Many Crosstalk listeners may be familiar with the Word of Faith movement. Within the Word of Faith camp, a main thread running through their theology is the belief that God wants us to be rich and prosperous.
That particular philosophy was in full bloom recently as Ingrid attended last Thursday's Word of Faith Inspiring Excellence Conference at Family Harvest Church, in Tinley Park near Chicago.
This edition of Crosstalk focused primarily on Word of Faith teacher and Trinity Broadcasting star, John Avanzini. He delivered a message that included various deceptive teachings. One was a twist on the concept of stones from the Bible. Also included was a teaching he called "reverse entrapment" supposedly derived from the story of Esther and Haman.
Through this reverse entrapment idea, Avenzini encouraged people to give to God using their credit cards. The basic idea is that giving in this way will entrap the creditors with the cards they create that entrap us. In other words, you actually "hang" your lenders when you give in this way.
People in attendance were then encouraged to put a gift the size of their house payment on their credit cards so things would "happen in the spirit world." If people didn't have a house, he told them to make a payment of $500 or more on their credit card toward the ministry. This would allegedly be a first step toward having God pay off mortgages and hence, help people get out of debt.
This mixture of truth and error preys on the poor. These false teachers know that the poor, looking for hope, are the ones with the greatest need and are the most likely to act and write a check, or in this case, use their credit card to provide an "offering."
Also included was information concerning Ray Comfort of Living Waters Ministries. Ray spoke at this conference and his response as to why he was in attendance was also part of Ingrid's presentation. Ingrid also discussed speaking with Bill Gothard prior to the program. Bill Gothard is scheduled to speak at this same church this Sunday, July 27, and his entire staff has been invited to attend as well.
Here you can find the full mp3 of the program along with the option to order it on cassette or CD and several other options for listening.:
http://www.crosstalkamerica.com/shows/2008/07/word_of_faith_false_teachings.php
http://www.crosstalkamerica.com
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