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Word-Faith Movement
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John Henry
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Nov 16, 2006 04:19 PST
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Kenneth E. Hagin (1917-2003)
General Teachings / Activities
Kenneth E. Hagin died September 19, 2003 at the age of 85.
(Because his influence in charismatic circles will never die, and because
his son and grandson carry on with Kenneth Hagin's teachings, this report
will remain posted.) He was well known as the father of the
"
Word-Faith
"/"
Positive Confession" movement. (See endnote for a detailed
description of the Hagin ministry empire.) In his The Word of
Faith magazine, Hagin taught the following heresies: Receiving
healing, just as receiving salvation, is simply a matter of appropriating
what already belongs to us (6/90); healing is included in the gospel
(8/92); God does not afflict people with sickness and disease (12/90); he
(Hagin) went to heaven and talked with his sister (6/91); Jesus appeared
to him in a vision in 1950 (8/91); he once went to hell in an out-of-body
experience (9/91); he does not believe in sickness and disease (7/92); it
is always God's will to heal the sick (12/92); believers have a legal and
redemptive right to divine healing (1/93). Hagin says: "Your
confession of faith in God's Word will bring healing or whatever it is
you need from God into the present tense and make it a reality in your
life!" (12/92). (Reported in the 2/1/93,
Calvary
Contender.)
- As the name "Word-Faith" implies, this movement teaches
that faith is a matter of what we say more that whom we trust or
what truths we embrace and affirm in our hearts. A favorite term in the
Word-Faith movement is "positive confession." It refers to the
Word-Faith teaching that words have creative power. What you say,
Word-Faith teachers claim, determines everything that happens to you.
Your "confessions," that is, the things you say -- especially
the favors you demand of God -- must all be stated positively and
without wavering. Then God is required to answer (Charismatic
Chaos, p. 281). Word-Faith believers view their positive confessions
as an incantation by which they can conjure up anything they
desire: "Believe it in your heart; say it with your mouth. That is
the principle of faith. You can have what you say"
(Charismatic Chaos, p. 285).
- Word-Faith is the fastest-growing movement within the professing
church. It has involved two distinct but closely related factions: the
Peale/
Schuller-Positive/Possibility thinkers, with their roots in New
Thought, and the
Hagin/
Copeland Positive Confession and Word-Faith groups, which have their
roots in E.W. Kenyon, William Branham, and the Manifest Sons of
God/Latter Rain Movement. In Hagin's book, Having Faith in Your
Faith, he teaches that anyone can develop universal "laws of
faith" to get what he wants. Hagin teaches that for a pastor or
anyone to drive a Chevrolet instead of a luxury car isn't
"being humble, that's being ignorant" of God's "law of
prosperity" that works for "whoever you are," saint or
sinner. "Having faith in your faith" is a far cry from what
Jesus taught: "Have faith in God." [Other Hagin books that
clearly detail his "theology" are How to Write Your Own
Ticket with God (Tulsa: Faith Library, 1979) and Godliness is
Profitable (Tulsa: Faith Library, 1982).] Hagin claims Jesus told
him, "If anybody, anywhere, will ... put these [positive
confession] principles into operation, he will always have whatever he
wants from Me or God the Father" (Charismatic Chaos, p.
281).
- In an early-1990s edition of his magazine, The Word of
Faith, Hagin clearly delineated his heresy of "positive
confession." The article was entitled, "You Can Have What You
Say":
"Often you create your own negative situations yourself with
wrong thinking, wrong believing, and wrong speaking. So start believing
according to God's Word. Then begin making positive confessions of faith
and victory over your life. ... You will never receive anything from God
beyond the words you speak. ... If you don't like what you have in life,
then begin to change the way you are thinking, believing, and speaking.
Instead of speaking according to natural circumstances out of your head,
learn to speak God's Word from your spirit. Begin to confess God's
promises of life and health and victory into your situation. Then you can
begin to enjoy God's abundant life as you have what you
say!"
This was not a slip of the tongue or some new doctrine. This is at
the heart of the Positive Confession (PC) movement today, also known as
the "name-it-and-claim-it" gospel. The Positive Confession
movement is a charismatic form of
Christian
Science. This can be substantiated by simply comparing the
similarities in their common beliefs. Positive Confession is basically
warmed-over New Thought dressed in evangelical/charismatic language.
(Other well-known PC'ers besides Hagin's most successful protégé, Kenneth
Copeland, are Charles Capps, Frederick K.C. Price, Robert Tilton, and
David Yonggi
Cho. Many of them are graduates of Hagin's RHEMA Bible Training
Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.)
- Hagin went a step further, from heresy to blasphemy, when he
said, "The believer is as much an incarnation of God as Jesus
Christ" (Hagin, "The Incarnation," The Word of Faith,
12/80, cited in Christianity in Crisis, p. 175,397). He has also said,
"If we ever wake up and realize who we are, we'll start doing the
work that we're supposed to do. Because the church hasn't realized yet
that they are Christ. That's who they are. They are Christ." This is
a gross heresy. The Lord Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh. He is
the eternal Son of God. Nowhere is the believer said to be an incarnation
of Almighty God. The Lord Jesus Christ performed miracles to demonstrate
that He was the Son of God, the promised Messiah. No Christian can do the
things that Christ did. Not one Pentecostal preacher has ever been able
to perform the miracles that Christ performed. It is blasphemous
confusion to claim that the believer is an incarnation of God like Christ
was.
- Hagin obviously did not believe God is sovereign. Jesus,
according to Word-Faith theology, has no authority on earth, having
delegated it all to the church. He developed this point in his book The
Authority of the Believer (Tulsa: Faith Library, 1979). And though most
Word-Faith advocates would affirm the personality of the Holy Spirit,
their teachings, in effect, depersonalize Him by consistently speaking of
Him as a power to be drawn upon rather than it is we who are to be His
instruments (Charismatic Chaos, p. 267).
- When one starts believing that he is Christ, with the power of
Christ to create reality, the stories become ludicrous. Surely Hagin had
the most unusual story of all. He said that when he was younger and still
single, God led him to break off a relationship with a woman by revealing
to him that she was morally unfit. Hagin claimed God miraculously
transported him out of church one Sunday, right in the middle of the
sermon. Worst of all, Hagin was the preacher delivering the sermon!
(Charismatic Chaos, p. 49.)
- In How to Write Your Own Ticket with God, Hagin saw a vision of
Jesus, and said to Him, "Dear Lord, I have two sermons I preach
concerning the woman who touched Your clothes and was healed when You
were on earth. I received both of these sermons by inspiration."
(Emphasis added.) Later, Hagin quoted what Jesus told him in reply:
"You are correct. My Spirit, the Holy Spirit, has endeavored to get
another sermon into your spirit, but you have failed to pick it up. While
I am here, I will do as you ask. I will give you that sermon outline. Now
get your pencil and paper and write it down." (Emphasis added.)
Hagin claimed to have received numerous visions, as well as eight
personal visitations from Jesus (see below). Hagin wrote, "The Lord
Himself taught me about prosperity. I never read about it in a book. I
got it directly from heaven" (How God Taught Me About Prosperity,
Tulsa: Faith Library, 1985). That claim, of course, is a lie.
(Charismatic Chaos, p. 268.) [Hagin also claimed that he knew that Paul
wrote Hebrews because Jesus appeared to him (Hagin) and told him
so!]
Hagin claimed that of the eight times Jesus appeared to him, seven times
Jesus was barefoot; the other time Jesus was wearing Roman sandals, and
came into Hagin's room, sat down by his bedside, and talked with him for
about 30 minutes. During that time, Jesus allegedly taught Hagin how to
be led by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. Hagin described Jesus as
5'11" tall and weighing about 180 pounds. This is of course
impossible (cf. 2 Cor. 5:16). If the resurrected, ascended, glorified
Christ chose to visit Hagin for a midnight chat, He would not be wearing
sandals, and Hagin would be toast (3/4/96, Christian News, p.
12).
- Other examples of Hagin's false teachings (Source: "Hagin
Drunk 'In The Spirit'," David Cloud, 10/4/98, FBIS report):
(a) Hagin claimed that his teaching was given to him by God, but in
fact he plagiarized heavily from the writings of Kenyon (1867-1948). D.R.
McConnell, in his book A Different Gospel, documents this with pages of
comparisons proving beyond question that Hagin plagiarized Kenyon's
writings. McConnell introduces this section of his book by saying:
"Hagin has, indeed, copied word-for-word without documentation from
Kenyon's writings. The following excerpts of plagiarisms from no less
than eight books by E.W. Kenyon are presented as evidence of this charge.
This is only a sampling of such plagiarisms. Many more could be
cited."
(b) Hagin taught that Christ's physical death did not remove sin.
Rather, it was Christ's alleged "spiritual death" and struggles
in hell that removed sin. Hagin taught that Christ was sent to hell and
there struggled against Satan and demons, and by his victory over them
was born again. This is heresy of the greatest sort. The Bible plainly
states that we are redeemed by Christ's death and blood (Acts 20:28; Heb.
9:14; 10:10). The atonement was finished on the cross. When Christ
dismissed His spirit from his body, He cried, "It is finished"
(John 19:30). The Lord Jesus Christ was not born again; He was never
lost. He bore our sin, but He was never a sinner. He was never tormented
in hell by Satan and the demons. Nowhere does the Bible say that Satan is
in hell or that he has any influence in hell. One happy day in the
future, Satan will be bound for 1,000 years in the bottomless pit (Rev.
20:1-3) and ultimately he will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev.
20:10), but nowhere does the Bible say Satan is the master of
hell.
(c) Hagin claimed he was guided by alleged visitations of angels and
of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. His book I Believe in Visions describes
eight of these. The seventh occurred December 12, 1962. Hagin claimed the
Lord prophesied to him in this visitation that He would soon begin to
move among all denominations to "bring them into a full salvation
and into the baptism of the Holy Ghost." Hagin claimed that Jesus
Christ told him that he would play a part in this ecumenical miracle
revival. (A similar prophecy was given to David DuPlessis by Smith
Wigglesworth in 1936. The ecumenical-charismatic movement, which has
since swept through the Roman Catholic Church and the mainline Protestant
denominations, would appear to be a fulfillment of these prophecies.
DuPlessis was the first to carry Pentecostal experiences to the Roman
Catholic Church. He was the only Pentecostal to attend Rome's Vatican II
Council in the mid 1960s.)
(d) Hagin taught a health-prosperity gospel. He wrote: "Like
salvation, healing is a gift, already paid for at Calvary. All we need to
do is accept it. All we need to do is possess the promise that is ours.
As children of God, we need to realize that healing belongs to us"
(Hagin, Healing Belongs to Us, p. 32). He further said: "God is
glorified through healing and deliverance, not sickness and
suffering" (Hagin, The Key to Scriptural Healing, p. 17). Hagin's
claims do not match reality, though. A few years ago he claimed that he
hadn't been sick in 60 years, but actually he had several cardiovascular
crises, one lasting six weeks (and the final crises being his cause of
death).
(e) Hagin claimed that the Lord spoke to him in a vision in 1959 with
the words: "If you will learn to follow that inward witness I will
make you rich. I will guide you in all the affairs of life, financial as
well as spiritual" (Hagin, How to Be Led by the Holy Spirit). In an
article "How God Taught Me about Prosperity," Hagin claimed
that Jesus Christ taught him not to think that it is wrong to have
riches. Allegedly Christ told him not to "pray about money anymore;
that is, the way you've been praying. CLAIM WHATEVER YOU NEED."
Christ allegedly further taught Hagin that he had personal angels who
could be commanded to do his bidding. Hagin said Christ told him in 1963
that the angels were waiting for his command to provide his material
desires: "They are waiting on you to give them the order, just as
the waitress cannot do anything for you until you give her the
order" (Hagin, I Believe in Visions, p. 126). [Wasn't it then
exceedingly contradictory and hypocritical that at least 20 minutes of
Hagin's meetings were given over to fund raising?]
- Here is just a sample of some of the direct revelations
and/or direct "anointings" Kenneth Hagin claimed to have
received from the Lord. (All quotes from The Word of Faith
magazine.):
(a) "'... You have learned faith both through My Word and by
experience. Now go teach my people what I've taught you. Go teach My
people faith.' These words, spoken years ago by the Head of the Church to
Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin, have never lost their sense of divine urgency,
Decades have passed, and that heavenly commission still stands"
(11/96).
(b) "In March 1945 ... On Sunday afternoon I was lying on the
living room floor. The Holy Ghost said, 'When you're in your sixties, the
two main thrusts of your ministry will be radio and the printed
page'" (11/96).
(c) "Then almost twenty years later in 1963, during an unusual
time of prayer at a meeting in Houston, the Lord told me four things to
do: Go to neutral places to hold my own 'All Faiths Crusades' and invite
everyone to come; put all my teachings from my daytime teachings on tape;
and get on the radio and teach -- don't preach" (11/96).
(d) "Waves of God's glory swept through the sanctuary, and
people broke out in
Holy Ghost laughter or dancing in the Spirit. Then Brother Hagin
began laying hands on various people in the audience, telling them to 'Be
blessed!' He was operating under such a strong anointing that ENTIRE ROWS
OF PEOPLE WOULD FALL UNDER THE POWER OF GOD when Brother Hagin touched
the first person in the row -- or at times just walked by the row!
Afterwards, Brother Hagin began to close the service -- but the Holy
Ghost arrested him, striking him dumb or mute by the power of God! For
the next hour, Brother Hagin, unable to speak himself, walked throughout
the audience, handing various ministers the microphone so the minister
could speak as the Lord led him. But the moment Brother Hagin gave the
microphone to someone, THAT MINISTER WAS EITHER STRUCK DUMB, FELL UNDER
THE POWER OF GOD, OR WAS OVERCOME BY HOLY GHOST LAUGHTER" (5/96,
Description of a meeting conducted by Kenneth Hagin at the Winter Bible
Seminar '96 on the RHEMA campus). [Hagin had been in the center of the
current Laughing Revival. It was during a Rodney Howard-Browne crusade at
Hagin's church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that Vineyard Pastor Randy Clark
received the "anointing" which he subsequently carried to
Toronto.]
(e) "One morning at a recent Holy Ghost Meeting, the Lord asked
me a question ... The Lord said to me, 'Do you think I'd ask you to do
something that I wouldn't be willing to do?'" (10/96).
(f) The Lord spoke audibly to him and told him when was the proper
time to applaud (clap) during a worship service: "The Lord didn't
say, 'Don't ever clap.' He was explaining the right and wrong time to
clap. ... I'm only telling you what the Lord told me!"
(10/96).
- Hagin displayed his hyper-charismatic theology on a regular
basis in his The Word of Faith magazine. The following excerpts are from
Hagin's "From the Archives" series. This is presented as
further proof of the nonsense emanating from charismatic pulpits
today:
In the10/01 magazine, in an article titled "Born Again," Hagin
recounted his three visits to hell as a 15 year-old boy in the year 1933.
The article introduces the visits with: "Kenneth E. Hagin suffered
poor health throughout childhood and at the age of fifteen became
bedfast. That night, he died and went to the gates of hell three
times":
"As I began to descend into the darkness for the third time, my
spirit cried out, 'God, I belong to the church! I've been baptized in the
water!' … I came again to the bottom of that pit. Again I could feel the
heat as it beat me in the face. Again I approached the entrance, the
gates into hell itself. The creature that met me the first two times
again took me by the arm. … I just heard the voice. I don't know what he
said, but whatever he said, that place shook; it just trembled. And that
creature took his hand off my arm. It was just as if there was a suction
to my back parts. It pulled me back, away from the entrance to hell,
until I stood in the shadows. Then it pulled me up headfirst."
Hagin's out-of-body experience ends up back home:
"I came up beside my bed in my grandparents' house. The
difference between the three experiences was that I came up on the porch
the first time; at the foot of the bed the second time; and right beside
the bed the third time. When I got inside my body, my physical voice
picked up and continued my prayer right in the middle of the sentence. I
was already praying out of my spirit."
And quite a prayer it wasa real traffic-stopper:
"… they tell me that between me and Momma praying so loud,
traffic was lined up for two blocks on either side of our house! They
heard me praying from inside the house, and they heard my mother as she
walked the porch praying at the top of her voice. … That was the very
hour I was born again …"
Arguably, Hagin's fictionalized account of his salvation experience
is necessary to give credibility to the hyper-charismatic's claim to
prophethood. But to seal the deal, the self-proclaimed charismatic
prophet needed a personalized visit from Jesus. And not just any visit
would doone on par with the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Apostle
John WAS apparently required. In Hagin's November 2001 The Word of Faith
magazine, in an article titled "A Sobering Vision," he
recounted a 1950 tent revival in Texas where Jesus appeared to him in a
vision. Reading like a passage from the Book of Revelation, Hagin
actually wrote new revelation:
"As I lay under the power of God, it seemed that I stood on a
plain and could see for miles. … To the west I saw what appeared to be a
tiny dot on the horizon. As I watched, it grew larger. It was a horse
with a man upon it, riding toward me at full speed. The horseman came to
me, stopped, and handed me a scrolla roll of paper twelve or fourteen
inches long. As I unrolled it, he said, 'Take and read.' At the top of
the page in big, bold, black print were the words, 'WAR AND DESTRUCTION.'
I was struck dumb. He laid his right hand on my head and said, 'Read, in
the Name of Jesus Christ!' I began to read what followed on the paper,
and as the words instructed me, I looked and saw what I read about.
First, I read about thousands upon thousands of men in uniform. … wave
after wave of soldiers marching as to war … I saw many … All of the women
were bowed together in sorrow and were weeping profusely. … I looked at
the scroll again, and again looked up to see what I had read about. I saw
the skyline of a large city. Looking closer I saw its skyscrapers were
burned-out hulls, and portions of the city were in ruins. It was not
written that just one city would be destroyed, burned, and in ruins, but
that there would be many such cities."
Too bad Hagin didn't reveal this to the FBI before the September
11th WTC attacks. He continued with his vision:
"The scroll was written in the first person; it seemed as if
Jesus Himself were speaking. I read, 'America is receiving her last call.
Some nations have already received their last call and will never receive
another.' Then in larger print it said, 'THE TIME OF THE END OF ALL
THINGS IS AT HAND.' This statement was repeated four or five
times."
Now for the good stuffJesus validates the gifts of the Spirit for
today. How convenient for charismatic theology!:
"The scroll continued, 'All the gifts of the Spirit will be in
operation in the Church in these last days. The Church will do greater
things than even the Early Church did. It will have greater power, signs,
and wonders than were recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. We have seen
and experienced many healings, but we now behold amazing miracles such as
have not been seen before. More and more miracles will be performed in
the last days which are just ahead (referring to the end of the last
days), for it is time for the gift of the working of miracles to be more
in prominence. We now have entered into the area of the miraculous. Many
of My own people will not accept the moving of My Spirit, and will turn
back and will not be ready to meet Me at My coming. Many will be deceived
by false prophets and miracles of satanic origin. But follow the Word of
God, the Spirit of God, and Me, and you will not be deceived. I am
gathering My own together and am preparing them, for the time is
short.'"
Finally, Hagin got his papers validated as a prophet of God:
"'Warn this generation, as did Noah his generation, for judgment
is about to fall. And these sayings shall be fulfilled shortly, for I am
coming soon. This is the last revival. I am preparing My people for My
coming. Judgment is coming, but I will call My people away, even unto
Myself, before the worst shall come. But be thou faithful and watch and
pray.' Then the message concluded with the words, 'For the time of the
end of all things is at hand.'"
In the December 2001 issue of The Word of Faith, Hagin went back to
the time immediately following his "new birth" experience. He
was still bedfast when "the glory of God" filled his room with
a "bright light -- brighter than the sun shining on snow."
Hagin then had another out-of-body experience, hearing Jesus speaking,
"Go back! Go back! Go back to the earth! Your work's not done!"
Moreover, during the time the bright cloud of God filled Hagin's room,
Hagin's 70 year-old grandmother repeatedly tried to enter the room
through the open door, only to be repelled by the cloud, "bouncing
off of it like it was a rubber ball." Granny couldn't get in the
room until the cloud had lifted.
In the January 2002 magazine, in an article titled "Come Up to the
Throne of God," Hagin recounted his face-to-face meeting with Jesus.
Even the novice Christian can discern the unbiblical nature of this false
vision:
"I was conscious of the fact that I still lay flat on my face on
the floor, and for a few minutes I remained there, feeling the glory of
this miraculous visitation. Again I heard a voice say, 'Come up hither.'
And this time the voice said, 'Come up hither; come up to the throne of
God.' I saw Jesus standing again about where the top of the tent should
be, and I went to Him through the air. When I reached Him, together we
continued on to Heaven. We came to the throne of God, and I beheld it in
all its splendor. The first thing that attracted my attention was the
rainbow about the throne. It was very beautiful. The second thing I
noticed was the winged creatures on either side of the throne. They were
peculiar looking creatures, and as I walked up with Jesus, these
creatures stood with wings outstretched. They were saying something, but
they ceased and folded their wings. They had eyes of fire set all the way
around their heads, and they looked in all directions at once. I stood
with Jesus in the midst, about eighteen to twenty-four feet from the
throne. I started to look at the One who sat upon the throne. Jesus told
me not to look upon His face. I could see only a form of a Being seated
upon the throne. Then for the first time I actually looked into the eyes
of Jesus. Many times when relating this experience I am asked, 'What did
His eyes look like?' All I can say is that they looked like wells of
living love. It seemed as if one could see a half-mile deep into them,
and the tender look of love is indescribable. As I looked into His face
and into His eyes, I fell at His feet. I noticed then that His feet were
bare, and I laid the palms of my hands on the top of His feet and laid my
forehead on the backs of my hands. Weeping, I said, 'Oh Lord, no one as
unworthy as I should look upon Your face.' Jesus said that I should stand
upright on my feet. I stood up. He called me worthy to look upon His
face, for He had called me and cleansed me from all sin."
- Hagin promiseed health and wealth to Christians, and SAID:
"All you have to do is
visualize it, speak it into existence." Hagin claimed that Jesus
appeared to him in a vision in 1950 and gave him a special anointing to
minister to the sick (4/96, The Word of Faith). After a 1952 vision,
Hagin said: "[N]ow when I minister and lay hands on people, I can
tell if there is an evil spirit present either through the word of
knowledge or the discerning of spirits." He relateED a time when
"there stood Jesus right in front of me" (after a failed
healing) and said Jesus pointed His finger at him, almost touching his
nose. Jesus supposedly said, "I told you, 'If you feel that fire
jumping from hand to hand like heat waves, there is a demon or evil
spirit in the body. Call him out in My Name and he will leave.'"
(Reported in the 7/1/96, Calvary Contender.)
- Hagin explained his criteria for judging between true and false
spiritual gifts:
"When God moves, everybody will be blessed. If something is of
the flesh, everybody will have a sick feeling. And if something is of the
devil, it seems like the hair will stand up on your neck. That's a simple
way everyone can judge, whether they've got any spiritual discernment or
not."
There, as explicitly as it can be expressed, is a statement that
defines exactly what is wrong with charismatic mysticism. Spiritual
discernment is deemed unnecessary. According to Kenneth Hagin, you can
judge between what is true, fleshly, or demonic by a process that is
really just a simplified system of
biofeedback (Charismatic Chaos, pp. 160-161).
- Word-Faith teachers owe their ancestry to groups like Christian
Science, Swedenborgianism, Theosophy, Science of Mind, and New Thought --
not to classical
Pentecostalism. It reveals that at their very core, Word-Faith
teachings are corrupt. Their undeniable derivation is cultish, not
Christian. The sad truth is that the gospel proclaimed by the Word-Faith
movement is not the gospel of the New Testament. Word-Faith doctrine is a
mongrel system, a blend of mysticism, dualism, and gnosticism that
borrows generously from the teachings of the metaphysical cults. The
Word-Faith movement may be the most dangerous false system that has grown
out of the charismatic movement so far. Because so many charismatics are
unsure of the finality of Scripture (Charismatic Chaos, p. 290).
Hagin Drunk "In The Spirit"The following has
been excerpted from a report by David Cloud, relating his experience of
attending a Kenneth Hagin "Holy Ghost Meeting":
October 4, 1998 (David W. Cloud,
Fundamental Baptist
Information Service, 1701 Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277)
–
On Thursday, September 17, 1998, I attended a Kenneth Hagin Holy Ghost
Meeting at the New Life Victory Center in Huntington, West Virginia. A
large portion of the Huntington, West Virginia, meeting was given over to
a rock-jazz concert disguised as a worship service. There were no hymns,
no Scripture songs. It was obvious that the crowd came to boogie! Even
old farmer types were bopping around. The lyrics to most of the songs
focused on Word-Faith themes. The song "No More Bondage"
proclaimed "no more sickness, no more poverty, no more
bondage." The song "I'm Free" stated, "I don't have
to be sick; I don't have to be poor; the devil's under my feet; sickness
is under my feet; poverty is under my feet; prosperity is complete."
Another song proclaimed repetitiously, "Demons are afraid of
me." The offertory was a strong jazz number which would have made
any Bourbon Street nightclub band proud.
Hagin preached on "The Demonstration of the Spirit" from 1
Corinthians 2:4. There was no Gospel message, no preaching against sin or
carnality or worldliness or apostasy; no call to grow in Christ. Instead,
the message was a litany of alleged miracles which have been demonstrated
in Hagin's ministry. He told of a woman preacher who danced in the air
(levitation). He told of another woman who danced during an entire church
service; she danced the metal taps off of her shoes, but she didn't make
any noise. He told of a girl who fell into a trance during one of his
meetings and remained transfixed for eight hours and 40 minutes. He had
commanded that she be filled with the Spirit. Two men tried to lift her
and move her to a warmer part of the room, but they were unable to budge
her. He told of how his wife and two other people were glued to the floor
by the Holy Spirit. When someone was levitated in a meeting, Hagin's wife
and two other people had questioned whether it was of the Lord. He claims
that God instructed him to touch all three of them on the forehead with
his little finger, and when he did so, they were knocked to the floor and
paralyzed so that they could not get up. They were not allowed to rise
until they acknowledged that Hagin's power was of God. When they admitted
this, Hagin touched them again with his finger and they were
released.
After he had preached for about ten minutes, Hagin began to argue that
one of the demonstrations of the Spirit is drunkenness. At that point he
stopped preaching and for about 25 minutes, he staggered about, laughing,
blowing on people, waving his arms at people, and otherwise acting
drunken. He repeatedly tried to speak, but was unable to do so. Large
numbers of people in the crowd also began to laugh loudly and some fell
to the floor or staggered about and acted foolishly like drunks. Women
fall to the floor in all sorts of compromising positions and had to be
covered with the assistance of ladies who are assigned that task. Kenneth
Hagin Jr. attempted to read from his father's notes, but he could not
form the words and staggered all across the front of the church. When
Hagin began speaking again, he claimed that this was a fulfillment of
Ezekiel 3:26-27. Like most of the other Scriptures which were used, this
passage was twisted entirely out of context.
Hagin cited Acts chapter 2 in an attempt to prove that the Apostles were
drunk in the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. This is nonsense. Those who
said the disciples were "full of new wine" were the mockers who
wanted to debunk the miracle of tongues which was occurring (Acts 2:13).
The mockers did not say the disciples were drunken because they were
staggering about and slurred in speech and falling to the ground, but
because of the many languages which were used to preach the Gospel that
day and because they wanted to slander the servants of Christ. In his
reply to these mockers, PETER PLAINLY SAID THEY WERE NOT DRUNKEN (Acts
2:15). In Ephesians 5:18, Paul CONTRASTS drunkenness with the filling of
the Spirit. The drunk is not in control of himself, but is under the
power of a foreign substance. In contrast, the Spirit-filled Christian is
entirely in control of himself under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
There is absolutely no case in the New Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ
or the Apostles or early Christians staggering about in a drunken stupor,
unable to attend to necessary duties, as those in the laughing revival
are experiencing. THE CHRISTIAN IS COMMANDED TO BE SOBER AT ALL TIMES (1
Thess. 5:6,8; 1 Tim. 3:2,11; Titus 1:8; 2:2,4,6; 1 Pet. 1:13; 4:7;
5:8).
If for no other reason, one should reject Hagin on this basis alone:
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a
roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter
5:8).
The only example of "spiritual drunkenness" in the Bible is in
the prophets, referring to God's judgment upon sin and apostasy (Isa.
29:9-14; Jer. 51:37-40). These prophecies sound a solemn warning to the
Laughing Revival crowd. They have rejected the sound teaching of the
Bible; they have refused to be sober and vigilant; they have mocked
careful Biblical discernment; they have exalted experience over doctrine;
they have gone awhoring after feelings and "signs and wonders";
and they have been blinded by demonic delusions. God warns that those who
refuse to obey the truth will be blinded by lying wonders (2 Thess.
2:9-12).
Throughout the rest of Hagin's sermon, various people were laughing
hysterically, making it difficult to follow his message. The service
could best be characterized by confusion. It ended like it began, with a
rock concert disguised as a worship service.
The Hagin Ministry ConglomerateKenneth E. Hagin began his
ministry in Texas in 1934 at the age of 17. For twelve years he pastored,
then traveled extensively in the evangelistic field. In 1963, the Kenneth
E. Hagin Evangelistic Association was incorporated. In 1966, the offices
of the ministry were moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Kenneth Hagin, Sr.,
ministers with his son, Kenneth Hagin, Jr., and grandson, Craig Hagin.
(Craig is his grandfather's Crusade Director, Special Meetings
coordinator, operations manager for the ministry, and the associate
pastor of the RHEMA Bible Church, pastored by his father. In a February,
1998 ministry letter, he also claimed that the Holy Spirit led him to
preach and teach healing.)
RHEMA Bible Training Center was founded in 1974. In 1978, the name of the
ministry was changed to RHEMA Bible Church (a.k.a. Kenneth Hagin
Ministries, Inc.). The Training Center is located on a more than 110-acre
campus consisting of 23 buildings, including a 96-unit student housing
complex, a 2,000-seat auditorium, and a Prayer and Healing Center (PHC).
Since the 1974-75 charter class graduated 58 students, RHEMA has provided
training to more than 23,000 graduates. RHEMA's average annual enrollment
is 1,800 with graduating classes of 750-800. (Internationally, there are
RHEMA Training Centers in 13 countries.) RHEMA Correspondence Bible
School has enrolled more than 60,000 students since its inception and
offers an extensive curriculum for home Bible study.
"Faith Seminar of the Air," begun in 1966, is RHEMA's radio
ministry, airing on more than 250 stations in a 15-minute daily slot, as
well as being heard via short-wave radio in over 120 countries and on all
continents of the world. In addition, "RHEMA Radio Church,"
airs its 30-minute program via 93 radio broadcasts weekly in 30 states.
All tolled, RHEMA's radio broadcasts can be picked up by 2.8 billion
potential listeners.
In late 1995, a videotape ministry was initiated. RHEMA Bible Church
sends video teaching tapes to an average of 125 RHEMA missionaries each
month. In 1996, "RHEMA Praise," a half-hour television program
outreach of RHEMA Bible Church, began airing in the Tulsa area.
"RHEMA Praise" is also translated into Spanish and broadcasted
into 54 nations covering all of South America and parts of Europe. In
August 1999, "RHEMA Praise" began broadcasting into 40
additional countries in Europe, Australia, and the Middle East. Since its
inception, broadcast locations have expanded to reach a combined
potential audience of more than 30 million homes every week.
Kenneth Hagin and his son, Kenneth Hagin, Jr., have authored 147
charismatic-oriented books. More than 65 million copies of these books
are currently in circulation around the world, translated into more than
25 foreign languages. RHEMA's efforts support missionaries in 109
countries and The Word of Faith magazine is sent into more than 250,000
homes each month. More than 50,000 teaching tapes by the Hagins are
distributed each month. More than eight million tapes have been
distributed since the inception of the cassette tape ministry.
Kenneth Hagin, Jr., pastors the 8,000-member RHEMA Bible Church that
meets on the campus of RHEMA Bible Training Center in a 4,500-seat
auditorium. Father, son, and grandson all minister together and
individually in crusades, seminars, and other special meetings. Each
July, the Hagin's conduct their indoor "Campmeeting" at Tulsa's
Convention Center. It has drawn people from all 50 states, Canada, and 68
other countries.
In the fall of 1979, Hagin, Sr., began the Healing School on the RHEMA
campus (the Prayer and Healing Center). Morning and afternoon healing
sessions are held daily, at which students are taught the techniques of
healing the sick! Hagin boasted that "The highest percentage of
healings is among those with incurable diseases, many of which include
cases diagnosed as terminal." [If student's really learn how to
heal, why are they not then sent into the hospitals of Tulsa and heal all
the terminally ill there?]
Biblical Discernment Ministries - Revised 10/2003
============
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