Quick facts on Joyce Meyer

 
Joyce Meyer is an ordained Pentecostal preacher who openly claims allegiance to the Word Faith movement.

She teaches a doctrine that is a hallmark of the Word of Faith movement, namely, that Christ paid for our sins in hell. 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.

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. The problems with this view are that there are no such demons who specialize 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).

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.