I have always been fascinated by the conversations Word Of Faith preachers would claim they have with God. In their sermons, they would chronicle long conversations that they have with God concerning prosperity, healing, confessions, etc. It normally started with God asking them a question. "Do you know why my people are poor?" They would reply and the conversation begins. There are times this conversation would take place while they were preaching. I've personally seen Kenneth Copeland and Keith Moore carry on extensive conversations with God in the middle of their sermons.
In my days in the Word of Faith, I've never had such a conversation with God. I always wondered what I was missing. Why didn't God have these conversations with me? Why didn't God personally teach me through conversing with me?
This movement is filled with incidents such as this that draw a distinction between the leaders and the laity. Many of those in the pews sit in awe at these stories of conversations and experiences with God, believing them and wishing that they could be spiritual enough to participate.
In the previous post, JimmyPage mentioned David Hogan. I remember as a teenager listening to the wild stories David Hogan would share and believed with all my heart that I too would have such experiences. They never came.
One consistent theme of the Word of Faith movement is that they sell a product they cannot deliver. Along the way, there are many innocent, disillusioned hearts who sit condemn because they never have these experience. Why? Many times they feel it's because they have hidden sins or wrong motives. This brings about a feeling of never quite measuring up.
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Why do those "innocent, disillusioned hearts" sit condemned in the first place? I feel it is because the whole movement is very good at communicating the "unworthiness" or "faithlessness" of the laity. I have seen materials that clearly say, that if something goes wrong, or you don't get what you think you should, then there IS a reason, and it is YOU! You are flawed, and no you will never measure up. I have personally talked to a man who when his wife came down with breast cancer, was instantly attacked for harboring a "secret sin". He insisted that he did not, and then he was accused of "allowing" his wife's illness because of his "lack of faith". When they needed their community most, they ended up being pushed out. :(
Funny thing is, the community I am in now, openly embraces the fact that we are flawed, faithless, broken people. In doing so, though we are all held up as struggling for growth, and on a mutual journey, and the leaders do not pretend to be more holy than anyone else.
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