February 26, 2009

Free Will Ministries

T D Jakes is a Unitarian, a modalist, "One God, but manifest in...three different ways, Father in creation, Son in redemption, Holy Spirit in regeneration." This is called "Jesus Only" doctrine. He is a charismatic minister emphasizing divine prosperity and health.

Charles T. Russell, founder of the Jehovah Witnesses, is a Unitarian. He believes that Jesus as son of God is subordinate to Jehovah on the same level as angels. Joseph Smith is founder of the Mormons, Church of the Latter Day Saints. He is a polytheist. He believes that there are many gods and that we ourselves can aspire to be gods.
Adrian Rogers was a pseudo trinitarian who espoused trinitarian doctrine but in practice he was heading toward Unitarianism with his "come to Jesus" altar calls.
Kenneth Copeland: It is difficult to say what he believes. doctrine seem to matter very little to him but prosperity and health are uppermost. He says: " “If you stood Adam upside God, they look just exactly alike....If you stood Jesus and Adam side-by-side, they would look and act and sound exactly alike....The image is that they look just alike, but the likeness is that they act alike and they are alike....All of God's attributes, all of God's authority, all of God's faith, all of God's ability was invested in that man.” (Kenneth Copeland, Authority of the Believer IV (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1987, audiotape #01-0304), side 1)
Free will is a common thread that runs through the theology of these ministries. The path of free will leads to aberrant views of the trinity. Most of these ministries have reached that aberrant place in theology. Adrian Rogers' views are heading toward a non-functional view of the trinity. When he stands at the foot of the pulpit and says: "come to Jesus" he is the Father issuing the call and the Holy Spirit applying the Father's good pleasure. Rogers and the responding sinner are acting independently of God. The Christ they serve has to act independently of the Father.
Little gods act independently of God. All these ministries have little gods in their belief systems. They are constructed around free will.

3 comments:

Dr. Paul W. Foltz said...

free will/ no such thing.
''Come to Jesus'' a dead sinner cannot do it.

Jeremy said...

Charles,
Glad to find your blog, like any good MTTM alum, I've wrestled with my own theology and I must say I haven't come to all the same conclusions that you have but I respect and enjoy when someone can clearly articulate what they believe and why. As for embedding videos in your blog, any youtube video has a box on the right side with the html script to copy and embed in a post. Let me know if I can help. I look forward to reading more of your work, I've been a follower of Bellevue for some time and have worked with Gardendale Baptist...where Steve Gaines came from.

WatchingHISstory said...

Jeremy

good to hear from you. Ministry to the military alum...fond memories!

Please do keep in touch and I'll do the same with you

God bless