A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

A History of Christian Doctrine
having faith in your faith. . . . That’s what you’ve
got to learn to do to get things from God: Have
faith in your faith. . . . I’ve not prayed one prayer
in 45 years . . . without getting an answer. I always
got an answer—and the answer was always yes.”
• Kenneth Copeland: “The force of faith is released by
words. . . . The success formulas in the Word of God
produce results when used as directed. . . . You can
have what you say.”
• Larry Lea: “God exercised faith in His own word to
create. And He has given us the ability to create
change in our lives by the same means He used to
create the world: the spoken word.”
Abuses abound when the Positive Confession doctrine
is taken to extremes. In one case, a board member of a
Charismatic church in Texas was diagnosed with terminal
cancer. Initially, the church prayed fervently for him and
repeatedly confessed his healing. He did the same, but he
steadily declined in health. Eventually, the leaders concluded
that the problem was the sick man’s lack of faith,
for they knew they had faith. They condemned him for his
unbelief and pressured him out of the church.
Fortunately, after this point God healed him.
New Revelations
Some Charismatics believe in new revelations—
receiving new doctrines by direct revelation from God
apart from a study of Scripture. An advertisement in
Charisma magazine for a study Bible promised, “This is
the only complete publication of all the spiritual warfare
strategies that have been given Morris Cerullo, by God,
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