The tithe has of course remained popular in the church, selectively taken out of the Torah (while leaving almost everything else) for obvious reasons. Somehow, each church is entitled to 10 percent of everyone´s income. This is great news for mega churches and churches with wealthy members. It is a gold mind waiting to be exploited. They can use that many to build even bigger facilities, give the staff a nice bonus, and if they can, give a little to the poor. Unfortunately, it is the antithesis of the message of Jesus.

The tithe is also good news for the rich. I attended one semester of a Christian college, and I will never forget the introductory freshman teacher I have saying that as a Christian he needs to give his 10 percent, but after that-everything is his. While that might soothe the conscious of the wealthy, it is not what Jesus taught. All of our money is on loan from God and should not be spent in a wasteful or overly luxurious way. The tithe is also bad news for the poor. Can you imagine churches asking their members who are struggling to get by to give 10 percent, especially if that money is going to go towards salaries and buildings that those poor cannot even comprehend? I don´t think there is anything more disturbing than a wealthy TV preacher asking for money from his poor congregants and then using that money lavishly. That kind of exploitation is one of the greatest evils that I can think of.

Should we give? Absolutely- but we should not give a standard 10 percent based on some misplaced guilt and bad theology.  We should give as St. Paul said what we have purposed in our heart to give. For many of us, we should be giving much more than 10 percent. Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell everything he had and give it to the poor. Should we be giving it the local church? Possibly. If you feel your local church is really using their position to preach good news to the poor and help out the hurting, than by all means give to that church. It is very important for the local church to have their needs met, and those who are being ministered to should try to give back. However, do not for one second feel you are obliged to give to the church if they are using the money in foolish and extravagant ways which go against the teachings of simplicity that Jesus taught.

I love how Frank Viola puts it in his book Pagan Christianity, “Under the Old Testament system, tithing was good news to the poor. However, in our day, mandatory tithing equal oppression to the poor…Conversely, contemporary tithing is good news to the rich. To a high earner, 10 percent is but a paltry sum. Tithing, therefore, appeases the consciences of the prosperous without impacting their lifestyles. Not a few wealthy Christians are deluded into thinking they are ¨obeying God¨ because they throw 10 percent of their income into the offering plate.”

http://www.essencerestored.com/tag/health-and-wealth-gospel/

NOTE FROM ADMIN: WE received this testimony today and decided to post it in-spite of the fact that is highly emotional, calls names and falsely refers to the Charismatic and Pentecostal Movements as Cults. While my studies have led me to believe the WoF is indeed a monolithic Cult, the same cannot be said about Pentecostals and Charismatics. I believe these movement are wrought with much error, and even occult influence and practice, but have always considered the movements to be a legitimate, although heretical, branch of the Christian faith. THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR TESTIMONY RICHARD!!!

Dear Reader, I testify to everyone who hears this, against the Word of Faith movement. Personally I think it is wrongly abbreviated WoF. It should be Wolf. That is a pun, but a wholly serious one. “Word of Losing Faith” in the Truth is a better definition.

I hear these words that these leaders such as Kenneth Hagin were merely sincerely deceived. I don’t believe that is possible. I think it necessary to expose wolves for what they are. Imposters look sincere but that is because they spend their life appearing to be what they clearly are not. That is the nature of a deceiver, a fraud, an impostor and a seducer. It is necessary to warn the sheep from destructive wolves in love for the sheep.

I am writing because I cannot be silent. If I were to be silent it would be evil. I must protest and speak against evil – whether anyone is willing to hear or not.  I am writing in protest against what is clearly nothing more than a CULT.

And what a tremendous CULT all of this is – this so called “Faith” Movement. I was for a season or a time, in my innocence, mixed up with this cult myself, because I couldn’t imagine when I was only a young Christian, such evil, such liars and wicked people, such impostors, such abominable deceivers. So I listened to CULT LEADERS, and monsters such as Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland and many more. These prosperity preachers, condemners of the sick and poor; blasphemers of God’s holy Word, these are they who seek glory from men, pretending to be godly, but are full of extortion and excess, these MONEY LOVING, SELF SEEKING WOLVES, may God SAVE his people from them.

To those involved in the so-called Word of Faith Movement I want to say: I really wonder what is the matter with all you people, that is, with all of you who attend these so-called Christian meetings and listen to such drivel! What has possessed your minds? What evildoers, what impostors must these preachers and teachers be, to so bewitch you, to bewitch so many! The Faith Movement is an awful, horrible cult!!!

I must protest, and all the more because I was involved in this Cult. Previously, I did not realize the truth about it. Even though I was not so involved and was not deceiving others in taking money from people, nor meant any harm, I nonetheless repent for giving any money to these monsters posing as ministers of God. I am sorry I ever shared with another the so-called teaching materials of that lying monster Kenneth Hagin and for listening to that wicked man, Kenneth Copeland (these antichrists) etc. I was involved in the Faith, Charismatic, Pentecostal cult meetings. And do you want to hear a REAL testimony? I was delivered from all their falseness since it was never really mine. I got absolutely delivered from these wolves, from having my mind stolen, from their witchcraft and insanity.

I woke up! I learned more and more to read the Bible for myself (without their antichrist philosophies). I cast away the words of men – their oppressions and abominations. I could never really lay hold of such evil philosophies and can never really believe such absolute trash, which they very falsely call “Christian”. These people are so rotten that they make even genuine sheep think that sin is holiness, they make sin look like righteousness, because they are so very far from God. I repented of listening to these mind stealing, emotion manipulating wolves, and I warn. I warn! I repent for ever sharing their evil words and books or believing any of their complete TRASH. I condemn all their evilness, and I ask God to save his people from them, and from all such wolves that are deemed great “leaders” in the “church”. God, save your lambs!

Sincerely, Richard.

VISIT OUR

All of these major TV celebrity preachers mentioned in this series are heretics who teach we are little gods as well as other insane evil heresies. All of this info is well documented from their own words and compared with Holy Scripture.

http://www.amazon.com/Agony-Deceit-Preachers-Really-Teaching/dp/0802487769

Most of them claim to be able to physically heal people, cast out demons, make futuristic prophecies [most prophecies of which have never happened). Some claim to have taken trips to Heaven and back, receive direct and extra-Biblical revelations from God, and even supposedly had personal conversations with God. As the verses at the beginning of this chapter say, these "preachers" profess to know God, but deny Him by what they do. They are deceivers who should not teach but do so for one reason and one reason alone. Money.

[My wife] Lori was duped by two of these false teachers, Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer. Two of the lesser recognized false teachers, especially amongst evangelical Christians. I went through a time where I was sick, nothing life threatening but was a season of life where illness did plague the body for the good part of a year. I fell into the trap of watching Joel Osteen every Tuesday night and reading his book. I bought into the lie of if I just quoted to myself that “I am a victor and not a victim” that I would start to overcome this illness eventually.

I would continually do self-affirmations that Joel was pumping at me from the television screen, all the while living in total rebellion to my Lord. I had no real understanding of God’s sovereignty and that possibly the reason I was sick was that it was the work of God in my life for a reason. That thought never crossed into my mind. I heard over and over that God doesn’t want us to be sick and miserable. but that He wants us to live a victorious life. Had I been in the word of God I would [have] quickly realized this wasn’t lining up with the life of the apostles at all and those men were hand picked by the Lord.

Their lives got worse as it wen ton, they were persecuted, they were homeless, poor, in prison, and yet they were blessed and cared for. These were the truths I needed to be rooted in, yet I wasn’t. I was busy letting a self-help guru on the screen tell me that I was going to feel better if I just believed enough. Where is there any valid Scripture that backs that up? There isn’t. We are not promised a good and easy life on this side of eternity, but we are promised in Matthew 28:20 that “lo I am with you always even to the end of the age.”

After the Lord eventually healed me over time, nothing that I did obviously, I turned to another false teacher unknowingly. This time not only was truth being twisted but it was from an authority who was not even fit to be teaching, Joyce Meyer. [W]omen [should not be] acting as pastors as defined in 1 Timothy 3:2 [and] are not to be exercising the authority of that role. Titus 1:6 states clearly the qualifications of a pastor, see below the text and how a woman cannot fit into this criteria for the office of pastor:

“namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion.”

[Lori] I used to watch Joyce Meyer every morning before I was saved and [fed] on her quick wit and sassy style. I used to think, “she’s just telling it like it is!” I remember thinking her “sermons” on the battle in your mind were just phenomenal. She was telling me how to just get over it and move on. It was a much starker difference than Joel. Joel was happy and feel good. Joyce was no-nonsense no frills just cut to the core motivation. She was teaching a false gospel of the little gods lesson as Vince mentioned above.

I had emailed asking for prayer during that time and not but a few weeks later did I get things in the mail from her ministry basically forcing an “offering” and that in order to continue being blessed, I needed to return money in the envelope that was sent. That happened repeatedly until I moved from that address. Many women who love that strong willed nature in a female buy into Joyce Meyer and all that she is selling. That is not the character of a godly woman,… Vince never really had any interest in most of the TV preachers. I never watched much TV anyway.

I did watch some of the more minor, non-heretical, not as popular teachers, but I never got into Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn, Jesse Duplantis, or any of the other heretics on TV. However, before God graciously saved me, I could have watched them and probably not have given much thought to it. I probably would have thought some of it was strange…but heresy? I didn’t even know the word “heresy” existed until a couple of years ago. I surely did not know how deep and dark their teaching really goes, and how especially evil these men and women are. Justin Peters and his ministry [Justin Peters Ministries] really opened my eyes to most of that.

This movement is not only dangerous to the souls of many who are being falsely converted, but who are also being led in universal communions. We were witness to this concept at a Benny Hinn Crusade in Dallas, Texas in September. People were coming down the aisle in droves to get saved and were led in a universalistic communion. They were not told to examine themselves in light of Scripture in the biblical sense; it was completely twisted into believing that if you took the sacraments it would heal you from within. Dangerous beyond words.

There was a two-fold problem with this event, turning out false converts and then in the next minute leading them into communion that was not understood in the purest sense. This movement is sweeping the nation and the world and the people are so hungry for “something more” in their lives, they buy into this culture of health, wealth, and even fame for the exchange of all that they have. Among those already listed, a few of the more well known television preachers supporting this movement are as follows: Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Creflo Dollar, T.D. Jakes, Paula White, Jessie Duplantis and several others.[1]

Vincent and Lori Williams www.vinceandloriministries.blogspot.com

H/T to Apprising Ministries

VISIT OUR

SOURCE: A few weeks ago in our Sunday night study of the book of Revelation, we heard this account of the death of a beloved brother by the name of Polycarp.

In the Asia Minor city of Smyrna, persecution broke out against Christians and some were put to death for their faith.  But the agitated mob wanted to cut off the church there by getting rid of their leader, the now aged Polycarp.  The believers hid Polycarp in a farmhouse.  (The leaders there taught that one should not seek out martyrdom, but neither should it be avoided if there was no choice and it meant denying Christ).

The authorities found the farm house and came to arrest the old man.  He welcomed his captors as if they were old friends and gave them food and drink.  He asked for an hour to pray before being taken to the arena.  They relented.  The hour stretched into two hours.  The officers, overhearing his prayers began to wonder what they were doing arresting an old man like this.

Polycarp was brought into the arena.  Instead of Polycarp begging for his life we find the proconsul pleading with this aged bishop to just curse Christ so he would be released.  Polycarp’s reply:

“Eighty and six years have I served Him, and he never did me any injury; how then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior.”

He was burned alive.  The Christians present said there was a joyful radiance on Polycarp’s face as he died.  Believers were allowed to bury his remains on February 22, probably in the year 155.  Churches near and far from Smyrna observed this date in years to come and drew strength from the testimony of this old, old, man who would not deny Christ, no matter what it cost him. 1

He would not deny Christ.  He would not follow in the footsteps of Peter.

I would not want to have the distinction of being known as the disciple who denied Jesus three times.  That one sinful act has been lurking in Peter’s shadow for 2000 years.  However, I am convinced that Peter’s failure of faith on that occasion has been used of God to inspire multitudes of believers to remain faithful to the Lord Jesus in some of the worst persecution imaginable.  How ironic that Peter’s failure in faith has been an inspiration to generations of Christians to stand firm, even in the face of a painful death.

When we think of those like Polycarp who have been martyred for their faith in Christ, and how they have persevered through deaths that cause us to cringe, we wonder how.  How can someone have such faith as that?  I wonder if I would be so brave and so unmovable in my faith if they came looking for me and threatened me with death by fire?

Beloved, this is the very reason why our lives as believers in the Lord Jesus are often difficult.  We are constantly being tested and our faith is perpetually being tried for the purpose of strengthening and growing our faith.  I want you to consider a passage of Scripture with me for just a moment: Luke 16:10.

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. (Luke 16:10 ESV)

The fruit of the Spirit is faith.  Every believer has some measure of faith.  That’s why we’re called Believers.  We have faith in Christ, we are trusting in Him to save us, we believe in what He did upon the cross to purchase us for Himself and deliver us from condemnation.  By definition, you can’t be a believer without faith.

So it would seem, according to the words of Jesus here in Luke 16, that if we have been granted any faith at all, and if we are faithful in even the smallest and (apparently) most insignificant of situations, then we will be faithful in the weightiest and most serious of situations.  Not infallibly so, but ultimately so.  This is exactly what we believe the Bible teaches.  The Baptist Confession boils it down very succinctly in this statement:

Those whom God hath accepted in the beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, and given the precious faith of his elect unto, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved, seeing the gifts and callings of God are without repentance, whence he still begets and nourisheth in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the Spirit unto immortality; and though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and rock which by faith they are fastened upon; notwithstanding, through unbelief and the temptations of Satan, the sensible sight of the light and love of God may for a time be clouded and obscured from them, yet he is still the same, and they shall be sure to be kept by the power of God unto salvation, where they shall enjoy their purchased possession, they being engraven upon the palm of his hands, and their names having been written in the book of life from all eternity. 2

We are fastened upon the rock of our salvation, Christ, by the faith which God has granted to us.  And He nourishes faith in us, testing us and teaching us to grow in our faith through the storms and floods.  And even though we may lose sight of Him from time to time, He will never lose sight of us.  He is still the same, and He will keep His promise to take us all the way to glory.  Amen?

So rejoice in the testing of your faith.  We are being trained and disciplined and matured in order that we might be good and faithful servants of our good and faithful King.

Now turn with me to Hebrews 11.  We’ve talked about faith, we’ve seen the dictionary definition of faith, we’ve discussed how God grants us faith and causes it to grow.  We’ve even looked at the failure of the faith of Peter and how his failure has been used of the Lord to inspire faithfulness in us.  Now let’s look at an example of faithfulness and draw some positive inspiration from someone who did it right.

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts.  And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. (Hebrews 11:1-4 ESV)

First, I want to focus on verse 1, the definition of faith.  This is the Bible’s own definition which the Spirit of God Himself has supplied for us.  According to this verse, faith has to do with things not yet realized or seen.  Let’s think of it this way:

Once upon a time, way back when Johnny was a young child, he hoped for a new bicycle for Christmas.  After what felt like decades of hoping and wishing and being good, Christmas day finally arrived with a shiny new bike under the tree.  At that point, faith was no longer necessary.  Little Johnny stopped hoping for a bike.  His hope had been realized and he no longer needed to “walk by faith” believing Santa Claus (or his Dad) was going to make the delivery.

Now I am going to make a statement you need to consider: When Christmas day arrived, the bike became a reality and was no longer something that only existed in Johnny’s head.  True or False?  Johnny hoped and believed he would get a bike.  And until the bike was seen, he still exercised faith and hope that he would get one.  But suppose in spite of everything, Johnny didn’t get a shiny new bike.  What should we conclude?

• Johnny wasn’t good enough and his parents told on him, or
• Santa Claus is a deadbeat, or
• There is no such thing as shiny new bicycles.

There are those within the very large tent of evangelicalism who teach that, like God, you can create reality by the power of faith.  They say that, like God who created the universe out of nothing by the power of His faith, we can harness the power of faith and bring bicycles and Lambourghinis into our existence.  So it may be Johnny didn’t get the shiny new bike for Christmas because he did not have enough power to faith it into existence.  He just wasn’t enough like God, I suppose.

Beloved, regardless of how much Johnny may have hoped and prayed and had faith to believe he would get a bike for Christmas, his faith had absolutely nothing to do with the existence of that bike.  This is how the Word of Faith Movement has perverted this entire concept of faith.  In essence, they make a god out of faith, and they make God subject to the power of Faith.

Whether or not people believe God, believe in God, believe in Christ, believe the Bible, or believe that God created the world from nothing, neither their faith nor our faith has any effect upon reality, upon what is true.  Faith does not determine what is real or true.  Things do not exist because we believe they do.  Something isn’t true because we trust that it is.

Hebrews 11:1 tells us faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. So let me ask you another question: How did Adam know God created the world?  . . . Because he was there?  Even Adam was required to believe that God had created him and the rest of the world.  That has always been the case.  Ever since the Garden of Eden, it has been necessary to exercise faith, to believe that God is our Creator.

Verse 2 tells us it was through this kind of faith that the people of old received their commendation. Because of their faith in things hoped for and unseen, people spoken of throughout the Old Testament Scriptures were commended by God.  Like Abel.  Look at verse 4.

4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts.  And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. (Hebrews 11:4 ESV)

Abel’s faith resulted in a commendation, a good testimony from God.  So the question is, “What was it that Abel believed?  What did Abel hope for which he was convinced was true even though he had never seen it, which caused him to bring the kind of sacrifice that he brought to God?”  Because that’s what we’re talking about: Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Abel had that kind of faith and therefore brought an acceptable sacrifice.  What did he believe that caused him to do that?  Turn with me to Genesis 4.

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel.  Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.  And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.  So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. (Genesis 4:1-5 ESV)

According to what we read in Hebrews 11, Abel’s offering of a lamb was an act of faith but Cain’s offering of his crops was not.  Why?  Because of what he believed to be true, because of what he hoped for which he could not yet see.  What did Abel have faith in that Cain did not believe?  Whatever Abel believed, it resulted in this particular kind of sacrifice which God accepted, resulting in God’s approbation of Abel.  Abel had saving faith and Cain did not.  So what did Abel believe?

He believed God.  Cain did not.  Look with me at Genesis 2 and notice what it says beginning in verse 15:

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:15-17 ESV)

This is God speaking to Cain and Abel’s father.  If you eat of this tree you will die.  Now chapter 3, verse 6:

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6 ESV)

These are the parents of Cain and Abel who defied God’s command which led to their fall into sin and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.  They were cursed by God.  They lost Paradise.  Now skip down to verse 22.

22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever–” 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24 ESV)

The Garden is still there, the tree of life is still there, and they are prohibited from returning to it lest they live forever in their fallen sinful state.

Then in chapter 4 we see the story of Cain’s and Abel’s sacrifices and Abel’s death at the hands of his brother.  There is no record of Abel speaking or saying anything.  And yet the writer of Hebrews says he was a man who possessed saving faith because God approved of Abel’s animal sacrifice.  It was because of Abel’s faith that he brought a sheep and not a tomato to the Lord.  How did he know to do that?

Because of the actions of God on behalf of his parents.  As a result of what God did, Adam and Eve did not die.  They should have.  God said they would.  But they did not.  Why?  Because God provided a temporary substitutionary sacrifice for them, the life of an animal in exchange for the lives of our first parents.

21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21 ESV)

Abel understood the grace of God.  Undoubtedly he was told by his parents how God had spared their lives.  They could point Abel to the Garden where angels kept guard to prevent them all from re-entering and eating from the Tree of Life so as to make their fallen condition an eternal one.  And surely Adam recounted the occasion when he saw God Himself, in the person of the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus, slaughter an animal, probably a sheep, and shed its blood in order to provide the skins that would clothe them and cover the nakedness that was the result of their rebellion.

Surely Abel knew all of this.  And by faith, he understood there was an eternal life to be had which would be purchased by the blood of another future sacrifice.  It was this faith that caused Abel to bring God an acceptable offering from his flock.  By faith, followed God’s own example, doing what God had done, by taking the life of a lamb as a substitute for his own life.  And God was pleased with it.

Abel believed God.  He believed what he knew.  He trusted what he was told as well as what he could see.  The evidence of his faith in God to deliver him from the death his own father had brought upon us all was his animal sacrifice through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts.

One more thing Abel believed, and it may be this is the most important thing.  It was something the Lord Jesus said in front of Abel’s parents which I suspect they were sure to pass down to their sons:

14 The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15 ESV)

Abel believed that.  He was told the entire story: What Eden was like, and there was this tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and how his Mom was tempted by the serpent.  How she foolishly listened to his deceptions, and how she invited Abel’s Dad to join her in her deception.  They told him how the Lord Jesus came looking for them, and how ashamed and afraid they were.  They told their son how the Lord was upset with them, but He loved them and made provision for them through a sacrifice, the first death the world had ever seen because the wages of sin is death.

And they told Abel that one day, Someone would come and destroy the works of the Devil and crush his head under His feet.  That is what Abel believed!

Does our faith look like Abel’s?  I don’t mean we should be sacrificing animals in the back yard.  But do we really believe what God has said so that it affects how we approach Him and how we think about Him?  Do we not have the same hope Abel had, that one day the work of the Devil will be destroyed and the Lord Jesus will reign over all His people in righteousness and they will live forever?

And it would be wise for us to keep in mind that Cain heard everything and knew everything Abel did.  He had access to the very same information as Abel.  He even saw a sacrifice presented to God by his own brother that God declared to be acceptable.  He was even told by God that he would be accepted if he brought a sacrifice like his brother’s.

But, obviously, he did not believe it.  He did not listen to the word of God.  And his actions proved his faithlessness.

Whether a person believes God or doesn’t believe God, one thing is certain.  Jesus said it Himself: Thy word is truth. (John 17:17).  Whatever God says is truth.  I would strongly urge you and everyone else who may hear this message to believe that.  Our faith must be in the word of God.  That is saving faith.

Scripture covered:Galatians 5:22, Luke 16:10, Hebrews 11:1-4, Genesis 2:15-17, 3:6, 14-15, 21-24, 4:1-5, John 17:17

The audio of the sermon:                 The-Fruit-of-the-Spirit-is-Faith-Pt-2_03-18-2012.mp3              —                  MP3 audio,                  12775 kB (13082390 bytes)  

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1. http://www.christianity.com/ChurchHistory/11629600/

2. http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/1689lbc/english/Chapter17.htm. John 10:28, 29; Philippians 1:6; 2 Timothy 2:19; 1 John 2:19; Psalms 89:31, 32; 1 Corinthians 11:32; Malachi 3:6

http://gracereformedbaptist.com/sermons/2011/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-is-faith-pt.-2

During these six thirty minutes classroom sessions, Tim Martin of WatchMan.org does an outstanding job. This portion, of a larger video teaching series on the WoF, focuses on the WoF Power of Words/Positive Confession doctrine. Do words have power in the sense that they are influential or do they have magic like creative powers? One is Christianity and the other is Witchcraft (see this post to learn the WoF is Witchcraft veiled in Christian terms). Tim looks at many of the verses the WoF teachers take out of context to make it seem like words have magic power. He also looks at the real definition of faith and how God used faith.

This video is very irenic (peaceable) and is a very fair and right on assessment of the Word of Faith Movement. Tim will be doing one more video on the “Power of Words” looking at Mark 11: 21-24 and Mathew 21: 22, and then more videos on the WoF looking at the health and wealth gospel. So make sure to visit Tim’s Channel and you can contact Tim at feedback4tim@gmail.com to let him know how much your going to like these videos!

In this introductory class on the Word Faith Movement, I introduce the topic and layout my basic approach to the subject. A brief description of the Movement is given, and a brief overview of some of the major TV preachers such as: Gloria Copeland, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Frederick Price, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, John Hagee, Rod Parsley, Joyce Meyer, Paula White and Joel Osteen.

This class begins by giving a brief definition of prosperity as the abundance of wealth, health, self esteem, etc. Then, we used Mormonism’s use of James 1:5 as a case study in flawed Biblical interpretation. Now, with a better understanding of how to approach interpretation, we took these tools to the Word Faith’s use of 3 John 2, and found that they make the same interpretive mistakes as the Mormons. Video clips were utilized of Joel Osteen, Oprah Winfrey, Kenneth Copland, Jesse Duplantis and Rodd Parsley.

This class discusses the Word Faith teaching on John 10:10 and Jeremiah 29:11 and 2 Corinthians 1:20. Using some of the interpretive tools discussed in class 2, we see that the Word Faith teachers fail in their use of scripture. Video clips were utilized of John Hagee, Joyce Meyer, Fred Price, Joel Osteen and John Sheasby.

Now that we have a basic understanding of the Word Faith concept of prosperity, and how they misuse scripture, we now ask why we don’t have prosperity. If God wants us rich and completely healthy, how come we are not? First of all, the fall destroyed prosperity, and it is now up to us to cause our prosperity to materialize by utilizing “faith.” In class, we looked at their unconventional definition of faith, discussed who uses faith and saw how it functions in our lives. Next class we will look into the Bible to see what it says about this important topic.

This class begins a two part Biblical exploration of the subject of faith. Is faith a creative power that produces positive and negative effects like the Word Faith teachers claim? Or is it trusting in the promises of God? In this class, we take a deeper looking into Hebrews 11:1 to see how it uses “faith” in context to the verses around it. It is clear from this study that the author of Hebrews did not endorse Word Faith theology.

After finishing a look at the Bible’s use of the word “faith,” we continue by addressing the concept of the “power of words.” The Word Faith teachers claim that the Bible teaches that words are containers for power, and can be used to create wealth and health in our lives. In this class, we discuss what it means that God creates by speaking, and explore several key verses (Isaiah 55:11, Proverbs 18:21).

Now that we have a firm grasp of how they misuse the scriptures, and have explored their doctrine of words/faith, we are now ready to explore the issues of prosperity. In this class, we take a look at their teaching on financial prosperity. We will talk about what it means to WF folks that we are “released from the curse of the law,” and that we have a covenant with God to be rich. We will also look briefly at their claim that Jesus was rich.

Now that we have a firm grasp of how they misuse the scriptures, and have explored their doctrine of words/faith, we are now ready to explore the issues of prosperity. In this class, we take a look at their teaching on financial prosperity. We will talk about what it means to WF folks that we are “released from the curse of the law,” and that we have a covenant with God to be rich. We will also look briefly at their claim that Jesus was rich.

This class continues the theme from last week of exploring the Word Faith concept of prosperity. Last week we covered the financial aspect of prosperity, now we will look at health and eternal life. As with financial prosperity, we will see that the WF teachers say that we are guaranteed healing in this life through the atonement of Christ. So, if you do not have healing, then you do not have faith. Concerning the concept of “eternal life,” we will see some major WF teachers downplay the significance of this important Biblical concept.

What does the Word Faith teachers believe about “authority?” This is a very important concept in WF doctrine. We explore the concept and see how it undermines God’s ability to carry out His will in our lives. We also compare their teaching on authority to their concept of faith, and see that there are contradictions that cannot be reconciled.

In this final session of this series, I offer some theological criticisms of important principles that Word Faith teachers should know. I discuss God’s timing for healing, the “prayer of faith,” the purpose of life,” and the role of joy in the life of the believer.

This Video examines and refutes:
1. Prosperity Gospel coveting money
2. Tritheism Dakes revelation Gnostic heresy
3. God has Faith, man uses faith to manipulate existence and speak into existence lusting sinful desires.
4. Adam was God.
5. Adam changed Nature with Satan at the fall.
6. God confesses Christ appearing.
7. Jesus first born again man.
8. Jesus became Satan on the cross.
9. Christians are little “I am gods.”
10.Similarity to “The Secret” Law of Attraction

One such passage is Mark 11:12-33. This section includes Jesus cursing a fig tree (12-14), cleansing the temple (15-19), returning to the fig tree (20-25) and silencing the Pharisees when they questioned his authority (27-33). In the midst of these passages we find this quotation from Jesus:

Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him (22-23).

Now, consider Joel Osteen’s thoughts in a message on specifically the latter verse:

There is incredible power released by God when we speak to our mountains. A mountain is a situation in your life that seems permanent and impossible. It may be a mountain in your marriage; you don’t see how you’ll stay together. A mountain in your finances; it doesn’t look like you’ll ever get out of debt or ever accomplish your dreams. Maybe it’s a mountain in your health. The experts have said that you’re never going to get well. It’s good to pray. It’s good to believe. It’s good to quote scriptures. But the mountains move when we speak to them in Jesus’ powerful name. Learn to say each day, “I speak favor over my finances. I speak health to my body. I speak peace into my family. I speak blessings into my future.”

Ignoring for a moment the voodoo element in this (“I can control reality with the right kind of incantation”), it seems mountain for Osteen is defined but what makes sense to our modern perspective of “mountains” in general (they’re obstacles). If you’re so inclined, you can watch the sermon for yourself, but you can get the gist of his angle though from the above quote. Osteen is not alone in using this verse like this to support some version of the idea that if you just have faith, you can move mountains (e. g. here, here, and here). The question however, is whether that does justice to what Jesus was saying, or is it yet another example of well-meaning Bible interpreters (being generous here) pulling a quote out of context to support a type of “prosperity gospel” or some kind of “name it, claim it” theology?

The short answer is, yes, that is exactly what this is, and if you’re biblically literate, you probably intuitively knew that. So, if that’s not what Jesus is talking about, what is he talking about?

To understand, as you might have guessed, we went to look more closely at the context. I’m going to have to abbreviate arguments in some of this and just punt to Wright’s book and more extensive commentaries that can read if you disagree. Particularly relevant are his passages from p. 405-428 and 490-495, which you ought to consult. In any case, let’s unpack the text.

Starting in v. 12, Jesus does what many prophets to Israel before him had done, and performed an enacted parable. He came to the fig tree (Israel) expecting to find fruit (righteousness) and did not, and so pronounced judgment upon it. If Israel would heed his call to repent and follow him, then they would not fall under the coming judgment. Instead, the Pharisees and many others clung to their own way of doing things, which revolved around the temple system.

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This leads then to Jesus coming into the temple and cleansing it, which rather than having a purifying effect, would have halted the sacrificial system temporarily. In other words, Jesus put an end to the temple operation temporarily as a sign that if Israel did not repent and follow him, then the temple would be destroyed permanently. This of course explains why the chief priests and scribes began looking for a way to kill him. He a) took it upon himself to pronounce judgment on the temple system and put a temporary halt to it, which b) was implicitly claiming authority only Yahweh was supposed to have.

Then, the scene shifts back to the fig tree the next morning, which by this point has withered. Peter notices it, and draws Jesus’ attention to it, at which point Jesus says the quotation we have above from vv. 22-23. He then follows that proclamation with a promise about praying for forgiveness of sins against other people and their connection to forgiveness of sins against God.

Now, within this framework, it should already seem unnatural for Jesus to insert a bit of prosperity theology and promise that “having faith” would allow you to move mountains. Jesus is implying by his actions that the whole Jewish system of worship is about to be destroyed if they do not repent and follow him. In that light, his quotation is actually clarifying that idea further. Consider it again, this time with my parenthetical clarifiers:

Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain [on which the temple is currently standing], “Be taken up and thrown into the sea [which symbolizes destruction and ensuing chaos]” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

In other words, if you have faith in God, even the temple system cannot stand in your way of truly following him in what he is doing through Jesus. The mountain, though formidable, would not stand in the way of Messiah building his true temple (this refers back to Zech 1-8, where a “mountain” stands in opposition to the work of Messiah). In that sense, this was a specific promise, given to specific people (the disciples) about what cannot stand in opposition to the coming kingdom of God. In history the promise was fulfilled, and sure enough the temple did not stand in opposition to the spread of the kingdom through the disciples’ divinely appointed mission.

Here’s how Wright summarizes it:

Whatever the “mountain” may have signified in Zechariah’s prophecy, it was clearly something that stood in the way of the building of the Temple. Thus, in Jesus’ riddle, (a) the present Temple is seen as in opposition to the true one, (b) the present Temple will be destroyed, to make way for the true one, and (c) Jesus is the true anointed one, who will bring out the top stone of the building and thus complete it. Once again, the Temple-action lays claim to royalty (p. 495).

Because of that, there is no direct application of that promise regarding mountains for believers today. At best, we could say this promise applies to religious systems interfering with the spread of the gospel, but it certainly has nothing to do with personal difficulties. It could, though obliquely, have to do with our own idols. Taken like that, here’s what Osteen should have said:

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE FROM IT’S SOURCE

All of these KNOWN SINNERS have all of what they have – and WITHOUT even acknowledging God in the least! So what can the PROSPERITY DOCTRINE do for them? Get them SAVED? Get them REDEEMED? Help them LIVE HOLY? What about get them CLOSER to God? What, NONE of these? If that’s the case, then we have to CONFESS that this DEMONIC PROSPERITY DOCTRINE being PREACHED by the FALSE PROPHETS and FALSE PREACHERS is SPIRITUALLY WORTHLESS! Why would God be INTERESTED in PUSHING and PROMOTING something that can be ACQUIRED WITHOUT Him? He said He won’t SHARE His Glory with another.

But we KNOW that the Gospel of Jesus Christ that leads to SALVATION is for EVERYBODY, of EVERY RACE, of EVERY BACKGROUND, and of EVERY WALK OF LIFE!!! Christians, it’s time to ERADICATE this POISONOUS doctrine out of the Body of Christ and RETURN back to our FIRST LOVE and REPEAT our FIRST WORKS over again that the Body of Christ was FOUNDATIONED upon!!!

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The excellent rant above was posted in one of my facebook groups by Lloyd Mapuranga and is published here with his permission. To the content of the rant, I have to say RAVE ON, RAVE ON ,my brother!!!

For more information on the dangers of Word of Faith teaching, check out our exposes on http://www.spiritwatch.org/fireindex.htm

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Our eldest daughter was born in 1979 and we decided that like us, she should be raised in church. We started looking and attended a couple of local Baptist churches but I tell you they were so dry and boring I just couldn’t stand it. It was during this time we were introduced to the Charismatic movement.

One of my wife’s co-workers invited us to a new church she and her husband were attending. I thank God for this woman although today I can’t even remember her name. She ministered the Gospel to my wife one evening in our living room and my wife accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.  We accepted her invitation and visited this new church. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. It was a relatively small group, maybe a couple of hundred people meeting in an old warehouse building. The music was upbeat, the crowd was joyful and obviously excited to be there. But what really blew me away was the dynamic, charismatic, on fire for God pastor. His name was Robert Tilton. This was the beginning of our 17 year journey through Charismatic/Faith camp.

The Charismatic Faith Years

From my very first exposure to Bob Tilton and the faith message, I was hooked. It was at that first service we attended that Bob was beginning a new teaching series he called Biblical Laws of Success. Wow! This was exactly what I had been looking for. A sermon that was actually relevant to my everyday life. Something I could actually use. I remember thinking ‘why hasn’t anyone told me these things before?’

Actually I had heard some of these things before. Only a few weeks prior to our visit my wife and I had attended a business seminar that focused on things like goal setting and positive thinking. That seminar had been an eye opening experience for me and now Bob was teaching virtually the same thing but from a scriptural basis.

The truth was that what Tilton was teaching was in the Bible. My wife and I were perfect candidates for deception because we had both been raised in religion. We understood some scriptural concepts. I in particular thought I knew the Bible pretty well although I really didn’t.

Jer 17:10  10
I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings. NKJV

Well anyway I dove in head first. I began reading everything I could get my hands on. I began to study all the great faith teachers, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Charles Capps, Oral Roberts E.W. Kenyon. I began to apply the ‘faith formulas’ I was learning. My whole outlook on life began to change. And Tilton’s ministry began to grow.

Around 1980, Bob’s church, Word Of Faith, moved into a brand new 5,000 seat facility. It was obvious to all that the faith message was working for him, and we all knew that God was no respecter of persons. If God would bless Bob and Marte Tilton then certainly he would bless us as well. And in truth we did begin to see positive changes in our life and circumstances. 

During this time Bob began Word of Faith Bible College. The courses were taught by many of the big faith preachers. The way it worked was by satellite television. People like Copeland and Capps, and Marilyn Hickey, etc. would broadcast a teaching by satellite. That course would be viewed live during the day by the full time students and would be taped for later replay for part time students. I enrolled as a part time student and took courses 2 or 3 nights per week.

By the time our second daughter was born in 1985 we were doing pretty well. I was studying the Bible more and more. My job was going great. I was learning how to live by faith (or so I thought). I remember one experience in particular in which I sought God about a situation with my job and after several days of fasting and prayer God completely changed the situation. In fact I got a major promotion and raise, followed by several more pay raises in the next few months. My wife also had gotten a good job with a large company that included a company car and more money than we had ever made in our lives.

I tell you all this to say that deception can be a subtle thing. The greatest deception consists of 99% truth and 1% lie. Jesus said a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Satan is a deceiver and he’s had at least 6,000 years of dealing with man. He knows how to push our buttons. Actually Satan is just an instrument of God. It was God Himself that was leading us according to the idols in our own hearts – see Ezekiel 14: 3-5.

Now there were some things that bothered me about what we were involved in especially at the very beginning. I remember one of the first things I questioned was the bookstore in the church. Even when we were meeting in that tiny warehouse building there was a bookstore selling Bibles, books from the faith preachers, and all sorts of ‘Christian’ supplies and knick knacks. You may have a bookstore like this in your own church.

I remember thinking at the time ‘didn’t Jesus drive from the temple those that bought and sold?’ I had that thought but I quickly put it out of my mind. I reasoned that this was surely different than what Jesus was talking about. It must be different because Bob Tilton was obviously a man of God and he wouldn’t do anything that was contrary to Jesus teaching.

Do you see what I did? I didn’t seek God over this. I didn’t go to the scripture and study for myself. I reasoned. I assumed. I allowed the judgment of a man to override the clear teaching of scripture. Right there I could have made a choice to follow truth as it is revealed in the Bible but I chose my own way, and God allowed me to do it. He allowed me to believe a lie because I refused to love the truth.

2 Thes 2:10-11
…because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

I first began working for Robert Tilton Ministries in 1987. At this point in my life my secular career wasn’t going as well as it had been. I had left a good paying, steady job to seek more money. I didn’t really seek God over this. It was purely what I wanted.

You see, I was following the teaching that I had been sitting under. Bob had written a book called ‘Charting Your Course By The Dream in Your Heart’ and that’s what I was doing. I was seeking my course, my will, not God’s will for me. The covetousness of my heart was leading me away from God’s will as I sought to have more of the worlds blessings.

So, while I was struggling in a job that I wasn’t really equipped for I decided to work part time in Tiltons prayer ministry center. Bob’s television show, ‘Success In Life’ was really taking off at that time. He had found a great format teaching people to make a ‘vow of faith’ in order to be blessed by God. The phones were busy 24 hours a day with people calling in to make vows and to ask for prayer. At it’s height Bob employed several hundred people both part time and full time to answer phones. This is what I was doing. Taking calls and praying with people for various needs to be met in their lives.

This was great I thought. I was doing a great work for the Lord. I was praying with people for salvation, for healing, for unsaved loved ones, man I was really building up great rewards in heaven! Or so I thought. In reality, it was all a lie.

Bob Tilton preached a false gospel, a powerless gospel that is really no gospel at all. I now know that no man can come to a saving knowledge of the real Jesus Christ by hearing a false gospel. I had become an active participant in the great apostasy. I was guilty of leading people into a false assurance of salvation as they merrily walked the broad path straight in to hell.

Even now, many years later it is difficult for me to write these words, to acknowledge the cesspool of darkness that was my heart. Even more overwhelming though is the weight of Gods grace and mercy upon my life. He opened my eyes and pulled me out of that pit. I didn’t deserve it. I still don’t. I can never be any more than an unprofitable servant to Him.

After about a year of part time work I quit the ministry center and again changed jobs in my secular career. I was still seeking money and the things of this world. It was always just around the corner, over the next hill. The next place was always going to be better.  Of course it never was. The covetousness of my heart was actively deceiving me, keeping me in bondage and lack.

By 1989 things had pretty much fallen apart for me in my job. The company that I worked for had gone broke. I had tried several things on my own. Nothing seemed to work out. I decided that God was closing these doors because He wanted me back in ministry full time. I went back to the ministry center, this time as a full time employee.

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“After and as a result of reporting and objecting to her employers’ unlawful conduct, Ms. Koper (far left in picture) was terminated by the TBN Companies,” the suit says. “In retaliation, the TBN Companies also terminated Ms. Koper’s husband, Michael Koper, who was Trinity Broadcasting’s Corporate Secretary and Vice President of Media Services.

“When questioned about the grounds for termination, Matthew Crouch, a director at Trinity Broadcasting, began tapping the firearm he had brought to the meeting and asked Ms. Koper what she thought would happen when she wrote a memo to the board critical of Matthew Crouch’s financial improprieties. Matthew Crouch continued tapping the gun he was holding to ensure that Ms. Koper recognized the lethal threat being made.”

I guess we will never know for sure if this threat took place or not but we can know for sure that the following veiled threat was made by Paul Crouch Senior. And it is more than reasonable to connect the threat directly to Ms. Koper given that this threat was made on an episode of “TBN: Behind the Scenes” the very day that the story of Mrs. Koper’s lawsuit hit the internet (Feb. 9th 2012). In fact Koper’s attorney calls the following portion of the Crouch’s conversation “menacing” and that it “resounded with Koper”.

“You know what’s funny Dad?” Matt said (at minute 8:38 on the video). “There have been a few attempts in the TBN history to upset TBN, to stop TBN, to — there have been a few fools in the 38, 39 year history, coming up on 40 years, and you know what, any attempt at stopping TBN — they have no idea who they’re actually pushing into the corner. You and Mom get pushed in a corner, God help you. That’s a lesson I’ve learned from you, seriously.”

Paul Crouch responded: “God help anyone who would try to get in the way of TBN, which was God’s plan. … I have attended the funerals of at least two people who tried….

“Boy, anyone that’s ever tried to get in the way of this network – don’t. Don’t try it. Don’t try it, I’m telling you. You’re playing with fire. God says ‘I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’ And TBN, you know what, just plain old TBN as a great network entity is proof of the sovereignty of God and the power of God against hell and high water. This network stands as a monument to the faithfulness of God. He did it. Jan and I were just simple little kids — we didn’t even know what we were doing. It was God’s idea. He did it all.”

Crouch then appealed for donations. “Anyone have a need?” he asked. “Plant a seed. Get to the phone.”

Make sure you watch the video for yourself here. Anyone who has kept up with the false teachings and improprieties of TBN are well aware that this is not the first death threat issued by the TBN bunch.

http://twitter.com/JovanMackenzy
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IV His Son and Crown Rights Media present the first music video from IV His Son’s latest album “The Justice System” titles ‘What am I to do?’.

To find out more about IV and get a copy of the newest album visit IVhisson.com. Available on iTunes and Amazon.

For more information about false teachers in the Word of Faith movement and why what they teach is so opposed to scripture please visit the following websites:

http://justinpeters.org and watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ks3EdMMT48

I am, to be really honest here, very upset by the passé attitudes [towards Jakes] of these brothers (and pastors, I might add). I’m upset for a few reasons, but If I’m being honest, the main reason why I’m so disturbed by this is because the prosperity gospel nearly killed me. Literally. I was so sick I was on the verge of death. I was lying in a hot bath with a temperature of 96 degrees, way beyond dehydrated, and literally dying with mercury poisoning. My mother was crying over my naked body, begging me to go to the hospital for treatment. “NO!” I insisted. How could I put faith in a doctor? “God is my ultimate healer! In him alone will I place my faith!”

I did eventually receive treatment, but I was still being ravished by this heresy. When I married my beautiful wife, Amber, I taught her (with the Bible of course), that there would be no taking of medicine in MY HOUSE! We would be faithful. When we were dead broke I refused to get a job because “God had promised me (through Canton Jones, no less) that I would be a buisness CEO, fortune 500, of course. How could I not have faith in that word of prophesy?

And there were a hundred other things that nearly destroyed my life and marriage. Would you care to guess who my MAIN teacher was? Who I followed as if he himself were Jesus? Who I tithed to regularly? Who’s books I read faithfully? Who’s sermons I purchased? Who’s dress I imitated? Yes, you guessed it. TD Jakes.

My brother, this man is not merely confused, he is a wolf. God’s gracious staff saved me from him. But don’t get it twisted. Under my fur I still bear many scars that he gave to me with his powerful bite.

The above Testimomy by Sean comes to us Via DannyH at FREEDOMFROMWOLVES and was posted here and here (please click to read some good commentary).

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