JOYCE MEYER'S SAYS
When
it comes to the omniscience and omipotence of God (the teaching that
God is all knowing and all powerful), one can only describe Ms. Meyer's
words as unbelievable. Please note what she says about God: "We
can kill the plan of God for our lives with a negative
confession." (Joyce Meyer, "Mind, Mouth, Moods, and
Attitudes," tape 2 of 4 the "Mouth")
THE
BIBLE'S REPLY
It
is impossible
to kill the
plan of the Almighty. If that were possible (and it is not) then God
would not be Sovereign (or All Mighty) we would be. In fact
that would
make us
greater than the Creator. Think about it my friend,
is this not the height of arrogance to think that our words can kill
what God decrees? Furthermore, if mere man can kill the plans
of
God then God is less than deity and man is greater than his Creator.
Now,
what
does the bible have to say about the sovereign plan of God and
the efforts of man that try to subvert or destroy
it?
Notice what the
prophets of old have to say about the plan(s) of God; "And
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does
according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants
of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, 'What hast
Thou done?" -
Daniel 4:35.
"The LORD
of hosts has sworn saying , "Surely, just as I have intended so it has
happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand, and
verse 27 "For the
LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His
stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?". -
Isa.14:24, 27.
See also Isaiah 8:10; 43:13; Psalm 115:3; 135:6.
God clearly says that NO one will stop, frustrate or thwart the plan of
God. Now the question is, whom will you
believe, God or Joyce Meyer?
CONCERNING: FAITH
JOYCE MEYER'S SAYS
Now
if Ms. Meyer's understanding of God is not confusing enough, the mature
believer need only to observe her New Age concept of faith. She
says:
"Our words are containers of power. The power of life and
death is in
the tongue." (Joyce
Meyer, "What Does Your Future Hold?" TBN, May 24, 2004)
"I
want to say it again, be sure you're not killing God's good plan for
your life by letting negative words come out of our mouth all of the
time. I believe that wrong words affect our health.
I would
go so far as to say that there are people here today that you may be
sick in your body simply because of speaking wrong words, negative
words." (Joyce
Meyer, "Mind, Mouth, Moods, and Attitudes," tape 2 of 4 the "Mouth")
THE
BIBLE'S REPLY
Ms.
Meyers continues with this unbiblical concept and states
exactly
what
she believes
(and not what the Bible teaches - in context). The
question that must be asked is simply this, do proponents of Word Faith
teaching become sick? The answer is unequivacally YES! In
fact,
what Ms. Meyers expouses (along
with Kenneth Copeland,
Fredick Price, Creflo Dollar, etc.,) flies directly agianst
the
teachings of the Apostles. This can be clearly seen
from the
writings of Paul where he states in his very last letter before his
death these words: "Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of
Onesiphorus. Erastus remained at Corinth,
but Trophimus I left
sick at Miletus."
(2 Tim.4:19-20) The reality is believers do get sick, the
death
rate is still one per person. The fact is the great Apostle Paul knew
nothing of Word Faith teaching (nor did any of the other Apostles).
We must remember where they (Apostles) received their
instructions and
teachings from - namely, our Lord.
Thus, since these teachings did not come from the Apostles and did not
come from our Lord, where did they originate? We find the answer to
this question in the book of Timothy. Listen to Paul's words:
"But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will
fall away from the faith, paying attention to
deceitful spirits
and
doctrines
of demons..." (1 Tim.4:1). Please,
these are not my words but Paul under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit. It's simple if one's teachings are NOT from God then they are
from deceitful spirits and can only be described as "the doctrine of
demons."
CONCERNING:
THE SON OF GOD
JOYCE MEYER'S SAYS
I once heard a brilliant Bible teacher state, "if
you are
wrong about the nature of God then none of your other theology
matters." Why would he make a statement like that? This powerful truth
was made because if one is wrong about who God is then that God cannot
save you.. What one sees within the teachings of Ms. Meyers is a Jesus
that is different from that of the
Scriptures. Listen to her very words:
"When Jesus
was experiencing the most intense pressure of His life, He decided that
it would be wise not to open His mouth. Why? I
believe it was because
He realized that in His humanity, He would have been tempted to do the
same thing you and I are tempted to do—doubt, question God,
complain,
or say something negative." (Joyce Meyer, Enjoying
Everyday Life Magazine, "Crossing Over to the Other Side" May 2004)
THE
BIBLE'S REPLY
The
fact is
one only need to peruse the Scriptures to see how the Son of God
responds under pressure. For example, in Matthew 4 where our Lord is
confronted by the Devil himself, how does He respond? Does he respond
as Ms. Meyers suggest with doubt, questioning God , complaining or
something negative? No he responds by quoting the Word of God. Another
example can be seen in Luke 22 where Jesus was in the garden (in
agony). And how does our Lord respond? The text clearly says, "...he
was praying..." (Lk.22:44). In fact even the next verse says, "When he
rose from prayer (v.45), He then went to the disciples and found them
asleep and advised them to "get up and pray." For those who are not
convinced allow me to suggest one more example from Scripture. Here we
shall bring together two sections of Scripture Mark 15 and
Luke
23. The passage in Mark is adequately described by noted
theologian Mark Taylor, when he states, "The depths of the saying are
too deep to be plumbed, but the least inadequate interpretations are
those which find in it a sense of desolation in which
Jesus felt the horror of
sinso
deeply that for a time the closeness of His communion with the
Father was obscured" (The Gospel According to St. Mark). The reality is
this, even while upon the cross, under the threat of emminent death and
even worse momentary separation from the Father, Jesus did not even for
one moment doubt or question God. It is clear from Scripture
that
even while he is in
agony He quotes Psalm 22:1. Noted Bible teacher and scholar Tom
Constable comments on this passage stating: " That is why He expressed
His agony of separation as a question. Jesus was not asking God for an
answer. As Jesus used this verse, it expressed an affirmation of His
relationship to God as His Father and an acknowledgment that the Father
had abandoned Him. God abandoned Jesus in the judicial sense that He
focused His wrath on the Son (cf. 14:36). Jesus bore God's curse and
His judgment for sin (cf. Deut. 21:22-23; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13). God,
who cannot look on sin (Hab. 1:13), turned His back, so to speak, on
Jesus who bore that sin in His own body on the cross. Jesus experienced
separation from God when He took the place of sinners (10:45; Rom. 5:8;
1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18). (comments from Dallas Theological Seminary classs
notes on The Gospel of Mark, 2007).
JOYCE MEYER'S SAYS
“And
in Luke 23:43, Jesus said unto him, ‘I say unto you today you
shall be in paradise with me.’ There’s no
punctuation in
the original translations of the Bible. We have punctuated it and in
this particular Scripture it was punctuated wrong. They put in there:
‘I say unto you comma today you shall be in paradise with
me’ making it appear that the minute Jesus died on the cross
He
went straight to paradise. No, no, no. He did not. The way it should
read is: ‘I say unto you today comma. I’m telling
you
today. Today I’m telling you that you are going to be in
paradise
with me.’ But He didn’t say,
‘You’re going to
be there today.’ He said, ‘I’m telling
you this
today.’” (Joyce Meyer, From the Cross to the Throne)
THE
BIBLE'S REPLY
Now
I want you think for a second about what Ms. Meyers has said;
"There’s
no
punctuation in the
original translations of the Bible. We have punctuated it
and in this
particular Scripture
it
was punctuated wrong.
Let me ask a simple question, if there was no
puncuation
as Ms. Meyers maintains, then how can it be punctuated wrong? The fact
is the punctuation is in the original and has been respresented as such
by at least twenty-five popular Bible transaltions (such as: ASV, BBE,
DBY, DRA, ESV, GNV, KJG, KJV, MRD, NAB, NAS, NAU, NIB, NIV, NJB, NKJV,
NLT, NRS, PNT, RSV, RWB, WEB, and YLT, jsut to mention a few). So the
question that must be asked is this, who will you believe, Ms. Meyers
or The Word of God?
Note:
Having thus
spoken Jesus handed over (Gr. paredoken) His spirit toFather (cf. Luke
23:46) and bowed His head in peaceful death. Again, the question must
be asked, who will you believe, Ms. Meyers or The Word of God?
Please remember there is no middle ground .You cannot support both, its
one or the other!
JOYCE MEYER'S SAYS
“Jesus
paid on the cross and
in hell.” “Jesus took your place in
hell.” “Jesus went to hell for
you.” “Jesus said,
‘It is finished.’ And He meant the Old
Covenant. The job He had to do was just getting
started. He really
did the job the three days and nights that He was in hell.
That’s
where the job was done” “He was pronounced guilty
on the cross but He
paid the price in hell.” (Joyce Meyer, From the Cross to the
Throne)
In her book The Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make - August,
1991 edition First Printing Joyce writes, “During that time
He
entered hell, where you and I deserved to go (legally) because of our
sin. He paid the price there. ...no plan was too extreme. ... Jesus
said on the cross and in hell.” she continues.... God rose up
from His throne and said to demon powers tormenting the sinless Son of
God, 'Let Him go.' Then the resurrection power of Almighty God went
through hell and filled Jesus. ...He was resurrected from the dead -
the first born-again man. (p. 35- 36)
THE
BIBLE'S REPLY
The
question that
must be asked is simply this, where in the Bible does it say that Jesus
paid our price in hell? Please remember that it was on the
cross
that Jesus said "It is finished" (Jn.20:30).
The phrase "It is finished" (Gr. tetelestai) is a cry of victory. Dr.
Constable elaborates more fully: "The verb teleo denotes
the completion of a task.
Jesus was not just announcing that He was about to die. He was also
declaring proleptically that He had fulfilled God's will for Him (cf.
17:4). The use of the perfect tense here signifies proleptically that
Jesus had finished His
work of providing redemption completely and that it
presently
stands
finished.
Nothing more needed or needs doing. This finished work of Jesus Christ
is the basis for our salvation (cf. 2 Cor. 5:21)." (see: DTS class
notes). Dr. Edwin Blum gives us further insight into the meaning of
this phrase by describing its historical significance, he states:
"Papyri receipts for taxes have been recovered with the word tetelestai
written across them, meaning '
paid in full.'"
(The Bible Knowledge Commentary, John, p.340).
Note: Other questions that must be asked of Ms. Meyers (and other Word
Faith proponents):
1. Where does it say (verses please) that Jesus "paid the price there"
in hell?
2. Where does it say (verses please) that "demons were tormenting the
sinless Son of God" in hell?
3. Where does it say (verses please) that Jesus was "the first
born-again man"?
JOYCE MEYER'S SAYS
“Jesus died as our substitute. He who knew no sin was made to
be sin. He took upon himself
our sin nature.
And he died- he was separated and cut off from God. He went down into
the prison house of suffering in our place. He was there for three days
and nights” (Made Alive, The word of faith Apr. 15, 1982)
THE
BIBLE'S REPLY
Most
of what has
been described above has been answered previously, so instead of
rehashing the same information we must examine yet another
teaching of Ms. Meyers. Thus the question before us is this, did Jesus
take upon Himself "our sin nature" as Word Faith teachers profess? The
answer to this question is amazing clear according to the writer of the
book of Hebrews for he writes: "For we have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all
points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin".
The
choice is quite simple, one can believe Ms. Meyers who
said that Jesus has/had a sin nature or the Scriptures that says He is
without sin.
Queston: Who will you believe, Ms. Meyers or The Word of God?
CONCERNING:
MAN
JOYCE MEYER'S SAYS
"You know, I was listening to a set of tapes by one man and he
explained it like this, and I think this kind of gets the point across,
he said, ‘Why do people have such a fit about God calling His
creation, His man—not His whole creation, but His
man—little gods? If He’s God,
what’s He going
to call them but the god-kind?’ I mean, if you as a
human
being have a baby, you call it a human kind. If cattle has
another cattle, they call it cattle-kind. So, I mean,
what’s God supposed to call us? Doesn’t
the Bible say
we’re created in his image? Now, you understand I
am not
saying you are God with a capital G." (Joyce Meyer,
"Authority
and Opposition," Tape 1236. Article, "What Joyce
Wants
Joyce Gets")
THE
BIBLE'S REPLY
Ms.
Meyers
presents us with an interesting question, "What's God supposed to call
us?" This reminds me of that old saying, "if it looks like a
duck
and quacks like a duck it's probably a duck." Well allow me to rephrase
it slightly, "If it looks like a sinner and acts like a sinner it's
probably a sinner." And that's what God calls us!
Now, what Word Faith teachers like Ms. Meyers (and others such as
Kenneth Copeland, Eddie Long, Creflo Dollars, etc.,) what to
do
is refer to themselves as "gods". But there's a slight problem
(actually the problem is as big as eternity and is this). The Bible
says there is only one God (Deut.6:4, Isa.44:6; 45:5; 1 Cor.8:6; 1
Tim.2:5). While one can make "a god" out of anything (food,
power, position, status) the Bible clearly warns us to stay away from
people and teachings that may lure us into false worship (see Deut.8:9;
13:3; 18:20-22).
Question: Whom will you follow, Ms. Meyers or The Word of God?
CONCERNING:
SALVATION
JOYCE MEYER'S SAYS
"There
is no hope of anyone going to heaven unless they believe this truth I
am presenting. You cannot go to heaven unless you believe
with
all your heart that Jesus took your place in hell."
(Joyce
Meyer, "The Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make," Booklet, page
37, 1991 edition)
"To be born
again you
must believe:...He went to hell in your place and gained victory there,
triumphing over the enemy (Acts 2:21)." (Joyce Meyer, "The Most
Important Decision You Will Ever Make," Booklet, page 35-36, 2003
edition
"You can't
necessarily get a hold of the gospel with your mind. You feel
when it's right in here." (Joyce Meyer, "What Does
Your Future Hold" May 21, 2004)
THE
BIBLE'S REPLY
Question,
does the Bible say; "To be born again you
must believe:...He (Jesus)went to hell in your place?
This is a very serious issue. Please allow me to explain why. The
Apostle Paul in 1 Cor.15 explains precisely what the gospel is, he
says: "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel
which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you
stand, by
which also you are saved,
if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed
in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also
received, that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on
the
third day according to the Scriptures..." (1 Cor.15:1-4).
The fact is Paul knew nothing of the gospel which Word Faith teachers
are promoting today. Listen to Paul as he warns of
teaching
or spreading a different (which means false) gospel, he writes:
"I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by
the grace of Christ, for a
different gospel; which is really not another; only there
are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of
Christ. But even though we, or an angel from heaven,
should preach to you a
gospel contrary to that which we have preached
to you, let
him be accursed."
Question: How many gospels are there? Since there is only one (true)
gospel (and many false gospels), the question that must be asked is
this, how were the people in the Old Testament (before the cross)
saved? The Bible clearly teaches that all mankind are saved
the
same way, by grace through faith. Faith in what? Faith in Christ!
CONCERNING:
THE DEVIL
JOYCE MEYER'S SAYS
"You
have to talk back to the Devil. One of the most important
things
you can learn to do is talk back to the Devil. And We'll talk
about that a little bit more tomorrow. But I want you to
listen
to me, I do it everyday of my life. Everyday of my life."
(Joyce
Meyer, "Mind, Mouth, Moods, and Attitudes," tape 1 of 4 the "Mind")
"Now here's
where I'm
telling you---I don't have Bible to back this up---I'm telling you this
man's experience. We do have Scriptures to back up that there
are
ranks and orders of demons, okay? But he tells us what some
of
them look like, and so on and so forth. I can't prove that
and
have no reason to believe he's lying. Matter of fact, I bear
witness with what he says."
(Joyce
Meyer, PFO Quarterly Journal, April-June 2002, page 7)
THE
BIBLE'S REPLY
Are
believers
suppose to "talk back to the Devil?" For the person that
would
answer
this in the affirmative either they are seriously over confident (in
themselves) or truly under estimate the Advasary. The Scriptures teach
that man was created a little lower than the angels. Knowing the
strength and ability of the angels I am reminded of a number of
Scriptures. First let me draw your attention to Jude 9, where Michael
confronts "the devil" but dared not argue with him (over the Body of
Moses) . Why? Because he knew that he was no match against Satan! Now,
if Michael was no match against the Devil, then do you really think
that you (even as a believer) are greater than Michael?
Furthermore, believers are never commanded to talk to the Devil but
instead
are commanded to "resist the Devil and he will flee from you"
(Js.4:7). The word "resist" means to "take a stand against" (A.T.
Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, VI, p.52) This does not
mean that you are supposed to talk back to him but rather that you are
to affirm
the truths of God in your spirit. You are not to doubt, deny,
disregard, or disobey the Word of God (cp. Gen.3 and Matt.
4).
