- Dec 4, 2007
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Hello, my fellow WOFers. 
I have something important I wish to discuss with you. It's been something that has been on my mind for awhile now and I need your thoughts on it.
I was at a bookstore awhile back looking through some Christian titles. A couple of books caught my eye. One was a book on prosperity written by a guy I've never heard of. As I skimmed through it, I found out this guy takes a moderate view regarding prosperity and I believed his writings to be biblical based.
And the other one was a book entitled "The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity" written by a woman named Catherine Ponder.
As I skimmed through that one, I discovered it to be the most extreme book on prosperity I've ever seen. Some of the phrases in the book jumped out at me such as "giving will put you in touch with God's rich supply" and "never think of yourself as poor and needy". She goes on to say that you should live like you already received God's rich supply by wearing your best clothes to the dinner table and getting out the best china, even if what you are eating is pork and beans. The reason these phrases jumped out at me is not because they are so extreme, but because they are actual biblical principles and I recognize things like this from WOF literature I've read. Some of the more extreme things she says is to create a "vacuum" if you want to receive more things from God. She explains that there is a "vacuum law of prosperity" that works like this: getting rid of what you don't want to make room for what you do want. I agreed with many of the things she said but I was very skeptical.
After further research, I discovered that the author is a minister in the Unity church and the book falls under the category of "New Thought". I found this out by using google on my phone (gotta love cell phones
). When I found this out, I purchased the book almost immediately.
I bought the book for research purposes because many people say that WOF is rooted in cults such as New Thought. I wanted to point out differences in what this author was saying and what WOF believes regarding prosperity. But as I continued to read, I discovered that many of the things she says and many of the things some of the more popular "prosperity gospel" proponents say is almost identical. And this disturbed me. For awhile there, I started wondering if I really was involved in a movement that had metaphysical influences. Aside from a few questionable statements (such as poverty being a sin) if you were to take her name off the cover and replace it with another name, say Creflo Dollar, chances are you might not be able to tell the difference. So far, I've read many WOF principles in the book such as positive confession, correct thinking, giving and receiving, acting like you've already received what you ask God for, etc etc. I am aware that these things are also rooted in the Bible. And that is what confused me.
While I did question WOF after I read some of this book, I now think the whole thing is a huge devilish deception. Could it be possible that cults such as New Thought have discovered biblical principles and tapped into them to give them such things as prosperity and healing? Personally, I think so. I believe they use biblical principles and they work because God is no respecter of persons. And just because WOF teaches similar principles doesn't mean that WOF is influenced by New Thought. If WOF was influenced by New Thought, we would have a similar understanding of things like the Trinity, which we obviously do not. Isn't it a logical fallacy to suggest that just because a cult teaches a doctrine similar to a group you don't like, the group MUST be influenced by that cult? I can now see where the deception comes from and why so many people are deceived into believing we are part of a cult. It just makes me very upset.
What are your thoughts on this?
I have something important I wish to discuss with you. It's been something that has been on my mind for awhile now and I need your thoughts on it.
I was at a bookstore awhile back looking through some Christian titles. A couple of books caught my eye. One was a book on prosperity written by a guy I've never heard of. As I skimmed through it, I found out this guy takes a moderate view regarding prosperity and I believed his writings to be biblical based.
And the other one was a book entitled "The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity" written by a woman named Catherine Ponder.
As I skimmed through that one, I discovered it to be the most extreme book on prosperity I've ever seen. Some of the phrases in the book jumped out at me such as "giving will put you in touch with God's rich supply" and "never think of yourself as poor and needy". She goes on to say that you should live like you already received God's rich supply by wearing your best clothes to the dinner table and getting out the best china, even if what you are eating is pork and beans. The reason these phrases jumped out at me is not because they are so extreme, but because they are actual biblical principles and I recognize things like this from WOF literature I've read. Some of the more extreme things she says is to create a "vacuum" if you want to receive more things from God. She explains that there is a "vacuum law of prosperity" that works like this: getting rid of what you don't want to make room for what you do want. I agreed with many of the things she said but I was very skeptical.
After further research, I discovered that the author is a minister in the Unity church and the book falls under the category of "New Thought". I found this out by using google on my phone (gotta love cell phones
). When I found this out, I purchased the book almost immediately.I bought the book for research purposes because many people say that WOF is rooted in cults such as New Thought. I wanted to point out differences in what this author was saying and what WOF believes regarding prosperity. But as I continued to read, I discovered that many of the things she says and many of the things some of the more popular "prosperity gospel" proponents say is almost identical. And this disturbed me. For awhile there, I started wondering if I really was involved in a movement that had metaphysical influences. Aside from a few questionable statements (such as poverty being a sin) if you were to take her name off the cover and replace it with another name, say Creflo Dollar, chances are you might not be able to tell the difference. So far, I've read many WOF principles in the book such as positive confession, correct thinking, giving and receiving, acting like you've already received what you ask God for, etc etc. I am aware that these things are also rooted in the Bible. And that is what confused me.
While I did question WOF after I read some of this book, I now think the whole thing is a huge devilish deception. Could it be possible that cults such as New Thought have discovered biblical principles and tapped into them to give them such things as prosperity and healing? Personally, I think so. I believe they use biblical principles and they work because God is no respecter of persons. And just because WOF teaches similar principles doesn't mean that WOF is influenced by New Thought. If WOF was influenced by New Thought, we would have a similar understanding of things like the Trinity, which we obviously do not. Isn't it a logical fallacy to suggest that just because a cult teaches a doctrine similar to a group you don't like, the group MUST be influenced by that cult? I can now see where the deception comes from and why so many people are deceived into believing we are part of a cult. It just makes me very upset.
What are your thoughts on this?
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