Last Month's Rogue
Each new month will bring on a new "rogue" but we do not want to simply appoint previous rogues to bandwidth nirvana. Instead they will appear here in monthly order.
February 1997:
Kenneth Hagin - a.k.a. "Dad" Hagin, Father of the Word of Faith Movement, Prophet Hagin, Apostle Hagin.
Almost all of Kenneth Hagin's claims are fanciful and without Biblical support. Take for instance how he got saved. He would have us believe he went to hell three times as a boy and was born-again during his third trip down to hell.(1) The problem with his stirring testimony is that it violates the Word of God. He states he died three times, yet the Bible says it is appointed unto men to die once and then the judgment (Heb. 9:27). Once you leave your body in death it is judgment time, no second changes. Hagin on the other hand, got three chances and on the third descent he cried out to Jesus and got saved!
Kenneth Hagin has been proven to be a plagiarist, a plagiarist is someone who steals another person's writings and fails to acknowledge the original author of the work. D. R. McConnell proved beyond any shadow of doubt that Hagin stole much of his theology from E.W. Kenyon, the true Father of the Word of Faith Movement in his most excellent book "A Different Gospel."(2) It seems dad Hagin also stole about 75% of John A. Macmillan's book entitled "The Authority of the Believer" written in 1932.
This theft was discovered by Dale Simmons while working on a
paper at Oral Roberts University(3).
Hagin was confronted about this theft and made few changes in
subsequent editions of that book. He has never publically
admitted to stealing anything from Kenyon.
It gets stranger! Brother Hagin has also made the claim
to have had no less than eight personal face-to-face visits with
the Lord Jesus Christ(4).
His book "I Believe In Visions" makes this
statement on the cover "The fascinating personal story of a
man whose life and ministry have been dramatically influenced by
visions of Jesus."
The only problem with brother Hagin's experiences is that they
are all extra-Biblical. I will be publishing soon a book entitled
"The Depths of Deception" in which I go into
great detail about each of his visions. I do not doubt Hagin had
these experiences, I cannot argue with anybody about their
subjective experience. However when he says the Jesus of the
Bible appeared to him and taught him things that totally
contradict the teachings of the Biblical Jesus I have a problem
with him and his Jesus. Here is an excerpt from my
forthcoming best-seller (my positive confession):
"Hagin leaves his body, has a personal meeting with Jesus,
returns to his body, gets taken out of his body, meets a rider on
horseback, is given a prophetic scroll, reads it, is returned to
his body, then "Jesus" calls Hagin out of his
body again, he ascends to the throne of Almighty God. This would
normally strain the credulity of most Christians, yet the average
charismatic believer fully accepts his account. After the Lord
explains the four phases of brother Hagin's ministry to him he is
given a special anointing from the Lord
of glory:
"Then the Lord said to me, "Stretch forth thine
hand!" He held His own hand out before Him and I looked into
them. . .Instead of scars I saw in the palms of His hands the
wounds of the crucifixion - three-cornered, jagged holes. Each
hole was large enough for me to have put my finger in it. . .As I
looked upon the wounds in His hands. . .He laid the finger of His
right hand in the palm of my right hand and then my left. The
moment He did, my hands began to burn as if a coal of fire had
been placed in them. Then Jesus told me to kneel down before Him.
When I did, He laid His hands upon my head, saying that He had
called me and had given me a special anointing to minister to the
sick. He went on to instruct me that when I pray and lay hands on
the sick, I was to lay one hand on each side of the body. If I
felt the fire jump from hand to hand, an evil spirit or demon was
present in that body causing the affliction. . .If the fire, or
the anointing, in my hands did not jump from hand to hand, it was
a case needing healing only. I should pray for the person in
Jesus`Name, and if he would believe and accept it, the anointing
would leave my hands and go into that person's body, driving out
the disease and brining healing."(5)
There is a great deal which bears scrutiny in this segment of
brother Hagins's account. To begin with he sees holes in the palms
of "Jesus" hands. It is a physical
impossibility for a person to be nailed to a cross with the nails
going through their palms.
The weight of the human body could not be supported by nails in the palms. Archeologists agree that the nails used probably were placed just behind the wrists of Jesus:
But new light has been thrown on the subject by archaeological
work in Judea. In the summer of 1968 a team of archaeologists
under V. Tzaferis discovered four Jewish tombs at GivÔat
ha-Mivtar (Ras el-Masaref), Ammunition Hill, near Jerusalem,
where there was an ossuary containing the only extant bones of a
(young) crucified man, dating from probably between ad{ad anno
Domini} 7 and ad{ad anno Domini} 66, judging from Herodian
pottery found there. Thorough research has been made into the
causes and nature of his death and may throw considerable light
on our Lord's form of death. The young man's arms (not
his hands) were nailed to the patibulum, the cross-beam, which
might indicate that Lk. 24:39; Jn. 20:20, 25, 27 should be
translated 'arms'. The weight of the body was probably borne by a
plank (sedecula) nailed to the simplex, the upright beam, as a
support for the buttocks. The legs had been bent at the knees and
twisted back so that the calves were parallel to the patibulum or
cross-bar, with the ankles under the buttocks. One iron nail
(still in situ) had been driven through both his heels together,
with his right foot above the left. A fragment shows
that the cross was of olive wood. His legs had both been broken,
presumably by a forcible blow, like those of Jesus' two
companions in Jn. 19:32. (Bold type added)(6)
Brother Hagin attempts to validate his visionary experience by
citing John 20:25 where Thomas says ". . .except I shall
see in his hands the print of the nails. . ." What
Hagin failed to realize is that the Jews considered the
"hand" to be any part from the elbow down. On the
physical evidence alone the being brother Hagin was speaking to
could not have been the Biblical Jesus.
More astounding than the nail scarred palms is the alleged commission that Jesus gives brother Hagin. The purpose for Hagin coming up to the throne room of heaven was to be personally commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ with a special anointing to heal the sick. "Jesus" lays his hands on Hagin's head and tells him that "he" has called him to minister to the sick via a special anointing.
Whenever brother Hagin lays his hands on sick people he will (from this point on in 1950) be able to discern whether the person is sick due to (1) an evil spirit, (2) a demon, or (3) just physically ill. He will know this because the anointing fire will jump (or not jump) from hand to hand! If Hagin can get the sick person to believe this, then the anointing will flow out of Hagin's hands into the sick person and he, Hagin, will know they are healed!
The anointing given to Kenneth Hagin is so special it is not found anywhere in the Bible. He has received, personally, from the nail-pierced hands of Jesus a power not given to any of the people within the confines of the written Word. Nowhere in Scripture is such an "anointing" spoken of. Nowhere in Scripture do we read on Jesus giving anyone the ability to discern the cause of an illness by the physical sensation of fire jumping from hand to hand! Yet does anyone within the Pentecost/charismatic circle question this?
In fact, I find it interesting that during the healing revival (1940-1950's) the main healing evangelists all claimed to have been given a tangible healing anointing which was felt in their hands. Probably the two most famous healing evangelists of that time who made such claims were Oral Roberts and William Branham. With this in mind brother Hagin's claim to feel the fire jump from hand to hand was not hard for people to swallow. Bigger evangelists than he had already been making claims of that nature for almost five years prior to his being "anointed" to heal.
After this special call by "Jesus," the laying on of hands, and the imparting of this special anointing Hagin begs not to be sent into the healing ministry. Jesus rebukes him and Hagin relents and agrees to obey this divine charge:
"I'll go with you and stand by your side as you pray for the sick, and many times you will see Me. Occasionally I will open the eyes of someone in the audience and they will say, "Why, I saw Jesus standing by that man as he prayed for the sick."(7)
"Jesus" personally commits to be with Hagin when he prays for the sick. In fact, many times Hagin will personally get to see Jesus standing by his side and Jesus will open the eyes of revival participants and allow them to see Him. After this throne room experience they head back to earth:
"Jesus then journeyed with me back to the earth, and I realized that I still lay on my face on the floor. he talked with me there a moment and then disappeared. My hands burned for three days just like I had a coal of fire in each of them. Now when I wait upon the Lord in prayer and fasting, the same anointing comes upon me again."(8)
Brother Hagin gives no explanation why they went up to the "throne room" of heaven, or why Jesus did not commission him when He first appeared to Hagin earlier that day. Hagin does explain that this special anointing can come and go; "if the anointing leaves you, fast and pray until it comesback"(9) . When he feels the anointing has left him all that he has to do is some fasting and praying and it will come back. There is no explanation about what would cause this anointing to leave, all we know is what Hagin must do to get it back. Before I go onto brother Hagin's next gnostic experience it is necessary to take some time and consider what the Bible has to say about the anointing and compare it to what Pentecostal and charismatics mean when they use that term. . . .
Brother Hagin is guilty of propagating the following concepts:
 | Jesus died spiritually, went to hell, was tormented by demons and was the first truly born-again man. |
| That faith is a force and will work every time it is properly used. |
| That it is the will of God for every believer to be healed. |
| That it is possible for genuinely saved people to loose their salvation and be eternally lost. |
| The ministries of the apostle and prophet are active today in the same form as seen in the book of Acts. |
| That Jesus has given His authority over Satan and demons to the Church and that Jesus cannot do anything about Satan and demons. |
These teachings can be found in his books "I Believe
in Visions, Plans Purposes & Pursuits, Understanding the
Anointing, The Believer's Authority," and many others.
"Really Bob, after all, how many people would buy into
such strange beliefs?" Here is a partial list of how
far-reaching these errors are in the Body of Christ and why
brother Hagin was elected into the Rogue's Gallery of this page:
These (and many other false teachings) are distributed en-mass via the following means:
(The above bulleted areas were obtained from Kenneth Hagin's
web-page)
Literally hundreds of thousands of people are being influenced by this man's heretical teachings, which are now being propagated by his son and grandson and thousands of Rhema graduates in thousands of Rhema churches around the world. Brother Hagin has duplicated himself thousands of times over and his error is widespread.
May the Lord God continue to raise up an army of voices to
speak out against heresy and offer the people of God a balanced
spiritual diet of the true Word of God.
1. Hagin, Kenneth, I Believe In Visions, pg. 13
2. McConnell, D.R., A Differnt Gospel, pages 6-11
3. McConnell, D.R., A Different Gospel, pg. 67
4. Hagin, Kenneth, I Believe In Visions, Faith Library, 1994
5. Hagin, Kenneth H. "I Believe In Visions." Harrison House. Seventh Edition. 1994 Pg. 54-55
6. The New Bible Dictionary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1962.
7. Hagin, Kenneth H. "I Believe In Visions." Harrison House. Seventh Edition. 1994. Pg. 54
8. Ibid. Pg. 55
9. Ibid. Pg. 56
