The Kenneth Copeland Cornucopia of False Doctrine, Word of Faith Sorcery and Big Piles of Money
/
Kenneth Copeland is a Word of Faith (WOF) superstar and has been able to maintain an air of credibility for 50 years, in spite of having done and said some really crazy and heretical things in a very open format. He is the king of the "Prosperity Gospel" and is proud of it.
Here are a few videos easily found on YouTube:
“The more you get to be like Me, the more they’re going to think that way of you. But I didn’t claim I was God; I just claimed I walked with Him and that He was in Me. Hallelujah. That’s what you’re doing.”
“The Spirit of God spoke to me and He said, ‘Son, realize this. Now follow me in this and don’t let your tradition trip you up.’ He said, ‘Think this way—a twice-born man whipped Satan in his own domain.’ And I threw my Bible down … like that. I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘A born-again man defeated Satan, the firstborn of many brethren defeated him.’ He said, ‘You are the very image, the very copy of that one.’ I said, ‘Well now you don’t mean, you couldn’t dare mean, that I could have done the same thing?’ He said, ‘Oh yeah, if you’d had the knowledge of the Word of God that He did, you could’ve done the same thing, ‘cause you’re a reborn man too.”
“Because of his sinless life, Jesus walked in perfect dominion. God did whatever he asked, NOT because he was God’s son, but because he held the position of a righteous man. But that was Jesus, you say. But the Bible says that through our believing on Him, we have been given the same position of righteousness with God that Jesus has.”
“By getting the Word deep into your spirit and speaking it boldly out your mouth, you release spiritual power to change things in the natural circumstances.”
Here are a few examples of the prosperity teaching from Kenneth Copeland in his own magazine:
A Kenneth Copeland Meme From Facebook
Whether or not he has taught heresy is simply a matter of watching him say heretical things in his own videos, books, recordings and interviews. What really needs to be understood is that a whole cluster of wrong assertions and assumptions are at the foundation of a "Copelandish" system: the Word of Faith belief system. Some essential Word of Faith beliefs are:
- The atonement of Christ doesn't "just" give us salvation, it also guarantees healing, wholeness and prosperity. This is the Health & Wealth gospel.
- Jesus lived His life as an example of a man totally submitted to God the Father (or "in right relationship") and when we live in total submission we will perform like Jesus. Jesus didn't die on the cross because we were unable to atone for our own sins so much as Jesus lived a life of victory that we can (and should) emulate.
- God spoke the universe into existence by using "the power of words." We, too, can create things using the power of words. (This ability to "speak things into being" is essentially a form of sorcery, but WOF people strongly disagree).
- God is lowered and Man is elevated.
Before Bill Johnson, Brian Houston, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, Todd White and most of today's WOF pastors and teachers, there was a series of people with specific new (and false) beliefs that took over a growing segment of the church. The most prominent of these people was Kenneth Hagin, who is usually considered the "father" of WOF teaching, although he actually plagiarized much of "his" teaching from E. W. Kenyon (See the book "A Different Gospel" by D. R. McConnell and the book "The Word Faith Controversy" by Robert M. Bowman Jr.). WOF people often refer to Hagin as "Dad Hagin." Since Hagin died in 2003, Kenneth Copeland has essentially taken over the role of senior leader of the WOF "movement" (which isn't exactly a movement because of how loosely it's organized, but it has to be called something).
Here is Kenneth Copeland explaining how he completely indoctrinated himself in the Word of Faith teachings of Kenneth Hagin:
This is from Kenneth Copeland's "Voice of Victory" Magazine
More about Kenneth Hagin: The Kenneth Hagin Festival of Demonic Idiocy
Some other prominent WOF teachers are Fred Price, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Robert Tilton, Marilyn Hickey, Rod Parsley, T. D. Jakes, Jim Bakker, John Avanzini, Pat Robertson, Morris Cerullo, Paula White, and the late Paul and Jan Crouch (founders of TBN). Not all of these people believe exactly the same things, but they share many core WOF beliefs.
Recently, Copeland had a 50 year celebration of Word of Faith false teaching:
As a young adult, Copeland had a career as a professional pilot and, briefly, as a recording artist on Imperial Records where he had a minor hit record in 1957. In the fall of 1967, he enrolled in the then brand new Oral Roberts University, where he soon became the pilot and chauffeur for Oral Roberts (an early WOF superstar).
Here's a video that shows Kenneth Copeland teaching heresy in the past and very recently:
Here is WOF superstar, Benny Hinn, quoting Oral Roberts:
Kenneth and Gloria Copeland started their ministry (KCM) in 1967 and it's been continuing for 50 years.
The following articles show the true nature of Copeland's teachings and influence. These are from a number of different sources and perspectives, but they all agree that Kenneth Copeland is a False Teacher who should be avoided at all costs:
Word of Faith Superstar Kenneth Copeland Proven 100% WRONG (and Nobody Cares) from The Museum of Idolatry
Ken Copeland: God Gave Us Private Jets Because You Can't Talk to God in Coach from The Museum of Idolatry
Depraved Copeland Sets Satanic Snare for Christians from The Museum of Idolatry
Kenneth Copeland’s Living Legacy of Heresy by Costi Hinn
Wealth of Kenneth Copeland and Family Scrutinized from the The Ledger newspaper, July, 2008
Lifestyles of the Tele-Evangelist: Kenneth Copeland from InPlainSite.org
The Harmful Teachings of Kenneth and Gloria Copeland by Cedric Hohnstadt
Many Articles About Kenneth Copeland from Deception in the Church
Kenneth Copeland’s False Teachings and False Gospel Message from Berean Perspective Apologetics
Our Experiences With Kenneth Copeland from Ex Word of Faith
Analysis: Copeland's Religious Empire Benefits His Family from USA Today
Just for fun...
-This article by Steven Kozar