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A CRITICAL THE ‘ROOTS AND FRUITS’
by
Charles
Farah, Jr.
“When a
prophet
is
accepted prophet
ANALYSIS:
OF FAITH-FORMULA THEOLOGY
and deified his
message
is lost. The
is useful
only
as
long
as he is stoned as a
public
nuisance calling
us to
repentance, disturbing
our comfortable
our
respectable Gardener).
idols, shattering
‘
but sometimes
the
penalties
our sacred
routines, breaking convention”
(A.
C.
for
bearing
Society
will forgive a man
anything except informing
it of the
truth;
from a stricken conscience
witness to the truth
outweigh
the obvious
dangers
of retaliation from the rich and the
powerfuL
In such a case a man must
speak
out as a witness
to the
truth, clearly perceiving probable
willing, however, reluctantly,
the madness of such an
action,
in the
and
reputation.
And he must be
loss of
comfort, security
to bear his losses to
assuage
the
burning within. It is
only
when he realizes that it is with the
iiving
God with Whom he must deal that he is forced, however
reluctantly,
Jeremiah
said,
to the task.
Charles Farah, Jr. (Ph.D., Edinburgh) is Professor of Theology and Historical Studies, Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Oklahoma. This paper, read at the 1980 SPS meeting, is copyrighted by the author and is used by his permission.
– 3-
1
and I
“Then I said, I will not make mention of Him or speak
any
more in His name. But His Word was in
my
heart as a
burning
fire shut
up
in
my bones,
and I was
weary
with
forebearing could not
stay” (Jeremiah 20:9).
I conceive of my task as a kind of
Kierkegaardian
to
speak,
as it
were,
de profundis now characterize the charismatic to be
getting healthier,
What others
perceive
as good fortune,
I
perceive
burden;
I have into all the sweetness and
light
that movement in which
everyone appears
by
the minute.
and
of which Soren
Kierkegaard
so
wealthier and
more prosperous
the
great
End-time revival of
prosperity
as a
fragile
bubble. I feel somewhat like the
Irishman who was
being
run out of town
by
rail because he had stolen
some chickens. After
being
tarred and feathered he was
placed
on the .
caboose where,
being Irish,
he made a short
speech.
“If it weren’t for the
honor of the occasion,” he said, “rd
just
as soon take a walk” If it
weren’t for the “final examination”
forcefully
reminds me, I too, would rather take a walk However, I almost
will be asked in that
day,
“Did
you speak,
or did
you
not
speak?”
I need to be able to
say
that I
spoke.
If this were a mere exercise in academic
exchange
it would be one
in some cases it is
literally
a matter
of life or death. For
example,
at least ten
mothers,
certainly
thing’ unfortunately,
it is
not;
and a diabetic man who
stopped
six or seven infants taking
insulin in the belief God would
take medicine
(Courier-Post They
were all members Freeman. And
yet
their deaths
cure
him,
have died over the
past
three
years
as a result of refusing to
Staff and the Associated
of Faith
Assembly
the
response
of Freeman’s “That’s his
interpretation
Press, Indiana).
and followers of Hobart were
nothing
more than the
logical
about the
story
is
sible,
is
perhaps the
logical
outcome
outcome of his
theology.
What is most
distressing
associate to a
query concerning
the
deaths,
of the Bible.” This callous indifference to the
suffering
and death of others for which the cult itself was
respon-
not so much a lack of Christian
of Freeman’s
.
matter beforehand;
compassion,
as it is theology.
“For
example,
to claim
is not
actions. One should settle the
it alone
healing
for the.
body
and then to continue to take medicine following
our faith with
corresponding
if we have faith that God will
keep
His Word and heal us then we will not need to keep our medicine and remedies
around, ‘just
in case.’ If we feel the need of anything in addition to
faith,
then we do not have faith to be healed. When
genuine
faith is
present, will be sufficient for it will take the
place
of medicine and other needs”
Faith, p. 11,
italics
mine).
Bad
theology
is a cruel taskmaster. As a pastor-shepherd
it seems to me that one of our
primary responsi-
(Freeman,
eight years experience,
of twenty-
– 4-
2
theology.
Shepherds
bilities is to nurse our wounded
sheep
back to health
by a true
liberation
have to bind
up
the wounds after the
traveling teachers and
evangelists
are
gone
and the
ravaged sheep
are left behind.
do without an
adequate
healing.
We need a theology that
squarely
faces
facts; I frequently
We cannot
therefore,
“If
your theology
Biblical
theology
of
tell doesn’t fit the
facts, change your
my students, theology.”
Jesus is not, after all, a Christian Scientist.
Hegel
was once
expounding interposed,
“But Herr Professor,
on a series of events until a student the facts are
otherwise,” To which
Hegel
is reputed to have said, “So much the worse for the facts.” So in
theology.
You are not healed? Oh
yes you
are. You
only
have
So much the worse for the facts.
the roots of their
theology go
back to the
thought
of
current
Bentham into his
theology.
principles
philosophical understandings
Greatly of
Jeremy Bentham,
Charles of those tenets that
baptised
present
lying symptoms.
Historically,
Charles Finney, who
imported from the
writings
of
Jeremy influenced
by
the utilitarian Finney
offered a new
interpretation Bentham’s utilitarianism
‘disinterested
with a moral
theory
of the universe
positing benevolence’ as a universal
in
general,
For
Finney,
disinterested
established
an
independent
autonomous
and an invariable
duty.
meant to will the
highest
of God. It is not whether
This benevolence consists in willing the
highest good
of being
for its own
sake, or,
in other
words,
in entire
consecration to this
good
as the end of life.1
benevolence
good
of God and the universe. He wrote that it is our
highest duty
to will God’s
highest good,
whether God willed it so or not. This not
only opened the door to a
ground
of obligation outside of the will of God, but it also
source of
good
that survived whether God willed it so or not In other words, for
Finney
the
good enjoys
an
ontos that exists
independently
what God does is
good;
but rather the
good
is what God does.
This
seriously
weakened the doctrine of the
sovereignty
of God and opened
the flood
gate
to humanistic influences. In
Finney’s theology,
of God was
down-graded
of man. This is
always
the first
step
to a form of
religious
Finney’s
contribution to
present
rather
than direct;
to be
displaced
by
the
the
sovereignty elevation humanism. was
indirect; sovereignty
of God and an uncritical belief in a
postmillenial
day
faith-formula
teaching but in a weakened idea of the
social
lCharles Finney, Lectures on
Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids:
Wm. B.
Eerdmans), p. 29.
– 5-
3
perfectionism
Finney
believed in
perfectionism;
of his
age,
the
gateway
was
opened
to the Social
Gospel.
that is, that a
person
could be freed
from sin in this life and live a perfect live of love. This
high
view of man and his
abilities,
fanned
by the ‘can
do’
spirit
of American
expansionism,
by
the secular doctrine of ‘manifest
day
charismatic
of all influences on faith-formula
works of E. W.
Kenyon.
Mr.
Kenyon’s many writings
form a treasure
supported
important
link to
present
Most
important
destiny’,
became an humanism.
theology
are the
teachers mime. For
example,
his
trove which all
present
faith-formula teaching
universalizes
acknowledge any
difference word
(the
word in particular). Abraham’s faith as in one sense,.but does. For an
example justifying
the
logos
word
(the
word in
general)
and fails to
between the
logos-word
Abraham
and the rhema-
is a case in
point.
He sees that Abraham cannot be used as Kenyon stepping
out in faith as a
general
a rhema-word
This
type
of
category
mistake Kenyon repudiates
medicine characteristic of some
present revelation
knowledge,
principle
because he moved and believed the
specific
word
spoken
to him
by
God
(E.
W.
Kenyon,
Two Kinds
of Faith, p. 25).
In other
words,
to Abraham cannot be universalized into a logos-Word.
here,
but
unfortunately,
occurs
throughout
the literature.
with faith which is also
(Ibid., p. 42).
He
espouses
as
having
the
the
right
confession and the
else
again.
of the disease is like
“In revelation upon physical
as inconsistent
teachers
the identification of
“believing”
concept
of faith as
action;
he
emphasizes
past
tense of healing (E. W.
Kenyon,
Jesus the
Healer, p. 20).
“It is not good
taste to ask Him to heal us, for He has
already
done it. He declared that we are
healed;
therefore we are”
(Ibid., 20, 21).
There is some truth
the facts are often
something
A rather famous
phrase among
the faith teachers is
“signing
for the package.” Kenyon wrote,
“Your
acknowledgement
signing
for a package that the
express company
has left
you.
Satan then has the
receipt
for
your
disease. You have
accepted
it”
(Ibid., p. 24).
Word holds the first
place.
It is not
dependent
evidence. Revelation faith believes that no word from God is void of
power
and rests in
quiet
confidence in what God has
(E.
W.
Kenyon,
The Two Kinds
of Faith, p. 22).
It is the second
faith the
stated”
sentence that
proves bothersome;
if there is no
physical evidence,
how
can
anyone
be sure of his
healing?
In fact, if there is no evidence of a
changed life,
how in fact, can we be sure of His salvation? Was it not Jesus who
said, “By
the fruits shall
ye
know them?”
presence
of Jesus without
physical crawled
away
from the
presence
Who left the evidence of his
healing?
Whoever
of our
Lord, saying
“I am healed! I am healed!
Only
I have these
lying symptoms.”
– 6-
4
teachers,
there is a rather
In
Kenyon,
as
among
the faith-formula
cavalier treatment of the facts. If one takes the idea of a
wrong
con- fession
literally,
then Jesus was
wrong
to have asked the blind man what he wanted, because in so
doing,
he elicited
a ‘negative’
confession we should never talk abour our
confess his
we also find the
teaching
that is;
“signing
for the
package … diseases”
blindness
common
among
faith-formula phenomena;
therefore
(Ibid., 34).
But the blind man did
“negatively”
and Jesus did heaL In
Kenyon
teachers that
healing
is totally a spiritual
faith alone without medicine is sufficient.
You must have seen as you have studied the book that
healing is spiritual. It is not mental as Christian Science and
Unity
and
teachers claim. Neither is it physical as the medieval world teaches. When God
heals,
He heals
through
the
other
metaphysical
Spirit (Ibid., p. 90).
about
commanding
Or take the matter of commanding
the
angels
to do our
bidding. Scriptures
opposite;
the
angels
are the
messengers
angelos
means “sent one: or
“messenger”
sent from us. The
angels
do only the
bidding
of God. There is not a single
the
angels. Today
we hear a lot
teach the of God; not
ours;
the
very
name
and
they certainly
are not
prayer
to the
angels
in
Scripture, behalf of the saints. Roland reported
power
to command the
angels 1978). Evidently
Buck,
author some 120 visitations and
categorically
but the Father sends the
angels
on
of
Angels
on
Assignment,
denied man had the (Speech, Living Sound, September
the source for this
strange
unbiblical doctrine comes from
Kenyon
who
writes,
“You have the
very angelic
forces to do
your bidding” (E.
W. Kenyon, In His
Presence, p. 63).
In
summary, then,
we find that the faith teachers have
simply
fleshed out
many
of the
and have radicalized them for
popular
teachings
from
Kenyon
preaching.
Now let us
pursue
Humanism is defined as a “doctrine, human interests
the strands of humanism in this
theology.
or
values; especially
dignity
and worth of man and his
capacity
for
self-regulation reason and that often rejects supernaturalism”
giate Dictionary).
attitude or way of life centered on
a
philosophy
that asserts the
through
(Webster’s
New Colle-
a full-blown humanism;
Clearly
faith
theology
does not
represent
it does not teach that reason alone is sufficient for man’s self-realization,
nor does it
reject supernaturalism. frightening parallels;
its
emphasis aspirations
and ambitions;
But in
many
other areas there are on the
centrality
of man’s desires,
lust for wealth, its
its
eager
and unabashed
obsession with the
gadgetry
of 20th
century technology (I recently
heard
– 7-
5
his
passion
for a computerized
Lincoln Continental
“complete emphasis
sovereignty
now committed his
sovereignty acceptance
a preacher spend 10 minutes
describing
with white coat for
changing tires”),
its
on the
practical sovereignty
of God
(we
are told God was
sovereign
in the O.T. but has
of man as over and
against
the
to the
church)
and in its uncritical
upon Scrip-
Recently,
of iron clad scientific law which
superimposes
ture a mind cast
foreign
to the laws of biblical hermeneutics.
one of our
chapel speakers put
it this
way.
“The Father handed the ball to the
Son;
the Son handed the ball to the
Holy Spirit;
and the
Holy
Spirit
handed the ball to us.”
There is here also idolization with its
emphasis upon
a quantitative and its commitment
of the American
concept
of success
and wealth-oriented value
system
to scientific law. In
fact,
one of its chief defects is that it
imposes
scientific
law,
which is characterized
repeatability,
and
observability
mistake that leads
many
into foolish
presumption.
Robinson
testified,
by universality, upon
the Bible. This is a
category
For
example,
Karen
I was
visiting
with a young couple one
evening
when the wife asked me if I knew of a Spirit-filled O.B. in Tulsa. I told her that my
doctor was a Christian and fine
doctor, although
I did not
know if he was a charismatic Spirit-filled
I thought
Christian. She said that
only
a
why they
were so in- doctor. The wife then con-
doctor would do and her husband confirmed this. I asked
why
and she answered that
they
were
praying
for a baby.
that was nice and wondered
sistent about
having
a
Spirit-filled
tinued
saying
that their case would be rare and that a regular doctor would think
they’re crazy.
I asked
why,
she
said,
‘Be-
cause I’ve had a hysterectomy.’
ways, (e.g. preparing
The
couple
then
proceeded
to
that she
(the wife)
would
tell me that
they
were
confessing
bear their
child,
and
they
were
confessing
their faith in various
for the
baby’s arrival, etc.).
I
suggested that there are a lot of children in the world who need
parents and would
they
consider
adopting. They very firmly replied that
they
would have their own
baby.
but on a realized
Kingdom teachers
challenged
fundamental differences. charismatic humanism.
Another
parallel
to
religious
humanism is the devotion to the here and now. The focus is no
longer
on the future
Kingdom involving earth,
in the here and now.
Recently
his audience not to be so absorbed
but to
enjoy
the here and now.
Despite
We must
distinguish
-8-
one of the
with
heaven, the
parallels,
there are also
religious
humanism from
6
humanists
1.
Religious uncreated universe.
2.
Religious
regard
the universe as
self-existing while charismatic humanists
and believe God created the
humanists hold that man is a
part
of
nature, the
product
of evolution, while charismatic
the result of fiat creation.
3.
Religious supernatural
humanism
and is humanists hold that man is
holds to a
realization
of
4.
Religious –
human
personality
functionally
There is no infatuation consistency
humanists believe that modern science nullifies
any
or cosmic
values,
while charismatic humanism
firm belief in a God who is above and in history.
considers the
complete
to be the end of man’s life and seeks its
develop- ment in the here and now. Charismatic humanists tend to respond
in a
positive way
to this
emphasis
whatsoever
audiences from absorption “here and now.”
with their doctrine of prosperity.
the
present
economic
system.
Some of their
popular preachers
with heaven in order to better
eternal quarrel.
task of mankind.
as the
right
aid
heritage Christian church has always
on the here and now. among
them for
“pie
in the
sky”
in
They
function
very
well in
disuade
enjoy
the
5.
Religious
humanism holds that all institutions exist for the ful- fillment of human life. It holds that the
quest
for the
good
life is still the
With
this,
charismatic humanism has no
It should be clear that the biblical focus of
“setting affection on things above,” has no place
among
them.
Everything to do with the here and now,
healing now,
wealth now,
prosperity
of
every believing
understood
Kingdom
of God on
earth,
charismatic humanists
Kingdom
of God is indeed here in the
things
which we
possess.
It is
the
period
when the “market
places ‘off
are much more attractive
apparent
that we have reached London
Jerusalem.”
your
has
now
Christian. Whereas the its task to
promote
the
persuade
us that the
than
the streets of the New
hold a low view of God. To
para-
A. W. Tozer said, “Low views of God
destroy
the
Gospel
for all those that hold them.” When God is viewed
primarily
as the One who gives
us what we want, we
inevitably
phrase
John Kennedy, “Ask not what
you
can do for
God;
rather ask what He can do for you.” Recently I was in a church where I glanced over
which read
something
at a blackboard
like this:
Decide what
you
want and then learn how to
get
God to
help
you
receive
it..
God is the Divine
Adjunct
or
Here it is clear that man is
sovereign;
agent
of man. It is God’s
job
to
help
the
deciding
men receive what he
-9-
7
as,
“How to
the formula
wants. Such is only the
logical
outcome of such sermons
Write Your Own Ticket With God”
(Kenneth Hagin). Here God appears to be the
agent
of the man who knows how to
manipulate
that
gets
Him to
supply
our wants. An almost
magical
view of faith is
in the exercise of a faith, which,
according
to our
desires, puts
lock on God to
supply
our wants.
expressed a hammer
CHARISMATIC HUMANISM
of God, for
The exaltation of man
inexorably
means the
denigration
it
inevitably
leads to the
assigning
to man what was
formerly
the
pro- vince of God. You cannot at the same time make God and man the center of things. At the heart of charismatic humanism there lies an inevitable
contradiction.
Who shall
ultimately
with
anyone,
but faith-formula
get
the
glory;
God or man? The
or
unconsciously,
Bible is
clear,
Is.
42:8,
“I am the
Lord,
that is my name;
my glory
I give to no other, nor
my praise
to
graven images.”
God will not share his
glory
teaching, consciously
deflects
part
of the
glory
for itself and its exercise of faith.
At one of the recent
Hagin camp meetings,
congregation
to look at the brochure
such tenderness?
rafters reveberated
was horrified because She had a
living example
a teacher invited the before them. “Please
pick up
this
Have
you
ever seen
Hagin
is the
glory
from the
is a contradiction “grace-gifted” man-centeredness infiltration
brochure and turn to
page
4. Look into those
eyes.
Don’t look
any- where else. Have
you
ever seen such
compassion?
How
many
of
you
think that Kenneth
greatest
man alive?” The crowd
surged
to its feet in a gigantic roar. The
with the cheers and shouts of the
adoring
masses.
Mr.
Hagin,
to his
credit, redirected the glory to God, but my wife
she
caught
a frightened glimpse into the future.
of how
easy
it is to transfer
Creator to the
creature;
from the Son of God to a man; and from one man it is but one short
step
to that other man.
Of course it takes no
great insight
to see that charismatic humanism
in terms. One cannot be at one and the same time
and a thorough going humanist.
However,
there is enough
in the present
distortion
of the
Gospel
to see the
Another shared interest adversity
of
any
kind. One
preacher Valleys.”
Last November
of humanist value
systems.
If man is not
quite
the measure of all
things,
he is at least the measure of some.
with humanism is the intense dislike of
has a sermon
called,
“No More
tell his
is what other
people
I heard one of the radio teachers audience that with the
proper faith, you
need not suffer in
your body, in your finances or in
your
mind. The
only suffering you might
endure
put upon you,
and
you
could learn to deal effectively
with that as welL I deduced there was no
necessity
to suffer
– 10-
8
at all. If Paul had had the full faith
message,
him as it has been in this
generation, for
suffering.
if it had been revealed to there would have been no need
not a full revelation. available.
not have the full revelation.
One must conclude that Paul’s
teaching
on
suffering
was a mistake;
He did not have the ‘Revelation
And that is
exactly
what the faith teachers
abundantly
my
flesh I complete what
Knowledge’
now teach. Paul did
part
of the
Gospel
is
and if children, then
heirs,
That Paul
taught suffering
as a
necessary
clear. “Now I rejoice in
my sufferings
for
your sake,
and in
is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His
body,
that
is, the church” (Col. 1:24)”…
heirs of God and fellow heirs with
Christ, provided
we suffer with Him in order that we
may
also be
glorified
with Him”
(Rom. 8:17),
“Indeed all who desire to live a
godly
life in Christ Jesus will be
persecuted” (II
Tm.
3:12).
In GaL 6:12, he tells of those who distort the
Gospel “… in order that,
they may
not be
persecuted
it is clear that Paul
taught
suffer;
that he himself had to suffer on behalf of the
church,
for Christ is a
necessary prelude
From these
passages Christians
and that
suffering Christ.
different
it
establishes,
for the cross of Christ.”
that all
godly
to
reigning
with
there are
Christians
(I
Pet.
5:10).
Then there is Peter: Peter assures us that
although
kinds of
suffering, suffering
for Christ is an
example
to be followed
(I Pet. 2:19-21). Further,
Peter finds in suffering three values: it matures, and it strengthens
Where then did Paul and Peter
get
these mistaken views about
suffering
that God has so
graciously
In such matters
redemptive
Revelation Knowledge?
the source. Was it Jewish
apocalyptic
the
righteous
dated”
emphasis
obliterated
today by
it is
important
to ferret out literature which took a
generally
in a wicked world?
dim view of mankind, and the lot of the
righteous
Was its source in O.T. books such as Job and Psalms which show that
do suffer, but God delivers them? No, the
principal source of all that the N.T. writers teach about
suffering
comes from Jesus. Jesus is the real
culprit.
Jesus Himself is the Source of this “out-
on
suffering.
No one can
deny
that the Lord said suffering
was endemic to the call. Acts
9:15,16,
“But the Lord
(speaking of Paul) said to
him, (Ananias)
‘Go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to
carry my
name before the Gentiles and
kings
and the sons of Israel; ” for I will show him how much he must
suffer for
the sake
of my
name. ‘ If the faith teachers are
correct,
the Lord should have told Ananias, “Tell him what
delightful things
lie before him With the formulas I
him,
he can
experience
shall teach prosperity.”
– 11-
continual
health,
wealth and
9
Stephen,
we are
told,
did not need to undergo martyrdom.
choice. He too, died in the mistaken
necessary
with the New Testament
It was his belief that it was
necessary
to
It is another
suffer for the sake of Christ (Acts 7:55-60). If this be so, how then do we explain the fact that Stephen
dying,
was the
only
man in recorded history
to have received the honor of a standing welcome
by
Jesus? Are we to infer that even in heaven Jesus had not learned it was un-
to suffer? It is clear that this new
Gospel
has
nothing
to do
Gospel.
It is an
“improvement.”
GospeL
It is a crossless, costless, effortless
Gospel
that disdains the
way of the cross in the name of the cross. It
reaps
the benefits of the cross without
carrying
its cross. It in effect rewrites
large passages
of the New
such as Luke 9:23, to read, “And he said to them all; ‘if
any man will come after
me,
let him ask:
Cadillacs, ”
diamonds and
furs, and according
to his faith, so be it unto him.’ How does this
compare
with
Testament,
I Cor. 4:8-13?
Chris-
of the
N.T.,
we must
how
Soren
Kierkegaard put
it
well,
“In order that the common tianity
here in our country, the official
Christianity, may
be said
truly to be ever so much as related to the
Christianity
as
openly,
as
solemnly
as
possible
of the N.T. and how little it can
truly
in the direction of
coming
nearer to the Chris-
make it
known,
as
honestly, remote it is from the Christianity be called an endeavor
tianity
of the New Testament ….
is not the
Christianity worship
of God is,
Christianity, Christendom,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
thou doest not take
part
in treating
of the New Testament which
a forgery”
(Attack Upon
God as a fool
by calling
that the
Christianity
of the N.T….
yet
such is the fact: the official
a
counterfeit,
pp. 33, 5 a).
who elected a self-chosen
life
course,
set the whole
understanding
words,
“When Christ calls a
man,
he bids him come and die” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
work of a few well-chosen
He saw the
essentially contradictory to the tenets of
Christianity pearances
of
“having
martyrdom
for his of
Christianity
in the frame-
The Cost
of Discipleship, p. 7). nature of
maintaining
an assent
but
changing
the
power
while
denying
its cost. He hated the
ap-
a form of
godliness,
thereof.” He writes as mucli for our day as his own.
market like cheapjacks’ ness of sin, and the consolations at cut
prices …
Cheap grace
is the
deadly enemy
of our church. We are
fighting today
for
costly grace. Cheap grace
means
grace
sold on the
wares. The
sacraments,
the
forgive- of
religion
are thrown
away
.
It means
forgiveness (Ibid., p. 45).
Grace without
price; grace
without cost! … Cheap grace
means
grace
as a doctrine, a principle; a system.
of sins
proclaimed
– 12-
as a general truth …
10
The church has
always
had to fight the
temptation the
Gospel,
of diluting the
difficulty
of
Christianity but to
stay
true to Jesus and the
power
of His
resurrection, dilute the radical nature of His demands.
of
us,
He asked for all.
How then, does faith-formula cross?
By injecting
a new
regulative
knowledge, Christian sometimes
of watering down
to suit the
masses,
we can never He did not ask for much
teaching
avoid the demands of the principle
of biblical
interpretation
calling
themselves
the “heresies.”
but the one
thing
that is clearly Gnostic. Gnosticism wears many faces and comes in many different forms, in many different eras, but it always concerns itself with
and is
generally applied
to movements
or
borrowing heavily
from Christian sources. The fathers
simply
called these
teachings
Some Gnostic
systems
make
strong
intellectual demands. Others are
high
minded ascetics; others licentious
charlatans,
that
they
all hold in common is that
they offer ‘special’ knowledge
and in a form or
degree
not to be found outside their
teaching.
Thus it is easy
to see
why
the
present
faith formula
theology
is Gnostic. It
pre-
tends to be ‘revelation’
knowledge, knowledge,
a new realm of
faith-thinking and
prosperity.
tical
principle
‘directed’
knowledge,
or
‘higher’ beyond ordinary
Christians into
then becomes the hermeneu-
or
destroy
traditional
self-sacrifice, evangelical
which carries its adherents
which releases to them
health,
wealth
This
‘higher’ knowledge
by
which
they
either discount
biblical themes of
suffering,
cross
bearing,
poverty
and
martyrdom. By
the
blessings
of Abraham, they nullify the curse of Adam and thus hic et nunc enter into almost all of the
Kingdom benefits before the Kingdom has fully come. Thus the dynamic tension
here and now and
yet-not yet
is almost ob-
This is
why
the faith formula teachers
and its satisfactions and deflect attention from heaven, which is
there,
but
hardly
to be
sought
after
(Kenneth Hagin, Jr.,
Summer
between literated. pleasures
the
kingdom
Camp Meeting, 1980). Recently
proper
hermeneutical
stress this life with its
in
chapel
one man
said,
“It doesn’t
matter what the Greek or English
says,
it is what the words mean to us now,
that counts.” In other words, contextual scientific
exegesis
as the
principle
has been
replaced by
a quality decision for
higher knowledge.
Sometimes it is called, “Revelation
Knowledge,”
Recently
at a faculty luncheon here at
O.R.U.,
one of the
exponents
at other
times,
“Directed
knowledge
Knowledge;”
or even
“Higher Knowledge.”
said, than
you?
After
all,
I have
higher But
clearly,
he was not.
is the new hermeneutical subject
to new
interpretation by
“Can I
help
it if I am smarter knowledge …
I’m
only kidding.”
In other words, Revelation principle.
All
Scripture
become Revelation
Knowledge
which, by virtue of the case, cannot be ques-
– 13-
11
knowledge
revealed unassailable. This
knowledge really
means
from God to the initiates and therefore
of a letter in Logos to an article I and another had
have no revelation
knowledge
of the
tioned,
for revelation
directly
explains
the
response
written. “These men
apparently Bible…”
(Logos, July-Aug., knowledge
that made it
unnecessary quent
letters
1981, p. 9).
The
lady
had a
superior
have made a
“quality
decision” its teachers.
principle employed
scientific
exegesis
irrelevant variety
of interpretations
to answer
my arguments.
Subse-
issue of
Logos
have
The letters have
they
by
to the editor in the
Sept-October
referred to me as a stale
piece
of
bread,
a “nobody.”
one
thing
in common; their writers
possess
a
superior knowledge;
to live the life of faith as outlined
This,
of
course,
works havoc with
every
known
exegetical
from Jerome to C. H. Dodd. It makes
contextual,
if not frivolous. It also
explains
the wide
possible
within this stream of teaching. Some teach no medicine if you have faith; others contribute to Oral Roberts hospital complex,
the
City
of
Faith;
some claim
they
will live to be 110
and then
just
die of “old
age.”I (Doctors
are
agreed that those who die of “old
age”
still die of
something!)
Christians need not suffer at all if they exercise the
proper faith;
others are not so sure. Some claim that if you follow their formulas for
prayer
without sickness
you
will never have an unanswered
and thus is free to manufacture
Some hold that
prayer
again;
others are more
not
major,
are
easily
Knowledge
Source
to prevent each
moderate. These
discrepancies, though admittedly
explained.
Each faith teacher has his own Revelation
his own doctrine as the “Lord
gives
it to him.” Since this is an
entirely subjective process,
no
accountability process
is built in. There is nothing in the
methodology ‘
one from
doing
what is
right
in his own
eyes.
Where did this idea of Revelation
hood the source was E. W.
Kenyon,
who wrote
extensively
tion
Knowledge
in his
many
books. For
Kenyon,
Revelation
is
simply
the
knowledge
that “deals
We haven’t realized
Knowledge
arise? In all likeli-
of Revela-
Knowledge with
things
that the senses cannot
Knowledge”
Knowledge
was
discover or know without assistance from Revelation
(Kenyon, op, cit., p. 5). “It is a Revelation of God
as a Father, and of this Father,
God as a God of love”
(Kenyon,
Two Kinds
of Knowledge, p. 5).
that the Biblical Revelation
designed by
the author
primarily
to answer this
spirit cry
and to
satisfy the
hunger
of the
spirit” (Ibid., p. 19).
“Revelation
is the realm above sense
knowledge”
Knowledge
Knowledge
or Faith (Ibid., p. 20).
lKenneth
Copeland, Radio Sermon, Spring, 1980.
– 14-
12
knowledge;
Knowledge that
distinguishes
a
to denote
spiritual Christian’s
knowledge
faith, healing
comes.
It is patently clear that
Kenyon simply
uses Revelation
the
knowledge
real
knowledge
of God from the non-Christian’s theoretical
of God. Then he uses it to show that
by
the exercise of
lation
Knowledge
and
present
is
strongly apolo-
Revelation knowledge
There are subtle
differences, however,
between his use of Reve-
usage.
His
purpose
getical ;
he is appealing to sinners to reach for the true
knowledge
of God; their’s is hortatory; they want to bring Christians to a higher knowledge,
Kenyon
uses it to
distinguish
and
spiritual knowledge; they
use it to
distinguish the
ordinary
faith of
ordinary
Christians
Knowledge.
between carnal
between
and the
superior
faith of the a four tiered
Christianity: (1)
First
and an initiation
Paper
on “Gnosis
and
initiated elite. Some
distinguish there is salvation
few of unusual dedication (4)
into Revelation
line into truth.
(Gary Amos, Epignosis,”
where he “learned title to his car to
purchase
(2)
There is the
baptism
with the
Spirit (3)
For the
there is a crisis
experience
Knowledge
which furnishes them with a direct
pipe-
Unpublished
p. 3).
For
example,
Kenneth
Copeland
relates that when he first heard of this
exciting
new
doctrine,
nothing,”
he was so enthusiastic that he offered the
Kenneth
after six months at O.R.U.
Hagin tapes.
For a month he shut
God that if He would
give
this kind of
knowledge, justified.
Although repudiated
himself
up
in the
garage
and then
promised
him this faith, he would follow it. “I committed to the Lord that if He gave
it to me, I’d walk in it.”
Presumably,
new doctrinal
graduate
student,
once a person has come into ventures,
however
bizarre,
are
themselves,
this ex-
“What do
you
mine direct”
(Cal
McCarter course,
is a clear and unvarnished Knowledge
above the
Scriptures Revelation
Knowledge
justify strange interpretations tions of
people.
Instead “higher” interpretation
by
the main teachers
plains why
one of the recent Rhema students could
say
to an O.R.U.
“I don’t read
my
Bible
anymore.”
mean,”
Cal asked, “that
you
don’t read
your
Bible
anymore?” “No,”
he said,
“I don’t have to read
by Bible devotionally anymore
because I get
to Charles
Farah, Jr., Fall, 1980). Here,
of
Gnosticism that
places
Revelation in the Montanist tradition. Thus
becomes the hermeneutical device used to
of Scripture unknown to previous genera-
of contextual scientific
that
frequently
of the Word. This is the essence of
Gnosticism;
Gnosticism
to be
sure,
but hedonistic cause “God wants
you
to
prosper
The radical new
interpretation
– 15-
exegesis,
we have a
invalidates the clear
teaching
not ascetic Gnosticism
which
panders
to the flesh be- in the here and now.”
of the
grandest
biblical themes be-
13
come not
only possible, prosperity
the New Testament
advocating
carefully
selected
without much
regard
to
context;
but
necessary
which cannot boast of one clear and
unambiguous
an abundance
tians.
But, by
the new hermeneutics of Revelation
group
of verses
mostly
Peter,
and Paul
develop Revelation
Knowledge Kenneth
Copeland,
to bolster the
Gospel
of
verse from
of finances for Chris-
Knowledge
and a
from the Old Testament it is
quite possible
to build a case.
of
suffering,
we learn
by
to suffer
(Sermon by
The same holds true for the theme of
suffering. Although Jesus,
a whole
theology
that it is
unnecessary
Spring 1980).
This is
good
news indeed for the weary
traveler! No more
suffering
in the here and now if we only exercise our faith. No wonder that this is the fastest
growing heresy
in America
today.
Although
it is
easily
one of the
Or take the theme of
discipleship.
central themes of the N.T.; Luke
9:23, 24;
Luke
4:26-33;
Matt. 12 :24- 27 ; John 12:24, 26;
it is
carefully
avoided as
being unnecessary today. The
proper
exercise
of faith
obliterates the
necessity of human suffering.
One fine
young
minister
recently
India,
he
replied,
“That’s preaching
of
prosperity
people
would
only
exercise faith.
When asked how he
thought
the
Gospel
of
prosperity
exactly
what
they
need!”
Apparently
would solve all the economic
cation for their
understanding
gave
voice to this bizarre doctrine.
would work in
the
ills of India if
at
exegetical justifi- Knowledge.
There are two
This is not to
deny
that there is no
attempt
of Revelation
Greek words commonly used for
knowledge.
The words to consider are gnosis
or knowledge and
epignosis
and its
corresponding
For
them, epignosko
means a
knowledge
which is tantamount to revelation from God. Some
exact
knowledge
go
so far as to
say only
a dedicated
verb
epignosko. that comes from
above,
an
few have this
mysterious
esoteric does not
synonymous
with Revelation
Will the
Greek, however, teach that
epignosis
is Revelation out that
epignosis
means
knowledge
knowledge
available to them, but that the
ordinary
Christian
(Ibid., p. 1).
The main
thing
to note is that for
them, epignosis is
Knowledge.
bear this distinction? Does the Greek
Knowledge?
religious
and moral
things.
It is also used as
“knowledge In some cases it refers to consciousness
of God
(Pr. 2:5;
Hos.
4:1); knowledge
with
(real) knowledge Lexicon
of the
New Testament and Other Christian
Literature,
and
finally
in accordance
no case does it mean Revelation in the New Testament
to make a special commitment
-16-
Arndt and
Gingrich point
or
recognition usually
limited to
of the truth.”
of sin
(Rom. 3:10), knowledge
of God and Christ
(2
Pet.
1:27)
(A Greek-English
p. 291).
In Knowledge,
nor is
anyone enjoined
beyond
salvation
14
in order to
gain
access to this
special
esoteric
knowledge.
This Gnostic idea is dispelled by a simple analysis of the
passage
in 2 Pet. 1:2. “Grace
and
peace
be
yours
in abundance
super christians; knowledge
Revelation
Knowledge
through
the
knowledge
of God and of
all Christians
that have real knowledge
to
the
policy
of no student-
Jesus our Lord.” Peter is not
singling
out some
superior knowledge
for
he is
simply addressing
of Christ. It is the same kind of non-Gnostic
which Paul refers in I Cor. 2:12, 14.
also
explains
faculty dialogue
in the classroom.
Up
to this
year
Rheme students were
in the
classroom,
privately.
An astute observer from the East Coast,
who visited
Rhema, said,
“I don’t like what
you
do here. You
the same.” Revelation
not
permitted
to ask
questions permitted
to see instructors
clone
everybody
teachers from
pastoral responsibilities,
although they
were
knowledge
also absolves the for all the answers for students
and other
hurting people
can be found in the lecture notes.
By
exer-
to the formulas
cising
faith
according
solved,
so
why
waste valuable
despite repeated
taught,
the
problems
can be time
answering questions already
the rationale is that
knowledge?”
answered? Revelation
knowledge
also
explains why I have not been
able
efforts to get interviews or make
personal
contact with these teachers for the sake of dialogue. Apparently
they already
have a pure stream of knowledge. Why,
then,
confuse it by dialogue
with a man who “has no revelation
Wherever the
Spirit
bursts forth in new
power
there is
always
the danger
that
continuing
revelation will take
precedence
All new waves of the
Spirit
battle this
problem
that
supercedes Scripture.
larly prophecy cited for this excess.
(eventually resulting Montanism
over
Scripture.
of
revelation, particu- The Montanists are often
movement
improves
The most solid criticism leveled at the Montanist
in the declaration of
heresy)
was that
taught
the oracles of the new
prophecy
on,
and is even
greater
than that in the
Scriptures (George
Church, Bethany Fellowship, p. 63).
Olson, The Charismatic
of the
giving
sanction and from
Scripture.
The
There is an
implicit
Montanism in some of the
practices present
teachers. For
example,
one of the
popular
teachers
prophesied over a
young
man involved in marital difficulties
Divine
approval
to a situation
clearly
indefensible
of the
prophecy
was to nullify the clear
teachings
on the
subject
of
marriage,
divorce and
remarriage.
opens
a virtual Pandora’s
from the
multiple marriages
of the
prophets Zwickau to the bizarre exodus from the United States of the followers of
practical consequence of
Scripture
type
of revelation sanctioning everything
– 17-
This box of future revelations
of
15
is not whether or not it
produces
a
Sam Fife. The
testing
of
prophecy pleasant sensation,
but whether or not it accords with
Scripture.
FRUITS
TEACHING
of
people
have been
the most attractive
history
of the church. It demands
OF FAITH-FORMULA
Let it be said at the outset that thousands
helped by this message,
or at least
aspects
of this
message
and hundreds of others have been healed. It is without question
message being preached today,
or for that
matter, probably
in the whole
little;
it gives
much;
and it furnishes a universal
panacea
for all Christians to
get
what
they
want and its
practi-
tioners, particularly
the
preachers, success of what
they
are
preaching
teachers
are true
pacesetters
set an awe
inspiring example
of the by driving
late-model
luxury cars,
Recently
I was
doubters would
Gospel
owning large homes,
and
boasting expensive
wardrobes.
in a southern
city
where the faith teacher had built a
palatial
mansion the size of the church
building,
for himself and his wife.
Surely
with such concrete evidence for the
blessings
of “faith
teaching,”
soon become believers. In this sense at least, we
may say
that the faith
in the
blessings
of the
prosperity which Gordon Fee
says,
“is not Biblical in
any
sense.” It
may
not be Biblical,
but it
certainly pays
off!
Nobody
can fault the
preachers failure to take
up
their burden of wealth
graciously
and bear it gallantly and without
complaint. Nobody
can accuse them of trying to evade their
by shifting
the
weight
of their wealth to someone
personal responsibility else.
However, wealth and
prosperity
for
practitioners
of health,
is because an
intelligent
it is not with these successful
with whom we have to
do,
but those for whom it has not worked. Part of the reason I am
reviewing
such case histories
and
witty young pastor
wrote to
me,
Please continue can. Please be
encouraged
to warn
people.
Please tell it wherever
you
that this book has
helped me,
and as I
give
it to some
very
troubled
One
couple
who has left our church believes
(among
other ab-
surdities)
that a
quadraplegic really
wanted to
(Joni Erickson,
people,
it will
help
them.
in our church could walk if he
too)
and that the reason he
is in his condition is because when he hit the
ground
he
said, ‘Don’t touch me,
my
neck is broken.’
this earth
Negative
confession.
we will
stay
on
Another
couple
still in the church believes that it is not God’s will for us to die, but if we are overcomers
They say many
such are
around,
but
they
are so spiritual they
don’t
promote themselves,
with a
supernatural
couple
is also blessed
– 18-
thus
anonymity.
This
pregnancy.
The
16
doctors have tested
repeatedly,
a sort of
holding pattern spiritually.
but
they
are
wrong.
The date
develops clothes
(on
a
was set for
August,
but now the “Lord” is
holding
the
baby
in
until the mother-to-be
She has been
wearing maternity
very
flat and thin
body)
since March. Like the little 5
year old
girl who wears heels, magical thinking. They
are
confessing that there is a
baby
on the
way,
and none of us of little faith
can convince them
differently.
as
you
so
eloquently California).
of this kind of faith must be
kept stretching
said
(Personal
The sad fact is that
people
and/or
chopping,
letter from
pastor
in
The main
reason, however,
I have written is to
help
the human basket cases and
salvage
the
precious wreckage
that comes as a result
of this
teaching.
students
of
right
now but
are the
laughingstock
rll tell
you something; nobody
on earth is more sincere than they
after
they jump
in with both feet to do all the formulas. And
nobody
is more devestated than
they
after their lives have been ruined and
they
are broken and sick and all messed
up. They
become
very bitter,
blame God and the
church,
and
many of them
may
never be
brought
back to the Lord because of it. I have been
running
an Emergency
several
years
and the
only way they
can be saved for the
King- dom of God is for someone to meet the needs and hold them
up
teaching
Room for the casualties for
until
they
can walk alone
that I have
begun
this task.
teaching
more from the
preaching
of the
prosperity
doctrine themselves. Preachers
and
give
them a balanced
(Letter
from
Oklahoma).
It is to offer an alternative None has benefited
than the
preachers,
going
on an
aging car, wearing in
inexpensive housing suddenly affluence.
approbation),
$150,000 upwards,
insure continued Divine
approval
They
drive Lincoln Continentals
shop
at Nieman
Marcus, purchase
and
engage
in
entreprenaural enterprises
struggling
to keep payments clothes from discount
stores, living find themselves
riding
on a sea of
(the
new
sign
of Divine
homes
ranging
from
that will in a most concrete fashion.
Others are not so fortunate. A
lady
realtor friend
wrote,
“Chris- tianity
is not a
glorified
slot machine. We must be
willing
to live for Jesus if we never
get anything
out of it. That is what love is. When
the rewards wonderful,
in heaven
come-great.
If the benefits come on earth-
but if they do not then we must love Him
enough
to serve Him
anyway.”
Then she related the
following story.
– 19-
17
concerning prosperity.
promised unconditionally
fold,
but for them it was
catastrophic. their house
payment
A
young couple
with four children
A
leading evangelist
the
people
to
give sacrifically, particularly
that God would return it to them one hundred
duced to absolute
and both the house repossessed.
Lord’s.
God had doublecrossed
have never returned.
sat under the faith
message
taught
on
finances, urging their
bill-paying money.
He
They gave
their
grocery money,
It was evident that the
for
they
were re-
a layoff came the next
month,
paid for,
were
and their car
payment.
Lord did not honor the
promise
of the
evangelist,
penury.
For a month
they
existed on oatmeal until another
pay
check arrived.
Unfortunately
and the car, which was
nearly
The
pastor
consoled them with the
thought
that
probably they
had not
given
with the
right
attitude. It was their
fault,
not the
They
felt
they
had
given
out of their hearts and somehow
them. There followed a
long period
of con- fusion,
bitterness and
great
financial stress. Their first love and zeal
Although they
remained in the
church,
the hurt remains in their hearts until today.
They
felt that the main lesson that God had
taught
them was never to trust a minister
again.
It has taken years
of hard work to
get
back to where
they
were before the
evange-
the children suffered most.
They
watched their
car
repossessed. They
saw the foreclosure nailed to the house amidst the
prying eyes
of their
playmates.
I am
happy
to
report
that all was not lost. The
evangelist
list came.
Perhaps father’s hard-earned
He drove
away
in his Cadillac.
signs
However, did
very
weil.
Bad
theology
is a cruel taskmaster. To tell
young people
to “demon- strate their faith”
by launching
out into a ministry without a word from
the Lord is sheer
presumption.
had to “demonstrate
message
simply
wasn’t
closed. Bitter,
discouraged,
Disillusioned
and confused,
Two
young people
attended
Bible
by establishing
a mission
for
they
confessed
profusely. baby
was on the
way,
but on the mission. It was foe-
everything.
School,
married and had three children in a short time.
They
felt
they
the faith
message”
work with the Indians. They sold their home and bought property the mission where
they
worked hard with minimal results. The faith
working although
Still there was no gas in the car. Another
there was no
money
to make the
payment
forlorn, they began blaming
one another and God for their utter poverty, after they had sacrificed
at odds with one
another, they finally divorced and fell away spiritually. No one can speak to them on spiritual
arises: Is no one to be held accountable? God tell tender
young couples
who have sacrificed
sake of the
Gospel
that their “attitude was not
right,”
or they “just didn’t t
faith”? This ability to
project
matters.
The
question
have
enough
– 20-
everything
Does for the
blame on
everyone
but
18
oneself is endemic to faith
theology.
In all likelihood this arises from the
concept
of Revelation
Knowledge,
direct
knowledge
from God which makes them nearly infallible.
In
summary
we have demonstrated that the roots of the
present day teaching
have
originated, indirectly
at
least, through
some of the theology
of Charles
Finney.
A more direct stream stems from the writings
of E. W.
Kenyon.
The movement uses Gnostic hermeneutical principles
and
displaces
contextual scientific
exegesis.
It shares
many of the
goals
of
present day humanism, particularly
in
regards
to the creaturely
comforts. It is, in
fact,
a
burgeoning heresy.
– 21-
19
