The Word of Faith Movement: Dangerous Heresies, Misunderstandings & Our Need for Discernment (pt. 1)

What is faith? The Bible says in Hebrews 11 that without it, we can’t please God and that it’s the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not yet seen. But does that we can “speak our tomorrow” into existence because of this force called, “faith”? The Word of Faith movement is a mainly Pentecostal movement that came up in the late 20th century. Word of Faith teaching states that because we as human beings are made in the image of God (and whatever God declared through His Words came to be), words can be used to manipulate the force of faith, and thus we can actually create what many claim Scripture promises. Speaking of what Scripture promises, many Word of Faith teachers declare that God’s will is for us as Christians to always be financially prosperous and never sick. Health and wealth are promised to us as believers. We just have to believe it and declare it. We have that authority. But wait…what if Christians are poor? And sick? Does that mean they don’t have faith? What about the millions of faithful believers living in abject poverty and religious persecution in developing countries around the world? Are they poor and imprisoned because they just don’t have enough faith? Or the faithful believer who lost a spouse, a child, or a loved one to an illness, even after they prayed for them? Did they just not have enough faith? What does the Word of Faith movement actually teach? Is it Biblical? And how do we see its influence in the church today?