Believe & Deceive (ePub)

The title of the book is based on how the Word of Faith "system" is often described: "Believe & Receive". But the R in Receive is crossed out and replaced with a D. Sitting under WoF teaching for over 20 years, the author when comparing what is taught by WoF against what is clearly taught in the Bible, could come to no other view than that WoF deceives trusting Christians into following a path that will eventually cause them harm, some, serious harm.

There are millions of Christians around the world unknowingly being harmed by Word of Faith teaching because they trust their pastors to have properly studied and rightly divided the word of God. This book exposes the false teachings by responsibly and carefully examining the scriptures the WoF most often use to make it seem that their teachings are biblical.

The book covers five main WoF false teachings:
1. The "Little Gods" doctrine which says that people were made in the image of God so can therefore use their words to create their own reality just as God did. The study shows what it really means to be in the image and likeness of God.
2. That "Faith" is a supernatural force that can be developed by Christians and applied to any situation to change it to the person's desired outcome. The study reveals why this is false and provides a more biblical view on what Faith is.
3. That the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus is that He came to give those who let Him be part of their life, health, wealth, happiness, and success. Unfortunately, because it is a gospel for the worldly, it of course attracts many false converts who are deceived into believing they can have all their worldly desires met on earth, and will then be accepted by Jesus at the resurrection. This books hopes to confront such people so that they might turn to the true gospel.
4. The "Abundant Life" doctrine, like the "Faith" doctrine, claims that Christians should have an abundance of all the good things the world has to offer, especially things. This study shows what the Bible says the Abundant Life of a Christian really looks like, and how it is over and above anything those who are greedy for things can even imagine or hope to experience.
5. The "Healed by Jesus' Stripes" doctrine which asserts that Christians should be able to live in perfect health if they believe it and claim it. This book shows clearly the problems with that doctrine, including that many WoF preachers and their immediate families have suffered or died from bad health issues.

After clearly and biblically revealing the false teachings of the WoF "cult", the book offers suggestions of how Christians and churches can confront and overcome the harm done by, and being done by, the false teachings.

Believe & Deceive has a Bonus Sections - Christians & Tithing. This study looks at ALL the passages in the Bible on tithing to determine if it (and the giving-to-get message) is for the New Testament church, and if not, what should be the Christian response to giving.

Believe & Deceive makes a worthwhile companion book to the author's first book confronting Word of Faith teachings, "Before You Stop Believing". First published in 2005, Before You Stop Believing was updated in 2022, and is now available as an eBook.