By becoming a man, Jesus gave up the glory of heaven but not His divinity (Philippians 2:6-7), though He did choose to withhold His power while walking the earth as man. In Him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). Christ is Eternal, the Only Begotten Son, and the only incarnation of God (John 1:1, 2, 14, 15, 18 3:16 1 John 4:1). Man was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26, 27 9:6), but this does not make him a little god or divine. God is spirit and does not have a physical body (John 4:24). God alone is the Sovereign Creator of the Universe (Genesis 1:3 1 Timothy 6:15) and does not need faith-He is the object of faith (Mark 11:22 Hebrews 11:3). Personal revelation, not Scripture, is highly relied upon in order to come up with such absurd beliefs, which is just one more proof of its heretical nature.Ĭountering Word of Faith teaching is a simple matter of reading the Bible. Obviously, Word of Faith teaching does not take into account what is found in Scripture. Needless to say, this is a false representation of what Christianity is all about. Simply put, the Word of Faith movement exalts man to god-status and reduces God to man-status. Illness, sin, and failure are the result of a lack of faith, and are remedied by confession-claiming God’s promises for oneself into existence.

After this, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to replicate the Incarnation in believers so they could become little gods as God had originally intended.įollowing the natural progression of these teachings, as little gods we again have the ability to manipulate the faith-force and become prosperous in all areas of life. In order to correct this situation, Jesus Christ gave up His divinity and became a man, died spiritually, took Satan’s nature upon Himself, went to hell, was born again, and rose from the dead with God’s nature. After the fall, humans took on Satan’s nature and lost the ability to call things into existence. Before the fall, humans had the potential to call things into existence by using the faith-force. This is nothing short of idolatry, turning our faith-and by extension ourselves-into god.įrom here, its theology just strays further and further from Scripture: it claims that God created human beings in His literal, physical image as little gods. Laws supposedly governing the faith-force are said to operate independently of God’s sovereign will and that God Himself is subject to these laws. Although individual teachings range from completely heretical to completely ridiculous, what follows is the basic theology most Word of Faith teachers align themselves with.Īt the heart of the Word of Faith movement is the belief in the 'force of faith.' It is believed words can be used to manipulate the faith-force, and thus actually create what they believe Scripture promises (health and wealth).

Kenyon and made the Word of Faith movement what it is today. Mind science (where 'name it and claim it' originated) was combined with Pentecostalism, resulting in a peculiar mix of orthodox Christianity and mysticism. Kenyon, who studied the metaphysical New Thought teachings of Phineas Quimby. The Word of Faith movement grew out of the Pentecostal movement in the late 20th century.

Kenneth hagin my life and ministry