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About: Joyce Meyer Joyce Meyer is an ordained
Pentecostal preacher who ----------------------------------------------------- MEYER'S ADHERENCE TO WORD OF FAITH DOCTRINE It is interesting to note that even though Meyer proclaims allegiance to the Word of Faith movement and endorses Word of Faith teachers, such as David Yonggi Cho, her tape messages are, from the material we reviewed, absent of actual Word of Faith theology. At one point she even mentions that the Word of Faith movement has gone overboard in expecting that healing and wealth are guaranteed for the believer. However, when one reads some of Meyer's booklets one will quickly come to the conclusion that Joyce Meyer is indeed another Faith teacher. In her 1991 booklet The Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make, she teaches a doctrine that is a hallmark of the Word of Faith movement, namely, that Christ paid for our sins in hell: During that time He entered hell, where you and I deserved to go (legally) because of our sin. He paid the price there.., no plan was too extreme... Jesus paid on the cross and in hell (p. 35 emphasis in original.) God rose up from His throne and said to demon powers tormenting the sinless Son of God, 'Let Him go.' Then the resurrection power of Almighty God went through hell and filled Jesus... He was resurrected from the dead — the first born-again man (p. 36 emphasis in original). This quote is similar to one by Kenneth Copeland, in which he describes the same event: [t]hat word of the living God went down into the pit of destruction and charged the spirit of Jesus with resurrection power! Suddenly His twisted, death-wracked spirit began to fill out and come back to life. He began to look like something the devil had never seen before. He was literally being reborn before the devil's very eyes. He began to flex His spiritual muscles.... Jesus was born again — the first-born from the dead (Kenneth Copeland, "The Price of it all," Believers Voice of Victory 19,9 (September 1991) 4-6). While historic Christianity has debated the issue of whether or not Jesus actually descended into hell, no orthodox believer ever held to the belief that Christ suffered and atoned for our sins in hell, rather the entirety of Christ's suffering and atonement took place on the cross. However, the Word of Faith teachers, including Joyce Meyer, teach that Jesus went to hell in order to suffer and pay for our sins under the torment of Satan and his angels. In Faith theology Christ's atoning work for our sins was not fully accomplished on the cross, contrary to what Jesus Himself proclaimed in His final words, "It is finished" (John 19:30). Furthermore, in Faith theology Christ literally became sin, taking on the nature of Satan while in hell, thereby needing to be born-again in hell before His resurrection could occur. Meyer makes clear the importance of her understanding of the atonement in her theology: 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 (Decision, p. 37). MEYER'S OTHER QUESTIONABLE TEACHINGS Besides her aberrant understanding of the doctrine of atonement Meyer has picked up other questionable teachings. Meyer endorses Holy Laughter, professing that is only the beginning of a much greater move of God. Holy Laughter is neither biblical nor safe, but requires a shift in focus from the objective Word of God to our own subjective experiences in order to validate the practice. Holy Laughter signifies a move away from dependence upon the Word of God for instruction concerning God's will toward a solely subjective and self-dependent means for seeking the will of God, which will lead only to confusion in living the Christian life. She also holds to the claim by the neo-Pentecostal "Restoration" movement that God is restoring the five offices mentioned in Ephesians 4:11-13 in order for the church to receive new visions and revelation through modern apostles and prophets. The Five-fold ministry teaching is a move away from the true biblical authority toward a self-styled authority of particular individuals who set themselves up as spokesmen for God. Another problematic issue that returns frequently in Meyer's tapes is that of generational spirits. Generational spirits supposedly torment families for generations concerning a specific sin. Meyer believes that a demon of lust has been tormenting her family (Trophies of God's Grace). The problems with this view are that there is no such demon as a demon of lust, or a demon who specializes in any particular sin, and there are no such sins known as generational sins in Scripture. The Epistle of James makes it clear that when we sin we sin because of our own evil desires (James 1:14). A demon cannot force us to sin. If we do sin, we are responsible. Concerning the issue of generational sins, it is true that the results of certain sins can affect a family for generations (see Exod. 20:5; Num. 14:18), but even these effects are not the result of a particular demon tormenting the generations of that family with a particular sin. Again, a demon cannot make us sin. If there is a cycle of evil behavior in a family, this cycle is stopped at any given generation simply as a function of turning to Christ in faith. In other words, once we become believers we are new creatures and therefore free in Christ. Furthermore, as John says, "the One who is in you is greater that the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). Meyer overemphasizes the Devil and his angels, literally finding a demon behind every bush. For example, concerning a close call pulling into and out of a fast food restaurant parking lot she writes, "I rebuke the spirit of accidents, in the name of Jesus!" (The Root of Rejection, p. 86). This overemphasis on the demonic tends to take our focus off of Christ and puts us in a mindset that is more superstitious than spiritual. Because of Joyce Meyer's allegiance to Word of Faith theology and other problematic teachings, CRI cannot endorse her ministry. CRI is continuing to research the teachings of Joyce Meyer, but due to the overwhelming demand for our position, we have made this initial statement available. We will publish an updated statement in the Spring of 1999.
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