Ruminations on Hagin’s Legacy
Since the passing of Kenneth Hagin, it’s been interesting to note just how his legacy has filtered (and not filtered) through the Body of Christ.
And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. (John 16.23, KJV)
For the past several weeks, my wife and I have visited a local Full Gospel church, checking it out to see if it might be a good fit for us. The church is large (I’d say over 1,000) and has a number of pastors of this and that. During the past few services, several of the pastors have led the congregation in prayer. Interestingly, each one has started out addressing the Father, but ended up turning the prayer into one to Jesus.
Based on John 16.23, Hagin taught (rightly so) that New Testament prayers should be addressed to the Father, not to Jesus. Though this Full Gospel church heartily believes in the gifts of the Spirit, including healing, and our righteous standing before God, it doesn’t follow Hagin’s teaching on prayer at all. (The congregation also applauds the Lord which is another funk.)
Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. (Acts 2.14-16, KJV)
Yesterday I was doing all I could to avoid working on some legal documents and I came across a YouTube video of Kenneth Hagin and others in a Gospel meeting sometime in 1999. Apparently there are multiple copies of this video because there are all kinds of warnings about “false prophets,” “tongues of devils,” etc. on different versions. (Here is a link to one.)
What’s interesting to me is that none of the video critics, at least of what I saw, ever refer back to these verses in Acts. Though I’m not in the “Pentecostal Bedlam” video, I’ve been in meetings, including some with Hagin, where the Spirit of God fell with such a punch that we did act like drunken college kids for a few hours. I’ve even had it happen in Denny’s with just a couple friends present. Hagin is characterized as “looney,” when instead he ought to be seen as an example of how to enter into such experiences.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1.8, KJV)
In addition to watching the “Pentecostal Bedlam” video, I read up on the goings-on down in Florida. In another YouTube video, Todd Bentley, the revival’s evangelist, referred to Hagin’s “I Believe in Visions” book while on the platform. Apparently he has reported numerous visions of angels and the like during the revival and he invoked Hagin’s book to validate his experiences.
As a guy who sat under Hagin in school for a couple of years and who is familiar with “I Believe in Visions” and his own testimony about such visions, I don’t see any relation between them and Bentley’s angelic visions at all (at least the four Bentley videos that I have watched). If you consider Hagin’s visions carefully, all of them (save the ones about his personal life) deal with some kind of teaching of scripture. In fact, some of them you might even consider low-key. Usually after reporting on a vision, Hagin would instruct his hearers to examine the Word for themselves to see whether it could withstand scrutiny.
Bentley’s visions, on the other hand, are confabulous events that appear to go well beyond scripture. In one vision, he reports that angels slammed him down on an operating table and tore his intestines out. His experiences remind me of William Branham’s visions in the latter part of his life where his doctrine erred from the truth.
It’s ironic that a man who based his entire ministry on following the Word is derided as “looney” for scripturally-consistent experiences, but is exalted by those who have left the Word for the sake of visions.
I would say that we aren’t
to follow, or put our faith in, visions. Not that there aren’t some that are legitmately from God. The vision (as in the ones cited by Bro Hagin) are for the purpose of illuminating the Word, and will agree with the Word. If anything goes beyond the Word, I think we would do well to put it on the back burner, ignore it, or be skeptical. I have heard reports such as the following: a man was driving when all of a sudden a car sped towards him in the wrong lane. He
called out “Jesus” and suddenly his car was safely seated on the side of the road. He said angels picked his car up and transported it. I tend to believe this one, although I would never insist upon or stake my faith upon such reports. Surely the angels of God protect us all the time. Yet
our focus is not upon angels, but upon Jesus and His Word. A re-reading of
Kenyon would help many:
focus upon the Word of God
and your own reborn spirit
within. These are sure and
constant guides. Maybe not
spectacular, but supernatural. We don’t need to be seeking these
experiences and we don’t
need spectatular signs……the signs are for
unbelievers. The Word is for us as believers.
Did you ever personally hear brother Hagin minister? I wish I did.
John,
When I went to Rhema, he taught a class every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (if I remember right). We had many meetings and he usually visited the students in the student center. I was fortunate that I went in 1986-1987 as some say those were the “glory” years of the ministry. Many of the meetings during that time had wonderful manifestations of the Spirit. People usually waited in line 2-3 hours just to get a seat.
There are a few lines of thought where I differ from Brother Hagin, e.g., the spirit of Christ and tithing, but I have relished his ministry. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to respect his integrity in the ministry more and more. Sure we had outstanding manifestations, but Hagin made sure that all of them were in line with the Word and he always stayed with the basics of the Word.
This video is from the Holy Ghost meeting in Jeff Perry’s church in St. Louis in 1997. I was in those meetings, and they changed my life. Never have I seen the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom in manifestation to such a degree. I still ponder the word the Holy Spirit spoke to me through Brother Hagin in that meeting.
One thing you cannot see in viewing the video is how “Holy Ghost orchestrated” the services were. It may appear to be bedlam, but there was total order, as if an unseen conductor was cueing the participants - I guess because, in fact, there was one. I learned so much about responding to the Holy Spirit and yielding to Him. That’s what these services were really about. Where can you go to get that these day?
I really miss Brother Hagin.