A Critical Response to Andrew Wommack on the Creation and Fall of Adam

A CRITICAL REVIEW OF ANDREW WOMMACK'S CONTROVERSIAL DOCTRINE ON THE CREATION AND FALL OF ADAM

By Ezekiel Kimosop 

[This Article was written on 14th June 2017 following the broadcast teaching by Pastor Andrew Womack that evening on TBN] 

Just this evening I was privileged to listen to Pastor Andrew Wommack, a leading American televangelist who subscribes to the Word of Faith theology. 

Unfortunately I did not catch the entire series because he was concluding his teaching when I tuned in. 

In his concluding section, Pastor Wommack stated that there was no pre-Adamic civilization before the creation of Adam and Eve. Biblically speaking, this assertion is absolutely true. It is also true that God had created His angels long before the creation of Adam and Eve. 

I also agree with Wommack's view on the unbiblical theology advanced by the proponents of the Gap Theory which holds that there is an undefined time abyss between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. There is no evidence in the Bible in support of this New Age theory. 

WOMMACK'S CONTROVERSIAL THEOLOGY 

There are two issues that Womack captured in his telecast which I found rather controversial and that appear to contradict the clear teaching of the Bible. 

In his first assertion [which is faithful to his Word of Faith theology], Pastor Womack taught that God gave Adam absolute and unqualified dominion over the earth's resources, to subdue the earth for his benefit. This view is drawn from the statement of Genesis 1:26-28. The dominion doctrine is one of the fundamental teachings under the Word of Faith group which, in my view, is largely inconsistent with biblical truth. 

The Word of Faith movement portrays an  "absentee" God in the Garden of Eden and a glorified Man in Adam in so far as earthly dominion is concerned. They teach that believers have the same authority that Adam enjoyed in so far as earthly material prosperity is concerned. 

This theology is sounds extra biblical in the sense that the Bible nowhere teaches that God abdicated His sovereignty over His creation even for one minute! 

God was and still is in control of His entire creation including the resources on earth. Read Psalm 24:1, 50:10, Haggai 2:8. Adam was not given unfettered control over the earth's resources. He, like us, was merely a steward of God. 

The truth is that man was and still is totally answerable to God for the use or misuse of the world's resources and God has absolute authority to assign these resources at His pleasure. 

The second controversy relates to Wommack's view of the fall of Adam and Eve and the status of Satan on the Garden of Eden. This is perhaps the most blatant misrepresentation of Scripture, in my view. 

Wommack teaches that Satan was created as an angel and planted in the Garden of Eden by God to serve Adam. This teaching is nowhere taught or supported by any passage of Scripture. Adam was not Satan's master!

The Bible only speaks of the serpent as the most cunning among the animals that God created. This description reveals that the Serpent was used by Satan to achieve his evil purposes [cf. Genesis 3:1-6].

Womack further adds that Satan was a perfect angel of God at this point and that he was not fallen. 

This is a theologically shocking statement for a preacher to make! The theory behind Wommack's theology is that Satan was not created before Adam and that he could not have fallen before Genesis 1-3. Again this is a misleading statement that is not based on sound exegesis of Scripture. 

Wommack finally claimed that the fall of Satan and a third of the angels described in Revelation 12:7- 12 was only symbolic and not literal. He offers no exegetical basis for this strange interpretation. 

I have serious reservations with this kind of theological persuasion because it essentially denies the reality of the cross of Calvary and subverts the truths taught in the Bible regarding the fall and redemption of man.

If Satan was not fallen in Genesis 1-3, then the fall of Adam is perhaps a myth and the finished works of the cross have no meaning. Nothing could be further from the truth! 

The Bible teaches in John 8:44 that Satan is the father of lies and a liar from the beginning. Which beginning was this? Garden of Eden? Obviously this beginning goes far back beyond Genesis 1-3. 

The Bible does not specifically describe the period when Satan was created by God nor when he fell from heaven but we do know that he is not described among those creatures that God created in the Garden of Eden!

How on earth could a perfect angelic being created by God have led Adam and Eve into disobedience without himself being already fallen? 

Again to teach that the fall of Satan and his angels from heaven as described in Revelation 12:7-12 is merely symbolic is definitely an attempt to justify a false theology regarding the fall of Adam. 

It is a misrepresentation of the express teaching of the Bible which is intended to agree with a preconceived theological frame associated with the Word of Faith group. 

While I agree that there are different interpretative positions that theologians can take on difficult passages of Scripture, I refuse to accept the notion that the fall of Adam was not the work of Satan in his fallen state. 

I respectfully reject the teaching of Andrew Wommack regarding the authority of Man in the Garden of Eden, the fall of Adam and Eve and the expulsion of Satan from heaven. 

I believe that Satan was a pre-creation angelic being who fell out and was expelled from heaven before Adam and Eve were created. This is consistent with the teaching of Scripture.

The Bible warns that we must prove all things and cling to what is good [1 Thessalonians 5:21]. This exhortation applies to teachings and doctrines advanced by every group that purports to subscribe to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are also commanded to test every spirit to see if it is of God (1 John 4:1-7).

© Ezekiel Kimosop 2018