Word-Faith Churches

Oscar Wao

Victory is Mine
Dec 15, 2008
2,144
303
98
Munster, IN
How many of you are/were a part of these sorts of churches?

I was a member of one for the first 15 years of my life, so I'd like to see the perspective of either former or current WOFers...just for some interesting discussion.
 
I've attended a church that used the terms "name it claim it" but they were simply Pentecostal and were less "Word of Faith" and more "fire baptized/spirit filled" and all that good stuff. I attended an Apostolic Holiness church until about age 17.

Most word of faith churches are pentecostal/charismatic, but not all pentecostal churches are word of faith.

I'm neither now though. So...
 
Yours was probably moderate.

Mine would probably be about a 5 on a scale of 1-10 on "craziness" in WOFness, but they still could be quite the NIACI'ers.

They would have select Sundays to give "special offerings" based on OT verses, even though it is/was an archaic practice practiced in OT cultures. The pastor also said it would be good for blessings for the year.

I thought that was disgusting. The more WOF it got, the less spiritual I got. I had a crisis of faith in '04, and I stopped going to church as often. I recovered at the end of 2004, but in 2005, I hardly went and Easter was the last time I went.

2 years later, I joined a Reformed Church and this is better than what I previously experienced.

However, I do miss the upbeat worship. :(
 
Health and Wealth, Name it and Claim It, TBN, those sorts of things...

Bunch of bullshit as far as I'm concerned.........

Fake it till you make it? Nope.....you've gotta do the real stuff and claim it.

Always wondered why someone would like a church that makes them go against themselves though.........
 
Never heard of it


Tell me--is this where christians jump up and down on stage yelling "gvie until it hurts" or pastors with funny names like Rev Mo Money or something or other?

I visited churches like that! They are fun--even more fun if you try to escape from the building while they are having service!!

"Escape from Euphoria"! Can you get out before the minister see you! I betcha can't!!:tongue:


PS:Wait is this it?
http://www.intotruth.org/wof/tract3.html

Boy--Christianity is starting to spiral into a myriad of differing thoughts.

Soon, there will be no true faith, but a smorgasboard of faith in which you can pick and choose from.

P.S. I was ok with it being a religion until I got to number 9 in the list. Deny sickness? This is nothing more than that old scourge called Faith healing.

It is documented in the bible that God may not come to your rescue even if you believe so greatly that you die for it. Remember--the martyrs died, no Holy rescue of the physical!! So put faith healing last if you must rely on treatment for your illness.
 
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That's the issue.

I pray for healing for anyone who is sick, but that doesn't license us to deny reality either...

Same with financial issues and what-not.
 
I grew up Apostolic Pentecostal. The church I attend was a mainstream pentecostal church most word of faith churches are considered "charismatic" rather than "Pentecostal". I was more off on the "holiness" branch of Pentecostalism that emphasized personal holiness and sanctification and the following of certain traditions (women don't wear pants, no long hair for men, no drinking, no cussing, no fornication, no divorce and remarriage, etc). My church also stressed baptism in Jesus Name and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues.

We had some word of faith teachings, of course though like most every pentecostal church does. Faith healing was a big one and there were hints of prosperity doctrine but it didn't go any further than "God will take care of those who are faithful to his will".

I'm currently out of pentecostalism all together. I still believe in Jesus name baptism though and attend a Church of God Seventh Day church.
 
That "Holiness," thing, did that apply to stuff like rock music, movie theater attendance, etc.?

My church was predominantly African American so rock music wasn't the primary issue. But secular music as a whole wasn't listened to and most of my church didn't go out to the movies and some didn't play sports. My house was a lot less strict, though. So I went to the movies, played sports, and grew up pretty normally. My mother was religious but only brought us to church because that's how she was raised, and she's pretty stubborn about religious matters. She was brought up in that church and so she brought us up in it. She had it far worse then I ever did though, my grandmother was and still is hardcore. My mother was one of fourteen and in that house the kids woke up at 5 in the morning, prayed with my grandmother for about half an hour, had a bible study lesson for an hour from my mother's father who is a pastor and then did chores and went to school.
 
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Heh whoa.

For me, it's about like yours a little bit about being hardcore, but I'm pretty "normal" in terms of not being a religious crazy. Thank God.
 
You know........anyone who states that their religion is the only "true" way to God makes me suspicious.

Yeshua came here to teach that. He stated the 2 greatest Commandments was to love God above all else, and love one another like you love God.

Religion wasn't really mentioned..............
 
He also said that one thing about His being the only way to find God, though.

Well, it was kinda taken out of context.........see, Yeshua is a rabbi, and therefore taught as a rabbi would teach, i.e. in parables and with a thorough understanding of Judaic theology.

Interestingly enough, when He mentioned "the Father and I are One", he was illustrating a point about God taking and carving a small piece of Himself from under His Throne and placing it in the embryo created by your parents. It's your soul, actually. He was referring to the idea of each of us being a small piece of God, which is why Yeshua stated that we should love God above all else, and love each other like we love God, because we're all a small piece of Him.

Buddha taught the same thing incidentally, because he referred to the idea of all of us can become enlightened beings in the form of Buddhas. He was referring to our innate God nature.

When Yeshua stated "the Kingdom of God is within", He was referring to the same idea, just from a different angle.

When Yeshua stated that He was the Way to God, well........remember one thing y'all, Yeshua didn't come for the people of Israel, He came for everyone else who didn't know God, nor understand Judaic theology. Yeshua made it available for everyone.

Trouble is, Christians want to say their way is the only right way. No.......it's not, and any religion that claims their belief system is the only right one is very myopic and narrow minded.

God is Everything or He is Nothing.
 

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