What Does The Bible Really Say?

Word of Faith Declarations and the "Finding Money" Clip

Should you be declaring by faith that you will find money? In episode 360 of The Holy Note, the Fireplace Church in Tennessee recites their declarations of faith. It's the Lord's day, I got my Bible, I'm ready to hear the word.

Grations, and we shall declare by faith in the name of Jesus that we are strong and courageous. Jobs are better jobs. Raises and bonuses. Benefits, sales and commissions. Settlements, my business. Estates and income.

Sessions and royalties. Checks in the mail. Gifts and surprises.

Finding money.

Debts demolished.

Nope, mm-mm.

The false doctrine of the Word of Faith movement teaches that faith plus words, or that through our faith-filled words, we have the ability to seize material blessings for ourselves in this life. It is sometimes called the health and wealth gospel.

The rationale for these beliefs come from Bain philosophy and scripture twisting. For example, proponents often teach that physical healing was purchased in the atonement for this life. Therefore, we must access it by faith.

How do you do that? Decree and declare. Exercise your word of faith. The thinking behind this is that since we are created in the image of God, we can perform creative acts through our words just as God did in creation.

That's why this is sometimes called little God's theology.

When I came to these shores, I chose to live as a man. But the truth is, I was born a God.

Key figures in this movement include Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, T .D. Jakes, John Hagee, Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Stephen Furtick, and others who have been featured on the Holy Nope and who are also often featured on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

The supposed pastor, Shonda Tripp, married into the Tripp family who were part of the Trinity Broadcasting Network for 30 years. What stood out to me most about their website is that they do not have a statement of faith.

On the homepage, it says that they are a spirit-filled faith church, but I don't know what that means because there is no statement of faith.

Not to worry.

I was able to learn a lot when young members of the church saw that this clip had been noped and decided to defend it. Perhaps the most hilarious faith declaration was finding money.

Finding money.

Just declare by faith that you will find money.

What?

The scripture posted in defense of this declaration was Matthew 17, 24 through 27, which is the account of Jesus telling Peter to go throw a hook in the water and take the first fish that comes up and open its mouth and find a shekel.

I want to spend a few minutes observing this text and submit it as an example of how people are led to believe things, especially young people, but it's because they've been taught that it's biblical.

They've been told it's biblical. There is a proof text for every false teaching out there, and I just want to demonstrate that false teachings, which attach themselves to proof texts like this, undo themselves when the text is actually understood in its context.

So this is not some personal attack or anything. I just want to deal with the text presented in defense of this ridiculousness.

Finding money.

And if they see this, I hope they may start asking some more questions of their leadership, which, by the way, is just Pastor Shonda. She's the only member on staff, according to the website. Matthew 17, 24 through 27, is an interesting passage unique to Matthew.

Jesus and the Temple Tax in Matthew 17

Now, when they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two drachma tax came to Peter and said, does your teacher not pay the two drachma tax? He said, yes. And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first saying, what do you think, Simon?

From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poltax? From their sons or from strangers? When Peter said, from strangers, Jesus said to him, then the sons are exempt. However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook and take the first fish that comes up.

And when you open its mouth, you will find a stater. Take that and give it to them for you and me. Matthew is including this as a former tax collector writing for and to a primarily Jewish audience very early on as it was the first gospel written.

So the temple is still standing obviously, and naturally there were probably a lot of questions among believing Jews about how Jesus viewed the temple and how they were to relate to it.

So at the outset,.

I think it's appropriate to note that believing Jews relation to the temple is a far more likely concern for Matthew to be addressing than believing Jews wondering how to declare that they will find money.

I mean, if that was the point of this text, if that's what this text was really teaching, then we should be expecting to reel in fish with mouthfuls of cash because the coin that Peter takes from the fish is equivalent to about 500 bucks today.

I found money on the street before. I've found a $20 bill here or there, you know, at times, not because I declared it by faith, but I've never found $500 laying on the street. Is it because I don't have enough faith?

Anyways, a tax collector approaches Peter and asks if his master pays the temple tax. Every Jewish male 20 years and older was required to pay the tax for the general upkeep of the temple. Some men were exempt.

Peter answers in the affirmative, and then he is asked another question, this time by the Lord. And here we see what is really happening in this passage. Jesus asks, from whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll tax?

From their sons or from strangers? When Peter said from strangers, Jesus said to him, then the sons are exempt. What is Jesus saying? Matthew is testifying to the uniqueness of Jesus, the son. He is the son of God.

Jesus is making a claim to deity. The temple represented God's presence on earth. Matthew has already proclaimed in his gospel that Jesus is greater than the temple in Matthew 12, 6. He is the full realization of what previous temples and tabernacles foreshadowed.

He is the place at which man meets with his God. The word became flesh and tabernacled among us. And in him, all the fullness of deity dwells bodily. He is the reality to which the symbol of the temple points.

He is therefore under no obligation to pay the tax. That's the main point here. The text is about who Jesus is. It is not about you being able to declare by faith that you will find money. Now, Jesus didn't tell Peter to go find a coin because they didn't have the money.

He is demonstrating his sovereignty over all earthly kings, that his dominion is more extensive than all of theirs. With a word, even the fishes pay tribute to him. Yet he does pay so as not to cause offense.

He pays for himself and Peter, who the tax collectors first questioned. New Testament speaks more on that elsewhere, but the thrust of this text is the godhood and lordship of Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches that there are times of prosperity and times of suffering in the Christian life.

We are told to be content in every circumstance. Still, scripture gives warnings about setting our hearts on riches and it exhorts wealthy Christians not to trust in their wealth. And nowhere does the Bible command us to recite faith declarations about finding money.

We can humbly pray for a better job or for success at our work, for financial security, but that's not what's happening in this clip if you understand the theology behind it. But most importantly for this video, recognize that the text cited to prove their wayward practice has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Matthew 17 is not about you finding money, it's about Jesus. And twisting God's word to make it about you rather than about him is a holy no.

Nope, mm-mm.

I feel like I'm losing my mind Is everybody in the world blind Please Lord give me a sign, a sign