The Power of the Spoken Word: Biblical or Occult Law? (Part V)
By: Frances Swaggart
“Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what Law? of works? No: but by the Law of Faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law” (Rom. 3:27-28). “I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him Who called you into the Grace of Christ unto another gospel” (Gal. 1:6).
FREE FROM THE LAW!
Jesus has made us free from the Law! The only governing principle of true Christianity is Grace, which functions by Faith. It is Faith in Christ and what He did at Calvary alone that brings Salvation, Sanctification, and all other Blessings and Gifts of the Lord. “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the Law, but under Grace” (Rom. 6:14). Thankfully, many Christians have been taught correctly in the sense of knowing that keeping a set of rules and regulations (including religious rituals/ceremonies) is not the means of being in right relationship with God. They know that such religiosity, in fact, makes void the Finished Work of Christ! So, the Devil had to come up with a different type of legalism. He would now spiritualize his tactics in order to ensnare Believers and keep them from living in the Freedom and Grace of Christ! Believers, you must remember that just as you are not bound by physical/moral Law-keeping (no matter how “good” the Law may be), you are not bound by so-called universal “Spiritual” Laws either. Jesus has made you free — free to place all your trust in what He did for you rather than your own moral/spiritual performance! The Christian life is lived out by Faith in a Work already Finished!
THE RESULT OF SAVING FAITH
Trying to earn God’s favor through any kind of Law-keeping is considered “empty works” in the eyes of the Lord, which cannot Redeem nor bring Victory. Of course, when a Believer truly lives in the Grace afforded by Calvary, proper works, behaviors, actions, etc. will be the natural result, but works in and of themselves merit nothing. “Good works” are not the beginning of Saving Faith; they are the result of Saving Faith! Believer, you have a choice to make. You can either trust in “words of faith” or The Word of Faith, with the latter being in Christ and Him Crucified! But, choose wisely, because life will be found only in the latter. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was Life; and the Life was the Light of men” (Jn. 1:1-4). In reality, what has happened in the “Word of Faith” movement is that the words of Scripture have been turned into an idol, placed on a level above the God of the Scripture. “In practice, only certain Scriptures are used by the hyper-faith teachers to support their contentions. Their basic difficulty with the Word of God is that they separate the Word of God from the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In short, they have replaced God with their chosen Scriptures, rationalizing that this will justify their actions. The words of Scripture are deified — apart from the living God — and exalted into various ‘laws’ which bring the forces of good and evil into action.”1 “Words of faith” legalism also makes it easy for people to become paranoid and obsessive! Some are taught that speaking information aloud allows the Devil to use that information to bring harm to them. They begin to fiercely guard every word uttered from their own mouths and often resort to policing the mouths of others. They are literally afraid of the words they speak. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (II Tim. 1:7).
Practitioners also soon come to realize that it is impossible to escape the plague of guilt that accompanies the inevitable failure to perfectly adhere to Spiritual Laws. They are left thinking that the pain and suffering in their lives and in the lives of their loved ones is their fault, solely due to things they failed to believe or speak correctly. For instance, according to the “law of attraction,” no mother should ever think, “I’m afraid my son will be killed in Iraq.” Although it’s an honest expression of emotion regarding a real threat, she may fear that just by worrying about it she has somehow summoned the universe to cause that exact thing to happen! After all, The Secret teaches: “Whatever is going on in your mind is what you are attracting . . . We are like magnets — like attract like. You become and attract what you think . . . Every thought has a frequency. Thoughts send out a magnetic energy . . . What you focus on with your thought and feeling is what you attract into your experience . . . Those who speak most of illness have illness, those who speak most of prosperity have it. . . .”2 What a horribly abusive idea to perpetuate, as if the so-called power of subconscious thoughts could bring harm to another! Again, these Spiritual Laws do not bring freedom; they bring fear. Legalism, even when practiced only in the mind, is bondage! “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5:1).
SUPERSTITION
In fact, the “Spiritual” Laws presented by the Devil (whether inside the church as the “Word of Faith” teachings or in the secular world as the mind science teachings) lead to nothing but superstition in the lives of those who try to live by them. One dictionary defines superstition as “an irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome.” Behavioral psychologist, B.F. Skinner, claims to have demonstrated how superstitious behavior can be created as a result of “coincidental” or “accidental” reinforcement. In an experiment using pigeons, Skinner released pellets of food into a box at fixed interval time periods. Although the release of food had nothing to do with the behavior of the pigeons, the pigeons tended to increase and repeat whatever specific behaviors they had done just prior to the last release of food (behaviors such as turning in circles, nodding the head up and down, or picking up one foot). The behavior of the pigeons was “accidently” reinforced, so they developed ritualistic behavior in their desire for more food. This happens often when people try to keep Mystic Laws. They misinterpret good events in their lives as having resulted from their keeping of these Laws, when the two do not actually have a causal relationship. And being a master psychologist himself, the Devil will make sure “accidental” reinforcement occurs. This is one way he crafts false signs that lead people astray. “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders”
(II Thess. 2:9). A Believer must never resort to seeking after signs; he must always seek the Truth of Jesus Christ.
THE SIN OF LYING?
Another definition of superstition: “A notion maintained despite evidence to the contrary.” This is glaringly obvious with the “power of the spoken word” and/or “Word of Faith” doctrines. We have people running around confessing things that are simply not true because, remember, no one is ever to confess anything negative. Whatever happened to the sin of lying? If the “Word of Faith” doctrine was truly of God, it would not be causing people to sin! The Devil, however, will always try to get people wrapped up in sin, purposely trying to drive a wedge between them and the Lord. Some will claim perfect health when they cannot even get out of bed, because their superstitious Law tells them that admitting their sickness will doom them to additional sickness.
Many will refuse to go to a doctor. “Christian Science makes sickness an illusion and one overcomes it with correct thinking, it is the same thing in the word of faith movement, they believe their body is lying to them. They disbelieve the symptoms, and stand on continual positive confession of the word to relieve themselves.”3 Another huge evidence to the contrary regarding the validity of these ancient occult “Spiritual” Laws is that, in the lives of most practitioners, it just hasn’t worked! Do you see the millions of people now learning the techniques of “The Secret” and the “Law of Attraction” all becoming millionaires? Do you see entire congregations in “Word of Faith” churches becoming millionaires? No, and you never will! The only people getting rich are the so-called “preachers,” motivational speakers, or New Age gurus who sell you the books, tapes, seminars, etc., which teach these lies in the first place. Just follow the money trail to see who is really being “blessed.”
Of course, as we have also previously discussed, “Word of Faith” teachers will try to use Scripture to justify these perversities, but the true meaning of the Scripture used is always something entirely different. Proverbs 23:7 is one example. It says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. . . .” This does not mean that a man’s thoughts determine his life. In the correct context, this Verse is referring to a deceitful man who may pretend to be your friend for social or religious purposes, but inthe end, he is not a genuine friend to any man, because his heart is selfish. Some other Verses “Word of Faith” preachers commonly misuse include: “Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking guile” (Ps. 34:13) and “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they who love it shall eat the fruit thereof” (Prov. 18:21). These Verses do not mean that we create our own realities through the words we speak, as faith teachers would like us to believe. They are referring to a properly disciplined tongue which will not become the cause of heartache in the lives of those around us. Do not be deceived when Bible Verses are taken out of context and twisted to fit occult doctrines. Look at the overall message of the passage. And, just to keep us all in check, neither is “the Message of the Cross” a magic talisman one may confess to invoke the Power of God. Just because we know the right message doesn’t mean we are immune from using it improperly (or superstitiously), just as the “Word of Faith” camp misuses Scripture.
Yes, everything we will ever need comes from “the Cross,” but this great Gospel message is meant to be our entire Faith for living, not a positive confession to obtain every little thing we desire. God is not fooled by our religious tricks and manipulations of Him. He knows what the “Message of the Cross” truly means in each and every one of our lives. He sees whether we want to use faith for temporal gain or if we have truly surrendered our will to His. Also, remember that just as occult spiritual laws create irrational superstition, they will also continue to lead one further and further away from all logic, eventually reaching the spirit realm of the demonic. The Bible warns us of being “bewitched,” which has the implication of being charmed or put under a spell — again, being void of logical thinking. The Believers in Galatia were led astray from the Truth due to a lack of sound and rational judgment. “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” (Gal. 3:1).
Remember that Ester Hicks, teacher of the universal “Law of Attraction,” said she began channeling a collective spirit she called “Abraham?” She said: “I just relax and quiet my mind.” You see, learning the “Spiritual Laws” is only the first step. You will later be enticed with meditative practices that are said to better your keeping of these Laws. But, this is exactly what brought Hicks into contact with her spirit guide. What she described was actually a deep meditative state, which is a state of self-hypnosis or trance where the subconscious mind is exposed. It is what some call going into “the silence,” “the stillness,” or “the center.” As a matter of fact, meditation is swiftly becoming the main vehicle for creating a worldwide acceptance of the universal spirituality of the Antichrist. Spirits contacted during meditation will impress upon the practitioner the beliefs of exoteric theosophy and the New Age, not the beliefs of orthodox Christianity. “Meditation is the most effective and most deceptive weapon in the serpent’s arsenal for the purpose of seeking new members for his counterfeit kingdom of God. Whether they know it or not, the growing number of those who meditate are meditating themselves right into his kingdom of Oneness.”4 We, as Believers, must be increasingly discerning in these last days! Even some forms of music have a meditative/hypnotic quality!
1 Swaggart, Jimmy. Hyper-Faith: A New Gnosticism? 1982
2 (http://www.letusreason.org/Popteac37.htm)
3 (http://www.letusreason.org/WF48.htm)
4 (http://www.crossroad.to/Excerpts/books/in-name-of-purpose/led-away/7-meditation.htm)
grace is not a excuse to sin. We still have to receive by faith, Gods promises. It is a done deal, but salvation cannont come unless you Confess Jesus! Words are powerful, don’t be deceived. Jesus says every idle word we speak we will give account for, sound serious to me! Don’t speak the devils trunk of junk, speak the Word! If meditation is a serpent, why does the Bible speak of mediation of the Word?