The origin of the word faith movement

 New thought Metaphysicians

In the 1800’s Rudolf Steiner an occultist wrote: “What I am now picturing to myself in my imagination, will, later on, be drawn out of the seed by the forces of the earth and of light.” (KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT A Revised and Enlarged Edition of ‘The Way of Initiation' with Initiation and its Results' By Rudolf Steiner)

 The one attributed to being the founder of New Thought philosophy was Phineas P. Quimby (1802 -1866). He was a student of spiritism, occultism, hypnosis and other expressions of parapsychology. Himself a  philosopher, mesmerist, healer, and inventor. His ideas gained prominence, and born from his ideas Christian Science, Religious science became the basis for a number of cults, which include (in addition to Christian Science) Unity School of Christianity.

 Ernest Holmes (1887-1960) founded Religious Science, was another great influence of the New Thought movement. Schooled in Christian Science, he moved to Los Angeles in 1912. Holmes published his first book, the Creative Mind in 1919, and followed it up with The Science of Mind in 1926. Holmes’ contribution to New Age beliefs was great, particularly his core philosophy that we create our own reality. This is the text of the first edition of The Science of Mind. A revised edition of this book was published in 1938.

 "Man, by thinking, can bring into his experience whatsoever he desires ...." In a proud prophecy that has come to pass, Holmes declared, "We have launched a Movement which, in the next 100 years, will be the great new religious impulsion of modern times . . . [destined] to envelope the world . . . ."'

Mind science promoter Robert Collier in his book Secret of the Ages “Being a part of Universal Mind, sharing that Universal Mind's all-power, it has only to put the Creative Force all about it into the mold of your thought and bring the object into being” (Secret of the Ages p.62).

The Royal Fraternity of the Master Metaphysicians was founded by James B. Schafer (1920’s) who by the middle of the 30’s had gathered a following of thousands through speaking on the spiritual potential that was hidden in the material world. Hundreds gathered at Carnegie Hall each Sunday morning hearing that the human mind had the ability to change everything around it. Imagine, and those thoughts could become real.  If you simply thought about something hard enough in, visualize whatever you want and it would be delivered to you. All one had to do was think 

Master Metaphysicians developed into a cult now called the Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians. In 1939 they gained national attention as Schafer claimed he knew the secret to raising an immortal baby.

The cult announced to the world that they had intentions to raise an immortal person. They informally adopted a 5-month old baby girl, Jean Gauntt whom Schafer took home, (the former Vanderbilt mansion). Located on Long Island, New York and renamed “Peace Haven http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,762973,00.html

The Master Metaphysicians promised that by raising the child with a strict vegetarian diet, (called eternity diet) and exposed to only positive thoughts, she then would become immortal. They believed that anyone could be immortal if they followed these steps starting with a baby.

(This didn’t end well, in 1955 Schafer and his wife Cecilia were found dead in their car on the grounds of his school with a suicide note)

So the concept to incubate your thoughts, visualize, or what is now called guided imagery was introduced to the culture over a hundred years ago. These new thought ideas were busting out everywhere through the papers and radio.

Napoleon Hill who received his understanding of mind science from masters in the Spirit realm said, “Whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve."

The occult places great strength in vibrations. It’s an idea which goes back thousands of years.

The ancient occult teaching that “Everything moves” seems to be fully corroborated by all subsequent investigation. Motion, of course, results from the presence and power of Active Energy. And Active Energy is found everywhere present and in manifestation. Both the occult teaching and modern science teach that everything is undergoing constant change, and change is impossible without active energy and motion. (The Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians 1918)

The occult has always consider there to be supernatural power in words.

Magician David Conway “In Magic: an Occult Primer" writes: Unseparable from magical speculation about words is the theory of vibrations, which supposes that certain sounds have a powerful acoustic impact on both the spiritual and astral worlds. Both can be affected by sound, so that verbal magic may be said to derive its power not only from the idea contained in certain words, but from the peculiar vibrations these words create when spoken."

Word magic is the art of communicating using sacred sounds and symbols to direct and control energy to produce certain desired effects. All words have magic properties…. 

Through Word Magic: The Powers & Occult Definitions of Words, you can explore a hidden world that shows you how words shape your reality.”

This is the basis of control in occultism, words used to manipulate a spiritual realm. The summit lighthouse of Elizabeth Claire prophet tells us “mystics have been telling us that sound actually creates matter.” (Sound, the Energy of Creation www.summitlighthouse.org/topics/science-of-the-spoken-word/prayer/)

William Walker Atkinson was the editor of several New Thought Journals. In 1900, he published “a series of lessons in personal magnetism, psychic influence, thought-force, concentration, will-power & practical Mental Science,” titled Thought-Force in Business and Everyday Life. In 1906 he published the book Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World “which has many similarities to “The Secret.”

This same idea is found in word faith teaching, that words are containers of the force, they have an inherent power within them. 

E. W. Kenyon, studied the metaphysical New Thought teachings of Phineas Quimby. And it was picked up by William Branham and then Kenneth Hagin.

Kenneth Hagin, was friends with Branham and was aware of E. W. Kenyon and developed the Word of Faith movement into a separate arm of what it is today.

Mind science was infused into Pentecostalism mainly by William Branham who taught faith is a mental power, a sixth sense, which is what many new thought teachers proposed

Branham said, 'Say what you will.' Just say it, and your words will materialize. Say to this mountain, and it'll do just as you say."

 “You have the power in you to do it …You could speak a world into existence and go live on it.”

New age occultism is synthesized with the Bible words and concepts and rules over its true meaning.

Copeland in The Laws of Prosperity says, "You can have what you say! He states Words are spiritual containers, that "spirit words can control both the spirit world and the physical world. Because the words themselves have power, they will work for either God or man in the same manner."

"Words are the most sacred things....This is a word planet...governed by words...created by words.... Words cause it to function...cause life...cause death....Words go on forever....Words are holy." (Copeland, The Abrahamic Covenant, side 1.)

"You have the same creative faith and ability on the inside of you that God used when he created the heavens and the earth." (Copeland, Inner Image of the Covenant, side 2).

He basically repeats what heresy Branham said.

Copeland mockingly says "Words create pictures, and pictures in your mind create words.....And when that spiritual force comes out it is going to give substance to the image that's on the inside of you. Aw, that's that visualization stuff! Aw, that's that New Age! No, New Age is trying to do this; and they'd get somewhat results out of it because this is spiritual law, brother." 

This spiritual law is not in the bible, so whose law is it?

Occultists teach visualization, our words coupled with belief bring what is already existing in the spiritual realm into our reality; so does word faith.  Yet they claim its Biblical… exactly where does it teach this? Remember where Jesus said, speak to this mountain. No apostle cast a mountain up from its place. Look at all the mountains that are cast into the sea… not even a pebble is cast unless you physically pick it up. So obviously it meant something different.

So many ministries that claim to be teaching Christianity. Like Identity Network claims to be an apostolic and prophetic resource website that reaches thousands of people around the globe. They host a School of Creating, Attracting and Manifesting.                       The Power of Thought and Visualization by Jeremy Lopez.

We have an intrusion of new age concepts being accepted as Bible teaching today and it is changing the meaning of the words of the Bible and it is changing the church. The very things so many of us escaped out of the new age has found its resting place in the church.

 We are told that the Devil is copying God (as Copeland tried to make the case in visualization). That's a hard sell when we have a long history of occultists using these concepts before the church became open-minded  having clever men consider them or chirstianize their use.

 So where are we ? We are like a hip loose from its moorings that can still see the shore, but if this continues on the shore will not longer be seen and we will be sailing in very different waters.