Perry Stone
Perry Stone is an ordained Bishop with the Church of God in Cleveland, Tennessee.1 This is a charismatic Pentecostal denomination church that affirms essentials doctrines such as the Bible being the inspired Word of God, the Trinity, and salvation through Christ.2 However, much of what he propagates through his ministry is controversial and, at points, heretical. While the church’s statement of faith is orthodox it’s what Perry himself teaches is the problem. A Church's statement of faith is only as good as far as that church or its people are willing to follow it. Judging by the teaching of Perry Stone he and his church do not value their statement of faith enough to follow it.
Stone's teachings on Divine Healing through Communion and Prayer Cloths should be of some concern. Stone teaches that divine physical healings are the normative for Christians today. Stone teaches that healing can happen through daily communion in his book, The Meal That Heals: Enjoying Intimate Daily Communion with God. Though we at Empowered by Christ have never read the book the description on his Website says the following;
“Through a daily, personal Communion service with God — right in your own home — you can experience spiritual renewal and physical healing in your life.”3
What Stone appears to argue is that if one takes daily communion God will guarantee healing. This teaching actually negates the will of God and turns God into a cosmic genie in which you control and can demand wishes from by following a formulated regiment. When we compare this to the church’s statement of faith we see that it is a stronger statement then even Stone, himself, makes when he says that “healing is provided for all through the sufferings of Christ.”4 The frequency of which the Lord’s Supper is to be partaken is a secondary issue that Christians can debate on and something that Christians should not divide over.
If Perry’s statements about divine healing and aberration of the Law through the mandating of Communion for healing was not enough to make one concerned about what Perry teaches, than his prayer cloth teachings should turn some heads. Many who endorse this modern-day prayer cloth teaching such as Perry try to reason that if you say God does not use prayer cloths, you are in fact denying His power, as well as Scripture, for He used the handkerchiefs and aprons that Paul touched to heal the sick in Acts 19:11-12. Did anyone hear that ripping sound? If you did it was Act 19:11-12 being ripped out of context. Any person must be very leery of a teacher or a Pastor that goes to the middle of a chapter or group of verse and quotes only one or two lines. What they are doing is trying to pit scripture against scripture by not quoting the correct context of the verses they are manhandling.
To understand this better we must take a look at what is lacking in the claim that Perry makes with his improper use of Scripture. First, despite many modern claims that people today have the same prophetic or apostolic authority as Paul and the other apostles, the Scriptures do not support this claim. If this was the case why do we have the complete canonized bible? If people still possessed the same prophetic gifts as the Apostles of Jesus's time than why are we not still receiving inspired writings that are equal to the Word of God? The simple answer is because God does not need the use of those gifts to communicate with His church, He has His completed Word and the Holy Spirit.
Moving forward we can see a second problem with Perry’s claim in the way that he uses or better misuses Acts 19:11-12. This text specifically indicates that “God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hand of Paul.” Therefore, this was not meant to be normative, or a regular occurrence as Perry and other try to make it out as normative. This is a common problem among teachers like Perry who try to use eisegesis or read extra meanings into biblical text this is not there.
A Third problem with Perry’s statement is that God used these miracles as an evidence to attest to the unique role that Paul had as apostle to the Gentiles. These miracles are sent from God for a specific time and culture for a specific meaning not a general all-purpose meaning for all people of all cultures and times. We must realize the cultural setting in which God worked these miracles through Paul. This miracle, along with the others in Acts 19, occurred around the town of Ephesus, which “was widely reputed for its trade in magic and the need for exorcism and protection against evil spirits.”5 So strong was Ephesus’ connection to magic and superstition that the “phrase ‘Ephesian writings’ (Epheisa grammata) was common in antiquity for documents containing spells and magical formulae.”6 It is within this cultural setting that the original people and readers to receive a demonstration of such miracles. We need not trust in pagan superstition or magic, but that our trust should be in the God of the Bible as Scripture tells us clearly throughout the Bible.
Let’s make this very clear no one is denying that God used handkerchiefs for some type of healing in the time of the apostles because that is what the word clearly states. However, these healings were not normative, but were usually done to illustrate an apostle’s authority and presence in a certain region, and were for a specific purpose. They are not for today and teachers like Perry Stone that try and say otherwise are either lying to you or have a very poor understanding of what the word of God actually says and teachers.
Besides Perry Stone’s improper teachings on Divine healings and Prayer Cloths he also improperly teaches on the subject of Lordship Salvation. On Perry Stone’s website, under the "contact" section under the "How to be Saved" area you'll read the following words;
“I now ask Jesus to come into my heart. Be my Savior. Be my Lord. Be my soon coming King. I will do my best to obey your teachings as recorded in the Bible.”
What Stone is teaching in his view of Lordship Salvation is that unless Jesus Christ is Lord of EVERY area of your life than one cannot be born again or saved. This teaching when taught in this manner is heretical at its very core because it under minds Christ’s Atoning work on the Cross. It also negate the Grace that believers have under the blood of Christ and thus ends up pulling those who follow this teaching in this manner back under the Law of the Old testament not the Grace of the New Testament and Jesus Christ.
On Perry’s website under the same section entitled “How to be Saved” we find that he uses the Sinner’s Prayer as a means of measuring a persons Salvation. Here at Empowered by Christ we believe that there is nothing wrong with someone using the Sinner’s Prayer when it is used correctly. This is to say that when it is used, it’s used as a follow up after a biblical sermon has been preached and the Holy Spirit is calling one to Salvation. Also we believe that those who are using the prayer are not relying on it as either a method of conviction, which is the job of the Holy Spirit and preaching of God’s word, nor a fire insurance policy to get out hell because one said the magical “prayer.” Sadly the later is what can be taken away from the way Perry Stone uses the Sinner’s Prayer on his site. One can conclude this because it is very hard to come across proper biblical preaching or teaching from Perry Stone himself or on his site.
We can conclude from the above facts about Stone and his teachings are not solid nor biblical and can not be trusted as someone to follow or to trusted with the Word of God. Stone plays fast and lose with the Word of God in areas where one should not play fast and loose with God's Holy Word. Anyone who is following or thinking about following Perry Stone should do so with much caution.
1 Voice of Evangelism, “About International Evangelist Perry Stone” (http://www.voe.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=48).
2 . Voice of Evangelism, “Statement of Faith,” (http://www.voe.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35), accessed on 12/19/08. Cf. also Church of God, “The Church of God is…” (http://www.churchofgod.org/about/church_is.cfm).
3 Voice of Evangelism, “Meals that Heal,” (https://store.voe.org/p-457-meal-that-heals-hardcover.aspx).
4 Voice of Evangelism “Statement of Faith,”
5 Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarstity Press, 1993), 378.
6 Richard N. Longenecker, “Acts” The Expositors Bible Commentary: John-Acts, vol. 9, gen. ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, Publishing House, 1981), 496
Stone's teachings on Divine Healing through Communion and Prayer Cloths should be of some concern. Stone teaches that divine physical healings are the normative for Christians today. Stone teaches that healing can happen through daily communion in his book, The Meal That Heals: Enjoying Intimate Daily Communion with God. Though we at Empowered by Christ have never read the book the description on his Website says the following;
“Through a daily, personal Communion service with God — right in your own home — you can experience spiritual renewal and physical healing in your life.”3
What Stone appears to argue is that if one takes daily communion God will guarantee healing. This teaching actually negates the will of God and turns God into a cosmic genie in which you control and can demand wishes from by following a formulated regiment. When we compare this to the church’s statement of faith we see that it is a stronger statement then even Stone, himself, makes when he says that “healing is provided for all through the sufferings of Christ.”4 The frequency of which the Lord’s Supper is to be partaken is a secondary issue that Christians can debate on and something that Christians should not divide over.
If Perry’s statements about divine healing and aberration of the Law through the mandating of Communion for healing was not enough to make one concerned about what Perry teaches, than his prayer cloth teachings should turn some heads. Many who endorse this modern-day prayer cloth teaching such as Perry try to reason that if you say God does not use prayer cloths, you are in fact denying His power, as well as Scripture, for He used the handkerchiefs and aprons that Paul touched to heal the sick in Acts 19:11-12. Did anyone hear that ripping sound? If you did it was Act 19:11-12 being ripped out of context. Any person must be very leery of a teacher or a Pastor that goes to the middle of a chapter or group of verse and quotes only one or two lines. What they are doing is trying to pit scripture against scripture by not quoting the correct context of the verses they are manhandling.
To understand this better we must take a look at what is lacking in the claim that Perry makes with his improper use of Scripture. First, despite many modern claims that people today have the same prophetic or apostolic authority as Paul and the other apostles, the Scriptures do not support this claim. If this was the case why do we have the complete canonized bible? If people still possessed the same prophetic gifts as the Apostles of Jesus's time than why are we not still receiving inspired writings that are equal to the Word of God? The simple answer is because God does not need the use of those gifts to communicate with His church, He has His completed Word and the Holy Spirit.
Moving forward we can see a second problem with Perry’s claim in the way that he uses or better misuses Acts 19:11-12. This text specifically indicates that “God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hand of Paul.” Therefore, this was not meant to be normative, or a regular occurrence as Perry and other try to make it out as normative. This is a common problem among teachers like Perry who try to use eisegesis or read extra meanings into biblical text this is not there.
A Third problem with Perry’s statement is that God used these miracles as an evidence to attest to the unique role that Paul had as apostle to the Gentiles. These miracles are sent from God for a specific time and culture for a specific meaning not a general all-purpose meaning for all people of all cultures and times. We must realize the cultural setting in which God worked these miracles through Paul. This miracle, along with the others in Acts 19, occurred around the town of Ephesus, which “was widely reputed for its trade in magic and the need for exorcism and protection against evil spirits.”5 So strong was Ephesus’ connection to magic and superstition that the “phrase ‘Ephesian writings’ (Epheisa grammata) was common in antiquity for documents containing spells and magical formulae.”6 It is within this cultural setting that the original people and readers to receive a demonstration of such miracles. We need not trust in pagan superstition or magic, but that our trust should be in the God of the Bible as Scripture tells us clearly throughout the Bible.
Let’s make this very clear no one is denying that God used handkerchiefs for some type of healing in the time of the apostles because that is what the word clearly states. However, these healings were not normative, but were usually done to illustrate an apostle’s authority and presence in a certain region, and were for a specific purpose. They are not for today and teachers like Perry Stone that try and say otherwise are either lying to you or have a very poor understanding of what the word of God actually says and teachers.
Besides Perry Stone’s improper teachings on Divine healings and Prayer Cloths he also improperly teaches on the subject of Lordship Salvation. On Perry Stone’s website, under the "contact" section under the "How to be Saved" area you'll read the following words;
“I now ask Jesus to come into my heart. Be my Savior. Be my Lord. Be my soon coming King. I will do my best to obey your teachings as recorded in the Bible.”
What Stone is teaching in his view of Lordship Salvation is that unless Jesus Christ is Lord of EVERY area of your life than one cannot be born again or saved. This teaching when taught in this manner is heretical at its very core because it under minds Christ’s Atoning work on the Cross. It also negate the Grace that believers have under the blood of Christ and thus ends up pulling those who follow this teaching in this manner back under the Law of the Old testament not the Grace of the New Testament and Jesus Christ.
On Perry’s website under the same section entitled “How to be Saved” we find that he uses the Sinner’s Prayer as a means of measuring a persons Salvation. Here at Empowered by Christ we believe that there is nothing wrong with someone using the Sinner’s Prayer when it is used correctly. This is to say that when it is used, it’s used as a follow up after a biblical sermon has been preached and the Holy Spirit is calling one to Salvation. Also we believe that those who are using the prayer are not relying on it as either a method of conviction, which is the job of the Holy Spirit and preaching of God’s word, nor a fire insurance policy to get out hell because one said the magical “prayer.” Sadly the later is what can be taken away from the way Perry Stone uses the Sinner’s Prayer on his site. One can conclude this because it is very hard to come across proper biblical preaching or teaching from Perry Stone himself or on his site.
We can conclude from the above facts about Stone and his teachings are not solid nor biblical and can not be trusted as someone to follow or to trusted with the Word of God. Stone plays fast and lose with the Word of God in areas where one should not play fast and loose with God's Holy Word. Anyone who is following or thinking about following Perry Stone should do so with much caution.
1 Voice of Evangelism, “About International Evangelist Perry Stone” (http://www.voe.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=48).
2 . Voice of Evangelism, “Statement of Faith,” (http://www.voe.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35), accessed on 12/19/08. Cf. also Church of God, “The Church of God is…” (http://www.churchofgod.org/about/church_is.cfm).
3 Voice of Evangelism, “Meals that Heal,” (https://store.voe.org/p-457-meal-that-heals-hardcover.aspx).
4 Voice of Evangelism “Statement of Faith,”
5 Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarstity Press, 1993), 378.
6 Richard N. Longenecker, “Acts” The Expositors Bible Commentary: John-Acts, vol. 9, gen. ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, Publishing House, 1981), 496
