Word of Faith (& Prosperity Teachings)
Word of Faith (also known as Word-Faith or simply Faith Teachings) is a doctrine in many Pentecostal and Charismatic churches as well as individual ministries worldwide. It is akin to Prosperity teaching, but not completely identical - usually both are preached together. The movement emphasizes speaking, stating, or confessing verses found in the Bible, in orer to activate them (almost automatically) aside from the will of God.
Prosperity teaching applies the Word of Faith technique of claiming the promises in the bible to wealth, well-being, prosperity, advancement and success as well as healing and even cheating death. It is taught that financial blessing is the will of God for all Christians, and that faith, positive speaking, and donations to Christian ministries will always increase one's material wealth. In a similar way, perfect health is taught as the gold standard of the bible and through faith Christians should claim and believe for this at all times. Being ill therefore is often condemned as a "lack of faith".
A few (8) samples of what is called 'plagiarism'...
Kenneth Hagin apparently had no conscience about copying word for word his "revelations" of the Word of Faith from Kenyon's books, published some time earlier. Kenyon's own daughter, Ruth Kenyon Houseworth, easily recognizes her father's message upon the lips of Faith leaders.
She says:
"They've (Faith teachers) all copied from my dad. [E. W. Kenyon] They've changed it a little bit and added their own touch....but they couldn't change the wording...These that are coming along now that have been in the ministry for just a few years and claiming that this is something that they are just starting, it makes you laugh a little bit. It's very difficult for some people to be big enough to give credit to somebody else."[ E.W. Kenyon, The Father and His Family, Lynnwood WA.: Kenyon's Gospel Publishing Society, 1964, p.118.]
A man who, on occasion, ministered with Kenyon was one time friend John Kennington, pastor of Emmanuel Temple in Portland, Oregon. He has this to say concerning the plagiarism of Kenyon's teachings:
"Today Kenyon's teachings are in the ascendancy. Via the electronic church or in the printed page I readily recognize not only Kenyon's concepts, but at times , I recognize pure plagiarism, for I can almost tell you book, chapter and page where the material is coming from. Kenyon has become the 'father' of the so-called 'Faith' movement."
The original works are the rights of Kenyon's Gospel Publishing Company
E. W. Kenyon
The twenty-second Psalm gives a
graphic picture of the crucifixion
of Jesus. It is more vivid than
that of John, Matthew or Mark
who witnessed it.
But He says the strangest words,
"But thou are holy."
What does that mean?
He is becoming sin.
Can you hear those parched lips cry,
"I am a worm and no man."?
He is spiritually dead. The worm.
Jesus had died of a ruptured heart.
When that happened, blood from all
parts of the body poured in through
the rent, into the sack that
holds the heart. Then as the body
cooled, the red corpuscles
coagulated and rose to the
top. The white serum settled
to the bottom. When that
Roman soldier's spear pierced the
sack, water poured out first. Then
the coagulated blood oozed out,
rolled down His side onto the
ground, and John bore witness of it.
(What happened from the Cross to the
Throne [Seattle: Kenyon's Gospel
Publishing Society, 1969, 44-45])
At once you ask,
"What does identification mean?"
It means our complete union with
Him in His Substitutionary Sacrifice.
This gives us the key which
unlocks the great teaching of
identification.
Christ became one with us in sin
that we might become one with
Him in righteousness.
He became as we were to the end
that we might become as He is now.
He died to make us live
He became weak to make us strong
He suffered shame to give us glory.
He went to hell
to take us to heaven.
He was condemned to justify us.
He was made sick that healing
might be ours.
(Identification: A Romance in
Redemption [Seattle:Kenyon's Gospel
Publishing Society, 1968], 6, 7)
The picture here is of Christ. . .
in awful combat with the hosts of
darkness. It gives us a glimpse
of the tremendous battle and victory
that Jesus won before He rose from
the dead. The margin reads:
"Having put off from Himself the
principalities and powers."
It is evident that
the whole demon host, when they
saw Jesus in their power simply
intended to swamp Him, overwhelm
Him, and they held Him in fearful
bondage until the cry came forth
from the throne of God that Jesus
had met the demands of justice; that
the sin problem was settled
and man's redemption was a fact.
When this cry reached the dark
regions, Jesus rose and hurled back
the host of darkness, and met Satan
in awful combat.
God has made this investment for
the benefit of the Church:
He has made this deposit on which
the Church has a right to draw for
Her every need.
Oh, that our eyes were open;
that our souls would dare rise
into the realm of the Omnipotence
where the Name would mean to us
all that the Father has invested in it.
This is practically an unexplored
tableland in Christian experience.
(The Wondeful Name Of Jesus [Seattle:
Kenyon's Gospel Publishing Society,
1927], 8, 9, 11)
You must have seen as you have
studied this book that
healing is spiritual.
It is not mental as Christian
Science and Unity and other
metaphysical teachers claim.
Neither is it physical as the
medical world teaches. When man
heals, he must either do it through
the mind. . . or he does it through
the physical body. . . When God
heals He heals through the spirit.
We can understand that
the greatest forces in life
are spiritual forces.
Love and hate, fear and faith,
joy and grief,
are all of the spirit.
(Jesus the Healer [Seattle:
Kenyon's Gospel Publishing
Society, 1940], p. 90)
That is, there will be enmity
between Satan and the woman.
This is proved by woman's history.
She has been bought and sold as
common chattel. Only where Chris-
tianity has reached the hearts of
a country has woman ever received
any treatment that would lift her
above the brute creation.
and woman's seed is Christ.
Christ was hunted from His babyhood
by Satan's seed until finally they
nailed him to the cross; and from
the resurrection of Jesus until
this day, the church has been the
subject of the bitterest
persecution and enmity of the
world. "He shall bruise thy
head" - that is, the head of Satan.
In all Oriental languages the term
"bruise the head" means breaking
the lordship of a ruler.
"The heel" is the Church in its
earth walk. The long ages of
persecution of the Church by the
seed of Satan are a
matter of history.
(The Bible in the Light of Our
Redemption [Seattle:Kenyon's Gospel
Publishing Society, 1969], p. 58)
...in Gen. 18 God refused to
destroy Sodom and Gomorrah until He
had talked it over with His blood
covenant friend, Abraham. Abraham's
prayer . . . is one of the most
illuminating and suggestive prayers
of the Old Testament ... Abraham was
taking his in the covenant.
Abraham had through the Covenant
received rights and privileges
that we little understand.
The Covenant that Abraham had just
solemnized with Jehovah gave him a
legal standing with God. We
hear him speak so plainly,
"Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right?" All through the
Old Covenant we find men who
understood and took their place
in the Covenant.
Joshua could open the Jordan.
He could command the.
sun, moon and stars to stand still
in the heavens. Elijah could bring
fire out of heaven to consume the
offering as well as the altar.
David's mighty men were utterly
shielded from death in their wars.
They became supermen as long as they
remembered the covenant.
(The Two Kinds of Faith [Seattle:
Kenyon's Gospel Publishing Society,
1969], pp. 76-84)
Jesus gave us the first
intimation of what this Life would
do for man. "In him was life; and
the life was the light of men."
There are four Greek words
translated "life" ... in the New
Testament.
The first one is psuche which means
natural, human life. The second is
bios which means manner of life....
The third is anastrophee which ...
means "a confused behavior."
It is a strange thing that the Church
has majored in "manner of life" or
"behavior" rather than Eternal Life
which determines in a very large way
the "manner of life."
Receiving Eternal Life is the most
miraculous incident or event in life.
It is called conversion, the
New Birth and the New Creator. Some
have called it "getting religion."
It is, in reality, God imparting
His very Nature, Substance, and
Being to our human spirits.
(Two kinds of Life [Seattle:
Kenyon's Gospel Publishing Society,
1971], pp. 2-3)
Man is a spirit being, he has a soul
and he lives . . . in a body.
He is in the same class as God.
We know that God is a spirit
and He became a man took on a
man's body, and when He did it
He was no less God than He was
before He took the physical body...
Man, at death, leaves his physical
body and is no less man than
he was when he had his ... body.
(The Hidden Man [Seattle: Kenyon's
Gospel Publishing Society, 1970],
p.40; Two Kinds of Faith, p. 3)
Kenneth E. Hagin, Sr.
The 22nd Psalm gives a
graphic picture of the crucifixion
of Jesus-more vivid than
that of John, Matthew or Mark
witnessed it.
He utters the strange words
"But thou are holy."
What does that mean?
He is becoming sin. . . .
His parched lips cry,
"I am a worm and no man."
He is spiritually dead-the worm.
Jesus died of a ruptured heart.
When it happened, blood from all
parts of His body poured through
the rent into the sack which
holds the heart. As the body
cooled, the red corpuscles
coagulated and rose to the
top, the white serum settled
to the bottom When that
Roman spear pierced the
sack, water poured out first, then
the coagulated blood oozed out,
rolling down his side onto the
ground. John bore witness of it.
("Christ our Substitute", The Word
of Faith [March 1975]), pp. 1,4,5,7)
What does identification mean?
It means our complete union with
Christ.
This gives us the key which
unlocks the great teachings of
identification.
Christ became one with us in sin
that we might become one with
Him in righteousness.
He became as we were to the end
that we might become as He is now.
He died to make us live.
He became weak to make us strong.
He suffered shame to give us glory.
He went to hell
to take us to heaven.
He was condemned to justify us.
He was made sick that healing
might be ours.
("The Resurrection! What it Gives Us."
The Word Of Faith
[April 1977], p.5)
Here is a picture of Christ in
awful combat with the hosts of
darkness. It gives us a glimpse
of the tremendous victory He won
before He rose from the dead.
The margin of King James reads,
"He put off from Himself the
principalities and the powers."
It is quite obvious and evident
that whole demon hosts, when they
had Jesus within their power
intended to swamp Him, to overwhelm
Him, and to hold Him in fearful
bondage. But the cry came forth
from the throne of God that Jesus
had met the demands of Justice, that
the sin problem had been settled,
that man's redemption was a fact.
And when that cry reached the dark
regions, Jesus arose and threw back
the host of demons and met Satan
in awful combat.
God has made this investment for
the church.
He has made this deposit on which
the church has a right to draw for
her every need.
Oh that our eyes would open,
that our souls would dare to rise
in the realm of the omnipotent
where that name would mean to us
all that God the Father intended
it to mean! In one sense,
this is practically unexplored
table land in Christian experience.
("The Name Of Jesus: The More Excellent
Name";The Word of Faith
[April 1976], pp. 4-6)
God's method of physical
healing is spiritual.
It is not mental as Christian
Science, Unity and other
metaphysical teachers claim.
Neither is it physical as the
medical world teaches. When man
heals, he must do it either through
the mind or through the physical
body. When God heals
He heals through the human spirit,
for God is a Spirit.
Life's greatest forces
are spiritual forces.
Love and hate, faith and fear,
joy and peace,
are all of the spirit.
("Spirit, Soul, & Body; Part Three:
God Heals through the Spirit of Man,"
Word of Faith [December 1977], p.5)
The fact that there is enmity
between Satan and the woman is seen
through woman's history. . . .
She has been bought and sold as
common chattel. Only where Chris-
tianity has reached the heart of
the country has woman
been elevated
above the brute creation.
Woman's seed is Christ.
Christ was hunted from His babyhood
by Satan's seed until finally He
was nailed to the cross. From
the resurrection of Jesus until
this day, the church has been the
subject of the bitterest
persecution and enmity of the
world. "and it ... shall bruise thy
head" (the head of Satan).
In Oriental languages "bruising
the head" means breaking
the lordship of a ruler.
"The heel" is the Church in its
earth walk. . . .The long ages of
persecution of the Church by the
seed of Satan are today merely a
matter of history.
("Incarnation," Word of Faith
[December 1978], p. 4)
Here is Genesis, God refused to
destroy Sodom and Gomorrah until He
had talked it over with Abraham,
His blood covenant friend. Abraham's
prayer is one of the most
suggestive and illuminating prayers
of the Old Testament. Abraham was
taking his in the covenant.
Abraham had, through the covenant,
received rights and privileges
which we very little understand.
The covenant Abraham had just
solemnized with Jehovah gave him a
legal standing with God.... we
hear him speaking so plainly...
"Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right?" All through the
Old Testament we find men who
understood and took their place
in the covenant
Joshua could open the Jordan
He could command the
sun, moon and stars to stand still
in the heavens. Elijah could bring
fire out of heaven to consume the
altar as well as the sacrifice.
David's mighty men were utterly
shielded from death in time of war
as long as they remembered the
covenant.
(Plead Your Case [Tulsa: Faith
Library, 1979]), pp. 4-9; cf.
pp. 23-32)
In John 1:4 we get the first
intimation of what this life will
do for us: "In him was life; and
the life was the light of men.""
There are four different Greek words
translated "life" in the New
Testament. First, there is zoe.
Then there is psuche. That means
natural or human life. Bios means
manner of life.
And anastrophee means
confused behavior.
It seems strange that the Church
has majored in "manner of life" or
"behavior" rather than eternal life,
which determines in a very large way
the manner of life.
Receiving eternal life is the most
miraculous incident in life.
Often we call it conversion or the
new birth. Some call
it "getting religion," but that's
not what it is really.
It is, in reality, God imparting
His very Nature, substance, and
being to our human spirits.
(The God Kind of Life [Tulsa:
Faith Library,
1981], pp. 1-2, 9)
Man is a spirit who possesses a soul
and lives in a body....
He is in the same class with God.
We know that God is a Spirit.
And yet [He] took upon Himself a
man's body....when God took
upon Himself human form,
He was no less God than when He
didn't have a body.
Man, at physical death, leaves his
body. Yet he is no less man than
he was when he had his body.
(Man of Three Dimensions [Tulsa:
Faith Library, 1973], no page)
© 1995-2013 Tricia Tillin of Banner Ministries. All rights reserved. Cross+Word Website: http://www.banner.org.uk/ This document is the property of its author and is not to be displayed on other websites, redistributed, sold, reprinted, or reproduced in printed in any other format without permission. Websites may link to this article, if they provide proper title and author information. One copy may be downloaded, stored and/or printed for personal research. All spelling and phraseology is UK English.
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