The Cult of Kenneth Copeland

Kenneth Copeland appears to be the foremost disciple of Kenneth Hagin. As I review the doctrine that he has clearly articulated, he seems to carry them to another level of departure from Biblical truths. What Hagin says about Jesus ChristÂ’s visit into hell as a captive of Satan, Copeland says stronger and with a little more extreme. Trendsetters that are forging a new kind of religious view usually follow this pattern. Truth is fixed, but error is always in declension.

The following excerpts from speaking tape of Kenneth Copeland reveal the New Wave qualities of his theology. His style and message is just as qualitatively paranormal as Christian Science, Unity, or the Jehovah Witnesses. I believe it is more dangerous because of his use of Jesus’ name. Please read carefully the following excerpts and my notes following each.

Kenneth Copeland and His Doctrines
Rev. Copeland has popularized the idea of “little god” theology. Rev. Hagin believes basically the same, but Rev. Copeland is credited with communicating it to millions and convincing a multitude of those who have heard him. Here are his words: "He is a spirit and Jesus said that ‘the time will come and now is that they that worship Him worship Him in spirit and in truth’ and He imparted in you when you were born again. Peter said it just as plain. He said, ‘we are partakers of the divine nature.’ That nature is life eternal in absolute perfection and that was imparted, injected into your spirit, man, and you have that imparted into you by God just as same as you imparted into your child the nature of humanity. That child wasn’t born a whale, but born a human. Isn’t that true? Well now, you don’t have a human, do you, no, you are one. You don’t have a God in you, you are one."

Adequately addressing this idea is paramount, so letÂ’s be careful to understand. Here, Mr. Copeland takes a great truth about our sharing the divine nature of Jesus Christ by faith and creates this New Wave theology about this making us a god. The Bible says, "The just shall live by faith." (Romans 1:17).

Consequently, we experience this divine life by faith on a constant basis. It never makes us a god, but it does provide us His holy grace to live a godly life every moment. We enjoy the life of Jesus Christ in an ever-increasing manner, but we always remain aware of our personal helplessness without His presence. We live by His Spirit, but we do not become His Spirit, neither does His power and grace turn us into paranormal creatures. There is a world of difference. If we become divine or paranormal, then our future resurrection would be anti-climatic and of no necessity.

The roots of CopelandÂ’s Latter Rain or Manifest Sons of God concept is realized in this next quote, "God’s reason for creating Adam was His desire to reproduce Himself. I mean a reproduction of Himself and in the Garden of Eden He did that. He was not a little like God, he was not almost like God, he was not subordinate to God, even. Now this is hard on the human mind, but I’m telling you what the Bible said. The Bible said, ‘Let us make man in our image and give him dominion.’"

Adam was never a god. He was, contrary to Copeland, absolutely subordinate to God. That was his sin when he refused this subordination. This is the beginning of the whole direction of Copeland and is the same sin that Satan committed. They try to set Adam and the human race on a level never given by God and one that Satan suggested. Remember, Satan said, “Ye shall be like God.” Dominion Theology begins with this false promise about man being a god, instead of being created to serve and bring glory to God. Sin robbed man of his eternal life and that will be restored in its fullness at the Resurrection, and never before.

The idea of man as a paranormal creature rather than a flesh or natural creature surfaces over and over in the entire New Wave movement. Please read this metaphysical explanation of the original creation story: "You don’t think earth was first do you. Huh! Well you don’t think that God made man in His image and then made earth in some other image. There is not anything under this whole sun that’s new. Are you hearing what I’m saying? This is all a copy. It’s a copy of home. It’s a copy of the mother planet. Where God lives He made a little one just like His and put us on it. And Adam is as much like God as you can get. Just the same as Jesus when He came into the earth. He said, ‘If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.’ He wasn’t a lot like God, He’s God manifested in the flesh. And I want you to know something. Adam in the Garden of Eden was God manifested in the flesh. He was God’s very image, the very likeness. Everything he did, everything he said, every move he made was the very image of Almighty God."

This statement is a subtle reduction of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Begotten Son, to a class in the nature of Adam. Adam was a man and never anything else. Jesus was the Word of God from eternity who became flesh and blood to redeem mankind. Adam and Jesus were never in the same class. This is a New Age idea that both reduces Jesus to one of the great masters and elevates man to a position best described as "Manifest sons of God." Jesus was the “only begotten Son of God.” Never was there another God manifested in the flesh. This entire idea is the groundwork for man being called a “god.”

Rev. Copeland really drives this idea home. The entire superstructure of the New Wave movement is built on the metaphysical approach to manÂ’s existence. Are we humans totally dependent of GodÂ’s sovereign mercy and grace or do we have godlike power to manipulate and control our world ourselves. Read again Rev. CopelandÂ’s thoughts: "You see, Adam was walking as a God. Adam walked into God’s class. Adam did things in the class of god’s. Hallelujah! What he said went, what he did counted, and what and when he said and when he acted on the fact that and bowed on his knee to Satan and put Satan up above him, then there wasn’t anything God could do about it cause a god had placed him there. But in doing so he bowed his knee to his enemy, to God’s enemy and his, Satan, and the nature of Satan then was lodged in his spirit forever unless God could do something about it, because man could not. Why couldn’t he? I thought you said he was a god. He was created in the god class, but when he committed high treason, he fell below the god class."

If man used to be a god, then the redemption of Jesus Christ reverses that fall and man becomes a god again. Of course, the opposite is also true. If he was never a “god” then our redemption cannot make us back into the “god” class. The Bible makes it clear that "It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment (reconciliation and finality of all things)." It cannot happen until the appointed moment. This being true makes this doctrine totally false. We never were a “god” and we never will be. Satan never was a “god”, although he has certainly tried to become one. What could be more deceptive and confusing than an idea like this?

The following quote reduces salvation to your spoken words. The blood of Jesus is hated by Satan and his legions of fallen angels and they have tried many approaches to destroy that blood. This appears to be SatanÂ’s greatest victory in the history of the church. Listen to Rev. Copeland again, "Am I God? Man was created in the god class, he was not created in the animal class, he was in the god class. He has uniqueness about him that even angels do not have. And that is the God-given right to choose his own words and speak them, thereby, setting his own divine destiny. His own destination. ‘Cause he can go to hell if he wants to. He can go to heaven if he wants to. And Jesus said, by your words are you condemned, by your words are you justified and you’ll stand judgment for every empty word you speak out of your mouth. Well, that’s divine things. Now, Peter said, ‘By exceeding great and precious promises, you become partakers of the divine nature.’ All right. Are we gods? We are a class of gods."

This whole thought reduces our redemption to our words. What I speak out of my mouth, instead of what the blood of Jesus Christ has accomplished. Sure, my confession is important, but must not be elevated to the dominant issue of my life. I do not believe that most of the multitude that follow the New Wave believes this kind of teaching. I do not even believe they hear with their heart when this kind of doctrine is taught.

When you listen to this next quote from Rev. Copeland you will hear the heart of prosperity teaching. This puts man in the class of a creator and as an equal of Jesus Christ. Since we know that we cannot be supernatural, the only possibility left is that we are paranormal. When you look at the total teachings of New Wave, this also applies to the unsaved. They say that an unsaved man can operate in this so-called “fourth dimension” without being saved. Read his statement:

"He am healing, He am deliverance, He am financial prosperity, mental prosperity, physical prosperity, family prosperity. It’s terrible grammar, but you understand what I’m saying. I’m saying it to affect my mind. He am whatever He has to be. ‘Cause He said He’d meet my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus and I’m walking around saying, Yes! My needs are met according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Glory to God! I’m covenanted to the need maker, I’m covenanted to the need meeter, I’m covenanted to the I am. And I say this with all respect so that it doesn’t upset you too bad. But, I say it anyway. When I read in the Bible where He says, ‘I am,’ I just smile and say, ‘Yes, I am, too.’"

This quote by Rev. Copeland is extremely revealing. Only God can speak the great Sovereign Words, "I am." This statement is the very essence of God’s eternal, and omnipotent person. He is the "I am." I stand in awe before His greatness. To try to be as He is the exact sin of Lucifer that necessitated his being cast out of heaven. Any man or woman who continues in this doctrine must remember the results of SatanÂ’s sin.

The Son of God is finally reduced to a mortal man whose death accomplished absolutely nothing. His only victory was His words and His ability to start quoting Scripture to the devil and demons where he had become subject to them in lower hell. Because he had learned the words of a positive confession, He repeats them and Satan is defeated. Of course, that means, according to Copeland, that you can confess your way out of every crisis. You do not need an intervention of God you can intervene for yourself. LetÂ’s quote Rev. Copeland:

"The Spirit of God spoke to me and He said, ‘Son, realize this. Now, follow me in this. 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 and I said, ‘What!’ He said, ‘A born again defeated Satan. The first born of many brethren defeated him.’ He said, ‘You are the very image and the very copy of that one.’ I said, ‘Goodness, gracious sakes alive!’ And it just began, I began to see what had gone on in there. And 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’ve known and had the knowledge of the Word of God that He did, you could have done the same thing, ’cause you are a reborn man, too.’ He said, ‘The same power that I used to raise Him from the dead, I used to raise you from your death in trespasses and sin.’ He said, ‘I had to have that copy of that pattern to establish judgment on Satan, so that I could recreate a child, and a family, and a whole new race of mankind.’ And He said, ‘You are in His likeness.’"

How does a person respond to such bizarre doctrines? This idea puts Jesus Christ in the fire of hell and in need of being "born again" so He can escape. The Bible does not ever suggest an idea like this. Jesus went into upper Sheol, called Abraham’s bosom, but never into lower hell where sinners were condemned. He went to upper Hell to deliver the Old Testament saints who awaited His coming to complete the blood sacrifices which their First Testament sacrifices foreshadowed. This is a confused mixture of Biblical thinking with mostly paranormal ideas. When Jesus died on the cross, immediately the veil was rent and graves were opened in the graveyards of Jerusalem.

The final quote makes you an absolute equal to the “only begotten Son of God.” The Bible says, “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” (I Peter 2:22). This is much more than what most persons in the New Wave movement have yet grasped about these doctrines.

"Now, really, disease has had its authority broken. It doesn’t have any more right to stand up in front of you in Jesus’ name than it had to stand in front of Jesus when He was standing there in the flesh. ‘Cause you want me to tell you something. You are Jesus in the flesh."

You are not Jesus in the flesh, but you can be His disciple. There is a world of difference. You are invited to commit to His Lordship and be His sons and daughters. IÂ’m delighted that I am not a God or a Jesus, but a servant. My joy is to trust Him, follow Him, and let Him sovereignly meet my needs and bless me with His plenty.

Kenneth Copeland is clearly one of the key trendsetters in the modern New Wave movement. His style is very convincing.