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A glossary of "Faith Camp" terms and phrases [message #1473]

Tue, 25 March 2008 02:45

jisamazed
Messages: 170
Registered: January 2008
Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Senior Member

This is my first post on this web site. I thought that I would start with some humor with a bite to it. Tell me what you think. Hombre says that we need to have more humor in this forum and not take things so seriously, so maybe this will help lighten things up. Or maybe it will make some people mad. Whatever. If the shoe fits, wear it (how many times did we hear that?).
Since every religious, political and social group has its own jargon and special vocabulary, I thought that I'd make an attempt to interpret some Faith Assembly jargon for the casual reader who might encounter some of the literature or audio teaching from that group, or possibly meet someone who still talks that way. Smile

Some of the statements might actually seem irreverent or delusional, but you have to understand the context in which they developed. Read some of my entries in my blog http://journals.aol.com/jisamazed/making-sense-of-faith-asse mbly in order to learn how it got that way. I cringe just to write it, because often the concept behind the term is legitimate (such as having faith in the blood of Jesus) but simply got turned into jargon. However, we need to laugh at ourselves sometimes, and this is an attempt at humor with a bite to it. Enjoy.

"I'm healed in Jesus' name" = "I don't want to admit that I am sick or have a physical problem, so don't mention it to me, because then I might not be healed if I think that it hasn't happened yet."

"I confess I don't have a cold" = I have a cold

"I have prosperity" = "I'm struggling financially."

"...in Jesus name" = a magic phrase that enables you to get whatever you just said. Long ago it was forgotten that it is the holy name of the personal, loving God.

"THE BLOOD OF JESUS!" = "Something bad might happen, and I am warding off evil by saying it."

"I confess..." = "What I want will happen if I say that it will."

"Critical spirit" = Refers to anyone who expresses concern or criticism of a teaching of Hobart Freeman, or one of the teachers who agrees with him. However, does not apply to criticism of any other ministry, which means that you can rail on all the men of God who have some error (all of them) and write off their entire ministry. Hobart could dish it out, but he could not take it.

"Believing for..." = I hope that I will be (fill in the blank)-- healed, prosperous, married, thin, etc...

"The negative..." = any reference to the person being sick, poor, overweight, unmarried or any other state contrary to 'what they are believing for'. Could also apply to someone expressing their disagreement with Hobart Freeman or the teacher of the local assembly.

"Go to the arm of the flesh" = "Go to doctors"

"See it in the Word for yourself" = "See it in the Word for yourself. However, if you don't see it in the word, or if what HF teaches is just plain error, don't tell anyone or say anything because then you would have a critical spirit."

"This teaching is the Word!" = "I don't really know the Word well enough to tell if the teaching lines up with it, but Hobart Freeman taught it and I am afraid to go against it lest the ground open up and swallow me."

"Total faith" = "We don't go to doctors even when they can help, we don't have any kind of insurance, we don't take out mortgages and we don't budget our money for the future." Alternative popular meaning = "Be passive about everything."

"Denominations" = All churches or organizations of churches that are not charismatic. Pentecostals and Independent Baptists are included in "denominational". If you imply that Faith Assembly and its satellite churches were a denomination of sorts, see "critical spirit" above.

"Oh, for the good old days!" = "I don't handle change very well."

"Preaching a strong word" = being obnoxious or condemning from the pulpit, taking scripture to an extreme far beyond what the Lord ever meant for it

"Listen to the tape" = "I don't know the word very well on this matter."

"Prophesy" = "Yea, sayeth the Lord, yea, behold, I have called you, and yea, the Lord sayeth, yea, I have created you, and yea, sayeth the Lord yea, you shall never fail, and sayeth the Lord, yea, you are my chosen, sayeth the Lord." Must always be spoken to the entire church after a couple of songs, never to be done in a small group or individually, even if there are witnesses.

"Not for today" = ALL denominations believe the gifts are not for today. They are all bad because they don't believe healing is for today. However, "James 5:15 isn't for today, not for Faith Assembly." (an exact quote from HF)

"Cope for yourself" = "Don't bug me with your requests for healing. I don't care how needy you are or how much pain you are in. You are weak if you don't just claim it and confess it on your own without any help from anyone else."

"Spirit of _______________" = anything that we don't understand or perceive as a fault in someone else. A demonic force that makes them that way. You can put in the blank anything that you don't like about a person-- "intellectualism", "criticism", "fear", "medical science", "denomination", "religion", "vitamins", "Nike shoes", etc...

"Going to a fellowship" = "going to a party"

"They need deliverance" = "There is something I don't like about that person."

"Legalism" = any rules that the FA group doesn't have such as forbidding to eat certain foods, Pentecostals forbidding women to cut hair or Mennonites forbidding people to eat ice cream. Does not apply to any of the unspoken or spoken rules advanced by some FA teachers, such as 'TV is always wrong', 'women should never wear slacks', 'adults should not wear jeans' because they are childish and 'the teacher can never worship the Lord with the congregation during church. He should be in the study praying.'

"Principles" = rules. We don't have rules in this church, just principles. They really are rules, sometimes very odd rules, but we don't want to be denominational so we call them principles instead. However, if you violate them your level of commitment to the Lord will be called into question.

"Pray for his salvation" = "He criticized Hobart Freeman."

"He left the Word" = "He stopped teaching the Word the way Hobart Freeman taught it, so he must be backslidden"

"I'm an overcomer" = "I really hurt inside, I'm depressed, I battle doubt, I would like an encouraging word but I don't want anyone to think that I'm wavering so I won't show it. See the joy on my face?"

If anyone has any other ideas for entries into this dictionary, send me an e-mail or include it in a comment on this blog.

[Updated on: Sun, 01 June 2008 19:38]

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