This really helped me. I have been feeling that I don't have enough faith and that is why my life is the way it is. I am not getting the healing I have heard some pastors say I should have. What a load off of my back to know that I am okay with believing God says Yes, No, or Wait about my prayers. Thank you so much Melissa.
“Enough faith”? All it comes down to is whether you have any faith or not. And you do because you believe Christ died for you! Any faith in Jesus IS enough! And even if you don’t get what you want in this life (though I certainly pray you do), you have riches beyond measure in the age to come.
I sometimes feel that too, even though I know that's not how God deals with his people's prayers. God sometimes allows us to suffer and to wait for Him. No money and also no declaration can change that. Wait means wait.
Read about the disciples and how they struggled and met their end. They walked with Jesus and went around sharing their faith. If enough faith worked as a power, why would anyone die or ever get sick? Look at martyrs... I'm glad you watched this and have found it helpful. That way of teaching doesn't make sense and actually places us in a position to have control, thus making us Gods (not God's). Maybe watch the American Gospel documentaries and Voice of the Martyrs magazine. Blessings.
We couldn't have children...... it took me some time, to know that all is "for my best". Nevermind what...... and for the glory of God. And all ( every breath I am able ) comes from the grace and love of God. Not from my trying to believe, to love, to do and say this and that.
hey brother, I really encourage you to read 2 Cor 12:8-10,3 times Paul asked God to remove a "thorn in his flesh", and each time the answer was "no, I am enough". God was saying I am leaving it there so that you will depend on Me. I have my own "stuff" and now consider it pretty amazing that God is leaving them there, I doubt I would have the relationship I have with Jesus without them.
The big tipoff to these churches is that you must give the "seed" money to them. Not to the local food bank or homeless shelter, or some missionary in the third world.
@@michaelmerck7576 Because they are the receivers and we're the givers. You gotta know your place. Better to give than receive, remember? 😉 No wait...better to be a receiver than a giver..! That's it.
Personally I’ve given cash to lots of people who may never have used it as I expected they would, people on the street. It’s my business to do God’s business which is to not hold on tight to worldly money and give it to those who ask when I can. If they then use it in a bad way they will be held to account. I give it and I don’t worry after that at all.
After 2 of my sons were in a car accident, my oldest son sobbed into my shoulder and said mom I prayed I really prayed . i told him that God always answers prayer but sometimes the answer is no. This is not always an easy lesson to learn.
Sorry for your loss, but glory be to GOD almighty, May he continue to be your strength and hope and peace during this difficult time in Jesus name Amen
i’m with ya! i have a disabled daughter. A couple months back her bus driver (very kind but clearly needs some guidance) prayed over my daughter and told me she would be completely healed and attending regular school soon. I had trouble putting into words why that bothered me so bad. although I appreciate his enthusiasm and caring attitude towards my daughter, to me it was almost treating our God like a genie or something? i still have trouble articulating it.
@@spmoran4703 you are what you are so you can minister to dozens and dozens of others going through the same thing !! You can speak on how God has provided you with what's necessary. What a wonderful amazing gift from God that he flows through you and your experience to minister to so many others. Glory to God for your wonderful heart and willingness to minister to others.
Melissa thank you. I left my pentecostal word-of-faith-esque church this weekend past, I feel kinda vulnerable after doing it, I know some spiritual gaslighting and other attacks will come but I also feel a profound sense of peace with the Lord, prayers are better, worship more heartfelt, conviction more clear. I pray for guidance to an expository-centered church. Anyway, thank you for calling this rubbish out.
@Magical Nails Penecostal/WoF churches are hyper-charismatic churches that generally twist & warp scripture to gain worldly material/powers. There is also often manipulation and spiritual abuse in this circle of denominations. Yes... that can exist everywhere, but more often than not in these churches.
The prosperity gospel is so insidious and damaging. We often see in our culture money is what people worship. Thank you for helping us be watchful from people who use God's name to scam the most vulnerable.
People would rather riches over God. Many are actually saying so! Money over what’s right, groups and elitism over justice in Gods eyes. And they seek a prosperity church to justify this preference.
Yeah you cannot really receive love if that’s what they are about. It’s not loving to make someone feel horribly by forcing a financial burden on someone else.
Since when did Jesus say I will only bless you, work miracles for you , die for you. If you are wealthy. Did he not say a camel will walk through the eye of a needle before a wealthy man will see Gods kingdom.
MANY years ago, I went to a church where they were teaching the prosperity gospel, and a woman came forward to get prayer for some physical healing. When the woman told the pastor her prayer request, he shamed her by saying she has been prayed for a number of times and it’s time she started developing her own “faith muscles”. He prayed for her and she said “praise the Lord, I have been healed”. She started crying. She was NOT healed but was too embarrassed to say that her “faith muscles” were too weak to heal her. “Faith muscles”? I have NEVER found that in Scripture. I felt so really sorry 😢 for that poor woman! I never went back and I don’t know what happened to that cult.
My church was deep in word of faith since it started in 2004, but over the last two years my pastor has been carefully untangling the web false teaching that he had been brought up in and was teaching. It's been hard on the church and many people feel very stagnant right now, but thankfully my pastor is pressing forward and the people are receptive and eager to learn! The Truth is powerful! This verse regarding the SMA and the furnace is one of the first he called out and dismantled. I'm so thankfuk God has been working on his heart. My wife has attended since 2007 and I since 2010 and am also ordained under this church and the youth Pastor...but if he hadn't made these changes, I don't think we would be staying since her and I both started having the same convictions against WOF theology over the last 2 years as well. Funny how God works that way. Some might criticize that he is untangling the web instead of ripping it down...but as someone in church leadership, you must understand that you still have a responsibility to protect the confidence and faith of those in your flock. Yes, Jesus went and cleansed the temple with a whip, but we aren't Jesus...and sometimes we need to understand when to untangle lies and when to rip them down.
I came out of prosperity/wof teaching about 3 years ago and this is exactly what they did. Then they would call people who actually corrcetly interpreted the bible religious cows and say they weren't spirit filled. So damaging and hurtful. I'm so glad God opened my eyes to this teaching.
But they were inspired by the Holy Ghost as you were, so someone must be lying. Where does your Authority come from to claim someone else is not inspired by the Holy Ghost.
So I'm a weird one whose favorite books are Ecclesiastes and Job while one of my favorite passages is from Habbakuk 3:17 (to paraphrase, even if things personally suck for me, I will rejoice in the Lord). To me, one of the most important lessons in life is to understand how to fear God and grieve gracefully when we realize that our own pride may not align with truths that we personally may not like. This whole idea of "God will bless me if I have enough faith" robs people of understanding this, which is really tragic.
Job. Love it. I went through the hardest time of my life a few years back and a wise man told me to read Job. I had told him at the time I hated that book, which I did. He basically said I should read it like I am Job. It was so freeing to know that God loves me despite all the junk in my life, it wasn't my fault all the junk happened, and I can(and should) confidently bring it all to God as honestly as I can and he's not offended, surprised or hurt. HE wants it all. All my hurt, my pain, my sin, my anger, my honesty about everything. It is such an amazing book. It's so real. God gets it, gets us. That's how I read it now.
And my favorite is when Our beloved Lord Jesus said “Father, not my will, but thy will be done”. He asked for his cup of suffering to be passed, and nobody on earth had more faith than Jesus. He willingly submitted to the will of his father, even though it meant his excruciating scourging, beating, pulling out parts of his beard, verbal mockery, shaming, stripping him of his garments, a crown of thorns pushed down into his head, and the agonizing public death by crucifixion. He was innocent and perfect, yet it was the love of God towards us, that he demonstrated through his own body & blood. The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.✝️❤️📖🙏🏻
Jab 3:17 is one of my favorites also. Sometimes, many times we find ourselves in need of health, money, shelter, or a variety of temporal needs. These are times of testing of our faith, of growing in our trust in Gods providence. Another of my favorite verses is Col 1:24 where St Paul speaks of (paraphrasing) filling up in his body the sufferings which are lacking In Christ’s sufferings. One won’t hear that verse mentioned in these Prosperity gospel so called churches.
What my Youth Pastor (I am 60+ now) repeatedly said is, "The Power of Faith is that it brings you closer to God and improves your Trust in Him. That is your only reward...and it is all you will ever need."
I have experienced this also in two different churches. It’s amazing how my spirit felt so uncomfortable when approaches were being applied and how people accepted it. One church that is from another country but found in this country and many others, preaches the same message throughout the world set by the head bishop. Fund raising ideas are given and exact dollar amounts are demanded/expected by a certain date. The sad thing is the majority of these members including this country are poor while the head bishop is a billionaire. I asked members why their blessing (financial) has not happened yet. I’m told what they are preached. They haven’t established enough faith yet. Broke my heart to watch them struggle to put food on the table and blame themselves for their lack of faith while the head bishop has a personal commercial jet and mansions.
Isten áldja meg. Örülök, hogy az Úrnak mindenütt vannak tanítványai, akik kincsként őrzik a megkülönböztetés ajándékát. Üdvözlet Arizonából. Olyan jó gyakorolni az anyanyelvemet.
You nailed it Melissa , God's sovereign ways and his power. ,should always be enough, Faith is never about getting your way, it is a yielding of our ways to God Almighty 🙏
"Sowing and reaping" is a perfectly biblical concept. Read 2 Corinthians 9. Paul was taking a collection for the church at Jerusalem, and in verse 6 he said, "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." In other words, God does indeed bless those who give to His work. Unlike the prosperity preachers, though, I add a couple of caveats: (1) The blessings are not always material, and (2) we don't always reap the blessings in this life.
@@citizenken7069 agreed! It’s just when I hear that specifically in the context of giving so you get blessings back (rather than joyfully out of loving obedience, trusting the Lord to provide for our needs) I go into hyper vigilant mode.
Well...um...actually...the Spoken Gospel is supposed to be the Seed of God. When the preacher speaks, he spreads God's seed upon the Church, who is the Bride of Christ. And that's why we can't have female preachers. It messes up the analogy. 😄
I agree with you. I think it's teaching like that that makes people turn away from God when they experience a hardship that is not fixed. I have seen it happen. What got me through hardships was knowing that I had hope in however God decided to use the situation, not in thinking that he would send me a miracle.
@@tsm7964 If God is for this church, it will be financed. I was just thinking about why churches take up offerings at all. People know they're suppose to give, do they really need to be asked? And if we only give because man is watching, then what does that say about us? If we're truly sold out believers we know everything we have belongs to the Lord. Everything. Jesus has told us that if we want to be perfect, to sell all give to the poor, take up our cross and follow him. He will build his church.
My sister was an avid follower of the man with the perfect teeth from Texas. I thank God that her eyes were opened. God bless you Melissa for posting this.
Sounds just like the churches I used to attend, sadly. I'm so glad God opened my eyes and pulled me out of there. But my heart breaks for those still deceived by prosperity/WOF teachers. 💜
You explained it perfectly, Melissa! I spent 15 years in this WoF/Prosperity false gospel. Worked for 2 huge ministries you'd know if I named them. Thank God for his mercy and grace to open my eyes. I pray for all my friends who are so deceived. It is insidious as one commenter said and destroyed my marriage of almost 25 years! Thank you for ALL you do! I love your videos!❤️📖🕊
Our family was in a WOF (Word of Faith Church) for 15 years. We saw people in the church refuse medical help because they believed that they had enough faith to be healed by just 'speaking' the Word. Sadly, they died. Everything that you said is what the Pastor taught - plant "seed", speak the Word, don't waver in faith, don't allow doubt...We are now in a sound expository preaching reformed church.
This is precisely what drove me away from non denominational churches. Huge greet team, banners with pics of ministry team, nowhere a cross or crucifix, prosperity of "Sowing seed" sermons given before actual "sermon"....and an insatiable competition between attendees ( inclusive of ministry team) about whom has the most tragic past and therefore most amazing salvation story. Felt more like group therapy meets Hollywood entertainment industry.
To be fair, there are a lot of non-denominational churches who do not fall into this category and in fact stand firmly against this sort of tomfoolery.
Yeah, when I hear these teachings about the"power" of faith, it makes me sad too, because I remember a dear friend. She was an amazing pray-er for others. But for herself, she would blame her own (as she saw it) inadequate faith for her unanswered prayers. Honestly, she was a giant of faith in the eyes of those who knew her. Anyway, she's in heaven now, praise God.
I still haven’t been healed of my cerebral palsy. It has nothing to do with the amount of faith I have, I have lots of faith. Jesus hasn’t healed me on Earth, but I will be healed in Heaven.
Thanks for sharing this story. You took a bullet for us, and lived to tell us that this assembly needs prayer to get back on track. Blessings from Alberta Canada. ✝️
Melissa I laughed so hard throughout this video because my friend and I (willingly) went to a local church and it was a prosperity/word of faith church and this video/story sounds just like the experience my friend and I had recently lol. They are everywhere, twisting the word of God for no reason at all.
I don't believe these preachers have really studied the Word of God. They just pick out and use scripture to confirm what they want to say ..not the other way round. (What God is saying).
If we talk about faith( in my opinion) the book of Job is better to describe how faith should be . Of course God never change only our world change. Overall, thank you for your video and I like what you doing. I must said, currently not assisting any church because I want to read the Bible and understand the word of God “on my own” but I also watch from time to time videos like yours that make sense to me. Thank you! God bless you!
I for one am happy you walked into that church, He guided you and this gave the chance for a comparitive study and exposing, bringing to light. Thank you for being an obedient watchman.
Wow! This is excellent, Melissa. I don't know where to begin with my story from attending a Word of Faith church for 3 years. Thanks be to God He revealed the Truth to me and we left that church! I had no idea what "Word of Faith" was or even that the church was Word of Faith until we had been attending about two years. Long story....but I am still unlearning all the magic tricks of using the HOLY BIBLE as a spell book to get what I want......I am ASHAMED that I stayed so long. But I am out PRAISE the LORD I am free! Thanks for the work you are doing and for this excellent video. 🙏
I had just made a post about this sort of thing and then this pops up in my subscriptions 😮 My home church had a "guest speaker" pastor who was saying that instead of people having to fly to Redding for a touch of God and he praised God for what was happening in Redding, that they would flock to our church for that touch of God. Id love to get your take on his sermon if I could send to you privately. The same with your experience, not all he says is wrong but oh man- is a mess! Thank you for your teachings, we have an even greater hunger to read the Bible PROPERLY IN CONTEXT and your channel along with a few others are fueling that hunger. God bless you Melissa ❤
Hi Melissa, i discovered your channel a couple of weeks ago. You have a new fan. Grateful for the opportunity to get your insightful comments and as for today's edition, very much agree with your call on the Prosperity Church movement. Very best wishes and John 3:16.
Also be sure you're at a full gospel church, one that includes the message of sin and repentance in every sermon. I repeat...in every sermon. God bless
@12:10 "That's not true" - words that need to be said way more often in many 'churches'. Discernment is not a 'gift' that is prevalent or appreciated these days. There are plenty of crowds that only want to hear what their itching ears want to hear - messages that feed into the self centered flesh - "what am I getting" hearts. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I like the way my church takes offerings. There is a lock box at the back of the church with offering envelopes and a pen...that's it. No passing a basket, no money talk other then the occasional reminder that the offering box is there.
Thank you for sharing this experience and breaking it down. This guest speaker seems to be stepping into gnosticism (spelling?), having some "special knowledge". i agree with you calling BS on his "special interpretation". Scripture says what it means, and means what it says! Oh, and the idea that when Jesus quoted scripture to the tempter "didn't work" for the first and second temptation is completely ludicrous. The tempter tired his first approach (Matt 4:3 - ESV) ..."If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." Jesus does NOT concede and counters with recorded scripture and shuts the temptation down. The fact that there is a second and third temptation does not mean that Jesus failed in any way or that the scripture He used was ineffective; it simply shows that the enemy is not going to give up easily. I also appreciate your mention that Jesus is The Word made flesh. Because He Is Devine, He could have said anything and been perfectly right and justified. However, He did set the standard for us to pattern our behavior (showing us how to act) by quoting established scripture. I really enjoy your work - thanks for all you do.
Amen! On the note of "Even if God doesn't deliver us from this" I agree, because God doesn't answer to us. Whatever is God's will is what's going to happen.
Amen! We have been visiting a charismatic church lately, and many., if not all of the “ prayer team” members, “prophets” say we have all authority to bind Satan, heal people, etc. I am not against prayer or healing, but they just want power and peace at any cost. I brought up the issue of singing songs that deviate from scripture, and was told we just want to focus on Jesus and we don’t go that far as to stop singing song that have NAR ideas.
Came to faith in a Pentecostal church, which after a few years, turned charismatic/prosperity. I knew something was wrong because I actually read my Bible. All of it. Confessional Lutheran now. Love it.
My father was saved when he had cancer. We live in a sin filled world and death became part of that. While God can heal physically, He also uses illness (like with my father) to bring some people to salvation where they will be healthy and perfect for eternity. Praise God for the truth and your videos and others who teach the truth in love.
With wealth comes responsibility. So as a moderately prosperous guy, I must obey God's instructions to care for those less fortunate, or less capable, or however it happened for us. There is blessing and joy in doing it.
One of these churches even puts it this way: we want to give you the opportunity to give. It literally repels me, when I think of hungry and homeless people and even children.. but I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to give to that church...
It's all about money. These "churches" have been around for quite a while now. In Australia and UK also. The whole "prosperity teaching" and "prosperity gospel" thing is evil.
Hey Melissa! I also have friends who are going to two churches that I don’t think are quite safe. They don’t teach prosperity gospel-in fact, they’re churches in our synod (so they claims to align with the doctrine of our denomination), but they have been using tactics from the Church Growth Movement, including raffles for mere church attendance, “hip” shallow sermons that sometimes have biblical errors (one claimed some righteous people died in the flood, another started a sermon with “Does Jesus have swag?”), and of course, music from Bethel and Elevation. We aren’t charismatic; we’re confessional Lutheran! Yet so many young people go to one of these two churches. I don’t know how the pastors get away with it since our synod sometimes seems to nitpick about biblical accuracy on the other end of the spectrum (getting upset over someone casually using the wrong phrase). I’d like to warn my friends but it’s hard because these two churches are “approved” by our highest church leaders, and I’m a PK so I don’t want to seem judgmental. I go to a more traditional style church within the same denomination-where old people and families go and where few young people attend. The doctrines taught at the two churches aren’t totally damaging, but they are borderline self-help and so different from our “normal” churches. Point being, it would be great if you someday shared your journey of warning your friends.
Wow I just left my childhood church and it was just like this! I had no idea but now everything is so clear 😳 The pastor always used scripture to emphasize how we shouldn’t touch what’s God’s (money) or we would get punished and how we should sacrifice and give our biggest donation because God would give it back & there were a lot of money campaigns where you would give to save your family, free yourself, miracles, etc. The pastor always spoke about giving high amounts like 1k, $500 and would ask for a tithing, 10%, campaign envelopes and for newspapers, all in ONE SERVICE!. I did learn a lot from this church and I am grateful for it until I couldn’t ignore the emphasis on the $$ throughout the entire service. Thanks for sharing! 🙏
The idea that if God does not come through for you in a situation means that you do not have enough faith, is debilitating. It can create an extremes where "if you go through trials" then you are lacking faith - this is how far I believed it before having come out of WOF. I did not know or hear James 1 ever, that trials are needed. Trials were always portrayed as a negative unchristian - like thing. Looking at my trials thinking my faithlessness has put me here caused me to start speaking things out wildly. Believing that my words have some super power that will move my mountain out of my life, but that never worked. I also believed in the little gods ideology so of course my words have power to create. It is an exhaust self effort type of faith that carried disappointment. Anyway what changed things in the end was simple prayer, standing firmly on scripture (once i read it for real) and repentance. Letting go and stop trying to do it myself, simply trusting His Promises as true and that He is faithful even when I am faithless. 2 Timothy 2:13
I think you got it right on. I've been watching your videos, and you have opened my eyes to what's creeping into the church. I have a ficical disability and was in a church that said I was not being healed because I had too much sin in my life. Thank you for shining light on the truth.
You were Spot on sister in identifying false teachings and the masterful use of scripture twisting to manipulate and mislead. It is easy to do because few believers have studied the word of God to find themselves approved. Thank you for your ministry of truth. God bless you 💕
Love this chicklet !!! Truthbombs abound !!! My understanding is that God will deliver us either by life or by death because heaven is the perfect rescue… I completely agree with yes, no or wait
Sounds like that preacher didn't read on in James to the part where the poor are in the glory of a high position in the Kingdom of Heaven. Maybe he forgot that Job is one of the 3 righteous given as an example of righteousness in Ezekiel and Job's attitude was "I will call on you even if you wound me." as a prophecy about The Christ ...
Excellent! I live in Woodland Park,CO, home of Andrew Wommack Ministries. And it is terribly hard to discern on the surface if a church is truly scripture-based, or infiltrated with Word of Faith heresy. So many Christians are proud to have Andrew Wommack and his Charis Bible College in our community, with no idea most of what he teaches is heresy. I have developed a two-part presentation in hopes of helping our local community understand we live in a mission field and have much work to do. Regarding your comments on faith…AWM actually goes one step further….they believe when they were born again they actually were given God’s own faith…they don’t have ‘faith IN God,’ they have ‘the faith OF God. Ei yi yi. My presentation doesn’t explain how they twist scripture to validate their doctrine…rather it simply compares what Wommack says directly to scripture. It’s a comparative study. I’m praying for venues to invite me to present it, what God has in mind is still unclear. Anyway, blessings to you!
I continue to appreciate your very succinct, very understandable, and very true representation of those who perpetrate word of faith theology. I’m so glad you went to the church. Would like to know the man to avoid, especially if he is fluid from church to church. I very much enjoyed your notes, and your rightly dividing the word of truth ! Lora
I don't think Churches should take up a "public" offering. I don't think that is scriptural. Giving isn't supposed to be a public "show." There are other ways to give without making a show of it, and possibly exploiting the poor. I don't think God is pleased with that practice.
On point. Can't stress enough the truth that God is a sovereign. You cannot arm-twist God. You see it again and again in Jesus like when He almost walked by the disciples on water not even acknowledging them till they cried out to him. No it does not make Him uncaring. It stresses His sovereignty and the fact that He will have mercy, on whom He will have mercy. Very well explained. God bless.
Interesting! I would have a problem with that teaching too! I never visit a church without first going to their website and start by reading their statement of faith, then I check out the women's ministry section to see what Bible study books they use to see if they have discernment. If I don't see any red flags, I'll listen to a few of their sermons online before I will consider visiting.
I just recently found your channel and am loving what I am watching so far. Thank you for speaking the plain truth found in the Word without sugar coating it to fit into today's society norms.
I went to a meeting in the downtown Buffalo area several years ago just because I heard about it on the radio. The speaker, a woman, got up to speak a said she would be coming from... and then proceeded to rattle off 15-20 scripture references but just the books and the numbers of the verses, quoting not one. Quickly she had the emotions of the crowd whipped up to a good frenzy as I stood quietly in the back with praise and worship for Jesus. The transition to money from Jesus was calculated and imperceptible, seamless. It sounded like Jesus Jesus Jesus $ Jesus Jesus $$ Jesus $$$!!! Sadly no gospel was offered at the end only offerings taken, hollow promises given to people who were desperate and hurting.
This concerns me greatly, and I feel for all those being swayed by the snake oil Salesmen. I hope and pray they will break free of his hold on them, and they with find the true path to God again. 🙏
I've visited churches like that and fully agree with you. Times when I closed my note book and my Bible and put it under my seat and just waited for it to finish.
Thank you Melissa for telling the truth, my family got cut in this word of faith teaching very toxic now out of this but several of my children and grandchildren don't want to go back to church, 10 years of this teaching did loss damages, they are following bill jonhson very sad ,blessings to you and family love in christ
Excellent assessment of the prosperity preaching church! Also LOVE the Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego Scripture that you quoted! (Daniel 3:16-18). My hubby & I just inadvertently went to a prosperity Gospel as well. We attended an out of town mega church which 'hosts' a speaker's conference series which we really like. We ended up hearing about the 'seed faith' $ and affiliation with Joyce Meyer(red flag) and other tell tale 'prosperity gospel' signs within the sermon. Thank you for pointing all of this out in your video. We need to stand firm on correct hermeneutics in this day & age, when up is down, left is right and sadly the church is affected! Please keep up the great work for our LORD & Savior in these End Times.
Thank you so much for your videos. I learn so much from you. You are wise beyond your years with your gift of discernment. Sadly, so many of churches have become so diluted and don’t even begin to teach the true gospel.
