Word Faith Movement - Mormon Lite?

At one time I actually thought that the Word-Faith movement was a simple money making scam, nothing more: con a few simpletons out of a tithe that should be going to a biblically centered church, convince them that the bible says they'll get their money back with interest, and hint that Jesus wants them in a new Mercedes (available at low low prices from Pastor Cashbox's brother-in-law at Midtown Mercedes Isuzu just off the Gehenna exit of I266) you know, that kind of scam. I heard TBN was a Word-Faith based broadcaster and I thought "Well duh! They're TV!" (making a living on the periphery of the entertainment business doesn't leave one with a generous attitude about said entertainment business) I figured not too many people can get fooled by this cash generating ponzi scheme, and there's not a lot one can do about it because, in the words of Cpt. Tom Pickett from the movie Last Man Standing:

"...because that is the nature of things a certain amount of corruption is inevitable."

A little research shows that the leadership of the Word-Faith movement goes well beyond scamming a lot of sheep out of their hard earned tithe, they're damning those sheep to hell and enjoying every bit of the ride.

Besides tens of thousands of followers and mansions that would make Louis XVI apoplectic in jelousy, what do these people have in common: Joyce Meyer, T.D. Jakes, Marilyn Hickey, Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Oral Roberts, Robert Schuller, Creflo Dollar, Morris Cerullo. Answer: They're all Word Faith carnival barkers bent on cleaning out your wallet and blocking your way into heaven. Matthew 23:13-14 addresses the kind of heresy that these people are inflicting on their flocks

¹³ “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. ¹⁴ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

Their heresy goes beyond the wink-and-a-nudge cashgrab that I had imagined, their doctrine is so foul that it's breathtaking in its audacity, and good solid biblical Christians that I thought were well versed in the word of God are swallowing the sugarcoated rat-poison these people are handing out. Let's look at the Word - Faith movement's #1 cashman, Joel Osteen. Joel has had NO theological training, yet he's standing in front of 45,000 goats saying

"Our whole message is that Jesus came to help us live a great life. And some people are not going to agree with that." (source)

yeah, like Jesus for one. Ever read Fox's book of Martyrs? Where in the bible does it say that Jesus came to help us have a great life? He came to serve (Matt. 20:28), He came to save the world (John 3:17; Luke 19:10), He came to destroy the devil's works (1 John 3:8), He came to take away sin (1 John 3:5), He came  to reveal the Father (Matt. 11:27), He came to preach the good news of the kingdom of God (Luke 4:43), and He did not come to bring peace to the world but to bring division (Luke 12:51). If God wants you to drive a Bugatti and live in a 5,275 square foot McMansion he didn't mention it in the gospel. Am I saying that we should be suffering for Jesus? Be it not so!

Jesus is saying it however

10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:10-12)

This doesn't exactly jive with Joel Osteen, but then the Word-Faith heretics have always had a very odd view of Jesus that any bible believing follower of our Savior would flee from, screaming for mercy at the top of their lungs for the sin of allowing such a heretic to preach publicly. Word Faith is it's own religion and it's rife with scandals involving violence, adultery, theft, and serious weirdness. Their top minister Joel Osteen has no theological training (which is probably why New Age roman catholic Roma Downey hired him as a bible consultant for her Bible parody on the History Channel) Faith healer Benny Hinn has never stepped foot in a hospital to share his gift (probably because truly sick people can't write a check) and has threatened  anyone that criticizes him that he'll get a Holy Ghost machine gun and blow their head off. And the Word Faith's very own TV network: Trinity Broadcasting Network has their very own in-house mega-scandal going involving homosexual affairs and their coverups, the rape of a 13 year old girl and the coverup, flashing, wrongful deaths, $100,000 motor homes for the dogs, misappropriated private jets... it's like Jim and Tammy Fae Bakker never left the room.

Childish excess (I'm not even going to mention Joyce Meyer's $23,000 toilet) and greed and sexual recklessness and violence and financial irresponsibility aside, the worst part of the Word Faith movement is their theology:

• Only Word of Faith preachers can dispense divine revelation. They rely more on what God told them personally than what's in the bible. THey also claim that it's not sin that causes us to fail, it's ignorance of The Word, of which they are the only vendors.
  
• Word of Faith preachers deny God’s sovereignty and actually mock the concept. They teach that we can twist God’s arm to get what we want, enabling us to write our own ticket with Him (Kenneth Hagin’s term), or turn God into a vending machine (Richard Roberts’ term).
  
• Jesus died spiritually: while the idea that Jesus went to Hell is as old as the Church, the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds do NOT say that Jesus died spiritually and had to be born again. If Jesus did die spiritually, then Jesus was a mere man, and not God incarnate.
  
• God is as much female as He is male: I don’t know where they get this from Biblically, but more than one Word of Faith has said this. They also teach that Adam was both male and female at the same time, and God removed Adam’s female half, not just a rib. If this were true, then God in the Bible would be "God the Whatever” not “God the Father”
  
• Man is equal with Jesus and God: the idea that we are made in God’s image is Biblical, but the Word of Faith teaching that we are little gods
  
• Our words can change time, space and matter: this is known as “Name It and Claim It.”
  
• The reality of sickness and sin is denied: The Word of Faith says that they do not deny sickness and sin, but deny sickness and sin’s place in their bodies.
  
• Prayer is replaced by confession: Prayer connects us with God. Confession connects us with us. They are taught to overcome adversity by confessing a suitable 'positive' scripture, instead of seeking God's guidance which is a Gnostic practice of mumbling chants and spells, replacing God with our own minds, because we have the knowledge it takes to save ourselves.

In Summary:

The Word Faith religion teaches that God and Jesus aren't much of anything, they've  replaced God with themselves and demoted Jesus to just another rabbi wandering around Galilee. They teach that you to can be grow up to be a god yourself, and sins? No biggie! you can forgive yourself. And why wait? Have all the fun you want right here on earth right now. Anything you want, just name it. Remind you of anyone? Reminds me a whole lot of

Satan

However if you want to see the good side of this, the Word Faith heretics, every single one of them, and their flocks of ignorant goats is proving the bible to be absolutely correct:

3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)