"God, I want more of you in my life!"
That was the prayer that pushed me through eight years of
intense involvement in what is commonly called the "faith movement"
and the "positive confession movement."
I began my journey in 1980. I often reflect on those years --
the teachings I devoured, the ministers who proclaimed "faith"
interpretations of God's Word, and the thousands of people who
followed them. Like so many others, my hunger for a more intimate
walk with God was accompanied by the question: _How?_ So, when I
heard Christian ministers describing how they had personally heard
from the Holy Spirit, worked tangible miracles, and had visions in
the spirit realm, _I listened._ This must certainly be the fruit of
an intimate walk with God, I reasoned.
I was introduced to the faith movement through the Kenneth
Copeland television broadcast, and soon found a church in line with
Reverend Copeland's teachings and the faith movement. I was quick
to attend a three-day meeting that featured faith teacher Charles
Capps. He delivered a message on faith and positive confession
entitled, "Calling Those Things That Are Not as Though They Were."
He knew more Bible than I did and spoke with such authority that I
was led to trust his exposition of Scripture. Not realizing it at
the time, I was subtly buying into the idea that I had the ability
to alter reality or even create it, all by using the power of
faith.
Sensing a call to the ministry two years later, I attended the
only school I knew of that trained its students in the "true" power
and revelations of the Bible. That was Rhema Bible Training Center
(RBTC) in Tulsa, Oklahoma, founded by Dr. Kenneth E. Hagin, the
grandfather of the faith movement. The next two years at Rhema were
nothing less than a spiritual roller coaster. RBTC and Kenneth
Hagin Ministries overlapped one another, and everything revolved
around one man's vision, prophecies, and interpretations of
Scripture. This man was a prophet, I and many others thought, and
his divine calling was attested to by tales of visitations from
angels and, of course, Jesus Christ Himself....
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