*There is a Special Message at the end of this article.*
Amos 8:11
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.” [1]
Many once great Nations that formerly heralded God’s Word throughout the world now find themselves in the clutches of the worst kind of famine imaginable, the famine of hearing the Word of the Lord, even with the church still here. How is this possible?
Some time ago, the article “Silence of the Tomb” [2] dealt with the ongoing silence experienced by the Jews that reject Christ. This silence could be seen as the fulfillment of the prophecy of Amos regarding the famine of hearing God’s Word, a famine God Himself sends upon those who reject His ways (Amos 8:11). One could also see this judgment as befitting any ‘once enlightened people’ who turn from trusting the Lord to trusting in their own means and methods at which point they invariably, because of greed, begin to take advantage of the weak and poor (Amos 8:4-7). In response, God stops speaking to this people group in what should be seen as “The Worst Kind of Famine.”
The reason this is the worst kind of famine is that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of the Lord (Rom 10:17). Therefore, this famine inhibits salvation which ultimately decimates the people group (nation) being judged. The reason this is so devastating is the salt and light which once made ‘said nation’ great diminishes through attrition, and no replacements can be found because of the lack of hearing. Again, one has to question how this can be with the church still here. The answer is simple, but one most will not think possible.
The mainstream church is no longer the Church that Jesus established, a church that was founded on principles of servanthood, which operated upon the truth that it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). Instead, just like Israel, many churches began to seek to profit themselves in ways that dishonor God. You read that correctly; the church willingly chose greed over God, and the result is God removed His Word from their midst, as evidenced by the lack of faith in God by the nation. This is not to say that these churches do not preach about faith; they do that very well. However, the object of said faith is not God; therefore, it is sorely misplaced.
Faith Misplaced Leads to Faithlessness
Long ago, faith was first misplaced when Eve succumbed to the lie that she could have faith in herself, “you shall be as gods (Gen 3:5).” This is the same problem that plagues much of the mainstream church today. Church after church now defines the Christian as one who has great authority as an ambassador of Christ. The problem is, in the midst of all of this, the focus has been taken off of Christ and placed on the Christian. You see, when Christ issued the Great Commission, He began by telling His disciples that all power (authority) had been given unto ‘Him,’ not them. What He gave to believers was a mandate to, as His ambassadors, make disciples from all nations by teaching them all that Jesus had taught them (Matt 28:18-20). Therefore, as true ambassadors, Christians are to magnify Christ and His Word, not themselves.
However, a most unfortunate thing happened in the church. By their smooth words, many imposters rose to preeminence and brought with them damnable heresies in order to draw men unto them (Acts 20:30). [3] At the same time, many decided not to tolerate sound doctrine. Because of itching ears, they flocked after these false ministers in order to hear messages that pleased them (2 Tim 4:3). The result is a perfect storm of deception has fallen upon the land, and many now run to and fro seeking the Word of the Lord, and it cannot be found in most of the professing church. Sadly, the largest churches are often the ones most bereft of truth. These churches are generally more interested in how great ‘they’ are instead of how great God is.
Perhaps the most unfortunate thing is this inundation of fallacy has supplanted the message of the Cross with many false doctrines, and faithlessness has ensued. This is why we have begun to explore these misconceptions and expose the errors involved.
Thus far, we have discussed two false doctrines created and propagated by the deceivers the apostles warned us about (Acts 20:30; 2 Pet 2:1): We began by examining ‘The Kingdom Now’ and ‘The Prosperity Gospel,’ and we now take a look at a third errant doctrine, the ‘Word of Faith’ movement. The gist of this fallacy is the belief that all authority was given to the believer and that whatsoever one can believe and speak will come to pass. Sadly, many having itching ears have fallen prey to this lie (2 Tim 4:3). The result is faith has been misplaced, and the idea that the believer is the one who holds the power (authority) has become very popular.
Incredibly, these hold to the position that the word of man can and should bring about whatever the speaker “decrees or declares.” There is only one major problem with this; Jesus never relinquished His authority, and the only way anything is done properly on earth is through following the will of God, which can only be ascertained by those who have faith in God, not themselves. [4] Therefore, misplaced faith has truly led to faithlessness, because true faith is belief in God, period.
Twisted Scripture
Once again, we will not delve too deeply into all of the particulars of this specific false doctrine since a simple internet search using the term ‘Word of Faith Exposed‘ [5] will provide all the information needed to evaluate this fallacy. However, we will take a brief look at why this movement and any other false doctrine errs so stupendously. Stated simply, all false doctrines, including the Word of Faith movement, rely on twisted Scripture to validate their deceptions.
We will briefly examine some of the many pillars of this doctrine based upon Scripture that is wrested out of context and used to bolster this most heinous deception. One example is the lie that “faith is a force.” Incredibly, those who propagate the ‘Word of Faith’ movement teach that God created the world by faith which they then describe as a force that can be used by anyone. The chief problem with this idea is God did not create by faith; take a look at the passage they mangle in order to validate this most egregious fallacy:
Hebrews 11:1-3
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” (emphasis mine)
The Scripture twisters of the ‘Word of Faith’ movement change the plain meaning of this text to “God created the worlds through faith.” This is done so they may teach that God used faith to create, which is clearly contradictory to the actual meaning of the text. The text, properly exegeted, simply says that ‘by faith the believer understands’ that God, by His Word, created the worlds. Think about this for a second; this is the very root of the ‘Word of Faith’ fallacy.” Right here, the idea is planted that one must have ‘faith in faith,’ which is a far cry different than what the original author, the Holy Spirit, intended. Clearly, when read in proper context, the goal of Hebrews chapter eleven is to establish “faith in God.”
This teaching of ‘faith in faith’ is very important to this movement because deception can only prosper when the focus of faith is changed from God to man. This is why this concept is united with another deception, the idea that being made in the ‘image’ of God makes man equal to God. In order to establish this fallacy, some of the most prominent false teachers in this movement actually teach that God ‘begat’ man, which would make man His direct descendants.
One particularly well-known false teacher referred to man as the ‘god-kind,’ implying that God reproduced Himself in man like animals reproduce – dogs begetting dogs equals dog-kind – cats begetting cats equals cat-kind, etc. This ‘false’ teacher went on to say that, because of this, men were ‘little gods.’ This is simply not so. Instead, God ‘created’ man out of the dust of the earth (Gen 2:7). Therefore, man is a created being, and man begetting man equals mankind. After all, and most importantly, there is only one ‘begotten’ Son of God, Jesus Christ.
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (emphasis mine)
One more thing about this: the false premises that men are little gods did not originate with God. Instead, it originated with the god of this world, Satan, when he convinced the first couple in the Garden of Eden that they would be as gods. Therefore, whenever you hear someone attempting to elevate man to god status, you can rest assured the speaker has become a mouthpiece of Satan and should not be listened to. [6]
Another of the pillars used to support the ‘Word of Faith’ fallacy is the idea that anyone can decree a thing and it shall be established, which is based on Job 22:28. The only problem is this passage actually deals with the words of Eliphaz, one of Job’s ‘useless counselors’ whom God later rebukes (Job 42:7-9). Eliphaz is not speaking for God; therefore, his words must not be used to establish doctrine. Ironically, this is the only passage in the entire Bible that says that a person (not God) can decree something into existence. However, the next fallacy is closely related.
The last faulty precept we will touch on is based upon the misuse of the words of Jesus, “If you have faith you can say to this mountain… (Matt 21:21; Mark 11:23-24).” The prognosticators of the Word of Faith movement use these passages and others like them to convince their adherents that they must have “faith in their faith.” However, it is crucial to remember that Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of the Lord. This indicates that one must first hear the Word of the Lord about any given situation before addressing it by faith. In other words, if God tells you to do something, you have received the Word of the Lord, and whatever God told you to do will prosper.
Unfortunately, this is not what the Word of Faith proponents teach. Instead of teaching that one should seek (through prayer) and follow the will of the Lord – in all things, they encourage the believer to declare what they want, and because of their faith in their own declaration, God must do it. Therefore, their doctrine runs contrary to Scripture.
We could go on and on with this examination; however, the purpose of this and many recent articles is to engender thought about the false teachings of false apostles, prophets, and teachers, which have been doled out over the last several decades with devastating effect, ‘the worst kind of famine’ has fallen upon the land. Indeed, as the ‘lukewarm’ Laodicean church flourishes (Rev 3:14-22), [7] the body of Christ, those with the nature of the church of Philadelphia (Rev 3:7-13), diminishes because of the famine of hearing which results in starvation. This is evidenced by the fact that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find a church that relies solely on Scripture rightly divided as its guiding source.
Conclusion
Great is the famine of hearing in the whole of the earth. This has come about because the church has become lukewarm as a result of the acceptance of false doctrines of men and demons (Col: 2:22; 1 Tim 4:1). However, this condition is ultimately the result of the people desiring their own ways over the ways of the Lord. This can be validated by taking a look at the current state of any formerly Christian nation that stopped listening to God. Indeed, many once great nations languish in abject moral decay, and the Word of the Lord is very difficult to find within their borders.
However, there is good news. The body of Christ is still here on earth, and the age of grace has not yet ended. Therefore, sustenance is still available, and salvation is possible for those who dare to cast off the false and listen to the truth that Jesus Christ died for all, and any who call upon His name shall be saved (Rom 10:13).
Special note…
If the rapture of the church has occurred, even greater famine of hearing than we experienced will have undoubtedly ensued. As a result of the removal of the true remnant church, the time you are now in will grow darker as each day passes. [8] By way of warning, the false church will be thriving during this time as the religions of the world come together to form the great harlot church of Revelation chapter seventeen. This church cannot be trusted as it will ultimately become the militant persecuting arm of the antichrist’s beast system. The false prophet will cause the deceived to kill all who will not take the mark of the beast and worship his image (Rev 13:11-17; 20:4). [9]
Finding the truth will be extremely difficult. Therefore, the article “Open Letter to Those Who Miss the Rapture” [10] was written especially for you. This is because many will attempt to deceive you into believing your fate is sealed and that you should just go ahead and take the mark of the beast. Also, most importantly, do your best to find a Bible and obey what you read within it.
Website: In His Commission
[1] “Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the King James Version.”
[2] For greater understanding, see the article, “Silence of the Tomb.”
[3] For greater understanding, see the article, “The Rise of Many.”
[4] For greater understanding, see the article, “Thy Kingdom Come – Thy Will Be Done.”
[5] Internet search results for the search term, “Word of Faith Exposed.”
[6] For greater understanding, see the article, “The Greatest Lie Ever Told: The Origin of All Lies.”
[7] For greater understanding, see the article, “Prosperity Gospel: Creator of the Laodicean Church.”
[8] For greater understanding, see the article, “The Man of Sin Arising.”
[9] For greater understanding, see the article, “The Great Awakening – The Grand Deception.”
[10] For greater understanding, see the article, “Open Letter to Those Who Miss the Rapture.”