Kenneth E. Hagin is the acknowledged “father” of the modern Word of Faith Movement and is viewed by charismatic Christians globally as a true prophet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Kenneth Hagin has been active in ministry since the late 1930’s and worked around the fringes of the Pentecostal healing revival of the 1940’s through late 1950’s. Many of Kenneth Hagin’s teachings are claimed to have originated in visions he supposedly received early in his ministry.

Last week on the radio program “Rhema for Today”, which is a radio program designed to “replay” the sermons by the late Mr. Hagin… a sermon by Mr. Hagin was aired that focused on the reason God uses healing. In this sermon Kenneth Hagin explains why exactly Jesus used healing in His ministry on earth; and what purpose healing has in Christianity today.

Mr. Hagin’s explanation for God’s use of healing is that it is God’s method of persuading His children to obey Him. Now, I am not denying the truth that Jesus healed people in His ministry on earth… nor am I denying the existence of miracles and healing today… but I do question Mr. Hagin’s explanation as to what purpose healing has in God’s relations with man.

Mr. Hagin used the account of Jesus healing the blind man’s eyes with clay and spittle as an illustration for his explanation… Mr. Hagin said that since Jesus told the blind man to wash his eyes in a specific place, that Jesus purpose for healing the blind man was to train him to obey Him… Mr. Hagin goes on to claim that this teaching is valid because if the blind man had not done as Jesus said, and washed his eyes in the Pool of Siloam… the blind man would not have been healed at all. While it is true that the blind man would not have been healed if he had not washed his eyes in the pool of Siloam, it is not true that the purpose for Jesus healing the blind man was to get him to obey God.

By using this illustration as a proof that healing is an attempt to peruade obedience, Mr. Hagin has facilitated the false teaching of “works salvation”. The account of the blind man being healed, being found in the book of John, was an effort by Jesus to prove to the Jews that He was God. The entire gospel account of John was written around the premise that Jesus was the Son of God, and Jesus’ ministry on earth was to persuade men to BELIEVE that He was the Son of God, and that men must believe in Him to be saved.

In the last verse of the last chapter of the book of John, John alludes to the fact that Jesus did more works than could be contained in all the books that the world could hold. I submit to you, if Jesus’ ministry contained so many great works wouldn’t it stand to reason that those works would testify to the message that Jesus was preaching? And wouldn’t those works be done to bolster the message that Jesus spent three years on earth preaching?

If healing was done by Jesus for the specific purpose to “get people to obey God”, then those healing works by Jesus would work toward illustrating a “works salvation”. Mr. Hagin is effectually saying that Jesus had more emphasis on “obedience” than “belief in Him”; which is grossly contradictory to the whole theme of the gospel of John.

Healing and miracles were done by Jesus to prove to the “Jews” that Jesus was who He said He was because (as Paul stated in 1 Cor. 1:22) “the Jews require a sign”. The Jews, would not believe without signs and wonders. This isn’t becuase the Jews were made differently than other people, but was because the Jews were used to expecting miracles in confirmation to the mission of the prophets… and therefore insisted on a miracle by Jesus to prove that He was the Messiah. Jesus went far beyond the Jew’s expectations by performing many, many miracles. In fact Jesus did so many miracles that (as stated earlier) John, in the end of his gospel account that Jesus more than proved Himself as the Messiah to the Jews by doing so many works that they couldn’t be contianed in the books!

Contrary to Mr. Hagin’s explanation of healing… God doesn’t use healing to get us to obey, He used healing to prove to the Jews that He was the true Messiah… and because He had mercy on those whom He healed.

In our day, since we are not Jews, and our tradition does not require that a person perform miracles to prove himself as a prophet… miracles are not as necessary. But, we as gentiles (non Jews) seek wisdom rather than physical signs. As Paul stated in the second part of 1 Cor. 1:22 “the Greeks seek after wisdom”. Although many unbelievers today think they would believe if they saw a sign in heaven proving the existence of God that they would believe… they would not… what they are really seeking is wisdom. In John chapter 6, we find an account of some Jews that were seeking proof that Jesus was the Messiah. This was directly following the miracle of the “loaves and fishes”. Here is the account…

John 6:30-36 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

Jesus was saying that those Jews would not believe even if Jesus had given them a sign such as Manna from heaven… he did that already with the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Jesus was telling them that HE WAS THE SIGN that they were seeking! But they have seen Him, and believe not.

Belief in Jesus as the “bread of life” is the gospel… not the superficial “obedience” that Kenneth Hagin alludes to. Mr. Hagin was preaching a “false gospel”, with a faulty understanding of the scripture. And “Rhema for Today” is nothing but an attempt by his posterity to keep his memory alive. I can understand the desire to keep the memory of a loved one alive… but to continue propagating heresy like that of Mr. Hagin is the same as preaching it yourself.

I will continue to focus on “Rhema for Today” in the future on this blog, as Mr. Hagin has been such an icon with the “word / faith movement” and his teaching is being aired as truth… I shudder to imagine how many people are in hell right now as a result of Kenneth E. Hagin’s teaching.

John Hardin