Faith, Fear and Control, Oh My!: chapter 6

Over the course of the next three to four years my false belief system began to emerge in not so nice ways. I had continued to obsessively search through scriptures concerning healing; which was producing a  profound confusion. I felt as though I was banging my head against the proverbial wall. I thought that I was yielding to the Lord by the fact that I was "searching" through the scriptures.  In reality, I was maintaining one mindset while acting as though I was open to what the Lord wanted to show me.  I was the epitome of being double minded (James 1:7-8).   I still had not recognized that my belief system was awry and because of my stubbornness almost everything else that flowed out of me was askew as well. I had read that book back in 1987 and talked with Darren but I had never acted upon those truths that the Lord had revealed to me.  I felt I could adjust my thinking to make things right, though the adjustment was done to soothe my conscience and not to please the Lord.

In order to understand what I went through next I need to explain some things about the Word of Faith movement.   I will use the analogy of a body. The head of this doctrine is a faulty definition of faith.  The heartbeat is control.   It is referred to as the Faith movement or Word of Faith movement because of its focus on faith.  Their definition of faith may appear to be similar to mainstream Christianity but in reality it is very different.  One of the very first phrases taught in course work at Word of Faith churches is this:  "Faith is a force".  According to them faith is a force outside of God that God utilized to create the world. The believer then needs to tap into this force, just as God did, in order to control the quality of life.  

            

 Here is a good example of how an indoctrinated person approaches faith:  Instead of directly trusting God through a God-ordained trial, the person places trust in the same faith that God utilizes and then claims God-like authority to remove the trial from his or her life. It is believed, then, that control over this trial is squarely placed in the believers lap.  All negative circumstances are contrived by the enemy and need to be stopped and reversed by the believer; nor should the believer speak about such incidents, but rather speak as if they were not happening.  This is an attempt to mimic God in His creative work.  God spoke all things into existence.  The Word of Faith doctrines teach that since we are created in the image of God we, too, have this power at our disposal.  A good example for this is when my friend Michelle tried to "speak" the plant back to health.  The believer, according to them, should use the tongue in such a manner to control health, finances, weather, and God.    If the believer is unable to produce a desired outcome than there is probably some sin or spirit in his life that is hindering his ability to utilize faith properly.  A lack of faith would be likened to someone with a maimed hand having trouble wielding a hammer.   If this is the case, the individual needs deliverance from this spirit or sin in their life that is creating the disability.   

             

Now for the heartbeat of the movement:  the faulty teaching that the Christian has control over their life. Last time I checked, humans were fallible and untrustworthy creatures. I don't know about you, but I do not want to be in control of my life.  I have met some heavy duty control freaks in my life and every single one of them is nearly paralyzed by anxiety.  From my own experience, I can tell you that the full fruition of this belief system is fear.  Although, one would never hear a disciple of the faith movement confess they are fearful.  I have found that fear is at the very core of what motivates them.  They are afraid of the negative things that happen in life and the pain associated with them: sickness, loss, death, financial struggles and the list goes on.  Who does relish these things?  Ironically, they believe that whatever is feared will come to pass. In other words, fear has the opposite power of faith.  Faith in faith produces "good" things.  Fear produces negatives things.  The result is a fear of fear.  Thus, fear is really like the connection from the head to the extremities.  If we were to present this movement as a body, this is what it would look like:  A head defining faith as a force.  A heart that beats, "I am in control".   And fear being the nervous system telling the legs and arms what to do. 

Unfortunately, because fear was something I struggled with long before my introduction to the Word of Faith movement, it was a perfect fit for me. Not only did I want to be in control of my life,  I  believed that it was a God given right in my life.  It was simply the next logical step for me to believe that complete surrender to God's sovereign plan for my life was not a visible option.  I feared many things in life and just could not relent to the fact that maybe God would or could use suffering in my life.