Kenneth E. Hagin

Infobox Person
name= Kenneth E. Hagin


caption=Kenneth Erwin Hagin
birth_date=August 20, 1917
birth_place= McKinney, Texas, U.S.
death_date=September 19, 2003 (age 86)
death_place=
death_cause = cardiac arrest
nationality = American
known_for = Pioneer of the "Word of Faith" movement
education = some college
occupation = preacher
title =
religion = Pentecostal Christianity
spouse = Oretha Rooker
children = Kenneth Wayne Hagin, Patricia Harrison
parents = Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin

Kenneth Erwin Hagin (August 20, 1917 - September 19, 2003) was an influential American Pentecostal preacher. He is often referred to as the "father" (or "granddaddy") of the "Word of Faith" movement. Many of his followers often refer to him affectionately as "Dad Hagin" or "Brother Hagin".

Biography

Personal life

Kenneth E. Hagin was born in McKinney, Texas, the son of Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin. He was so small and lifeless that the doctor thought that he was stillborn. He was married to Oretha Rooker.They had two children, a son named Kenneth Wayne Hagin, who is presently the pastor of Rhema Bible Church and President of Kenneth Hagin Ministries, and a daughter named Patricia Harrison.

Hagin died five days after lapsing into a coma due to a heart arrhythmia in September 2003.Fact|date=January 2008

His favorite scripture was Mark 11:23: "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith".Fact|date=January 2008

Beginning to preach

According to Hagin's testimony, he was sickly as a child, suffering from a deformed heart and what was believed to be an incurable blood disease. He was not expected to live and became bedfast at age 15. In April 1933 during a dramatic conversion experience, he reported dying three times in 10 minutes, each time seeing the horrors of hell and then returning to life. He also claimed that he was raised from a deathbed in 1934 by "the revelation of faith in God's Word"(Kenneth Hagin, "I Went to Hell" and "What Faith Is").

Two years later he preached his first sermon as the pastor of a small community church in Roland, Texas, 9 miles from McKinney.Fact|date=January 2008During the next twelve years he pastored five Assemblies of God churches in Texas: in the cities of Tom Bean, Farmersville (twice), Talco, Greggton, and Van.Fact|date=January 2008

Establishing a faith-based organization

In 1949, he began an itinerant ministry as a Bible teacher and evangelist. Hagin was at this time also given full admission to the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International (FGBMFI) which had been established in 1951. He was also a part of the Voice of Healing Revival in the U.S. in the 40s and 50s together with Oral Roberts, Gordon Lindsay and T.L.Osborn. In 1963, Kenneth E. Hagin Evangelistic Association was incorporated, and the offices of the ministry moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1966. That same year, he taught for the first time on radio — on KSKY in Dallas. In 1967, he began a regular radio broadcast that continues today as Faith Seminar of the Air. Teaching by his son, Rev. Kenneth Wayne Hagin, is also heard on the program.Fact|date=January 2008

Since its inception in 1963, his organization grew to include numerous media outreaches and ministries. These are:
* Faith Library Publications – with 65 million book copies in circulation
* "RHEMA Praise" – a weekly television program on the Trinity Broadcasting Network
* "Faith Seminar of the Air" – a radio program heard on many stations nationwide and on the Internet
* "The Word of Faith" – a free monthly magazine with roughly 600,000 subscribers
* crusades conducted throughout the nation
* RHEMA Correspondence Bible School
* the RHEMA Prayer and Healing Center, located on the Rhema campus in Broken Arrow, OklahomaFact|date=January 2008

In 1974, Hagin founded RHEMA Bible Training Center USA, which now has training centers in fourteen countries and has 30,000 alumni. In 1979, he founded the Prayer and Healing Center there to provide a place for the sick to come to "have the opportunity to build their faith",. Its Healing School continues to be held free of charge twice daily on the RHEMA campus.

Plagiarism Controversy

In 1983, two students at Oral Roberts University alleged that the bulk of Hagin's theological teachings were lifted verbatim from the writings of other authors. D.R. McConnell, who wrote his Master's thesis about the Word of Faith movement, alleged that Hagin had plagiarized the writings of evangelist E.W. Kenyon, teaching not only the ideas of Kenyon but also lifting text word-for-word from many of Kenyon's eighteen published works.Fact|date=January 2008

Dale Simmons, one of McConnell's colleagues doing research for his paper, discovered what he has described as plagiarism by Hagin of an author named John A. MacMillan. In this case it is alleged that Hagin not only plagiarized the text word-for-word, but also the title, "The Authority of the Believer".Fact|date=January 2008

Upon discovering Hagin's use of MacMillan's material, Simmons contacted the publishing house that published MacMillan's original work. The president of the publishing company confronted Hagin with evidence of the plagiarism. Hagin's response was to claim that he had not plagiarized anyone but that his acknowledgment of MacMillan had been an oversight. Hagin then implicitly claimed that the plagiarism was actually proof that his teaching and MacMillan's teaching were from God. In a portion of a letter printed on page 68 of "A Different Gospel" by D.R. McConnell, Hagin argued that persons speaking on the same subject use 'virtually the same words' because 'it is the same Spirit that is leading and directing.' Simmons did not accept this argument, noting that it begged the question why Hagin felt it necessary to read any books at all if God was going to inspire him to have the same thoughts and words as another author. [Simmons repeats these charges in his 1997 book, "E.W. Kenyon: The Postbellum Pursuit of Peace, Prosperity, And Plenty".] Hagin did, however, give credit to MacMillan when a new copy with a new title ("The Believer's Authority") was released in 1984.

William DeArteaga, a defender of the Faith movement, acknowledged that Hagin was guilty of plagiarism in his 1992 book, "Quenching The Spirit." [William DeArteaga, "Quenching the Spirit," p. 243-245 of the 1996 edition.] Geir Lie, a scholar who is favorable to E.W. Kenyon went so far as to say that Hagin's plagiarism was conscious and systematic (according to DeArteaga).Fact|date=July 2008 Derek Vreeland, another charismatic scholar, presented his findings at the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. [ [http://www.victoryword.100megspop2.com/reconstruction.html "Reconstructing Word of Faith Theology: A Defense, Analysis and Refinement of the Theology of the Word of Faith Movement"] ] Vreeland, too, believes Hagin unintentionally used the thoughts and ideas of Kenyon without properly attributing them to Kenyon.

Dale Simmons, who discovered Hagin's plagiarism of John A. MacMillan, concurs that Hagin plagiarized, but he theorizes that it was an instance of informal borrowing in Hagin's early preaching ministry.Fact|date=January 2008

The 'informal borrowing' that is common among preachers may account for some of the instances of plagiarism. Hagin lived near Dallas in his formative years, and E.W. Kenyon's works were very popular in the Dallas area at that time (the 1930s). Although this fails to explain the massive amount of plagiarism Hagin apparently committed, it is worth noting that in many instances he has cited by name sources that he used including Dr. Lillian B. Yeomans, Smith Wigglesworth, Corrie ten Boom, Ethan O. Allen, and some other (mostly Pentecostal-type) preachers. He has also favorably remarked about the ministry of Charles G. Finney.

An official statement from Kenyon's Gospel Publishing House states, "Kenneth Hagin published a book titled The Name of Jesus. The book was taken from tapes of a seminar where he taught through Kenyon’s book The Wonderful Name of Jesus. He credits Kenyon both on the tapes and in the introduction to the book. He worked, through his editor, with Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society and had the complete approval of Ruth Kenyon Housworth (Kenyon’s late daughter) for the book when it went to print. Hagin’s ministry has always maintained a good relationship with Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society. One of Kenyon’s books is used in the curriculum at Hagin’s Rhema Bible Training Center. We consider Kenneth E. Hagin to be a great man of God. If E.W. Kenyon were here today, he and Hagin would probably be good friends. And from his vantage point in heaven, Kenyon is probably delighted that Kenneth E. Hagin has been so successful in getting the message of faith, so dear to Kenyon’s heart, out to so many in the world in this generation." [' [http://www.kenyons.org/faq.php Plagarism of E.W. Kenyon by Kenneth E.Hagin] ]

Theology

The Statement of faith of Hagin's Rhema Bible Training Center is identical to that of the Assemblies of God and most other major Pentecostal denominations. ("Rhema Bible Training Center Information Pamphlet"; "16 Fundamental Truths of the Assemblies of God") Additionally, as mentioned above, some of Hagin's theological beliefs and teachings were similar to those of E.W. Kenyon. For example:

Physical Healing: It is always God's will that every believer be physically healed of any sickness or infirmity. Hagin based this belief on the understanding that that healing for the physical body was included in redemption. If redemption was available to all then healing would also be available to all. ("Word of Faith" magazine, 6/90; 7/92; 8/92; 12/92, Kenneth Hagin, "Redeemed from Poverty, Sickness and Death"and "Healing Belongs to Us").

Material Wealth: It is always God's will that every believer be 'financially blessed' through faith. Although Hagin emphasized that material prosperity was a redemptive blessing, he never taught that living by faith excluded hard work and wise business practices. In his later years, he wrote a book entitled, "The Midas Touch" in which he wrote sharply and correctively about the so-called prosperity gospel and many of the extreme teachings that were being circulated under this heading. He warned the body of Christ of the dangers of greed and explained that the purpose of financial blessing is for the furtherance of the work of the gospel. (Kenneth Hagin, "How God Taught Me About Prosperity" and "The Midas Touch").

Faith and Authority: While some Christian theologians conjecture that Faith is nothing more than a Grace given as a free gift by God to aid in the salvation of human beings, Hagin and his Charismatic offspring believe that faith is a spiritual force that comes by hearing the spoken word of God and can be strengthened and increased by various spiritual disciplines. By faith the believer can summon the very power of God to change impossible situations into possibilities. Faith, to Hagin, is a matter of belief in God's word which also entails a vocal expression of God's Will or confession thereof. According to Hagin, God has promised to answer believing prayer and respond positively to the believer's exercise of faith (Kenneth Hagin, "I Believe in Visions", "What Faith Is", "Bible Faith; A Study Guide").

Salvation: Hagin claimed in several of his books that he physically died three times as a child. Each time he descended to hell but was brought back to life when a voice spoke. On the third trip to hell, Hagin claims to have asked Jesus for forgiveness and salvation. Crying, 'God! I belong to the church! I've been baptized in water' twice, to no avail, he cried out a third time. It is at that point, he claims, that he was saved and brought back to life a final time. Hagin goes on to say that he was praying so loud when he arrived back in his body that ' traffic was lined up for two blocks on either side of our house! After this dramatic experience, Hagin realized that church membership and water baptism were not sufficient to save but rather the new birth worked by the power of the Holy Spirit in response to a personal confession of faith in the Lordship and resurrection of Jesus Christ. '(ibid., "Word of Faith" magazine, 10/01, Kenneth Hagin, "The New Birth"; "I Went to Hell").

Substitutionary Act: At the root of almost every Christian denomination is the strong belief that Jesus Christ died so that mankind could gain salvation and eternal life in heaven through believing on his name'(Holy Bible, KJV, John 1:12). Although Hagin also believed and taught the same, he additionally spoke of Jesus' death in substituionary terms. He believed that Jesus died as the substitute for all humanity, was buried and suffered the torments of hell for three days. Afterward He defeated the devil, stripped him of all authority and was resurrected after being quickened in spirit or born again. Hagin held that those who received Christ were born again and shared in the benefits of His resurrection and power through their identification with His death, burial and resurrection(Kenneth Hagin,"The Name of Jesus"; "The Triumphant Church").

Sacred Scriptures: Hagin's beliefs followed in the reformed tradition in that the Holy Bible is viewed to be the literally true, inerrant word of God as written by men under the guidance of the Spirit of God. Although Hagin often spoke of the dramatic spiritual encounters he claimed to have had, he always insisted that faith was to be established upon the word of God alone and not upon the epxeriences of man. Many times in his ministry he made the statment, "Don't believe anything because I said it. Search the scriptures and prove it out for yourself"(Kenneth Hagin, "How You Can Know the Will of God" and "The Believer's Authority").

RHEMA Bible Training Center

Hagin founded RHEMA Bible Training Center (RBTC) in 1974. RBTC is an unaccredited Bible institute located on 110 acres in the Broken Arrow suburb of Tulsa, Oklahoma (USA). The curriculum is taught from a Charismatic/Pentecostal heritage. There are six ministry concentrations specializing in Children's Ministry, Youth Ministry, Evangelism, Pastoral Care, Missions, and Supportive Ministry. [ [http://www.rhema.org/education/rbtc_curriculum.cfm RBTC Curriculum] ] RBTC has also established training centers in Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, the South Pacific, and Thailand. [ [http://www.rhema.org/education/rbtc_international.cfm RBTC International] ]

After Hagin's death in 2003, his son Kenneth W. Hagin continued to run the institution. RBTC claims to have trained more than 30,000 graduates who reside and minister in more than 100 countries. [ [http://www.rhema.org/education/rbtc_intro.cfm Introduction to RBTC] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.rhema.org/ Official Website of Kenneth Hagin Ministries]
* [http://www.rhemabiblechurch.org/ Rhema Bible Church]
* [http://www.rbtc.org/ Rhema Bible Training Center]
* [http://www.intotruth.org/wof/kenyon.html Documentation of Hagin's plagiarism]
* [http://www.victoryword.100megspop2.com/reconstruction.html Charismatic Acknowledging Hagin's Plagiarism]
* [http://www.thechristianexpositor.org/page7.html Citation of Hagin Misusing Greek]
* [http://www.apts.edu/ajps/00-1/00-1-KWarrington.pdf Citation of Hagin Changing Greek in Mark 6:5]
* [http://discernment.org/wordfaith/kenhagin.htm A Former Hagin Disciple Discusses His Mentor]
* [http://www.kenyons.org/faq.shtml E.W. Kenyon society response stating Kenneth Hagin did not plagiarize Kenyon]
* [http://www.rhemaconnection.com/ RHEMA Connection: Uniting alumni, churches, ministries, and friends]
* [http://www.freewebs.com/truthofthecross/kensreviewofjesusvict.htm Ken's review with Kenneth Hagin as the subject; Jesus' Victory: The Cross or the Resurrection?]
* [http://www.freewebs.com/truthofthecross/index.htm The truth of the cross and Kenneth Hagin of the Word of Faith movement]
* [http://www.iworshiphere.com iWoshipHere website]