A Different Gospel: Updated Edition
256
A Different Gospel: Updated Edition
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781598569254 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Hendrickson Publishers, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 12/22/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 256 |
| File size: | 390 KB |
About the Author
D. R. McConnell did graduate work at Oral Roberts University in theological and historical studies. He currently serves as Senior Pastor for the Crossroads International Church in Amsterdam.
Read an Excerpt
A Different Gospel
By D. R. McConnell
Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC
Copyright © 2011 Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLCAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-59856-925-4
CHAPTER 1
The True Father of the Modern Faith Movement
People frequently credit my father, Kenneth E. Hagin, with being the "father" of the so-called faith movement. However, as he points out, it's nothing new; it's just the preaching of the simple ageless gospel. But he has had a great effect on many of the well-known faith ministers of today. Almost every major faith ministry of the United States has been influenced by his ministry.
—Kenneth Hagin, Jr., "Trend toward the Faith Movement," Charisma (Aug. 1985), 67.
They've [the Faith teachers] all copied from my Dad [E. W. Kenyon]. They've changed it a little bit and added their own touch ..., but they couldn't change the wording. The Lord gave him [Kenyon] words and phrases. He coined them. They can't put it in any other words ... It's very difficult for some people to be big enough to give credit to somebody else.
—Ruth Kenyon Houseworth, taped interview, Lynnwood, Wash., Feb. 19, 1982.
The Relationship between Kenneth Hagin and E. W. Kenyon
The founding father of the Faith movement is commonly held to be Kenneth Erwin Hagin, the man termed by Charisma magazine as "the granddaddy of the Faith teachers," and "the father of the Faith movement." Delivered with his country Texan accent and a disarming "good ol' boy" charm, Hagin's teachings on faith, healing, and prosperity have been foundational for almost every major minister of the Faith movement. Even the other heavyweights of the Faith movement readily admit that Hagin's teaching and leadership were the key to both their own success and that of the movement.
For instance, the heir apparent to Hagin's throne, Kenneth Copeland, frequently acknowledges Hagin as his spiritual father. Although he briefly attended Oral Roberts University, Copeland points to Hagin as his mentor, not Roberts. Ken Hagin, Jr., recounts the beginning of Copeland's relationship with his father this way:
A poverty-stricken student from Oral Roberts University attended my father's Tulsa seminars in the mid '60s and got turned onto the Word of God. The student was deeply in debt, but he desperately wanted my father's tapes. He offered to trade the title to his car for them. Buddy Harrison, my brother-in-law, was managing the ministry then. He took one look at the old car and told him, "Just go ahead and take the tapes. Bring the money when you can." So young Kenneth Copeland memorized those tapes and another great ministry was launched.
According to recent polls and press, Copeland is now the ex officio leader of the Faith movement. Nevertheless, at least in spiritual matters, when Hagin speaks, Copeland still listens.
Frederick K. C. Price, a prominent Faith preacher and founder of the fourteen-thousand member Crenshaw Christian Center of Inglewood, California, can make the incredible claim that "Kenneth Hagin has had the greatest influence upon my life of any living man." Price received a great deal of help from Hagin in the early days of his Faith ministry, and Hagin is still a frequent speaker at his church in California.
Many other ministers of the Faith movement also acknowledge Hagin as their spiritual father. Charles Capps, who bills himself as "a Spirit-filled farmer from England, Arkansas," and who speaks at many national and local Faith conferences, states that "most of my teaching came from Brother Kenneth Hagin" and that Hagin was "the greatest influence of my life." Even so prominent a preacher of charismatic renewal as John Osteen, pastor of the Lakewood Outreach Center, Houston, Texas, gratefully acknowledges Hagin as his introduction to the Faith movement and proclaims, "I think Brother Hagin is chosen of God and stands in the forefront of the message of faith."
Indeed, not only does Kenneth Hagin stand in the forefront, for many in the Faith movement he is also "the Prophet": the Revelator of the gospel of faith, health, and wealth. As we will see in chapter 4, Hagin claims to be the man who first received the "revelation" on which the Faith movement is based. Even though in popularity and power the younger Copeland has overtaken his elder Hagin, in the eyes of his disciples, the man who is referred to as "Dad Hagin" at Rhema Bible Institute is still the grand old man of Faith.
Not everyone in the Faith movement, however, is willing to concede to Hagin the role of patriarch and founder. Ruth Kenyon Houseworth, president of the Kenyon Gospel Publishing Society, Lynnwood, Washington, contends that her father, E. W. Kenyon, who died in 1948, is the man who really deserves the title, "father of the Faith movement." Mrs. Houseworth charges that the 18 books written by her father and published by her society have been pilfered, in both idea and word, by the other preachers of the movement.
Houseworth says of her father's lack of acknowledgment by the Faith movement:
His first book was printed in 1916, and he had the revelation years before that. These that are coming along now that have been in the ministry for just a few years and claiming that this is something that they are just starting, it makes you laugh a little bit. It is very difficult for some people to be big enough to give credit to somebody else.
Although Mrs. Houseworth is extremely gracious when asked about her father's lack of recognition, she is decidedly not "laughing" about it, not even "a little bit." She feels hurt that the Faith teachers have failed to give credit where credit is due. Moreover, the Kenyon Gospel Publishing Society has been exploited financially by the massive popularity of Hagin (whose first book was not published until 1960), Copeland, et al. Houseworth can no longer afford to publish its newsletter because of what she sees as the injustice done to her father.
The injustice done to Kenyon has not gone unnoticed by others who knew him. For instance, one man who both knew and occasionally ministered with Kenyon, John Kennington, pastor of Emmanuel Temple in Portland, Oregon, says this of his role in the Faith movement:
Today Kenyon's ideas are in the ascendancy. Via the electronic church or in the printed page I readily recognize not only Kenyon's concepts, but at times I recognize pure plagiarism, for I can almost tell you book, chapter, and page where the material is coming from. Kenyon has become the "father" of the socalled "faith" movement.
Kennington claims that plagiarism of Kenyon's writings is a fairly common occurrence in the charismatic movement. "In fact," he says, "one prominent Pentecostal minister hired a writer or writers to rewrite Kenyon's books and put his name on those books." Because of these many plagiarisms, Kennington agrees with Houseworth that her father is also the father of the Faith movement.
Hagin may have the reputation of being "the granddaddy of the Faith teachers," but in the eyes of Mrs. Houseworth, he is just another young preacher who has "borrowed" her deceased father's writings. Kenyon was 70 years old when Hagin was licensed as an Assemblies of God pastor in 1937 at the age of 20. Hagin himself, however, has gone on record with the claim that he was teaching his message on faith and healing long before he ever heard of E. W. Kenyon.
Mr. Kenyon went home to be with the Lord in 1948. It was 1950 before I was introduced to his books. A brother in the Lord asked me, "Did you ever read after Dr. Kenyon?" I said, "I've never heard of him." He said, "You preach healing and faith just like he does." He gave me some of Kenyon's books. And he did preach faith and healing just like I do. After all, if someone preaches the new birth, and somebody else preaches the new birth, it has to be the same. Likewise, if you preach faith and healing—and I mean Bible faith and Bible healing—it has to be the same. We may have different words to express it, but if it is according to the word of God, it is the same truth.
Hagin claims that it was not until 1950 that he came into contact with Kenyon, some 17 years after he had gotten "the revelation" that launched his ministry. Any similarities between himself and Kenyon are to be attributed, says Hagin, to the fact that both are merely "using different words to express" what the Bible has to say on "the same truth."
At first glance, this statement may appear a reasonable explanation, but does it account for the amazing similarities between Hagin's writings and Kenyon's? Unfortunately, no, for as this chapter unfolds the reader will be presented with seemingly undeniable evidence that E. W. Kenyon is the true father of the Faith movement, a position which has been unjustly usurped by Kenneth Hagin. As Mrs. Houseworth has testified, the Faith movement in general and Kenneth Hagin in particular have used Kenyon's many books and pamphlets without ever acknowledging that he is the author of their teachings and the founder of their movement.
Hagin's Plagiarism of Kenyon
Hagin, of course, would deny any plagiarism of Kenyon. He maintains that it was not until after his discovery of the truths of the Faith gospel that he was introduced to Kenyon's writings. There is reason to believe, however, that he was acquainted with Kenyon earlier than 1950, perhaps much earlier. For example, Hagin remembers reading a book in 1949 with the following quotation: "It seems that God is limited by our prayer life, that He can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks Him to do it. Why this is, I do not know." This quotation comes from E. W. Kenyon's book, The Two Kinds of Faith. Even the "revelation" supposedly given to Hagin on his deathbed is described by him with an undocumented and plagiarized quotation from The Two Kinds of Faith.
Such confusion over when Hagin read various materials by Kenyon is fairly common. For instance, Hagin says that, in February of 1978, the Lord told him to prepare a teaching seminar on "the name of Jesus." Only after he began his research does Hagin admit that he discovered Kenyon's book, The Wonderful Name of Jesus. At his request, Mrs. Houseworth gave Hagin permission to quote from Kenyon's The Wonderful Name of Jesus. Hagin's book, The Name of Jesus, was first published in 1979. Concerning his indebtedness to Kenyon, Hagin writes:
At the time [1978], I had one sermon I preached on this wonderful subject, but I had never really taught on it at length. I began to look around to see what I could find written on the subject. For others, you see, have revelations from God. I was amazed how little material there is in print on this subject. The only good book devoted entirely to it that I have found is E. W. Kenyon's The Wonderful Name of Jesus. I encourage you to get a copy. It is a marvelous book. It is revelation knowledge. It is the Word of God.
This is one of the few candid, direct acknowledgments of Kenyon to appear in any of Hagin's writings. The problem is that two years prior to 1978, the first date that Hagin admits to having read Kenyon's The Wonderful Name of Jesus, he had already copied extensively from this book for an article published in his magazine in 1976. That article never mentions the name of E. W. Kenyon.
Nor is Kenyon mentioned where his words and thoughts appear in numerous other books and articles by Hagin. Whereas Hagin appears to have copied only occasionally from sources other than Kenyon, he has plagiarized Kenyon both repeatedly and extensively. Actually, it would not be overstated to say that the very doctrines that have made Kenneth Hagin and the Faith movement such a distinctive and powerful force within the independent charismatic movement are all plagiarized from E. W. Kenyon. This is a most serious charge and one that will be substantiated by ample evidence. Part 2 of this volume will examine the fact that all of the major thoughts and ideas of Faith theology are taken from Kenyon. At this point in our study, it is sufficient to say that the writings of Kenneth Hagin are verbally dependent upon Kenyon. The accusations of plagiarism by Houseworth and Kennington are absolutely correct. In many instances, 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.
Kenneth Hagin
The 22nd Psalm gives a graphic picture of the crucifixion of Jesus—more vivid than that of John, Matthew or Mark who witnessed it.
E. W. Kenyon
The twenty-second Psalm gives a graphic picture of the crucifixion of Jesus. It is more vivid than that of John, Matthew or Mark who witnessed it.
He utters the strange words "But thou art holy." What does that mean? He is becoming sin.... His parched lips cry, "I am a worm and no man." He is spiritually dead—the worm. Jesus died of a ruptured heart. When it happened, blood from all parts of His body poured through the rent into the sack which holds the heart. As the body cooled, the red corpuscles coagulated and rose to the top, the white serum settled to the bottom. When that Roman spear pierced the sack, water poured out first, then the coagulated blood oozed out, rolling down his side onto the ground. John bore witness of it. ("Christ our Substitute," The Word of Faith [Mar., 1975], pp. 1, 4, 5, 7)
But He says the strangest words, "But thou art holy." What does that mean? He is becoming sin. Can you hear those parched lips cry, "I am a worm and no man"? He is spiritually dead. The worm. Jesus had died of a ruptured heart. When that happened, blood from all parts of the body poured in through the rent, into the sack that holds the heart. Then as the body cooled, the red corpuscles coagulated and rose to the top. The white serum settled to the bottom. When that Roman soldier's spear pierced the sack, water poured out first. Then the coagulated blood oozed out, rolled down His side onto the ground, and John bore witness of it. (What Happened from the Cross to the Throne [Seattle: Kenyon's Gospel Publishing Society, 1969], 44–45)
What does identification mean?
At once you ask, "What does identification mean?"
It means our complete union with Christ.
It means our complete union with Him in His Substitutionary Sacrifice.
This gives us the key which unlocks the great teachings of identification. Christ became one with us in sin that we might become one with Him in righteousness. He became as we were to the end that we might become as He is now. He died to make us live. He became weak to make us strong. He suffered shame to give us glory. He went to hell to take us to heaven.
This gives us the key that unlocks the great teaching of identification. Christ became one with us in sin, that we might become one with Him in righteousness. He became as we were to the end that we might become as He is now.... He died to make us live ... He became weak to make us strong. He suffered shame to give us glory. He went to hell to take us to heaven.
He was condemned to justify us. He was made sick that healing might be ours. ("The Resurrection! What it Gives Us ... "The Word of Faith [Apr., 1977], p. 5)
He was condemned to justify us. He was made sick that healing might be ours. (Identification: A Romance in Redemption [Seattle: Kenyon's Gospel Publishing Society, 1968], 6, 7)
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 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 intended to swamp Him, to overwhelm Him, and to hold Him in fearful bondage. But the cry came forth from the throne of God that Jesus had met the demands of Justice, that the sin problem had been settled, that man's redemption was a fact. And when that cry reached the dark regions, Jesus arose and threw back the host of demons and met Satan in awful combat.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from A Different Gospel by D. R. McConnell. Copyright © 2011 Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC. Excerpted by permission of Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Copyright,Preface to the Original Edition,
Foreword by Hank Hanegraaff,
Introduction: Charismatics at the Crossroads,
Part 1: A Historical Analysis of the Modern Faith Movement,
1. The True Father of the Modern Faith Movement,
2. The Cultic Origins of the Faith Movement,
3. The Kenyon Connection,
4. The Role of Kenneth Hagin in the Faith Movement,
5. The Faith Controversy and the Beginning of the Faith Denomination,
Part 2: A Biblical Analysis of the Modern Faith Movement,
6. The Doctrine of Revelation Knowledge: Super Christians and the New Gnosticism,
7. The Doctrine of Identification: The Born-Again Jesus and the Atonement of the Devil,
8. The Doctrine of Faith: Faith in God versus Faith in Faith,
9. The Doctrine of Healing: Sickness, Symptoms, and Satan,
10. The Doctrine of Prosperity: Success and the Upwardly Mobile Christian,
11. Summary and Conclusion,
Afterword: The Faith Movement Today,
Select Bibliography,