The Irony of Faith

When I started reading Kenneth E. Hagin’s books on faith in 1997, I’ll admit that what attracted me to them was the ability to use faith to control my life.

Kenneth E. Hagin’s Faith Teaching

If you read a typical book by Hagin, you’ll notice that he uses a particular, regular style in order to convey his message: a proof text, followed by an anecdote, then an explanation of a principal that ties the proof text to the anecdote. The idea seems to be that as you read the book – you learn the principal, which teaches you the meaning of the Biblical text.

Hagin’s books are full of anecdotes, usually miraculous, life-changing events. Therefore, you often get the impression from reading these books that Hagin experienced miracles on a regular basis. This notion promotes the idea that Christians should be experiencing miracles on a regular basis as well, and they could, you reason, if they followed the principles set-out in Hagin’s books.

There is something exciting about knowing God so well and having such incredible faith that you experience miracles on a regular basis. But people often fail to realise that what you read in Hagin’s books are the highlights of 60 years of incredible ministry. Hagin admitted that he made a lot of mistakes and would sometimes go years without experiencing miracles. I do believe Hagin when he wrote about a certain time, when he was pastoring a certain church, when they would experience miracles regularly. But we still have to acknowledge the fact that miracles are, by definition, rare.

Miracles and Ministry

There is also the matter of Hagin being in full-time ministry: we should not fall into the trap of confusing full-time ministry with everyday life. Ministry is for the purpose of ministering to a group of people, typically from a church platform and pulpit, or perhaps through other media such as television, radio, books and the internet. All Christians have a ministry of reconciliation and are ambassadors for Christ. However, the way an individual ministers to others and the way a pastor ministers to others, are two different things?

People who are not in full-time ministry cannot expect to experience signs and wonders on a similar scale to those of pastors and evangelists. Signs and wonders are for the purpose of bringing people to Christ and edifying those who believe – it is not really meant for personal edification. God can still perform miracles in your life, but it’s usually on a different level than ministry.

The Fear Behind so-called “Faith”

When a believer is exposed to many different miraculous testimonies, it does give the impression that you should be experiencing those things yourself, on a regular basis. You can begin to wonder if you’re praying enough, if you have enough faith, perhaps there is sin in your life. There is something exciting and enticing about the miraculous; the ability claim what you want and control your life is alluring, to say the least.

What I have noticed from my own experience is that the more fearful a person is, the more inclined they are to want to control their life. It would seem that the Word of Faith teaching, as it has come to be known, of the likes of Kenneth E. Hagin, actually appeals more to neurotic Christians than to confident Christians. The more fearful a person is the more confused and gullible they are – the more likely they are to make mistakes, miss out on good opportunities and to be deceived. I know what it is like to be convinced that you need to buy more books on faith so that you can find the “key” that you are missing: there is often a frantic search for a faith “formula” that will give you the power and control that you’re looking for. There is often the thought that if you could just have “this” or “that” – everything would be fine.

Conclusion

The irony of faith is that the more faith you have, the less inclined you are to try to control things. The more faith you have, the more you trust in God and in life to make things work for you. The more faith you have the more you are able to relax, consciously, and allow things to happen without your need to consciously control them. When you have faith, you can relax in the confidence that when something needs doing, when a decision need to be made, it will happen. Faith welcomes the unexpected and does not panic when things happen that aren’t included in your original plan.

Miracles and the Presence of God

For the past week or so I’ve been mulling over my next blog entry. I just wanted to convey my current thoughts and feelings on the area of miracles in Christianity and just getting a proper perspective on the subject.

I listened to the latest Free Believers Network podcast entitled Redefining The Presence of God, 2nd June 2010. The discussion on this podcast episode kind of dove-tailed with the topic which I had been thinking about this week.

The Charismatic Church

It seems that the institutional church, particularly the charismatic, Pentecostal environment, can really mess with your head. I have found that most, if not all, of the grace believers I have contacted, either face-to-face or on the internet, have come from a charismatic background.

The charismatic movement seems to be a blend of upholding the concept of a judgemental God, keeping principles (a subtle term for rules), together with miraculous testimonies. It is very much an Old Testament approach. Think about that for a moment – you have the concept of a far and distant God who will only come near to you if there is no sin in your life, in other words, if you follow the right principles, read your Bible and pray hard. But if you do get your life right – God will appear to you and allow you to approach Him – just like Moses and the burning bush. It is as if we are each expecting to meet meticulous, Old Testament style rules, with the prize of having Almighty God in our lives.

The image that springs to mind is that of someone wearing a bio hazard suit, cautious of what disease he might contract should he come near to you. I am also reminded of a “germaphobe” like the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, who had particular requirements: his cutlery had to be sterilised and his milk had to be poured at a particular angle, and so on.

Word of Faith

Then, Word of Faith comes along, with those who teach it telling you the most incredible things that happened to them. Naturally, you want to know how they did it, what they did to bring this awesomely powerful, yet judgemental, Old Testament God to come near you and participate in your life.

So you end-up reading a book by a faith teacher like Kenneth E. Hagin who did “A”, “B” and “C” – and then God did “X”, “Y” and “Z” – something miraculous and supernatural. These testimonies become the spiritual prize that we are all seeking after. It’s as if love, truth and good will to all men kind of takes a back seat to the pursuit of the weird and wonderful – all in the Name of Jesus and the Kingdom of God, of course. I’m speaking from personal experience here – please don’t think that I’m just assuming things here; and I know for sure that I’m not the only one! So what we do from there is that we naturally seek to somehow attach our own agendas to the faith teaching we have been given. The thinking is something like, “If God can do that for him – then he can do this for me.” But of course, this line of thinking assumes that we know what God has planned for us and that we really need those things to happen in our lives; it also assumes that we can discern the formulas and principles we need to achieve our aims, based on the faith teaching and testimonies that we read or hear.

So there is the assumption that we need something totally far-and-above our everyday experiences as part of our Christian experience. When you are in charismatic circles, there is such an emphasis on miracles that you almost feel like a failure, or at least that you are not doing things right, if you are not experiencing miracles on a fairly regular basis.

God’s Generals

In 1996 the American evangelist Roberts Liardon’s book God’s Generals was published. God’s Generals profiles the lives and ministry of men and women throughout the past hundred years or so who have experienced incredible miracles: people such as John G. Lake, Smith Wigglesworth and Aimee Semple McPherson. I remember feel rather awe inspired as I read that book (when I was still in my charismatic, miracle-hunting phase). There is something amazing about God performing miracles in the lives of people, and doubtless, people’s lives are likely to be changed as a result. But where do you and I stand in all of this? How are we to interpret all of this in the perspective of our own normal, Christian lives? Are we also to do the same amazing things as these men and women of God?

If you come to the conclusion that you are indeed meant to be just like these “God’s Generals”, performing miracles and changing lives around you through the supernatural – I think you will be caught-up in a flight of fancy. Miracles do happen and I have no doubt that they have had their place in the lives of people like Smith Wigglesworth. But we can easily conclude that if we are not “used” by God in the same way as Wigglesworth, we must be missing something, or worse still, God does not love us. Miracles are, by definition, rare; it is the height of folly to seek after miracles and to feel disappointed when they don’t happen. I believe that miracles happen as and when they do. When we attempt to identify and pursue formulas to manifest miracles – we just end-up wearing ourselves out as we are left “chasing the wind”.

The “Harvest Mentality” and High Expectations

As I said previously, many who come to the message of grace have first gone through the charismatic phase of miracles, praying for revival, following principles and so forth. What I find is that many such Christians carry some of these Pentecostal traits and expectations with them into the message of grace. There is still the expectation of miracles, wealth and reaping a “harvest”; there is still the anticipation of God “using” you: by that statement, believers hold onto the expectation that God is going to do something over-and-beyond the norm of everyday existence. All of these expectations are from an Old Testament mindset, in which we associate with Moses and the burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea and so on. There were miracles performed in the New Testament, through Jesus and the Apostles. But these were all part of ministry, I believe.

The question of miracles in today’s society is a subject that is frequency discussed amongst Christians. We certainly should not use miracles as a measuring rod of God’s love for us or our level of faith. I believe that when it comes to living the Christian life in these New Testament times, it has a lot more to do with normal, everyday life than we could ever imagine.

I believe that the miracles we read about in the Bible are for the purpose of taking our limits off God, more than anything else. Miracles are more the domain of ministry: when I hear that grace preacher Bertie Brits has performed miracles during a crusade in Malawi, I don’t roll my eyes and say to myself, “Oh, here we go again, another miracle working preacher.” No, I am delighted to see the power of God in the life and ministry of this man; I delight in that fact that God is confirming His Word being preached. But what I don’t do is think to myself, “How can I do the same kind of miracles in my life? I should be ministering with an anointing like that man. If I had enough faith – then I’d be able to minister with the same anointing and power as that man.” There is a place for miracles, and I believe it is mainly in ministry to confirm the Word being preached. Although, if miracles don’t follow the Word being preached, that is no sign that the preaching was not powerful, accurate and relevant (despite what Kenneth E. Hagin wrote on the subject).

Seeing the Beauty and Value in Everyday Life

I think normal life is not exciting enough for some Christians; they want to way-out, over-the-top stuff that they hear some evangelists come out with. But the truth of the matter is that there is something truly amazing in everyday life. It really does come down to our own beliefs, attitudes and mindsets as to how wonderful life is for us. It is just like when we fall in love: before we fall in love with someone, we could be feeling rather melancholy, but then, we fall in love with someone, and all of a sudden, everything changes! All of a sudden we are transformed from a grumpy, cynical person, into someone who is smiling and singing. Love seems to make the grass greener, the sky bluer; we notice things that we never noticed before: the birds singing in the trees, the beauty of a single raindrop, taking a walk in a park as the leaves fall from the trees in the fall. Nothing has changed externally in your life – the only change has been internal – in your heart, in your outlook on life.

God Will Guide You

We read in the New Testament that God will lead you and guide you by the Holy Spirit (John 14:26, Luke 12:12, Romans 8:14, Galatians 5:18). I think Ezekiel 36 makes it clearer and starker that any text in the New Testament:

25 "'Then it will be as though I had sprinkled clean water on you, for you will be clean--your filthiness will be washed away, your idol worship gone. ²⁶ And I will give you a new heart--I will give you new and right desires--and put a new spirit within you. I will take out your stony hearts of sin and give you new hearts of love. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit within you so that you will obey my laws and do whatever I command.

Ezekiel 36:25-27 TLB

I think every Christian has a different take on what this text really adds up to and how we experience it in our lives of faith in Christ. But I must admit that right at this moment in time, I cannot help but feel that it is a lot closer to the normal, everyday existence that we are used to and perhaps often take for granted. I think this text points towards natural impulses, common-sense and intuition. There is no need to pray for hours on a holy mountain, waiting for the burning bush to appear. Neither is there a need to seek out a wise, all-knowing guru who will tell you the wisdom of God. The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21).

Emotions and Sensationalism

Likewise, we also expect something way-out and over-the-top when it comes to our emotions. We attend big gatherings of believers with musicians and preachers who have the ability to strike a chord in our hearts and move us to tears or feelings of ecstasy. Just as with miracles, signs and wonders – there is a sense that if God was truly in our lives, we would experience euphoria on a day-to-day basis. The natural assumption, when we don’t experience these dramatic feelings, is that we are somehow not getting the formulas and principles right: perhaps there is too much sin in our lives, we are not praying enough or we haven’t got enough faith.

There are sometimes moments of ecstasy in our lives: when we meet a loved one, we have not seen for a while, when your wife gives birth to your child or declares that she is pregnant, when you are given news of your promotion at work and so on. But those feelings often don’t last. I think a more realistic approach to the emotional state of the New Testament, Christian believer, is a sustained state of peace, happy, but nothing incredible; this is then interspersed by moment of euphoria and sometimes moments of sadness, whether those moments are triggered by an external experience or not.

I strongly believe that anxiety is something that we are not to experience as Christians, or if we do, it is on our journey into spiritual maturity and peace. In John 14:27 Jesus Himself promised us peace. The Gospel is called the “Gospel of Peace” (Romans 10:15, Ephesians 6:15). I’ve struggled with anxiety all my life and can vouch for the fact that it is horrid! I think that it is a true sign of spiritual maturity when a Christian comes to the place in which they see peace of mind as their one and only goal in this life (or at least their main goal).

There are also moments of euphoria when Christians gather together in large groups and God seems to be moving in your midst. But I often wonder if those feelings of ecstasy and the goose-bumps are nothing more than emotionalism: just like what you would experience at a rock concern?

For more information on the subject of feelings associated with the presence of God, check out the latest Free Believers Network podcast entitled Redefining the Presence of God, 2^nd June 2010. For more information on the subject of Christians and their addiction to sensationalism in the church, check out The Free Believers Network podcast entitled The Lust of Sensationalism, 14^th April 2010.

Spiritual Autism and Pastor’s Wives

There is an "Into the Wild" podcast which I heard recently which kind of reminded me of an anecdote from Kenneth E. Hagin's faith books. When I thought of this anecdote it really struck me of both how my own approach to Christianity had changed and just how off-track and completely out of touch with reality I feel Christianity has been in the past.

I thought of this anecdote when I listened to the podcast entitled "Spiritual Autism" dated 2nd January 2010. One of the hosts of the podcast, Aimee Daselle, related how she had read a book written by a Christian woman who had a son who suffered from autism. In this podcast, the hosts related how many Christians have also suffered a form of spiritual autism which had been instilled in them by the institutional church.

At the end of this particular podcast, the hosts relate how pastor's wives can become very repressed and unhappy. Pastors and their wives are kind of lifted-up on a pedestal and expected to maintain a perfect standard. I once heard Brad Cummings on The God Journey podcast say that pastors in these days have become our spiritual coaches. In Biblical times, pastors would have simply facilitated gatherings of believers - without unrealistic demands placed upon them.

Anyway, there is a rather significant anecdote which Kenneth E. Hagin has referred to in several of his books on faith. One of these books is entitled The Triumphant Church, and the anecdote can be found in the chapter Can Christians Have a Demon? In 1952 Hagin had a vision of Jesus when he was enveloped in a cloud of glory. In this vision, Jesus told Hagin that he was now going to give him the gift of discerning of spirits.

At that moment Jesus gave Hagin a vision of a woman who happened to be the wife of a pastor he knew. This woman had left her husband and was now living with another man. Jesus said, "I'll show you exactly how demons and evil spirits get a hold of people and dominate them and possess them, even Christians, if Christians let them." In this vision Hagin could see into the spiritual realm. He saw a demon that look like a little monkey come and sit on the woman's shoulder and whisper into her ear that she was beautiful and that in the world she could have fame, fortune and popularity.

At first this woman dismissed this demon's temptations, but after a while, she became seduced. Okay, we have something of a correlation here with the temptation of Jesus in the desert – but as far as I can discern, she was not exactly making a pact with Satan. Something that strikes me as rather odd is that Hagin says that according to Philippians 4:8, these thoughts were not in-line with the Word of God. But this is the man who made the prosperity message widespread -- so I am quite flummoxed by that statement. There are quite a few pastors, Bible teachers and evangelists who have become like celebrities and live in mansions; they use scriptures such as Isaiah 1:19 to substantiate their claim to wealth -- and most charismatic Christians just don't bat an eyelid about it at all. We seem to forget that the majority of the fortunes of these people comes not from “the world” but from desperate Christians who seek to be just like they are.

Anyway, back to the story. This woman resisted the demon by saying, "Get thee behind me Satan." So she exercised her authority over the devil. That tactic has not always worked for me personally, when I start thinking on thoughts that don't line-up with the Word. But she stopped resisting the devil after a while and then she become obsessed, and finally, she become possessed.

The moral of the story was that Christians should resist the devil when they think thoughts that don't line-up with the Bible, which is the Word of God. Darin Hufford would argue that the Bible is so open to misinterpretation that it is virtually impossible to do that. Darin would say that we are to live according to what we know is right in our heart. Darin Hufford calls this approach to the Bible that many Christians have towards scripture as "Back-up Verse Theology".

When I reflect on this anecdote of this pastor's wife who committed adultery, I am inclined to see a woman who is terribly repressed and bored out of her mind. Surely, if a woman is happily married and she's got good friendships and she's doing the things that she enjoys doing most, she wouldn't even dream of committing adultery, it wouldn't even be an option for her. After all, doesn’t 1 John 3:9 say that we cannot sin, because we have been born again of incorruptible seed? When it says we “cannot sin” it must mean at the very least that if a person is born again, sin should be a difficult and unnatural thing to do.

I just see this poor pastor's wife just sat at the piano on a Sunday and singing old hymns or cheesy contemporary Christian numbers like Charlie LeBlanc's classic "Celebrate Jesus Celebrate". Not many churches have access to a huge crowd of worshippers and a world-class worship leader like Dom Moen, so it’s bound to look and sound more like this. This pastor's wife must have got fed up of dull, quirky middle-aged housewives approaching her after the service and talking about knitting and canning fruit.

I believe the pressure just builds-up over the years of trying to be someone that you are not. I think in church we just get this impression of what it is like to be spiritual: what other people expect us to be like and even what God wants us to be like. It must be especially bad for a pastor’s wife. But in actual fact, I believe that oftentimes God has no intention for us to be that way.

We create this impression that the Christian life is so difficult and it's so full of temptation. We get this impression that we've got to resort to biblical formulas in order to live our lives the way that God wants us to. The notion is implied that we cannot survive and thrive as Christians, unless we buy the latest book on spiritual warfare, faith, healing, finances or whatever. We are fed ideas by the church which gives us the impression that we would wither away and die, or that we’d be easy prey for the devil, should we dare to stop attending church on a Sunday.

This reminds me of an episode from Blake’s 7, which was a cult, low-budget, British science fiction series which ran from 2^nd January 1978 to 21^st December 1981. This particular episode was titled Cygnus Alpha (Series 1), which guest starred Brian Blessed in which he played a character called Vargas. Vargas is the power-hungry dictator of a planet whose oppressed people are told that they cannot leave the planet because they need a daily antidote to a disease which infects all who visit or live on the planet. Vargas later reveals to Blake and his crew that the sickness does not exist; the symptoms are created by a mild poison that clears itself.

So what I get from Hagin’s anecdote is that this woman was expected to resist temptation and remain spiritual, by constantly saying, "Get thee behind me Satan". But is this practical? In actual fact, what we end up doing is trying to use flimsy formulas to try and hold back the sheer weight and pressure of years and years of repressed thoughts and desires; as we try in vain to become somebody that we were never meant to be in the first place. The struggle is not the devil or temptation – it is the concepts that have been handed down to us over the years that we are still trying to hold onto.

Rather than seeing this woman in a condemnatory manner, I am more inclined to look at this woman's plight with compassion and kindness. No, I do not condone adultery in any way, shape or form. But I do hold to the belief that people should be allowed to be who they are and be allowed to live their lives naturally. If a person is allowed to become who they are meant to be in Christ, then I believe the desires of God will be in them; they will have a heart of love, temptation should not really be the difficult thing that Christians have made it out to be.

The Answer to Life Is – Stop Thinking! – Part 1

“The Answer to Life Is – Stop Thinking!”

This statement was made right at the end of The Free Believers podcast entitled Involuntary Spirituality 5^th December 2009. To really understand the context of this quote you would ideally need to listen to the whole of the podcast.

This quote really struck a chord in me because I have come to the conclusion that it is our thinking that gets in the way of God. I have been an anxiety sufferer for most of my life and I can personally vouch for the fact that it is unnecessary thinking which causes probably most of the suffering in life.

After pursuing Word of Faith teaching for ten years, courtesy of Kenneth E. Hagin, I have come to the conclusion that we cannot use faith as a means of telling God what to do: how and when He should bless us. Neither can we use faith to avoid challenging circumstances and difficult people. I cannot use faith declarations to build “great faith” so that I can make life go just the way I want. I think it is absurd now to think that I actually believed I knew what was right for my life, more than God did. I felt that I had to use faith declarations and prayer to “remind” God of what I wanted and felt was most important and beneficial for my life.

We superimpose our thoughts onto everything we experience in life. If something “bad” happens in our lives we tell the story of how God does not love us, or that we are being punished for our sins or whatever. When something “good” happens in our lives, we can tell the story of how it was our diligent praying, fasting and serving in the church which merited God’s favour and blessing. Without our thinking – “we” would be out of the picture; life’s circumstances would occur without us seeing the need to attribute a “good” or “bad” label to them; without the need to associate what happens in life to our behaviour and actions. There are consequences for our actions and no amount of "no condemnation in Christ" can negate that. If a person puts his hand in a fire they are going to get burned. But we cannot say that the sickness of a loved one was caused by our not praying enough.

The Bible says that we have already been “blessed with every spiritual blessing” (Eph. 1:3); been given “a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1.7); we have already been made partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4); and a myriad of other wonderful blessings that point towards a new nature and life in Christ.

The Apostle Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20). Verses such as this have been used as the very foundation of the teachings of people such as Norman Grubb who teach about our union with Christ: He lives His life through us. Surrender to Christ is vital for this exchange to take place. It is not so much our actions and behaviour that hinders this union – it is our own thinking.

Word of Faith and the Concept of Effort and Reward

One of the biggest problems we face in the church is that the leaders don't take into consideration the mindset of those people who come to the church. Many people come to the church as a last resort, because the pressures of life have made them neurotic. As such, they are inclined to seek to do things to gain the approval of others. For most of people's lives, God is just the subject of after dinner conversation. But when a person gives their life to the Lord, and perhaps has an "experience", God suddenly becomes a reality to them. Therefore, their efforts will be inclined towards seeking God's approval.

The Concept of Effort and Reward

The Gospel is the good news about how we don't need to perform in order to gain the approval of God and others. From an early age we are conditioned with the concept of effort-and-reward. We often find ourselves subconsciously compelled to do certain things, without knowing precisely why. The reason for this is that we believe that doing those things will gain us approval. Look at the state the church is in because the church still continues to imply that Christians must do something in order to please God. Does it help, or does it cause struggle, pain and wasted time and effort?

Not every Christian is a chronic people-pleaser - but many are. There are believers who are not compelled to tithe and commit to acts of charity in the church, when they hear the pastor preach - but many are.

It still bothers me that Word of Faith teaching did very little to mitigate the consequences of highly covetous people getting hold of the teaching and trying to use it as a get-rich-quick scheme; to read dozens of books with the idea of extracting principles and formulas that would enable them to gain control over God and get blessed how they want and when they want.

Is There any Benefit in Following Word of Faith?

In retrospect, I suppose we needed to go through that in order to learn those mistakes. Kenneth E. Hagin was just excited about sharing his revelations and breakthroughs with the world and to refute long-held Christian traditions that didn't work. I actually have a lot of respect for Hagin: he faced an enormous amount of resistance from fellow believers who refused to accept that God still performs miracles today and that He wants to bless His people.

There is certainly a need for balance when it comes to Biblical prosperity. I don’t adhere to the notion that God wants all of His people to be poor and to struggle financially with the belief that one trial after another is doing a good work in us. Neither do I hold to the unrealistic assumption that God wants all of His people to be extravagantly wealthy by Western standards. I do believe that God wants His people to do well in life, to get their needs met and to prosper. But problems arise when we attempt to fill emotional voids in our lives by the pursuit of wealth. This is what the Apostle Paul was addressing in his letter to Timothy.

⁶ Now godliness with contentment is great gain.

⁷ For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

⁸ And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

⁹ But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

¹¹ But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.

¹² Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

1 Timothy 6:6-12 nkjv

In verse 11 we read what we ought to pursue as believers: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. These are, of course, spiritual things. Once we secure these spiritual treasures – we will have all of our material needs met as well.

³¹ Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Matthew 6:31-33 nkjv

In 1 Timothy 6:12 Paul states that our fight is that of maintaining faith. This faith is with the purpose of keeping hold of the manifest presence of God (eternal life) within us, which brings us fullness of joy like nothing in the material world ever can.

I have to admit that ten years or so of reading most of Hagin’s books, actually did very little to help me. I was, and still am to an extent, a very insecure person; the promise of extravagant blessings and miracles in return for strictly obeying principles and formulas – was not exactly what I needed the most during that time – and never will be. What I really needed was the assurance that God loved me – just the way that I was; without any threats of curses, punishments and ex-communication from God if I failed to meet those strict standards and if I failed to confess the Word in the correct manner.

Seek to Enter into Rest

When we become Christians the first thing, the very first thing that we need to work towards is entering into rest: getting away from the concept of effort-and-reward, keeping rules, fulfilling standards, and meeting certain conditions and so on. That said - we ought to veer away from even a hint of anything in the way of rules, laws and principles. Otherwise, the effect can be devastating on many people.

It is difficult to not feel stirred-up by a motivating message that seems to promise wonderful rewards for the believer who is willing to “go all out for God”. But to an insecure Christian a message that is meant to motivate and challenge can become an oppressing obligation and an indication that they are not valued by God just the way that they are. As far as I am concerned – I have had enough of these motivational speeches in church – I just want to hear the good news of the Gospel being preached; I just want to know what the Lord Jesus Christ has already done for me and how that affects my life now.

Grace Can be a Stumbling Block for Others

Did you know that grace can be a stumbling block for others? If you go around telling other people what the grace of God motivates you to do in such a way that you make a rule or standard out of it - it re-introduces the law. It is good to encourage other people by giving them your testimonies. But if believers are not secure in the assurance that they are loved apart from their works – they are likely to feel jealous and to figure out what they can do to merit the same kind of favour, blessing and ability from God.

Let's get away from post-righteousness works that are really none of our business and focus on what Jesus told the Body of Christ to take responsibility for and seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Is Faith a Ticket to Health and Wealth?

Speaking from experience, you'll find that many people have come into grace only as the result of religious self-effort. This also incorporates Word of Faith and all the other extremes that came out of the charismatic movement. Joseph Prince cites Kenneth E. Hagin (Word of Faith) as being one of his main Bible teachers.

I have found that many people come to Christianity as a last resort and because they have unmet needs. I see it as gears: you start off with rules, and then move onto works and then move onto pursuing faith principles and formulas as a means of making God bless them how they want and when they want.

Sure, God wants us to be well and to meet our needs, but life can condition the subconscious mind to believe that something external to Christ and the love of God - can make you happy. This typically shows itself in the pursuit of people, power and possessions. The Word of Faith teaching can be seen as being the key to getting everything that a person needs.

Many believers have found after years of frustration and trying to repeat Bible verses - which WOF simply does not work. If declaring verses of scripture accompanies blessings, then it is the expression of a heart that knows the love of God and is secure in Christ. Affirmations are not a formula to get what you want from God.

Some believers, feeling cheated by misleading and extreme teaching, have gone to extremes in the other direction: they have completely rejected any teaching that asserts the believers right to healing and financial prosperity.

I tend to "pitch my tent" as it were, somewhere in the middle of these extremes: I believe that God still heals today and that He will meet our needs - but I don't believe that Christians can demand what they want from God; neither can they expect extravagant blessings and miracles. I have also noticed that the concept of wealth to someone living in a wealthy country, such as a member of the G7* group of countries, is completely different to the concept of wealth on a worldwide scale. The Bible speaks of vats overflowing with wine and bumper harvests of crops - not driving expensive sports cars, living in mansions and aspiring to be a member of the board of directors in your place of work.

Perhaps God does want to bless you extravagantly – He did with Solomon. But it is not our place to demand such things. Another factor to consider is that it often takes time to manifest certain things: it takes time and effort to build a career, business, relationship or ministry.

Jesus Himself said to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things would be added unto you (Matt. 6:33). He did not say to seek righteousness first, and then seek material provision. No, He said to seek after righteousness. Why is this so? I believe it is because knowing that we are right with God, loved by Him just the way that we are, and brings a sense of security that:

• Subdues the selfish flesh nature, bringing peace and mental clarity.
• Eliminates the desire for those things we once thought we need in order to be happy.
• Brings a sense of complete trust in God, that He will meet your needs, regardless of circumstances past and present.

There are many Christians who attempt to "believe God" for things, when they have no foundation of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). Nowhere in scripture does it say to believe God for "things" - only to believe in a person - Jesus Christ.

Bertie Brits' teaching is centred strongly on this concept of believing (trusting) in Jesus, not things. I find Bertie’s preaching refreshing after ten years or so of frustration with Word of Faith teaching. It really is so much simpler and less time consuming to believe (trust) in Jesus, rather than trying to claim promises, sow seed and all of the things associated with “believing God” for things. Everything from healing to financial provision comes to us based on our being persuaded of God's love for us - that is why we are told to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

* The G7 countries are: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States.

The Danger of Teaching “Principles”

For the past couple of months or so my house group was working through a book by Dr. Henry Cloud, entitled: 9 Things You Simply Must Do to Succeed in Love and Life: A Psychologist Learns from His Patients What Really Works and What Doesn't. I think it's actually a self-help book more than a Christian book.

I recall this guy on a few of Joyce Meyer's podcasts. Basically, this book and the podcast messages featuring these two people, focus on principles. Principles are compelling because it gives us the feeling of control over our lives, according to something that appears to be "doable" on the surface. However, it is a subtle form of getting you into the law. Bertie Brits defines "the law" as "by my efforts I will become".

I downloaded a total of 318 Joyce Meyer podcasts from 27/09/07 to 24/04/09 (U.K. date notation). I found myself resonating with Joyce Meyer's podcasts. I found that Joyce would say some really powerful things. Sometimes, though rarely, Joyce would deliver a pure grace message, focusing on our right-standing through Christ; as message that did not focus on rules and self-effort at all. But then the next time, she would say something along the lines of, "It's up to you, you've got to make an effort."

Sometimes, Joyce would be really patronizing and basically just mock people (in general, not specific people as such. Here is a link to a video in which she does her famous "What About Me" robot move (which I find rather patronising). You can see a video clip of this robot move here.

Even though I've been into the message of grace for several years now, I kept on downloading the Joyce Meyer MP3s. But this kind of preaching just subtly brings people into legalism. I wonder why I listened to it for so long. Sure, you can pick-up some nuggets of wisdom: Joyce preaches some great truths. But with such an availability of pure grace teaching - why bother with anything else? I wonder why I continued to listen to that mixture of law and grace teaching for as long as I did.

John Bevere is the same: he teaches some really good concepts such as the need to respect authority. But there is such an emphasis on what the believer must do, that the good news of the finished work is drowned-out. The end result is just frustration and guilt. Bevere teaches that there are many people he has known who have suffered hardship because they failed to respect authority.

This concept sounds rather plausible, but I wonder if there are further implications to this: perhaps the ability to respect authority was the result of not having a heart of love, which in turn was the result of not knowing they were loved by God, which all boils down to not truly believing that they are right with God through Christ. Making a rule out of respecting authority, backed-up by some horror stories, is not an effective way of eliciting respect of authority, as far as I’m concerned.

Conscious Awareness of Negative Mindsets

I’m still growing in the grace message and I don’t have it all figured out yet. I tend to vacillate between believing that it is good to make yourself consciously aware of negative mindsets, and not. The notes I have made in the past as a result of my own Bible studies tend to focus a lot on exposing negative mindsets - with a hint of basic Psychology. It is one thing, I suppose, to make yourself consciously aware of past mistakes and missed opportunities – it is another to make yourself aware of wrong, negative patterns of thinking.

But the Bible does mention the concept of our conscience being purged of sin in Hebrews 9:14, 10:22. Hebrews 10:1-4 relates how animal scarifies in the Old Covenant created a reminder of sin ever year, because the blood of animals covered sin, but could not take it away.

I believe it is important to highlight some of the common misnomers we tend to pick-up in church. But to a great extent, just the conscious awareness of something is insufficient in bringing about peace and a change of behaviour. The Ten Commandments were supposed to bring about a change of behaviour by making people consciously aware of what was right and wrong – but it in fact it had the opposite effect.

The Gospel Message is a Short Message

The more I soak in pure grace teaching, especially that of Bertie Brits, the more I come to realise that perhaps the only message that we really need to hear is that of our right-standing with God through Christ. Everything else, I believe, or to a great extent at least, flows from there. It amazes me all the junk and excesses the church has been through, including persecution and manipulation during the time of the early church and Middle Ages, right the way through to the excesses of the charismatic movement during the nineties.

To a great extent I believe that the only message that we need to hear is about what Jesus has already done for us on the cross and who we are in Him. I like what Bertie Brits says in that the Gospel message is a short message. Over the years, the church has made the Gospel message into something rather complicated by adding to it principles, formulas and outlandish, supernatural testimonies.

Bible Teaching Which is too Specific

I have found that as soon as Bible teaching focuses on specific circumstances and people – it can cause people to go off on a tangent (myself included). This is what happened to me when I read Kenneth E. Hagin’s books from 1997 to about 2005.  Hagin’s teaching has often been compared to that of E.W. Kenyon. In fact, some people have even accused Hagin of plagiarism (you can see an example of that here and here).

I have been exposed to Bible teachers I previously never heard of, on my journey into the grace message, such as Norman Grubb, Major Ian W. Thomas and so on. The concept of union with Christ has been reinforced in me as I have read or listened to their teaching.

I cannot help but think that the writing of such people is akin to that of E.W. Kenyon, who focuses on a revelation of the Pauline Epistles and who we are in Christ. Kenyon focuses on the power of Christ living in us, rather than principles and formulas that we can exploit in order to get God to bless us in some way – something that I see in Kenneth E. Hagin’s teaching. Therefore, as I have gradually moved out of Word of Faith teaching and into Grace teaching – I have found myself moving away from Hagin’s teaching and back to Kenyon.

Bible Teaching I Listen to Now

Just this year I decided to get rid of my large collection of Christian books, because they just did me no good whatsoever. I used to love books but now I find they just take up space. I noticed just how much my books weighed as well when I last moved house.

Now, I only listen to pure grace teaching that I download from the internet. Check out my Grace Preachers List for some great websites were you can download pure grace messages, often for free. I now tend to keep away from even a hint of law.

A couple of weeks ago I sent an email to the host of my church home group to say that I would no longer be attending and I told her why - in a pleasant, but assertive way, of course.

Breaking Down Barns

Two people can hear the same message preached and get different meanings and focus out of it. Kenneth E. Hagin was teaching on how Christians could live prosperous and healthy lives, for their own benefit and so that they could be a blessing to others and to prove that Christian faith works.

But what I saw was an opportunity to control God; to make Him prove to me that I was more special than the rest; to seize an opportunity to heap-up material possessions and money so that I no longer had to rely on a God that I felt had consistently let me down in the past. This concept is conveyed, to some extent, in the parable of the man who wanted to break down his barns and build bigger ones in Luke 12.

¹⁵ And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." ¹⁶ Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. ¹⁷ And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' ¹⁸ So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." ' ²⁰ But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' ²¹ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

Luke 12:15-21 nkjv

The Greek word for “life” in Luke 12:15, is actually the word zoe (G2111) which is the life-giving presence of God. Both E.W. Kenyon and Kenneth E. Hagin believe zoe (G2111) to be the nature of God indwelling man. I believe that it is this experience of the life of God within the soul of man, which produces the experience we know as joy.

John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes includes the following about Luke 12:15.

Luk 12:15 - A man's life - That is, the comfort or happiness of it.

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible includes the following regarding Luke 12:15.

Covetousness - An unlawful desire of the property of another; also a desire of gain or riches beyond what is necessary for our wants. It is a violation of the tenth commandment Exo. 20:17, and is expressly called idolatry Col. 3:5. Compare, also, Eph. 5:3, and Heb. 13:5.

A man’s life - The word “life” is sometimes taken in the sense of happiness or felicity, and some have supposed this to be the meaning here, and that Jesus meant to say that a man’s comfort does not depend on affluence - that is, on more than is necessary for his daily wants; but this meaning does not suit the parable following, which is designed to show that property will not lengthen out a man’s life, and therefore is not too ardently to be sought, and is of little value. The word “life,” therefore, is to be taken “literally.”

Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible includes the following regarding Luke 12:15.

Inordinate desires. Πλεονεξιας, from πλειον, more, and εχειν, to have; the desire to have more and more, let a person possess whatever he may. Such a disposition of mind is never satisfied; for, as soon as one object is gained, the heart goes out after another.

I suppose the reason for believing God for ability and possessions, was so that if I found that I could no longer control God with my own faith - at least I had my own “nest egg”, which I could rely on later. I decided that I would rely on God so that I could become self-sufficient and I would no longer have to rely on Him anymore.

I suppose this desire for self-sufficiency was born out of a sense of believing that God was mysterious: He would be kind, peaceful, loving and generous the one moment – but as soon as a person did not pray right or they stepped out of line and made a mistake – that was it for them! This misjudgement of God’s character came out of a life of mistakes and disappointments, as well as teaching which mixed law and grace.

Can a Man Control God?

For years, believers have been spoon-fed from the pulpit – without anything they say being questioned by the congregation. Christian, self-help and spiritual authors have raked-in the cash from struggling, frustrated people who are desperate for answers to the issues which beset them.

Unfortunately, when people are confused and desperate – they will accept anything that is put before them. When a person cannot discern the truth for themselves, they tend to latch-on to anything that seems to give them a glimmer of hope.

It is for this reason that any method which promises wealth and the ability to control ones life, becomes extremely popular. What seems to happen is that people read these books which give all sorts of exciting testimonies – then they get carried away with their own imagination, thinking about how they could apply something similar to their own lives. It is little wonder that such books are so popular and so compelling. People read these books, resonate with the teaching and get all excited. They then post stellar reviews on Amazon.com saying how amazing the method is and how it has changed their life already – and they’ve only been reading it a couple of weeks!

This is what happened to me: I would read in a Kenneth E. Hagin book of how God blessed him, or “used” him, in some spectacular way – then I would begin to ponder how I could do something similar. I suppose my own desire to prove myself and seek the approval of God and other people – just got caught-up with the message of faith that I was reading.

My Own Attempt to “Use” Daniel 1:17

I read in a Kenneth E. Hagin book that Hagin would confess Daniel 1:17 each morning on the way to school. As a result of this, God gave him a photographic memory and made him more intelligent than all the other pupils in his class, so that he got straight-As for all his tests.

I decided that I would confess Daniel 1:17 so that I could be brilliant at my job. But the divine ability never came. I believe the reason for this was that I was feeling insecure, as if I could not trust in God. I saw Daniel 1:17 as a “divine lottery ticket” which just might work to give me the sense of security that I was looking for. I wanted to prove that I was better than everyone else, so that I could feel good about myself and look down on “all those ungodly heathens”, which didn’t deserve the blessing and favour of God like I did.

I am still working on this area of my life and I believe it has a lot to do with being able to trust God, whether you are rich or poor, talented or untalented, educated or uneducated; knowing that God will meet your needs, regardless of whether you “deserve” it or not. Like many other people, the cannot of effort-and-reward has become hard-wired into my belief system. The concept of God blessing me and meeting my needs without having to work for it, without having to merit that blessing – is still something I struggle with to this day.

How Word of Faith Works

Kenneth E. Hagin would always say that whatever need you had in life, whether it is healing, finances or whatever – just find those verses of scripture which say you can have it, meditate on them and confess them.

Hagin’s teaching and testimonies would almost exclusively focus on faith for healing and finances. Hagin would also say that the same principle applies to any other legitimate need. But this does not mitigate the deluded, selfish fantasies that frustrated Christians bring before God. An overactive imagination does not help God, but hinders Him. The flesh nature and the divine nature are at odds with one another (see Galatians 5:17).

I just assumed that it was my role to read the best Christian teaching available and to discern the principles and formulas from the teaching and to somehow apply it to my own life. This is where my own imagination and selfish ambition came into play. But I realised after many years that this is not a practical or comfortable way to live the Christian life.

This way of life put a great deal of emphasis on me reading lots of books (the right books) understanding them properly, being able to remember what I had read and then to be able to somehow apply those principles and formulas to my own life. One of the wrong assumptions that can arise out of this process is that you can assume that just because God blessed or “used” another Christian in some way, then God will do the very same, or something similar, thing in your own life. But this is simply not true because we all have different callings, gifts and talents.

Word of Faith operates by finding verses of scripture which often pertain to specific circumstances of a person’s life, then twisting it so that it applies to your own life. It is true that we can apply broad-based Christian concepts to our own life, such as our righteousness in Christ, but just because God gave Abraham, Isaac and Jacob beautiful wives, for example, does not mean that you can use certain verses of scripture to lay hold on the promise of a beautiful wife. Just God gave Bezalel the abilities of a craftsman (see Exodus 31:2-5) – it does not mean that God will give you the same kind of abilities (unless, of course, that is your calling in life.)