THE WORD-FAITH MOVEMENT
WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING
By: Victor T. Stephens
"For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears." (Acts 20:29-31)
THE DIVINITY OF MAN
Word-Faith theology holds the view that men are little gods. Three passages of scripture frequently cited to support this belief include the following:
Then God said, "Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness..." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Gen. 1:26-27)
Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, you are gods?" ' (John 10:34)
".... by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." (2 Peter 1:4)
Kenneth Hagin in Word of Faith Magazine states:
"You are as much the incarnation of God as Jesus Christ was. Every man who has been born again is an incarnation and Christianity is a miracle. The believer is as much an incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth." (December 1980, p. 14)
The notion that men are gods is the same lie that led to Lucifer's downfall (Isaiah 14:14), and his lying tactics are the same today. As recorded in Genesis 3:5, this is the lie that Satan used to initiate the fall of Adam and Eve. Since then, in every age of human history, Satan has used his ministers to promote the myth of the divinity of man.
The International New Thought Alliance, an organization that also adopted the teachings of Phineas Quimby, states in their constitution and bylaws:
"To teach the Infinitude of the Supreme One; the Divinity of man and his infinite possibilities through the creative power of constructive thinking and obedience to the voice of the indwelling Presence, which is our source of Inspiration, Power, Health, and Prosperity." (Source: "A History of the New Thought Movement," By: Horatio W. Dresser, 1919)
Let's recollect the notorious Jim Jones who led nearly one thousand men, women, and children to their brutal deaths. This infamous but misguided cult leader stated to his followers:
"It is written that ye are gods. I'm a god and you're a god. And I'm a god, and I'm gonna stay a god until you recognize that you're a god. And when you recognize that you're a god, I shall go back into principle and will not appear as a personality. But until I see all of you knowing who you are, I'm gonna be very much what I am --- God, almighty God."
(Jim Jones, quoted in James Reston, Jr., and Noah Adams, "Father Cares: The Last of Jonestown," program on National Public Radio [April 23, 1981])
A shareholder of Jim Jones' blasphemous viewpoint, Creflo Dollar affirms:
"And if God produces man and everything produces after its own kind... if horses get together, they produce what? If dogs get together, they produce what? If cats get together, they produce what? But if the Godhead gets together and says, 'Let us make man' then what are they producing? They are producing gods.... You are gods because you came from God and you are gods, you are not just human... " (Creflo Dollar, "Made After His Kind," September 15, 2002)
Dollar's local sidekick, Eddie Long, professes:
"I know who I am! And, and, see when you know who you are, wherever you go, as a god, as a King --- you have an entourage." (Eddie Long, "You Are Mighty" Audio-Tape)
Let's now consider the scriptures in proper context and expose the errors in the Word-Faith teachers' doctrine of the divinity of man.
Next: Refuting the False Doctrine of the Divinity of Man
