Bowman Disagrees with McConnell and Hanegraaff on the Origin of the Positive Confession Movement

Robert Bowman Jr. (Director, Institute for Religious Research)

It was in  D. R. McConnell's book A Different Gospel where it was first proposed that the Word of Faith Movement (a.k.a "Positive Confession"; a.k.a. "Name-it-Claim-it"; a.k.a. "Hyper-faith") traces its roots to the Metaphysical cults. Most of the subsequent critical evaluations of the movement then followed McConnell's conclusions. For example, Hank Hanegraaff wrote:  

"Essek William Kenyon, whose life and ministry were enormously impacted by such cults as Science of Mind, the Unity School of Christianity, Christian Science, and New Thought metaphysics, is the true father of the modern-day Faith movement." (Christianity in Crisis)

Veteran counter-cult researcher Robert Bowman Jr. disagrees with this assessment. His own research led him to the conclusion that the movement's origin could be traced back to the faith healing movement within the evangelical tradition in the 19th and early 20th centuries. I don't have a copy of his now out-of-print book The Word-Faith Controversy, but I'm grateful his lecture Frequently Asked Questions About the Faith Movement is available for download or online listening at the website of Calvary Santa Fe.

I was able to list at least three grounds of his objection to the McConnell proposal.

First, though it might be true that E.W. Kenyon was exposed to the metaphysical cults in Boston, the same is true for most of the people in that area. Rather, the person who probably influenced Kenyon the most at Boston is the prominent Baptist pastor A.J. Gordon who was a firm believer in faith healing. There were no Pentecostals yet then for the Azusa Street Revivals won't be held until 1906, yet faith healing was already a part of American evangelicalism. Kenyon got married in Gordon's church and it was even Gordon who ordained him.

Second, Bowman questions the soundness of the methodology McConnell used in his research. For instead of demonstrating Kenyon's debt to the metaphysical cults from Kenyon's works, McConnell lumped together Kenyon-Hagin-Copeland quotes. Though there are parallels between the metaphysical cult teachings with the statements of latter Positive Confession teachers such as Kenneth Copeland, it is irrelevant to the question of the movement's origin.

Third, when we look into the big theological issues, one would not find parallels between Kenyon and the Mind Science cults. What we find are contrasts.

• Mind science cultists believe in an impersonal god referred to as the "cosmic mind"; Kenyon believed in a personal God.
• Mind science cultists' method of biblical interpretation is esoteric-- that is they often find hidden, spiritual meanings in the Bible which no one else has ever seen before; Kenyon's interpretative method is very literal.
• There is no concept of sin in mind science systems; Kenyon taught men are sinners in need of salvation.
• Since there is no sin in the mind science cults, Jesus doesn't have to die for atonement. Jesus' death was a travesty of justice. Some of them even toyed with the idea that Jesus did not die. Kenyon taught that Jesus died both physically and spiritually to redeem humanity. That spiritual death part is unsound, but it is nevertheless in contrast with the view of the mind science cults.

Make no mistake about it; the Positive Confession teaching  is indeed a false doctrine says Bowman. His concern is this: they will rightly dismiss us if we misdiagnose the problem. That should be our concern too for it would be extra difficult for us to rescue our friends and loved ones from the claws of the Word of Faith heresy if we fail to understand the nature of the horrific monster.

You can listen to the lecture HERE

Kenneth Copeland: Visiting the Facebook Pages of Prosperity Preachers, part 4

Quotes from John Piper, J.C. Ryle, and The Valley of Vision. These are what I usually see in my news feed. The insights they offer are truly edifying; truly soul-nourishing.

I wonder what if the Lord has not enlightened me on the evils of the Word-of-Faith Movement? What if I was left in darkness listening and reading these dangerous teachers? What would appear on my news feed if the Lord has not kept me away from their clutches?

On March 30, 2012, I decided to visit the Facebook Walls/Timelines of some of the big names in the movement.Their Facebook posts appears in red in this series.

"The force of faith that comes from the Word in your heart brings life and health to your flesh."

In the Historic Protestant view,, biblical faith has three essential elements: Notitia, Assensus and Fiducia. This is how R. C. Sproul's Ligonier Ministries define each  element:

Notitia. Notitia refers to the content of faith, or those things that we believe. We place our faith in something, or more appropriately, someone. In order to believe, we must know something about that someone, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Assensus. Assensus is our conviction that the content of our faith is true. You can know about the Christian faith and yet believe that it is not true. Genuine faith says that the content — the notitia taught by Holy Scripture — is true.

Fiducia. Fiducia refers to personal trust and reliance. Knowing and believing the content of the Christian faith is not enough, for even demons can do that (James 2:19). Faith is only effectual if, knowing about and assenting to the claims of Jesus, one personally trusts in Him alone for salvation.

Kenneth Copeland radically redefined faith and so distanced himself not just from the Reformers but the entire evangelical community. Copeland says, "Faith is a power force. It is a tangible force." According to Copeland's Facebook post, this force brings life and health to the body. And the way to release this force so you can benefit from it is by the words you say because "Words are spiritual containers" and "force of faith is released by words."

Copeland's god is not omnipotent because he himself is dependent on this force. Copeland explains "God cannot do anything for you apart or separate from faith... faith is God's source of power." He says that the proper translation of  Mark 11:22 is "Have the faith OF God". Furthermore, he teaches that God created the world by HIS own faith and uses Hebrews 11:3 as a (twisted) proof text.

In Evangelism Explosion's "The Chair Illustration", the goal is to show the prospect how to transfer trust from personal good works to trust in Jesus Christ and to what he did on the cross. This is done by leaving one's chair and transferring to another chair.

Faith then has an object, and the object of faith must be  God himself. The question then is, in Copeland's view, who is the object of faith? It cannot be God because he himself is dependent on this faith. The answer: the object of faith in Copeland's system is faith itself. It is faith in faith. This is the chair upon which Copeland sits on: an impersonal force.

Jesse Duplantis: Visiting the Facebook Pages of Prosperity Preachers, part 1

Quotes from John Piper, J.C. Ryle, and The Valley of Vision. These are what I usually see in my Facebook news feed. The insights they offer are truly edifying; truly soul-nourishing.

I wonder what if the Lord has not enlightened me on the evils of the Word-of-Faith Movement? What if I was left in darkness listening and reading these dangerous teachers? What would appear on my news feed if the Lord has not kept me away from their clutches? 

On March 30, 2012, I decided to visit the Facebook Walls/Timelines of some of the big names in the movement.

Their Facebook posts appears in red in this series.

 "Get out of theology! Get out of religion! Start walking in the light of the glory of God."

A person's belief system regarding the nature of God and religious questions is that person's theology. Any God-related statement therefore is a theological statement. Duplantis' Facebook post is a theological statement because in it he expresses his view about God and spiritual things. It is therefore self-contradictory for him to say "Get out of theology..." when he himself is into theology.

Notice also that he views "theology" and "walking in the light of the glory of God" as mutually exclusive as if you cannot walk in the glory of God and be into theology at the same time. Duplantis' aversion to theology is not new. His contemporaries have expressed the same hatred for historic Christian theology.

Kenneth Copeland once said, "I don't preach doctrine, I preach faith."

Also, though Benny Hinn quickly retracted his "Spirit-revealed" teaching that each person of the Trinity is "a triune being by Himself" and that "there's nine of them", his justification for such never-been-heard-before teaching that day was:

"You say, Huh, I never heard that. Well you think you're in this church to hear things you've heard for the last 50 years? You can't argue with the Word, can you? It's all in the Word."

See where a disrespect toward the historically established theology of the church can lead you?

Walter Martin's "last appearance" on TBN

As the program was about to end, Walter Martin thanked Trinity Broadcasting Network president Paul Crouch and his wife Jan for having the courage for letting the concerns be discussed; he also conveyed his hope that the dialogue will continue. Yet when host Doug Clark announced that there is a scheduled replay of the program, he expressed his doubt if it will ever be replayed. Indeed, TBN did not replay it and Martin was never invited again.

Dr. Martin pulled no punches. On air, he specifically mentioned the names of Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland and Oral Roberts as  purveyors of cultic doctrines within our camp.

I thought of giving a detailed review of this program, but I think there is no need for it. I'll just embed the entire program below. I will comment on one point. The host asked Martin three questions regarding the men he's criticizing:

"Do you believe they are Christian?"

"Born-again?"

"Love the Lord?"

In all the above questions, Martin answered "YES". Yet there is also evidence that after this appearance, the original Bible Answer Man changed his mind, at least regarding Kenneth Copeland.

"For ten years I have warned- And I'm on tape and in print on this- that we were heading into the Kingdom of the Cults with the faith teachers. You are no longer heading there, baby, you are there."

~Walter Martin

Kenneth Copeland's False Prophecy

an audiotape cited in Hank Hanegraaff's Christianity in Crisis

By the way, Martin was a staunch Charismatic.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

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Buy a copy of Walter Martin's The Kingdom of the Cults