To close out my series on Biblical Christianity vs. Word of Faith, I will share an excerpt from a post I wrote a few years ago:
Here are two examples of Word of Faith manipulation.
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1. Manipulation of the idea of “transformation”:
For years, my (former) pastor has been teaching that: God created us in His image and He knew us before we were born. Therefore, we just need to “remember” who we are. We need to know that our sinful nature is not really indicative of who we are. He also preaches that: When we say something negative about ourself we are disrespecting the God who made us.
What he should be teaching is that: We were born with a sinful nature, into a sinful world. We do have sinful ways, but grace and salvation is found in Christ. Jesus Christ transforms us and gives us a new heart with new desires.
God will be sanctifying us throughout our lives. We will never be perfect while walking this earth. We will still be tempted by sin and we will have times where we fall. But we won’t be slaves to our sin, and we won’t feel content in our sin. When we sin, we need to confess it to God immediately.
My (former) pastor should be teaching that we need to search Scripture for truth on who we are called to be. (Not, that we need to try to “remember” who we are.) We are to pick up our cross and set our sight on Christ so that we may walk the narrow path.
My (former) pastor does not correctly address sin, much less the need to repent from it.
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2. Manipulation of the word “created”:
My (former) pastor often conflates the words “created” and “chosen” when preaching. He teaches that: We were created to be good, and we need to return to the version of ourselves that God already knows.
This is wrong.
Of course, God created this whole world and every living being. But, the Bible also says that – when those who are chosen accept Christ – they are then made into a new creation.
My (former) pastor would use the first half of Ephesians 1:4 to underscore his point: “For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world…” He’d explain that because we were chosen, we are already whole and good. He’d then break into an anecdote without ever completing the full verse!
Had he read the full thing, he would have been forced to acknowledge and teach the last 8 words:
“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.“
Teaching that we are inherently pure, and that we simply have to “remember and return” to our original selves, is not in line with Biblical Christianity. It takes the sermon in a direction that seems more like the New Age teaching of inner child or shadow work.
Just remember that God’s work is not our work. And when we understand God’s work, we can then focus on understanding ours. God regenerates us. He makes us into a new creation. He keeps our hearts turned to Him.
We are to praise and depend on Him in prayer. We are to get to know Him through Scripture. We are to follow His commands as best we can; confessing to Him as we falter in sin.
We aim to be more like Christ. Not more like… ourselves.
On this site, I always say: Your experience and testimony is either for your salvation or for someone else’s. Prayerfully, God will use my experience with Word of Faith to pull someone else out from under heretical teaching and into the richness of His presence. His truth is powerful and wise. And, in His loving arms is where you want to be.
Lexzie in Christ 