The doctrines of the Word of Faith movement as defined by Kenneth Hagin and his followers are a different gospel, unbiblical, and heretical. All of the core doctrines can be traced back to E.W. Kenyon. Kenyon took ideas of New Thought Philosophy and taught them as “Christian” principles. Kenneth Hagin took these principles and teachings of Kenyon and formed them into the cultish doctrines that he called “Word of Faith”. I have chosen to call the general heresy Keyonism and refer to the doctrines as Word of Faith.
The concept of spiritual humanism is a core error and an essential goal of this heresy for both Kenyon and Hagin. This error is necessary to swallow and believe in order to reach the goal. When this error is simply rejected then the rest of the doctrines fall easily and the goal remains unreachable. Remember when reading and thinking about the involved doctrines that they are necessary for the authors to reach the goal of being able to control ones life. The goal of Keyonism is to be one’s own God; to “speak things into existence” and to “call things that are not into being”. Ultimately, it is to pronounce success and health over oneself. Many came after to collect money for healings but that was not the goal. The initial goal was to have dominion over one’s own health and finances.
The Error:
Although all the Word of Faith doctrines are in error and heretical in and of themselves there is a core error. A central error that manifests itself throughout the teachings. As is the case with all historical heresy it involves the nature of Jesus Christ. By expounding the incarnation as a form of spiritual humanism and then teaching that anyone can obtain the same ontological state. Both Kenyon and Hagin make the heretical claim that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a born-again believer is equal to in every essential way to our Lord’s miracle of incarnation as flesh. This error works out in two distinct ways. One is by lowering or separating the deity of Christ from the person of Jesus. This is often accomplished by subtly talking about God and Jesus separately or by saying Jesus did one thing or another separate from his God-hood. The claim that God turned his back on Jesus and sent him to hell for instance is a clear and heretical statement that Jesus was not God or stopped being God. The second distinct way this is worked out is in the granting of man the status or power of a god hood. By saying that men after salvation are little gods, or are the same class of creation as God. It is clear error to equate believers with the gift of the Holy Spirit sealing us for glorification with Jesus who was God incarnate.
Kenyon originally stated this error:
“Every man who has been “born again” is an Incarnation, and Christianity is a miracle. The believer is as much an Incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth.” EW Kenyon, The Father and His Family, 1916
It was then echoed (or plagiarized) by Hagin:
“Every born-again man is an incarnation, the believer is as much an incarnation as Jesus of Nazareth.” Kenneth Hagin, The Virgin Birth. 1975
This is an affirmation of the very temptation of the serpent in the garden “you will be like God”. The Holy Spirit indwells us and produces fruit in us that is the character of Christ as we are sanctified by God. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a completely different concept as the incarnation of God; The Son becoming flesh.
The Goal:
Kenyon and Hagin seem to have a common motivation in their writings and teachings of de. They both seek to make man capable of controlling his circumstances by verbally declaring them to be. This practice of “positive confession” was popular in the late 1800s in a movement within the occult culture known as “New Thought”. There is a clear destination in all of Kenyon’s teachings to make the concept of “positive confession” a part of Christianity.
“Disease is the misery of our belief, happiness is the health of our wisdom” -Phineas Quimby 1860
Although the actual connection between Keyon and “New Thought” seems to be mostly legend, there can be no doubt of the influence. Regardless of any actual connection, we see the thread from positive confession as the expression of faith (see Two Kinds of Faith 1942) backward in Kenyon’s reasoning to the error of Believer Incarnation. If positive confession is to actually work then we must have power in what we say. If we have power, then we must be different than the person who does not. When Kenyon tries to marry these concepts to the bible, he is working backward. This of course is the opposite of a good hermeneutic. Starting with the confession he finds the bible tells us to make a good confession. There is power in the tongue and other verses out of context from the gospel message itself. Kenyon writes at length about the meaning of Jesus himself being called the word by John as proof of the power of words. Then stepping to the next error he finds power in the Holy Spirit and then the difference being one who is a Christain and indwelled with the Holy Spirit versus someone who is not. But for his theory to be true this power must be in the hands of man. As he worked backward, away from a healthy hermeneutic, the last step was fairly easy. If Jesus was a union of God and Man then a Christian indwelled with the Holy Spirit is also a union of God and Man. Therefore Kenyon ends up with the lie that as Christians, we are the same as Jesus. The final and ultimate error: we are God incarnate. The devil must be very happy to tell followers of these false doctrines, “See, I told you if you ate that fruit you would be like God.”
No good bible student would ever come to this conclusion by simply reading the word without a preconceived hypothesis they were trying to prove. But by taking the principles in proper order we come to our common orthodox beliefs.
The Doctrines
I have identified five essential doctrines of the Word of Faith Heresy.
- Faith as a Work
- Little gods Doctrine
- Jesus Separate from God
- Prosperity Doctrine
- Positive Confession
I do not use the word heresy lightly. I am sure there are many true brothers and sisters caught in churches that teach one or more of these doctrines. They are heretical because they lead away from biblical orthodox Christian doctrine.
It is no coincidence that some of the largest and most popular churches teach this doctrine. The doctrines themselves appeal to our fleshly desires for safety, health, and power. We want to be in control and these doctrines promise dominion over not only our bodies but over our circumstances. There is another convergence in the culture we live in today. Humanism is the dominant philosophy taught in our schools and embraced by secular culture. Humanism beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings and that we as humans are the saviors of society and the world. This fits nicely into the Word of Faith doctrines that devalue Jesus as deity and increase man’s importance and role to that of godhood. Although many teachers like Joel Osteen, Joseph Prince, and Bill Johnson avoid the title of “Word of Faith” they teach the doctrines of the movement:
Positive Confession: “Many believers are not experiencing the breakthroughs they want because they are not speaking out what they believe about the Word, but are speaking about what they see, feel, and experience in their circumstances.” -Joseph Prince, Believe and Speak God’s Promises
Jesus Separate from God: “If Jesus Christ performed His earthly miracles as God, I stand amazed. But if He did them as a man dependent on God, I am compelled to follow His lead.” – Bill Johnson, When Heaven Invades Earth
Prosperity Gospel: “God wants you to have a good life, a life filled with love, joy, peace, and fulfillment. That doesn’t mean it will always be easy, but it does mean that it will always be good.” -Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now
Faith as a Work: “It’s our faith that activates the power of God.” -Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now
Little gods doctrine: “He came to illustrate what a human-being could do if he was in right relationship with the Father.” – Bill Johnson, GodTv “Can I do what Jesus Did?”
I have labored to show through carefully researched quotes that the doctrines they ascribe to definitely come from Kenyon who wrote from 1916 until his death in 1948, through Hagin who didn’t start writing until 1966:
- Faith as a work. Kenyon redefines faith as not something we have but something we must do. He changes faith from a noun to an action verb. Webster 1828 defined faith as a noun meaning “the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another”. Kenyon changes faith to “giving substance to or grasping and bringing”. We know that salvation is by grace through faith. So changing faith to an active verb effectively makes faith a work involved in our salvation. This directly changes the gospel message by changing the meaning of faith. This is a different Gospel. (Heb 11:1-6, Eph 2:8-9, Rm 4:2-5)
- “Central Truth: Faith is grasping the unrealities of hope and bringing them into the realm of reality.” -Kenneth E Hagin. New Thresholds of Faith; 1985
- “ Faith is giving substance to things hoped for.” Kenneth E Hagin, New Thresholds of Faith, What is Faith; 1966
- “FAITH is giving substance to things hoped for. Faith is grasping the unrealities of hope and bringing them into the realm of reality.” EW Kenyon, Two Kinds of Faith; 1942
- Little gods doctrine. Even though it was others who gave the name to this doctrine describing believers as gods, example: “God intends us to be gods.” (John G. Lake, “The God-Men” Collection of Sermons) it comes into the Word of Faith from Kenyon and Hagin elevating the status of man and confusing the incarnation with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. (Isaiah 37:16, Psalms 82:6-7, John 10:34)
- “Every born again man is an incarnation, the believer is as much an incarnation as Jesus of Nazareth.” Kenneth Hagin, The Virgin Birth; 1975
- “He made us the same class of being as himself.” Kenneth Hagin, Zoe, The God-Kind of Life; 1981
- “Every man who has been “born again” is an Incarnation, and Christianity is a miracle. The believer is as much an Incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth.” EW Kenyon, The Father and His Family; 1916
- “Man is in the same class with God.”, “We are his own substance. You are the absolute master of satanic forces.“, “Man received the nature of God.” EW Kenyon, What happened from the Cross to the Throne; 1946
- The Creative ability is in the recreated human spirit. He has imparted to us His own nature.”, “There will be no limit to you now. His ability has become your ability. Yes, He is yours. All that He is.”, “We are as much a part of Jesus as He and the Father are a part of each other.”, “All that Jesus did and is, belongs to you and me.” EW Kenyon, What happened from the Cross to the Throne; 1946
- Jesus separate from God. Either expressed as Jesus going to hell (place of torment) or Jesus dying spiritually. This is clearly a denial of the divinity of Jesus, God cannot not be God, at anytime, ever. (John 10:33, Col 2:13-14). This is also a denial of the atonement as traditionally understood. It teaches that the cross was not sufficient. (1Cor 1:18, Gal 2:20)
- “Why did He need to be begotten or born? Because He became like we were – separated from God. Because He tasted spiritual death for every man. And His spirit and inner men went to hell in my place. Can’t you see that? Physical death wouldn’t remove your sins. He’s tasted death for every man. He’s talking about tasting spiritual death. Jesus is the first person that was ever born again. Why did His spirit need to be born again? Because it was estranged from God.” – Kenneth Hagin, How Jesus obtained His Name; 1979
- “He died Spiritually the moment God laid our sin upon him.” – EW Kenyon, What happened from the Cross to the Throne; 1946
- “When Jesus died, His spirit was taken by the Adversary, and carried to the place where the sinner’s spirit goes when it dies.” EW Kenyon, What happened from the Cross to the Throne; 1946
- “Jesus received Eternal Life before His resurrection.” EW Kenyon, What happened from the Cross to the Throne; 1946
- Prosperity Gospel: This is the claim that God wants all believers to be healthy and wealthy here on earth. This cheapens grace and what has been done for believers, it is unbiblical (Romans 8:18-25, Luke 12:34, Mt 6:19). It also binds righteousness to a person’s earthly success. This is the error of Job’s friends.
- “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.” – Kenneth Hagin, The Resurrection, What it Gave us; 1977
- “As born-again believers, we are redeemed from the curse of the law and are heirs to Abraham’s blessing and God’s promises of prosperity.” – Kenneth Hagin, Faith for Prosperity; 1973
- “We as Christians need not suffer financial setbacks; we need not be captive to poverty or sickness. God has provided healing and prosperity for His children if they will obey His commandments.” Kenneth Hagin, Faith for Prosperity; 1973
- “God looks upon disease as a spiritual thing. Disease is a spiritual fact, not a physical one. It was God who laid our diseases upon Him.”, “If I dared, I would tell you that you have become God’s superman. There is no limit to what you can do in Christ. You have become the fruit bearing part of Christ. That means that the work that Jesus began to do, you can accomplish. You are no longer slaves to men, circumstances, disease, or any kind of Satanic tyranny. EW Kenyon, What happened from the Cross to the Throne; 1946
- Positive Confession, This is the goal of this heresy. This leads to false faith healings, seed giving, name it and claim it heresies. (John 9:1-5, Psalms 55:22, 1 Peter 5:7) It’s God’s word not ours that creates and changes. God provides according to our needs as He wills.(Phil 4:19)
- “When you confess your doubts and fears, your weaknesses and diseases, you are openly confessing that the Word of God is not true and that God has failed to make it good. His Word declares that by His stripes you were healed.” Kenneth Hagin, Right and Wrong Confession
- “All you need do is say, ‘Satan, take your hands off my money.’ Just claim what you need. You reign in life by Christ Jesus. In the next church I went to I said, “Lord, if I get what I need here this will have to work. The last time I was here I received only about $60 a week. I am going to claim $150 for this week.” Then I said, “Satan, take your hands off my money, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” You see, you never believe for the possible, because you believe for the impossible. I was supposed to be in this church for just a week, but as it turned out I was there ten days. I claimed $200 for these ten days.” Kenneth Hagin, Faith for Prosperity; 1973
- “When we know what we are in Christ and think in line with that, when we believe that and confess that, then there can be no failure for us.” Kenneth Hagin, Confession of the Believer’s Privileges in Christ
- “You say, “I am going to get my healing. I know that Christ bore my disease, and I have a right to it. That does not affect your disease. Your Tenses have taken you prisoner. If you say, “I know that He bore my disease, and I thank Him for it, I know by His stripes I am healed,” the Tenses are working with you now.” EW Kenyon, What happened from the Cross to the Throne; 1946
- That life is God’s life; the Greek word Zoe.” God’s life pours into your physical body and destroys the diseases in it. If Jesus tarries, we will all die physically, but while we are living, He plans that these bodies be healthy, and strong.” EW Kenyon, What happened from the Cross to the Throne; 1946
- “Jesus walked in the light of His confession. He was what He confessed. It is strange we never knew until recently that faith follows in the footprints of our confession. Our confession builds the road over which faith hauls its mighty cargo.” EW Kenyon, What happened from the Cross to the Throne; 1946
In conclusion, the doctrines propagated by the Word of Faith movement, as established by Kenneth Hagin and his followers, are a departure from the foundational truths of biblical Christianity. These doctrines, rooted in the teachings of E.W. Kenyon and influenced by New Thought Philosophy, present a distorted understanding of essential Christian concepts. The central error within this heretical movement revolves around the concept of spiritual humanism, which aims to empower individuals to control their circumstances through their spoken words and positive confessions. This error is foundational to their pursuit of becoming their own gods, a notion starkly at odds with orthodox Christianity.
The heart of this heresy rests on a misunderstanding of the nature of Jesus Christ. Kenyon and Hagin advocate a flawed interpretation of the incarnation, equating the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers with the miracle of Christ’s incarnation as flesh. This fundamental misinterpretation manifests in teachings that separate Jesus from God or suggest that believers can attain a similar ontological state as Jesus. These teachings are not aligned with the biblical understanding of the deity and uniqueness of Jesus Christ.
The ultimate goal of this movement, which can be labeled as “Keyonism,” is to grant individuals the power to shape their own lives through positive confessions and self-proclaimed success. However, these teachings diverge from traditional Christian teachings, advocating a form of self-centered humanism rather than reliance on God’s grace and sovereignty. This pursuit of personal control over health and prosperity ultimately distorts the true essence of Christianity.
While the Word of Faith movement might appeal to human desires for health, wealth, and influence, its doctrines are riddled with errors that lead believers away from sound biblical doctrine. This movement’s teachings, labeled as heretical due to their departure from orthodox Christian beliefs, undermine the core message of the Gospel and the genuine authority of Scripture. As discerning Christians, it is crucial to recognize the deviations presented by these doctrines and seek a faithful adherence to the foundational truths of the Christian faith.
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