"Envision words going out of your mouth and hitting a target. When your words go out, they are established in the atmosphere. He desires for us to know, really know the power of our authority and the words we speak, and what we can put out to establish and destroy. It is Matthew 16:19 in action." -- Kathy DeGraw
Mercifully, this is the final verse she eviscerates to try and proof text her heresy. Notice the pattern though. She references partial scriptures without citing the context or many cases the entire verse. She claims here that Matthew 16:19 is the theology of our words having the authority to establish and destroy. Let's turn back to the bible:
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." -- Matthew 16:19 (ESV)
As a standalone verse it may appear she is onto something until you pull back and read the context. Jesus is not speaking to us. He is speaking to Peter because he answered correctly that He was the Christ. Now, even if you wish to carry this forward, what does Jesus mean? Is he giving Peter some form of control over establishing and destroying things with the mere power of his words? Of course not. The keys to the kingdom is referring to the Gospel. Peter would preach the first sermon at Pentecost and by possessing the keys through the Gospel it was decided who could enter the kingdom and who could not. Remember however, Peter is the vehicle of God's power -- not the possessor of it. Kathy DeGraw would also be saddened to learn that binding and loosing were Jewish legal terms simply defining what was allowed and what was not. Once again the context revealing that this is always all about Jesus. DeGraw concludes:
"Christians often are attracted to the prophetic, desiring and even seeking a prophetic word from a prophet or someone operating in the gift of the prophetic. However, Jesus told us to speak to our mountain, and when we believe we can receive. Instead of us seeking others to prophesy over and into our own situation why don't we take the very authority Jesus gave us and declare out of our mouths the plans heaven has written for us? We can do it; the problem is we aren't doing it. What are you going to do to activate the spiritual realm on your behalf and set in action the course of your year to head in a positive direction?" -- Kathy DeGraw
She sums up her heresy quite nicely here. She is right that many Charismatic Christians seek the prophetic too much instead of relying on the final prophecy known as the bible. The reason why they are so out of balance in their understanding however is because of false prophets and teachers like Kathy DeGraw. The speaking to our mountain reference has nothing to do with our power and authority but faith in His. I remember last year there was a facebook post on Joel Osteen's page from a man who was distraught. He did not understand how come his house was being padlocked by the marshall the following week when he had tithed, gave and spoken positively over his life like Joel taught him. As sad as the post was the responses were more horrifying. Blaming him for a lack of faith. Insisting that he had to speak to his mountain and call things into existence things that were not. I do not know what happened to his faith but after he lost his house the following week would it surprise anyone if he walked away blaming God and still thinking he was saved when he probably never was? There are always real victims to heresy beloved. Word faith teachers are covered in the blood of their victims -- make no mistakle about it. They will answer for every single soul. Seek out teachers who focus you on the Savior not what power you can leverege from Him. Do the work of a Berean and do not settle for verse fragments taken out of context. Speak to the mountains of false teaachers and prophets out there today and cast them into the sea. At least that is line with God's will.
