GOD
-part six-
what faith doesn’t:
(or so the bible says)
It is The Lord, not the
devil, that is in the detail & how often we miss
Him completely. I believe that there is nothing
in The Scriptures by mistake,
nor is there anything so small that it remains insignificant indefinitely. If jots & tittles are important to God, they
ought also to be significant to us. However, there are those who willingly
& wilfully pass over whatever is there in the plain reading of God’s Word, in order to construct & introduce something entirely alien to the text, for their own
purposes. This leads to gross errors & the further along this rocky road we
travel, the greater the dangers. Let me give you a prime example, using the
second faulty foundation of word of faith rhetoric; the so called confession of
faith. “(as it is written, I have made
thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he
believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though
they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the
father of many nations; according to that
which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead,
when he was about an hundred years old, neither
yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong
in faith, giving glory to God; and
being fully persuaded that, what
he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore
it was imputed to him for righteousness.” (Romans
4:17-22).
I recommend reading Romans
4 in its entirety, rather than simply being led by the nose into cherry
picking verses that are twisted out of all reasonable recognition, after the
manner of mainstream word of faith teaching. The
answers, are in the texts. However, a selective isolation of verses is
necessary for some to attempt to prove the principle that we dismantled in our
last meeting; the false premise that faith is a law or force,
originally used by God in creation & also known as the God kind of faith. These verses from
Romans 4 are then employed by word of faith proponents, in a
heavily elasticated attempt at further revealing the nature of the God kind of
faith, because according to them, faith “..calleth
those things which be not as though they were;” (Romans
4:17b). We are taught to imitate God by doing the same thing as Him.
Call those things which be not, as though they were. Speak faith filled words
that bring our heart’s desires into reality. Say it & see it. Name it &
claim it. Blab it & grab it. Confess it & possess it. The dangerous
proximity of this dogma to the new age’s law of attraction is concerning to say
the least, but it would seem that some are simply hitting the snooze button
& ignoring the alarm. Tut. Tut. Tut.
When we examine the
passage in Romans 4, this is not what Paul was teaching at all.
There is no such thing being taught here. Please bear with me while we thrash
this out.
The cry goes up, “We
having the same spirit of faith,
according as it is written, I believed,
and therefore have I spoken; we
also believe, and therefore speak;” (2nd Corinthians
4:13); “A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with
the increase of his lips shall he
be filled. Death and
life are in the power of the
tongue: and they that love it shall eat
the fruit thereof.” (Proverbs 18:20-21). You see, they
say, Scripture clearly teaches this principle of confession. Beginning with our
confession of Christ as our Saviour at salvation & continuing on in our
walk of faith. “For with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation.” (Romans 10:10). We are to confess with our
mouths whatever we have come to believe in our hearts. Is this what the Apostle
Paul was teaching? Let’s look at the text.
Dissenters will say that the
Apostle Paul didn’t know what he was talking about. The glaringly obvious
differences between Romans 4 & the original narrative in the
book of Genesis cannot be ignored. However in defence of our dear
brother, I have to point
out that Paul was a distinguished
Jewish theologian, making a particular
doctrinal point, while discussing a Hebrew construct, to an audience that included gentiles. Your average, common or
garden word of faith teacher will not get into this, because explaining what
Paul does here theologically will unravel the twisted falsehoods they peddle.
Paul is building his contention concerning God’s justification of Abram by
faith, apart from the works of the law or circumcision & despite his human
failings. We too are justified by faith, apart from the works of the law or
circumcision & despite our human failings.
We also have to remember the admonition that The Lord gave to
Abram; “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” (Genesis
17:1). The Lord Jesus also said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in
heaven is perfect.” (Matthew
5:48). Well, thanks be to God for the doctrine of sanctification.
God promised Abram many
things. “And he believed in
the Lord; and he counted it to him
for righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6). The Lord God was
his shield. The Lord God was
his reward. The Lord God promised him descendants as the
number of the stars in the heavens & as the sand of the seashore. The Lord
God promised that Abram
would be the father of many nations & that kings would come out of him. The Lord
God promised him & his
descendants the land of Canaan. The Lord God also promised him a son from his own body, through his wife.
The Lord God would make His covenant
with the lad & his seed after him.
“[In
Proverbs] chapter 18 verse 21, it says death and life are in the power
of the tongue and those who love it will eat his fruit. Now this particular
verse of scripture is an astounding revelation; listen to this; death and life,
what else is there that covers the gamut doesn't it? Death and life, but listen
to this, listen to this; death and life are not in the power of God. Look at
the verse. It doesn't say death and life are in the power of God. It doesn't
say death and life are in the power of Jesus. It doesn't say death and life is
in the power of The Holy Spirit. It doesn't say death and life is in the power
of satan. It says death and life is in the power of the tongue. That's
incredible and those who love it will eat its fruit. In other words you're
going to eat the fruit of what you speak. death and life. I love that, because it tells me that I am the
architect of my own destiny. Now that does not say that God is not in the mix, don't misunderstand me but
he made us with free will so we can obey or disobey. We have that choice and He'll
allow us to do it. We see it all the time. So He's put principles into His Word
that we can take and operate in and through these principles bring about what God intended in the first
place for his creation of us; abundant
living in every area of life. So he says death and life are in the power
of the tongue so that means you
can speak death to your life or you
can speak life to your life.”
Frederick
K. C. Price, The Power of Positive confession, at Faith Christian Center in
Arlington, Texas in 2009 (emphasis added).
The
thrust behind positive confession is the misplaced belief that because God is a
faith God, He confessed
creation into existence. The words and
God said are lifted from Genesis 1 in order to try
& prove this point. Therefore, if we are to be imitators of Him as dear
children (Ephesians 5:1) we are to do the same. I am yet to find
a single word of faith advocate who has been able to move a single grain of
sand with their faith, much less create a universe or move a mountain. Even the
leaders of this movement seem to have difficulty fighting off the dentist,
optician, doctor, mortician or funeral director. Fred Price himself died in
2021 after succumbing to Covid 19 related complications. Of course, his passing
was billed as him deciding to go & be with The Lord after catching a
glimpse of glory.
“Faith's
confession is always a joyful confession.
It confesses that we have the money
before it has arrived. It confesses perfect healing while the pain is still in
the body. It confesses victory while defeat still holds it captive. Your
confession is based upon the living Word. "I know whom I have believed and
I am persuaded that He is not only able to make good, but He is making good now
in my case." When we confess the Word with joy, it brings conviction to the
listeners. In Romans 10:10 it says, "For with the heart man believeth
." I like to translate it like this, "For with the heart, man acts on
the Word." The heart acts and that
drives the lips to confession. A doubting heart is a sense-ruled heart. A
fearless confession comes from a Word-ruled heart. The Word dominates their
heart life and they speak as did Paul, "I know in whom I have
believed."…Paul had a faith-filled,
joyous confession. Only a heart that is nourished on the Word can stand
in these hard places. When we know that the Word is God speaking to us now, it is
not difficult to act upon it.”.
E.
W. Kenyon, The Hidden Man; an Unveiling of The Subconscious Mind © 1981
(emphasis added).
Oh dear. If what these men say is true, it would mean that Paul failed miserably in living up to his own teachings. He made several bad confessions, saying, “And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.” (1st Corinthians 2:3) & “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” (1st Corinthians 15:10) & “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;” (Ephesians 3:8) & “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” (1st Timothy 1:15) & “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24). Yet Paul claimed to have kept the faith. “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:” (2nd Timothy 4:7). He fought. He finished. He was faithful.
This
is the same Apostle who admonished the Romans not to think of themselves more highly that they ought to. “For I say, through
the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as
God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3).
Perhaps Paul knew something that the modern Church has
conveniently forgotten or deliberately ignored. Let’s return to our example of true
faith; our father, Abram.
1And it came to pass after these
things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said,
Behold, here I am. 2 And
he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest,
and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering
upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 3 And
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his
young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt
offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4 Then
on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5 And
Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad
will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. 6 And
Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac
his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of
them together. 7 And Isaac spake unto
Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said,
Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but
where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8 And
Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so
they went both of them together. 9 And they
came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there,
and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar
upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched
forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 And
the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said,
Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And
he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him:
for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. (Genesis
22:1-12).
Do
we see Abram utilising confession for possession here? Surely the father of the
faith would have left us evidence of this principle in action, wouldn’t he?
Between Abram believing God & his act of faithfulness in being willing to
sacrifice Isaac, there were one or two significant occurrences. In Genesis
15, Abram believed God & was justified by faith. In Genesis
16, he goes into Hagar & produces Ishmael. In Genesis 17,
The Lord changes his name & he receives the sign of circumcision. Abram
becomes Abraham. In Genesis 18, The Lord appears to Abraham &
informs him of His intentions concerning the destruction of Sodom &
Gomorrah. In Genesis 19, he rescues his nephew Lot from sin city.
In Genesis 20 Abraham encounters Abimalech & lies to the king
about Sarah being his wife, in order to save his skin. In Genesis 21,
Sarah conceives & gives birth to Isaac. Our father Abraham had been a busy
boy. Yet throughout his ventures, Abraham wasn’t confessing, naming, claiming
or saying. God said it. God promised it. God did it. Ultimately, by the time we
get to Genesis 22, we see that Abraham has moved to a place in
faith, of unquestioning obedience
to his God.
1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God, 2 (which
he had promised afore by his prophets
in the holy scriptures,) 3 concerning his
Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh; 4 and declared to be the
Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: 5 by
whom we have received grace and apostleship, for
obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: (Romans
1:1-5).
25 Now to him that is of power to
stablish you according to my gospel,
and the preaching of Jesus Christ,
according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the
world began, 26 but
now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets,
according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: (Romans
16:25-26).
Do
not be tempted to think that you can simply confess, name, claim, say, see,
declare or decree your way into or out of anything in this life. It is a lie
that appeals to the desperate
& the delusional. I
have seen both. Abraham’s faith grew out of the relationship he had with The Lord. This went beyond what
had been said to him. It also embraced the faithfulness of He Who had said it. Abraham
had faith in God & that faith produced the obedience that underpinned &
drove his actions. If you want to walk in faith as Abraham did, let’s see your
submission & devotion.
7 Art not thou our God, who didst drive
out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the
seed of Abraham thy friend for
ever?
(2nd Chronicles 20:7).
8 But thou, Israel, art my servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham
my friend
(Isaiah 41:8).
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which
saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and
he was called the Friend of God. (James 2:23).
There
was no law, therefore there was no legalism. There was no
circumcision, therefore there was no obligation. Faith is our loving
response to a loving God, not a system or formula. I have of course heard the
objection that it is our confession that Jesus takes before The Father & we
are encouraged to do the same because of our covenant rights. “Wherefore,
holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;” (Hebrews
3:1). However, these verses speak of our personal profession of Christ as
our Saviour, not the misguided belief that The Lord Jesus takes whatever we
have been naming, claiming, saying, seeing, declaring & decreeing, before
God as our covenant representative, while we exercise the God kind of faith.
What utter nonsense. This is not the example of faith set out for us in The
Scriptures.
Romans 4 does not end with verse twenty two.
The Apostle Paul continues, saying, “Now
it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but
for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if
we believe on him that raised up
Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 who
was delivered for our offences,
and was raised again for our justification.” (Romans 4:23-25). The
justification by faith of all who believe is what is being taught. Calling
those things which be not as though they were, is a simple &
straightforward description
of what God did & can do, because
He is The Lord. It is not the principle of positive confession that
the word of faith message teaches. It was God Who said these things, not Abram.
It was God Who made these promises, not the patriarch. It was God Who declared,
decreed & ordained these things, not man. If we are to imitate God, as some
say, then let’s see them raise the dead, because our text tells us that it is
God Who “..who quickeneth the dead,
and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” (Romans
4:17b).
17 By
faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered
up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of
whom it was said, That in Isaac
shall thy seed be called: 19 accounting that
God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from
whence also he received him in a figure (Hebrews
11:17-19).
With these truths in
view, we can see just how ludicrous
word of faith assertions are. As I have said; The Lord God was speaking. The Lord God was promising. The Lord God was demonstrating His foreknowledge & Divine
Omniscience. It is His perspective, because He is all seeing & all
knowing. Furthermore, our text from Romans 4 clearly states that
it is “..God, who quickeneth
the dead, and calleth those things which
be not as though they were (Romans 4:17b).
If we are meant to
imitate God by doing & saying the same thing as Him, then that would mean
that we can also call non-existent things into being. But this is not what Paul
is teaching us here. It is The Lord,
not the devil, that is in the detail.
8 And
the scripture, foreseeing that God
would justify the heathen through
faith, preached before the gospel unto
Abraham, saying, In thee shall all
nations be blessed. 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with
faithful Abraham. (Galatians 3:8-9).
In our next & final
visitation of the topic of faith, we will address what is perhaps the most
abused passage of Scripture that word of faith leaders handle. It is a flagrant
abuse of the teaching of The Lord Jesus Christ, devoid of any knowledge of
what, in my opinion, is probably the pinnacle of our Saviour's demonstration of
& teaching on faith. Of course, I’m speaking of Mark 11:22-24.
End of Part Six
copyright © by
david Samuel Parkins mmxxv all rights reserved.
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