*Note: Just to let you know, Bloesch does speak of other aspects of non-cultic Pentecostalism in his book in a positive light. I don't want you to think he's totally bashing Pentecostals. He treats all teachings about the Holy Spirit fairly. What he says about the Word of Faith Movement is important to know though, because of how popular it is in this country (and how popular it's become in other countries because of it's propagation here). I've seen how this awful teaching has ruined a church and crippled various person's faith. It twists one's relationship with Christ, turning the believer into a little god and God into their servant.
Much more alluring is the Faith movement in Pentecostalism, also called the Word of Faith and Positive Confession. The movement has its philosophical source in the writings of E. W. Kenyon (1867-1948), who attended the Emerson College of Oratory in Boston, a spawning ground for New Thought ideas. Kenyon began as Congregationalist, then switched to Unitarianism and then to New Thought. He finally ended in Christian Science, but he sought to relate the insights of the so-called metaphysical movement to the burgeoning Pentecostal revival. One of his chief converts was Kenneth Hagan, founder of the Rhema Bible Training Center. Other Pentecostal leaders who teach the faith confession theology include Kenneth Copeland, Fred Price, T. L. Osborn, Joel Osteen, Robert Tilton, Charles Capps, Charles Cowan and Marilyn Hickey. To some degree the Faith philosophy has intruded into the ministries of Paul Crouch, Oral Roberts, and Pat Robertson, though the evangelical note is much more prominent. The Faith movement teaches that the universe runs by spiritual laws, and it is up to us to discover and apply these laws to our own situation. The way to be healed is to confess that we are healed and not waver in this belief. One 'conquers error by denying its verity.' Faith becomes a superhuman effort to alter human consciousness and thereby dispel sickness. As in the New Thought movement, pain is overcome by denying its sensory evidence and affirming the goodness of God and the efficacy of Christ. Fred Price declared in a chapel service at Oral Roberts University (Sept. 19, 1980), 'It's not God who heals you, it's your faith.' We simply need to confess the beneficence of God and then claim this beneficence for our healing. A gnostic element is apparent in this movement, whose adherents regularly 'base their teachings on truths revealed directly by the Spirit, things they "never saw before" in the Bible.' They claim that difficulties are only suffered by Christians when they fail to exercise the laws of faith.'
The Faith movement and indeed the New Thought movement on the whole are not bereft of biblical support. The Psalms urge us to meditate on the law of God (77:12; 119:15; 143:5), which will be a source of healing for us (Proverbs 3:8; 4:20-22). Paul enjoins us to fix our mind on those things that are edifying and uplifting (Romans 8:5-6; Philippians 4:8; Colossians 3:2). Faith teachers correctly discern the power of thought to affect the way we meet the challenges of life. But they gravely misunderstand the character of faith, which has its basis not in the human will but in God. By contending that health and prosperity follow inevitably from a right faith attitude, they deny the salutary role of cross bearing, which often involves the sacrifice of comforts and goods of this world. They rightly remind us, however, that sickness does not belong in the new order of the kingdom of God, and that the fullness of salvation involves the overcoming of sickness as well as sin. Yet the Bible teaches that we can triumph over sickness inwardly and that physical healing is not the essence of salvation. (cf. Luke 17:11-19)."
- Donald G. Bloesch
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