THE OLSTEENIFICATION OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY

Hank Hanegraaf of The Bible Answer Man radio show has done a brave thing. He's dared to challenge the cultic teaching of such Christian megastars as Joel Olsteen, Joyce Meyer, and Joseph Prince. Why? Because life and truth matter.

These three superstars of evangelical Christianity teach that you can create your own reality by speaking things into existence. If you want a big house, just positively confess it and you'll get it. Likewise, when you negatively confess something, you attract tragedy to yourself. This is a reprehensible recipe for the destruction of naive Christians' faith. When disaster does strike, the poor victim is to blame. This results in that person rejecting Christianity through having the wrong idea about who God is.

I fell for the same satanic nonsense more than forty years ago. Elders at the church kept nagging me to get healed and to keep my faith up. When my eyes weren't healed but grew worse, I turned my back on the heavenly Father for nine years. I eventually realized that it was that diabolical word of faith nonsense that separated me from my Lord and Saviour.

In addition to preaching the dangerous doctrine of the Word Faith movement, these hugely-popular preachers demote God to the status of a mere miracle-vending machine and elevate humans to the status of God.  Just as in Genesis chapter three, these people are convincing gullible believers that they will be as God. If that isn't blasphemy, I don't know what is.

Having read through the Bible more than seventeen times, I can't help but notice that not everybody who was faithful to the Lord lived in luxury. In fact, Hebrews chapter eleven paints an entirely different picture. From Abel to the first-century Christians, those who followed God often suffered or died for their beliefs. Did they let a negative word slip and doom themselves. No way did they ever do that! God's providence worked through their persecution to temper their faith and reprove the world. As the Apostle Paul wrote, "And we are conscious that all things are working together for good to those who have love for God, and have been marked out by his purpose."

So if you hear some preacher saying you can have whatever you want and that this could be your best life now, run for your eternal life. Satan wants people to trust in material possessions and physical health rather than trusting whole-heartedly in the providential care of the heavenly Father. Don't let these false shepherds lure you with promises of power and authority over your circumstances. They will have to answer for the lives they ruined at the day of judgement.

The Olsteenification of American Christianity is available from the equip.org site in paperback and audio version, the latter being read by the author, Hank Hanegraaff. This book will open your spiritual eyes to the wicked plans of Word Faith preachers as well as inform you of the biblical truth.

How I Was Razed would make an excellent companion book to The Olsteenification of American Christianity. It shows how cruel the elders of an aberrant church were to disabled folks and how God rescued me from their evil influence. Visit Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers for more.

THERE REALLY IS NO FREE LUNCH

"Congratulations! You've just won a free trip to the Bahamas!" That's the phone message I keep getting from somebody hoping to trap me with a too-good-to-be-true scheme. Though the principle of offering something for nothing is ancient, modern people still fall for it. Why? Because people have the silly hope that maybe this time it'll work out for them.

I've fallen many times in the past for such easy-money schemes. Amway was one of the first to enchant me. It sounded so possible with its sponsorship of "downlines" who would sponsor more people and so on. Friends tried to warn me that only the few at the top would reap the real benefits of my hard work but I refused to listen. After five years of giving it my best, I realized that my friends were right.

I also became caught up in the Principal Group scandal of 1987. A man called me one day and said a friend recommended this investment plan that would net me a startling twenty percent annually. As I listened to his sales pitch, I realized this could be the break I was looking for. I invested fifty dollars into the scheme and also coaxed my brother to also put in his entry-level investment. Then the news broke regarding the arrest of the leaders of this Ponzi scheme. Though I felt fortunate that I received twenty-six bucks back, I hadn't been cured of my delusion regarding easy money.

The woman who sponsored me into Amway called me up all excited one evening. I thought she was just practicing some new pitch to convince prospects but this was something different. After rushing to the bank and withdrawing a fifty dollar bill from my account, I folded carbon paper around it and posted it to the name at the top of a list my friend gave me. Once again, a news report burst my bubble and I came down with a hard thud.

Believe it or not, there is a spiritual con game spreading through churches in the west and even into third world countries. Preachers such as Joseph Prince, Joel Olsteen, and Joyce Meyer are teaching that you can get whatever you want if you just keep positively confessing that you have it. They teach that we can speak good or ill fortune into our lives. I fell for this nonsense more than forty years ago and the lack of results turned me against God for nine years.

In How I Was Razed, I wrote about how I was taken in by false teaching and chain-letter-like gimmicks. This testimony of God's sovereign rescue of my soul is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers.