See our playlist, "Dealing with Predestination, Arminianism & Calvinism" at www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA932903698A56780. Larry Wessels (CANSWERSTV at www.youtube.com/user/CAnswersTV) discusses religious heretics Gloria & Kenneth Copeland who claim to have "control" over the weather including tornados. See our playlist called, " Dealing with Phony TV Preachers (TBN) & King James Onlyites" at www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2CDA855486B09128 which has an entire 5 hour video series exposing these fake TV snake oil salesmen for what they really are. Much, though not all, of the distinctive theology of the Word-Faith movement is derived from the writings of E. W. Kenyon (1867-1948). Kenyon's mentor was A. J. Gordon, a Boston- based Baptist pastor and "faith-cure" teacher through whom Kenyon became ordained in the early 1890s. Although Kenyon was also exposed to New Thought and Christian Science in Boston, the extent of the influence of these mind sciences (which are clearly heretical) is disputed even among Kenyon's critics. Kenyon, like modern Word-Faith teachers, regarded the mind sciences as demonic counterfeits of authentic supernatural Christianity. Over the years Kenyon became a popular evangelist, preaching, for example, in the churches of A. B. Simpson (a leading and radical advocate of the "faith-cure" message and the founder of the Christian & Missionary Alliance) and Aimee Semple McPherson (founder of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, a major Pentecostal denomination). Kenyon's lasting legacy has been felt largely through his influence on popular teachers of the "Latter-Rain" movement, a "healing" revival of the late 1940s and 1950s spearheaded by the heretical and highly controversial William Branham. One of the evangelists on the fringe of that movement was Kenneth E. Hagin (1917-2003). Hagin claimed to have been healed of heart trouble as a teenager, though reportedly he had recurring heart problems at various times throughout his life. For most of the 1940s he had served as pastor for several Assemblies of God churches, but in 1949 he launched his own itinerant evangelistic healing ministry. By 1950 Hagin had started reading Kenyon's books and adopting some of Kenyon's teachings as his own. In later years Hagin published articles and books heavily indebted to Kenyon, in several instances clearly plagiarizing from his books. The Word-Faith movement quickly grew in size and visibility, especially through the exposure provided by the Trinity Broadcasting Network, a TV network started by Paul Crouch in 1973. That same year Kenneth Copeland Ministries was founded; Copeland is widely regarded as the second most important teacher in the movement after Hagin. Hagin passed away in 2003 after spending several days in a cardiac intensive-care unit, suggesting that heart troubles finally resulted in his death (albeit at an advanced age), and leaving his ministry under the leadership of his son, Kenneth Hagin Jr. The movement's most visible and influential teachers today emphasize prosperity and general well-being and deemphasize, though not deny, the movement's controversial theology. The new generation of Word-Faith teachers includes Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen, both of whom (unlike Hagin or Copeland) are authors of bestselling books aggressively marketed to the general public. DOCTRINES What is presented here are the doctrines of the "full strength" Word-Faith teaching of Hagin and Copeland, with some references to the views of other teachers. Important biblical texts misinterpreted by Word-Faith teachers are also noted. There are "anointed" apostles and prophets today: The church needs living apostles and prophets (cf. Eph. 4:11). Although they deny having the same authority as the canon of Scripture, such modern figures supposedly receive revelations, typically in the form of personal Bible studies with Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Hagin recounted several such personal tutorials in biblical instruction from Jesus in his book I Believe in Visions. Word-Faith teachers have often issued dire warnings against those who would criticize their "anointed" prophetic ministries. According to Hagin, a minister who "didn't accept the message" God had given Hagin "fell dead in the pulpit." Benny Hinn once claimed, "The day is coming when those that attack us will drop dead." God speaks words of faith with his mouth: Basic to Word-Faith doctrine is the idea that God created the world by literally speaking aloud words of faith. Thus, Hagin taught that "God created the world with words. Words filled with faith are the most powerful things in all the world." As Fred Price put it, "God believed in His heart that what He said with His mouth would come to pass, and He dared to say it." Joel Osteen, for example, credits his wife Victoria with "speaking words of faith and victory" that led to their eventually building themselves a large, elegant home."

Be the first to comment