Rockstar
09-25-05, 09:17 PM
Traces of New Age thought are seen within Evangelical and Charismatic circles due to the recent emphasis on self-esteem, or narcissism. We do not necessarily imply that all such emphases come directly from the New Age Movement. But insofar as the underlying premises and philosophies of "selfish" teachings have been drawn from the same sources used by present-day New Agers, such as the highly respected works of Carl Jung, these teachings have definitely affected the evangelical camp. Note the following statements made by Kenneth Copeland, a leading evangelical Charismatic, as quoted by Michael Horton:
Pray to yourself, because I'm in your self and you are in Myself. We are one Spirit, saith the Lord.
You need to realize that you are not a spiritual schizophrenic - half-God and half-Satan -you are all God.
Man had total authority to rule as a god over every living creature on earth, and he was to rule by speaking words.
You don't have a god in you. You are one!
I say this and repeat it so it don't upset you too bad.... When I read the Bible where he (Jesus) says, "I Am," I say, "I Am, too!"
Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon quote Gloria Copeland, Kenneth's wife, as she narrates about a house she wanted to buy:
I began to see that I already had authority over that house and authority over the money I needed to purchase it. I said, "In the name of Jesus, I take authority over the money I need. (I called out a specific amount.) I command you to come to me... in Jesus Name. Ministering spirits, you go and cause it to come."
(Speaking of angels... when you become the voice of God in the earth by putting His Words in your mouth, you put your angels to work! They are highly trained and capable helpers, they know how to get the job done).
Paul Yonggi Cho, pastor of the world's largest church, calls this "the Law of the Fourth Dimension." Others from the West refer to it as "Positive Thinking," "Possibility Thinking" or "Positive Confession." It basically states that all is governed by some "higher law" so that when one learns to apply that "law," he can obtain the expected results. According to adherents of this belief, anyone, including occultists, can apply this "law" and perform miracles.
Hunt and McMahon quote from a sequel to Cho's book The Fourth Dimension:
We've got to learn how... to visualize and dream the answer as being
completed as we go to the Lord in prayer. We should always try to visualize the end result as we pray.
In that way, with the power of the Holy Spirit we can incubate that which we want God to do for us....
God used this process of visualizing the situation to help Abraham .... By the visualization through the associated thought, Abraham ... could incubate his (future) children and dispel the doubts from his heart.... The main thing is that we know the importance of visualization.
The problems with this kind of thinking are: First, it is selfish. Praying in this fashion is not faith, but presumption. It assumes that God must submit to every whim that the Christian might want to request. Certainly, this is an incredible concept for these so-called Christians! The Bible teaches that we are to bring our requests to God with the heart attitude of seeking that God's "... will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6: 10). The Scriptures assure us that "we have the petitions that we desired of Him" if "we ask any thing according to His will," not ours (1 Jn. 5:14-15). This includes not only that for which we asked, but the timing of receiving the request as well. Biblical praying is God-centered, not man-centered.
Second, it fails to recognize the sovereignty of God, not only by placing the outcome of the prayer request as practically dependent on how the Christian will apply the so-called "Law of the Fourth Dimension," but also by making God submit to that "Law." God does not submit to any law, for He is the Law-Giver. This does not make God lawless in the same sense as man is because God is holy and pure and can never sin. He is never associated with sin and abhors sin in all its forms. He always acts in perfect harmony with all His other perfect attributes. Thus, everything He does is in accordance with the sovereign pleasure of His perfect, righteous, holy, loving and good will. That includes the way He answers our prayers.
And yet, such thinking and teaching has successfully infiltrated religious and evangelical groups, particularly among Catholic Charismatic and Pentecostal circles. An article from the August 16, 1993, issue of Christianity Today calls this teaching "the word-of-faith doctrine." It exposed Benny Hinn's erroneous teachings as "New Age" which include:
... positive confession, the prosperity gospel, and the divine right-to-be-healed concept. Under such teachings, followers are told God wants them to be "healthy and wealthy." The right amount of faith will secure anything, from a cure of cancer to a new, expensive automobile. To be in debt or to be sick shows lack of faith.
The article also reported the televangelist's admission of his error and his willingness to renounce his "faith message." However, others are still skeptical of his sincerity because Hinn has recanted of the "faith message" before. Other proponents of this teaching are Jimmy Swaggert, Larry Lea, Kenneth Hagin, Pat Robertson and John Wimber. Most televangelists in the Philippines bear this doctrine in their preaching, such as Mike Velarde of the "El Shaddai" and Eddie Villanueva of the "Jesus Is Lord Fellowship," to name a few. This teaching exalts man to a level of deity and degrades the Almighty God. It presupposes that man has the divine right to the things of God. This is a sharp contrast to the heart of the Apostle Paul who wrote: "But by the grace of God (unmerited favor) I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15: 10).
Pray to yourself, because I'm in your self and you are in Myself. We are one Spirit, saith the Lord.
You need to realize that you are not a spiritual schizophrenic - half-God and half-Satan -you are all God.
Man had total authority to rule as a god over every living creature on earth, and he was to rule by speaking words.
You don't have a god in you. You are one!
I say this and repeat it so it don't upset you too bad.... When I read the Bible where he (Jesus) says, "I Am," I say, "I Am, too!"
Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon quote Gloria Copeland, Kenneth's wife, as she narrates about a house she wanted to buy:
I began to see that I already had authority over that house and authority over the money I needed to purchase it. I said, "In the name of Jesus, I take authority over the money I need. (I called out a specific amount.) I command you to come to me... in Jesus Name. Ministering spirits, you go and cause it to come."
(Speaking of angels... when you become the voice of God in the earth by putting His Words in your mouth, you put your angels to work! They are highly trained and capable helpers, they know how to get the job done).
Paul Yonggi Cho, pastor of the world's largest church, calls this "the Law of the Fourth Dimension." Others from the West refer to it as "Positive Thinking," "Possibility Thinking" or "Positive Confession." It basically states that all is governed by some "higher law" so that when one learns to apply that "law," he can obtain the expected results. According to adherents of this belief, anyone, including occultists, can apply this "law" and perform miracles.
Hunt and McMahon quote from a sequel to Cho's book The Fourth Dimension:
We've got to learn how... to visualize and dream the answer as being
completed as we go to the Lord in prayer. We should always try to visualize the end result as we pray.
In that way, with the power of the Holy Spirit we can incubate that which we want God to do for us....
God used this process of visualizing the situation to help Abraham .... By the visualization through the associated thought, Abraham ... could incubate his (future) children and dispel the doubts from his heart.... The main thing is that we know the importance of visualization.
The problems with this kind of thinking are: First, it is selfish. Praying in this fashion is not faith, but presumption. It assumes that God must submit to every whim that the Christian might want to request. Certainly, this is an incredible concept for these so-called Christians! The Bible teaches that we are to bring our requests to God with the heart attitude of seeking that God's "... will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6: 10). The Scriptures assure us that "we have the petitions that we desired of Him" if "we ask any thing according to His will," not ours (1 Jn. 5:14-15). This includes not only that for which we asked, but the timing of receiving the request as well. Biblical praying is God-centered, not man-centered.
Second, it fails to recognize the sovereignty of God, not only by placing the outcome of the prayer request as practically dependent on how the Christian will apply the so-called "Law of the Fourth Dimension," but also by making God submit to that "Law." God does not submit to any law, for He is the Law-Giver. This does not make God lawless in the same sense as man is because God is holy and pure and can never sin. He is never associated with sin and abhors sin in all its forms. He always acts in perfect harmony with all His other perfect attributes. Thus, everything He does is in accordance with the sovereign pleasure of His perfect, righteous, holy, loving and good will. That includes the way He answers our prayers.
And yet, such thinking and teaching has successfully infiltrated religious and evangelical groups, particularly among Catholic Charismatic and Pentecostal circles. An article from the August 16, 1993, issue of Christianity Today calls this teaching "the word-of-faith doctrine." It exposed Benny Hinn's erroneous teachings as "New Age" which include:
... positive confession, the prosperity gospel, and the divine right-to-be-healed concept. Under such teachings, followers are told God wants them to be "healthy and wealthy." The right amount of faith will secure anything, from a cure of cancer to a new, expensive automobile. To be in debt or to be sick shows lack of faith.
The article also reported the televangelist's admission of his error and his willingness to renounce his "faith message." However, others are still skeptical of his sincerity because Hinn has recanted of the "faith message" before. Other proponents of this teaching are Jimmy Swaggert, Larry Lea, Kenneth Hagin, Pat Robertson and John Wimber. Most televangelists in the Philippines bear this doctrine in their preaching, such as Mike Velarde of the "El Shaddai" and Eddie Villanueva of the "Jesus Is Lord Fellowship," to name a few. This teaching exalts man to a level of deity and degrades the Almighty God. It presupposes that man has the divine right to the things of God. This is a sharp contrast to the heart of the Apostle Paul who wrote: "But by the grace of God (unmerited favor) I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15: 10).