Exposing EXTREME HERESY in the Church.

The occult has infiltrated the church.

AI generated image.

This will be an article quite different than my usual content of news and politics.

If you are here for my news reporting and politics, please stay tuned, more of that will be coming shortly!

But right now something has been on my heart lately, something which I have studied extensively, and even though this will be different than my usual articles, I hope that you will find this interesting.

You know, I think that politics is downstream from culture. And culture is downstream from morality. And what gives morality? In the Western world, it has been Christianity that has set the standard for morality for hundreds of years.

As you may know, I’m a Christian. I have been looking around and seeing that the situation among modern churches is quite dire. You have many churches that remind of cults. There are very few churches now that actually preach the gospel. Instead you find new age practices and occultism.

And I asked myself, how could this be?

So I decided to try and find out. If you are a Christian, this will be very interesting. If you are not a Christian, I think you may find it very interesting also.

First of all, I want to mention that I am just a human and I want to be very careful of not ”speaking for God”. So please, test everything I write here with the Bible, and if you find anything lacking, please let me know in the comments.

This is by no means an attack on Christendom. Quite the contrary. This is a defense of the faith against false prophets and heretics. This is a defense of the faith against the spirit of anti-Christ, so that the true gospel can be revealed.

Because many have been deceived by wolfs in sheep’s clothing that have masqueraded as pastors, prophets and men of God.

Modern churches today have to a large degree been influenced by the Word of Faith movement, also known as the prosperity gospel. Many TV preachers follow this doctrine. This includes people like Kenneth Copeland, Jesse Duplantis, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar and Benny Hinn. But also Bill Johnson of Bethel Church Redding follows in the same footsteps.

These people have had more influence than you may think.

Kenneth Hagin’s RHEMA Bible school has trained over 123.000 graduates worldwide as of last year. These are people that go on to become pastors and have other leadership roles.

Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry has graduated over 13.000 students since its founding in 1998. Again, many of them going on to become pastors or have leadership roles.

Thus, their ideas are spread far and wide within the modern church.

Bethel Church Redding does some very strange things. They promote the idea to go and lay down on graves to ”soak” up power from dead people. Benny Hinn also did this. He visited the grave of Kathryn Kuhlman to ”absorb” some kind of ”power” from the deceased.

This is necromancy and things like this is so dark that it is considered black magic in the occult.

In my studies, I have found something very alarming. Many of these people are preaching a false gospel. A false Jesus. And I will break it down for you step by step.

The problem is, the ideas presented by the Word of Faith movement has permeated much of modern Christianity.

It is estimated that Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland and Joel Osteen has likely sold over 100 million books combined.

That gives them a lot of influence today.

First, let me present to you my hypothesis that will become increasingly clear as you read this article. I will show how these different ideas all stem from a big heresy. And how it is even connected with the spirit of anti-christ in the Bible.

Extreme kenoticism – ”Jesus died spiritually” doctrine – Little god’s doctrine – Manifesting.

Now, I will show you how this Word of Faith teaching borrows heavily from occultism. Then I will show you through theology that they preach a false Jesus. An anti-Christ even.

MANIFESTING.

Like I said, at the core here is something called the Word of Faith movement. It is a theology that was popularized by a man called Kenneth Hagin. However, he in turn got it from a man called E.W. Kenyon.

Now, this E.W. Kenyon was in fact very much influence by something called the New Thought movement during his time at Emerson College, which became a hub for this movement.

New Thought is where the New Age comes from. It is also where other metaphysical and esoteric religions like Christian Science originates. Remember this, as it will become very important later on in this article.

E.W Kenyon was positive to Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the metaphysical religion of Christian Science. He once said ”there was a lot that could be learnt from her”.

New Thought is a metaphysical philosophy that teaches manifesting. It teaches that the mind and thoughts can have power over the physical reality. That people can bring things into existence (manifest) with the power of their mind and positive confessions, to actualize ”truths” aligned with divine principles.

They teach something called the ”Law of attraction”. They also teach that when people realize their ”divine nature” they can begin to manifest things in the real world. People can also use things like visualization to picture desired outcomes.

They also believe that words carry creative power. Furthermore, they believe that humans are divine beings that are capable of achieving ”christ consciousness”.

As you probably already have guessed, this sounds very similar to shamanism and witchcraft. But what may surprise you is that it also sounds very similar to what Word of Faith preachers like Kenneth Copeland teach.

So here are some quotes.

”Believe it in your heart; say it with your mouth. That is the principle of faith. You can have what you say” – Kenneth Hagin.

”it is important to realize that we are creating our world by the words that we speak” – Kenneth Hagin.

”Faith’s confessions create realities. Realization follows the confession. Confessions precedes possession.” - Kenneth Hagin

”By getting the Word deep into your spirit and speaking it boldly out of your mouth, you can release spiritual power to change things in the natural circumstances” – Kenneth Copeland.

”The moment you speak something out, you give birth to it. This is a spiritual principle” – Joel Osteen.

”Words are like seeds. When you speak something out, you give life to what you’re saying” Joel Osteen.

”Your words have creative power” – Joel Osteen.

”What we declare, creates reality” – Benny Hinn.

Kenneth Copeland also teaches that faith is a ”force”.

”Faith is a power force. It is a tangible force. It is a conductive force” – Kenneth Copeland in his book The Force of Faith.

”Faith was the raw material substance that the Spirit of God used to form the universe.” - Kenneth Copeland audiotape Authority of the Believer II released in 1987.

”You are a co-creator with God when you speak words of life!” - Kenneth Copeland.

Guess where else the idea of humans being ”co-creators” with God is found?

In the New Thought movement.

”When we use our creative imagination in strong faith, it will create for us, out of the One Substance, whatever we have formed in thought. In this way man becomes a co-creator with God.” - Ernest Holmes, the founder of Religious Science and a key figure in the New Thought movement.

Do you see the similarities here between Kenneth Copeland and Ernest Holmes?

In the New Thought, they teach that faith or ”mental power” is an energy that people can harness to manifest reality.

And they teach that positive confessions can release this ”force” to ”manifest” things into reality, such as prosperity.

It is clear that when preachers like Kenneth Copeland and Joel Osteen are heavily inspired by the occult in their doctrine.

Essentially, they teach that faith is a form of spiritual force that operates similar to physical laws. And they also teach that believers have essentially the same powers as Jesus.

Furthermore, they claim that Jesus has delegated his authority to the believers and that Jesus can’t do anything on earth unless believers ask him. Imagine the audacity to claim that God can’t do anything unless a human asks him to do something.

So, in reality they claim that believers have more power to do things than God himself.

Therefore they say believers can be ”co-creators” with God when they harness this faith force and speak positive confessions. Because they believe that they are ”little gods”. This is blasphemous.

In reality, Jesus says that HE has all authority.

”All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” – Matthew 28:18.

Only God can speak things into existence. We are not god. We cannot speak things into existence. But we can pray to God in faith.

It is important to remember that it is Biblical to pray to God and to have faith.

”And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” - Matthew 21:22.

”And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up” – James 5:15.

So it is Biblical to pray in faith. But the manifesting techniques and the idea that you can speak things into existence that many preacher today teach is certainly not Biblical.

Whistleblower: I got HARASSED by a cult

Where is the root of this, what is the theological foundation that could cause this occult error to infiltrate the church?

Many have criticized these so called Christian preachers for their prosperity gospel and their manifesting techniques which mimic those of the occult.

But let us dive deeper. Things are about to get a lot darker as we go into the next point.

THE ”LITTLE GODS” DOCTRINE.

What I am about to tell you is a very central point in the Word of Faith doctrine. Namely, the ”little gods” doctrine. This is a core teaching of people like Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland.

And without this ”little gods” teaching, the previous thing I talked about, namely manifesting, would logically fall away. So this ”little gods” doctrine is what is the foundation to manifesting.

In the Word of Faith, they teach that believers are ”little gods” and ”co-creators” with God. Because believers are ”little gods” they can compel spiritual laws to ”manifest” results.

This doctrine is often labeled as heretical. It essentially deifies humans, while reducing Jesus. But that will not come as a surprise as the entire Word of Faith doctrine is based on reducing Jesus and uplifting humans, which I will show later on.

Let us begin by looking at some quotes from prominent preachers. I will let them speak for themselves so you may judge their words.

”You don’t have a god in you, you are one” – Kenneth Copeland.

”On the cross, Jesus won the right for believers to be born again back into the god-class. Adam was created, not subordinate to God, but as a god; he lost it, and in Christ we are taken back to the god-class.” - Kenneth Copeland

”He [Adam] was not a little like God. He was not almost like God. He was not subordinate to God even...Adam is as much like God as you could get,just the same as Jesus...Adam, in the Garden of Eden was God manifested in the flesh.” - Kenneth Copeland audiotape Following the Faith of Abraham 1.

Now, this is heresy. Because the Bible says that ”And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” - John 1:14.

The Bible says that Jesus (God) was made flesh. It does not say that Adam was God manifested in the flesh.

”When I read in the Bible where He [Jesus] says, I AM, I just smile and say, Yes I AM too”! - Kenneth Copeland 1987.

Important context here is the following when Moses ask God what his name is.

”And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you.” - Exodus 3:14.

So God says that his name is ”I AM THAT I AM”. Now Kenneth Copeland has somehow managed to utter such a blasphemy as to call himself ”I AM” as well. Now this is heresy at a high level.

But he doesn’t stop there.

”The Spirit of God spoke to me and He said, realize this. Now follow me in this and don’t let your traditions rip you up. A twice born man whipped Satan in his own domain. You are the very image and copy of that one [Jesus Christ]. I said, ”You aren’t trying to tell me that I could have done the same thing?” He said, ”Oh yeah. If you had the knowledge of the word of God, you could have done the same thing that He did.” - Kenneth Copeland in What Happened From the Cross to the Throne 1982 audio tape.

Here, Kenneth Copeland claims that he could have done what Jesus did. That what Jesus did was not unique to his divinity, but replaceable by any born again believer that has enough scriptural knowledge. This literally diminishes the deity of Jesus and the atonement on the cross that Jesus did for us.

Kenneth Copeland has the audacity to claim that he could have paid the penalty for our sins on the cross. Do you realize how blasphemous this sounds? This sounds very satanic. This is not of God. This is the spirit of anti-Christ.

”God [has] made us in the same class of being that he is himself...[The believer] is called Christ...that’s who we are, we’re Christ!” - Kenneth Hagin in his book Zoe: The God-Kind of Life 1981.

”You are as much the incarnation of God as Jesus Christ was. Every man who has been born again is an incarnation...The believer is as much an incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth.” - Kenneth Hagin.

”Jesus was first divine, and then He was human. So He was in the flesh a divine-human being. I was first human, and so were you, but I was born of God, and so I became a human-divine being.” - Kenneth Hagin in his book Zoe: The God-Kind of Life.

”you are a little g god.” - Kris Vallotton of Bethel Redding.

As you can see, the idea that believers are ”little gods” is prominent in the modern church.

But, this is central to their theology. Because if believers are ”little gods”, then they have the same creative power as God to be able to manifest things into existence. Without this doctrine, then their whole idea of manifesting simply falls away.

Now, let us take a look at what the Bible does say.

”According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” - 2 Peter 1:3-4.

This is a Bible verse that false teachers use to claim that humans are somehow equal to God, which we of course are not.

Now, I’m not going to try and pretend to know exactly what this Bible verse means, but I do know that this does not mean we are equal to God. It could appear that this speaks of how a Christian is a new creation as a born again believer, and in this way being ”partakers of the divine nature”, having been set free from sin.

”There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” - Romans 8:1-2

And:

”But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” – Romans 8:9

And:

”For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” – Romans 8:15-17.

Now let us finish with some Bible verses that completely demolish the ”little gods” doctrine.

”I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images” – Isaiah 42:8

Now, let us move on to the third connection.

THE ”JESUS DIED SPIRITUALLY” HERESY.

So far, I have detailed how in the modern church, they are practicing manifesting. And the reason, the very foundation of the idea that they can manifest things into existence is because they believe that they are ”little gods” and thus have the power to speak creative words, just like God did when he created the earth.

But in this theological framework, what is the foundation for their ”little gods” doctrine that I just outlined?

This is where the ”Jesus died spiritually” doctrine comes in. Henceforth, I will simply just refer to this as ”JDS” in short.

They teach that the atonement of Jesus on the cross was not sufficient for the redemption of humanity. So they claim that Jesus not only died physically on the cross, but also died spiritually, was given a sinful nature and was ”tormented in hell” to pay for sin before ultimately being ”reborn in hell”.

And since Jesus was ”born again” in hell to restore his divine nature, this acts as a model for believers so that they too can be restored to ”little gods”, born again into the ”god class”. So this is the foundation for the “little gods” doctrine.

They even have the audacity to claim that Jesus ”took on” the nature of Satan. What blasphemy!

As like before, it is probably just best to let those advocating this idea speak for themselves. Prepare yourself to read some next level blasphemies here. I’m warning you…

”The righteousness of God was made to be sin. He [Jesus] accepted the sin nature of Satan in His own spirit and at the moment that He did that He cried, ”My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”. You don’t know what happened at the cross. Why do you think Moses, obeying the instruction of God, hung the serpent up on the pole instead of a lamb? That used to bug me. I said, ”Why in the world would you want to put a snake up there – the sign of Satan? Why didn’t you put a lamb on that pole”. And the Lord said, ”Because, it was the sign of Satan that was hanging on the cross” – Kenneth Copeland on What Happened from the Cross to the Throne.

So here, Kenneth Copeland claims that God told him basically that it was Satan hanging on the cross. That sounds very satanic to me.

[Here was supposed to be another quote from Kenneth Copeland where he describes what his twisted mind thinks happened to Jesus spirit in hell. But it was just so horrendous that I cannot bear myself to publish it so as not to spread this blasphemy further].

”He allowed the devil to drag Him into the depths of hell as if He were the most wicked sinner who ever lived...every demon in hell came down on Him to annihilate Him...[They] tortured him beyond anything that anybody has ever conceived” – Kenneth Copeland

”Spiritual death means having Satan’s nature” – Kenneth Hagin.

[Here was supposed to be a quote from Todd White, but it was actually so blasphemous of our Lord Jesus Christ that I just couldn’t bear to publish it. Let it be known that it was a terrible, terrible thing that was said, something that I consider only a satanist could have conceived of. He mentioned various different severe sins that Jesus supposedly ”became” on the cross. But it is just to bad to be published. I wish I was making this up.]

So they teach that Jesus (God) got the nature of Satan. How can God, take on the nature of Satan? That would logically imply that he then wouldn’t be God anymore. Because God is perfect. This JDS doctrine does everything it can to push down Jesus and glorify humans.

Now let us see what the Bible says.

The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is God eternally. And God cannot sin.

”For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” – Hebrews 4:15.

”For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” – 1 Peter 3:18.

Notice here how it says that Christ suffered ONCE for sins. Not that he suffered in hell also.

”When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost” – John 19:30.

This implies that the work was done. It was FINISHED. Jesus had done the ultimate sacrifice and paid the price for our sin. This completely refutes the JDS doctrine that Jesus then had to ”finish” the work in hell. Not so.

So, false prophets in the modern church teach that ”Jesus died spiritually” and went to hell. But what does the Bible say? It seems to say quite the opposite actually.

”And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” – Colossians 2:15.

Jesus was victorious.

”Hell has been torn apart for us through Christ, and that the devil’s kingdom and power have been destroyed” said Martin Luther.

Now let us move on to the fourth connection…

THE EXTREME KENOTICISM HERESY.

Now we are really getting into the root of the problem. And that is, the these modern preachers have a different definition of Jesus than what the Bible teaches. And all the previous heresies that I wrote about in this article, all stem from this foundation. They have a wrong Jesus.

The term kenosis comes from the Greek and it means ”to empty” or ”to pour out”.

Those who believe in extreme kenoticism say that Jesus set aside his divine attributes during his earthly life and operates merely as a man. This is a profound heresy as it has major implications and undermines the ETERNAL and UNCHANGING nature of God.

Extreme kenoticism echoes other heresies such as Arianism (which denies the full deity of Christ) and the heresy of adoptionism (which teaches that Jesus was a mere human that was elevated to divine status at his baptism and was ”adopted”).

Meanwhile, in the true Gospel, we learn that Jesus was fully God and fully human. This is called the hypostatic union, affirmed by people like Martin Luther.

”I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature...He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity” – from Martin Luther’s small catechism.

However, the Word of Faith movement has adopted a radical form of kenosis to underpin their teachings on JDS, ”little gods” and manifesting as we talked about earlier.

In fact, extreme kenoticism provides the Christological bridge for the Word of Faith doctrine. By portraying a Jesus that operated on earth merely as a human, thus reducing his divinity, this serves as a model for believers who can emulate this Jesus, becoming ”little gods” and thus can do the same things that Jesus did.

Now, Jesus did say ”Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.” - John 14:12-14.

But this is praying to God in the name of Jesus so that the Father may be glorified. Meanwhile, what the Word of Faith doctrine teaches is that believers can manifest reality by using faith and their words as if it is some kind of shamanic formula, causing things to happen in their own power, instead of asking for things in the power of God.

So again, let us see what these pastors have to say.

”When it comes to ministry, Jesus does not stand in a class by Himself...Even though Jesus was the Son of God and divine blood flowed through His veins, yet He was ministering on earth as a human being – a prophet anointed with the Holy Spirit” – Kenneth Hagin from Hear and Be Healed 1987.

”They don’t realize that when Jesus came to earth, He voluntarily gave up that advantage, living His life here not as God but as a man. He had no innate supernatural powers. He had no ability to perform miracles until after He was anointed by the Holy Spirit” – Kenneth Copeland

”He totally emptied himself and came as a man. He never did one miracle till the Holy Ghost came on Him and anointed him.” - Kenneth Copeland.

This statement by Kenneth is not only extreme kenoticism, but reminds more of the heresy of adoptionism.

”Nor would He have endured the sufferings of the cross. Had He not presented himself through the Holy Ghost, His blood would not have remained pure and spotless. And let me add this: Had the Holy Spirit not been with Jesus, He would have sinned.” - Benny Hinn from Welcome, Holy Spirit.

”Jesus Christ said of Himself, ”The Son can do nothing.” In the Greek language that word nothing has a unique meaning – it means NOTHING, just like it does in English!...He had set aside His divinity. He did miracles as man in right relationship with God because he was setting forth a model for us, something for us to follow...Jesus so emptied Himself that He was incapable of doing what was required of Him by the Father” – Bill Johnson, pastor at Bethel Redding.

”Christ performed miracles, wonders, and signs, as a man in right relationship to God...not as God. If he performed miracles because He was God, then they would be unobtainable for us. But if he did them as a man, I am responsible to pursue His lifestyle” – Bill Johnson.

There you have it.

In the modern church, they are preaching that Jesus wasn’t actually fully God while on earth. He operated here as a man they say.

Let us go to the Bible on what it has to say on people preaching heresy.

”For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist” – 2 John 1:7.

So, anyone that denies that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is an antichrist. What does this mean?

Well, let us look at John 1:14 where it says ”And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The Word here is another name for Jesus. It says in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

So, the Word IS God. And we read that the Word was made flesh. So when somebody denies that Jesus Christ (the Word who is God) came in the flesh, they deny the hypostatic union that Jesus is fully God and fully human.

Now, this Bible verse seems to speak primarily of people who deny that Jesus is come in the flesh. The Word of Faith doctrine of extreme kenoticism does affirm that Jesus came in the flesh, but they deny the full divinity of Jesus Christ as they claim he operated as a man and took upon himself the ”nature of satan”. This would logically mean that he wasn’t fully divine according to their teaching. So in effect, they deny the first part of the Bible verse, where it speaks of Jesus Christ (who is fully God).

The Bible verse in 2 John 1:7 logically demands that one affirms both the full divinity and full humanity of Jesus Christ.

Thus, the extreme kenoticism as preached in the Word of Faith doctrine, risks aligning with the antichrist spirit that is warned about as they deny the full divinity of Jesus Christ.

Why has this teaching gathered so much traction and influence, despite being clearly heretical?

When writing this article, I was reminded of a book I read by Lewi Pethrus, one of the men behind the great Pentecostal revival. He talked about how men would not have a love for the truth and thus be open to be deceived by the anti-Christ with false teachings.

”And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” - 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11.

Also, here are some more Bible verses on this topic...

”For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned into fables” – 2 Timothy 4:3-4

”The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear the rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” - Jeremiah 5:31.

So to summarize.

Let us come back to my hypothesis.

New Thought and New Age teachings influenced E.W. Kenyon, Who in turn influenced Kenneth Hagin known as the founder of the modern Word of Faith movement which has drastically influenced modern churches, as evident by Bethel Redding, Todd White, Kenneth Copeland to name a few.

The problem is, that their whole theology is built on heresy after heresy.

They begin with extreme kenoticism. They deny the full divinity of Jesus Christ, and they claim he operated as a man on earth. They then build on this, saying that ”Jesus died spiritually” but was ”reborn” in hell.

This in turn is used to build up the idea of the ”little gods” doctrine. Because they say that Jesus was ”born again” and thus ”restored” to divinity, then believers can also be ”restored” to the ”god class”. Also, since they say Jesus operated as a man on earth, then believers can do the same things as God. In other words, be ”little gods”.

And since believers can do the same things as God, this is the foundation of the idea that believers can manifest things into existence, just like God. Because they are ”little gods” they say.

But like I pointed out before, this is no different than the occult, metaphysical ideas of New Thought of which the New Age comes from.

So, here we have one heresy after another, laying the foundational framework for a whole bunch of heresies.

Extreme kenoticism – ”Jesus died spiritually” doctrine – ”Little gods” doctrine – Manifesting.

This has been a very long article that has taken me many, many hours of research. I hope that this has made you think and that it may help you come closer to Jesus!