Tag Archive: idolatry

Say What?! Serious Errors of the “Decree & Declare” Doctrine – Part 2

I love watching Cirque du Soleil. The physical agility of these performers – no, athletes – is incredible. The way they spin and twirl and twist and contort, barely breaking a sweat, sometimes I shake my head in disbelief. No, they did not just do that! How in the world?!

I feel the same way about preachers of “decreeing and declaring.” Except for the love part. Of course, I love them, but I hate what they do. Hate it. The way they spin and twirl and twist and contort God’s Holy Word to make it say what they want it to say, barely sweating it as they do, it makes me shake my head, it’s so unbelievable. No, they did not just do that! How in the world?!

In this Part 2 of looking at serious errors of the “Decree & Declare” doctrine (see Part 1: “Abracadabra“), I examine seven major Scriptures preachers and practitioners take out of context to try to support it. As I do, please keep the following in mind:

Context is so important. It is a crucial tool for accurately interpreting and understanding anything we hear or read, not just the Bible. It’s something we learn starting with reading comprehension classes in elementary school, because it helps give the who, what, when, where, why and how of what we hear or read.

Anyone who doesn’t consider context is at a serious disadvantage. Anyone who knowingly ignores context, or thinks it only matters sometimes, or refuses to be corrected by it, is without excuse.

For context in the Bible, every verse should be read and understood in light of the verses before it and after it. Also, any one part of the Scriptures should be read and understood in light of all the rest of the Scriptures.

With proper context in mind, then, we will see how just a cursory examination of seven major Bible verses (in chronological order here) will reveal how much “decreers and declarers” put their own spin and twist on it to make God say what He really hasn’t said. Say what?!

1. Job 22:28a – You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you.

This statement was made by Eliphaz (verse 1), who was suggesting that Job was suffering because he had turned away from God (verses 1-22), and if he would just return to Him, Job’s life would change (verses 23-30) – with successful “decreeing” being one of the benefits (verse 28).

The problem here is that Eliphaz was actually being presumptuous! Job was in fact blameless, as clearly stated in Chapter 1 by God Himself (verses 1 and 8). Furthermore, later in the Book of Job God rebukes Eliphaz, telling him (Job 42:7-9), My wrath is kindled against you…because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has…”

Even if we pretend that Eliphaz’s specific statement about “decreeing” in and of itself is not wrong, his credibility is now suspect. Why would Christians latch on to any statement made by someone God rebuked so severely?

2. Proverbs 6:2 – You are snared by the words of your mouth; you are taken by the words of your mouth.

I remember a member of Crenshaw Christian Center once told me he wouldn’t pray for a foot condition I had because, as long as I was “confessing” that I had it, it would keep “manifesting.” He then pulled out his notes from church and quoted Proverbs 6:2. When I asked him for the context, he basically said, “Well, how much context can there be since this is only the second verse?”

Come on, Christians! Use the fundamentals of reading comprehension you learned all through school! I’m sorry, but really?!

Forget the fact even his “apostle” has rightly taught that the original manuscripts of the Bible were not written with chapter and verse divisions. Verses 1 through 5 make it very plain the context of Proverbs 6:2 is a warning about the problems associated with making indiscriminate pledges (promises or oaths) that can put us in difficult situations.

The lesson is not about the power of our literal words but about the potential outcome of our contractual agreements. In this case, words of agreement are just like shaking hands on it (verse 1). It is a sign of sealing the deal, nothing more. In that sense only is how our words can snare us.

3. Proverbs 18:21 – The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Like many sections of Proverbs, this verse is part of a list of wise sayings that don’t directly relate to each other. The context tells us when a verse stands alone and when it goes with the surrounding verses (such as Proverbs 6:2 discussed above). Even if a verse such as Proverbs 18:21 stands alone, we can and should still consider it in the context of the rest of Scripture.

Those who take Proverbs 18:21 in the literal sense – “speak life into your circumstances, not death!” – are reading into it what they already want to believe, instead of taking out of it what God intended. And what God intended is just the common sense wisdom that the attitude, intentions and tone of the things we say with our mouths can have good or bad outcomes; and if you love to talk but aren’t careful about who hears (including God, who hears everything), there will be consequences.

Nothing about Proverbs 18:21 tells us to take the verse literally instead of figuratively, and the rest of the full counsel of God’s Word (i.e., context) helps us to see we don’t have to.

4. Mark 11:23b – …he shall have whatever he says.

I’m only providing the part of the verse quoted the most by lay Christians and some preachers who affirm “decreeing and declaring.” For example, once I sneezed and said I was catching a cold and my brother (see “Jesus Died for This?“) told me, “See, you said it, now you’re going to catch one!” That’s preposterous.

But to be fair, they base it on the whole verse, which says, For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, ‘Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea;’ and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he says. In other words, proponents conclude, “You have what you say!”

It’s easy to see why they interpret the verse this way. Jesus, our Master and Teacher, is talking here, teaching His closest disciples, and He is clearly saying we can move mountains and have anything we ask for if we believe.

But in light of the broader context of this verse, as well as the fuller context of all the Scriptures, having whatever we believe and speak is not the lesson Jesus wants His followers, including us, to walk away with. The lesson is about faith (verse 24) and, more specifically, to have faith in God (verse 22). It’s about trusting our Heavenly Father to the point that even mountains could be moved.

Mark 11:23 is not about having faith in our faith, faith in our uttered words, or faith in some formula that’s supposed to somehow guarantee the desired outcome as long as we work it right.

Proponents counter that verse 22 should really be translated or interpreted to read, not “Have faith in God” but “Have the faith of God.” From there, they then spin it into “Have faith like God.” And then from there they take this giant leap and twist it into, “Have the God-kind of faith.” How in the world?!

Here again, they contort God’s precious and perfect Word into the impossible. They miss the fact that having the faith “of God” is easily interpreted to mean having the faith which comes from God, that is imparted to us by God. This interpretation agrees with such passages as Romans 12:3-8 about how even our faith is given to us by the grace and purpose of Almighty God to do His will and not our own.

Besides, there is no such thing as the “God-kind of faith” because God by His very nature does not operate by faith. If God has faith, it is only in the sense that He has it to give to us. Here’s why: Faith in the Greek (the original language of the New Testament) is a firmly relying confidence, a conviction based on hearing and not on sight or knowledge.

So, if God exercises His own faith, whom did He hear it from? Whoever it is would have to be greater than He, because that person would obviously have to know more than Him. Which in turn would mean the God of the Bible would not be the Supreme God. (But He is.) Furthermore, what is it that God doesn’t see or know, since He’s omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful) and omnipresent (present everywhere)?

5. Romans 4:17 – …calls those things which be not as though they were.

I didn’t quote the whole verse again because proponents of “decreeing and declaring” don’t; and those who do still take it out of context or collapse context with other Scriptures that are equally out of context. That is, they stick different verses together to try to show how they support each other, but to do so they have to take each separate verse or passage out of its own proper context. It’s like putting square pegs into round holes.

The broader context of Romans 4:17 is about how Abraham was a great example of faith in God. The immediate sub-context is how powerful the God he had faith in is, that He has the awesome power (ability) and authority to call those things which do not exist as though they did; that is, to cause things to come into existence. Such as giving life to the dead, as the full verse says.

Nowhere in this verse or in the context of this verse does it say, imply or instruct that man has that same power or authority. It is God who can create something from nothing, not man, not even faith-filled Christians. This verse even by itself can’t be any clearer on that fact.

Proponents counter that, yes, Romans 4:17 clearly says it’s God who calls things into existence, no argument there. But then they’ll add that we can indeed do it, too. This is where collapsing context comes in.

They’ll go to Genesis 1:26 (if they know where to look) and other Old and New Testament Scriptures to point out that we are made in God’s image and that we are to be like Christ. They’ll also use John 14:12, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. But they don’t have any way to support the grand leap of logic it takes to go from A) being made in His image (He’s a Person, we are persons) and B) we will do greater works than Jesus did all the way to Z) we can bring things into existence.

I stand by the perpetuity of spiritual gifts; my position is that God still uses the faithful to heal the sick and even raise the dead if He chooses to. But it is as He wills, not as we will (e.g., 1 John 5:14). Being conformed to the image of Christ is not about being little gods (sorry, Creflo Dollar and Kenneth Copeland) but being holy, humble, loving, truthful, wise, merciful, gracious, kind, spiritually fruitful, ready to do good works, not magic tricks. Yeah, decree and declare those things!

In fact, if we can really call those things that be not as though they were just like Jesus could, and since Jesus raised people from the dead, why isn’t there more decreeing and declaring to raise people from the dead today, such as precious children who die of cancer, neglect or abuse?

6. 2 Corinthians 4:13 – And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke,’ we also believe and therefore speak.

The context here is the Apostle Paul referring to how he and his brethren were able to not lose heart through all their trials for the sake of the truth of the Gospel. Paul was not “decreeing and declaring” but simply and beautifully affirming how they were able to stay strong and encouraged, reciting a portion of Psalm 116:10 as a focal point to keep themselves on track with what was already established about the Kingdom of God.

Paul was just agreeing with what God had already ordained when He called them to the hard work of evangelism.

Besides, if 2 Corinthians 4:13 were about “decreeing and declaring,” then the whole chapter would be one huge negative confession! The “decreer and declarer” would have to conclude it’s why Paul and his co-laborers suffered as much as they did! But, of course, just a simple, objective (versus pre-conceived) reading of it reveals how encouraging and strengthening Paul’s words are, even for us today.

7. James 3:10 – Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.

This verse is making an observation, not giving an instruction for us to follow. It’s part of a larger lesson about the dual nature of man’s tongue – not that it has any creative power to “speak life” or “speak death” into our circumstances but that it tends to praise and offend, help and hurt, encourage and discourage, tell the truth and deceive, love and hate.

The context of James 3:10 is the lesson that we as Christians should (by God’s strength) tame what is so hard to tame. The purpose is not so that we will learn how to directly, literally “create” change in our circumstances. Rather, it is so that, just as much with our tongues as with every other vehicle for our attitudes and behavior, we will act like God’s obedient children and not like hypocrites. For example, we are to bless instead of curse; praise instead of ridicule; speak kindly instead of disrespectfully; know when to speak and when to shut up; and think before we speak so no one can call us a fool.

The real purpose for “Decreeing and Declaring”

Virtually every time I see someone decreeing and declaring, it’s for something they want or need for themselves in this life, or it’s a preacher “decreeing and declaring” over the lives of their fans – which makes that preacher even more popular and wealthy.

You can’t fill the pews with unpopular preaching, even if it’s biblical. Indeed, you’ll empty the pews by preaching about sin, hell, accountability, humility, repentance, suffering for Christ, bearing crosses, storing up treasures in heaven, looking out for the needs of others first, etc.

Should we pray for things in this life? Of course. God tells us to (e.g., Philippians 4:6). Should we expect our negative circumstances to change if we believe and ask God? Absolutely. Believe you receive, Jesus said. But we have to do so rightly, in accordance with His Word taken in proper context, in accordance with His will before our own, and for His glory only. Any purpose other than that, achieved by putting our own spin on God’s Word or twisting and contorting it to fit our own greed, is really self-centered idolatry.

“Decree & Declare” is a false doctrine

I hope this Part Two, and Part One, have helped you get a biblical understanding of why professing Christians should not practice “decreeing and declaring.” Please leave a comment and I will endeavor to respond at my earliest opportunity.

Bearing Fruit? Or Fashioning Idols?

Have you ever asked God to show you what you’re really like? Are you ready to see for yourself all that God already sees? I mean all of it – not just the good but also the bad and the ugly?

Can you ask God to show you the real you? After all, 1 John 5:14-15 promises He will give you whatever you ask according to His will, and why wouldn’t it be to let you see what He sees? Are you ready for that?

I’m reminded of the story at Luke 18:9-14 where Jesus contrasts the prayers of a prideful Pharisee and a humble publican. Pharisees in His day were a pious sect of the religious priesthood who enforced the Jewish people’s adherence to the Law of Moses. Publicans were tax collectors, considered traitors because they were Jews working for the detested ruling Roman government. Notice these differences Jesus points out between the two men:

Posture of Prayer: The prideful Pharisee stood. The humble publican stood “afar off” with his eyes looking down, and he beat his breast.

Content of Prayer: The prideful Pharisee boasted, “I’m not a sinner like other men…I fast regularly…I tithe…”. The humble publican first acknowledged that he was a sinner, and then asked for forgiveness and mercy.

Result of Prayer: The prideful Pharisee went home unjustified. The humble publican went home justified.

Jesus concluded (verse 14), Everyone who exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.

James 1:22-25 talks about how hearing but not also living by God’s Word is the same as taking a quick glance in a mirror and then immediately forgetting what you really saw, distorting your own perception of yourself.

Don’t we all hold up little compact mirrors to ourselves, just small enough to reflect only what we want to see? It’s easy to focus just on our good parts and then magnify them to ourselves, other people, and even to God. And aren’t the mirrors we hold up to others a lot bigger?

If your good parts are really good, then yes, even God is pleased. But pride makes you think disproportionately more, and more often, about yourself than you deserve. And it shows. You are preoccupied with appearing better than other people, often to the point of magnifying their faults and weaknesses just so you can build up yourself. You also measure your importance by the things of the world, such as popularity or material gain, more than by the things of your Heavenly Father (1 John 2:15-17), such as His unmerited favor.

Mark 7:20-23 reinforces the problem with pride, that the heart of a prideful person is what produces the evils that spoil him and ultimately lead to his shame. That’s why God hates it.

Since we all are tempted by pride to one extent or another and have all been guilty of it at one time or another in one way or another, we need to be like that humble publican and recognize it in ourselves, confess it and work to change it. And to ask your Heavenly Father, “Lord, show me what I’m really like” – now that’s a good hard look in a full-length mirror! God stands ready to do just that – to show you what you’re really like, with His pruning shears in hand!

You see, Jesus is the True Vine, we believers are the branches of that Vine, and the Heavenly Father is the Gardener (John 15:1-8; I encourage you to read this beautiful but sobering passage). Here’s what the True Vine says about our Heavenly Gardener in verse 2: He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

Part of what God wants to reveal and cut down in you are any areas of idolatry taking up space in your heart, mind and life.

In New Testament scripture, an “idol” is “an image, a phantom; an image in the mind, and then, the image of a god” (A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament, E.W. Bullinger; Kregel Publications; Grand Rapids, MI; 1908, 1999; p.395). In Webster’s dictionary, “idolatry” is blind or excessive adoration or devotion (www.Merriam-Webster.com).

Hmm. So idols are first formed in the mind, and then nurtured in the heart.

Well, God wants to cut them down. They spoil you and ultimately lead to your shame.

Historic accounts particularly in the Old Testament show that idols were actual symbolic icons of various God-made creatures such as animals or humans, formed out of God-made materials like gold and silver, shaped by the hand of men, originating out of their own imaginative inclinations and not from God who said, You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them… (Exodus 20:3-5a).

With that in mind, when asking God to show you the real you, ask yourself who’s really got a hold of the cutting tool. Is it God using His gardening shears to prune you to better spiritual health so that you can bear more fruit for His glory? Or are there also craftsman’s tools in your own hands, giving more and more idolatrous shape to any selfish or carnal feelings, ideas and ambitions of your own creation, or any popular celebrities, personalities, trends or other worldly distractions?

While God’s trying to prune you, are you also making icons? Are you bearing fruit, or fashioning idols?

You may not worship graven images of false, lifeless gods carved from wood, molded from clay, hewed from stone, or refined from fired gold. But maybe you’ve nurtured your desires, attitudes and habits about things and other people to the point that they’ve become like a god to you – a phantom image fashioned into an idol in your heart and mind, taking up space that should be completely devoted to Jesus Christ.

We all should recognize and then repent from all those ugly things that lurk beyond the surface of what we allow ourselves and others to see in us. Things such as pride, vanity, material gain, personal success, envy, resentment, self-righteousness, and self-centeredness; disproportionate devotion to people, trends or habits; or even pain, shame and sin – all the things we unwittingly build up like idols standing in the way of our devotion to and living for our awesome Heavenly Father.

When you’re ready to ask God to show you what you’re really like, be ready for Him to show you what “idols” He wants to cut down in you. Like an attentive and careful Gardener, His purpose is to improve you and nurture you so that you can truly flourish and bear lots of fruit, to His glory.

Candy

My youngest son was only two years old when he told his dad, “I hate the devil — but I don’t hate his candy!”  Somehow he was able to put together the evils of the devil and the “goodness” of candy — and still feel no shame!

Isn’t that typical of all us? Maybe not exactly like a two-year-old. But for all of us to some degree, personal pleasure is priority. This is reinforced at a lot of our user-friendly churches, too (the core message of the Prosperity “Gospel”).  Sure, we know the devil is bad. And sure, we know that often too much of a “good” thing is also bad. We may even know that the things that please us the most are sometimes the things that can hurt us the most.

But whether pastor or pew warmer, we still like what we like, and we still want what we like, and we still, most of us, go for what we like — with the added boost of the pastor’s teaching and lifestyle.

But how many of us also know, as my son seemed to have stumbled upon back then, that a lot of things we like most in this world are the very things the devil himself uses against us?

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…” (John 10:10a).  The devil wants your soul; and if he can’t have that because it already belongs to Christ, then he’ll kill your witness. Either way — and indeed with the help of many pastors, teachers, counselors, conference speakers, authors, prayer partners, song writers, life coaches and “reality” show celebrities — the devil’s tactic is to turn your eyes away from the things of God and toward the things of the world. Your heart and life will shortly follow (Matthew 6:19-21,24, NIV):

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Consider candy. It tastes great. And once you get a taste, you always want more. If allowed and without a balanced diet, you’ll eat it ’til you’re sick and toothless.

Same with the pleasures of life in this world. Aside from vices like drugs, our “candy” may be material wealth, attention, status, work, recreation, food, sex, whatever. There’s nothing wrong with wanting genuinely positive things in life, especially if they were purposefully created for our enjoyment within the proper context ordained by a loving God (e.g., sex in marriage). But leave it to the master of all deceit to distort priorities and pervert those things into objects for our overindulgence. ‘Cause once you get a taste, you always want more.

As one televangelist has wholeheartedly endorsed: “Too many houses, too many cars, too much money!”

Any overindulgence has its corresponding price. The more “candy” you consume without a proper balanced diet of God’s Word and without self-control, the more price you’ll have to pay. Your life will be fed to the full on “empty calories” with no real nourishment to sustain your spirit, bear good fruit and affect the lives of others for the sake of God’s eternal glory. You’ll indulge ’til your spirit gets sick and your witness lacks teeth.

As just one example, 1 Timothy 6:10 says (NIV), For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Consider this even more: The same warning we give our kids about don’t take candy from strangers should also apply in how we all make decisions for our lives (including what church to go to). This is true for non-Christians, as well. The devil entices us with all the various pleasures of this world until we’ve been lured right into his cleverly-disguised trap. He distracts and distorts and deceives until the saved become ineffective in this world and the unsaved remain eternally lost.

To prevent this, we all must be discerning and live by God’s will for our lives. As 1 John 2:15-17 shows us, “candy” corrupts, but God’s will is food for life:

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in Him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he that does the will of God abides forever.”

I’m Afraid of the Dark

I’m afraid of the dark. Not the kind that keeps little children awake at night, hiding under the covers.  The dark I’m talking about is real and is causing great harm to Christians, our families and our churches. 

The dark I’m talking about is spiritual darkness that saturates the world around us and has been seeping into our churches for generations, but today seems to be spreading like wildfire among us, and even within us, at an alarming rate.  

We do need to be aware and awake about it, not hiding under the covers from it but being vigilant against it. 

I think of what the Apostle Paul said at least three times in his second letter to the Christian church in Corinth – a bustling metropolis in his day that was very much like Los Angeles and other major cities around the world today. 

At least three times Paul told them, “I am afraid.”

First, he said he was afraid that the Corinthian Christians were falling for false doctrine (2 Corinthians 11:3-4). Then later he said he was afraid about their attitudes and lifestyles — specifically, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder (12:20). Then he said he was afraid he would find them in unrepentent impurity, sexual sin and debauchery (12:21). 

In all three instances, if I can say it this way, the Apostle Paul was afraid of the dark. 

He recognized the shadowy influences of the world – the lack of discernment, false doctrine, pride, lack of repentance, lack of self-control, and shameful carnality – that had found their way into the Corinthian church and the hearts of many of its members.  These things reveal spiritual darkness in any heart and church where it is tolerated.

Like Paul, we need to fight against it.

How?  First, by not being afraid of it like naïve little children who think putting the covers over our heads makes it go away, and by not being so ignorant or so self-absorbed into our own prosperity to think it’s those folks’ business or problem and not ours. 

Second, by letting the light of Jesus Christ shine brightly through us to the rest of the church and the world. 

In other words, let the Son shine!

The more that people and churches let their pastors shine, or their self-appointed apostles, or their ministries, or their contest-winning choirs, or their material wealth, or their vast memberships, or their “new revelations,” or their doctrinal “movements,” or their favorite talk show idols; and the more they tolerate marital infidelity, and financial manipulations, and back-biting, and deception, and heresy; and the more they put victims in bondage about forgiving without accountability, the less they shine the light of Christ to hurting, backsliding or fearful Christians, or to lost and dying souls. 

On the other hand, the more we fight against the darkness by trying to let the Son, Jesus Christ, shine through us – by our humility, brotherly love, sincere worship, good stewardship, biblical knowledge, Spirit-led wisdom, chaste lifestyles, edifying dialogues, sound doctrine, careful counseling, and good deeds – the more our precious, dark-destroying Lord will be glorified!

Do you think spiritual darkness has seeped into today’s Christian churches? To leave a comment, click on the article title or the number next to the comments icon just under the title, and then scroll down to the end.