Christian Positive Thinkers

Bernie L. Gillespie

Introduction

While many of those who teach "Christian" positive thinking are T.V. personalities with worldwide networks, they incorporate modern humanistic psychology and stress unbiblical "powers of the mind."

By these teachers, faith is conceived as a force that can be used to change health, people, circumstances, status, finances, etc., as well as, bring self-esteem to the one exercising it.

Christian Positive Thinking (CPT) is dangerous (as taught by those in this handout) because it teaches an unscriptural view of faith and substitutes a humanistic faith. 

NORMAN VINCENT PEALE

He is considered the modern father of the positive thinking movement. He has mixed humanistic psychology and occultic mental techniques with Christian terminology.

*He has taught that you can send thoughts to hover over people's minds, eventually bursting in on them, compelling them to do things for you. [Positive Imaging, N. Peale] 

ROBERT SCHULLER

He is well known for his teaching called "possibility thinking". He said, "I call it possibility thinking. Others call it faith."

He believes:

1. In each of us resides an inner source of divine creative potential that we can call upon.

"You will respect, trust, and admire your own thought"..."let the Creative Mind of the universe inspire you."

2. Never verbalize negative emotions, but should condition the subconscious mind by programming positive thoughts into the conscious mind. ["You Can be the Person you want to be" pp. 131-32]

3. Deep relaxation and meditation needed to enter the "alpha state". M words are best as mantras to help clear your mind.

4. Christian theology has failed to accommodate modern psychology.

5. "[S]in is any act or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem."

 6. "Do not fear pride, The easiest job God has is to humbles us."

7. "[T]o be born again means that we must be changed from a negative to a positive self-image..."

8. "...pursuing possibility thinking is the way of the cross...

The cross sanctifies the ego trip."

9. Unbelief "is really a profoundly deep sense of unworthiness."

10. "The person is in hell when he has lost his self-esteem."

11. We should never call or refer to anyone as a sinner.

12. "God's ultimate objective is to turn you and me into self-confident persons."

Scripture and Schuller

1. Mt. 19-17 "none good but God"

Rom. 7:18 "in me dwelleth no good thing" Rom. 3:10-12,23

RATHER THAN HAVING AN INNER SOURCE OF DIVINE POTENTIAL THE BIBLE SAYS WE WERE DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS.

2. Jesus failed Sculler's teaching. He expressed negative emotions.

Mt. 26:23 one will betray me

v.38 "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."

Mt. 27:46 "My God, my God..."

3. The use of mantras incorporates Hindu ritual and terms into Christian practice.

4. The truth is the opposite: modern psychology failed to take a biblical world-view.

5. Sin is first and above all a violation of God's Person. It is an offense against God.

6. The chiefest sin as taught by all the Bible is pride.

Pro. 8:13 "...pride and arrogancy... do I hate."

Pro. 11:2 "When pride cometh, then cometh shame"

Pro. 16:18 "Pride goeth before destruction..."

Pro. 29:23 "A man's pride shall bring him low."

I Jn. 2:16 "the pride of life"

7. To be born-again is to have sin remitted and a new, transformed nature by the Holy Ghost.

8. Lk. 9:23, in Christ's words, the way of the cross is self-denial and obedience.

9. Unbelief is rejection of God's revealed will and purpose

cp. Romans 1

10. Scripture clearly tells us hell is a literal place of everlasting punishment.

cp. Mk. 9:43,44 & Rev. 20: 13,14

11. Jesus referred to people as sinners as did the Apostles:

Lk. 6: 3 2

Lk. 13: 2,'4

Rom. 5: 8

Jas. 4: 8

12. Mk. 12:29,30 - God's highest will is for us to love Him and our fellow human neighbors.

Eph. 1:4-12 clearly tells us God's highest purpose is to bring all things together under His kingdom that He might be glorified.

ROBERT SCHULLER IS CLEARLY DEVIANT FROM THE GENERAL TEACHING OF SCRIPTURE!  

ORAL ROBERTS

He combines positive thinking, positive confession and a "gospel" of prosperity and of health and wealth.

Teaches:

1. Jesus revealed truth of "seed-faith" to him, based on a "blessing-pact covenant."

2. God is our Source of total supply.

3. We must give money as the "seed" of faith.

4. This "seed" can be directed by the giver to perform miracles.

5. After you have done this you "expect a miracle."

6. Wrote letters to many that if they did not give seed-faith money to him, then Satan would hit them with bad things.

Questions:

1. Why didn't Jesus reveal these truths in Scripture for everyone, rather than waiting until the 20th century to give them to Oral Roberts?

2. Why doesn't Oral Roberts give all his money as seed-faith then he would not need others donations?

3. How has the church from the times of the Apostles managed to make it without Roberts revelations and teachings?

Patti Roberts, one-time daughter-in-law of Oral has questioned his teaching:

1. Seed-faith teaching bothered her "because I saw, that, when taken to extremes, it reduced God to a sugar-daddy. If you wanted His blessings and his love, you paid Him off."

2. "I believed we were appealing to their sense of greed or desperation..."

3. She questioned whether they were "giving to God out of our love and gratitude to Him or were we bartering with Him?"

KENNETH COPELAND

In Feb. 1987 "Believer's Voice of Victory" magazine he gave a prophecy which he claims were the words of Jesus: "They crucified me for claiming that I was God. But I didn't claim that I was God; I just claimed I walked with Him and that He was in me. Hallelujah. That's what you're doing."

TO COPELAND JESUS' POWER CAME FROM THE POWER OF FAITH RATHER THAN THE POWER AS BEING GOD INCARNATE! 

PAUL YONGGI CHO

He teaches that we incubate ideas which will enter the "fourth dimension" where they will manipulate the physical world.

Also, physical reality can be altered to match our visualized mind. By picturing things we somehow enter the fourth dimension in order to permit God to produce miracles for us in the third dimension.

This is the secret to prayer, victory in Christian living, and being effective in evangelism.

THE TRUTH IS MUCH SIMPLER THAT CHO TEACHES. THE POWER OF FAITH IS TRUST IN GOD WHO IS THE POWER OF CREATION HIMSELF! 

ROBERT TILTON

Conducts "Success in Life" seminars where he teaches the principle of a "hundred fold" return on giving.

CHARLES CAPPS & JOHN OSTEEN

They teach "words of power" similar to magical spells which when uttered can powerfully influence or change reality.

Capps teaches the Virgin Birth was accomplished by Mary's positive confession.

He says the reason the wicked prosper is when we say "Look how the wicked prosper," our confession makes it come to pass.

AGNES SANFORD

She began a healing ministry in the '40s; received Pentecostal exp., in '53/54; pioneered teaching for the "healing of memories"; part of "positive thinking" movement she present God's healing work as following the laws of nature and positive thinking; she believed that God could work through "good" spirits as well as the spirits of people who have died; she taught that God used some mediums to heal; she believed that angels and dead saints could "speak and act in and through us."

 THE PROCESS KNOWN AS CHANNELING WAS PART OF SANFORD'S TEACHING, YET, IT IS A VITAL PART OF THE NEW AGE PRACTICES TODAY AS LED BY ENTERTAINER SHIRLEY MacLAINE.