Word of Faith: How Do You Help A Loved One Involved In It?

How Can I Help Someone in The Charismatic, Prosperity/Word of Faith Movement?

How Can I Help Someone In The Word of Faith Movement or Prosperity Gospel?

Because my husband, Chris, dealt with this for eleven years with me, he answered this question. Here is what he had to say.

First off, let me say that is a noble thing to want to help someone in the Charismatic/Prosperity/Word of Faith Movement come to the truth of God’s Word. It can take years to get someone in this movement to realize the false system of belief that this movement teaches goes against what Holy Scripture teaches. On the other hand, at times it can take as little as a single conversation to get a person to come to the realization of the false teachings from this movement.

This movement at its core is steeped in a Gnostic belief system of esoteric knowledge, meaning that only “those” who have acquired some type of special knowledge can truly understand the intent of the Charismatic, Prosperity/WoF movement. People in this movement will claim someone who does not speak in tongues, is not healed, is not delivered from demonic possession, or is not wealthy does not have the faith that they need in order to achieve these material/physical things. People in this movement also claim people who do have these abilities have “a greater anointing” than someone that does not.

People in the Charismatic, Prosperity/WoF movement will say things like: “You are not healed of your physical ailment because you do not have enough faith.” They will even quote scripture from the Bible, and make it seem legit. Another quote from the Bible that people use to enforce the idea that this movement is correct is the verse from the Book of Isaiah in chapter 53, verse 5: “But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.” They will take this verse to mean that we can receive physical healing because of what it says. However, when looked at from a correct interpretive view, we find that this verse is not speaking of physical healing at all. It is speaking of our spiritual healing from what Jesus Christ endured during His passion week, including His sacrifice on His Cross.

We are healed spiritually from sin because of Jesus’ sacrifice. One more example of a verse taken out of context, and twisted into meaning something other than what the verse is intended to mean is the verse found in Romans 4:17, “…as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” People in this movement will use this verse and relate it back to the Genesis account of creation to imply that we are “little gods” and that we “have” the power to call into existence things that we want to happen. Again, exegetically speaking, this verse is speaking of the One True God, and not anything concerning ourselves as it would relate to us being any type of “god” that can call into existence anything.

Throughout the Bible, people in this movement will take verses out of context and relate them to whatever they are trying to convince uninformed individuals to believe. The focus in this movement is a focus upon self, and what God can do for us. However, the Christian’s focus should be worshipping God for what He did for us already. Anytime the focus becomes self-centered, and not focused on complete worship to, and about, God, then whatever we are doing is not what the Bible calls true worship.

"We need to be considerate of the blindness that the enemy has over an individual’s life that is in this movement."

I said all that to say this. We need to be considerate of the blindness that the enemy has over an individual’s life that is in this movement. Many things that people teach in this movement is not firmly rooted in the truth of God’s Word. Yes, there may be bits and pieces of truth from the Word of God found scattered about in a sermon, or teaching, but a half truth is still a lie. To combat the ideas found throughout this movement, we must first know what we are talking about to help an individual understand something clearly, as it were, of the truth of God’s Word, and the heresy of this false system of belief that is the Charismatic, Prosperity/WoF movement.

The very first thing we need to do to help someone in this movement come to the truth of God’s Word is pray. I cannot stress enough the importance of prayer as it relates to helping someone see the errors of this movement. Again...pray and pray without ceasing. We must pray for the individual, and for ourselves as well. Often, we forget the part about praying for ourselves when we try to help others get out of any false system of belief. Satan will fight us at every turn because he does not want the individual to see, or hear the truth, and repent, and turn from their ways. A lot of times the individual will be reluctant to hear correction and/or reproof because of pride. The individual will not want to admit that they could be, or that they are wrong about what they believe. We need to pray that the individual’s heart, and spiritual eyes be opened. We should pray that God will grant them repentance in order that they may be saved.

Many people in this movement think they are saved, and yes, they may be, but a lot of times what they understand as salvation is not the Biblical truth of salvation. They may get mad, or refuse to speak with you, and you have to be strong enough to be okay with that should it happen. Next, if we are going to be effective in helping someone see the truth of God’s Word, and the fallacy of the Charismatic, Prosperity/WoF movement, we must know what we are talking about. The only way to accomplish this is to know the Bible, and what the truth of God’s Word is. We do not necessarily have to know the entire Bible, as it were, but we must know the parts of the Bible that we are going to need to explain to people in this movement. Many times, people in this movement will know the Bible, although obscured, better than the person who is trying to help them. It is like speaking to an Atheist. Often times, an atheist will know the Bible better than the person they are speaking to. If we do not know what we are talking about when trying to show someone the truth, then we quickly become ineffective in helping that person understand the errors of their belief.  

Third, we should use opportunities we have with individuals in this movement wisely. What I mean by this is when we have to opportunity to speak truth about a situation we should. This is not the time to make light of a given situation. We must be able to recognize the fallacy when it is presented, and we must know the truth from the Bible to use the opportunity to be effective, and concise in correcting the false issues. When we are in a situation to where someone is “speaking in tongues,” we should ask them where in the Bible this is found. They may even take you to the verses in scripture that speak to this, but this is when we need to know what the truth of those scriptures are, and how to explain to them the correct way in which they were applied. I would highly encourage you to check out the study I did over the gift of tongues, here.

If we are sincere about wanting to help people get out of the Charismatic, Prosperity/WoF movement, then we must dedicate ourselves to all areas of education related to this movement. When you engage in trying to help people get out of this movement, you will be in the heart and center of spiritual warfare. This is because it is truly Satan’s home playing field. This is one of the fastest “Christian” movements in the entire world now, and it has been for the last many years.

The final thing I will say about what we can do to help others get out of this false system of belief is to spend time with these individuals. The old saying is still true today as it was when it was first penned. “No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” The more people in this movement see the power of God working in our lives, and how they seem to keep going in a cyclical direction, the more they will be inclined to want to know the hope that is within you. I will not pretend that this battle is an overnight thing. I have fought for years in this battle. My wife was in this movement for 11 years, and Satan tried to destroy everything about us, including our marriage, my wife’s relationship with our daughter, our relationship with family, friends, and even members of the church we were a part of for 15 years. She did not go to a charismatic church. She went to church with me. I never got involved with that movement by the grace of God. I am thankful that He kept my eyes focused on Him so that I could help my wife get out of that mindset.

I hope what I’ve mentioned here helps you with whomever the Good Lord may place in your path to help.

God Bless