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Frederick K. C. Price
It is unfortunate, but it seems that Word of Faith teachers can say anything
without fear of being questioned. Frederick Price here gives a perfect example,
that if his congregation would actually check what he says by their Bibles,
they would find him to be in serious error:
The whole point is I'm trying to get you to see - to get you out of this
malaise of thinking that Jesus and the disciples were poor and then
relating that to you - thinking that you, as a child of God, have to follow
Jesus. The Bible says that He has left us an example that we should follow
His steps. That's the reason why I drive a Rolls Royce. I'm following
Jesus' steps."(1)
Did Jesus drive a Rolls Royce or have some other fancy, expensive form of
transportation? No, Jesus walked (or at times, rode in a boat). Of
course, if the scripture here referred to is checked, what is actually
found is that we are called to suffer as He did. Just read
1 Peter 2:18-21.
These teachers would never teach that however, since this teaching would
not be popular among their constituents, nor would it be profitable.
Regardless, it is impossible to misunderstand what these verses advocate,
and they certainly don't give reason to believe that following Jesus means
driving a Rolls Royce.
Price says many things worse than this though. He obviously believes in
a god who is much less than the God of the Bible:
God can't do anything in this earth realm except what we, the body of
Christ, allow Him to do.(2)
Now this is a shocker! But God has to be given permission to work in this
earth realm on behalf of man.... Yes! You are in control! So, if man has
control, who no longer has it? God.... When God gave Adam dominion, that
meant God no longer had dominion. So, God cannot do anything in this earth
unless we let Him. And the way we let Him or give Him permission is
through prayer.(3)
The God of the Bible is omnipotent. He is not subject to laws external to
Himself. He does not need a man's permission to do anything in any realm.
The ideas Price puts forth here are ludicrous as well as blasphemous. He
is bearing false witness about God, or he is speaking of another god
altogether. Does any Christian really believe that they control God? What
about the following:
Adam, as I said, gave it [the earth] away to the serpent, to the Devil.
As a result of it, he got his behind kicked out of the garden. He went out
of Eden, out of the garden. He began to wander around, and he has troubles
from day one. Now God was out of the business. God was out of the earth
realm. God had no more stock in this earth realm. No more. None at all.
Nothing He could do. Not a thing in the world He could do.... The only way
God could get back into this earth realm, He had to have an invitation.
Ha-hah! He had to have an invitation.(4)
Has God ever been out of control? Absolutely not. God is omniscient,
omnipotent, and omnipresent. He was never tricked into anything. He never
gave up nor lost control of His creation. Nor has he ever lost ownership
of or legal entry into His creation.
Price also has a different view of our salvation. The Bible says that our
salvation was purchased on the cross, by Christ's physical death, through
the shedding of His blood. Price thinks otherwise:
Do you think that the punishment for our sin was to die on a cross? If
that were the case, the two thieves could have paid your price. No, the
punishment was to go into hell itself and to serve time in hell separated
from God.... Satan and all the demons of hell thought that they had Him bound
and they threw a net over Jesus and they dragged Him down to the very pit
of hell itself to serve our sentence.(5)
This story has yet to turn up in any Bible. The Bible says nothing of
"Satan and all the demons of hell...[throwing] a net over Jesus" or anything
about Satan and demons dragging Christ into hell. Even if He did go to
hell (which the Bible does not really support), there is no evidence that
He was dragged there. And again, He did not have to suffer in hell to
pay the price for our sin. That was the purpose of the cross. And the
two thieves could not have paid the price on the cross, since they were
neither God, as Jesus was, nor did they live sinless lives, as Jesus did.
Jesus was God incarnate, and lived a perfect, sinless life in our place,
so that His sacrifice on the cross, as the unblemished lamb sacrificed on
the Passover, was sufficient to pay for all the sins of all the world.
The Bible says that Christ triumphed over Satan by the cross
(Colossians 2:15) and that our atonement is through the shedding of his
blood (Romans 3:25; 5:9; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:20;
Hebrews 9:22; 1 Peter 1:19; Revelation 1:5; etc.).
Surely if Christ had to suffer in hell to pay for our sins, the Bible would
say something about it. However, no scriptures concerning Christ's alleged
suffering in hell exist. It is obvious that Price here is teaching false
doctrine. Considering this, along with his view of God and of man's
position, it is safe to say Price is a false teacher.
Bibliography
- Frederick K. C. Price, "Ever Increasing Faith" program on TBN (December 9, 1990).
- Frederick K. C. Price, "Ever Increasing Faith" program on TBN (May 1, 1992), audiotape #PR11.
- Frederick K. C. Price, "Prayer: Do You Know What Prayer Is...and How to Pray?" The Word Study Bible (Tulsa, OK: Harrison House, 1990), p. 1178.
- Frederick K. C. Price, "Ever Increasing Faith" program on TBN (May 1, 1992), audiotape #PR11.
- Frederick K. C. Price, "Ever Increasing Faith Messenger" (June 1980), p. 7.
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