-Are you
paying attention-
Joyce has been honest about her struggle with health
and about her fight with breast cancer and getting surgery. Over the years
since her popularity has grown her appearance has also changed through cosmetic
surgery. She disdains any criticism of her wearing jewelry, having a large
and expensive wardrobe and even her teaching men. The rationale is that money
spent on her appearance, changing her hair color, etc. is acceptable for her
being in the public and should not to be confused with vanity.
At 60 years of age she has become a very
popular speaker. She certainly is one of the best-known and best-paid TV preachers (especially
for women). Her ministry revenues have steadily increased
from 1998 where they took in 40 million, to 1999 they brought in 55 million, to
2000 70 million, to 2001 near 80 million, to 2002 near 90 million. Today her
Life in the Word organization estimates to take in $95 million this year. The
ministry says it spends about 10 percent - $880,000 a month - on charitable
works around the globe.
Her ministry is now a
multimillion-dollar organization with 500 employees with offices in Europe and
South Africa. "The ministry's headquarters, built a year and a half ago by
Wichita-based R. Messner Construction Co. Inc. for $19 million." Meyers ministry reaches out to the world through satellite, cable and the Internet. Charisma
article a number of years ago pointed out she is on 600 radio and television
stations -selling nearly three million tapes and close to a million books last
year (Charisma). 4 million cassettes are produced annually and at the cost of $6 each,
according to a Joyce Meyer Ministries pamphlet, which accounts for $24 million
in revenues, her Web site bring an average $8 million a month to her ministry. (Reference-Joyce Meyer's message: Give to me and God gives to you By Carolyn Tuft and Bill Smith St. Louis
Post-Dispatch)
Meyer's house, the largest of the five, is a 10,000-square-foot
Cape Cod style estate home with a guest house and a garage that can be
independently heated and cooled and can hold up to eight cars. The three-acre
property has a large fountain, a gazebo, a private putting green, a pool and a
poolhouse where the ministry recently added a $10,000 bathroom."
(Article
on Joyce Meyers, 11/15/2003, St. Louis Post Dispatch
At times she can come off with a sense of humor and is
witty and clever, but other times haughty and even snippy with sharing her life
experiences. One needs their discernment turned on when listening to her
teaching lest they take in the unhealthy concepts she is delivering. And
these are certainly incorporated in her teaching if one listens carefully.
“I’m going to tell
you something folks, I didn’t stop sinning until I finally got it through my
thick head I wasn’t a sinner anymore. And the religious world thinks that’s
heresy and they want to hang you for it. But the Bible says that I’m righteous
and I can’t be righteous and be a sinner at the same time.”
“Now whether you like it or not, whether you want to
admit it or not, whether you want to operate on it or not, you are made the
righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Most people who go to
One does not have to be part of the religious world
to believe this, the Bible actually says this and it certainly is not from the
pit of hell. The Bibles definition of sin is anything falling short of
perfection. One of the words for sin is Harmatia -- missing the mark or
target and hitting another is the most common explanation. To keep the law
perfect means to have a bullseye every time. No one can do this. “Everything
that does not come from faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23). Knowing good and not
doing it is sin (James 4:17). Not doing what should be done is sin. To
sin means one is a sinner.
Of course one can be righteous and be a sinner
at the same time, because it is not our righteousness but Christ's. John makes
it clear (I Jn. 1:8-10) “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His
word is not in us.” John refutes the error that we have no sin nature, by using
the word sin in the singular. It is not just the committal of sin but the
principle of sin, he is referring to sin of every description. To those who
profess to have become perfectly sanctified, and to live without any sin, John
says If we say that we have no sin, we live in self deception,
“and the truth is not in us.”
We are called righteous and even saints as Peter
points out 1 Pet 4:18 “Now If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the
ungodly and the sinner appear?” Even though we are covered with Christ’s
righteousness our sin remains, we have a sin nature that has not been
removed. No saint ever claimed this pure spiritual condition. Not
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Not Job, Moses, David, Peter, John, or Paul. None
were absolutely perfect, they were all guilty of acts of sin? They
never affirmed themselves as not being a sinner. The Bible does not teach that
ALL Christians are perfect or no longer sinners. Paul said he was the chief of
sinners and continued to do what he did not want to at times. “But now, it is
no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me” (Rom. 7:17)
James explains in Jms.4:17 “Therefore, to
him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James explains
“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is
full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren”
(Jm.1:14-16).
Word Faith teaching
Meyer, in her book, writes, “Words are
containers for power” (The Name, The Word, The Blood, p. 37). This is
typical Copeland/ Hagin faith talk. She has promoted this as well on her TV
broadcast. “Prov.18:21 this could be a life hanging scripture “death and
life are in the power of the tongue. And they who indulge in it shall eat the
fruit of it for death or life.” The ad following for her audio series “Is your
mouth saved.” the advertisement says we all have the ability to speak life or
death to not only other people but to ourselves as well. “Will help you to take
inventory of what you’ve been saying and begin speaking faith filled words that
will bring to pass God's good plan for your life.” (May 14, 2000 LeSea
broadcasting)
“But you cannot throw out positive
confession, and you cannot throw out all the faith teachers, and you cannot
throw out positive thinking. And you cannot get rid of those kinds of
things because they're in the Bible from one end of it to the other.”
Meyers was at the Mega Fest 2004 with:
Creflo Dollar, Paula White, Juanita Bynum, Bishop Eddie Long, and Bishop T. D.
Jakes.
By the way: Dollar believes we are little
gods as does Eddie Long. Bynum thinks she is a prophetess who can pass on the
anointing to anything she wants. T. D. Jakes does not believe in the Trinity
and teaches psychology. White is a prosperity teacher who has a mixture of
various aberrant trendy doctrines. The word faith associations do rub off on
her teachings; this is why she is comfortable to be speaking with these people.
“I don't want to spend my whole life
talking about the Promised Land without ever getting there. I want to live in
it ”(Joyce Meyer, “What Does Your Future Hold” May 21, 2004) This means
accumulating wealth and living the good life now according to her own message.
She makes her position clear by saying “words are
containers for power they carry creative or destructive power positive or
negative power so we need to be speaking right things over our lives
and about our futures if we expect to have good things happen because what you
say then is what you probably end up having tomorrow. We need to warfare
with words. I believe that praise and worship is warfare. We talked about this
last night, how when we are praising and worshipping God that there's actually
a, an odor that comes off of us that is offensive to the enemy. And I don’t
know if you ever had the opportunity to smell a demon possessed person but I
have, and I tell you it is a stench; and I was saying about that this morning
and I thought you know people that are demon possessed have an offensive odor
to me and I’m glad because I am holy ghost possessed that I’ve got an offensive
odor to the devil.” (broadcasted on the Bible Answerman Jan.2003)
Despite the concept of words being in control, there
have been many who have overcome some very unhealthy lives whether they be
words spoken about them or where they came from. There is nothing in
scripture that they have an offensive odor except if they have not taken a
bath, and those who are not demon possessed would smell the same way without a
bath as well. And yes, I have had the opportunity to smell and converse
with demonized people and one cannot immediately tell by smell.
“Sowing and reaping is a spiritual law...Sow
generously and you will reap generously.”
“We need to claim as much of that
inheritance as we possibly can...One of the things you can do right now is
speak positive things about your future right now.”
She says “I've got to keep the anointing on my life.
I can't keep it on my life unless I'm a giver” (May 14, 2000) (insinuating
money and other things). Clearly this is a word faith view. Jesus said he would
never leave nor forsake us, poor or rich, giving or not.
Speaking about trials she apologizes and states
“that’s not a negative confession, I’m not cursing your life” (Life
in the Word Mar.6 2003 Lesea Broadcasting)” This shows her word faith influence
of not speaking negatively.
She also has some interesting views on warfare
“Several years ago I found myself completely worn out from trying to fight the
devil. I learned many 'methods' of spiritual warfare; however, they did not
seem to be working ... I had fallen into the trap that many Christians fall
into. I had the right teaching, but the wrong order ... I was feverishly
applying methods I had learned - like fasting and prayer ... rebuking and
resisting evil spirits ... empty formulas which wear us out and produce no
results except maybe a sore throat” (The Word, The Name, The Blood, pp.
28, 32, 33 reference PFO article January-March 1996).
“Our warfare is a supernatural warfare you don’t
fight the devil the same way you would a natural war. The weapons of our
warfare are not carnal they’re not natural weapons but their mighty through God
to the pulling down of strongholds. One of the reasons why I tell you talk back
to the devil is because the word of God is supernatural weapon it is a
spiritual weapon…”
Do we fight the devil or do we stand in Christ and
he is to flee?
“Now spirits don't have bodies, so we can't see them. Okay? There
probably is, I believe there is, and I certainly hope there is several angels
up here this morning that are preaching with me. I believe that right before I
speak some anointed statement to you, that one of them bends over and says in
my ear what I'm supposed to say to you.”
This
is more than concerning and not comforting to hear that Joyce has spirits
(angels) speak to her. When she is supposed to be hearing from the Holy Spirit
who leads a teacher into the word
She
also practices “Pain is a spirit. When it gets on your body, tell it to
leave.” ( Joyce Meyers, From the Cross to the Throne, audio
tape, sermon recorded at Life Christian Center in Saint Louis, Mo -referenced
from Personal Freedom Outreach).
On the subject of the blood of Jesus she does say
some things that are correct, but she also uses the blood in an unbiblical
manner. She writes, “One of the ways we can honor the blood is by singing about
it, talking about it, studying about it and meditating on it” (p. 100). Where
does the Bible teach or even hint as such a thing, we don’t honor the blood apart
from the person we honor, the person it flowed from. While it is good to study
what the blood can do and the Old Testament types, she goes beyond anything the
Scripture states. For example
This is wrong use of the blood of Christ. Jesus is
our high priest who applied the blood to our lives when we believe in faith on
his Atonement (Eph.1:7; Col. 1:14) we cannot apply the blood over
anything. We do not handle the blood, our high priest Jesus does. It is applied
to those who are recipients of salvation (Heb.10:19-22). His blood was
applied only to those who have faith in the atonement of Christ. It has
to do with our forgiveness and cleansing of sin and a guilty conscience, not to
fight demons. (for more on pleading
the blood) We don't see any Christian plead the blood against demons in the
Scripture. This is strictly a modern Charismatic tradition.
“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)
This
is the same wrong argument you get from a Jehovah’s Witness except she is
trying to prove that Jesus went to hell not paradise (the good side in Hades).
“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.”
(From the Cross to the Throne Joyce Meyer, audio tape)
In her book The Most Important Decision You Will
Ever Make - August, 1991 edition First Printing
“Jesus paid on the cross and in hell.” “Jesus
took your place in hell.” “Jesus went to hell for you.”
While the Bible teaches Jesus descended into Hades
(not hell) he did not pay a price there, he descended victoriously.
She goes on to say
this emphatic statement “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
Meyers, the Most important decision You will ever make 1991).
Either Jesus' work was finished on the cross or he
has lied and should have correctly stated “it is continued” and said after he
raised it is finished. If Jesus finished his work of salvation in hell and not
on the cross then we have a different gospel presented. When we take communion
it is pointing to the work of our salvation paid at the cross.
Personal Freedom
Outreach reported that, “A pastor at whose church Meyer was to speak told her
about serious concerns he had about her booklet. As a result, she has revised
parts of it.” But the revisions did not affect this teaching of the Born Again
Jesus.
“...the Father filled His spirit again. For three
days He was alone paying for our sins as “only a man.” The price had to be paid
by someone just like us.” (p. 38,) “He went to hell to pay the debt you owed.”
(p. 41)
Her view has been held for some years and is not new
“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)
To make matters worse she strangely echoes Kenneth
Copeland's view “…All the hosts of hell was [sic] upon Him. Upon Him.
They got on Him. They got Him down in the floor and got on Him. And
they were laughing and mocking.” “Sunday morning, here comes the
Son. Sunday morning, God gets Himself together. Ho, hoooo.
Justice has been met, somehow the thing's been taken care of. And ol' God
gets His voice together and He hollers out three words and they go roaring
through the universe and entering the gates of hell. He said, 'It
is enough! It is enough!” (audio tape, From the Cross to the Throne,
sermon recorded at Life Christian Center in Saint Louis, Mo.] reference1999 -
Personal Freedom Outreach).
Anyone who removes our salvation by the way of the
cross is teaching another gospel (Gal.1:6-9, 2Cor.11:3-4). Doesn’t matter how
much wisdom they appear to show, how funny they may be or what you seem to get
from their teachings- it is another gospel.
If Meyer's would remove herself from the faith
movement she may have a healthier and more correct teaching on the core
doctrines.
“It amazes me, and not only does it amaze me, it
aggravates me. These people who think they've got a ministry of exposing what's
wrong with everybody else...Why is it that people think that it's their call to
go around and find out what's wrong with everybody else and print it? Do you
know when people were trying to stop Jesus, finally some very wise man said,
'Why don't you just leave us alone? If it's of God, you're not gonna stop it.
And if it's not God, it won't last too long anyway.' Hallelujah! I mean, that's
just the way I feel about it” (Like a Mighty Wind, Joyce Meyer).
Let me answer her statement by saying that some
people do ask questions and we have every right to examine ones teachings that
are spoken publicly to see if they are right or wrong. It's not that ministries
are looking for what is wrong but are trying to watch out for the brethren who
are babes in Christ and those who are naive and don't know any better,
especially in this time of deception. Let me put this another way, what is with
these teachers that think they can say ANYTHING they want publicly and not
allow anyone to examine whether it is correct or not. If she spoke what
is right (such as on the atonement and word faith teachings) there would be
nothing she needs to be concerned about. However, her using Gamaliel's argument
shows how non-biblical her source for validation is. Gamaliel did not make up
his own mind on following Jesus as the Messiah. Gamaliel was not a wise man, he
was not saved nor was this Godly wisdom, for God tells us to test all things
not let them be. Joyce should know this. But maybe she doesn't want to
know this.
pt.2
Meyers prosperity message