Monthly Article


This page changes at least monthly with a new article by Dr. Chambers. Enjoy and learn with us as God teaches us truth by His Spirit.

The article on Kenneth Hagin is below the new article. We are leaving it on the web awhile because of the huge amount of interest.
 


Kenneth Hagin And The Spirit Of The Serpent

by Joseph R. Chambers, D.D.

The doctrines of Kenneth Hagin have been questionable from the very beginning of his ministry. In 1938, during late December, he tells of a young girl about 16 years of age that went into a trance and remained over eight hours in a frozen position. The pastor where he was preaching the revival weighed over 200 pounds and the two of them tried to pick this young lady up and move her near the single stove that warmed the building. He said that she was glued to the floor so that the two strong men could not budge her. He called this the power of God, but truth absolutely confirms the paranormal activities of demons. (Video tape, October 15, 1997.)

Paranormal Versus Supernatural

To understand what appears to be the foundation of this man’s departure from truth we must start with these two ideas of paranormal or supernatural. The entire "Word of Faith" movement, as it is called, fails to discern the difference, and, from this failure, I believe their doctrines have systemically moved in a downward spiral. The spirit of the serpent has gradually manipulated this crowd of otherwise sincere individuals until now the serpent can manifest himself in their midst and they appear oblivious to his presence. I will explain this statement at the end of this article.

Paranormal activity operates in an in-between world of the natural and the supernatural. It is above the natural world but below the supernatural world. The Bible has many examples of Satan and his fallen helpers appearing and performing their activities. The word paranormal means, "abnormal, esp. psychological: not susceptible to normal explanations."(Chambers English Dictionary, W & R Chambers Ltd 1990, p. 1047.)

Satan can appear before God to push his cause and defend his legal standing that Adam and Even gave to him in their act of disobedience (Job 2:3-7). Satan’s temptation of Jesus was loaded with paranormal activity. No natural powers could have accomplished such feats before the Son of God. He and his ministers transform themselves as angels of light and ministers of righteousness. "For such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore [it is] no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works." (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

When you understand the difference between paranormal and supernatural it becomes extremely easy to discern between a false prophet and a man of God. Jesus healed a woman who had been bound with paranormal powers for eighteen years. She was bowed over into a state of a crippled existence by a demonic activity. "And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up [herself]. And when Jesus saw her, he called [her to him], and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?" (Luke 13:11,12,16).

The early church understood the principles of Satan’s power opposite the powers of God. If Satan was supernatural then the contest between the two would be on an equal footing. This has never been the case and the Holy Scripture is filled with Biblical certainty. Paul said, "To open their eyes, [and] to turn [them] from darkness to light, and [from] the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." (Acts 26:18). Satan definitely has power, but it is only paranormal power and it is totally helpless compared to the supernatural powers of God.

The supernatural power of God is never manifested to titillate the flesh or to win favor for God’s ministers. One has only to study the life of Jesus and the history of the New Testament church to confirm the absolute absence of paranormal activity by the Holy Ghost. Not one time was there a display of strange happenings that would satisfy the appetite of curious seekers. In fact Jesus said, "And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation." (Luke 11:29-30).

Supernatural powers are exactly what the word suggests. While the word supernatural does not appear in the Bible, the closest equivalent that I can grasp is the word "eternal". God does "eternal" things. All His acts are eternal acts. To even imagine God doing things of a paranormal nature is to completely miss His holy nature and eternal characteristics.

There are events in the Bible where God did eternal things that men interpret like they were paranormal matters. The Bible states that God made Ezekiel drunk (Ezekiel 3:26); that an angel made Zechariah dumb when he believed not the angel’s message (Luke 1:20); and that he made Saul of Tarsus blind. (Acts 9:8,18), etc. When we try to interpret these acts of God’s judgment or His method of dealing with an individual into a pattern for New Testament church life, we create an absolute theological mess. This kind of Biblical interpretation is at the heart of the Kenneth Hagin doctrines. The very idea of using one’ faith to acquire riches is a paranormal manipulation.

Kenneth Hagin And His Doctrines

It appears that Mr. Hagin’s doctrines were developed over his early years. There is very little question but that they were acquired from a man, named E. W. Kenyon. Much of Mr. Hagin’s writing and radio broadcasts are labeled by some excellent scholars as plagiarized materials from Kenyon’s writing. I personally have page after page of the actual writings and statements by Hagin that are exact, word for word, repeats of E. W. Kenyon. Mr Hagin says that God gave them to him and they happen to be exactly like he gave them to Kenyon. This would place Mr. Hagin on a level above the men who wrote the Holy Scripture as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost never failed to use the style, personality, and background of these men of God as He supernaturally gave us His Holy Bible.

Kenneth Hagin, "Physical Death Wouldn’t Remove Your Sins."

This statement by Kenneth Hagin is all you need to know the error of this man. On the surface you might ask why would he even dare to say such a thing? The answer is in his paranormal approach to Christianity. If men are going to have this kind of power in their tongue or words, they must elevate themselves to be on a level with Jesus Christ. That is impossible unless you bring Jesus down to a different theological position. Kenneth Copeland, one of Hagin’s stars, actually states that if the physical death of Jesus could have saved, then any prophet, including himself, could have saved the human race.

Here are Kenneth Hagin’s actual words: "He [Jesus] tasted spiritual death for every man. And His spirit and inner man went to hell in my place. Can’t you see that? PHYSICAL DEATH WOULDN’T REMOVE YOUR SINS. He’s tasted death for every man. He’s talking about tasting spiritual death." - KENNETH HAGIN. (Christianity In Crisis, Hank Hanegraaff, p. 60.)

The entire idea of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ and His eternal Sonship is effectively denounced or rendered valueless by this statement. Jesus Christ was the "Passover Lamb," the very sacrifice that God the Father required and offered to pay the price of sin. His sinless, physical body and blood was the price He and His Father paid to redeem us back to their heart. To deny this is to remove man’s only hope of escape from the horrible penalty of sin. The Bible leaves no possibility of denying His blood sacrifice as a "finished work."

Read these verses carefully.

"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." (John 6:53-56).

"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." (Acts 20:28).

"Whom God hath set forth [to be] a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." (Romans 3:25).

"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:14).

"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once [for all]." (Hebrews 10:10).

The last verse noted makes it clear that it was His body and the natural blood (sanctified) by the virgin conception that was offered for us. There is no cleansing or salvation in any of the acts of Jesus separated from His blood sacrifice. I believe Kenneth Hagin is a lost man plunging his way toward hell.

Kenneth Hagin: "They Had Jesus Within Their Powers."

This strange heresy does more than deny the power of Jesus Christ as our substitute sacrifice. Remember it was in His substitute death that He was able to take our judgment upon Himself. They say that His spirit went into hell under the powers of Satan and the demon world and by His victory of being "born again," we are redeemed. Such an idea is of no value to mankind unless you are dealing with man as a paranormal creature, which, in fact, is what they are doing. It is a totally unbiblical approach to both man and the Lord Jesus Christ. This kind of metaphysical approach to mankind is New Age, New Thought, or whatever name the deceptive world of Satan may be using at a given time.

Here are Mr. Hagin’s own words (or Mr. E. W. Kenyon’s): "Here is a picture of Christ in awful combat with the hosts of darkness. It gives us a glimpse of the tremendous victory He won before He rose from the dead. The margin of the King James reads, ‘He put off from himself the principalities and the powers.’ It is quite obvious and evident that whole demon hosts, when they had Jesus within their power, simply intended to swamp Him, to overwhelm Him, and hold Him in fearful bondage." (Metaphysical Elements In The Faith Movement, Compiled by Leon D. Stump, p.p. 98-99, taken from The Word of Faith, "The Name Of Jesus," April 1976, pp.4-6). These words are actually plagiarized from a book by E. W. Kenyon, The Wonderful Name Of Jesus, pages 8-9. Even the reference to the King James margin came from Kenyon. (Notice that Mr. Hagin said that this victory was won before Jesus arose from the dead, not when He died on the cross.)

This theological thinking has Jesus spending three days in bondage to the devil. There are several problems with such an impossible idea. First, Jesus stated the following, "Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." (John 14:30). Jesus said this before His death on the cross, clearly expressing the fact that Satan had "nothing in me" or no power over Christ and His death.

Jesus stated on the cross, "It is finished." He also told the repenting thief, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise (Abraham’s Bosom)." The veil of the temple was rent when He died, not when they say He was born again at the end of three days, or at His resurrection. (Please order our video or audio on "The Glorious Descent Of Jesus Into Paradise.")

Kenneth Hagin: "The Believer Is As Much An Incarnation As Was Jesus Of Nazareth."

It is impossible to know whether Mr. Hagin is denying the deity of Jesus Christ or proclaiming the deity of all born-again believers. This idea of "manifest sons of God" was part of the Latter Rain Movement in the 40’s and 50’s and has certainly become big again in the present charismatic confusions. Again, this shows the paranormal powers and ideas that undergird Kenneth Hagin’s entire theology and methods. Man is raised to some kind of spiritual creature that can actually evolve into glorified saints/spirits and establish the kingdom of God on earth.

Here is a further statement of the above words by Mr Hagin, "Every man who has been born again is an incarnation and Christianity is a miracle. The believer is as much an incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth."(Christianity In Crisis, Hank Hanegraaff, p. 175, taken from The Incarnation, Kenneth Hagin, p. 12). Mr. Hagin’s use of familiar terms and the very phraseology of these words is planned to cloud the entire picture. If you look carefully you will see that we are not just sons of God, but we are placed on the same level as our Lord Himself. This kind of arrogance about man’s position breeds the very spirit you will see when you try to reason with persons caught in this trap. This is a form of white magic that has invaded the church world.

Kenneth Hagin: "If You Will Learn To Follow That Inward Witness I Will Make You Rich."

This statement that Hagin says came from God only serves to strengthen the context of this entire article. He is talking about a kind of human that the Bible knows nothing about, a paranormal human. Look at the broader picture in his statements. "Then the Lord said this to me [in a vision in 1959], which is not just for my benefit, but for yours. ‘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’ . . . I have followed that inward witness and He has done just what He said He would. He has made me rich (p. 33) . . . The inward man, who is a spirit man, has a voice--just as the outward man has a voice. We call this voice conscience. We call this voice the still small voice. Your spirit has a voice. Your spirit will speak to you (p. 47) . . . [Y]our conscience is the voice of your spirit (p. 49)." (Metaphysical Elements In The Faith Movement, Compiled by Leon D. Stump, p.55, taken from How To Be Led By The Holy Spirit, Kenneth Hagin.) Hagin also stated, "The Lord said, ‘I’ll have to correct your theology a little’ (I’d been indoctrinated with all that ‘religious’ thinking, and unconsciously I still thought that maybe it was wrong to have the things of this world.) . . . ‘In the first place--and this will help you--don’t pray about money anymore; that is, the way you’ve been praying. Claim whatever you need.’" (Metaphysical Elements In The Faith Movement, Compiled by Leon D. Stump, p.55, taken from The Word of Faith magazine, "How God Taught Me About Prosperity," Kenneth Hagin.).

I have heard and read a lot of efforts to show how unbiblical this idea is, but none that I am aware have shown the ultimate lie of it all. Kenneth Hagin is a guru of a metaphysical, paranormal cult and his ideas are similar to other New Age proponents. It is basically a religion of White Magic that is directed by demons. It is not even similar to Christianity except in a vague way. They use a host of Scriptures taken from their context to weave a tapestry of deceit.

The true child of God will enjoy many wonderful blessings as they faithfully follow the truth of Scripture. Every promise of God is yea and amen. The Psalmist wrote by the Holy Ghost, "But his delight [is] in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." (Psalm 1:2-3).

Kenneth Hagin And The Spirit Of The Serpent

The final chapter of Mr. Hagin is being written even as I write this article. Our video by this title tells the whole truth. The serpent spirit has grown in his teaching and methods until I believe the real source is being made manifest. He just conducted a Kenneth Hagin Holy Ghost meeting in Chesterfield, MO. The meeting was held from October 12th to October 24th. On the third night he began to manifest this spirit with his tongue sticking out and wiggling like a serpent’s tongue. He also began to hiss. On Thursday night, as he began to hiss, many of the people began to slither down out of their seats feet first. Some of the people would hiss back at him. The emotional response of the audience is indescribable. Kenneth Hagin and many of the people became insanely "drunk."

On the last night the demonstration became extremely bizarre as he began to bless the people for the closing. Three men could not hold him up because of his drunken state. He declared that this was the first full demonstration of this new anointing he said God had promised. Kenneth Copeland was present and got right in the middle of this final insanity. I believe this entire meeting reflected the judgment of God on this ministry and its supporters. Hissing is a scorn and rebuke. Isaiah said, "Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand . . . And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly." "Their roaring [shall be] like a lion, they shall roar like young lions . . ." "And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if [one] look unto the land, behold darkness [and] sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof." (Isaiah 5:25-26, 29, 30).

It is apparent that God the Father is ready to judge this entire deception and the whole crowd that has given their glory to such foolishness, He calls those caught in its web "mad." "Babylon [and Mystery Babylon] hath been a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad." (Jeremiah 51:7).

John the Revelator saw this religious system and called it "Mystery Babylon." This system will certainly be larger than the Kenneth Hagin ministries, but he is clearly a part of it. John stated, "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." (Revelation 17:6-8).

This beast is the false anointing or false spirit masquerading as the Holy Spirit. The Hagin Ministries have destroyed thousands of churches that once were bastions of truth. Tens of thousands of church members have been spiritually martyred and those who have resisted have been lambasted as inferior or worse. Her judgment is coming.

The Spirit of the Serpent has lifted his head. Pray for those caught in this web that as many as have not blasphemed the Holy Ghost may be reproved and delivered.