Word of Faith vs. Shield of Faith

‘Man can do nothing apart from God,’ John MacArthur warned. It is a doctrine few want to hear these days and yet one we all need to hear.

Indeed, those in authority over today’s church, the WCC, the denominational heads, the pastors the preachers and the teachers, are pushing—subtly, oh so subtly—for this shift from divine accomplishment to human achievement. Listen carefully to megachurch pastors and you'll see. Admittedly it is much more gratifying to think that we are capable of altering reality merely by speaking certain words of power, than to wait on a supreme being who is both complex and willful, and whose will does not always align with our own. (This belief of altering reality by speaking certain words, btw, is called the Law of Words of Power, and it is one of the so-called laws of magick as put forth by a magician and adapted for fantasy role-playing gamers. Its cousin teaching is the Law of Positive Attraction, which basically states that the universe returns to you the sort of energy—negative or positive—that you put out. Yeah.)

‘Divine accomplishment is true biblical Christianity; all other religions are based on some form of human achievement.’ That’s another quote by MacArthur. Since I am not familiar with every single religion in the world today, I cannot be sure of the veracity of his claim, but either way his point remains valid. According to 2 Timothy 1:9 ‘God called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.’

It is clear from a complete and thorough reading of the Bible that God is the author and finisher of our faith, that He is the creator and savior, and that He takes an active role in the events of history, yesterday, today and forever. Not us.

Prominent preachers are spewing crap about ‘positive confession’ and the ‘power of I am’ when they should be preaching repentance and the power of God!

The heretical word of faith movement is man’s deplorable attempt to steal the thunder of God for himself. Preachers of this putrid false doctrine teach that we can take on the divine nature for ourselves, which is itself a twisted variation of Christ endowing us with the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the very name of their movement ‘word of faith’ is a rip-off of Roman’s 10:8, taken out of context and of course used without knowledge of the previous and succeeding verses, which, if they read, would explain Paul’s point there, that believing (in God’s grace) with our hearts and confessing (our sins!) with our mouths leads to salvation. Paul was certainly not proclaiming there to be reality-altering power in the words themselves. Whatever power exists, and whatever results come, they are by God’s power and by His grace.

WE DO NOT HAVE POWER WITHIN OURSELVES. Without God’s grace and Christ’s intervention, we are completely powerless. We are powerless to save ourselves. The author and finisher of our faith provided the instructions, the grace, and the forgiveness for us to find salvation.

Let us not be ‘peddlers of God’s Word’ (2 Corinthians 2:17). We must not speak for the approval of people, or preach what they want to hear. We must speak the truth, and continue in it, whether convenient or not. The word of faith movement does not feed the sheep God’s Word and it does not help them develop a relationship with Him. Rather, it cultivates knowledge of self, which is carnal, and useless to our eternal souls.

Like cult leaders, these false teachers are very clever; they lure you in with their pretty words and specious promises. Do not fall for it! Arm yourself with the shield of faith, with the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God, otherwise you will be spiritually defenseless and fall prey to these guru’s, these vultures, these teachers of lies and peddlers of false doctrines.

In His Steps - But in Different Shoes

When a man named Charles Sheldon wrote a little book called In His Steps in 1896, a movement was born, ushering in a selfless method of living and thinking, and inspiring a famous motto: What Would Jesus Do.

If we study the gospels we discover what Jesus did. His actions, parables, and teachings have weathered the ages remarkably well. You could even call them timeless. There is nothing ancient or parochial about taking time to share the good news of salvation with strangers (John 8:11-12), or in loving your neighbor as yourself (Galatians 5:14), or in declaring the truth of God’s saving grace and condemnation of darkness (John 3:15-21).

The point I’m trying to make here is that thinking what Jesus might do in any given situation is an excellent habit to get into, but knowing what He did is equally essential to developing a right mind in Christ. We must not neglect our studies of the gospels. In them we see how Jesus interacted with people (aka sinners). Better to know than to guess.

Especially illuminating are His responses to sinners and to the religious leaders of the day.

Jesus displayed remarkable tenderness toward sinners. Matthew 9:36 shows us a Jesus moved with compassion for a crowd, seeing them as lost sheep without a shepherd. Often when He saw a crowd, Jesus would heal the sick and teach the lost the way to righteousness. In John 8:7 we are treated to a revelatory story of a sinner caught in the act and Jesus displaying incredible mercy. Instead of condemning her and permitting the men of the city to stone the woman, He suggested the sinless ones cast the first stones, knowing full well that no one could claim perfection. Throughout the gospels Jesus displays this degree of love and forgiveness towards sinners with repentant hearts.

But Jesus was not all teddy bears and hugs.

Throughout the gospels we are treated to accounts of our Savior condemning the hypocritical dogmas of the Sanhedrin, the religious leaders of the day. In fact, this was a common issue; they were so devoted to their traditions of men that they were resistant to the proper and true teachings of the Son of God. (Sound familiar? It should; this is a common issue in today’s church, with its obsession with following new age doctrines of men while viewing Christ’s teachings as passé.)

In reading the gospels, I find a Jesus I would love to hang out with. I find a Christ worth following. I find a love worth sharing. As Christians, we have a great name to live up to, a name we dishonor when we act superior, condemn fellow sinners, or fail to take moments to love the lost sheep of this world. Read about and remember how Jesus would stop and take the time to share His light with whomever He met on the road.

We be representin’! So let’s know who we be representin’. Thinking ‘What Would Jesus Do’ is important. Knowing ‘What He Did’ is key to doing His will.

Guilty on One Count of Misdemeanor Christianity

‘You will be hated by everyone because of My name. But the one who endures to the end will be delivered,’ (Matthew 10:22).

In this frightening verse Jesus is giving us the heads up: Expect persecution when you become a Christian. While I am quite certain members of the body of Christ have always suffered to some extent (10 of the original apostles were martyred), fifty years ago—and for a century-and-a-half before that—a ‘good Christian man’ was normally treated with respect. Christians were considered upstanding members of society, people who were honest and respectable, full of integrity and good works. Most of the persecution that went on occurred behind the scenes, in quiet, and only by the most hateful malcontents.

Today Christians are being marginalized, with the full support of mainstream media and the government. Disgusting spectacles are being made of the believer. Our God-given and constitutionally-protected religious liberties are being trampled on. Christian store owners are being forced to offer abortifacients (pills that can cause abortions), ministers are pressured to perform same-sex marriages no matter their Christian conscience; the right to pray or even acknowledge God in public schools has been ripped away, replaced by compulsions to accept the theory of evolution; and Christians are mocked and caricatured in movies and TV as silly, ignorant, extremists. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There is a government sanctioned machine targeting Christians. It is called the IR-you-know-what, and it has for years been delaying tax-exempt applications filed by Christian groups, launching unlawful investigations into the exact nature and affiliations of these groups, demanding to know not only what their activities entail (um, charity?), but what exactly is said during their prayer meetings! Prompted by the nefarious Freedom from Religion Foundation, with the goal of wrapping duct tape over the mouth of every Christian in America, the IR-you-know-what is attempting to prevent the discussion of political issues—even from a biblical perspective—from the pulpit, Sunday school, church websites, etc. Such is the fervent heat placed on Christian organizations that pastors are now afraid to remark on anything even remotely political, even subjects that are first and foremost moral, such as abortion. They fear to discuss them even from a biblical standpoint!

I could be wrong, but I suspect that the media and the government are only partially to blame. We believers are—on the whole—not what we used to be.

Fear of persecution, of revilement, of mere dislike has diminished the modern man of God by prompting him to compromise certain tenets of his faith, one after the other, making him a small believer. Big believers follow Paul’s admonition in Galatians 1:10. ‘For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.’

As proof of the extent to which fundamental Christian tenets have been compromised, look no further than any interview with America’s number one ‘Christian’, the self-help guru of Lakewood Church. Every step of the way this man negotiates with unbelievers to strike best-life-now deals, rewriting whole sections of scripture to make it fit into his reformed Christianity, the Doctrine of Self-Glory.

 

What matters more to you, the things of God, or the favor of fickle, ungodly people who not only refuse to serve God, but try to convince you that their path to damnation is the intellectual way to live? We will all one day give an account to our Savior. Personally, when He asks me if I was faithful or if I made compromises, I would hate to have to confess that ‘I was weak; I valued their approval over yours, Lord.’

What have your persecutors done for you? Remember what Christ has done for you, and then stand fast in the faith (1 Thessalonians 3:7-8).   

The Devil Wears Many Faces

If someone you know is thinking skeptically about God, or is trying to get you to think skeptically about God, know that this person is doing the will of the devil. Know that those who consciously or unwittingly choose not to recognize God as the supreme intelligence and creative power of the universe, and as the only savior of mankind, are striving to subvert the will of God.

Matthew 12:30 says 'Anyone who is not with Me is against Me' which seems to suggest both that those who deny Him and anyone who does not come to a conclusion about Jesus are in fact rejecting Him.

We must be careful not to be influenced by God-haters, or even by those who are indifferent to God, as their influence is just as dangerous. Our ultimate place of residence depends on our ability to recognize and resist the work of the devil--and it comes in many forms. (BTW, this ability to recognize and resist is offered to us by God's grace, and is strengthened and built up by studying and living His Word: Colossians 2:7.)

'So be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ' Colossians 2:8.

Peacefully, and through knowledge of God's Word, we can defend our faith in Christ Jesus. 

Turn to the Word--Everything Else is Just Opinion

As part of our training to protect ourselves as believers, I am sharing what I have learned the hard way about a trend in Christian books. Learn from my mistake or don’t, but turn to the Word for the sake of your faith.

In 1522 a Christian by the goofy name of Ulrich Zwingli wrote The Clarity and Certainty of God’s Word. In this work he—ironically—made a keen observation that took me years to discover on my own: ‘I gave myself overmuch to human teaching . . . and when I undertook to devote myself entirely to the Scriptures I was always prevented by philosophy and theology. But eventually I came to the point where, led by the Word and Spirit of God, I saw the need to set aside all these things and to learn the doctrine of God direct from His own Word.’

His point—as relevant today as it was almost five centuries ago—is that our understanding of God and of His Word cannot be improved through the study of other works.

Those works—and there are hundreds of them—are written on the premise that the Bible cannot be understood on its own, that you cannot understand it on your own. This thought process is the exact same tactic the Roman Catholic Church employed for centuries to keep believers in the dark about what the Word of God truly says. The Church decided that only it possessed the authority and the capability to properly ‘interpret’ scripture.

Don’t fall for this recycled gambit.

Hebrews 11:3-4 provides this warning: ‘But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted (away) from a complete and pure devotion to Christ. For if a person comes and preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you had not received, or a different gospel, which you had not accepted, you put up with it splendidly!’ Here Paul warns against outside influences.

Beware especially of the books that include this phrase in their synopsis: ‘This work will unlock the word of God in a fresh and powerful way.’

A fresh way? What does that mean? It means a new interpretation of the Bible! It means a fresh look at the Bible according to this or that author.

Like our friend with the funny name, I spent years reading various Christian books to improve my knowledge of God and His Word. I’d finish a 'fresh' eye-opening work like Urban Jesus and then go about with a new understanding of who my God was, thinking I’d gained insight into His nature.

But then I’d read another Christian book and it would confuse me because the information—though also fresh—differed slightly from the last book, presenting to me slightly different truths about Jesus. After perusing eight or nine of these types, I was totally discombobulated. “Who is Jesus?” I screamed at the heavens. (Not really, but you get the picture.)

The point is this: We don’t need a fresh look at the Bible. The lure of turning to extra-biblical resources to improve our comprehension of God’s Word is a trap, a dangerous habit to fall into. Don’t get me wrong, fundamentally correct teachings about God and His will can be found in some Christian books, like gems among the ore of false views and distorted philosophies. But that’s the point; even the most reverent works are prone to providing some false declarations based on faulty premises, minor deviations from the inerrant Word of God. Most are flavored by inherited worldviews and tainted by denominational bias. By developing a habit of augmenting our Biblical knowledge with extra-biblical resources, we fall into the trap of blindly believing some false teachings.

This reliance on extra-biblical teaching has become a phenomenon; fresh new ways of understanding the Bible make for best sellers and, going along with the times, our teachers and pastors have even taken to preaching from some of these books.

One day in a church I used to attend the pastor opened up one of these extra-biblical books (in this case 3 Free Sins, a clever, devious little troll) and taught out of this book instead of the Bible! I got up and walked out, and never returned.

'All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work’ (2 Timothy 3:16-17). You see, the Bible (alone) equips us and completes our spiritual training. Turn to the Bible; everything else is just opinion. (Yes, I see the irony in making this statement, and I'm totally cool with it, because if you have learned from this post, you will turn to the Word and not take my word as gospel--which would be another dose of irony).