Word-of-Faith teaching offers great rewards in the here-and-now, by making faith into something completely different from Biblical faith.
Hagin, Price, Meyers, and other WOF teachers have
changed the definition of faith, so that it bears no resemblance to what Jesus taught. To them,
faith is a Force that anyone can employ, just as God did in creation, directing its use with
words. God's words, of course, should be used.
To Christ, however, faith is not a "force" that a well-trained Jedi can manipulate using words! Faith is childlike dependence born of humility:
And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:2-4, NASB).
What is it about children that "qualifies" them? Is it skill in the use of words to manipulate their parents into providing for them? No. Is it innocence? No way. Children, according to Scripture, are
not innocent. It is faith born of humility. It is dependence. It is childlike trust. It is
reliance upon Another to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, because we are small and weak and helpless.
That is why the gospel is good news to sinners and foolishness to "those in no need of a physician (Luke 5:30-32)."
We're talking about
completely different definitions of faith here. Jesus' definition is the one which applies to salvation. The "Force of faith," to use Charles Capps' exact words (Capps is another of the big "faith teachers"), is nothing short of witchcraft which uses the name of Jesus like a talisman rather than the Name in which we humbly trust.
