Review:
As I have been researching the Faith Movement, I came across
this book by D. R. McConnell, A Different
Gospel. It is significant that critique of the Faith Movement comes from
within the larger charismatic/Assemblies of God of which it is a part. McConnell
is an active charismatic believer. His book provides a significant biblical
perspective and corrective on the extremes of the Faith Movement’s doctrines of
health, wealth, and prosperity. His research is particularly helpful in tracing
the movement’s historical origins to the metaphysical concepts also held in
Christian science, and in demonstrating how cultic practices have moved the
Faith Movement away from Biblical teaching. The contrast between doctrines in
the Faith Movement and doctrines from the Bible itself is very helpful.
4 stars M.L. Codman Wilson, Ph. D.
4/17/2018
Excerpts:
“Because of its metaphysical background, the Faith theology
has transformed healing, a biblical practice of long standing in the church, into
a cultic obsession. Healing is, indeed, a gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor.
12:9). The church has been commissioned to pray for the sick (Jas. 5:14, 15).
Signs, healings, and exorcisms do often follow those who preach the gospel (Mk.
16:15-20). These supernatural experiences and ministries are the heritage of
the people of God… The Faith theology’s inordinate emphasis on healing is a
gross exaggeration of the biblical doctrine and distorts the centrality of Christ
and the gospel” (D. R. McConnell, A Different Gospel: Biblical and Historical Insights into the Word of Faith Movement, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1995, (updated ed.), p.
157).
“It is evident from Galatians that Paul did not conceive of Jesus’
cross in terms of its worldly benefits. He realized that identification with
the cross of Jesus entailed the crucifixion of the believer’s relation to the
world and its lusts… Paul both lived and taught the crucified life… At stake is
nothing less than the meaning of the central event of Christianity: the cross
and resurrection of Jesus. The Faith teachers interpret the cross of Jesus exclusively
in terms of the benefits it confers upon the believer, such as prosperity. In
so doing, they create a mind-set in their followers which is entirely
antithetical to the true meaning of the cross” (pp. 177-178).
“We see such cultural accommodation in the Faith theology’s
doctrine of prosperity. The doctrine of prosperity is, in fact, a carnal accommodation
to the crass materialism of American culture. It ignores and/or compromises the
demands of the New Testament upon the affluent and constructs a theology that
not only rationalizes the disparity between rich and poor. It actually degrades
the poor, claiming that their poverty is the result of ‘dishonoring’ God.
Poverty is, indeed, a curse, as the Faith teachers say, but it is not a curse
that God inflicts upon people. It is a curse that people inflict upon one another
by means of oppression” (p.
179).