Pastors who open the Gates of Hell

Well, I wouldn't call TBN, which showcases a lot of these people, a Christian network. The Crouches have endorsed Oneness teachers as well as the WOF teachers. TBN even had Della Reese on and people were clapping for her all over the place (she is a minister in a New Thought church). Copeland in my area comes on every Sunday morning on a secular network (not cable), as does Osteen (another WOF teacher).

You are not being harsh as some of the people you are referring to are false teachers and teach heresy. I posted links on another thread about them -- I think it was the "What is a heretic" thread in the Other Religions forum.

I do not equate the charismatic movement, however, with the WOF movement. They are not the same thing, although you tend to find the WOF teachers in charismatic churches more. They Word Faith teachers are wolves in sheep's clothing and they are devouring the Lord's flock. We are warned from scripture that false teachers come from within the church, and we are seeing it.

Even Tilton and Popoff, who were both caught defrauding their viewers and followers, are back now.

 

I agree fully...
The WOF movement is like a sausage skin that is stuffed full of fish.....Looks like a sausage on the outside, but just wait till you take a bite!

 

That is an interesting and thought-provoking post Doc. Can those that are His sheep, who hear His voice and will NOT follow a stranger, go so far away from the truth that they will believe this stuff? I must side with Marcia here.
Does not the good tree-good fruit; bad tree-bad fruit discourse in Matthew 7 apply here?
Just asking.

 

Just like in the secular world, if you seek to find a "religious situation" that fits what YOU want, YOU can easily find it. Then you can do all the things you want or have been doing and still say you are Christian. I just read a study by a guy named Hathaway at one of SBC seminaries that his research group did for several years. Basically, they found that 75% of SBC church members could not meet the requirements of salvation.

 

Excellent discernment. Thanks for pointing that out. I'd add to that one sentiment. Just because we disagree with a preacher, or just because a preacher's televising his/her messages, that doesn't automatically make him/her a WoF preacher, or a wolf in sheep's clothing, etc. There are a few preachers who are good, but with whom I simply disagree with. That doesn't make them bad. It just makes them someone I disagree with. I occaisionally disagree with D James Kennedy and Adrian Rodgers, but I think they're awesome preachers.

 

Whoa, tiger. In regards to these folks, I'd tend to agree with you.

OTOH, I'm always careful to discern what is said on some web sites. I can find several sites that say D James Kennedy is WoF and a Mason, and another that calls Charles Stanley prosperity Gospel. That ain't so in the least.

 

I agree we have to be discerning about websites --some of them have info that is not backed up by facts or they have copied info from bad sources.

I doubt there is any cumulative info to show Kennedy is WoF (hey, just put an 'l' in WoF and you get WoLF) or Stanley is a prosperity preacher. I've actually never heard that.

There is plenty of evidence, however, to name the real WoF teachers. Some of them are Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, Frederick Price, Benny Hinn (he's really in his own category but uses some WoF teachings), Charles Capps, Rod Parsley, and Jesse Duplantis. Some have put T. D. Jakes also in this category. I do not get my info just from websites, but from reading on this for 12 yrs. and from other ministries who specialize in these areas.

One of the sad things is that of the top 4 megachurches in the U.S., 3 are false teachers. The top church is Joel Osteen (over 25,000 in weekend attendance). Number 2 is Creflo Dollar. The 4th is T. D. Jakes, who also denies the Trinity. He does not deny it outright but he refuses to affirm it, and when interviewed, he said that asking about the Trinity is playing number games. He has a Oneness background and associates with a Oneness group. (The no. 3 church is Rick Warren's church).

Although I am sure there are a lot of believers in these churches being misled and deceived (and when they are damaged and leave, they often never go to a church again), I do not think these teachers of heresy are believers. That's just my view, although I admit I cannot know for sure. It just seems that false teachers in the Bible are not regarded as being believers. But we are to judge are the teachings and that's we should focus on.

Osteen and Joyce Meyer are more subtle but they do fall in the WoF category. Here are some links:

Heretical Quotes

A page with links to several articles on the WoF teachings and articles on Joyce Meyer, Benny Hinn, and Kenneth CopelandThe Faith Movement

Kenneth Copeland

An Examination of the Word Faith Movement

Many of the WF doctrines come from the Dake Study Bible: Dake's Dubious Doctrine

I have 8 online articles on Joyce Meyer as well as other articles on this topic, but thought I'd just post these for now.

 

Calvin4me, you and me both. Thank God for the gift of discernment!!!

Marcia, the only think I disagree with on that is Wick Warren. He's not my thing, but he's far from WoF.

 

John V. said:

John, I would never say Rick Warren is WoF! I hope no one else misunderstood what I wrote. I said:

The 3 are Osteen, Creflo Dollar, and T. D. Jakes. That's why I put the info on Rick Warren in parenthesis -- he was the one out of the 4 who is not in this category. His church was no. 3, but I was trying to be clear that he was not in the category of the other 3 of the top 4. Sorry if that was confusing.

 

I recently spent 3 weeks in Germany.

The only English tv channels were CNN Europe, BBC, MTV Europe, and TBN Europe. Apparently some of the pornography may have been in English also.

So what shapes the world's opinion of the US? Frightening, huh?

 

in one of billy grahams books he is hailed as one of the worlds favorite preachers, that should send up a red flag.

 

Marcia:

Oops!!!! I misunderstood, my bad!!!

 

JohnV wrote:

S'okay, JohnV! I can see how the info might have been misunderstood or confusing.