exposing the lies...

The church that I go to here in Shreveport, Broadmoor Baptist, recently hosted a 3-session series by a guy named Justin Peters. The sessions were collectively entitled "A Call for Discernment." I had no intention of attending any of them; as a rule, I generally try to avoid spending too much time in a church building. My family came in to town the weekend it started, though, so I missed church at its appointed Sunday morning time and decided to go to the evening service, which happened to be "Session 1: Dangerous Doctrines." I had no idea what this was going to be about. I also did not think that I would go to all three sessions, but I was hooked after the first night.

Justin Peters has both a Masters of Divinity and a Masters of Theology degree. He also suffers from a relatively mild case of cerebral palsy. His purpose for giving this seminar series was to expose the lies of the Word of Faith movement (the people who are on TBN--Benny Hinn, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Paul and Jane Crouch, etc.)...the "health and wealth"/prosperity gospel preachers. Here I shall digress a little...

I always thought of TBN as a cheesy Christian broadcasting network. I never really watched much of it, but flipping through the channels, I would see Jan Crouch with her purple wigs, plastic face, and fake eyelashes and just groan. And then vomit. Because if she was the type of Christian that gets televised, what must the secular world think of us? I would make fun of her and Benny, with his trademark hair and white suits. I mean, honestly, his part starts just above his ear. He can't think that looks good. It struck me as odd that they sit on these velvet and gold thrones. But I did not realize how sinister the Word of Faith movement really is...

Back on track...Basically, Justin Peters talked about the doctrine of the Word of Faith (WoF) movement, which has its origins in the metaphysical cultic movements (New Thought, New Age, Christian Science). Many of the doctrines that WoF embraces are in direct conflict with God's Word, and many of their beliefs tend to deify humans and make God more human. Such as the doctrine of "positive confession" ("name it, claim it"); this doctrine says that we can speak things into existence. Justin encouraged us not to just take what he was saying and believe it, but to be as the Boreans ("for they received the Word with great eagerness, searching the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so..."). And that was basically what Justin was doing anyway. He would put up video clips of the WoF teachers and let them dig their own grave, metaphorically speaking. Then Justin would expose their lies with the Truth.

The last session was entitled "The Hurt of Healing." I was particularly intrigued...as a doctor-to-be, I was interested in how this would be presented. I knew it was a topic near to Justin's heart, since he has cerebral palsy and was told by a faith healer that he was not healed because he did not have enough faith. So I thought maybe Justin might be a little biased, and in a way, he is. But that doesn't mean that he is wrong. WoF will say that it is ALWAYS God's will that you be healed. They also qualify this healing by saying that you have to have a sense of expectation (believe that God will heal you), money ("sow a seed of faith"), and the right heart and perseverance (keep believing and giving money).

The last thing that Justin showed us was memorable for me. Gloria Copeland was quoted several times as saying that it is not viable that your illness could glorify God. Justin put a few of her video clips in front of a video of a guy named Garwin Dobbins, who has a rare disease called myositis ossificans progressiva, singing "I Can Only Imagine" with Phillips, Craig, & Dean. I was sobbing by the end of the video clips. Because I saw.

This angers me, people. It makes me furious. It also scares the shit out of me. There are people posing as teachers in the church who are letting people believe that if they give enough money, they will eventually be healed. And these false prophets are living in $10 million homes and staying in hotel rooms that cost $10,000 a night...bought with money obtained from manipulating the hopes of God's people. I don't think that people who follow Benny Hinn or the others are necessarily bad people, but I do think that they have been deceived by them. I believe that healing does occur, and not just with medicines, but I also believe that what I am doing is not completely secular. I believe that God most definitely can be and is glorified through people's illnesses, Mrs. Copeland. It is viable that God be glorified in and through suffering. I have seen it. I saw it in Mr. Dobbins. I have seen it in a dear friend of mine, who at age 27 has breast cancer and is having a double mastectomy. I watched God be glorified in the suffering of many of my patients. He is a big God, and He is not limited just because someone says that He can't be glorified in a certain situation.

"But false prophets also arose among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies." 2 Peter 2:1