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Monday, May 03, 2010

The incoherence of Word of Faith theology with respect to God's creation

The god of Word of Faith (WoF) theology is said to have, when he created the heavens and the earth, spoken "faith-filled words", exercising his well-developed command of the force of faith, and thus he caused the heavens and earth and universe to be created.  It was through the exercise of faith that the WoF god created.

Kenneth Copeland explains:

God framed the worlds by faith. Everything God made, He made by faith. Everything He does, He does by faith.  For you and me, it’s no different. What works for God will work for us...We receive divine health and supernatural healing by faith. We receive our spouses, our children, our homes, our food—all our earthly needs and desires—by faith. Our faith is an opening through which God can save us, deliver us, baptize us in His Spirit, anoint us for ministry...So faith comes by hearing the Word of God—and when it is released from our hearts with our mouths, it brings the fulfillment of God’s promises. 
Notice that "when it is released, it brings..."  You release faith by speaking it, just like the WoF god did. It's just that he's achieved a very high level and understanding of the principle of faith, and so can speak things into existence with more frequency and quality than most of us can.  But with practice, you can get better at it, more like the WoF god!

Copeland continues:

Again, looking to God as our Guide, we find in the book of Genesis that faith is released with words. Faith words demand results of whatever they say...The reason God released all that Word into the earth was to give substance for when the time came for Jesus—the ultimate Word given by God—to appear in the flesh. He brought Jesus into the earth by His Word!
What was that substance? Faith...Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is the heavenly materiality, or tangibility, of those things for which you and I hope...Remember, “God said...and it was so.” God’s act of speaking released faith, or heavenly materiality, to that which He believed. When He said, Light be! He fully expected light to be. His faith took action. It spoke.
Examples like this could be multiplied, but the summary is that the WoF god had faith in his faith, and used the principle of faith to speak the universe into existence.
WoF teachers unwisely claim to hold the Bible as their foremost authority, though it's probably better for them that they do, given that most evanjellyfish don't bother to read their own Bibles very closely either.  In the long-run, a cost-benefit analysis would lead the shrewd WoF teacher to go ahead and pretend the Bible is their authority rather than lose access to the evanjellyfish market and thus cost themselves $millions.  However, the Bible gives us an excellent reason to leg-drop the WoF doctrine of positive confession and the principle of faith.

The WoF god brings the universe into existence by speaking faith-filled words, invoking the power and substance of faith to make it happen.  The principle of faith and positive confession is an eternal principle, obviously, since the WoF god made use of it to make the creation happen.  So, did he create the principle of faith or has it always existed?
If he created it, how did he do so without speaking in faith?
If the latter, how is Colossians 1:15-16 correct?
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
It says that the God of the Bible created all things.  If the WoF god is the God of the Bible, how is the principle of faith, which is clearly extraneous from the WoF god and of which he makes use to create and to do anything, not part of the WoF god's creation?


11 comments:

  1. thanks i needed to read this. have a blessed day:)

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  2. Uh, don't we usually think in terms of faith having as its object the Lord Jesus Christ? Who or What was the object of the WoF god when he created? Something beyond himself?
    And what would that be?

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  3. PA, your big mistake is to assume the WoF-ers care about the biblical teaching and definitions of faith.

    Faith doesn't need an object, on WoF theology. It's its own substance, a force, an eternal principle. You activate it by positively confessing.

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  4. Copeland needs some prayer.

    Iremember hearing him say, "I know what some others out there say about me. He teaches that you blab it, and then grab it. Well, Praise God! I sure do Blab it and grab it. I confess it and possess it too." (Paraphrased)

    Thnaks for the good post on a false teacher.

    Paul said:

    " I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive." Romans 16:17-18

    "For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things." -Phil. 3:18-19

    "Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions." 1 Tim 1:6-7

    "an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for Filthy Lucre, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it." Titus 1:7-9

    This is prbably too much Scripture. But I thought it all fit, and correlated quite well.

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  5. So to Copeland faith is something which exists outside of, or along side of, God, which He uses to accomplish his creation? Faith is an independent force which God utilises; not something He has created and granted to His creatures? Am I getting it now?

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  6. Well, it's obvious that Rho is hellspawn for presuming to attack the Lord's anointed ones! I bind the evil spirit of little faith which has taken possession of Rho and goaded him to wage this Satanic attack on God's anointed ones!

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  7. Heh. Stupid Klingon. Today IS a good day to die...

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  8. Prepare for RAMMING SPEED!!

    And PA, this:
    Faith is an independent force which God utilises; not something He has created and granted to His creatures?

    is accurate, yes.

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  9. I spit my coffee out laughing at Steve's comments about "touching the Lord's anointed ". . .

    Kenneth Copeland and these Wof heretics / teachers of greed also say these things:,

    "Dawgs begat dawgs, caets begat caets, Gawd begats gawds, ye are little gawds." (Kenneth Copeland)

    "Yes faith is a substance, like electricity - it is perceptible to the touch; measurable . . .

    words are containers of faith

    we are to use words to get what we want

    name and claim it

    we are to imitate Gawd; we are little gawds

    He called into being things which were not so we are to call into being our healing and prosperity; speak it into existence

    "speak to your wallet - you big fat wallet full of money"; speak to your body -you healthy body" (Marylin Hickey)

    Praise Gawd! Hallelujah I am a little gawd."

    What "nut-cakes" - all of them - Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Leroy Thompson, the late Kenneth Hagin, Jesse Duplantis (comedian level Robin Williams/ Jim Carey goofiness); Paula White; Benny Hinn, John Avanzini, Joyce Meyer, Fred K.C. Price, Marylin Hickey, many more.

    they should be ashamed of themselves for how they adulterate the word of God.

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  10. Another example of the word of faith heresy and goofiness and manipulation for their own greed.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aOFSgt5w-c&feature=player_embedded


    So so sad and grievous.

    they cause the enemies of God to blaspheme. Romans 2:24; 2 Sam. 12:14; Isaiah 52:5

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  11. I'm sure this word of faith doctrine is taught in the Bible?

    Yes, I know it is.

    Yes, I confess it is.

    Yes, it is, here:

    Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"

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