The attacks on WoF ministers and theology are largely based on misinformation. Most of the critics get their information from other critics who don’t know what they’re talking about, and the subsequent relaying of information suffers degradation similar to copying music from one cassette tape to another. After awhile the fidelity is almost completely wiped out. Okay, maybe that analogy is outdated so I’ll use another one. The Telephone game we played as kids where the message would always end up completely different at the end.
Some critics insist that Kenneth Hagin claimed no human origin for his theology. WRONG! Certainly some of the things that he taught he claimed were divinely revealed, but the majority he made no such claim. One critic even acknowledged the impact of the writings of Smith Wigglesworth and F. F. Bosworth on Brother Hagin’s theology. I remember him telling us when I graduated in 1984 that we shouldn’t be concerned about sounding like we were just parroting what he taught. “After all”, he said, “I learned from the people who came before me.”
Critics also state that WoF people don’t question Kenneth Hagin’s teaching out of fear of divine judgment, and that this is a cultic practice of mind control. This is merely an opinion based on ignorance. I know plenty of people in the WoF camp who don’t agree with all of his teachings, myself included. As for divine judgment, Brother Hagin didn’t pronounce judgment on everybody who disagrees with his teachings. Here’s what he said in I Believe In Visions:
The Lord said to me, “If I give you a message for an individual, a church, or a pastor, and they don’t accept it, you will not be responsible. They will be responsible. There will be ministers who won’t accept it and who will fall dead in the pulpit.”
I say this with reluctance, but this actually happened in one place where I preached. Two weeks from the day I closed the meeting, the pastor fell dead in the pulpit. When I left that church, I left crying.
I told the pastor in the next church where I went to hold a meeting, “That man will fall dead in the pulpit.” And just a short time later he did. Why? Because he didn’t accept the message God’s Spirit gave me to give him.
In this vision Jesus was teaching Brother Hagin concerning the ministry of a prophet. The messages He was referring to were specific prophetic messages, not teachings concerning faith or any other bible topic. The Bible is replete with examples of people who experienced judgment after rejecting the word of the prophet, so there’s nothing unbiblical about what Kenneth Hagin said but again, this wasn’t about rejecting his teaching. Any suggestion to that effect is misleading.
Another example of misinformation regarding Brother Hagin’s teaching is that he diminished the value of the cross. This is based on his teaching that we as believers need to focus on the resurrection more than the cross. The following is from his book The Believer’s Authority.
The trouble with us is that we’ve preached a “cross” religion, and we need to preach a “throne” religion. By that I mean that people have thought they were supposed to remain at the cross. Some have received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, have backed up to the cross, and have stayed there ever since.
We’ve sung “Near the cross, near the cross.” Yes, we need to come by the cross for salvation, but we don’t need to remain there; let’s go on to Pentecost, the Ascension, and the throne!
The cross is actually a place of defeat, whereas the Resurrection is a place of triumph. When you preach the cross, you’re preaching death, and you leave people in death. We died all right, but we’re raised with Christ. We’re seated with Him. Positionally, that’s where we are right now: We’re seated with Christ in the place of authority in heavenly places.
Many Christians know nothing about the authority of the believer. They really don’t believe we have any authority. They believe they’re barely saved and they must go through life being dominated by the devil while living on Barely-Get-Along Street. They magnify the devil more than they do God.
We need to be delivered from the bondage of death and walk in the newness of life. We’re not at the cross. We died with Christ, but He has raised us up together with Him. Glory to God, learn how to take your place of authority.
So you can see here that he valued the cross as it pertains to receiving salvation, but he states that in order for us to follow Jesus we can’t remain at the cross. Jesus went on to the resurrection, then the ascension, then the throne, and then poured out the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. This doesn’t diminish the value of the cross. It simply places it in its proper context along with the other works of Jesus. After all, the Apostle Paul said that if Christ isn’t risen from the dead we’re still in our sins (I Cor. 15:17), so the cross doesn’t do us much good without the resurrection.
These are just a few examples of how critics misrepresent what Kenneth Hagin and others have stated over the years. I’m happy to finally have the opportunity to set the record straight on many of these things.
Misinformation 1 (Joyce Meyer)
Misinformation 2 (Gnosticism)
Misinformation 3 (Shamanism)
Misinformation 4 (New Age)
Misinformation 5 (Benny Hinn)