#18 The Facts On False Teaching In The Church
 

    It is our view that these faith teachers have misread the plain meaning of the words of the Bible in their context. We will now prove that these faith teachers have misread the plain meaning of the Bible.
    Gloria Copeland, Kenneth's wife, is a good example of how these faith teachers not only misinterpret but occasionally deliberately delete the words of Scripture that deny their view. For example, Gloria Copeland quotes Daniel 3:17,18, which is the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego speaking to Nebuchadnezzar before they were to be thrown into the fiery furnace. These servants of God told the king, "[God] will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if he does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods...@ Here these men tell us they believe it could be God's will not to save them, but they will still trust and serve Him just like Job who said, "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him@ (Job 13:15). But this goes against the theology of Gloria and Kenneth Copeland and the other faith teachers who say Christians should overcome in every circumstances. Since the words of Daniel 3:18 didn't fit her view, Gloria deleted them. When she quotes Daniel 3:18, the phrase "but even if he does not@ is deleted. She actually cites a Scripture in her defense that were it quoted in full would disprove the point she is making.
    Consider the following areas that the "faith@ teaching has distorted.
 

God
 

    Faith teaching has distorted both the sovereignty of God and the will of God. God is no longer sovereign if He can be forced to act on the basis of what men do. Thus, in some cases His will can be replaced with man's will. In essence, what God's sovereignty lacks, human sovereignty supplies. Not even God will interfere with the believer's "divine right.@
 

Jesus and the Atonement
 

    Faith teachers have redefined the mission of Jesus Christ to incorporate their belief. For example, John Osteen teaches, "Did Jesus die for your prosperity? Yes.@ Robert Tilton teaches, "Jesus came to deliver man from failure, and to cause him to be once again a success...Christians who do not believe in divine healing, who do not believe in prosperity - they do not believe in what was atoned for at Calvary.@ Charles Capps teaches Jesus came and died for us to get Adam's power back to rule and dominate the earth. Gloria Copeland states, "YOU HAVE A TITLE DEED TO PROSPERITY. Jesus bought and paid for your prosperity just like He bought and paid for your healing and your salvation...This prosperity already belongs to you.@ Here you can see these four faith teachers are saying that because of Jesus= death on the cross, He bought and paid for your healing or success now. Their conclusion is that (even if it takes time to manifest) you can claim success or immediate healing by faith.
    This is wrong. Why? First, because it is another misinterpretation of Scripture; namely, Isaiah 53:3,4 and Matthew 8:17 which we have just commented upon.
    Secondly, it is wrong because the Bible plainly teaches that the average Christian, the Apostles, and Jesus Himself did not teach or hold this view. Physical healing is not the instantaneous gift assumed by the faith teachers. For example, the Apostle Paul himself had a physical infirmity or bodily illness he simply had to live with (Gal. 4:13,14; 2nd Cor. 12:7-10). Paul told Timothy to take a little wine "for the sake of your stomach [problems] and your frequent ailments@ (1^st Tim. 5:23, emphasis added). Paul said, "Trophimus I left sick at Miletus@ (2^nd Tim. 4:20). Paul never once told Timothy or anyone else to "claim your healing.@ He clearly did not believe the death of Christ healed believers= illnesses. Otherwise, how did such great men of faith as Paul and Timothy fail to know and teach that Christ died for our illnesses? Nor was Christ's death a guarantee of success in this life. To the contrary, by worldly standards Paul, the Apostles and the early Church were highly unsuccessful (Rom. 8:35,36; 1^st Cor. 4:9-17; 15:30; 2^nd Cor. 4:7-11). These godly men accepted the fact of their sicknesses and tribulations. Even Jesus also accepted and expected sickness and hardship among believers (Mt. 25:44; Luke 21:17). In fact, Jesus Himself taught that sickness could be to the glory of God. Jesus said of Lazarus, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it@ (Jn. 11:4).
 

Faith
 

    In prosperity thinking, faith is similar to the power of magic. John Osteen states, "...faith reaches out into the invisible area. It creates the physical realm out of invisible truths.@ Here the faith teachers ascribe faith as a force to be exerted upon God forcing Him to act in our behalf. But this is wrong. The Bible no where states that God relinquished His will to each one of our wills. He knows that would be chaos.
 

Man
 

    In positive confession, man is considered "a god@ or a god-like being. In some ways man is the ruler of God, who is his servant. Like the genie in the bottle, man decides what he wants and then commands or demands God to do his bidding. In some teachings, man comes close to deification. Robert Tilton no longer always thanks God for his food; rather, he speaks to the food and pronounces a divine blessing upon it
    As Charles Capps states, "Natural men [can] become supernatural@; "Supernatural men that never existed before...[and are] no longer totally subject to their natural ability.@ For example, the miracles done in the book of Acts were not done solely and directly by God but by believers exercising their supernatural powers and influence on others. In Acts 14:8-10 when Paul told the cripple "stand up,@ the result is that "spirit words received into his [the cripple's] spirit released spiritual power in his physical body. This creative ability of spirit words formed in his spirit and produced physical results.@
    Nevertheless, the idea that men are gods is denied in the Bible. Even Paul, a man of great faith, never considered himself a god. For example, in Acts 14:11-14 God healed a man through Paul. "And when the multitude saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, 'The gods have become like men and have come down to us.= "But Paul's response was not, "Yes, we are gods and you, too, can learn how to exercise the miracle power of faith.@ The Scripture says, "But when the Apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out and saying, 'Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the Gospel to you in order that you should turn from these vain things to a living God...= A
 

Angels
 

    The prosperity movement is overly obsessed with the demonic and has distorted biblical teaching on the angels. Many teach that physical illness results from demons. They do this even though Scripture clearly distinguishes physical illness and demon possession (Lk. 8:2). Frances Hunter, for example, teaches "a demon takes a look at a woman and says, 'Wow, I think I will lay a little cancer on her...= so he jumps into her body...and before long, the woman discovers she has cancer of the breast...@ Not only does such teaching produce fear of demons in people, it offers a cruel and false hope of a "quick fix@ by "exorcism@ to those with serious illness. The logical conclusion of reading some of the faith teachers= instruction has been to lead many people into fear and bondage to demons. An example of how far this can be taken is seen by Don Basham's teaching that post-nasal drip, fingernail biting, and arthritis of the knees, among many other normal ailments, can be caused by demons.
 

John Ankerberg & John Weldon