933, he means he has never admitted to such ailments. (adapted)

So this Mind/body dichotomy found in Eastern thinking which infected the early church in some form via Gnosticism was seemingly addressed in-part early in Paul’s ministry as documented in Corinthians 15.

Now, As some may know, others here may not, my father was deeply involved in this understanding of faith. He would routinely claim financial success and good health as a matter of habit… neither of which he ever truly possessed. A few years back he was very-very sick. He looked and felt awful. However, he refused to go to the hospital, instead, he spoke health and healing to his body. When he finally acquiesced to the pain that C.S. Lewis says is our body verbalizing that something is wrong, he was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer. In case you do not know, colon cancer is one of the most survivable cancers one could contract today. Rejecting his doctors advice of immediate surgery, my father found renewed vigor that he wasn’t truly sick — even yelling at me in the doctor’s office:

“GET BEHIND ME SATAN!!” (pointing an accusing finger at me)

In surreal fashion and doggedly claiming that this sickness was curable via faith in his faith, his body no longer allowed him the option of denial and he gave way to his doctor’s advice. Even with surgery, he had waited too long.

On October 25th, 2008, I was reading Scripture to my dad who was recently sent home with me diagnosed with two-months to live when his breathing started getting worse than it already was. I stopped reading from the Word and started to fluff the pillows and blankets surrounding my father. He managed to gasp “help” and shortly thereafter was strong enough to cry a bit… as… did I… all the while telling him that I loved him while wiping the drool from his mouth and the sweat from his brow. I could not dial 911 or call for help because my father was sent home with us for this reason… to pass as comfortable as possible. All I could do is watch my father suffocate to death. He looked scared. I suspect for a few reasons, one is man’s tendency to not want to die. Another reason is that if your faith is connected to your health and your health fails… failing faith in God’s finished work on the cross is not far behind. He was coming to the stark reality that his theology was flawed and death is a one-for-one statistic.

While I know the work wrought on Calvary’s Cross was bigger than my dad’s praxeology, his view of faith led to a troubled walk that stifled his connecting with God and God’s people in a healthy well balanced manner. Even shortening his own life considerably.

Another example of faith gone awry is told by a fellow contributor to a group blog dealing with the Word-Faith heresy. After John graduated from Rhema Bible Institute — having his degree conferred to him by Kenneth Hagin — he founded and pastored over a church for some years all the while living and teaching this formulaic view of faith. His children were steeped in this belief system. One day his daughter fell very ill, so John and his wife brought her to the emergency room. They were told that their daughter had inoperable brain cancer. The doctors were at a loss. Usually this illness showed some signs that would possibly have allowed them to save her life. John and his wife, after talking to their daughter, were horrified to learn that she had in fact been getting horrible headaches for quite some time. Staying true to her accepted theology she would dutifully rebuke these headaches and go on with her ignoring of them in light of her optimism.

Needless to say John is no longer affiliated with the Word Faith movement. Thankfully, he is still a Christian, and a strong one at that. John touches many lives for the better after he disbanded his church and wrote on his experiences. Many, however, walk away from the faith after their disillusionment is excised through the circumstances of life.

These two stark examples are the consequences of anthropomorphic fundamentalism, making oneself god in some sense of the word by guiding your own faith rather than allowing Godly faith in.

Another important aspect that seems to be missed by these Word Faith types is that the Bible incorporates parables, poetry, wisdom, prophecy, and history. Within these categories you will find metaphors, symbols, and elevated language. For instance, in Psalm 91:4 we read, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.” Obviously God the Father being Spirit, known only by God the Son, does not have literal feathers. Reading on in the verse we find it is a metaphor for God protecting us like armor — just more comfortably… metaphorically speaking.

Likewise, we find commonly used in the Jewish texts of the day speech about “removing mountains” as metaphorical for an “infinitely long or virtually impossible task accomplished only by the most pious of rabbi’s.” James Brooks in his commentary on Mark mentions that Mark 11:23 may be an “allusion… to the temple mount, in which case faith in God makes the temple system obsolete.” You see, since we are considered “priests” or “rabbi’s” in God’s new and better covenant, we do not rely on our own piousness, but Christ’s alone.

So the question, I think, becomes this: “as priests, what types of unmovable mountains would be in the context of our offering of prayer to the object of our faith?” In Matthew 5:23-24 we find this:

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”

Let’s compare this to the passage we are reading in Mark, starting a bit into verse 24:

“…whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

(Brothers?) True faith causes good works, so in this salvonic understanding: forgiveness of our brother or our enemies is often times an insurmountable task and one that shows true regeneration. Therefore, with faith based in what God has already done for us while we were yet sinners, forgiveness of others is what we are called to.

With that PapaG’ism in mind, do not forget that this verse is connected to Christ overturning tables for a second time on the Temple Mount and cursing the fig-tree as representative of Israel’s faithlessness, another seemingly insurmountable task. As applicable and connective as I think these comments are, there is yet another often overlooked understanding which keeps Christ firmly in context, and not us.

Again, James Brooks mentions that Jesus may have been referencing “the Mount of Olives and the Dead Sea,” the “latter being seen from the summit of the former.” William Lane expands on this in his commentary on Mark, mentioning likewise that the

Dead Sea is visible from the Mount of Olives and it is appropriate to take the reference to “this mountain” quite literally. An allusion may be intended to Zech. 14:4. In the eschatological day described there the Mount of Olives is to be split in two, and when the Lord assumes his kingship “the whole land shall be turned into a plain” (Zech. 14:10). The prayer in question is then specifically a Passover prayer for God to establish his reign.

Evangelical scholar Walter Elwell likewise hits on this idea:

Jesus has acted out two parables of terrible impending judgment of unbelief—the withering of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple; now, in response to Peter’s remark, he turns to the vital component in the eschatological drama that is inexorably coming to pass, namely, faith in God. This Israel does not have, but the disciples can and must have faith if they are to participate as victors in the coming destruction of the enemy-occupied land which will split at the Mount of Olives when the terrible day comes that precedes the kingly reign of the Lord over the whole earth (so Zech. 14:1–11). Jesus urges his disciples to pray with the faith expressed in Isaiah 65:24 and participate with him in the new exodus, and so avoid the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the faithless land. But they must humbly seek forgiveness and harbor no resentment (v. 25), as Israel has not done in the presence of Jesus the Son, if they are to stand in the Father’s righteousness through this cataclysmic time.

So like the parable of the faithful and wise servant (Luke 12:35-48), we must watch over this great gift of faith and its awesome responsibility by prayer to the object of our faith… asking for these mountains of faithlessness, self-centeredness, and our unforgiving hearts to be cleared daily by God’s word and our union with Him… always saying like John did, “come Lord Jesus, come!”

Bibliography

• Boice, James Montgomery. Foundations of the Christian Faith. Downers Grove, Illinoise: Inter Varsity Press, 1986.
• Bowman, Robert M. The Word-Faith Controversy: Understanding the Health and Wealth Gospel. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2001.
• Budziszewski, J. The Revenge of Conscience: Politics and the Fall of Man. Dallas, Texas: Spence Publishing, 2004.
• Dewaay,Bob. The Emerging Church: Undefining Christianity. Saint Louise Park, Minnesota: Bob Dewaay, 2009.
• Geisler, Norman, Thomas Howe. When Critics Ask: A Popular Handbook On Bible Difficulties. Wheaton, Illinoise: Victor Books, 1992.
• Hall, David W., Peter A. Lillback, ed. A Theological Guide to Calvin’s Institutes: Essays and Analysis. Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P & R Publishing, 2008.
• Hanegraaff, Hank. Christianity In Crisis: 21st Century. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2009.
• Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Downers Grove, Illinoise: Inter Varsity Press, 1993.
• Kelly, Douglas F. Systematic Theology: The God Who Is: The Holy Trinity. Vol. 1. Ross-Shire: Christian Focus Publications, 2008.
• Kenyon, E.W. The Two Kinds of Faith: Faith’s Secret Revealed. Lynnwood, Washington: Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society, 1969.
• Lane, William L. The Gospel According to Mark. Edited by F.F. Bruce. Vol. 2. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdman’s Publishing, 1974.
• Lewis, C.S. The Problem of Pain. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.
• Lewis, Gordon R., Bruce A. Demarest. Integrative Theology. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1996.
• MacArthur, John. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2007.
• McConnell, D.R. A Different Gospel: Biblical and Historical Insights Into the Word of Faith Movement. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1995.
• Oden, Thomas C. Systematic Theology: The Living God. Vol. 1. Peabody, Massachusettes: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006.
• Strong, A.H. Systematic Theology. New York, New York: A.C. Armstrong and Son, 1896.
• Yungen, Ray. A Time of Departing. 2nd. ed. Silverton, Oregon: Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2006.

Post Script: I wanted to point out just a couple of after thoughts. The first part of the verse we read from (v. 20), there is an interesting event that is mentioned. Something I know the Jewish mind would have surely known considering how well the pharisees knew (at least memorized) Scripture. in verse 20 we read this: “Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.” Now let’s read from Hosea 9:16, and then from Job 18:16, respectively.

Ephraim is stricken;
their root is dried up ;
they shall bear no fruit.
Even though they give birth,
I will put their beloved children to death.

His roots dry up beneath,
and his branches wither above.

This miracle of Jesus cursing the fig-tree then, can be seen as one of the many instances Jesus showed Israel He was their Messiah through fulfilling of Old Testament prophecy. Another quick thing I wish to point out is that many Bibles separate verse 25 from verses 20-24. This shouldn’t be. I think you can completely drop verse 26 and not include that at all, however, verses 20-25 should be looked at as a cohesive pericope.

Update:

**Just so the reader knows how I understand this term: “right” theology into “right” action. Word Faith theology, Liberation theology and Emergent theology distorts this interpretation. Here is a more in-depth definition:

PRAXIS AND ORTHOPRAXIS. `Praxis’ essentially means ‘action’. Traditionally, the concept refers to the application of theory or socially innovative human behaviour. Its long history begins with Aristotle but the concept achieved contemporary prominence through Marx, who used it in various ways but, most commonly, to mean revolutionary action through which the world Was changed. In theology it has gained currency through liberation theology.” Theology usually emphasizes orthodoxy, i.e., right belief or conceptual reflection on truth. Political theology balances this with an emphasis on action (praxis) and right action (orthopraxis). Gutierrez typically complains that ‘the church has for centuries devoted her attention to formulating truth and meanwhile did almost nothing to better the world’. It not only advocates action but questions whether knowledge can be detached; and it insists that truth can only be known through action. Knowing and doing are dialectically related, and right action becomes the criterion for truth. The danger is, as Miguez Bonino has observed, that theology is reduced to ethics, the vertical dimension equated with the horizontal and the concept built on Marxism. Positively, however, it can claim biblical roots. God communicates with his world, not through a conceptual frame of reference, but in creative activity; in John’s gospel knowing truth is contingent on doing it (Jn. 3:21). Sinclair B. Ferguson, David F. Wright, J.I. Packer, eds., New Dictionary of Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVasity Press, 1988), 527.

Special thanks go out to MKayla for transcribing this video. She did a great job

JOHN EDWARDS TESTIMONY:

Hey guys! My name is John Edwards.  I’m a Rhema Graduate. I went to Rhema Bible Training Center in 96-98 and I was ordained by Kenneth Hagin and came to Alabama, started a church called The Edge then we changed the name to Hillside Church.

About January of 2008 I decided to leave the Word of Faith Movement. What I want to do is to put together a series of YouTubes; I want to help people out there who are trapped in the Word of Faith.

Word of Faith is a dangerous, cultic movement. And it’s so similar to the new age message that it’s right there beside it – and it sucks you in. Word of Faith – what attracted me to it is that I thought I could have a say in my life. I always had fear of maybe losing my kids or getting cancer or going bankrupt. I heard the Word of Faith message as it was presented by Kenneth Hagin and it gave me hope that I could have a say for my life.

And the dangerous thing about the Word of Faith is that it puts the believer in the driver’s seat and it puts God and His will and His plan for your life in the back seat.  The whole Word of Faith movement is based on one passage of scripture in Mark chapter 11, verse 23, Jesus said “Whosoever shall say to until this mountain be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart thou shall believe those things that he sayeth, the things shall come to pass and he shall have whatsoever he said”.

Now what they did – Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi; He spoke in Aramaic. And a real popular teaching idiom back then in that culture was a phrase “moving a mountain”. It meant to cut through red tape, it meant to do the impossible with God. And Jesus was using a hyperbole in His teaching. It was an on- purpose exaggeration. You know where Jesus said if your eye causes you to sin to pluck it out, and He talked about hating your mother or father in comparing to loving Him? He doesn’t really want you to hate your mother or dad or pull your eyeballs out, He’s just using an exaggeration to prove a point on purpose to show how powerful faith is.

When Jesus was talking to his disciples and said “If you say to the mountain move -and it will move if you believe and not doubt”.  His disciples had sense enough to know He was using an exaggeration to show them an example of the power of faith. Now what the faith preachers did- namely Kenneth Hagan whom I love, I went through the school, I’m not mad at him, but he was wrong. What they did is they made a science of every little word that Jesus said as hyperbole; they made a science on it. What the Word of Faith does is that it teaches you that you can have what you say. They take that last phrase that Jesus said “he shall have whosoever he said” and made a whole religion on how to get everything you need from God. And the dangerous thing about it is that it puts fear in the believer.

Word of Faith people are the most legalistic, paranoid, superstitious, in-bondage people I have ever known in my life. And you know what?  I’m part of the problem!  I preached the heresy for eight years. I taught people they could have what they say, and that’s not what Jesus said. At the most what Jesus said that you will have what you say to the mountain.

But Word of Faith teachers and Word of Faith Christians actually believe that whatever comes out of your mouth is actually going to happen. For instance, if you say” oh my back’s killing me”, they believe you’re going to develop cancer of the spine or something. If you say “oh my heads killing me” they’ll think you’re gonna get a brain tumor. They believe that your words will create entities in themselves and they’re not.

Your words are powerful. I can cuss you out with my words and make you mad. I can tell jokes and make you laugh. I can build you up or I can cut you down. But I cannot create things with my words as is taught by the Word of Faith. So the new age message, this humanism message is that man is God, that we all together as man we are God.  We can do anything.  We have our own wisdom and our own life.  The Word of Faith message is very, very similar. It tricks you into thinking you’re in control of your life. You are in control of your destiny. I know because I taught this for many years. It’s a cult. It was founded on cultic principles.

E.W. Kenyon was a Baptist preacher who was very involved in new age and new thought and metaphysics. He went to a school in Boston that was covered up with new age and new thought.  If you’ve heard about the new book called The Secret, if you’ve ever watched that – it’s new age – it’s humanism- it’s garbage– it’s counterfeit Christianity. It’s a counterfeit faith. Okay? And EW Kenyon took the principles of the new age, the new thought, The Secret, metaphysics and he blended it in with the bible to make another gospel – the gospel of me, the gospel of my words.

And the Word of Faith was then picked up by Kenneth Hagin who took Kenyon’s writings and then expanded on them. And the dangerous thing about the Word of Faith is it’s all centered on the power of your words, being the prophet of your own life, you, as a human, being in control of your destiny.

It’s also a very materialistic, money-minded movement. You can go to any Word of Faith preacher or TV or any Word of Faith church and they can’t preach for 10 minutes without talking about money.  They’re obsessed with money, they’re obsessed with wealth, they’re obsessed with cars and rings, and big churches and TV’s and helicopters and jets.  It’s a dangerous movement, folks. There’s a lot of deception there.

The Word of Faith as it’s taught by Word of Faith preachers today, Kenneth Hagin, Michael Murdock, people taught like I did. I’m John Edwards, I know you never heard of me, but I taught it. Its not the new covenant, it’s not the New Testament. It’s a delusion, it is a lie, and it is a twist of scriptures.  It’s designed to get your heart and your mind off of Jesus, off of the kingdom of God and on onto your bank account and on to your words. It produces fear, bondage and legalism. It’s counterfeit. It’s not the New Testament. The New Testament is about God loving you in your sins and sending Jesus His Son to die for you so that you can believe in Him and be borne again. To have all your sins forgiven, removed forgotten, so that you can have a personal Father – son, Father – daughter relationship with Almighty God to help you through life to give you the peace you need, to help you with your problems. And it’s about having eternal life.  When you die you go to live with God the Father and Jesus in heaven forever. That is the good news; that is the gospel.

But the Word of Faith preachers have turned it around into a self help gospel of me. And what I want you to do is get you a New Testament, go to a Christian book store and buy the New Testament on CD and just listen to it. Just listen to the word of God. It’s a new covenant. It’s not a covenant of prosperity, health and wealth.  It’s a covenant of dying to yourself to love others, to serve others. It’s a gospel of spreading God’s love to everyone. When you put others first, you love your neighbor as yourself. You put God first, you put Jesus first. You do have a God that will meet your needs. You do have a God that will heal your body, but Him meeting your needs and Him healing your body- that’s just a small part of the big truth of your redemption.

The Word of Faith is like putting a frog in a pot of water and turning the heat up, just start boiling the water, and he’s swimming around, and kicking around and he doesn’t know anything’s wrong! And before you know it –he’s cooked!  That’s what happened to me!  I started out wanting wanted to get The Faith.  Why? So I could love God more? No. So I could be in control of my life. Look. I learned. I don’t want to be in control of my life, I want Jesus in charge of my life.

So, please come back and have a look at some more of these later.

God bless you.

I’m John Edwards

Bye-bye

VISIT OUR

I have been in the recovery mode for eight months now. I think I am starting to heal in some areas but I’m still hurting in others. Different people recover in different ways and lengths of time. Some people bounce right back with a smile on their face while others stay in ICU for weeks. I think my wife is healing more slowly than I am, but that is normal for most women.
I do wonder why God allowed me to stray so far off into deception. I cannot say that my decisions were based on a hunger for God, but rather a lust for having things my way and to always be in control. The Word of Faith offered me command of my life and future. So instead of being excited about Jesus, I slowly veered off into a religion that worships faith, money and power. It is the greatest seduction going on in the Body of Christ today.

Maybe God allowed me to spend 14 years in a spiritual black hole for a reason. Maybe it was so that I could relate to other people that have been crippled and abused in the Word of Faith church system. I do get dozens of emails from people all over the world that need help, healing and theological grounding. I have heard about a large church in Tulsa that has started a Word of Faith recovery group that is drawing in a lot of people. I think that that is an awesome thing. I wish that there had been a Word of Faith recovery group in the Birmingham area. I know that several hundred Christians have left Word of Faith churches in Birmingham in the last two years, and many of them will not attend church. If there is anyone out there that has escaped the Word of Faith, and needs some one to talk to, let me know. maybe we need a group here.

http://junkerjorge1.blogspot.com/2009/06/recovery.html

Yesterday our associate pastor Brad preached a sermon about how real men should live and used events and descriptions of Jesus from the Bible. Brad painted a different picture of Jesus than the one most liberals and Hollywood depict.

The entertainment industry has given us a gay Jesus. A weakling. A big sissy. I never watch any of those Jesus movies that come out around Easter because I cant stand the casting. They always use a weak pathetic actor to be Jesus, and Jesus always acts like a mama’s boy in the movies. A girly guy.

Not so in the Bible. The real Jesus was a tough guy that stood in the face of certain death everyday to preach His message. Every time He preached, He was in real danger of being stoned by the Pharisees or arrested by the Romans. He on purpose healed and did miracles in such a way that would anger and infuriate the religious establishment. He called Herod a “fox” which is the same today as calling someone a queer. On one occasion Jesus fashioned a whip and ran through the Temple whipping the moneychangers and tumping the money tables upside down. That took guts. There were Temple Police everywhere when He did it. On another occasion, Jesus stands between an angry mob and a woman taking in adultery. Jesus stood between the woman and the ones that held the rocks to stone her.

Jesus stood up on the edge of a boat in the middle of a storm at night and rebuked the winds and the waves. Jesus stood toe to toe with Pilate with no fear. When the Pharisees came to arrest Him, they took 500 men armed with clubs and spears. Jesus was no sissy. Soldiers and Rulers were afraid of Him. A wild man filled with a thousand devils collapsed at the feet of Jesus for mercy.

Jesus was such a tough guy that he survived an all night beating, a crown of thorns and a Roman scourging without dying. Most prisoners died from the scourging alone. Jesus endured a Crucifixion from which we get our word excruciating.

Jesus loved to stir up the religious rulers. He called them names and insulted them. He called a spade a spade. Jesus was not politically correct. He angered people every day. He walked like a man. He acted like a man. He was and still is, The Man.

And when He comes back, He is coming for blood with a two edged sword in His mouth, white garments dipped in blood, and a tattoo down His leg. He is coming back to tread out the wine presses of God’s wrath and fury. Jesus is coming back as Judge and Executioner on the ones that have rejected Him as Lord. Every knee will bow in Hollywood, Wall Street, Washington and Hell and proclaim that Jesus is Lord. Every dictator, every King, every President, every celebrity.

http://junkerjorge1.blogspot.com/2009/06/gay-jesus.html

I grew up in the Baptist Church until I was 21 years old. Then I backslid for ten years and never went to church while I was in the Marines or when I was a Police Officer. Then in 1994 I started attending Word of Faith churches. I attended RHEMA Bible Training Center from 1996 to 1998 and sat under the teaching ministry of Kenneth Hagin. Then I pastored a Word of Faith church for ten years. I left the Word of Faith Movement and the pastorate in October of 2008. I am now hooked up with Seven Springs Church.

After almost two years of extensive study, I no longer believe that the Sign Gifts, that are listed in 1st Corinthians 12:7-10 are real in the Church today. I do not see any evidence of these gifts in the Church today. I believe they were intended for the Apostolic Age to confirm the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the Apostles and Early church folks. To the Jews of the day, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was so radically different than the Law of Moses, that God had to confirm it through mighty and indisputable signs and wonders. That is the same way God always spoke to Israel. In the Exodus, in the days of the Prophets, and in the dawning of the Church, God displayed and confirmed His message with powerful signs. These are the only three times in History that God has done this. The rest of the time man has had to rest on the Word of God.

Lets look at these sign gifts for a few minutes and see if they do indeed operate in the Church today:

1) Word of Wisdom. In the Word of Faith, this means that someone gives you a precise bit of supernatural advanced knowledge about something in your life. Other denominations have different definitions of these gifts, but I am coming from a Word of Faith perspective. I cannot say that I have seen this operate in all honesty. Everyone that had a “word” for me missed it. And they always knew enough about my life to say things that rang true. I cannot ever remember a time where someone spoke a word to me that came to pass that had absolutely no knowledge of my life. Not once.

2. Word of Knowledge. This is when someone speaks about your past or current situation. Again, I cannot name one time where someone did this ,without having some knowledge of me. Every time someone has spoken a word to me they either knew me, or we knew someone in common. Many, many preachers pass information about church folks to each other.

3) Gift of Miracles. I have never seen a true Biblical miracle. I dont know of any person in the world that can do miracles. Im talking about raising someone from the dead, changing rocks into bread, parting the oceans, etc. Be real, no one is doing this stuff, although television is full of preachers lying about these things.

4) Gift of healings. I don’t know of a single person that has the Gift to heal anyone. That crap in Lake Land with Todd Bentley was a complete fraud. There is no evidence of anyone getting cured without medicine of serious diseases without doctors. Show me one single amputee that has been healed. Show me one single retarded person that has been healed. Show me one single deformed person that has been healed.

5) Gift of Faith. Has anyone been moving any mountains lately? I have never seen anyone move a mountain.

7) Tongues and interpretation of tongues. In the Bible, this is when people proclaimed the Gospel in known languages that were unknown to them. For instance, it would be like me speaking the Gospel in French having never known the language. I have never seen anyone do this to my knowledge. In fact, I have been to thousands of Word of Faith services, and I have never seen these gifts operate in a genuine way that cannot be explained away.
8) Gift of Prophesy. In the Word of Faith, this means to tell the future. I have heard tons of prophesies that were bogus and fell to the ground.

9) Gift of discernment. Ummmm, maybe this one is still active, but Word of Faith people don’t operate in it!

I do believe in the supernatural power of God. I believe that God can heal and that He answers prayers. I also believe that Familiar Spirits operate in the Church and deceive millions through bogus gifts. I can give a lot of testimonies and evidences that these “gifts” have been used to manipulate millions of sincere Christians.

http://junkerjorge1.blogspot.com/2009/06/sign-gifts.html

My Word of Faith God is quite different than the God that I serve now. No where close.

Our associate pastor, Brad, has been teaching on the attributes of God at his house on Wednesday nights. Everything that I am learning is different from what I was taught by Kenneth Hagin and other instructors at RHEMA Bible Training Center.

In one of my first classes at RHEMA, the instructor asked: “What does God look like?”. He then went on to read several passages from the Bible about the finger of God, the eyes of the Lord, the right arm of God and so on. The conclusion was that God looks like a man. That is exactly what the Mormons believe. “As were are, God once was, as God is, we shall be” is a favorite doctrinal saying of the Mormon Church. That is very similar to the Word of Faith God that has a human shaped body. Kenneth Hagin claimed that he saw the outline of God’s throne while he was on one of his trips to Heaven, but the Bible states that God is a spirit and that he is invisible. The Bible uses symbolism to communicate the mind of God to simple humans. Martin Luther said the Word of God is God’s baby talk to us.

In my Word of Faith experience, God was always limited to my ability to have faith. All of my answered prayers and blessings were all up to me to have faith and to make the right confessions. The reality was that my faith was no bigger than the next person’s faith. I still had fears and doubts. In other words, if everything was riding on me being able to “believe” God, then I was in trouble. Kenneth Hagin often quoted one of the Wesley’s as saying: “it seems as though God can do nothing less we ask Him”. We were taught everyday at RHEMA about faith. Faith was the key that unlocked the doors of God’s blessings.

We could have absolute protection by having faith in the 91st Psalm. WE could walk in Divine Health by believing the Word. We could live in prosperity by sowing seeds. Everything God could do for me rested in my ability to preform. My God was limited to my faith and to my confession. My God was powerless. My God was not Sovereign, He was always being hindered by my weak faith. My God was limited to my ability to have faith.

On Wednesday nights we focus on all of the Scriptures that express the attributes of God. One of my favorites is First Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee”. WOW! God is way bigger than some faith being limited to a human-like body. The entire universe cannot limit Him. In Psalms 103:19 says “The LOrd hath prepared His throne in the heavens, and His Kingdom ruleth over all”. God is not limited. God is not frustrated. God can not be diminished. God is Sovereign, which means that He CAN and DOES all things that He desires. He is not dependent on man for anything whatsoever.

The Word of Faith belittles God. The Word of Faith reduces Jesus and elevates man to a god. It is nothing but Humanism.

The God in the Bible is all powerful and Sovereign. God is in control, all of the time. By the way, Word of Faith teacher Kenneth Copeland has stated that God is six feet three inches tall and weighs two hundred pounds. Crazy teaching. That means that I weigh more than God does. So do many women. (:

http://junkerjorge1.blogspot.com/2009/06/my-word-of-faith-god.html

I was involved in the Word of Faith Movement for fourteen years and as a pastor for ten years. There are some things in the Word of Faith that are practiced virtually every Sunday which are not found in the Bible. Here are a couple of them:
1) Getting slain in the Spirit. In Word of Faith churches, this occurs when the pastor lays hands on the congregant and then the congregant falls backwards onto the floor as if they have been knocked out. This practice was never found in scripture or in church circles until a French hypnotist began to make his rounds in the 1800′s. There is no scriptural basis for falling out when getting touched by a preacher. It’s simply learned behavior and peer pressure. Besides, I have seen people get knocked out or shot and their whole body goes limp and falls into a heap. In Word of Faith churches, they fall slowly back to be caught by trained ushers. Preachers are famous for pushing to help the congregant fall under the power.
2) Women preachers. The New Testament forbids it no matter how you look at it. I used to try and spin this one away, but I always had trouble with those two scriptures that forbid women to speak in church or to have authority over men.
3) Holy Laughter. Again a practice that is nowhere to be found in the Bible. It is easy to produce in a crowd. Rodney Howard Browne has been using manipulation and peer pressure to cause crowds to laugh in the Spirit. I saw Hagin manipulate crowds to fall out in the Spirit and to start laughing. It’s really just a culture thing in the Word of Faith. Just like showman Benny Hinn throwing his suit coat at people to make them fall out.
The Word of Faith world is full of unbiblical practices. It has evolved it’s own culture. Peer pressure and manipulation abound. I was prophesied over by a “Prophet” one year ago for almost ten minutes. Nothing he said came to pass. In fact, everything opposite of what he said came to pass. Then to top it off, I found out last night that he had been in jail prior to the night he laid hands on me. The craziness in Word of Faith circles never stops!

http://junkerjorge1.blogspot.com/2009/06/unbilical-practices-of-word-of-faith.html

I had been a victim of a system of spiritual abuse and bondage. Now I am free. It’s a lot like the feeling I had when I finished my four years with the Marine Corps. Relief. Joyful. Excitement. A fresh start. Here is how I found my new church:

I was at the Shelby County courthouse taking care of some personal business. Actually I was there to apply for the Sheriff’s job. I just happened to see the Shelby County Baptist Association across the street. So, I went inside of that place and asked them two simple questions. 1) Do you know of any pastors that actually give a rip about their people? (in case you haven’t noticed, many pastors don’t give a darn about their people)2)If so, is he Reformed? (That means that he believes in the Doctrines of Grace, or Calvinism) Well the fellow there gave me two numbers. One was for the pastor of Calera First Baptist, and the other was for the pastor at Seven Springs. I called both and left messages. The pastor from Seven Springs just happened to call back first. I have been with Seven Springs every since.
The Senior Pastor is Leonard Smith. The associate is Brad St. George. Both of them are outstanding pastors that care about people. Both are “REAL”, and both of them are excellent teachers of the Word.

They teach the Bible by the book, verse by verse. I have never been under this type of teaching. The sermons are not based on subjects, but on texts. I really enjoy the teachings, and they have really help me recover from the wrong teachings that I had been in for so long. No one judged me for having been in a cultic and false church for so many years.

My favorite time is called Community Group on Wednesday nites. We just sit around Brad’s house and he teaches on the attributes of God. It has totally renewed my mind of who God really is. You have to remember that the Word of Faith is very similar to New Age, Mormanism and Christian Science. It has taken me six months to get all of that crap out of my head. The staff has allowed me to ask all kinds of questions. They have been very good to me.

When my youngest son Brian was in ICU last month, just about the whole church came by to visit with us. It was a great encouragement. The whole staff came. That is rare in church these days. I appreciated it.

Our services are at the Calera Middle School on Sunday mornings at 10:30. The dress is very casual. I wear shorts and flip flops. The pastor wears jeans. It is a great atmosphere to be in every week. The praise and worship is contemporary. Sometimes they do the old hymns with a new beat. They even raise their hands and dance a little. That’s pretty good for Baptist!

http://junkerjorge1.blogspot.com/2009/06/seven-springs-church-calera-alabama.html

My daughter Jennifer died nine years ago today from a brain tumor that we did not know that she had. At that time, our family was Word of Faith and we had just started a Word of Faith church a few weeks before. As a matter of fact, I had been right in the middle of a sermon series on healing when she died.

Jennifer had collapsed into a coma the day before. On the way to the hospital I was speaking the Word and trying to stay out of fear. In ICU, I tried everything on her that I had learned at RHEMA. I prayed, confessed, spoke the Word, believed I received, pleaded the Blood, made faith confessions, read the Word out loud over her, rebuked the devil, bound the devil, brought in faith healers, confessed my sins, got into agreement, had communion, prayed some more. Nothing worked. She passed during the night with me at her side. Then I tried to raise her from the dead.

I went home and got out my Bible and read every faith scripture in it that I could find. Yep, I had done everything that I had learned in the Word of Faith Movement and it all failed me. The message did not work. The formulas did not word. Confessing the Word did not work. Making faith confessions did not work.

My wife Coni quit being Word of Faith that day. She never agreed with my teaching from that point on, even though she supported me as a pastor. I’m not as smart as she is. It took me another eight years of beating my head against the wall to realize that I was totally screwed up in my theology and my relationship with God.

I now know that God is Sovereign in all that He does and all that He allows. I have learned that I cannot control my life and my future by speaking words. I now know that the power is in living the Word and not speaking it as a magical spell. I now know that God brought my Jennifer Home that day and that He had no further plans for her down here. I no longer beat myself up for not having enough faith. I now know that those faith scriptures that I had been speaking were primarily for the Apostles in establishing the Church. It is freeing. I am free.

http://junkerjorge1.blogspot.com/2009/06/my-daughters-death.html

EW Kenyon was the founder of the Word of Faith. He taught extensively on positive confession, but died from a massive malignant tumor.

Kenneth Hagin plagiarized much of Kenyons writings and also taught extensively on Divine health and positive confession of the Word. He died of a massive heart attack.

EW Kenyon was heavily influenced by the New Age and Christian Science teachings of his day, and his writings are full of catch phrases and definitions from the Eastern religions and cults.

EW Kenyon taught that Jesus went to Hell after he died on the cross. According to this doctrine, the Blood of Jesus was not sufficient. A proper rendering of the Greek words for Hell in regards to the death of Jesus would be translated as grave.

Kenneth Hagin preached a mixture of Kenyon’s New Thought and his own claimed visions of Jesus. Hagin claimed that Jesus Christ appeared to him on eight occasions in which he received hours of one on one instruction on faith, healing and other doctrines. This is in direct violation of Galatians 1:6-9

Kenneth Hagin claimed that during a trip to Heaven, that Jesus laid hands on him and transferred a special healing anointing, and that if people believed in that anointing that they would be healed. Hagin’s sister died of cancer, his brother-in-law died of cancer, his wife was sick for years, and his grandson had medical treatment for a brain tumor. Many of his students have died of cancer and other diseases.

Kenneth Hagin claimed that Jesus said that when Hagin was speaking out of the Spirit, that if people did not receive what was said, that they would die. This is nothing but spiritual control and manipulation.

Charles Capps, another Word of Faith teacher, that specializes in positive confession of the Word, has had to wear thick eye glasses for years. It is reported that his wife had to have a major organ transplant.

Numerous Word of Faith teachers are under Senate investigation because of their extravagant lifestyles which are financed through seed faith offerings.

Kenneth Copeland, another prominent Word of Faith teacher, has had to cancel meetings because of health issued. He is refusing to cooperate to with the Senate even though he has taught extensively on submission to authority.

Many Word of Faith churches are very controlling and teach the tithe far more than they do the cross. many Word of Faith people are living in a state of continuous fear because they believe that whatever they will say will come to pass.

The Word of Faith teaches that believers can create and change their circumstances by mixing their words with faith.

The Word of Faith teaches that God no longer can do anything upon the earth because He has put Man in charge.

The Word of Faith teaches that we were healed by the stripes of Jesus on Calvary. If this were true then everyone would automatically be healed at the moment of salvation. Word of Faith teaches that man should have a lifespan of 120 years. Kenneth Hagin told a crowd of 7,000 people that he would live to be 135 years old. He died the next year.

The Word of Faith takes hundreds of scriptures out of context to build their doctrines. They use Old Testament promises to Israel to promise health, wealth and total victory for the Church.

If you used a computer word counter, the tithe would be mentioned far more than repentance or Calvary. That is because the Word of Faith is obsessed with money and materialism.

The Word of Faith uses many of the same formulas as does witchcraft and New Age.

The Word of Faith preachers constantly report incredible miracle healings as a result of their prayers, but the fact is that there are no healings that do not involve medical treatments. A true miracle is when someone is healed instantly of a serious organic disease or injury without the aid of medicine.

The Word of Faith is full of teachers such as Mike Murdock which tell people that if they will send money that God will send miracles.

The Word of Faith is obsessed with faith. It is a religious system that is based on works and formulas that do not work. Word of Faith churches have just as many people die of sickness as any other denomination. Word of Faith people suffer the same afflictions as other believers all over the world. Word of Faith people promise Divine protection, but die in plane crashes, car accidents and other tragedies just like other believers do.

The Word of Faith message is that man is in control of his destiny. It is Humanism. It is the Gospel of me, myself and I.

http://faithpreacher.blogspot.com/2009/04/true-facts-about-word-of-faith-movement.html