Source: IntoTruth.org
By Tricia Tillin
PART 2 : RE-BORN OR RAISED??
In part two, we are going to look at the Word of Faith doctrine called, ‘JDS’ or ‘Jesus Died Spiritually’.
Most of the Positive Confession ministers teach this and it has implications for us that go way beyond any of their other teachings. You may not have come across this doctrine yet, but I believe that it is important to grasp what is being said and to see what it means for believers, because it is a most subtle and serious heresy and we need to be prepared to refute it.
To understand how JDS doctrine has come about and why it would affect our entire Christian walk, we have to start at the beginning and see how faith ministers interpret the creation and fall of man. (Have your Bible handy for this message because you will want to look up some of the readings yourself, just to see what the Bible actually says.)
First of all then, we have to see the absolute priority of right thinking and right speaking in faith ministries. What Copeland calls “the principle of the inner image” is the first stage. This is forming an image (visualising) the desired result or condition beforehand. Then the image is created in reality by speaking forth words that accord to the inner image.
While Copeland does urge believers to make the Word of God (not new-age positive self-image) the basis for forming the right inner image, his methodology still follows the same trend as new-age philosophies.
He says, in the article “The Image of God in You” (Voice of Victory March 1987) that “the Word has supernatural power. If you fill that Word with faith and speak it out, it will work for you and change your life…words are powerful… They are containers that carry faith…words are so important that they can determine our eternal destiny…words can destroy or they can create. They take an inner image and project it onto the outside world…”
It is the word that has the power, Copeland says, rather than God. You need to grasp this aspect of the Word-of-Faith movement or you will miss the importance of the JDS doctrine.
Copeland states “God’s word (the Bible) is a living thing. It has the inherent power to cause itself to come to pass… God’s word has within itself the power to bring itself to pass…” (VOV March 1987)
This is apparently because God, in speaking his word, utilised just the same spiritual laws, or forces, of faith that WE are now obliged to use in our quest for health, wealth and success. “God energized his word — God’s words are packed with faith…” (ibid) thus God’s words are containers packed with spiritual energy just waiting to be released when you speak them out loud! The emphasis is shifted away from God, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and placed on written and spoken words to achieve the end-result.
In their trust of the word, rather than God, the Word of Faith movement is falling into the same heresy as metaphysical cults who believe in an impersonal force in the universe, a force that is activated by the spoken word.
The impersonal god-force of the cults is governed by spiritual laws, just as we humans are governed and limited by the law of gravity for example. The god of these cults is not All-powerful, but a Force that must obey certain rules. Indeed, MANY of the Word of Faith doctrines can be found sourced in esoteric philosophies such as “New Thought” which arose in the 19th century and Christian Science, which was a version of this teaching.
In the Oxford Encyclopaedia of Religion, the entry on ‘New Thought’ reads almost like a Word-of-faith tract! Under the heading PRINCIPLES, it lists “The reign of universal law”, in that the spiritual and mortal world are governed by immutable laws; also the teaching that “thoughts are forces” that have cause and effect. New Thought said that “mind is the dominant force in man” therefore transforming the mind by a proper understanding of the laws of the universe (and learning how to interact with those laws) was the most important principle in achieving progress and success, health and prosperity. It also taught that “man is a microcosm of God” (i.e., ye are gods).
In a new-age Internet document “Spiritual Healing of all Things, from the Inside Out”, Michael Connolly states:
“not only do we create our own reality but we create each other’s reality also — and therein lies the blessing and the curse. … our thoughts affect reality and indeed magnetize and give life to those thoughts, feelings, and experiences we hold in consciousness. …From a healing perspective, the restoration of health, balance, and life is a function of using the creative potential we all have to project an image of restoration into the out-of-balance condition. While simple in concept, it takes practice to discipline the mind to look past appearances and hold a vision of wholeness. This is where Faith comes in. As long as you doubt the effectiveness of your visualization in bringing the healing you desire, you will have thoughts that are at cross-purpose with your healing purpose and you will have mixed results…. Faith in healing is the certainty that the image you project is a reality over any other appearance that may be present. It is more than belief. Belief doesn’t mean knowing. Faith comes from knowing with certainty. The more certain you are of your healing, the faster the results will manifest in the reality around you…. I believe miracles will be possible for many of us… But we have to get into right mindedness in order to call forth those miracles.”
There are many concepts here that word-of-Faith followers will be familiar with, including the need for a right inner image, the creative power of words and thoughts, the need to discipline the mind to see a new reality based on the truth about ourselves in God, and the visualising of the right outcome as important to bringing it forth into reality.
Both the new-age document above, and much of the Copeland ministry is based upon the same spiritual principles – the inner image and the creative word. This requires the believer to follow spiritual discipline in transforming the mind, and in learning to co-operate with immutable spiritual laws in order to make God’s word effective in reality.
You see, when it is our thoughts and words that do the work, not the power of God, then it comes down to learning a formula for faith. All we have to do is learn the words and say them in the right way! Even using the name of Jesus becomes a formula to get power out of the word of God.
Biblical doctrine says that the word of God is powerful only because it is God’s word. It is God who has the power, not spoken words. But Copeland makes the words themselves the active agency.
Copeland: “It is the word of God, in Isaiah 55 and Mark 4, Hebrews 1, Jeremiah 1:12, God said, “I watch over my word to perform it.”. It is the word of God that is the bridge between God and man and it’s the word of God that’s the bridge between man and God. God, in His covenant with Jesus, swore to Him, covering every spectrum of man’s existence. Everything that could possibly occur in the earth was covered in the Old Testament.” (My emphasis)
People, today, seem obsessed with finding a bridge between God and man, that is, a way back to spiritual living. New Agers say, the rainbow is the bridge. Others say, it is the Virgin Mary, or the Church, or even Lucifer is the bridge to God.
Faith ministers say, the word, the Bible, is the bridge. That is how we get access to God.
But the Bible says, in 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 5, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”. Jesus is the bridge, not the Bible. You see, God is already being restricted or governed by the spoken or written word.
READ REST OF ARTICLE HERE
Chasing after the Truth 