"name it and claim it"

[Medic911]

I need information of this movement. If anyone can recommend a good website relating to this issue, I'd appreciate it.

My new pastor has made statements which cause me to suspect he may be a part of this thinking.

[Christine]

Here's some starters:

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com

http://www.bereanfaith.com/heresy.php?action=topics

http://www.bereanfaith.com/articles.php?action=article&id=12

[linda]

Medic,

I'm sure Christine will set ya straight quickly...:laugh but just in case.... be very careful of this type of preaching.

I use to attend the Life Christian Church in St. Louis, MO in the mid 80's...this was before they moved to Fenton, MO. (Home church to Joyce Meyers:tape )

I remember Pastor Shelton preaching each and every Sunday that if only you had enough faith, you could have anything in the world....new cars, new clothes, trips, etc. .:wacko People use to pray in little groups for these things. It was so sick. We were taught to 'claim it'! Claim your new home, new job, new whatever, and you would get it. If you didn't, then it had to be YOUR fault, you just didn't have enough faith.

People use to go up to alter, NOT to accept Jesus, but to have Pastor Shelton lay hands on them so they could be healed from their unfaithlessness (is that a word...lol) and be able to claim their riches on earth.

After nearly two years of attending this church did I finally quit going. They did not preach about Jesus, unless it meant their agenda for getting money from you. Every sermon (I mean every one) centered around giving money to the church, or if you were poor then you weren't giving enough money to the church.

These type of preachers are usually not accountable to anyone in their church for finances. They usually do not have a board or anyone overseeing the finances.

Praying for you and your church.

[Medic911]

Thanks Christine! I was thinking you had a couple of articles... cool

[Medic911]

Well, I'm not exactly sure what to think of these new teachings.

He isn't asking for money, nor is he making any claims that we can attain material wealth through faith... which seems to be a hallmark of WoF.

Yet he repeatedly makes statements such as, "Claim it in the name of Jesus," and uses certain promises which God made to Joshua out-of-context to indicate that God has promised us "any place we set our feet" if we claim it in His name. As I've posted before, he's convinced that our little 500 member church is going to grow mightily, and that "God has promised us a tithe of 15% of the city's population" (pop.325,000)

I'm only sticking with it because it's far too early to see what reaction the church is going to have to all of this, and there has already been some indication that the other pastors (music, youth, associate, etc) aren't in agreement with what's going on.
It's still a drama unfolding, and I feel that I've got enough discernment to ride it out.

It reminds me of the Emporer's New Clothes: everyone afraid to speak out against some of what I'm hearing for fear that they'll be the only one showing "lack of faith".

[Teresa]

Medic you must learn all you can about WoF so you won't be decieved. I was with this group for five years before I knew what kind of heresy they teach.

Here are some other great web sites that helped me.

www.letusreason.org

www.apologeticsindex.org

www.equip.org

[cameron222]

James chpt 4
3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Wonder how the WOF crowd deals with this verse? Most of their ranting is to try and get you to believe that you can rub the Biblical bottle and the geenie will pop out and give you all of your selfish desires.

I am always amused at Jessie (I have an airplane) Duplantis. If you listen for just a little while, he will bring up the fact that he has an airplane.

Guess he is too "important" to fly with the commoners. :yawn

[Patty T]

Balance - the key is balance.

[sandy111]

Medic,
I can't stress to you enough to find out all you can on this stuff.
It is very very bad. Please read the thread on "casulitys of the
WOF, theres some good stuff on it.
another site you may want to check out is

www.banner.org

Please read your bible daily, if what anyone says does not
line up with the word of God it is not from HIM!

[BereanSalmon]

Interested in "name it and claim it"? Just hang out in Tulsa for a few days (particularly around ORU).

[cameron222]

LOL Berean....yup!! Seems that Texas and Oklahoma have a proliferation of these folks.

Kenneth Copeland, Robert Tilton, John Avazini, Oral Roberts, Richard Roberts, Kenneth Hagin, Jr.,

and in Atlanta.....Creflo Dollar......:laugh At least he has the name to go with it!!

[sunnyboy]

Prosperity Gospel preachers! they know just how to tickle itching ears! And they can make a few bucks doing it too!:frog

[Medic911]

Oh, don't worry. I'm a hardcore skeptic.
The national headquarters for the denomination has been notified of some of the teachings, and asked for a faxed copy of some material so they can review it... and the associate pastor has already addressed some of the issues by sternly stating that it IS not, nor will it EVER BE the policy of the church... so I do think that the church is discerning enough not to allow things to get out of hand. They're just trying to decide what to do about it I think.
I'm not going to bail from a good body of believers just because of a temporary crisis.

Also, I want to emphasize that I'm not at all sure it's WoF-related... my alarms just went up when I heard certain catch-phrases common to them. So far he's made no mention at all of money.... just thus-far noble goals involving evangelism.

He actually had everyone 'practice' greeting new visitors last week, in anticipation of the bounty of new visitors he's sure will soon be coming. He had certain members play the part of visitors, and everyone had to practice greeting them. It was bizarre.
One of the silliest moments I've ever witnessed in a church.

They have some great music, and an even better serial plot.
:laugh

[chris_h]

Originally posted by Medic911
Also, I want to emphasize that I'm not at all sure it's WoF-related... my alarms just went up when I heard certain catch-phrases common to them. So far he's made no mention at all of money.... just thus-far noble goals involving evangelism. The same thing has happened to me. The general manager for the Christian radio station back home, during its "Share-a-thon" once said that God would multiply your donations and give it back. At the time, I didn't know about WoF and its heresies, and as I recall they were looking for money (it was crunch time for 'em), but now I know, and I wonder about 'ol Frankie.