There is the positive confession camp. Those whose shtick is to think they can control reality with their words. But they are not God, or gods, but they claim they are. They say you should frame your world with your word (Hebrews 11:3). With that, we underestimate the difference between man and God. They also mention scriptures like "ye are gods, and all of you are are children of the most high (Psalm 85:6-7)."
I thought, ‘You are gods;
all of you are sons of the Most High.’
Yet you will die like mortals;
you will fall like all the other rulers.” (Psalm 85:6-7)
You see the problem there? We have a slicing and dicing of scriptures to make it say what it is not saying. Taken as a whole, that passage is a rebuke. The people there claim something, but the reality is far from it.
And this verse gained traction because Jesus quoted it to back up His claim to specialness (John 10:34-36).
Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If those people to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ (and the scripture cannot be broken), do you say about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’ (John 10:34-36)
But these people want to blur the line between Jesus and themselves. They want to blur the line between the power that Jesus walked in and themselves.
They say we are to be like Jesus, but in what way is the real question?
We need to let passages control how we think about specific verses. Some might claim that the epistle says we should walk in superlative power as Christians. For example, a passage that says we are sons of God.
But remember, those letters were written to people who may not be able to reference other parts of the bible, like the gospels. So their understanding of specific concepts would have to be based on the explanation already in that letter and reality as they see it, not as we want to impose on it in the name of special revelation.
I say all that because people disregard the context of some verses and want to take them from the passage and slash them with other verses in other places. Out of that come various "word of faith" doctrines that are wrong, pretending to give man superhuman abilities.
That is a major distraction because you have to devote hours and hours of time to a false doctrine in the name of being godlike, instead of the time you need to devote to pursuing righteousness and godliness. The "word of faith" movement says that you should be godlike, but the calling is to be godly. And they pile demand after demand, including for confessions. They say the bible says hold fast to your confessions (Hebrews 10:23), but what confessions?
Our new life in Christ does not make us superman, it makes us "new man", and "new man" as defined in the scriptures.
You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth. (Ephesians 4:22-24)
But human beings are power drunk, and they want to assume for themselves the power of God. The power to declare something and it stands is the power of God (Psalm 33:9). This is the "mind over matter" scientology gimmick that has found its home in the church.
God asked Who is like me? He is the one who speaks of things that are not as though they are, not you.
(as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). He is our father in the presence of God, whom he believed—the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. (Romans 4:17)
And I am not talking about the gifts of the spirit, I am talking about thinking that says no one must be sick, and they may develop a system to declare no need for doctors, etc. They want to force reality to conform to their will. And since reality will not conform to their will, they choose to deny reality. That is not good.
So Paul said Epaphroditus, who is a minister of God, was sick and almost died. Paul wrote that, and God allowed it to be in the scriptures. If left to the "word of faith" camp, they would have sanitized these verses away from the bible because they are focused on avoiding reality, putting reality away from their mind because they sincerely believe that is what God wants. But it's such a burden to demand people turn their eyes from reality.
So rather than Paul saying "Epaphroditus was sick and they brought him to me and I said hmmn, you are sick because you are confessing the right things, etc." or "I told him he should confess this and that verse and he became healed," or they diagnose you with unforgiveness, rather Paul said God had mercy.
There is so much to learn from Paul's mindset, especially those of us who have been brainwashed by the "word of faith" falsehood, where nothing bad is supposed to happen to you, otherwise there is something wrong with you - you are a lesser Christian. Paul did not look down on Epaphroditus for being sick. Even Paul was sick.
But they try to confuse the truth by saying Paul was less than them because he was sick (2 Corinthians 12:7-9, Galatians 4:13-15, 2 Corinthians 11:23-30).
So these people demean Paul, and others; they demean Timothy, who needed to add wine to his water (1 Timothy 5:23). People expend ink to try to gloss over these realities that show the continued humanity of these people that we look up to.
So Paul had grief, and he said that if Epaproditus had died, it would have compounded his grief. But these "word of faith" people condemn you for feeling grief. Paul would not fit in the "word of faith" camp. But he would fit in the gospel camp, properly defined.
The focus verse alone violates much of their ethos.
But remember, you are not God, and you cannot create your world with your word. We are all dependent on God's mercy. That is the truth.
And some people say, "But there are many good things that happened in those 'word of faith camps' and people even give their lives to Christ, etc.
I say true, but the message thrust corrupts the soul and blinds the eyes from truth. So avoid it and everything that has to do with it. Thank you!
From Addiction to Freedom by Favour Oyinloye
