THE PROSPERITY MOVEMENT:Wounded Charismatics by Roger L. Smalling, D.Min
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The “God” in the Mirror
Chapter 2: Faith or Fiction
Chapter 3: Sovereignty and Suffering
Chapter 4: Origins of Word of Faith
Chapter 5: Positive Confession
Chapter 6: Wounded Faith
Chapter 7: Just Like Your Soul Prospers
Chapter 8: As Rich As Abraham
Chapter 9: Sufficiency, Yes!
Chapter 10: The Jesus Died Spiritually Heresy
Chapter 11: Job and the Kingdom
Chapter 12: The Psychology Behind the Word Movement
Chapter 13: Denying the Symptoms: Is it valid?
Chapter 14: Did Jesus Heal Them All?
Chapter 15: How To Grow in Faith
Appendix A: Comparative Chart, Word of Faith vs Bible Appendix B: On “Divine Nature” 2Pe.1:3-4 Appendix C: 150 Verses Word of Faith Cultists Don’t Like to Hear
http://www.smallings.com/Books/ProspENG.htm#Ch4
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Chapter 4: The Origins of Word of Faith
Word of Faith has its roots in a pagan cult that rivaled Christianity during the first three centuries of the Christian era, known as Gnosticism. The early Church fathers, such as Iranaeus eventually refuted and destroyed it.
Various Gnostic cults existed, but all held to a form of Dualism. This meant matter is bad and spirit is good. The Bible, however, teaches God created both realms and called all creation, spiritual and material, ‘good’.
Some Gnostics even taught two gods: An evil one which governed the material realm and a good one, the spiritual. All, however, held that a series of spiritual laws exist between the two dimensions by which both realms could be controlled. Certain spiritually elite people were endowed with a special “gnosis” or “revelation knowledge” by which they could learn to manipulate these laws to their advantage … even to controlling their own spiritual destinies.
A Gnostic goal was to attain to divinity and become a kind of creative “god.” This was through the “releasing” of his spirit from the material realm through his special “knowledge” of the mystical forces governing the universe.
Iranaeus, one of the third century fathers who combated Gnosticism in his book Against Heresies, comments on the spiritual pride characteristic of Gnostics:
They consider themselves ‘mature’, so that no one can be compared with them in the greatness of their Knowledge, not even if you mention Peter or Paul or any of the other apostles…” (I, XIII, 6)
.”..such a person becomes so puffed up that he … walks with a strutting gait and a supercilious countenance, possessing all the pompous air of a cock! (III, XV, 2)
The parallels between ancient Gnosticism and Word of Faith are too striking to ignore. But how did Gnosticism get transported into the 20th Century?
For this information, we are deeply indebted to Judith Matta, author of The Christian Response to Gnostic Charismatic Heresies.[29]Judith is probably the foremost expert in the U.S. today on the Gnostic origins of Word of Faith. She is a graduate of Talbot Theological seminary and a first-class scholar.
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In 1875, Mary Baker Eddy published Science and Health, thus launching the Christian Science sect. The First Church of Christ Scientist was founded in Boston in 1879. Eddy had adapted many of the early Gnostic concepts in her writings, which included the denial of the reality of illness and matter.
One of the early converts to Christian Science, and a member of the Mother Church from 1903 until his death in 1908, was Dr. C.W. Emerson. He founded a college in Boston around the turn of the century called Emerson School of Oratory. This was a prep school for boys, not a Bible school.
One of the early students of Emerson’s school was a young man by the name of E.W. Kenyon. Kenyon picked up some of the Gnostic concepts and incorporated them into his own writings later on.
The terms, “Word of Faith” and “Revelation Knowledge” are found throughout Kenyon’s books. Positive rhetoric characterized his style and much of what he wrote is legitimate. He exalts the power and lordship of Christ skillfully and expounds certain aspects of the authority of the believer. Unfortunately, errors abound in nearly every chapter.
His booklet, Two Kinds of Knowledge, is especially dangerous because of its subtlety. In it, he falls into the usual Gnostic and mystic trap of using reason to deny the validity of reason. Information derived from our five senses, he terms “sense knowledge” and the correlation of that information is done by logic. But “revelation knowledge” comes directly to our spirit, bypassing both reason and five senses. Kenyon believed that since God is spiritual, it is impossible to understand God or spiritual truth without this special “revelation.”
Through this, a dangerous and subtle error enters. If a person swallows it, then the Bible itself comes to be judged by the standard of the “revelation knowledge” that one experiences subjectively. Subtly and unconsciously, the reader of Kenyon becomes his own standard of truth.
Kenyon forgot the eye that reads the Bible, the ear, which hears it, and the brain that correlates it are all physical organs. The Bible is a human book as well as Divine. Bypassing the senses and reason inevitably leads to bypassing the Bible also. Untrained Christians eager for supernatural experiences can easily fall into Kenyon-style mysticism.
Kenyon died in 1948, but the Gnostic torch didn’t die with him. It was embraced by a young Pentecostal hungry for the supernatural, Kenneth Hagin … the recognized founder and leader of the Word of Faith movement.
Hagin praises Kenyon to the skies in one of his first books, The Name of Jesus, and confesses his deep indebtedness to him. Hagin later passed on these teachings to Kenneth Copeland. Through Copeland came Charles Capps, Jerry Savelle, and others. T.L. Osborn also expressed deep debt to Kenyon in a letter to Kenyon’s granddaughter in 1972, calling an him “an Apostle.”
Though Hagin based his views largely on Kenyon, he himself contributed some interesting “revelations” of his own along the way. In the introduction to one of the older editions of his “Art of Intercession,” he describes his eighth “visitation” of Christ. A spirit being, identifying itself as “Jesus Christ,” came into Hagin’s room, sat down and talked for about an hour and a half.
During this visit, the supposed Jesus-spirit gave him a startling “revelation.” All the theologians in the past who taught that God was in absolute control of all things were wrong. Hagin claims, “God is not ruling in this world … And God cannot do anything unless somebody down here asks him.”
This “being” apparently forgot to do its homework before categorically denying the Sovereignty of God.
Whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and in earth… Psalm 135:6
That the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men…” Daniel 4:17
In Hagin’s seventh “visitation,” the spirit being told him not to pray for his needs any more but to command the angels to get them. Again, this “being” missed some key scripture. Our Father in heaven…give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11 In the context, the Jesus of the Bible commands us to pray to the Father for the fulfillment of our needs.
Am I implying that the “being” who visited Kenneth Hagin and gave him the Word of Faith revelations is not really Jesus Christ, but a deceiving demon? Be assured, I am not implying it. I’m stating it as a fact.
The Hagin hijack: How these teachings entered the Charismatic movement
The Charismatic movement took root in the late ‘60’s and ‘70’s. Sometimes styled ‘Neo-Pentecostalism,’ it was characterized by a rejection of the dead orthodoxy in some traditional denominations, in favor of a new emphasis on the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts. [30]
In its beginnings, the Charismatic movement was innocuous. Nothing is wrong with seeking new fillings with the Holy Spirit or spiritual gifts. In fact, we are commanded by scripture to do so. A fundamental flaw in the movement, however, was the lack of solid theological foundations.
Charismatics had rejected dead orthodoxy. However, many failed to appreciate the alternative….live orthodoxy. Instead, a mindless mysticism developed. Hagin’s teachings found fertile ground in the new movement.
Many Charismatics were middle-class Evangelicals. While interested in exciting experiences, they were less enthusiastic about joining with traditional Pentecostals. Classical Pentecostals were often from a poorer and less educated class.
Charismatics were ripe for fresh teaching within their own sociological context…a scenario primed for a Hagin hijack.
Though Hagin was the acknowledged leader, he was not as articulate as some followers. His country accent, poor grammar and obvious lack of formal education had little appeal to the middle classes.
The movement gained momentum with the more articulate and younger Kenneth Copeland. His book Laws of Prosperity launched him to Faith Movement stardom, offering a new worldview that filled in the theological gaps left by an abandoned orthodoxy.
Books by “faith” teachers flooded the market and the new Charismatics snapped them up like starving fish after bait. Sadly, cash flow rather than truth determined what books appeared in the Christian market. Those with a dissenting voice found it difficult to get their books published.
An even bigger boon for the Prosperity Movement came in the 80’s when Paul Crouch of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), announced the faith movement was the route he would take in his programming.
Jim Bakker of the PTL Network and Paul Crouch endorsed the faith movement’s concepts, giving it worldwide exposure. Result: Gnosticism, disguised under the banner of “faith,” began to root itself deeply into the psyche of American Charismatics.
A Roman-American parallel
As with the United States today, Rome had been a prosperous society. In the first three centuries as Christianity was taking root, Rome was in its declining years. The society was rife with corruption. Established governmental and religious institutions seemed helpless to stem perversity throughout society.
The culture struggled in vain to recover a sense of strength and dominance as before. A subtle but widespread insecurity permeated the population. In its wars, Rome began to struggle harder to defeat weak enemies than it did to overcome stronger ones before. We see this in America today. [31]
The middle and upper classes of any society, whether ancient or modern, are used to controlling their own lives. Under insecure social conditions, optimism about the future weakens and their sense of control begins to slip.
These conditions generate a psychological crisis. American Christians today are subject to similar pressure. The dilemma: How to experience the comforts of the gospel while maintaining the sense of control to which they are accustomed. As in Rome, this provides fertile ground for a Gnostic-style pseudo-Christian movement like Word of Faith to take root.
As a convenient byproduct, the teachers reap a financial harvest. Middle and upper-middle classes have money and are responsive to the positive rhetoric and fresh revelations. Everyone seems happy…except God.
The influence of the Prosperity Movement has been partially stemmed by three factors. First, the Assemblies of God, the largest and most influential Pentecostal denomination in the world, repudiated the Word of Faith teachings in an official position paper. [32]
Second, two books warning about the movement were published and became well known: Hank Hanegraaf’s, Christianity In Crisis[33] and Dave Hunt’s Seduction of Christianity.[34]
Finally, the most serious blow came with the fall of Jim Bakker (PTL) in the late ‘80’s, and similar scandals among American TV evangelists. These events, however, were only a trimming of the branches and failed to penetrate the roots of the movement, namely Hagin and Copeland and their false god. Though weakened, the tree still flourishes in the U.S. today.
An historical irony has occurred. The same pagan Gnosticism which rivaled Christianity in the first centuries, which early fathers fought to destroy, has resurrected once again to infect the Church today.
From this chapter we learn…
• The Prosperity Movement is a revival of Gnostic concepts, translated into Christian language.
• These Gnostic ideas were conveyed by Mary Baker Eddy and her Christian Science cult, to Dr. Emerson of Boston. Eventually, E.W. Kenyon merged them with Christian doctrines.
• Kenneth Hagin embraced Kenyon’s teachings and transmitted them to Kenneth Copeland and others.
• The Word of Faith movement found fertile soil in the Charismatic Movement and virtually hijacked it.
• The movement’s popularity can be explained in sociological terms. Conditions in the United States today are similar to those which fueled Gnosticism in ancient Rome.
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6 Comments
Thank you. A very eye opening message. After reading this, I now see even more error in the Faith Movement that I hadn’t seen before. Sometimes one can’t see the truth until they first agree to see what they think is not the truth. Until I allowed myself to read and learn more sound doctrine, I never saw the gross error in the Faith Movement. How scary to know so many of us have been decieved. I now have a hard task in front of me to convince my family that just because a preacher says it’s true dosen’t mean it is. I pray God can use me to open their and others like them, eyes to the real truth.
God bless,
patti
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Hi Patty,
I am glad that this article helped you. It is commendable that your gonna try and get your family to see that just because a pastor says something, does not mean it is true. THIS ARTICLE IS ONLY A PARTIAL HISTORY OF THE WORD OF FAITH.
It does not include Phinias Quimby. He is really the one who started it all. It was he who taught the power of words doctrine to Mary baker eddy that in turn passed it on to EW Kenyon. Quimby was an occultist and practiced mesmerism JUST LIKE BENNY HINN.
If you feel like it, you can share this with your family.
To whom it may concern,
Hello my name is Damon. Patti visited a post on my blog that detailed the history of the Word of Faith movement. You may be shocked to learn that the word of faith movement is occultic in it’s origins. And the idea that words have power is really witchcraft. Magic and incantation is generally defined as “a word or formula that is said to have magical powers“. You can visit almost any website on witchcraft and they will be talking about the power of words and how to change your world and others world, by using words to create things, both good and bad.
Let me tell you a story about my friend. Maybe you will see the harm the Word of Faith teaching does.
I had a guy move in next door to jme about 6 yrs ago. We became good friends. He seemed to be a Christian for several years. He was on Parole, and as soon as he got off he started to live like the devil. In 3 yrs he totaled 5 vehicles and was put in jail 4 times. He developed a thing for pain pills and started taking a 50 -70 pills a day.
During all of this, I would warn him that was flirting with disaster. He would just say, “quit speaking bad things into my life”. I told him my words had NO POWER over his actions. If he never took another pill again, it would not matter if I constantly chanted “those pills are gonna destroy you”. He was to blame, not anyone else.
Well my friend was shot and paralyzed from chest down about 5 weeks ago. He stole some drugs from somebody and they came after him and shot him and his cousin. He lied and told the police and everyone that he hit the breaks and the people that shot him was just a case of road rage. BUT THE TRUTH CAME OUT.
So now my friend is in the hospital memorizing “healing verses” because he says if he does things right, God will heal him. I told him he should memorize the ten commandments and keep them before he goes to commanding God around. He is a bog follower of Joel Osteen.
WHAT IS FUNNY IN A SAD WAY IS,,, my friend has bought into the word faith lie of positive confession. And he thinks it is always Gods will to heal and anyone can be healed if they just use the right words and have the right attitudes. It does not matter if the person is a Christian or a Satanist. They can use the power of words how ever they wish, for good or bad. Here is the sad part. When my friend got shot,, he crashed into a cemetery. He has a tattoo on his back of a Cross with his brothers name( who committed suicide) under it. The bullet went right through the center of the cross. AND MY FRIEND WILL NOT EVEN CONSIDER THAT GOD MAY HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET HIS ATTENTION.
This is what the Word of Faith teaching can do. IT IS SO SO HARMFULL.
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I was told by the people who claim to be Holy Spirit filled born again christians, that the reason my daughter was sexually abused from the age of 3 to 10 years old, was because I had passed ‘spirits of lust’ on to her coz I was living under a bastard curse (from God himself) on account of my illegitimate birth. I had found it hard enough to deal with the fact that my biological mother had given me away when I was almost a year old, because my married father didn’t want his life turned upside down. I have no idea who I am, or where I come from. By the way I was married when I fell pregnant with my daughter (my only child.) The Pastor of the Church said the curse could be broken & the spirits of lust cast out. I told him that it was too late & anyway how could he break a curse that God has placed upon me! I had always been very close to Jesus & remember telling him that his Father didn’t love me, & that he & the Father were one. Those words spoken to me,caused me to lose all logic regarding Gal. 3, Ezek. 18. so on, & so on. I am not a promiscuous person & never have been. My daughter & I have paid a heavy price for the sins of my parents. But why my beautiful daughter?. I was recently diagnozed with cancer of the uterus (wow! how appropiate!)
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Hi an ex-charismatic,
Your post saddened me. I am sorry to hear about your diagnosis of cancer and all the grief you and your daughter have received. I to have been accused of being under a “generational curse” by Word of Faithers.
I had a car wreck in 85, was brought back to this world by an angel. About 2 yrs alter, I had a series of traumatic events happen to me and I had to go into the metal hospital because I was hearing voices in the sky and the TV and radio. I sought healing for a long time. My WoF friends loved me but hated my illness and the fact that I have to take meds to help control my moods. So they ended up assaulting me because my illness and lack of healing , offended their idea that it is always Gods will to heal and all I had to do was believe it AND speak it.
I had a word faith movement friend give me Marylyn Hicky’s book on generational curses. IT WAS FRAUDULENT. Generational curses are no longer applicable under the New covenant. JESUS BECAME OUR CURSE, for as the scripture says, cursed is the man who hangs on a tree. The tree is another way of saying Cross.
The cure for generational curses is salvation through Jesus Christ. Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
How can a child of God still be under God’s curse?
The Bible specifically tells us that God does not hold children accountable for the sins of their parents
Deu 24:16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
I CAN SPEAK FIRST HAND ON THIS, some people will try to put you under a curse,, so you will need healing and will be tempted to send them money to get it. It is also a convienant out for them, when it become apparent that their teachings are false and healing does not come. They will blame you for lack of faith, speaking bad words (negative confession) or you have a generational curse that must be broken. But for a little extra money,,, they can help you with that curse too. THEY GOT IT ALL COVERED. They make money coming and going.
GOD BLESS YOU for sharing your story with us. MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU WELL IN ALL THINGS. I wish I could tell you that it is always Gods’ will to heal and he will heal you of your cancer. BUT I CANNOT DO THAT.
The bible says sickness can be TO and FOR THE GLORY OF GOD.
Joh 9:3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
Joh 11:4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
AND THE BIBLE SHOWS THAT GOD CHOSES TO NOT ALWAYS HEAL.
1Ti 5:23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.
2Ti 4:20 Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.
Php 2:25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. Php 2:26 For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. Php 2:27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
Gal 4:13 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. Gal 4:14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Gal 4:15 Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.
2Co 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 2Co 12:8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 2Co 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
It is also clear from the first two Chapters of Job that God will allow infirmities to come to the believer as a test. He may even employ Satan to do so.
Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
AND SCRIPTURE TELLS US THAT WE ARE ALL SUSCEPTABLE TO VARIOUS ILLNESS AND DETERIORATION. Until resurrection.
1Co 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 1Co 15:43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
2Co 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
1Co 15:51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
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BUT
Here is a pretty good article on the subject.
CHRIST BROKE EVERY GENERATIONAL CURSE
Those who believe a blood-bought believer can be under a generational curse forget the fact that when we gave our hearts to Christ in salvation and trusted in His redeeming blood – we were immediately and completely cleansed of our sin and justified before a thrice-holy God. We were brought into union with God through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are now therefore reconciled unto an offended holy God. None of us has the ability to overcome sin in our own strength, by our own will-power or by our own self-discipline. We can only defeat it through the power of God in our lives. He changes our desires, He gives us strength, He enables us to conquer that old nature – daily. In short, we cannot overcome the old nature of our self. We need to learn how to lean completely upon Him, to depend upon Him for every holy inclination. Every truly righteous thought and desire we have originates in Him. Many wrongly think they can personally create these thoughts of themselves, but that is a delusion. Romans 8:7 tells us, “the carnal (or the natural) mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
Please know, we do not gain God’s favour by doing a, b and c. We do a, b and c because we have God’s favour. There is an important difference. One is works and emanates from man; the other is faith and emanates from the grace, mercy and love of God. Galatians 3:10-11 agrees, saying, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.” The gurus’ of Christian ‘generational curses’ theology err on this truth. They have absolutely no revelation of what the Cross means to the believer. The same people are the ones that pretend that a Christian can be demon possessed. Such is an impossibility. Anyone with a demon is an unbeliever. They couldn’t be saved. They are of their father the devil. Ephesians 4:30 tells us that “the holy Spirit of God” has “sealed” us “unto the day of redemption.” The Christian’s body “is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The Holy Spirit does not co-habit with the devil.
The fact is, we cannot attain unto perfection, we trust upon the One who is perfect that resides within us. He is our righteousness. The more we die to self, the more He is manifests in and through us. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” It is a daily death of the old man and the daily rising of the new man. That’s why Paul testified in 1 Corinthians 15:31 “I die daily.”
For the true believer, there is no peace in sin or disobedience. When we were outside of Christ, we indulged in it without the slightest shame. Why? Because there was no restraint within us, outside of conscience – which can be up and down. That restraining power of the Holy Spirit was absent. In salvation we trusted in the Cross “by faith.” As a believer we must accept His complete forgiveness “by faith” and walk into the life of victory “by faith.” Romans 14:23 tells us, “for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” A Christian cannot be under a curse or else (1) Christ failed at the Cross, (2) the Scriptures are a lie and (3) redemption carries no power. However, this is not so. Galatians 3:13 confirms, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”
We must never forget the complete cleansing that comes to us through Christ’s blood. Every generational curse was broke by the blood of Jesus. We must ever realise that our righteousness does not belong to us, but is imputed of Christ. Our debt has been wiped from our account – in full – and Christ’s righteousness – in full – has been accredited to our account. The record is clear and our sin has been eternally removed. Micah 7:18-19 says, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
We either believe this or we don’t. How can we walk in all the blessings of God, including joy, liberty and peace if we doubt such explicit passages? Generational curses become real to us in our minds if we believe the same. The key to our victory is in believing what God says in His Word, and refusing to accept the doubts, fear and anxieties that ignorant misguided “preachers” would try and bestow upon us. We either accept the Word of God or we accept the word of man. Many so-called deliverance ministries are in reality bondage ministries, they cause men to walk according to their own good works. They invent generational curses that don’t exist and they prey upon the weakness of human nature and believers that are unlearned in the Word of God. The fact is, man will always fall short – that is why Jesus come. This is not a reason to feel condemned, it is a reason to throw ourselves continually upon the Saviour. He provides the daily victory not man or his foolish renunciations. He provides the peace and joy, not man.
Isaiah 38:17 says, “for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.”
We either accept His forgiveness “by faith” or we depend upon our own efforts, our own understanding our own ability to gain acceptance with God. This is repulsive to God. Salvation does not come from a set of religious do-and-don’ts or our own good works; it comes from receiving Christ’s imputed righteousness and then walking in it. The Bible says, “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6). Man’s own garments are clearly stained by sin. Accepting one’s sinful condition means looking to God’s only provision for lost sinners, namely His impeccable sinless Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalm 103:8-17 says, “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children.”
Accept this humbly “by faith” and recognise that you are totally pardoned. Walk in the joy of the Lord and enjoy the liberty and freedom that comes with forgiveness. When you sin (1) ask immediately for cleansing (2) turn away from your sin, and (3) accept His forgiveness “by faith.” By this, He make us more and more into His image. He removes the things in our lives that are an offence to Him and a hindrance to us.
These “believers” who teach “generational curses” are bondage makers. They point believers to themselves for freedom instead of Christ. They place men under countless curses instead of freeing them. They spy out our liberty and assault it. It is a false Gospel and one that needs opposing and rejecting.
Before salvation your sin separated you from God and you were under a curse, were condemned and under the wrath of God.
After salvation your sins were washed away completely and you were reconciled unto God. You were justified by His blood and brought into the blessing of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17-19 says, “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”
We learn much through the use of this word reconciliation. The very use of the word reconciliation tells us that there was a division between the two parties involved; in this case – God and man. The word reconciliation suggests that there was a preceding break-down that had to be restored. Remember, you don’t need to fix something unless it is broke. In this case it was man’s union and communion with God.
But what happened? Man’s intimate relationship with God was broke in the Garden through sin. When Adam fell then his union with God was broke. Man needed someone to reconcile him to God. Please note that Christ is the one that reconciles us to God. Christ was the only person qualified to reconcile God and man. Why? Because He was equal with both God and man. He could take God’s divine hand and our sinful hand and brought them together in love, grace and mercy.
But how did He reconcile us? Through His death.
Romans 5:8-10 says, “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
At Calvary our sin was imputed or transferred to Christ; upon conversion His righteousness was imputed or transferred to us! Christ’s perfect once all-sufficient self sacrifice secured a full, real and perfect redemption for his own. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
David Wilkerson states in a written sermon called Perfect Righteousness, “This imputation comes by faith alone. We can’t work for it or merit it in any way. Rather, because of our faith in Jesus and His redeeming work, the Lord credits the righteousness of Christ to us — and we are reckoned as perfect in Him. That’s right — you and I are credited with the same righteousness that Jesus obtained here on this earth. By confessing our sins and having faith in Him, we stand before God with an imputed righteousness. And it is a perfect righteousness that is of faith and not of works.
There is a legal transaction involved in our salvation and our sanctification (or covering). A righteousness that we could never attain has been placed within us through the life of Christ. The righteousness that the believer now owns is not his own it is imputed (or accounted to him) of Christ. It is Christ witin him that is his righteousness. Every other religion in the world depends on their own self-righteousness – we depend totally on Christ’s.
Colossians 1:21-22 says, “you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.”
When a man or woman comes to Christ he is reconciled onto God, whereupon the generational chains are immediately broke. Christians must therefore choose to live in the victory of what has been secured for them at Calvary rather than under the condemnation of the past, which Satan brings. Christ became our substitute at the Cross even though He was sinless. He was condemned on our behalf for the purpose that we would be eternally free. He took our sin, our guilt, our past, our weaknesses, our sorrows upon Himself – in full. Calvary was a finished work.
Condemnation is from the devil; conviction is from the Lord. Condemnation leaves you hopeless and tormented; conviction brings you to the feet of Christ and liberates you. Romans 8:1-4 says,“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
If you are depending on your own righteousness and your ability to keep the law then you will miss it. That good-works legalistic lie is Pharsiseeism. It is definately not biblical Christianity. What men often think is freedom is really bondage; and what men often think is bondage is really freedom. Jesus said in John 8:36, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
Check out: A careful biblical examination of the growing Charismatic teaching on generational curses and what Scripture says about such.
http://www.nireland.com/evangelicaltruth/cursesbroken.htm
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MAY GOD BE WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES.
Sincerely,
Damon
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Thanx Damon! You are so kind! I still suffer from major depression, and am on meds for it. I would be lying if I told you that the meds didn’t help! It does help control the terrible depressive episodes. I believe God sometimes uses medicine to help with the woes of this fallen world. I know there is a terrible stigma attached to any form of mental illness. The Charasmatics gave me a very hard time in that department as well! I’m so glad you have found peace. God bless you for your compassion! It is a rare + beautiful gift!
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Thank you, your welcome MAM, I am glad to have helped in some small way. I am always posting stuff on this issue. Please keep coming back and getting informed. I would also like to know how you and your daughter are doing. Don’t be discouraged. Just because the age of signs and wonders has ceased and it is not always God’s will to heal, THAT DOES NOT MEAN HE DOES NOT HEAL.
My dad passed from Cancer 4 yrs ago. Medical treatment helps many and some do find the cancer to just disappear. It may be that God will show his power by healing you. Or it may be that he will show his power EVEN MORE by not healing you but giving you the peace that goes beyond understanding,,,, TO MAKE IT THROUGH all things. To even die with grace,,,,,,, IF IT IS YOUR TIME TO GO. Psa 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
It seem to me you got plenty of fight and tenacity in you. I pray for your spiritual well being more than your physical well being. You and your daughter are precious to HIM.
Please come back and visit sometimes.
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