The Health and Wealth Gospel; another gospel, another Jesus

The Idolaters of the Word Faith Cult

               The apostle Paul pronounced an eternal curse upon those who preach a different gospel and a different Jesus. He wrote this, 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Gal. 1:6-9 ESV). There is no way to sugar coat his pronouncement of this curse. His curse upon all who preach such deception still applies to those deceivers of our day.

    If it might be that you are not familiar with the Word Faith movement, let me give you a concise lesson on this heresy that has deceived millions of souls globally.

    Beginning after WW2, a series of faith healers arose on the American scene preaching at tent crusades that became a source of entertainment for the Biblically illiterate folk of our nation. Men like William Branham plied their wares to a spiritually needy citizenry who desperately wanted relief from the stresses of the war. Branham garnered a large following and set the stage for other faith healers like Oral Roberts who would have even larger crowds at his meetings. Roberts began teaching what became known as "seed faith" giving whereby followers of Roberts would give to his ministry with the promise of getting a 100-fold return from God. The money they sent into Roberts' ministry was the seed. That was the beginning of the health and wealth gospel, which is no gospel at all.

    Roberts later founded a tv ministry which was broadcast from his Bible college known as ORU, a very popular school for Pentecostals and charismatics. His oratorical skills ("oral") made him the first and most popular televangelist of his day. 

Granville Oral Roberts (January 24, 1918 – December 15, 2009^[1][2]) was an American Charismatic Christian televangelist, who was one of the first to propagate Prosperity Gospel Theology. He was ordained in the Pentecostal Holiness Church until 1947 and in the United Methodist church briefly in the 1960’s. He is considered one of the forerunners of the charismatic movement, and at the height of his career was one of the most recognized preachers in the US.^[3] He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University.

One of the most well-known and controversial American religious leaders of the 20th century, his preaching emphasized seed-faith.^[4] His ministries reached millions of followers worldwide spanning a period of over six decades.^[5] His healing ministry and his bringing American Pentecostalism into the mainstream had the most impact,^[6] but he also pioneered televangelism, and laid the foundations of the prosperity gospel^[5] and abundant life teachings.^[7] The breadth and style of his ministry, including his widely publicized funding appeals, made him a consistent subject of contention among critics and supporters.^[5]

21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

 22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'

 23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' (Matt. 7:21-23 ESV)

Note this, beloved, when Jesus is telling these deceivers and liars to depart from Him, they know that they are being thrown into the lake of fire. That’s why they plead with Him, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' Why then are you sending us to hell?

Here is what is so disturbing about this sentence to eternal damnation, these deceivers have led millions of others to hell with them. These millions were not the Good Shepherd’s sheep, they didn’t hear His voice John 10:1 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

 ² But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

 ³ To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

 ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

 ⁵ A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." (Jn. 10:1-5 ESV)

The verb, “will not follow” is a double negative and means that the Lord’s sheep will in no way follow the voices of strangers, they will not follow their teachings.

I have acquaintances today who cannot hear the voice of the Shepherd but follow the voices of strangers like Rick Joyner and Chris Reed and Kenneth and Gloria Copeland and Jesse and Cathey Duplantis. And hundreds of thousands of people follow charlatans like Bill Johnson and Kris Valloton of Bethel Church in Redding, Calif.

   ³ But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

 ⁴ Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

 ⁵ For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

 ⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, (2 Pet. 2:1-3 gives an example of empty words.) for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

 (Eph. 5:3-6 ESV) Bakker and Copeland and all their ilk have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Period! The Word Faith Movement along with the New Apostolic Reformation Movement have no place in the kingdom of Christ and God. The wrath of God will come upon them. Rather than putting to death what is earthly and sensual among them, they embrace it and promote it.

 ⁵ Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

 ⁶ On account of these the wrath of God is coming. (Col. 3:5-6 ESV)

 If Bakker and his ilk were anything, they were and are idolaters. Bakker is still plying his wares out of Branson, Missouri. He has not changed one iota.

Another aspect of these idolaters’ teachings is that they are teaching their dupes to do precisely what the word of God forbids, to love wealth. ³ If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness,

 ⁴ he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,

 ⁵ and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. (1 Tim. 6:3-5 ESV)

 ⁹ But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

 ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

 (1 Tim. 6:9-10 ESV)

The History of and Source of Our modern-day Heresies

Beginning in the early 20^th century, 1906, with the infamous and heretical Azuza Street Revival in Los Angeles, Pentecostalism began. It morphed into the Charismatic Movements around 1960 when Dennis and Rita Bennett published their book, “The Holy Spirit and You.” That work became the charismatics Bible, if you will. And since the founding of Pentecostalism the visible church has witnessed a veritable tsunami of false teachers and false prophets and false apostles. And it is precisely due to this disastrous wave of deceivers, that yours truly has been obsessed with the study of and exposure of these modern-day charlatans as set forth in the book of Jude. Later I will name names and expose not only the works of darkness but also those workers of darkness. ¹¹ Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. (Eph. 5:11 ESV)

I see a tremendous threat to the body of Christ and the gospel posed by these heretics and their heresies. The apostle Paul saw this threat unfolding in the churches in Galatia. ⁴ Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in-- who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery--

 ⁵ to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. (Gal. 2:4-5 ESV) Like Paul and Jude, I am contending for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints.