I found your response to be interesting, not because of what you said, but because of what you did not say and what you do not question about the teaching of Kenneth Copeland. Kenneth Copeland claims to be a god, the same as the God of the Bible, and he claims that every believer is also a god, so how does the fact that God says He is the only God square with Kenneth Copeland's teaching about polytheism? To claim that there is more than one God (whether that god is a 'little god' or a 'big' god) is to teach polytheism. To equate any human being the same as God is blasphemy of the highest order. What Kenneth Copeland teaches is a version of Mormon exaltation theology, in which a person can be exalted to godhood and have their own planet and father billions of spiritual children who later become human beings. Kenneth Copeland borrows heavily from Mormon theology. You really need to deal with what Kenneth Copeland is teaching, because you do not understand just how far away he is from any right biblical understanding.

Now, to your question about my statement that Kenneth Copeland teaches that God is bound by our requests. That is the primary message in Word of Faith teaching. How can you miss the number one claim of the movement? Word of Faith teaches that you can write your own ticket with God in which you can have whatever you claim, based on the application of faith and use of the correct words, because God is bound by laws higher than Himself, which He cannot ignore, so He must grant those desires. If a person can learn to use those laws (the primary law of faith being the most important) then God can be manipulated into granting whatever request is desired. It is faith that is more powerful than God and causes God to act, and he must act on behalf of the person presenting the request. That is why Word of Faith has such a great following, because it appeals to the most base characteristics of human nature.

Word of Faith is not about finding a greater spiritual relationship with God, but the obtaining of the temporal and base things of this life, health, wealth, prestige, power and happiness, by the use of words and assumed faith in order to manipulate God. I quite understand that Word of Faith teachers say, and followers believe, that God is simply honoring his promises, but that is the deception and is not the core of the teaching, because virtually every Word of Faith teacher will claim that requests to God are not to be presented within the confines of the will of God but within the unlimited desires of the will of the human presenter. Word of Faith teaching denies that a person should defer to the will of God on any matter; defining the acceptance of God's will instead of a person's will as expressing doubt or a lack of faith, which will result in the request not being granted, because it is claimed that positive faith (positive confession) forces God to act. Word of Faith teaching assumes that man's will is superior to God's will, because to deny a deference to God's will in the life of a person is to deny the power of God to carry out His will, which defines God as being impotent. Word of Faith pre-defines God's will for Christians to be health, wealth and happiness. It is impossible for word of faith teachers to accept that God's will in any situation or in relation to any person could be anything but perfection of existence in this life, according to the pre-defined definition. This completely ignores the action of God in relation to Job, the denial of healing by God for the apostle Paul, the statement by Jesus Christ that believers would be persecuted, and the fact that the death of Jesus Christ was not only the will of God but was planned and orchestrated by God.

The core of the teaching in Word of Faith doctrine is that God has no other will in relation to requests by believers than to grant the will of human beings, which is false teaching at the root. Believers are not omniscient and many times are clueless as to what is actually required in their lives, and is the specific point made in Romans 8:26-27. Verse 27 says the Holy Spirit intercedes on behalf of believers "according to the will of God," not according to some definition of God's will based on the desires of human beings. The expression of a desire has no relation to the propriety of that desire in the life of a believer.

Word of Faith teachers deliberately use Matthew 18:19 as the justification for their teaching, knowing full well that the verse has no application to requests to God by believers for any want or desire in their lives. But the claim is made over and over again that 2 believers can agree on any thing and God must honor the request. So, the question becomes, If believers can have anything about which they can agree, then why is there not peace in the world, why is Satan not bound and why has Christ not returned? Reality always reveals the difficulties. See. 10hickey.htm#agreement

Here are some of Kenneth Copeland's quotes:

"As a believer, you have a right to make commands in the name of Jesus. Each time you stand on the Word, you are commanding God to a certain extent because it is His Word."
'Our Covenant with God,' KCP Publications, 1987, p. 32)

"When we use the spiritual laws that God has set up, God must obey what we request."
'Praise the Lord,' TBN, February 5, 1986

"What you are saying is exactly what you are getting now. If you are living in poverty and lack and want, change what you are saying.... The powerful force of the spiritual world that creates the circumstances around us is controlled by the words of the mouth."
"The Laws of Prosperity," Kenneth Copeland, Ft. Worth: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1974

"God cannot do anything for you apart or separate from faith. Faith is God's source of power."
"Freedom from Fear," KCM, 1980, pg. 11-12

How much more clearly does Kenneth Copeland have to state the issue? No person has the ability to command God to perform at any level and God is not subject to obedience, because there is nothing greater than Himself to which He is subject and must obey. Commands are given to a subservient or one who is subordinate to the one giving the command. God is neither subservient or subordinate, because He is omnipotent.

"You have the same creative faith and ability on the inside of you that God used when he created the heavens and the earth."
Kenneth Copeland, 'Inner Image of the Covenant,' side 2.

"God used words when He created the heaven and the earth....Each time God spoke, He released His faith -- the creative power to bring His words to pass."
Kenneth Copeland, The Power of the Tongue (Fort Worth: KCP Publications, 1980), 4.

In Kenneth Copeland's doctrine, faith is greater than God, because without the use of faith, God has no power to act or create. Faith is not greater than God and God did not use faith to create any entity, whether it be this universe or any creature. There is no verse in the entire Bible that states that God ever used faith in relation to any creative act. I challenge any Word of Faith teacher or believer to find any verse or passage in the Bible that states that God used faith to create any entity or that He must or does use faith in any aspect of His existence in relation to His power or the implementation of His will. God is not subject to faith; God is the source of faith and the object of faith. Any claim that God is subject to faith or that faith has any power or authority over God is false and heretical teaching.

"'Pray to yourself, because I'm in your self and you're in My self. We are one Spirit,' saith the Lord."
Kenneth Copeland, 'Believer's Voice of Victory,' Feb. 1987, p.9

Because Kenneth Copeland states that he is a God, one in equality and exactness and the same as the eternal God of the universe, he claims he can speak things into existence. So, even though what he says has no foundational truth in the Scripture, he can claim his words are true because he spoke them into existence as truth because he is a creator. Kenneth Copeland removes himself from any other authority than himself, including the authoritative statements of God, just because he says some words. In addition, he claims a position so exalted that he can worship himself by praying to himself. How deep does the deception have to go before serious questions are asked? God has already spoken in relation to the claims of Kenneth Copeland.

Kenneth Hagin is one of Kenneth Copeland's mentors, but John G. Lake is one of his favorite sources and is a model for the manner in which he preaches. John G. Lake stated the following,

"The thing that was forfeited in the garden was regained. God gave him [Adam] dominion over the works of His hand. God made him His understudy, His king to rule over everything that had life. Man was master, man lived in the realm of god. He lived on terms of equality with God. God was a faith God. All God had to do was to believe that the sun was, and the sun was. All God had to do was to believe that the planets would be, and they were. Man belonged to God's class of being - a faith man, And he lived in the creative realm of God,"
"John G. Lake, " Kenneth Copeland Publications, Fort Worth, Texas 1994, p. 66.

God has no understudy because there is no one who has the ability to become a God. God did not create by faith. God did not create because of His belief. God created by the word of His power, not by faith in His belief. Adam never created at any level. Adam was never a god, either 'little' or 'big'. Adam was subservient to God, not an equal. The very key to the fall of Eve and Adam was the fact that Eve desired to be like God and to have knowledge like God which she did not have. Her desire to be like God reveals the reality that she was not created as a god, did not believe or claim that she was a god and was not in the "god class".

"I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these."
Isaiah 45:5-7

"Declare and set forth your case; indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other."
Isaiah 45:21-22

People are so infatuated by what Kenneth Copeland says about themselves, that they completely ignore the fact that Kenneth Copeland is teaching the same Satanic message of deception found in the Garden of Eden. It is the first and only message that Satan attempted to implement in relation to himself and that which he presented to Eve and was the reality of her temptation. It is the message that someone else can be the same as God.

"How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit."
Isaiah 14:12-15

"The serpent said to the woman, 'You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like god, knowing good and evil.'"
Genesis 3:4-5

There is no difference between what Satan attempted to do and about which he lied to Eve, than what Kenneth Copeland says about himself and teaches his followers. It is the same message, exactly.

"You really cannot ever come to that place were you let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who thought it not robbery to be called equal with God. Let this mind be in Kenneth Copeland, Oh my goodness, Ah! that thinks its not robbery to be called equal with God."
Kenneth Copeland, Believer's Voice of Victory, Monday 29th January 2001, GOD TV

"'Don't be disturbed when people accuse you of thinking you are God ... They crucified Me for claiming I was God. I didn't claim that I was God; I just claimed that I walked with Him and that He was in Me. Hallelujah! That's what you're doing ...'"
'Take Time to Pray,' Believer's Voice of Victory, February 1987, p. 9

"You don't have a god in you, you are one."
'The Force of Love,' audiotape Kenneth Copeland, 1987

It does not seem to matter that the two previous statements contradict each other. In the first statement Jesus Christ is said to have stated to Kenneth Copeland that He never claimed to be God but only walked with God, which is what Jesus Christ says Kenneth Copeland is doing, which is a correction by Jesus Christ of what Kenneth Copeland claims to be as a god. But in the second statement, Kenneth Copeland does claim to be a god and continues that claim today. It can't be both ways.

"Now Peter said by exceeding great and precious promises you become partakers of the divine class. All right, are we gods? We are a class of gods!"
Kenneth Copeland, 'Praise The Lord' TV Show, Feb. 5, 1986

The apostle Peter said nothing about being partakers of a divine class or being a god of the divine class. In order for there to be a class of Gods, there must be more than one God. Since there is only one God, there is no divine class. The apostle Peter states that we become partakers of the divine nature, and not that we become the divine nature, which is something completely different. Kenneth Copeland deliberately misstates the Scripture in order to deceive his followers.

"For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."
2 Peter 1:4

The apostle never says that Christians become divine or become gods. Christians are partakers of the divine nature in the same way that they are 'born again,' John 3:3, 1 Peter 1:23. are 'in Christ,' Romans 8:1, the Holy Spirit 'abides with you and will be in you,' John 14:17-23, and are 'a new creature,' 2 Corinthians 5:17. Nowhere in the Scripture is it stated that Christians will be gods.

"You're all God. You don't have a God living in you; you are one! ... When I read in the Bible where God tells Moses, 'I AM,' I say, 'Yah, I am too!'"
'The Force of Love,' Kenneth Copeland, tape BBC-56

In the above quotes, Kenneth Copeland not only denies the divinity of Jesus Christ, he must, and does, deny the Scripture that states just the opposite of what he claims.

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."
Galatians 2:20

"However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies though His Spirit who dwells in you."
Romans 8:9-11

As a result of his claimed position as a god, Kenneth Copeland claims that he is a creator, just like the God of the Bible:

"Jesus existed only as an image in the heart of God, until such time as the prophets of the Old Testament could positively confess Jesus into existence through their constant prophecies."
(Kenneth Copeland, The Power of the Tongue, pp. 8-10)

"God is injecting His Word into the earth to produce this Jesus." "This [sic] faith-filled words that framed the image that's in Him...."
Kenneth Copeland, 'The Image of God in You III,' side 2.

What Kenneth Copeland teaches is, that Satan owns the earth as a result of the fall of Adam and Eve (who he defines as gods who owned the earth) and God has no authority to accomplish anything in the earth without either the permission of Satan, or the use of words which are used by believers. God then gave revelations to the prophets, who were believers, so they could use the words of those revelations, along with faith, in order to literally create Jesus Christ who he claims did not exist prior to His birth. Somehow, without any biblical foundation, Kenneth Copeland wishes his followers to believe that the Old Testament prophets knew who Jesus Christ should be, knew what His work would be and they spoke Him into existence from nothing. Those prophets are claimed to have had the power to create just as did God and what they created was Jesus Christ, who Kenneth Copeland defines as just a man and not deity. What Kenneth Copeland ignores, is the fact that for over 400 years prior to the birth of Jesus Christ, there were no prophets on the earth, and the Scripture says that Jesus Christ was a product of the Holy Spirit and not the prophets. In Kenneth Copeland's theology, Jesus Christ had to be created prior to the time of the 400 year absence of the prophets, or He had to be created by the only prophet after that time, who was John the Baptist. In either case, it is an absurdity to make the claim that Jesus Christ was created by any prophet or group of prophets since the Bible clearly teaches the pre-existence of the Jesus Christ, who was deity, prior to the creation of the universe, John 1:1-3; John 17:5; Colossians 1:16-17. There is no prophet in the Old Testament who understood the nature, character and work of Jesus Christ and John the Baptist could not have created Jesus Christ, because he was only six months old at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ was begotten of the Father, not created by the prophets, John 1:14; John 8:58; John 17:5; John 17:24.

"Well, He created all those planets, how come you can't create something? You don't know as much about it as He does. He has a greater working knowledge of that faith than you do. But we're learning. Our time is coming. And in some ways its already here."
Kenneth Copeland, Cornerstone Church with John Hagee, San Antonio, Texas, August 18, 1999.

After over 30 years in the ministry and countless conversations and revelations from God, Kenneth Copeland claims some of that ability as a creator is already evident, but he cannot demonstrate the ability to create anything, indicating that ability will be found sometime in the eternity of the future, which is his convenient back door escape from true accountability for his failure. His ability to demonstrate his creative power is zero. So, where does that leave his teaching, his claims and the power of God to accomplish His work, by means of words and faith, through Kenneth Copeland? Kenneth Copeland claims to be a god, claims equality with Jesus Christ in his qualifications for accomplishing the atonement himself, but he is unable to create at even the most basic level, when the prophets are said to have literally created Jesus Christ. You must deal with the reality of what Kenneth Copeland is actually teaching and not what you think he is teaching. Kenneth Copeland is not a god, he will never be a god and he will never be a creator regardless of how many words he may speak.

Kenneth Copeland is a false teacher and a heretic because:
1. He places himself in the position of God by claiming that he is a god.
2. He claims to have the same creative power as God - which he cannot demonstrate at any level.
3. He teaches the same claim that Satan made when he attempted to usurp the place of God.
4. He teaches the same message that Satan presented to Eve in the Garden of Eden.
5. He denies the deity of Jesus Christ.
6. He denies the uniqueness and power of the atonement by stating that he could have substituted for Jesus Christ and accomplished the atonement himself.
7. He gives false prophecies, demonstrating that he is a false prophet according to Deuteronomy 18:22.

Kenneth Copeland's heretical and blasphemous claims are absolutely breathtaking in their scope, possibly going beyond any single heresy found in the church since its inception. If you claim to believe the Bible, then why do you not understand that Kenneth Copeland does not teach a biblical message? You accept Kenneth Copeland as a teacher of truth because you do not know what the Bible teaches and you do not know what Kenneth Copeland teaches.

Sincerely,

Gary A. Hand
On Doctrine webmaster
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