WORD OF FAITH MOVEMENT

(A Fact Sheet)

 

Founder: Roots go back to E.W. Kenyon. Kenneth Hagin Sr. later popularized the teachings and molded them into the present WOF movement.

Main Book: Bible

Other Books: Teachings of E.W. Kenyon and other Word of Faith teachers

Main teachers: Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Frederick K.C. Price, Jerry Savelle, Jessie Duplantis, Casey Treat, Paul & Jan Crouch, Marilyn Hickey, R.W. Schambach, Creflo Dollar, Oral Roberts

History/Background:

The Word of Faith movement is a fast growing segment of the charismatic movement and is having a large effect on the Christian Church today. The Assemblies of God Church felt that the Word of Faith/Positive Confession doctrines "have gone beyond the teachings and reflected adversely on the cause of Christ" that a Position Paper was written to address this subject. The Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements says the following:

Most significantly of all, the phrase "positive confession" refers quite literally to bringing into existence what we state with our mouth, since faith is a confession. This perspective, embraced by Kenyon and his disciples in their relatively new biblical-theological emphasis, regarded the value of the power of the tongue as a key to the confession theory. Since Kenyon’s demise in 1948, several "word ministries," including such personalities as Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Charles Capps, Frederick K. C. Price, and others have mined the teachings of their revered teacher. ( pgs. 718-719)

The Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements also agrees that the roots of the Word of Faith movement stem from the teachings of E.W. Kenyon.

A man by the name of E. W. Kenyon had a great influence on the present day Word of Faith teachers, starting with Kenneth Hagin Sr. Kenneth Hagin has been referred to by Charisma magazine as "the granddaddy of the Faith teachers" and as the "father of the Faith movement." D. R. McConnell says the following about Kenneth Hagin and his effect on the Word of Faith teachers:

…Hagin’s teaching on faith, healing and prosperity have been foundational for almost every major minister of the Faith movement. Even the heavyweights of the Faith movement readily admit that Hagin’s teaching and leadership were the key to both their success and that of the movement. For instance, the heir apparent to Hagin’s throne, Kenneth Copeland, frequently acknowledges Hagin as his spiritual father. (A Different Gospel, pg. 3)

…Hagin is the man who single-handedly took Kenyon’s teachings and from them forged a movement, the Faith movement. (A Different Gospel, pg. 12)

Frederick K. C. Price…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. (A Different Gospel, pg. 4, taped correspondence 2/18/82)

Charles Capps…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 Lakewood Church 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." (A Different Gospel, pg. 4, taped correspondences 1/17/82 and 1/24/82)

Jesse Duplantis in the March 1999 Believer’s Voice of Victory magazine gives credit to the following:

Then one day someone put a little red book in my hand called "The Blood Covenant" by E. W. Kenyon. Someone else put me in touch with the tapes and ministries of Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland. For the first time in my life, I heard sound words about living victoriously in this life. I heard sound words about my authority as a believer. I’ve been speaking those sound words ever since! (pg. 13)(bold added for emphasis)

Kenneth Hagin says the following about Kenneth Copeland in an article on page 9 of the September 1997 issue of the Believer’s Voice of Victory magazine entitled He Sounded Just Like Me. The title of the article is referring to Kenneth Copeland’s preaching. Kenneth Hagin’s teaching, mentoring and sermons had a tremendous impact on Kenneth Copeland’s ministry.

But in his early days, he listened to my tapes so much that he sounded just like me…a lot of times, if you shut your eyes when he was preaching, you’d think I was the one up there preaching…I said that because Ken was in there preaching one of my sermons. He was going right down the line, point by point and he sounded just like me. Later, I told Ken that when he preached my sermons he could at least change the titles!

Ruth Kenyon Houseworth, the daughter of E. W. Kenyon and past president of the Kenyon Gospel Publishing Society, Lynnwood, Washington, said the following in a taped interview with D. R. McConnell:

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. (A Different Gospel, pg. 3)

Kenneth Hagin has claimed that any similarities between himself and Kenyon are to be attributed to the fact that both are merely using different words to express what the Bible has to say on the same truth. (A Different Gospel, pg. 6,) But in documented instances, Kenneth Hagin has copied almost word-for-word from some of Kenyon’s writings. D. R. McConnell sights eight examples in his book A Different Gospel, and states:

The word-for-word correspondence between Hagin’s writings and Kenyon’s cannot be attributed to coincidence, nor can they be attributed to a miracle of inspiration by the Holy Spirit. (page. 12)

 

The following table shows three examples of plagiarism by Mr. Hagin of E. W. Kenyon’s writings:

Mr.Kenyon

Mr. Hagin

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. But He says the strangest words, "But thou are 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, 19G9, 44-451)

The 22nd Psalm gives a graphic picture of the crucifixion of Jesus-more vivid than that of John, Matthew or Mark who witnessed it.

He utters the strange words "But thou are 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 [March 1975]), pp. 1,4,5,7)

At once you ask, "What does identification mean? lf It means our complete union with Him in His Substitutionary Sacrifice. This gives us the key which 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. (Identification: A Romance in Redemption [Seattle: Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society, 1968], 6,7)

What does identification mean? It means our complete union with Christ. 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. 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 [April 1977], p.5)

The picture here is of Christ . . . in awful combat with the hosts of darkness. it gives us a glimpse of the tremendous battle and victory that Jesus won before He rose from the dead. The margin reads: "Having put off from Himself the principalities and powers." It is evident that the whole demon host, when they saw Jesus in their power simply intended to swamp Him, overwhelm Him, and they held Him in fearful bondage until the cry came forth from the throne of God that Jesus had met the demands of justice; that the sin problem was settled and man's redemption was a fact. When this cry reached the dark regions, Jesus rose and hurled back the host of darkness, and met Satan in awful combat. God has made this investment for the benefit of the Church: He has made this deposit on which the Church has a right to draw for Her every need.

Oh, that our eyes were open; that our souls would dare rise into the realm of the omnipotence where the Name would mean to us all that the Father has invested in it . . . . This is practically an unexplored tableland in Christian experience. (The Wonderful Name Of Jesus [Seattle: Kenyon's Gospel Publishing Society, 19271, 8, 9, ii)

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. God has made this investment for the church. He has made this deposit on which the church has a right to draw for her every need. oh that our eyes would open, that our souls would dare to rise in the realm of the omnipotent where that name would mean to us all that God the Father intended it to mean! In one sense, this is practically unexplored table land in Christian experience. ("The Name Of Jesus: The More Excellent Name," The Word of Faith [April 1976], pp. 4-6)

 

Mr. McConnell adds further:

But what are Kenyon’s roots? This is a most important question, because anything that influenced Kenyon has undoubtedly also influenced the modern Faith movement. (pg. 15)

 

The Roots of the Word of Faith Tree

 

The Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements says the following about the background of the Word of Faith Movement:

Conceptually, the views espoused by E. W. Kenyon can be traced to his exposure to metaphysical ideas derived from attendance at Emerson College of Oratory in Boston, a spawning ground for New Thought philosophical ideas. The major tenets of the New Thought movement are health or healing, abundance or prosperity, wealth and happiness. New Thought philosophy can be traced to Phineas P. Quimby (1802-66), whose ideas gained prominence toward the close of the last century. Not only regarded as the founder of the New Thought philosophy, Quimby studied spiritism, occultism, hypnosis, and other aspects of parapsychology. It was Quimby who was said to have healed Mary Baker Patterson Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, in 1862. He attempted to make witchcraft credible by the use of scientific language. It appears Eddy borrowed the term Christian Science from Quimby along with his theoretical formulations, and these became the basis for the Mind Science cult she founded. Quimby labeled his formulation the science of Christ. From Quimby, William Branham, E. W. Kenyon, and John G. Lake, a view of God emerged that is currently espoused by Hagin, Copeland, Capps, and Price. ( pg 719)(bold and underline added for emphasis)

The disciples of Kenyon speak of prosperity as a "divine right" and have formulated laws of prosperity to be rehearsed daily by persons seeking health and wealth. Positive Confesssionism is rooted in an easy believism with no grounding or fundamental point of reference. Its doctrinal formulations are rooted in a strained biblicism without an object of faith, often placing an undue stress upon gifts rather than on the fruit of a believer. The Rhema doctrine is the primary key to Positive Confession theology. Romans 10:8 is the primary passage or archtext of the Rhema doctrine. In its classical Greek usage, the word rhema has to do with stating something specifically. The major premise of Rhema doctrine is that whatever is spoken by faith becomes immediately inspired and therefore dynamic in the particular situation or event to which it is addressed. (pg. 719)(bold added for emphasis)

The problem with exponents of the Rhema interpretation is their biased selection of biblical passages, often without due regard to their context. The self-defined phrase "confessing the Word of God" takes precedence over hermeneutical principles and rules for biblical interpretation…The Rhema doctrinal premise (that whatever is spoken by faith becomes immediately inspired in the situation addressed) has a tendency to confuse want and need. The easy believism of the Positive Confession movement appears to be grounded in "fides qua" (i.e., how Jesus believed) rather than "fides quae" (i.e. Jesus as the object of faith). (pg. 720)(bold added for emphasis)

Dean C. Halverson wrote the following in an article for the Fall 1988 issue of the Christian Research Journal in defining the metaphysical movement

…the Metaphysical belief system declares all that is negative (e.g., sin, disease, poverty, disharmony, and death) to be unreal. They are unreal, says the Metaphysician, because such things are not found in God, who is the First Cause and the Source of all that is real. The source of all that is negative is therefore our "own" negative attitudes and false beliefs. We falsely believe we are sinful and separated from God, when, in fact, we eternally emanate from the impersonal Mind of God. The God of the Metaphysical movement, who is the very Principle of Goodness in all things, is not at all interested in judging us, but only in providing for us all that is good. We can realize that goodness when we recognize that we are one with God in our true nature. (page 7)(bold added for emphasis)

He further writes:

One Religious Science minister wrote in a brochure, "Once you realize your own true nature, you will find that health, prosperity, love and peace are all fundamental parts of you." (page 7)(bold added for emphasis)

D. R. McConnell defines New Thought as follows:

In summary, New Thought was a system of cultic belief that taught that true reality is spiritual, that the spiritual is the cause of all physical effects, and that the human mind through positive mental attitude and positive confession has the power to create its own reality: either health and wealth, or sickness and poverty. (A Different Gospel, page 40)(bold added for emphasis)

The above sounds similar to the Word of Faith teachings regarding divine health and healing. The cause of all sickness is Satan (negative & spiritual) not God, and through the positive confession by our words and denying the reality of our symptoms we can create our divine health. By our negative words and attitudes we create our negative reality (sickness). The same analogy can be applied to wealth and poverty as well.

John Kennington, a friend and student of E. W. Kenyon, called Kenyon’s gospel a "Pentecostal Christian Science," a "baptized" version of metaphysics. In his attempt to help the church compete with the metaphysical cults he drew from their cultic ideas and practices (A Different Gospel, pg. 3). Kennington recalls the following conversation with Kenyon:

One of the things that puzzled me in those days was the similarity between what he [Kenyon] taught and what was taught in Christian Science. We discussed this similarity at that time. And he acknowledged the similarity. I can remember him saying, "All that Christian Science lacks is the blood of Jesus Christ." He was not only very conversant with Christian Science concepts but also with a lot of details of how Christian Science originated…He admitted that he freely drew the water of his thinking from this well. (A Different Gospel, pg. 25)(bold added for emphasis)

Ern Baxter says the following about Kenyon in a taped correspondence with D. R. McConnell:

…he responded very positively that there was a lot that could be gotten from Mary Baker Eddy. That alerted me. I can’t say it surprised me, but it alerted me to the fact that he probably wasn’t formulating his faith positions entirely from sola Scriptura, and that he was influenced by the metaphysics. (A Different Gospel, pg. 26)(bold added for emphasis)

E. W. Kenyon attended Emerson College of Oratory in Boston around the turn of century and admitted to regularly attending a Unitarian Church led by Minot J. Savage (A Different Gospel, pg. 34). Charles Wesley Emerson, the namesake of Emerson College, was a Unitarian minister and admirer of various religions who joined Christian Science in 1903 and remained involved until his death.

The primary task of the faculty of Emerson College was not just to teach oratory: it was to teach religion. (A Different Gospel, pg. 37). Charles Mallory, a close friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson and frequent guest lecturer of the college said the following:

Why do you call this a College of Oratory? All people should come here whether they intend to do anything in the line of elocution or not. This is a school where the philosophy of life is taught. It ought to be called, "The First Church of Emerson." (A Different Gospel, pg. 38)

Coffee and Wentworth said the following about Dr. Emerson:

Whether Dr. Emerson taught New Thought is not subject to question. It is clear that he did, and that students such as Mary Ann Greely, Class of 1893, found it quite valuable personally as she wrote some years later in the Emerson College magazine: "We dealt familiarly with the great truths that have now become popular under the name of "new thought." (A Different Gospel, pg. 38)

Kenneth Hagin Sr. took Kenyon’s ideas and molded them into the present Word of Faith movement we see today. Mr. Hagin says that he was given revelation knowledge through visitations with Jesus, and that Kenyon had very little influence on him. As seen from the examples of direct plagiarism of some of Kenyon’s writings I find this hard to believe. The similarity is striking. Kenneth Hagin was licensed as an Assemblies of God minister in 1937, and later became involved in the healing revival of the 1940’s and 50’s.

With their message of not only divine health and healing, but divine wealth, it is a message that is very appealing to many, and one I believe that people want to hear. There is nothing wrong with wanting to prosper, and I have prayed to God for help in financial situations in my life and others. As the Bible says, money in and of itself is not the root of all evil, but the love of it, but to emphasize it as a central core of the teachings of Christianity I believe is inappropriate. This type of teaching will naturally draw a large number of people. Fred Price says the following about wealth:

…The Bible says that He left us an example that we should follow His steps. That’s the reason why I drive a Rolls Royce. I’m following Jesus’ steps.

T. D. Jakes said the following:

Besides, Jakes says—during an interview and in his sermons—Jesus was a rich man. He had to have been, in order to have supported his disciples and their families during his ministry.

When a minister says that he has to wear expensive suits and drive expensive cars in order to be an example to his congregation and to gain followers is in my opinion inappropriate. Can these ministers give up their inordinate wealth as Jesus asked the rich young ruler to do? Matthew 19:21-22 says the following:

21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wouldest be perfect, go, sell that which thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

22 But when the young man heard the saying, he went away sorrowful; for he was one that had great possessions.

 

Teachings

Below is a summary of the teachings that are part of the WOF Movement. Every Word of Faith teacher may not hold to all of these teachings, but they can be found somewhere throughout the movement.

 

 

 

Sources of Further Information

Ankerberg, John & Weldon, John

The Facts On The Mind Sciences

ISBN: 1-56507-153-0

Harvest House Publishers-Eugene, Oregon, 1993

Burgess, Stanley M.

Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements

ISBN: 0310441005

Zondervan Publishing Co., 914 pgs, Nov 1988

Capps, Charles

The Tongue – A Creative Force

ISBN 0-89274-061-2

Harrison House, Inc., 1976

Copeland, Kenneth

Believer’s Voice of Victory Magazine

Eagle Mountain International Church Inc./Kenneth Copeland Ministries Inc.

Hagin, Kenneth

The Word of Faith Magazine

August 1977, Jan 1972

Hanegraaff, Hank

Christianity in Crisis

ISBN: 1-56507-696-6

Harvest House Publishers, 1997

Horton, Michael

The Agony of Deceit

ISBN: 0-8024-8776-9

Moody Press – Chicago, 1990

Kenyon, E.W.

The Two Kinds of faith, Faith’s Secret Revealed

ISBN 1-57770-008-2

Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society, 1998

Martin, Walter

Kingdom of the Cults

ISBN: 1-55661-714-3

Bethany House Publishers, 1997

McConnell, D. R.

A Different Gospel

ISBN: 1-56563-132-3

Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.. June 1995

The Believer and Positive Confession

Position Paper of the General Council of the Assemblies of God adopted by the Assemblies of God General Presbytery, August 19, 1980

 

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