Do you see this comic? Look at it carefully and read the caption below. I think the artist entitled it something like, "Word of Faith Pastor's Conference." Just let that sink in for a moment. The acronym for Word of Faith is actually W.O.F. Please note that when you insert an "L" for the word - "lying" between the "O" and "F", then you can spell the word "wolf!" And that is what I was about to discover!
My heart was racing wildly, I could hear my pulse pounding in my ears and my breathing was mildly labored. I had been here before, but this time it was different. As I reached my icy fingers to the keyboard, I nervously and slowly typed in these forbidden words: "Kenneth Copeland heretic" and I closed my eyes to steady myself. Was I having a real heart attack this time? No. I was just about to go against years of Word of Faith indoctrination. So I breathed deeply and said a sincere prayer that the Lord would guide my search. I was hungry for truth, absolute truth, and I wouldn't allow myself to pull back anymore. Another deep breath, then I hit enter, and then I cautiously opened my eyes to read the screen. Once more I saw there were many hits to choose from!
My heart was racing wildly, I could hear my pulse pounding in my ears and my breathing was mildly labored. I had been here before, but this time it was different. As I reached my icy fingers to the keyboard, I nervously and slowly typed in these forbidden words: "Kenneth Copeland heretic" and I closed my eyes to steady myself. Was I having a real heart attack this time? No. I was just about to go against years of Word of Faith indoctrination. So I breathed deeply and said a sincere prayer that the Lord would guide my search. I was hungry for truth, absolute truth, and I wouldn't allow myself to pull back anymore. Another deep breath, then I hit enter, and then I cautiously opened my eyes to read the screen. Once more I saw there were many hits to choose from!
Yes, I had been here before, when my mom was sick with her heart ailment, but I pulled back. Determined I chose from the list, clicked on it and I stated to read. As I read account after account of similar stories to mine, the squirming stopped, and was replaced with hot tears of empathy. I wasn't the only one who had suffered loss while living as a Word of Faith minion. Then, I chose another site from the list, and this person took the time to systematically go over many of Kenneth Copeland's teachings and match them up with Scripture. The Scriptures that the website exegete used to refute Kenneth Copeland's teachings were in context and undeniable. More cleansing tears of heart felt repentance fell day after wonderful day. God showed me that it wasn't that I wrongly applied what I had learned, but rather that I was wrong to even have allowed myself to learn Word of Faith teachings, in the first place! In other words, they were doctrines of demons, or lies. My conclusion was wrong, when I thought I may have been wrong in my application of what I had learned, but the very teachings I cherished and adopted were wrong. The only thing I got right was that God is NEVER wrong - - thank God for that!
To be honest, I had to work through a lot of feelings of betrayal. These people are master deceivers like their master, Satan, and a lot of people, including my mom and me, have fallen victim to their deceptions. These pseudo saints look and acts so holy on the surface don't they? But, they are only pretending. Maybe they are just as deceived as I was, but maybe they know exactly what they are doing. As much as I hate to quote the cartoon character Homer Simpson, in a way, he's right when he said, "It takes two to lie. One to lie, and one to listen." I listened and believed their lies, so I'm just as much to blame for my spiritual state as they are for their false teachings. Now what was I to do? Utterly reject God? Absolutely not! For me, just like when you are really saved, of course ....you have to tell someone! So, I had to tell The Peeps, but how? Word of Faith minions are like the Pharisees of Jesus' day. While Jesus didn't back down when they snarled and gnashed their teeth at him, still, I don't think he enjoyed their little skirmishes either. The same holds true here. Word of Faith adherents would just as soon curse you with sickness, and some would even consider shooting you with a holy ghost machine gun, rather than listen to you question their belief system and expose it as fraudulent with Scripture. "Sigh" But I had to try.