Positive Confession
There are churches today that teach that if you speak a truth before it is truth it will become truth. If you are sick the solution is to say that you are well and you will become well. They teach that the Lord wants to bless us with material blessings but we must first claim our wealth by speaking it and we will then become wealthy. We must name what we want and claim it and then it will be ours. Where do such teachings as these come from? They claim it comes from the Bible, but that is not true. What they do is take Scripture out of context, insert meanings beyond what was in that Scripture, and then ignore every passage that contradicts what they are trying to imply that Scripture means. Let us look at one of the popular passages that this movement uses to support this teaching.
Mark 11:22-24 is often quoted to support the teaching that we must say the words and believe them in order to receive what we ask for. Let us look at this passage in the KJV and see how one such teacher addresses this passage.
Mark 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
KJV
Bishop G.E. Patterson puts such an emphasis on the word saith from the KJV that after quoting the part in bold he says:
Whatsoever he thinketh, whatever he imagines, whatever he wishes or hopes for? No, he says that you have got to say what it is that you want God to do for you.
But is the emphasis really on speaking it, or is this passage simply referring to prayer? Looking at the context of verse 24 we can see this is a reference prayer.
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