#14 The Facts On False Teaching In The Church
Why Are the Teachings of Christian Positive Thinkers False?
Would you recognize a false teaching if your pastor presented one next
Sunday? The evidence is that Christians everywhere are enthusiastically
embracing false teachings in the church regarding success, health, and
prosperity.
14. What are some illustrations proving the errors of positive confession?
Consider the following illustrations of positive confession belief. As you
read them, ask yourself, A Would God
reveal such teachings to His people for their welfare? Are these formulas or
words found in the Bible? Are they based on trusting God or upon presumption?
Are they reflecting the life and teachings of Jesus? Do they make sense, or are
they irrational? Are they wise or foolish - or could they be dangerous?
E. W. Kenyon
"...When God imparts to us His
nature, there comes with it all the attributes of [God] Himself. They are
un-developed but they are there lying latent in our human spirits.@
Kenneth Hagin
"Give what you can=
t afford.@
"God wants his children to...wear
the best clothing. He wants them to drive the best cars, and he wants them to
have the best of everything...just claim what you need.@
"Too few people today know that
they can write their own ticket with God.@
Kenneth Copeland
"As a born again believer, you
have the same spiritual capacity Jesus has.@
"Believers are not to be led by
logic. We are not even to be led by good sense...The ministry of Jesus
was never governed by logic or reason.@
Charles Capps
"He [God] said, [to Capps]...I am
not the one causing your problems. You are under an attack of the evil one
and I can= t do anything about
it. You have bound me by the [negative] words of your mouth.@
"We have said,
> Oh, it looks like the wicked
prosper.= Well, we said they were,
that is one reason they are prospering.@
"In fact, I am convinced the only
thing you can= t have here on earth is
the glorified body. You can have the kingdom [of heaven], and the benefits of it
right here on earth.@
Robert Tilton
"[re: John 15:7] Jesus didn't put any limits on this. . .You are wall-to-wall Jesus. . .the miraculous
should be commonplace in every church. . .He [Jesus] was talking about demanding
your rights and having restored back to you what the devil stole from man in the
fall!@
Paul Yonggi Cho
Dr. Cho pastors the world's
largest church (600,000 members) and is one of the less extreme positive
confession teachers. He claims God spoke to him and revealed his [Cho's] teachings, yet, Cho teaches Christians a
"law@ of faith involving "incubating our subconscious@
through visions, visualization (mental imaging directed toward a specific goal),
and dreams. According to Cho, our subconscious is our spirit and our spirit is
linked to the fourth dimension, the spiritual world. Because the spiritual world
is always forming and shaping the physical world, and because we are linked in
our subconscious to the spiritual world, we have power to shape it, therefore
also shaping this world. Physical reality may be altered in accordance with the
visualized desires. By picturing what we desire inwardly in our subconscious
mind, we somehow enter and/or manipulate "the fourth dimension@ (the spiritual
world) in order to actually permit God to produce miracles for us in the
physical realm, the third dimension. Thus, "what becomes pregnant in your heart and mind is going to come out in your
circumstances. . .Your word actually goes out and creates [reality]. God spoke
and the whole world came into being. Your word is the material which the Holy
Spirit uses to create.@ Cho believes
that genuine pagan miracles are part of the potential of the human spirit
because by exploring and influencing the fourth dimension (the spiritual world)
even unbelievers can change third dimensional reality since it is controlled by
the fourth dimension. But unbelievers use the fourth dimension in an evil manner
by Satan while believers use it by God and so "can have all the more dominion over circumstances.@
The fourth dimension principle is the key to Cho's ministry and apart from manipulating the fourth dimension he believes we
cannot be effective in evangelism. Visualization is also held to be the secret
of victorious praying. It is our mental power to alter the fourth dimension
which produces effective ministry here on the earth.
But did God ever teach these things in the Bible? Does God require of us a
certain state of consciousness - or simple trust in Him? Do we have power over
the creation or does God? Is visualization really the "deeper language@
of the Holy Spirit?
Cho has recently and correctly rebuked the American faith teachers for
excesses and imbalance, but in his book Salvation, Health and Prosperity
he teaches that apart from knowing the truths of the threefold blessings of
salvation, of health and of prosperity as outlined in his book, we cannot
properly understand the Bible. "Like
blind men touching an elephant to comprehend its shape, those of us who read the
Bible without this foundation cannot understand or interpret fully what we read.@
He also teaches, "If Jesus is with us
now, the same things which He did 2,000 years ago should appear daily in our
lives. By this we can judge whether Jesus=
sayings are true or not: if these things are not happening among us, the
promises of Jesus have become empty words to us.@
John Ankerberg & John Weldon