Reading Time: 9 minutesQuestion 60082. Word of Faith teaching reaches more people worldwide today than most historic denominations do, which is one reason I think it deserves a careful answer rather than a dismissive one. Its distinctive claims are familiar even to people who have never set foot in one of its churches: that faith is a force,…
Reading Time: 9 minutesQuestion 60048. The prosperity gospel is the teaching that God wills every believer to be materially wealthy and physically well, and that faith is the mechanism by which those benefits are released. It goes by several names. Word of Faith. Health and wealth. Name it and claim it. Positive confession. The labels differ and the…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 60023. Televised faith healers have produced a recognisable style: the platform, the word of knowledge about a condition somewhere in the auditorium, the hand on the forehead, the person falling backwards, the announcement of a miracle, and then the appeal for a gift of faith. Millions watch. Many send money they cannot spare. And…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 11080 Material wealth is one of those subjects on which the Bible says a great deal more than most congregations want to hear, and it says it in both directions. Anyone hoping for a simple verdict, either that riches are a blessing to be pursued or that poverty is inherently holy, will be disappointed…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 11077 Asking in my name is one of the most quoted promises Jesus ever made and one of the most consistently mishandled. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son (John 14:13). Read on its own, that sentence sounds like a blank cheque…
Reading Time: 9 minutesQuestion 4165. The Word of Faith movement is the stream of teaching, popularised through prosperity preachers and broadcast ministries, that treats faith as a creative force released by spoken words and treats the Holy Spirit largely as the power that makes this force work. If you have ever heard that you can speak your healing…