Andrew Wommack
Encyclopedia
Andrew Wommack is an American-born TV evangelist, Word of Faith
Word of Faith
Word of Faith is a family of Christian churches as well as a label applied by some observers to a teaching movement kindred to many Pentecostal and charismatic churches and individuals worldwide. The basic doctrine preached is that of salvation through Jesus Christ and what that salvation entails...

 preacher, self-proclaimed "faith healer", and founder of Andrew Wommack Ministries in 1978 and Charis Bible College (originally Colorado Bible College) in 1994. Wommack's teachings are influenced by his self-professed favorite Word of Faith
Word of Faith
Word of Faith is a family of Christian churches as well as a label applied by some observers to a teaching movement kindred to many Pentecostal and charismatic churches and individuals worldwide. The basic doctrine preached is that of salvation through Jesus Christ and what that salvation entails...

 preachers: Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland
Kenneth Copeland
Kenneth Copeland is an American author, public speaker, and televangelist. He is the founder of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, which preaches a “prosperity gospel”: "Prosperity gospel assures followers that the more they give including in the form of tithes to the church, the more they will receive...

, Charles Capps
Charles Capps
Charles Capps is a Christian preacher and teacher in the Word of Faith movement, and has had great influence on the movement through his books and teaching. He and his wife Peggy are headquartered in England, Arkansas...

, and K.C. Price.

History

Wommack has been preaching since 1968. He married his wife Jamie in 1972. Over the next six years, they would pastor three small churches and complete their family with two sons, Joshua and Jonathan Peter. In 1976, Andrew broadcast his first Gospel Truth radio program on a little country-and-western station in Childress, Texas. The Wommacks founded Andrew Wommack Ministries, Inc. in 1978 and moved their ministry to Colorado Springs in 1980. With the exception of a few months, Wommack has been broadcasting the program ever since. Then in January 2000, Andrew broadcast the first Gospel Truth television program on INSP Network. Response to the message was tremendous, and since then, DayStar Network and The Church Channel in the U.S., God Channel of Europe Network, and several individual television stations have been added. Wommack joined Trinity Broadcasting Network
Trinity Broadcasting Network
The Trinity Broadcasting Network is a major American Christian television network. TBN is based in Costa Mesa, California, with auxiliary studio facilities in Irving, Texas; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Gadsden, Alabama; Decatur, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; and New...

's lineup with his own daily radio and television show "Gospel Truth with Andrew Wommack".

Raising The Dead

Andrew Wommack is a Word of Faith
Word of Faith
Word of Faith is a family of Christian churches as well as a label applied by some observers to a teaching movement kindred to many Pentecostal and charismatic churches and individuals worldwide. The basic doctrine preached is that of salvation through Jesus Christ and what that salvation entails...

preacher who teaches that humans can raise people from the dead and documents how he raised his own youngest son, Peter, on March 4, 2001 from the dead on his website. "My own son was raised up after being dead for five hours." "I’ve personally seen three people raised from the dead, including my own son. He’d been dead for almost five hours, and had already turned black. His toe was tagged and he was lying on a slab in the hospital morgue." "When my youngest son, Peter, died on March 4, 2001, my wife and I spoke our faith and said, "The first report is not the last report." We spoke resurrection life back into Peter's body, and then we headed into town. It was one hour and fifteen minutes from the time we got the call until we got to where Peter was. During that time, I was operating in faith. I remembered prophecies that had not yet come to pass in Peter's life, and therefore, I knew it wasn't time for Peter to die. I rejoiced by faith, seeing Peter alive and well. My oldest son, Joshua, met me at the door and said, "Dad, five or ten minutes after I called you, Peter just sat up." Thank You, Jesus! This is the point: I didn't rejoice more once I saw Peter raised from the dead than I did while I was still driving. During the drive, I knew Peter was alive, and I was rejoicing with all my might. It was actually anticlimactic when I saw in the physical what I had already seen in the spiritual. Don't get me wrong; I was blessed and I rejoiced to see my son raised up after being dead for five hours." "I’ve felt that way before. One night my older son called on the telephone and told me that my younger son had died. Immediately, my wife and I agreed in prayer, spoke our faith, and commanded him to come back to life. As we got dressed and drove the hour into Colorado Springs, I had some negative emotions. I felt like, How long can you stand? How long can you be strong? Every once in a while you just need to run up the white flag of surrender and let it out. Why not just gripe and complain? However, I knew that if I started speaking forth my fears and unbelief that it would have negated my faith. Even though I felt like saying, “We lost this one. We’re beaten. Let’s give it up and quit,” I started building myself up and speaking positive words like, “He will not die but live and declare the works of the Lord, ”and “You’re a good God. I love You!” All the glory to Jesus, we arrived in Colorado Springs at the hospital to discover that God had raised him from the dead. He had been dead for almost five hours, but about five minutes or so after we received that phone call from my older son, my younger son just sat up and started talking right there on the slab in the hospital morgue."

Miracles and Healings

Wommack claims he has witnessed uncountable miracles and healings: "Although many people would like to see blind eyes and deaf ears opened, terminal diseases healed, the dead raised, and financial blessings manifest the way I have (by God’s grace),they’re not willing to spend the time yielding to and fellowshipping with the Lord in His Word, prayer, and obedience." "I don’t claim to have “arrived” concerning prayer, but I’ve definitely left! I regularly see miracles of every kind happen in my life and ministry. My own son was raised up after being dead for five hours. I’ve seen many blind eyes and deaf ears opened, not to mention all of the cancers healed, people coming out of wheelchairs, and demons cast out."

Blessings and Promises

"I was dealing with a man once who was afraid he was going to die. I told him, "You aren't going to die. God's Word says you'll live. By His stripes you're healed." But his fear still remained."

Negative Emotions

"I firmly believe that if I had given in to and vented my negative emotions, we wouldn’t have seen the victory. If I had spoken forth my frustration and complained, saying, “It’s not fair,” my son wouldn’t have been raised from the dead."

Spanking Children and Discipline

"Let me illustrate this with a story about my son, Joshua. When he was only a year old, I was loading lumber on a large truck in the heat of a Texas summer. I had Joshua with me, and he was having a big time playing in the lumber yard. By mid-afternoon, he was tired and sleepy and started to lie down in the dirt for a nap. I knew his mother wouldn't like that, so I put him in the cab of the truck to lie down and take his nap. He had been wanting to get into that truck all day, and when I put him in there, he revived. I had to roll the windows down because it was hot, and Joshua was leaning out the windows and waving at me in the side view mirrors. I told him to lie down and even gave him a spanking, but he didn't take heed. He leaned out the window too far, fell out of the cab, hit his eye on the running board and landed on his head." Andrew equates this story of himself as a Father as God the Father not causing hurt or sickness (i.e. Joshua's head hitting the running board) and that God will, in fact, caution and discipline people who are headed for destruction. As an earthly father cares for his children and does not intentionally cause them harm, they will also do their best to prevent that happening.

Opponent of "Sovereignty of God" Teaching

Wommack teaches "the "sovereignty of God" in a manner different from typical preachers. Andrew teaches that while God is sovereign in the literal definition of the word, the Church today uses the term to mean that he has total control over everything. In Andrew's teaching, "The Authority of the Believer", he illustrates how God had given authority and dominion over to Adam in the garden and Adam had succumbed to Satan and relinquished that authority to him (Satan).

Endorses Other Preachers

"It was time to start partaking of the blessing and anointing that was on the lives of other ministers. In response, they began giving to people like Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Joyce Meyer, and me, all ministers who were imparting anointing and blessing to their lives."

Raised Son From The Dead

Although there is no proof, Wommack claims to have raised his son from the dead: "My own son was raised up after being dead for five hours."

Financial Declarations

Although the math does not add up accurately, on his website, Wommack claims he used to "only" make about $500,000 a year. "The first time I tried to produce a book was about twenty years ago. It was my Life for Today Study Bible and Commentary: the Gospels Edition, which is almost six hundred pages long. This was going to be a major expense. At that time, my ministry income was so low that to come up with $50,000 to print a book was two or three months’ worth of income for me. This project was really stretching me to the max! [$50,000/3x12=$200,000 a year income = “income was so low”] A number of different publishers came and offered to help us with the project. One offered to reduce our cost to $27,000 if we would pay right away. They said, “We’re in a bind and need the money. If you pay right away, we’ll give you this discount.” So I went to my partners, raised the money—more than a month’s worth of income at the time—and gave it to them. This was a major deal for us. However, within a month, I learned that the salesman had run of with our money. In fact, he’d burned several other well-known preachers at the same time! I remember when I heard this news. My employee said, “This salesman just took our $27,000. We’re going to have to come up with an additional $45,000 just in the next week or so to be able to make this project work. All together, we’re looking at about $70,000. I recognized that this wasn’t just a person trying to steal from me. Obviously, there were demonic entities working behind the scenes. So, within seconds of getting this news, I recognized, “his is the devil stealing from me, and I’ve caught him. Therefore, according to the Word of God, I demand it back seven times!” Immediately I took a piece of paper and figured out seven times $70,000. Instead of being angry, depressed, and hurt, I started dancing and praising God, saying, “Hallelujah, this is awesome. I’m getting $490,000 back this year!” As I continued praising God, that situation never did get me down or discouraged. When that year was over, we had increased nearly to the penny $490,000—exactly seven times the amount of money that was taken from us. That was back during a period of time when our entire income was only about $500,000 a year. We nearly doubled our income that year!

Charis Bible College

Charis Bible College (CBC) (originally Colorado Bible College) is an unaccredited bible college that opened in 1994, graduating its first class of 33 in 1996. Now, there are over 400 students attending its Colorado campus and nearly 700 more attending via Online and Correspondence classes. In 1997, Charis Bible College-U.K. was founded in South Chard, England, and is presently located in Walsall. Since then, schools have been started in Russia, Northern Ireland, Belize, India, The Netherlands, S. Africa and Uganda. The first U.S. extension school opened in Chicago, IL, in 2003. Its success spurred the establishment of schools in Atlanta, GA; Dallas, TX; Jacksonville, FL; Gardner & Plymouth, MA; Dyer, IN, and Kansas City, MO.
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