We can even look at the quotes of Copeland and Hinn...
"You don't have a god in you, you are one."(1)
Isaiah 44:8 There is no God besides me
"Pray to yourself, because I'm in your self and you're in Myself. We are one Spirit, saith the Lord."(2)
"I say this with all respect so that it don't upset you too bad, but I say it anyway. When I read in the Bible where he [Jesus] says, 'I Am,' I just smile and say, 'Yes, I Am, too!'"(3)
"I am" is the Jesus identifying himself as the God of Israel. Copeland is way off.
What group would say such outrageous things? What group would have the nerve to perpetuate such blasphemous doctrines? Could it be the Jehovah's Witnesses? the Mormons? the Unitarians? the New Agers? Could it be—the Christians?
The Word-Faith Teachers
The Word-Faith Teachers. This is the group that would seek to convince us that Jesus and His disciples were rich, that to be poor is a sin, to be sick is a sin, and that faith is a creative force that we can use to shape our world just like God supposedly created this world and universe that we live in through His "faith"!
Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Paul Crouch, John Avanzini, Robert Tilton, Fred Price, and Benny Hinn (who at the time of this writing has authored the number one best selling Christian book in America, "Good Morning, Holy Spirit") are just a few that spew out this theological vomit.
A Sampling of Error
To name just a few of the more outrageous things that have been said by these so-called teachers will stagger the senses:
John Avanzini is convinced that "Jesus had a nice big house",(4) "Jesus wore designer clothes",(5) and "Jesus was handling big money".(6)
Fred Price also claims that Jesus was rich and that He left us with an example to follow. That is why Fred drives a Rolls Royce; he is following Jesus' example!
Mr. Price also communicates one of the more sickening beliefs of the Word-Faith teachers which shocks even those with a mild amount of common sense. He says, "How can you glorify God in your body, when it doesn't function right?....What makes you think the Holy Ghost wants to live inside of a body where He can't see out through the windows, and He can't hear out the ears?"(7) This insulting and insensitive comment regarding the handicapped and crippled among us stirs up anger in even the most hardened of consciences. Yet this statement by Mr. Price is followed by exuberant applause and approval from his congregation (I would like to hear Mr. Price say this to Joni Eareckson, or Tony Melendez).
These kind of statements boggle our minds and stagger our senses. It would seem that most people would see the error in these teachings, yet millions follow these men with a militant passion.
The Tip of the Iceberg
If this was as far as the teaching of these men went, if their only error was that they think everyone should be wealthy and healthy, then we could maybe shrug this movement off as a novelty and realize that soon people with an ounce of common sense will see the error in these teachings. Unfortunately, these teachings are but the tip of the iceberg. They are but the rotten fruit of a foul, putrid, blasphemous and heretical root. The erroneous actions of the faith teachers is but the symptom of their twisted and diseased teachings concerning the nature of man and the nature of God. I think you will see, after examining what they believe in these two key areas, that we are not dealing with a Christian sect gone awry, but that we are dealing with a non-Christian heretical group that is as deadly in their doctrine as any major cult.
The Error Begins
Who is God to the faith teachers? Kenneth Copeland will tell you first off that "God is the biggest failure in the Bible...the reason you've never thought that is because He never said He was one".(8)
Copeland also teaches us that "God is a being that stands somewhere around 6'2", 6'3",(9) intimating that God has a body, an error subscribed to by the Mormons. Copeland states, without any biblical warrant, that the earth we live on is a "copy of the mother planet"(10) which God lives on, again imitating a Mormon doctrine. Never mind that the Bible plainly states that God is spirit (John 4:24), never mind that the Bible never says a thing about this earth being a copy of any so-called mother planet. Yet these arguments don't work with the faith teachers because they have supposedly received these teachings by direct revelation from God. Therefore to oppose them is to oppose God. These men have lifted themselves above any critical investigation yet they have forgotten the biblical mandate that anything not in accord with the Word of God must be rejected. We will examine shortly their reactions to any kind of criticism.
After the faith teachers have thoroughly belittled God to slightly more than an exalted man, they then proceed to exalt man to the status of God. Adam, to the faith teachers, was an exact duplicate of God. Copeland teaches, "Gods reason for creating Adam was His desire to reproduce Himself. I mean a reproduction of Himself. He [Adam] was not a little like God, he was not almost like God, He was not subordinate to God even".(11) Copeland even states that "Adam is God manifested in the flesh",(12) a title that can only be truly applied to Christ Jesus alone.
The perceptive man can easily see that the problem here is a confusion about what it means to be made in the image of God. The faith teachers claim that being made in the image of God is synonymous to having the nature of God. To be made in the image of God is to be a "little god" they would admit. Yet is that what the church has commonly taught. The overwhelming consensus of the church has been that man is created in the image of God in the sense that he is a person as God is a person, possessing mind, will, and emotions, that he is reasonable, unique among creation, a ruler over creation, and capable of personal fellowship with God. We bear the image of God, but we do not share His nature or substance or make-up. We are not omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, or infinite. God is the only being that is holy in and of Himself (Rev. 15:4). We are made in His image and have dignity because of that, but we are not an exact duplicate of God in any sense of the word. That status is reserved for the Lord Jesus Christ alone (see Col 2:8, Heb. 1:3, 2 Cor. 4:4).
REFERENCES
1. Kenneth Copeland, "The Force Of Love" tape # 02-0028
2. Kenneth Copeland, "Believer's Voice of Victory", Feb. 1987, p.9
3. Kenneth Copeland, "Believer's Voice of Victory" broadcast on TBN, recorded 7/9/87
4. John Avanzini, "Believer's Voice of Victory" broadcast on TBN, recorded 1/20/91
5. John Avanzini, "Believer's Voice of Victory" broadcast on TBN, recorded 1/20/91
6. John Avanzini, "Praise the Lord" broadcast on TBN, recorded 9/15/88
7. Fred Price, "Is God Glorified Through Sickness?" tape # FP605
8. Kenneth Copeland, "Praise-a-thon", broadcast on TBN, recorded 1988
9. Kenneth Copeland, "Spirit, Soul, and Body", tape # 01-0601
10. Kenneth Copeland, "Following the Faith of Abraham" tape # 01-3001
11. Kenneth Copeland, "Following the Faith of Abraham" tape # 01-3001
12. Kenneth Copeland, "Following the Faith of Abraham" tape # 01-3001
13. Kenneth Copeland, "Voice of Victory" Vol. 15, No. 2, 2/87
14. Kenneth Copeland, "What Happened from the Cross to the Throne" tape # 02-0017
15. Kenneth Hagin, "Word Of Faith" Dec. 1980, p. 14
16. Benny Hinn, "Our Position In Christ", tape # AO31190-1
17. Benny Hinn, "Praise-a-thon" broadcast on TBN, November, 1990
18. Kenneth Copeland, "Believer's Voice of Victory" broadcast on TBN, recorded 7/9/87
19. Kenneth Copeland, "The Force Of Love" tape # 02-0028
20. Paul Crouch, "Praise The Lord" broadcast on TBN, recorded 7/7/86
21. Benny Hinn, "Our Position In Christ", tape # AO31190-1
22. Benny Hinn broadcast, recorded 10/13/90
23. Paul Crouch, "Praise-a-thon" broadcast on TBN, recorded 4/2/91
From
AN EXAMINATION OF THE WORD-FAITH MOVEMENT
The red parts were just a couple of things I added..