I’d love for you to take this nugget of truth, and never let go of it. When dealing with a pastor, church, group or individual, it is important to remember these three things:
- You have to know the truth.
- You have to be firmly committed to the truth.
- You have to accept that deceivers exist.
Unfortunately, in life, most of us tend to be nonchalant about at least one of these things. We are either:
- Unaware of the truth.
- Wishy-washy, and therefore willing to compromise the truth.
- Unwilling to grasp that some people have the ability or desire to deceive.
Not always easy to remember. But, hopefully that spares you a lot of heartache.
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When it comes to faith: If you follow a form of spirituality where the truth is fluid, then that belief system is like “a house built on sand.” There is no finite truth to reference. There is nothing to firmly place your faith in. And, when anything goes, it becomes almost impossible to recognize deception.
If you want to build on solid rock… If you want to put your hope in something stable, and unwavering… then: Jesus is it. He is the cornerstone of our faith. He is God. The Bible is consistent. And everything you need to know about Him is laid out in Scripture.
But, we can’t afford to be wrong about who Jesus is.
Lately, I’ve been comparing Word of Faith teachings to true, Biblical Christianity. Word of Faith distorts many essentials of the Christian faith; their presentation of Jesus being the most dangerous and blasphemous.
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As always, let’s start with the truth.
Who is God?
God possesses several key attributes. He is:
- Eternal: He has always existed
- Immutable: He never changes
- Omniscient: He is all-knowing
- Omnipotent: He is all-powerful
- Omnipresent: He is everywhere
- Self-Sufficient: He is not dependent on anything
For this post, it is extremely important to grasp God’s eternality and immutability. He has always existed and He does not change.
Born Again Believers affirm the Trinity: The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God… and they are one. Most people have no problem affirming the divinity of the Father. But many are hesitant – or, they outright deny – the deity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
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For right now, I’m going to focus strictly on Jesus’ divinity. See, the below, from one of my recent posts.
The Hypostatic Union is how we describe Jesus’ nature while on earth. On earth, Jesus was truly man and still truly God. Throughout Scripture, Jesus proves His divinity while also showcasing that He is separate from the Father and Holy Spirit.
We see Jesus possess or claim all the attributes of God:
- Jesus claims His eternality – stating that He was with the Father in the beginning.
- Jesus forgives sins – We see Jesus forgiving people and subsequently frustrating the Pharisees.
- Though His physical body may have been stationed in one location, Jesus proves His omnipresence and omniscience with his foreknowledge of events.
- Jesus showcased and claimed His ability to do all things.
- Jesus showed that He was distinct from the other members of the Godhead through various statements and events (praying to the Father, His baptism, etc.)
- Jesus was sinless and the Father was pleased with Him.
God reveals Himself and His traits throughout the Bible. He repeatedly declares that there is only one God, and yet, we see the shared attributes, the blatant claims and the undeniable synchronicity between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is how we derive the Trinity: one God, three persons.
It is important to know that Jesus is God. If Jesus was anything less than Holy, His sacrifice would not be a sufficient covering for our sins. Knowing that He is God also helps us to view Scripture as authoritative, because Jesus is the Word. Knowing this will keep you from following your own will or from falling for some alternate Jesus.
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Christians don’t simply believe that “Jesus was a good teacher.” We are surrendered to Him and we believe Him, in totality. We affirm the way in which He presented Himself in Scripture. We see How he is testified about throughout Scripture. We believe that He is the God Man; truly God, truly man.
When you are surrendered to Christ and wholeheartedly believe that Scripture is authoritative, you understand:
- There is only one God and only God can save.
- God never changes. He knows the beginning from the end.
- God is eternal and uncreated.
- The Father, Son and Holy Spirit were present in the beginning.
- We see them all during Jesus’ earthly ministry.
- Scripture tells us where they are now: Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, in Heaven. The Holy Spirit indwells Believers.
Born Again Believers serve one God who exists in three persons; co-equal and co-eternal. If you need time to wrestle with it, take that time. But at least be aware of the truth so that you can recognize the red flag when it’s being taught.
Minimizing Jesus, Pt. 1
There are many heretical doctrines that oppose the Trinity. Many Word of Faith pastors teach the heretical doctrine of Modalism. Here is another excerpt from my prior blog post:
[Modalism] asserts that God manifests in different ways at different times. They teach that God was the Father, then He changed to the Son, and now He’s the Holy Spirit within us.
These pastors don’t verbalize that they are teaching Modalism. So sometimes they will throw in things that seem more in line with Biblical Christianity. Also, many Word of Faith churches affirm the Trinity in their statement of belief. But when you listen to their sermons carefully and study them over a significant period of time, you’re able to glean their true belief system.
The Word of Faith movement pushes the “little gods” doctrine, which ultimately minimizes Jesus’ role, while elevating ours.
I won’t belabor the point any further. Now, I simply want to share some quotes from my old church.
Minimizing Jesus, Pt. 2
Here is an excerpt from my former pastor’s sermon:
“The power of [God’s] absence is really a matter of us understanding that God is not limited by physical dimensions. And I know you know that. But He never really leaves. However, He does change forms. The disciples liked the concept of the Kingdom. We like the concept of being used by God. We like the concept of a relationship with Him. But what about the moments where the Kingdom becomes inconvenient?
And now, Jesus is taken from their sight and hidden in a cloud. But, He did not leave, He just changed forms. He did not disappear, He just was no longer visible. Instead, He was internal. Can I preach a little bit?”
“He said, It’s good that I’m ghosting you. It’s good that I leave in physical form, because then I can give you in spiritual form… then I can direct you from a deeper place.” – my former pastor
My former pastor said that Jesus, “changed forms” and that now He is “internal.” This is Modalism.
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But here’s something even wilder. This is the intro to the live version of one of the church’s songs; the words were pre-recorded by the worship team. I actually attended this live taping and this was my favorite worship song for years. But, once I was saved, I went back to watch the video on YouTube and the intro disturbed me so much. I couldn’t articulate why. But, now that I understand Modalism, I get it.
“The translation of the Hebrew word Yahweh is: Lord, spirit of Jesus. The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils. And the man became a living person. Living within us. Pronounced Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh. Yahweh. A name often considered too sacred to speak. Never to fail or forsake. Each person’s life is but breath. An unending promise. God’s divine breath flows through you and those around you. Heaven inside us. When you breathe, you let God in. Whispers the sound of your name. Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into Your hands, I commit my spirit.’ When He had said this, He breathed His last. Holy is the Lord, the breath of life inside us. Yahweh. Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord.” – my former church’s worship team
The intro states that, “God formed a man who became a living person, living within us… Yahweh.”
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The Word of Faith movement wants you to remember Jesus for what He did, rather than worship Jesus for all of who He is. They preach that Jesus resurrected, but they teach that He then ceased to exist. They preach that God is greater than us, but they teach that God is inside of us. And they do it in a way that is extremely hard to detect.
Know the truth. Commit to the truth. And, understand that deceivers exist.
Keep your eyes on Jesus.
Lexzie in Christ 