My Rediscovery Of Sovereignty Out of the Word of Faith Movement

My next few posts will revolve around the Word of Faith movement, also called the faith healing, health and wealth, positive confession, and prosperity movement.  This is a movement within charismatic circles which teaches that Christians are guaranteed physical healing and financial prosperity by faith expressed in spoken commands and decrees. This teaching was popularized by figures such as Kenneth E. Hagin and Kenneth Copeland, and continues to spread like wildfire on Tel-Evangelist networks, such as TBN. 

Enamored by this new, eye opening teaching, my wife and I left our conservative evangelical church in 2002 to embrace it for over a decade.  We started playing the part – making bold positive confessions, claiming healing and financial freedom, and applying very bold promises that we found scattered throughout scripture.  We really thought we had dawned on a special revelation that much of Christendom was missing out on. 

Over time we started to observe inconsistencies; promises not coming to pass as confessed, sicknesses still ravaging through our bodies, and the notorious, gut wrenching implication that we didn’t have enough faith to receive such promises.  But the real turning point occurred when we were hiking and our nine-year-old son “claimed” that he was going to find an arrowhead that day “in the name of Jesus”.  We realized at that point, something was off.  That realization initiated a year-long journey of rigorous study and theological reset. Soon thereafter, we left the Word of Faith movement.  

Nevertheless, there are many positive characteristics of this movement that have stuck with me, such as the emphasis on scripture over experience and faith over feelings.  In this series, I will briefly share some re-discoveries which brought me back into a vibrant evangelical orthodoxy.  At the same time, I will offer middle ground solutions that foster a healthy conversation between camps.

Rediscovering Sovereignty

When I was knee deep in the Word Of Faith Movement, I did not often say the “S” word – “Sovereignty”.  In our circles, sovereignty meant that God chose to “limit” himself to operate according to a set of “laws” – laws of healing, prosperity, salvation, protection – which are tapped into by human free will expressed through faith-filled commands.  Kenneth Copeland, a leading advocate, states, 

“As a believer, you have the right to make commands. Each time you stand on the word you are commanding God.” [1]

These laws are similar to natural laws.  According to Copeland, “Faith is a force just like electricity or gravity” [2] . They have a rigid cause and effect relationship. Faith plus obedience yields prosperity and health, while doubt and disobedience result in poverty and sickness. God wants us to experience the “good” effects, but He has given us full control over the outcome.  Therefore, His good “plan” for our lives can be circumvented by us.  Joel Osteen reiterates,

“You can cancel out God’s plan by speaking negative words. God works by laws” [3]

The two key ingredients to Word of Faith theology are promises and profession. Adherents search the scriptures to find promises that they can claim.  Next, they boldly profess them to themselves, to God, to Satan, to other Christians, and beyond.  Professing these promises is often more important than praying for them.  Kenneth E. Hagin says:  

“Believe it in your heart; say it with your mouth. That is the principle of faith. You can have what you say.” [4]

This notion of believing with the heart and speaking with the mouth is rooted in Paul’s salvation formula in Romans 10:9-10.  However, I know of no evangelical believer who would claim that salvation is directly dependent on the act of speaking.  Even the next verse would argue against that, as it excludes speaking from the inversely stated promise, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame” (v11).  Therefore, an emphasis on the verbal confession of our faith should bring hesitancy, especially if it suggests that we aren’t saved without it.

The most popular verse invoked to support the “have what you say” theology is Mark 11:23:

Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. (Mar 11:23 ESV)

Similar to the Romans 10 example, this passage also requires us to look at the next verse – “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (v24, ESV). When teaching people how to study the Bible, I always say, “when you see the word ‘therefore’, see what it’s there for.”  Verse 24 is explaining verse 23, indicating that its mountain-moving analogy is about what we “ask in prayer”, not about what we command of God.  

The incident with our son, as well as these simple findings, triggered a realization that I had no scriptural warrant to command God to do anything.  In fact, my journey led me to rediscover His absolute sovereignty over all things.

So there we were, in Erie Pennsylvania, completely frustrated that God would lead us to move two hours away, join the pastoral staff of a radical Word of Faith church, and shortly thereafter quit the Word of Faith movement.  We had left everything; a high paying job, family and friends, and our church family. I was struggling with a sense of failure, rejection, and a stressful job search. Then I read the story of Joseph.  I had read it many times, but this time God really spoke through it. We all know the story – Joseph’s jealous brothers threw him in a pit and sold him into slavery in Egypt, which ironically led to him becoming a prominent prince in Egypt and providing relief to Israel (and his brothers) during a severe famine.  When he encountered his brothers many years later, he made this famous statement: 

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Gen 50:20 ESV)

When many of us think of God’s activity in our lives, we think of God taking a lemon someone else gave us, and then turning it into lemonade, as if He had nothing to do with the lemon in the first place.  The story of Joseph refutes that idea.  God also made the lemon.  In Joseph’s story, God orchestrated the whole course of events. God sent Him to Egypt (Gen 45:5).  He used the evil intentions of Joseph’s brothers to achieve something far greater in Joseph’s life.  Likewise, in my story, God used my misguided beliefs, my dissatisfaction with my secular job, my zeal for ministry, and even my own pride to take me to a place where the extreme beliefs of a church would bring a turning point in my life.  My story was Joseph’s story.  Each of our stories is Joseph’s story.  All things are working toward our ultimate good, our ultimate glorification, as believers (Rom 8:28).  All of our history is “His-story”, and there is no “Plan B”.

Several other passages jumped out at me during my rediscovery of sovereignty, particularly from the Proverbs; passages which I had never heard preached from a pulpit during my Word of Faith days.  

Proverb	Description	Category
16:33	We cast a lot (i.e. roll the dice) but the “whole matter is of God”	Actions
20:24	Our very steps are from the Lord	Actions
21:1	God turns the hearts of kings any way He wants	Hearts
16:4	God has made everything for Himself, “even the wicked for the day of evil”	People
19:21	People have plans, but God’s purposes always stand	Plans
21:30	No wisdom, insight, or plan can succeed against God	Plans
16:1	Regardless of our chosen words, our answer “comes from The Lord”	Words

These Proverbs suggest that God is in total control of all things, including people and their hearts, plans, actions and words.  Nothing constrains Him, including our free will, because His will is more free than ours and His power infinitely greater.  This notion is not limited to the Proverbs, but is prevalent throughout Scripture.  Below is a smattering of related Biblical truths:

Reading through this list should bring a sense of awe and humility.  God depends on no thing or no person.  He is not ultimately frustrated, upset, limited, or disappointed.  He will have no ultimate regrets, failures, or shortcomings.  What He wants, He gets. God does whatever He pleases (Ps 115:3).  He is sovereign!  The Westminster confession says it this way:

He is the alone foundation of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom, are all things; and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever Himself pleaseth. In His sight all things are open and manifest; His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature; so as nothing is to Him contingent or uncertain. [5]

Sovereignty and the Word of Faith

A proper understanding of sovereignty should radically change the way we think about faith. It should force us to humbly recognize that, while we are responsible for having the level of faith (or lack thereof) that we currently have, that level of faith is built entirely upon God’s unconditional sovereign decree.  God is sovereign over our faith.

I found a lesser known theologian who is actually a Calvinist Word of Faith advocate (yes, I said that correctly).  His name is Vincent Cheung.  Cheung is a Reformed, evangelical Christian theologian and author who has written numerous articles, books and commentaries.  While I don’t advocate his extremely bold, judgmental and polemic approach to writing, I have found that his melding of some aspects of Word of Faith theology with the absolute sovereignty of God in reformed theology is quite intriguing.

After exegeting Mark 11:23-24, Cheung boldly defends a literal interpretation:

Mark 11:23 demands a literal interpretation. The real reason for a symbolic interpretation is unbelief. There is a strong motivation to camouflage spiritual weakness and rebellion under an appearance of sensible and refined
scholarship. [6]

Mark 11:23 teaches that if we have faith, we can command even a mountain to move, and it will happen. God is the source of faith, and he can infuse us with this kind of faith. This faith is not a force in itself – the power is not in belief as such – but it relies on God to perform the work. Thus even though it might be expressed as a command, it is a form of prayer toward God, looking to him to make it happen. Accordingly, verse 24 says, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” [7]

I tend to agree with Cheung here, with an important qualification.  While Jesus mentions that there is a level of faith that can move mountains, He is in no way suggesting that every believer is promised to achieve that level of faith through regular spiritual discipline.  If God granted someone such a degree of faith, they surely could and would move a mountain.  Joshua was given such a rare faith to successfully command the sun to stand still, a feat which far exceeds mountain-moving (Josh 10:12).  Nevertheless, as I will now demonstrate, such rare occurrences are a manifestation of the gift of special faith, not everyday faith (1 Cor 12:9).  

Mountain Moving “Gift of Faith”

Right after listing and qualifying the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul opens 1 Corinthians 13 with a set of hyperbole statements to emphasize the importance of exercising such gifts in love :

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1Co 13:1-3 NKJV)

Here Paul explains that even if we employ our spiritual gifts to a hyperbolic (perhaps unattainable) degree, they are useless without love.  For example, in verse 2, Paul states, “Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge … and have not love, I am nothing.”  We know from the same chapter that prophecy and knowledge are only endowed “in part” during the church age (v9).  Therefore Paul is using hyperbole when he refers to understanding “all mysteries” and “all knowledge”.  He is making the point that even if such a degree of prophesying were possible, without love, it is useless.  Here are all the instances of the pattern:

Spiritual Gift	Realistic degree	Hyperbole degree
Tongues	Of men	Of angels
Prophecy	In part (13:9)	Understand All mysteries
Word of Knowledge	In part (13:9)	Understand All knowledge
Faith	–	Move mountains
Giving [8]	–	Bestow all my goods

With this pattern, we should understand “mountain-moving faith” as a hyperbolic, nearly unattainable, degree of faith unleashed as a special gift of the Spirit. In the New Testament, there are a few instances where such a gift of faith was granted to the apostles, resulting in instant miracles spurred by their verbal commands:

However, Paul later stresses that not everyone is granted the gift of faith, the gift of miracles, or the gift of apostleship (1 Cor 12:28-30).  God dispenses these as He wills (1 Cor 12:11), and He willed to unleash them upon the apostles to confirm the message of Christ at the beginning of the church age (Heb 2:4, Mark 16:17-20); and that they did. Their decreed miracles were instant and undeniable.

But what about the mountain moving parallel account in Matthew 17, where Jesus promises that even a mustard seed level of faith could move the mountain? Wouldn’t that bring the miracle-working capacity back to every Christian? Not at all!  A common mistake is to assume that Jesus is emphasizing a small amount of faith. However, in Matthew 13:31-32, the Mustard Seed Parable clarifies that the seed’s significance lies not in its smallness but in its capacity to grow into something great. Jesus’ point is that faith must be cultivated to reach its full power. In Matthew 17:21, He explains that the disciples failed to cast out the demon because such authority requires faith maintained through “prayer and fasting.” Their faith was not absent but underdeveloped. None of this changes the fact that the apostles, who had the gift of faith, had a much higher capacity of faith than those without the gift. 

We can summarize as the following:

• God is absolutely sovereign

• Mountain-moving faith is possible

• Mountain-moving faith is a spiritual gift

• Spiritual gifts are given as God wills

The problem I have with the Word of Faith movement is that it presumes that this miraculous faith is universally attainable by all Christians through normal spiritual disciplines.  That is just not true.  Yes, reading the Bible more will increase our faith.  Yes, prayer and fasting will increase our faith.  Yes, meditating on and speaking God’s promises will increase faith.  However, we have to stop conflating growth via spiritual disciplines with sovereignly-endowed miraculous gifts of the Spirit. This confusion has left millions of people distraught over their supposed lack of faith for a miracle.  Can we ask God for faith?  Of course (Mk 9:24).  Should we zealously seek the gift of faith?  Of course (1 Cor 14:1).  But when we assume that we have been given an astronomical degree or capacity of faith when we actually have not, we will fail in our attempts to exercise it, just as the apostles did when they neglected to receive demon-expelling faith through “prayer and fasting” (Mk 9:18-19, 29).  This happens daily in the Word of Faith movement, and I experienced it first hand.

Ten years after leaving the Word of Faith movement, my faith in God’s plan for my life is at an all time high. My prayers are much different than they were before; a lot less demanding material well being and a lot more asking for spiritual formation; a lot less formulaic and a lot more relational. Do I have faith to speak to a tumor and watch it dissipate at this very moment?  No I don’t. God hasn’t given me that specific faith, nor the clear revelation that He wants me to do that for someone.  So instead of commanding such a thing and failing, I will pray with the degree of faith He has given me for the things He has clearly promised me.

In my next article, I will talk about my rediscovery of Biblical context, and how it renewed my understanding of what promises the New Testament believer can claim.

God grant us faith!

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References:

[1] Kenneth Copeland Quoted in Alpha – the unofficial guide, p67.

[2]  Kenneth Copeland. Spoken on TBN TV programme with Paul Crouch. Berean Call, June 1993.

[3] Joel Osteen, “Speaking Faith Filled Words,” Tape # 223. Daystar Television, May 2, 2004

[4] Kenneth E. Hagin (1974). “Bible Faith Study Course”

[5] “Of God and of the Holy Trinity” THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH, Chapter 2 (1647), The Westminster Assembly of Divines: Westminster United Kingdom.

[6] https://www.vincentcheung.com/2005/02/05/faith-to-move-mountains/

[7] ibid

[8] Giving is listed as a gift of the Spirit in Romans 12:3-8