Wells-Without-Water Word of Faith Expose Tricia Tillin

Wells Without Water by Tricia Tillin - The Word of Faith Teachings
Birthpangs | A NEW WORLD ORDER IN THE MAKING
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"Wells Without Water" (1)

The Errors of the Word-of-Faith Movement (Part One of Four)
This four-part study is designed to demonstrate, using verbatim transcripts of the tapes of Kenneth Copeland, some of the errors in
the "Positive Confession" movement.
You may find it hard to believe some of the things Copeland is reported as saying! But trust me, there has been NO tampering
with the tapes. Not only did Copeland say these things in the 1980's when this study was first created (as a tape set called
"Wells Without Water" on the Banner Ministries tape list) but he continues to reiterate them up to this very moment. So do many,
many others in the Word of Faith leadership.
The Doctrine
of Word of Faith These teachers are totally unrepentant of their heresies, despite having been approached by countless brethren who tried to
point out their unscriptural teachings. They continue to teach doctrines that are dishonest in their scriptural content, deceptive in
their outcome, and destructive to the genuine faith of a Christian.
Part One: FORCES OR FRUIT?
Below are a number of statements by Kenneth Copeland taken from recordings of his messages. Kenneth Copeland has
been chosen because he is the most well-known Positive Confession minister in this country, [England] but the teachings are
common to them all.
Ministers like Kenneth Hagin, Ray MacCauley, Oral Roberts, Jerry Savelle, and many others, all teach word-for-word the
same doctrines you are going to read in this article so the same reasoning applies to them all. All the Word of Faith teachers
have these doctrines with very little variation.
Now to begin with, some of you may be questioning why anyone sees the need to expose false doctrines in ministries which
seem to be so good, so fruitful. After all, the work done around the world by these Word of Faith ministries is enormous. Hundreds
of thousands (so they say) are being reached with the gospel, and not only that, but many claim to have been healed and
delivered and had their lives totally changed as a result of the Copelands' ministries.
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It is not my intention to condemn every one of these works as false. If someone has been truly saved or healed, then I thank
God for it.
As well as that, I myself have benefited from some of the teaching of the Word of Faith movement. We do need to be positive in
our attitude to Scripture. We do need to resist the Devil. We do need to praise God and boldly pray and have faith in God. All that
is good. But whatever is good must also be holy and doctrinally correct if it is a Christian ministry.
It's not good enough just to be productive or positive or fruitful. We have to be scripturally orthodox. We have to avoid heresy
or sooner or later we'll be going down the path of the devil and leading many others by the nose along with us.
I can't rejoice that someone is saved simply to be dragged into heresy. God forbid. So I believe where error exists we ought
to expose it. If, after reading this article, you are not convinced, I beg you to keep an open mind and to go to God in earnest
prayer about it. Ask Him to show you the truth.
So, first of all, we're going to review a few quotes from a tape called "The Forces of the Recreated Human Spirit" by Ken
Copeland. This is a message that has appeared numerous times in his teachings and in his magazine.
Copeland: ".and the power of God toward you provided certain things.Now, we're going to be talking about the major forces that
are alive inside the re-born human spirit. We're going to find out what these forces are, and then find out how to release each one
of them. Each one of these forces is alive on the inside of the human heart that has been reborn of God."
Now, notice the subtle change here. Copeland rightly says that the power of God brings us alive in our spirit, but then he says
the result is that some forces are imparted there which we need to learn to release.
Right away we've stopped depending on the Holy Spirit for power, and we've started looking for a technique to use what WE
now possess. But, as a Christian, we have nothing that we have not been given by God.
Our spirits DO have powers of course, but Adam proved that those powers, if he used them himself, only led him AWAY from God
and into sin. Some witches and satanists have learned how to release supernatural forces in their spirit, but it's done nothing
but damage to themselves and to others.
Copeland: "These forces that are residing in there are there for a purpose. We find the force of the Faith, we'll find the force
of Righteousness, we'll find the force of Wisdom, and we'll find the force of the Love of God. Now, there is something that I want to
say right here.Eternal life is imparted to a human spirit when a man makes Jesus Christ the Lord of his life. "Eternal Life" - that's
what the Bible calls this power force, that causes a miracle. Actually, it works a good deal.the.the way it's formed up in my mind,
the illustration, the picture, the Lord's pictures that are in my mind about it, would be just like injecting a life force of some kind into
a man's heart."
This again is a subtle change. It takes us away from God and toward our own "godhood".
Life is certainly given to man when he's born again. When you receive Jesus, you receive LIFE; that's why. Because HE
HIMSELF is Life.
The Bible says, in 1 John 5:11, "The life is in the Son; he who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son has not life".
And, in John 17:3, we read "and this is eternal life: that they know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent".
What IS eternal life then? IS it a power force that's "injected into us" when we accept God, like electricity? No. Eternal life, ALL
true life is God. God is life. There IS no true life apart from God.
We come alive only because God Himself takes up residence in our spirit. As He promises in John 16:23, "If a man love me,
my Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him".
And listen to THIS word of God: "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abide in the
vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. Apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:4,5.)
We HAVE nothing, we ARE nothing, and we can DO nothing. We are DEAD unless God comes by His Holy Spirit to take
up residence within. And THEN do we have something? No! All we have, actually, is a privileged relationship to the One who
has everything. We can boast of NOTHING.
We have no power, except the power of the Holy Spirit - and that doesn't belong to us at all.
Copeland: "And, what I'd like to really get into is some of these areas about how this force of eternal life (that includes these forces
that I've named off here to you - the major forces) how this can be used in our daily lives."
As an example of the importance of these forces that exist in the human spirit, and their practical use in daily life, Copeland
says that he was asked to pray for a brain-damaged little girl:
Copeland: "And they asked us to pray and so we did. And I laid hands on her and the Lord spoke to me, just as I laid my hands on
her, and I never would have thought of this, I wouldn't have thought of it in a hundred years. It's just something, you know, some
of those things of God, they just never enter our thinking unless He puts them there, because we think so low. We think so
carnally.think on such a low level, you see, compared to the way God thinks, and actually the way He intended MAN to think.

And just as I laid hands on her, I started to pray and pray this: I started to say 'God - I want You to use Your healing power and I
want You to heal my little sister's mind, and heal her brain'. See, actually, (and now think with me just a little bit).you are a spirit,
you have a soul, and you live in a body. Now your mind, you see, the mind is in that spirit-man, and the brain is the housing. The
brain is the physical housing of the mind. Can you see that? The brain is the physical housing, that's where the mind lives. That's
the physical organ that the mind operates in, that's where the mind and the body come together. All right?
I was going to pray.see she had brain damage - wasn't anything wrong with her MIND. But she was having a hard time making
it function, her brain wasn't working right.it had been damaged you see. And, so I said. I started to pray that. I said, 'Lord', you know,
'I want You to heal the physical organ of her brain - use Your power', and then He said this to me.why, I nearly came plumb off the
floor when I realised the possibilities that have been opened to us in the spirit world by Jesus Christ and by sending His Holy Spirit
- you see - to bring us over into getting to operate like He operates. [my emphasis]
He said this to me, He said 'There's no use to you even praying that!'.
I said 'Well, huh! Why?'.
He said 'Coz you don't NEED that kind of a miracle.'
I said 'Well WHY don't I need that kind of a miracle?!'.
He said 'Isn't she born again?'.
I said 'Yes sir, she is.' (Little old girl filled with the Holy Spirit.lovely little girl.)
He said 'Don't your own statistics prove that the finest minds in the World today are only operating on about 10 to 12 percent of
their mental capacity?'
I said 'Yes sir', you know, that's what the book says. [Implication: that the Bible says this, which of course it DOES NOT! -
my note]
He said 'She's GOT 90% of it there that she's not even USING!' And I saw it! I saw it! He said 'You pray, and you believe God', and
He said 'I will rise up on the inside of her'. He said 'Tell her parents to feed her with the Word, and to teach her the Word, and feed
her the Word and indoctrinate her on the Word of God - the living Word of Faith - and cause her to live and operate the Faith and
let that eternal life that is residing in her open up the 90% of her brain, her mind.' and so forth, '.and mental capacities that are not
even being used yet', He said, 'and she'll be smarter than anybody 'coz they're still only operating on about 10 percent'."
Now, there are several points here. He says some alarming things. For instance, that if we learn to use these spirit forces, we
can operate in the spirit world just as God does. Presumably, we could create new worlds! And if THAT isn't becoming gods, I
don't know what is.
And then he says "the mind is the spirit and it lives in the physical housing of the brain". Now that's seriously wrong, and
it's surprising how many Christians make this mistake.

We have physical brains, and the mind is the result of its thinking processes, and so are emotions, intellect, reasoning, will-
power, perception and so on. Animals also have minds and they also think and feel things - but they DON'T have spirits (or else
Jesus would have to die for the animal world as well as for men and women, and to kill ANY creature at all would be a sin worthy
of death.)
No, the mind IS NOT the human spirit, as Copeland claims. Put a mind to sleep, and rational thought stops - but the spirit of man
is still alive and active!
There's something FAR deeper than a mind in a man. Somebody can lay in a coma - brain dead to all outward appearances,
but something in them is alive, and it's sometimes revived. That deeper being is the spirit of man, and it's MUCH deeper than
your mind. Haven't you ever sensed that? Your mind told you one thing, but something deeper told you otherwise.
The mind, actually, is part of the soul of man. The Greek word for the soul is the "psyche". That's where we get "psychic
powers" from - from the mind, from the soul. The soul is a mysterious thing but it could be defined as that self-conscious living part
of the human being that provides the "humanity" of our race. It is the sum total of our personality, perceptions, education,
thoughts, feelings, experiences, desires, loves and hatreds. Adam was made "a living soul" but not a born-again spirit. It was
Jesus who opened the Way to spiritual unity with God:
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not
first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the
second man is the Lord from heaven. 1 Cor 15:45-47
The soul and mind are NATURAL. They are allied to the EARTH, and not to heavenly things. They are not the spirit. (There's
certainly powerful forces in our minds, but they're nothing to do with God's Spirit.)
[NOTE: The soul is ever-living, and this is why unrepentant sinners, without the Spirit of God in their spirits, must continue to exist
after physical death. For scriptures about the mind, soul and spirit, please see the notes at the end of this file.]
God wants us to be SPIRITUAL, not psychic. What's the difference? Well, if all you've got to rely on is your mind then you're
in trouble. But God commands us to be ruled by the Holy Spirit. To walk with Him. To be alive in the Spirit to His guidance.
Let's look at just one Scripture that shows this difference. 1 Corinthians 14:14&15. Paul says "If I pray in a tongue my spirit
prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the mind ALSO".
There's a difference there, isn't there - between the spirit and the mind? Our minds are to do with the earthly life, but our
SPIRITS are to do with heavenly things. The powers of the mind are soulish, psychic. But SPIRITUAL power comes from God the
Holy Spirit. That's the only way we can have power - in union with the Holy Spirit.moving in HIS will, under HIS direction. Not just
as WE think or imagine.
Also, I want you to consider what Copeland said about the capacity of our brains. Isn't it curious that what the LORD told him is
in fact nothing less than New Age propaganda? As far as I've been able to discover, there's been NO real, reliable scientific
experiment to discover how much of our brain we use. How could you ever measure it? As far as doctors know, we use MANY
different parts of our brain all at the same time.
God gave us our brains, and we use them. Is God so inefficient that, after thousands upon thousands of years of human history,
we are still only utilising a very small portion of our brains? If you have ever watched medical documentaries on TV, showing
brain scans, you will have noticed how many different areas of the brain are active.
I'm sure we COULD stretch our intellects more than we do, but as for having 90 percent of our brain capacity still vacant.
that's unscientific. And it's one of those so-called "facts" put about by New-Agers to induce us to develop mind powers. They want us
to get into all sorts of mental exercises, like meditation, to try and "tap" the hidden resources of our minds. They're asking us to
unleash psychic forces - the hidden powers of the mind.
But is Kenneth Copeland teaching the same thing, when he locates the mind in the reborn spirit? Is he actually asking us to
learn how to use the forces of the MIND, and not walk in the Spirit - as the Scripture commands.
And secondly, isn't it wicked, really, that here is this little girl (three or four or five - that's all) and she's denied the healing of
God because God (supposedly) is asking her, at that age, to confess the Word and live in the Spirit sufficiently to develop the
hidden resources of her brain.
If her brain is damaged in one area, there's NO WAY that she'll restore that area by confessing scriptures - even if she could
be trained somehow to do that.. She needs a miracle of healing. But, according to Copeland, she DOESN'T need one, and
she's denied it - on the basis of what HE hears from God.
Copeland: "Then, in Galatians 5:16 'This I say then: walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh'. Now we're
talking about the spirit and the flesh; we're NOT talking about the Holy Spirit.He doesn't HAVE any flesh. You see that? We're
talking about the recreated HUMAN spirit.
Now, actually you see, in the Greek text there are not any capital letters - and that's where the problem comes in. The translator's
put capitals in the English text at their own discretion. It's not in the Greek text. You can't read the Greek Bible and tell the
difference between your spirit and the Holy Spirit unless you know what you're reading. Because there are not any capitals there to

do that. Now that was capitalized at the privilege of the translators. Now notice what He says.for in the 17th verse: "For the flesh
lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot do the things
that you would." Well the Holy Ghost's not lusting against your flesh! Is he? He's not. The Bible didn't say 'When the Spirit of
Lust comes".
Now we see result of the previous teaching, because now he's re-translated Galatians 5:16 to mean that we walk by the desires,
or forces, of our own spirit, instead of God's spirit. "Walk by the Spirit" now means, according to Copeland - walk BY YOUR
OWN HUMAN SPIRIT!
And he misunderstands the word translated "lust". It simply means "desires". God's Spirit certainly has lusts in THAT sense. He
has MANY desires: for you to walk righteously, and so on. But our flesh RESISTS those intentions. That's what Galatians 5:17
means.we resist God.
And verse 22: "But the fruit of the Spirit" - contrasts with the flesh. Is this the fruit produced by YOUR human spirit, or is it the fruit
of the Spirit of God?
And see verse 25: "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit" - it's the same as verse 16, which Kenneth Copeland
said was your human spirit. But did we really come alive by our human spirit? Or was it by the Spirit of God?
You see, he's WRONG when he says it's OUR spirit; he's trying to prove that these forces belong to US, not to God.
God doesn't seem to figure much in Copeland's philosophy. God is simply the Agency who makes it POSSIBLE for us to
have power.THEN we go out and use it. But, really, Christian living is ALL ABOUT God, because without God's leading we don't
know what to do, what to say, where to go - without the direction of God's Holy Spirit we are totally sunk because we will only fulfil
(as the scripture says) the desires of our FLESH, which as opposed to God's Holy Spirit.
Copeland: "Now let's go down to the 22nd verse and talk about the "Fruit of the Spirit". Now, you remember last night we talked
about the Vine and the Branches? Well, you see, the fruit is borne by the BRANCH, isn't it? The fruit doesn't grow out of that vine,
the branch grows out of the vine and then the fruit grows off of the branch. So you can see we're not talking primarily about the
HOLY Spirit; this is not the fruit of the Holy Spirit. (You have to understand, folks, we're not dogmatic about this sort of thing - I
mean the Holy Spirit IS all these things; we are borne of Him that's the reason these things are IN there.)
But what He is pointing out is, that, in the reborn human spirit, these forces are ALIVE. As we begin to learn these things, we begin
to find out that these forces are in there. If we learn what produces them, what feeds them, and what releases them, then you
don't have any excuse for not USING them. And they are more powerful than ANY force that can bind any part of your spirit, any
part of your mind, any part of your body, any part of your social life, any part of your eternity. Hallelujah! There's no demon in
Hell, there's no law that ANY devil can pull on you and operate on you that's bigger than these forces. Against these there IS no
law. Praise God! Amen? Oh listen, that thrilled me, when I began to see what was behind this.that if I would see these forces that
are inside my spirit-man, if I would begin to operate, you know, with these, that there was no devil in Hell big enough to stop me. All
I had to do was make the decision to do it, and then follow the Word of God and do what it said do, and I would INEVITABLY come
out victoriously." [My emphasis throughout]
Copeland is speaking here of forces that WE have and that WE learn to use. Who's in control here? Is it God? Or is it man?
Who's ruling the body.is it God, or is it man? Who is making the decisions? Is it God, or man?
And can we REALLY assume that God wants us to utterly victorious in EVERY circumstance according to OUR way of thinking?
Was Paul victorious, according to human reasoning, when he was being beaten and imprisoned? It didn't seem so. He should
have used these forces to escape persecution. And was Jesus always victorious according to man's way of thinking? It didn't seem
so. But He was following a higher way than man's way.
God's direction doesn't always get us out of trouble or suffering. Sometimes we're called to endure suffering, in order to grow
as Christians.
Copeland: "For the law of the Spirit of Life, in Christ Jesus, has made me FREE from the law of sin and death." Now that is the
major heading title of these forces: The Law of the Spirit of Life. That's the head law. Down under that we have these sub-titles:
The Force of Faith, the Force of Righteousness, the Force of Wisdom, and the Force of Love. Now these things that we have
read here in the fifth chapter of Galatians, all of these forces come under one or the other of those major four. [.] It's impossible
to please God without faith. And so what we need to do, see, is learn how to operate the Faith one, then we can put that one
into operation, by faith we will learn how to activate the other three! [my emphasis] Now, faith is born in a human heart at the time
of conversion.ALL these forces are. Let's turn over to the Book of Ephesians. Now, from the Book of Ephesians, in the 2nd chapter
and the 8th verse, look at this: 'For, by grace are ye saved.', in other words, the force of faith did it. '.that not of yourselves." - now
that force wasn't IN there when you got saved. The grace of God had to PUT it in there - as a gift. I'll read the rest of the verse: '.
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God'. Hallelujah! What? Just the grace? No! That faith! The force of faith that God had done."
In Romans 4:2, we read "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him as righteousness". And verse 5 says "To him
that worketh not but believeth on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness". So it's clear then, that
saving faith is BELIEVING GOD.
Abraham was given certain promises by God, and he believed them. It wasn't a force, or an injection of power. He exercised faith
in believing what God had said. When we hear the gospel, and believe the Word of God, we're doing the same thing. We're

exercising faith.
Abraham was not a New Testament believer, yet the Bible says he had faith in God. Other passages also prove this. The
centurion who begged Jesus to heal his servant was not born again as we understand it, yet Jesus testified that he had
"great faith"(Matt 8:8-10)
How did these people, not converted in the classic New Testament way (for Jesus had not yet died) come to have faith?
Copeland says this "force" is not given until a man is converted! He says: "now that force wasn't IN there when you got saved.
The grace of God had to PUT it in there - as a gift."
How then does a man get saved? Copeland says the force of faith does it. But is that correct? Is what he says even
LOGICAL? Think about it - he says above that "it's impossible to please God without faith" but then that God does not give us
"the force of faith" until we are converted! Logically, if that "force" doesn't enter into us until we're converted, how in the world is
anyone to be saved?! It's as if I said to you "You can have my house as soon as you live in it, but you can't come in until you own
my house". it's that ridiculous.
Romans 10 shows us how we're saved: Verse 9 says "we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in our heart God
has raised Him from the dead". Verse 10 says "with the heart man believeth". With the MIND? No! With the HEART.
We believe in God's salvation, and so we're saved. This is not an impersonal power or force at work but an activity of the
human heart - a decision, a commitment, a turning around and a change of heart. Faith means trusting wholly and unreservedly,
and we are saved when we put our faith in Jesus Christ alone for redemption, believing on Him. (I don't mean to deny God's activity
in our redemption, but my real intention is to refute Copeland's error here.)
Some will argue that there is saving faith that is given to us to bring us to God - we are drawn by the Holy Spirit for no one
can come to Jesus for salvation unless the Father draws him.( John 6:44) They will say that Copeland is referring to the gift of faith
for salvation in Eph 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God"
Yet even this is WRONG! The Greek construction of the scripture does not allow for it. The GIFT is not FAITH - but SALVATION.
I quote from Adam Clarke's commentary:
"By grace are ye saved, through faith in Christ. This is a true doctrine, and continues to be essential to the salvation of man to the
end of the world. But whether are we to understand, faith or salvation as being the gift of God? This question is answered by the
Greek text: tee gar chariti este sesoosmenoi dia tees pisteoos; kai touto ouk ex humoon; Theou to dooron, ouk ex ergoon; hina mee
tis kaucheeseetai. By this grace ye are saved through faith; and THIS (touto (grk 5124), this salvation) not of you; it is the gift of
God, not of works: so that no one can boast."
"The relative touto (grk 5124), this, which is in the neuter gender, cannot stand for pistis (grk 4102), faith, which is the feminine; but
it has the whole sentence that goes before for its antecedent."
But it may be asked: Is not faith the gift of God? Yes, as to the grace by which it is produced; but the grace or power to believe, and
the act of believing, are two different things.
Without the grace or power to believe no man ever did or can believe; but with that power the act of faith is a man's own. God
never believes for any man, no more than he repents for him; the penitent, through this grace enabling him, believes for himself---;
the power to believe may be present long before it is exercised, else, why the solemn warnings with which we meet everywhere in
the word of God, and threatenings against those who do not believe? Is not this a proof that such persons have the power but do
not use it? They believe not, and therefore are not established. This, therefore, is the true state of the case: God gives the power,
man uses the power thus given, and brings glory to God: without the power no one can believe; with it, any one may."
If only Kenneth Copeland were as wise as he pretends. God supposedly gives Copeland great revelations which are a
contradiction of His own written Word! Copeland says the force of faith is not present in a man's heart before he is saved, and that
God injects it as a free gift at that moment. On the contrary, the BIBLE says that:
" faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Rom 10:17
The Bible does speak of a spiritual GIFT of faith, but that is something else again. In 1 Corinthians 12:9 for example it's speaking
of a specific work of God in a believer, a manifestation of the Holy Spirit in a mature Christian leading to works of God. The gift of
faith in that sense is a gift or administration of the Holy Spirit.
But saving faith is our response to the promises of God in Christ. It isn't a power or a force.
Copeland: "Now watch this; 'And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe?', 'what is the
exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe?' - now here's what power He's talking about - 'according to the working
of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in
heavenly places far above every all principality, power, and right dominion, ., not only in this world, but also in that which is to
come, and has put all things under His feet'.
Now, He has said here, you see, 'What is that power to us', what is it? The power of the cross to us-ward who believe - that's what
he wrote over in 1 Corinthians you see. And he said 'that power that He worked when he raised Jesus from the dead' (you see,
that started in Hell didn't it? Jesus was in Hell when God raised Him up, He wasn't in that tomb, He was in Hell. That started
there.) The power which He wrought in Christ.He was made to be sin for us. Something had to be done about that. That great
and mighty power that God worked; He wrought it, He worked it, in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and made Him alive,
and raised Him up into a heavenly place. (Now that's from the bottom to the top. The very bottom to the very top.) And made Him sit
in heavenly places, far above ALL dominion, far above ALL principality, over ALL power, and made what?
Then He says 'What is that power which He worked in Christ, when He did that, what does it do toward us who believe?' It's the
SAME power which he wrought in Him, see? He worked THAT power in Him. 'What is that power.', he says, '.that was worked in
us'? What he says: it did us the same way."
Copeland asks "What IS this power, this force? And how did it get into us? And what does it do?"
That leads us almost into our next subject, which is the spiritual death of Jesus, and the result of that death. The Copelands and
the other Word of Faith ministers believe that Jesus took the very sin-nature of the Devil, and died spiritually, so that the Father had
to bring Him alive in Hell.
We'll go into that teaching next. But you can see that he's saying here that these forces which God gave to us are the same ones
He gave to Jesus. Just as God raised Jesus, and He became the first born-again man Copeland says, just in the same way,
God raises US and gives us the same power to live. So Jesus is a sort of prototype, (they call this The Pattern Son - an old Latter
Rain term) and now we can all be the same as Him, because, when WE believe the Word of God, we get the same injection of
power as Jesus.
But what the Bible actually teaches, is that Jesus, because of His perfection and sinlessness, defeated Death on our behalf,
and consequently He rose again to be our Lord and Saviour. Nobody else has done that. Nobody else will EVER do that
again. Salvation is in JESUS; Jesus only.
You're not saved in your own right, just because you believed the gospel. You're saved because you've RECEIVED JESUS, and
Jesus IS salvation.
You've got what He has, only because you're united with Him. One Spirit with Him. Salvation doesn't really belong to you. God is
in charge of the powers of life and death, not you. You can't go out and start using power indiscriminately. that's why Paul told us:
if we've become alive by the Spirit, then we must WALK in Him. Let your daily walk be controlled by God, not by your own desires.
Copeland: "Well if it's the same power, and did the same job on you, when you were dead in your sin trespasses, why would it
have gotten weaker in you? It's still there! The force, then, of Faith is the major life-force residing on the inside of the reborn,
recreated, human spirit. God put it there, by His grace. And it is still there.
The Bible says that Jesus is "the Author" of our faith. He offered it; you have enough. There's enough faith on the inside of you
right now to do anything you'll ever need on this earth.
Now, I want to go ahead and share this with you; it won't take but about a minute. I got this coming to the class today. I was

driving along there, thinking about this, you know, the force of faith.the power of God. Did you know Heaven operates on that
force? That IS the predominant force that Heaven operates on. OUR predominant force is the force of electricity. The centre of all
of our atoms and so forth are electronically controlled. You know, if you studied physics at school you know that. The neutrons, and
the proteins [sic] and all that, you know, and there's electrical field, and that even your physical body, you see, functions and
operates on electricity. And you can tell it too; you can build a lot of it up and then get it static charged across the floor and then 'Zap!'
- there's some electricity in there. That's the predominant force in the natural world, and faith is akin to it in the spirit world. That's
the predominant force there. And it originally came out of the heart of God. And it's predominant there.
And the Bible says that the light of His glory will light the whole Heavenly City. Can you imagine a city lit by the force of faith?! I can -
if you get out of this scene that we're in, and get out of the carnal and get into the spirit and begin to realise it. It's generated
spiritually, praise God! And lights the whole place. And actually you and I were supposed to function that way. We weren't supposed
to have old, smoky, automobiles and stuff like that; why the thing ought to run on faith. There's enough cars that. think about this a
little bit.Jesus said that there's just a bit of it the size of a mustard seed. That's bigger than a mustard seed; I don't even have
anything that little. A mustard seed.let's see. You've gotta.I tell you what I've got; look here. The END of that little fingernail knife -
just that little end of it is about the size of a mustard seed. Now you can't even see that from where you're sitting, it's just too tiny.
Jesus said just that much of it would blow a mountain into the ocean. Wooooh.what do you suppose a quart jar full of it would
do?! Glory be to God! What do you suspect about a 428gallon tank of it would do? It'd light the Holy City - that's what it'd do. How'd
you like to have a gas tank full of that? Ain't no pollution come from it. Every physical energy that we use is gone. You can't get it
back and use it again - there is an element of it gone, because it's consumed. But what is the force that we were using, came from
the inner heart, and was produced by God's Words? There's no end to that, we can re-use it, re-feed on it, re-operate on it,
eternally. And that's just exactly what you're gonna have to learn to do." [My emphasis throughout]
I find this part just amazing. Not only do we have some kind of power source inside us which seems to have very little to do
with God, and which WE must learn to feed and release. Not only that, but now we learn that this energy source is a kind of
"superior electricity" that's used in Heaven. And it's going to power the Holy City during the Millennium.
Copeland makes it quite plain that it's an energy source, not Jesus living is us, that gives us life and power. He says this force
of faith can run cars and power cities. And where does it come from? Out of the heart of God.
Now, God's power and love DO flow from His heart, but they're not impersonal energy sources. God IS love, God IS life. His love
is an expression of Himself, just as Jesus is the Word of God - God's Word visibly expressed. Well, even MORE so, we can't say
that faith originally came out of the heart of God, because faith requires an object of belief. you have to believe IN something. What
did God believe in?! Himself? Creation? Mankind?
No. Faith was born when it became necessary for us to believe in God, for support and love, and protection and guidance and
so on. Faith is man's response to God's promises, not an impersonal energy source.
What is it that will light the City of God? It's God's glory. It will be lit by the glory of God, simply because Jesus is there. God's
power belongs to God.
There may, perhaps, be spiritual powers that operate in a way similar to electricity, but mankind has no business using them.
Satan would LOVE for us to discover spiritual power, and he'd turn it against God just as he did long ago.
It is satan that is teaching man to develop power outside of God. He wants mankind to be able to overthrow God's throne, and
set HIM up - satan - as the King. Copeland is treading a very dangerous path here.
Well, in part two, we'll look at this teaching of "Jesus died spiritually", and we'll see just how central this teaching is to the Word of
Faith doctrine. We've seen how man supposedly has spirit forces inside him, but next we're going to find out just how they got
there, and why Copeland believes that you can do anything you want with the power of faith.
Continue to Part Two(a) (or browse the notes below)
NOTES:
Scriptures that distinguish mind, soul and spirit:
Job 12:7-10 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the
earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the
LORD hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath (= wind, spirit) of all mankind. (Beasts
have souls, but human beings have spirits as well.)
Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy
strength: this is the first commandment.
1Thes 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be
preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

1 Cor 14:14-15 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray
with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
Man has his own spirit, not just the Holy Spirit of God:
Rom 8:16 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
2 Cor 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit,
perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
1 Cor 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth
no man, but the Spirit of God.
The eternal nature of the man's soul:
Job 33:27-30 He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; He
will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man,
To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.
Job 33:21-22 His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were not seen stick out. Yea, his soul
draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers.
Ps 16:10-11 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Matt 10:28 28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy
(not eliminate, but ruin) both soul and body in hell (Compare Luke 4:34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou
Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God - demons cannot be eliminated,
but punished and bound.)
The separate nature of the spirit, as opposed to the soul or the flesh (containing the mind):
:1 Cor 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
J ames 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (A body without a mind is not
necessarily dead, but deranged or comatose.)
Col 2:5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of
your faith in Christ.
1 Cor 5:4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Continue to Part Two(a)
Copyright 2008 Tricia Booth

"Wells Without Water" (2a)

The Errors of the Word-of-Faith Movement
This four-part study is designed to demonstrate, using verbatim transcripts of the tapes of Kenneth Copeland, some of the errors in
the "Positive Confession" movement.
The Doctrine
of Word of Faith These teachers are totally unrepentant of their heresies, despite having been approached by countless brethren who tried to
Part Two(a): RE-BORN OR RAISED?
In part two, we are going to look at the Word of Faith doctrine called, 'JDS' or 'Jesus Died Spiritually'.
Most of the Positive Confession ministers teach this and it has implications for us that go way beyond any of their other
teachings. You may not have come across this doctrine yet, but I believe that it is important to grasp what is being said and to see
what it means for believers, because it is a most subtle and serious heresy and we need to be prepared to refute it.
To understand how JDS doctrine has come about and why it would affect our entire Christian walk, we have to start at
the beginning and see how faith ministers interpret the creation and fall of man. (Have your Bible handy for this message because
you will want to look up some of the readings yourself, just to see what the Bible actually says.)
First of all then, we have to see the absolute priority of right thinking and right speaking in faith ministries. What Copeland calls
"the principle of the inner image" is the first stage. This is forming an image (visualising) the desired result or condition
beforehand. Then the image is created in reality by speaking forth words that accord to the inner image.
file:///G|/WEBSITES/birthpangs/articles/wof/wells2a.html (1 of 20) [06/10/2010 13:48:00]

While Copeland does urge believers to make the Word of God (not new-age positive self-image) the basis for forming the right
inner image, his methodology still follows the same trend as new-age philosophies.
He says, in the article "The Image of God in You" (Voice of Victory March 1987) that "the Word has supernatural power. If you
fill that Word with faith and speak it out, it will work for you and change your life...words are powerful... They are containers that
carry faith...words are so important that they can determine our eternal destiny...words can destroy or they can create. They take
an inner image and project it onto the outside world..."
It is the word that has the power, Copeland says, rather than God. You need to grasp this aspect of the Word-of-Faith movement
or you will miss the importance of the JDS doctrine.
Copeland states "God's word (the Bible) is a living thing. It has the inherent power to cause itself to come to pass... God's word
has within itself the power to bring itself to pass..." (VOV March 1987)
This is apparently because God, in speaking his word, utilised just the same spiritual laws, or forces, of faith that WE are
now obliged to use in our quest for health, wealth and success. "God energized his word --- God's words are packed with
faith..." (ibid) thus God's words are containers packed with spiritual energy just waiting to be released when you speak them out
loud! The emphasis is shifted away from God, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and placed on written and spoken words to achieve
the end-result.
In their trust of the word, rather than God, the Word of Faith movement is falling into the same heresy as metaphysical cults
who believe in an impersonal force in the universe, a force that is activated by the spoken word.
The impersonal god-force of the cults is governed by spiritual laws, just as we humans are governed and limited by the law
of gravity for example. The god of these cults is not All-powerful, but a Force that must obey certain rules. Indeed, MANY of the
Word of Faith doctrines can be found sourced in esoteric philosophies such as "New Thought" which arose in the 19th century
and Christian Science, which was a version of this teaching.
In the Oxford Encyclopaedia of Religion, the entry on 'New Thought' reads almost like a Word-of-faith tract! Under the
heading PRINCIPLES, it lists "The reign of universal law", in that the spiritual and mortal world are governed by immutable laws;
also the teaching that "thoughts are forces" that have cause and effect. New Thought said that "mind is the dominant force in
man" therefore transforming the mind by a proper understanding of the laws of the universe (and learning how to interact with
those laws) was the most important principle in achieving progress and success, health and prosperity. It also taught that "man is
a microcosm of God" (i.e., ye are gods).

In a new-age Internet document "Spiritual Healing of all Things, from the Inside Out", Michael Connolly states:
"not only do we create our own reality but we create each other's reality also -- and therein lies the blessing and the curse. ...
our thoughts affect reality and indeed magnetize and give life to those thoughts, feelings, and experiences we hold in
consciousness. ...From a healing perspective, the restoration of health, balance, and life is a function of using the creative potential
we all have to project an image of restoration into the out-of-balance condition. While simple in concept, it takes practice to
discipline the mind to look past appearances and hold a vision of wholeness. This is where Faith comes in. As long as you doubt
the effectiveness of your visualization in bringing the healing you desire, you will have thoughts that are at cross-purpose with
your healing purpose and you will have mixed results.... Faith in healing is the certainty that the image you project is a reality over
any other appearance that may be present. It is more than belief. Belief doesn't mean knowing. Faith comes from knowing
with certainty. The more certain you are of your healing, the faster the results will manifest in the reality around you.... I
believe miracles will be possible for many of us... But we have to get into right mindedness in order to call forth those miracles."
There are many concepts here that word-of-Faith followers will be familiar with, including the need for a right inner image,
the creative power of words and thoughts, the need to discipline the mind to see a new reality based on the truth about ourselves
in God, and the visualising of the right outcome as important to bringing it forth into reality.
Both the new-age document above, and much of the Copeland ministry is based upon the same spiritual principles - the
inner image and the creative word. This requires the believer to follow spiritual discipline in transforming the mind, and in learning to
co-operate with immutable spiritual laws in order to make God's word effective in reality.
You see, when it is our thoughts and words that do the work, not the power of God, then it comes down to learning a formula
for faith. All we have to do is learn the words and say them in the right way! Even using the name of Jesus becomes a formula to
get power out of the word of God.
Biblical doctrine says that the word of God is powerful only because it is God's word. It is God who has the power, not
spoken words. But Copeland makes the words themselves the active agency.
Copeland: "It is the word of God, in Isaiah 55 and Mark 4, Hebrews 1, Jeremiah 1:12, God said, "I watch over my word to perform it.".
It is the word of God that is the bridge between God and man and it's the word of God that's the bridge between man and God. God,
in His covenant with Jesus, swore to Him, covering every spectrum of man's existence. Everything that could possibly occur in
the earth was covered in the Old Testament." (My emphasis)
People, today, seem obsessed with finding a bridge between God and man, that is, a way back to spiritual living. New Agers
say, the rainbow is the bridge. Others say, it is the Virgin Mary, or the Church, or even Lucifer is the bridge to God.

Faith ministers say, the word, the Bible, is the bridge. That is how we get access to God.
But the Bible says, in 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 5, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus". Jesus is the bridge, not the Bible. You see, God is already being restricted or governed by the spoken or written word.
Copeland says elsewhere, "God has no will outside of His word." Of course, God's word is comprehensive and true and God will
not contradict it. But how do we know God's ways sufficiently to say He has no will apart from His word?
There is to be another creation following this one, a new heaven and earth. Where is the Bible for that age? Can it be God will
have to dictate a whole new set of Scriptures, before He is able to interact with man in the ages to come?
Also, Copeland says this limitation applies to Jesus. He says, "God made a covenant, even with Jesus, to enable Him to do a
work on the earth". But Jesus is God. He is God Almighty. Jesus did not need a contract to visit Abraham, or Jacob, or Daniel in
the Old Testament and He still does not need a contract to exercise His power today. It is we who need the covenant because we
have fallen into sin.
Copeland: "Adam had been given authority over all the handiworks of God, the word says, and he gave that authority to Satan. Gave
it to him. Gave him authority over the earth and everything in it. And, then, he set up the world system. He had authority here - do
as he pleased - he was the god of the world. And in his authority he ruled man, and in order for man to get up from under his rule
he's gonna have to be reborn. Well, is God gonna make a new body out of the dust of the earth? How can He? The dust of the
earth doesn't belong to Him any more."
The cornerstone of Dominion Theology of any kind, is that Adam's authority, or dominion over the earth, has been lost and that
he has given it to Satan. But is that true?
Psalm 24 says "The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." [Note: this was
spoken after the Fall and before redemption!]
God is, and always has been, the King-God of the earth. Adam was only His agent, or viceroy, His executive if you like. Adam
was created as a subordinate to God, and given the job of tending and guarding creation, and of filling the earth with inhabitants.
The authority Adam had was DELEGATED AUTHORITY only. You delegate authority when you entrust your children to a
baby-sitter. The children are yours. They belong to you, not the baby-sitter. However, you make the baby-sitter temporarily in charge
of your children, trusting him/her with that task.
So it was with God and Adam. Just as you would demand that a baby-sitter abide by your rules and wishes in the care of
your children, so God required obedience in the stewardship of his earth. That is what went wrong when Adam defected to
satanic lordship.
In what did man's dominion consist? The following shows that man was steward of all created things, the animals, birds, fish
and land.
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." (Gen 1:26)
"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than
the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou
hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea,
and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." (Ps 8:4-8)
Did Adam lose this dominion? Well, is lamb still on the menu? I think it is!
The Word of Faith view of dominion, however, goes beyond stewardship of the earth. It proposes that Adam was a god-ruler of
his planet. I would ask a simple question about this viewpoint. If Adam and Eve were gods, what would be the attraction of
the serpent's temptation "ye shall be as gods?"
A definition of godhood is SELF-DETERMINATION. That is, the freedom to decide your own way, your own will, your own
fate. Naturally our Lord is God because he is self-determining. But was Adam? Was he created to do as he pleased and go where
he pleased? Not at all. He was given limited scope to act as he was told under the eye of his Heavenly Father, but not to go
beyond those bounds.
Thus, when Lucifer came along with the suggestion that Adam and Eve might become as gods, it was an invitation to
REBELLION against the over-lordship of God!
The suggestion of the serpent was that, in knowing all things, they would be thereby wise enough to make their own decisions,
and no longer need to be beholden to the commands of God.
Thus, what happened in the Fall was Adam's defection from service to God, and his (unknowing) acceptance of the lordship
of Satan. Because, of course, whosoever commits sin becomes its slave. What, therefore, did Adam and Eve actually give to
Satan? Why, their service, their obedience, their willingness to be led and taught by him.
So, when Adam chose to resign his God-given employment and to sign up with Satan as boss, did he hand over the earth to
Satan? No, of course he didn't. How could he? It did not belong to him. It belonged to God.
Did God lose the dust of the earth, then, as Copeland asserts? Not according to Scripture, that says long after the Fall: "the
earth belongs to God".
All God lost was the obedient service of His viceroy. So, God could have made another Adam, but He did not. The only reason
He did not strike Adam dead, on the spot, was because He loved mankind and wanted to save them from eternal damnation. THAT
is why Adam and the earth were not immediately destroyed, NOT because God was somehow deprived of His authority over them.
If you think about it, what Copeland is saying is that God is subject to Satan under this scheme!!
In other places, Copeland paints a picture of a despairing God gazing helplessly from the outside of his creation, trying to
formulate a plan for recovering his losses.
God has lost His earth to a fallen angel! He has to accept Satan's rulership. Nonsense! Let me put it this way: if I am Queen
of England and I send you as my agent to, say the Falklands, does that make you the owner of the Falkland Islands?
And if you decided to betray me to Argentina and become the Argentinean agent, instead, does that make Argentina the owner
of the Falklands?
Of course it doesn't. It might cause a lot of problems for the Queen of England because it opens a door to our enemies. It may
give them access to the manpower. They may even enslave all Falkland residents. But it most certainly does not transfer
the ownership to Argentina.
All you would be there is a traitor to your country, not worth saving probably. Just watch the Queen and the UK government
having "mercy" on such a traitor if ever they laid hands on you! Yet God reacted differently with Adam, with us. He forgave us
our betrayal. He sent His own Son to bring us out. Praise God!
How can we possibly belittle such a God or say that He is forced to do certain things?
Copeland: "He [God] treated Satan like he was the ruler of the earth. He treated him like he planned on treating Adam and that's
the reason Satan could walk before Him, in the days of Job, to and fro on the earth. And God said, "Where you been?" He said,
"I've been walking to and fro on the earth." He had a right to. God treated him the way He planned on treating Adam. He had to -
He had given Adam His word. If He had made another one out of the dust there, it would've looked just like that one did after it
sinned. So I mean, what good's - I mean, He's just reproducing the same thing. Besides that, the dirt's not His, any longer. So
God, really, is on the outside looking in." [My emphasis throughout]

Well, this really is saying that Satan has become all that Adam was meant to be. And God is forced, by His own word, to treat
Satan as the proper authority, or god, of this earth. This makes God beholden to a fallen angel. It almost makes God the subject
of Satan. (This is an important step in understanding the subject of "Jesus Died Spiritually" so hang in there!)
Well, what is Satan's authority, in fact? Over what does he rule? What does he mean, when he boasts to Jesus, that the
authority on earth is given to him? And what does it mean that he is "the god of this world"?
Let us remember that God still remains the legal and actual Owner of planet earth. God cursed the ground so that it lost
its fruitfulness and the animal creation was made subject to corruption, as well. Note that this cursing was carried out --- by whom?
By God, not by Satan or Adam, according to the word in Romans 8:20. If God had actually lost control at that point, how come -
after the Fall - He is exercising His authority over Creation to "subject it to futility" as the Bible says? Let's be logical in our thinking!
Secondly, Satan is not the god of the physical creation; he is only the false lord of the present world system. In other words, all
he has is the obedience of mankind. Whatever authority he exercises, it is only effective over the affairs of mankind.
Satan deceives mankind, and tempts us to sin; that is his authority. He has been given a certain limited scope to play havoc
with our lives and to cause certain tragedies, but nothing he does is outside the plan or rule of God.
God certainly is not on the outside looking in, impotently, as Copeland says. Copeland quotes the Book of Job, Chapter One;
he says, "Satan was walking up and down on the earth.". So he was. But, you will notice there, he had to apply to God for
permission before he touched Job and even then his actions were limited. And God overruled on Job's behalf, in the end. You
see, God is the Lord. He is in control.
Also, God was not caught out by Adam's sin, so that He had to patch together some kind of contingency plan, to get Himself out
of a hole. The Lord knew Adam would sin. He always knew He would have to send Jesus to save us.
Ephesians chapter 1, verse 4-5 says this, "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we
should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will" Yes, God had a plan even before Adam fell.
So, what about Satan then? Well, he is just a created being, a fallen angel who fell through pride. He wanted to be as God but
God cast him out before the beginning of time as we know it, and bound him to the dark regions below the earth.
Spiritually speaking, though, he is able to influence mankind through his host of demons and they operate in the atmosphere.
So, he is also called, "the prince of the power of the air", in Ephesians chapter 2:2.

His method is deception. He tempts man to do his own will and to fulfil his own plans. What Adam did, then, was to listen to a
false teacher and to put his trust in a false lord. Adam decided to do the devil's will instead of God's on earth; that is all there is to
it. Adam had a free will and he chose to follow the devil.
What God lost was fellowship with man and what man lost was his relationship with God. And, of course, that led to sin,
sickness, poverty and eventually physical death.
I have laboured this point, rather, because I wanted you to see that Satan does not have all that much authority. To say that God
is forced to treat Satan like the god of creation and He is bound by His own word to fall in with Satan's plan; it is just plain wrong.
Copeland: "See what happens. Here's God, in this position that Satan [has] - and Adam - have brought Him to. This thing has to
be rectified. God is looking. He's - He's - God is a God of faith, He's a God of His word. He uses spiritual force to create matter.
He doesn't - He doesn't fix anything with material things. He uses spiritual things to handle material things. So what plan does He
settle on? This has done more to rejuvenate, change, influence, overhaul - however you want to say it - my life, than any other
one thing I've ever learned, since I've made Jesus Christ the Lord of my life. God could have used creation, He could have used
brute force, the fire of God, nuclear - whatever. And He's got it all. All alternatives were open to Him to regain the most
prized possession that He had, everything He had. What did He do to get it? He gave. The law of giving is the most powerful thing
in heaven and earth. It is the force of this universe. Everything God has ever done, He's done through the giving
motive." [My emphasis]
Now, we see that God, because He has been bound by His own word and has lost His authority on earth, is forced by Adam
and Satan, to conceive of a plan to find a way back into His own creation.
God is pictured as almost scratching His head in frustration as He watches His own planet snatched out of His grasp.
The circumstances are ruling Him now and the plan, according to Copeland, is to use another spiritual law; the law of giving. By
this law, whatsoever is given freely is returned a hundredfold.
So God is now bound by the word, by Adam's sin, by Satan AND by the laws of the universe; the universe He created!
Copeland calls this law, 'the force of the universe,' and God is going to put this law to work to get a foothold back on the earth.
First, He has to "convince Abraham to agree to a covenant with Himself". In another place, Copeland has said "After Adam's
fall, God found Himself in a peculiar position --- God needed an avenue back into the earth --- God laid out His proposition and
Abram accepted it. It gave God access to the earth and gave man access to God --- technically, if God ever broke the Covenant,
He would have to destroy Himself."

As I see it, the covenant was actually God's act of mercy and love, in providing a means of atonement for man, to save him from
the consequences of sin. God could have left man long enough for him to destroy himself and blow up the entire world, because
that was what would have happened. And He could have sat back and watched as Satan took every man to hell for ever. Then,
He would have brought into action what it says in 2 Peter and the Book of Revelation, "The earth and the works that are in it will
be burned up", and Satan will be, "cast into the lake of fire".
But, instead of leaving man to his fate, God made a way for restoration of fellowship. He took the initiative. He provided
the covenant.
Indeed (and this is an important fact) long before Abraham was born, God provided a blood sacrifice atonement for the sin of
Adam and Eve. As soon as that sin was admitted, God killed an animal and covered the couple with its skin. (Gen 3:21) Don't
please have a picture of God the Father as a Fashion Designer crafting leather or fur tunics for the first man and woman. No, the
slain animal's blood was still upon the hide as it wrapped Adam and Eve, providing a blood covering for their sin. Instead of slaying
the first two humans on earth, God slew an animal as a substitute, thus giving us our first practical demonstration of how
redemption was to be attained (eventually through the divine Substitute of Jesus, of course.)
So, already, God is making a way for man to return to God. You see, He is not impotent at all. But Copeland interprets
the Abrahamic covenant in a different way. He says that God needed it to open a door for His word.
Copeland: "Now God has an open door in the earth for His word. He begins to give forth promises. Every promise God makes
will work, if somebody will walk. God began to make promises. The Bible says, He was making promises to Jesus - Jesus wasn't
there. Changed that old boy's name to Abraham and said, "You're My man". He kept making promises to Abraham, He kept
making promises to Abraham. What's He doing? With His mind of the word, He's creating. Very little at a time, He'd find people
that would listen to Him and do what He said, and He would get another portion of the word into the earth."
Remember what Copeland has taught so far - that God is outside his Creation looking in, seeking for a way to recover what
was lost. All that God can do is find a man who will accept His words, obey them and record them.
Elsewhere Copeland has said: "Now you see, God is injecting his Word into the earth to produce this Jesus - these faith-filled
words that framed the image that's in Him... He (God) can't just walk onto the earth and say "let it be" because he doesn't have
the right. He had to sneak it in here around the god of this world that was blockin' every way that he possibly could."
Copeland teaches that words are the creative agency by which God achieves His goals. In order to bring forth Jesus onto the
earth God has to announce it in words, and so God needs to find a channel for those words. In Abraham God finds that channel,
and uses him, (and later all the other Old Testament saints), to form a sort of repository of power in the form of words.
Copeland says, God was creating something. Every time God spoke, creative power was released that existed in that word. So,
by the time Jesus came, there were enough promises to cover all His needs. Then Jesus came.
And the important thing to remember is that Jesus is said to come as Adam, exactly the same as Adam, as a fallen creature,
except that He never sinned. The basis of the JDS doctrine is that Jesus came as the last Adam, to recapture for us all that the
first Adam lost - that is, dominion-godhood over this earth!
Copeland: "He called Himself the Ben-Adam - that was Adam's name. Son of Adam - the Bible called Him the Last Adam - it's
exactly like the first, exactly like him, exactly like him. He was like him, after he sinned, lost the glory of God, but without sin in His
life. He had to walk by faith. He couldn't walk by His inherited glory, because He's God Almighty,"
This brings us to the question of the divinity and humanity of Jesus. Now, people have been discussing this since Pentecost.
But what the Church teaches, and I believe this is the scriptural truth, is that Jesus was both God and man at one time, in One Person.
Some teach that Jesus was a man filled with God, others that He was God only and that His body was just a convenient
container. But this statement from one theologian sums up the orthodox position: "In the One Person of Jesus Christ, there are
two natures; a human and a divine nature, each in its completeness and integrity. And these two natures are organically
and indissolubly united, yet so that there is no third nature formed thereby."
In other words, when Jesus made Himself of no reputation and took the form of a servant, as it says in Philippians 2, He did not
lose His divinity and He was not just a fallen man like Adam.
Jesus was born into the flesh of man, (incarnated) yet that flesh was untainted by sin. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, not
of man. So, Adam's taint of sin was not in the human nature of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, this HAD to be the case, for only a
totally pure, unblemished and perfect Sacrifice could take away the sins of the World.
Copeland seems to believe that the physical body of Jesus (being human) was fallen because it was part of creation. He says
that Jesus was EXACTLY like Adam "after he sinned". The Bible does not say that. It says that Jesus was conceived of the Holy
Spirit, utterly without sin, and without the stain of original sin that taints every human being born in the normal way. The body that
was created by God in the womb of a Virgin was a perfect creation, befitting the divine son of God.
Although Jesus chose willingly to "take the form of a man" and in order to do so became willingly obedient to the commands of
the Father (as a servant) he did not at any time "lose his glory" of godliness as Copeland seems to suggest. Jesus was fully God
and fully man at all times. But listen to this:

Copeland in his ministry magazine "Believer's Voice of Victory" volume 15 issue 2 [February 1987] in a piece titled "Take Time
to Pray," reprints a supposed prophecy given through him at the Dallas Victory Campaign where Jesus Christ says: "They crucified
Me for claiming that I was God. But I didn't claim I was God; I just claimed I walked with Him and that He was in Me."
At the very least, there is a confused and muddled doctrine here - at the worst this is heretical. It seems that Copeland
believes Jesus laid aside his DIVINITY when he was born on earth and thus became merely a man who walked in God by the Spirit.
The very mechanics of the Redemption should be enough to tell us otherwise. The redemption of man was made
necessary because all of Adam's race were born with a sin nature. [What we call "original sin"]
Thus, there had to come One who lived outside of that sin nature in order to rescue us. God had condemned every man to
death because of sin; "The wages of sin is death". So then, if Jesus was just like Adam, He too would legally be condemned to
death, no matter how good and law-abiding He was.
It is not what we do but what we are that condemns us to hell; we are Adam's children. Jesus came in the "likeness" of sinful
man, yet without sin; it had to be that way. Jesus, then, was fully God and fully man, right from His birth. As Paul says in
Colossians 2:9, "In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily". You would be hard-pressed to put it any better than
that, wouldn't you?
** For those who would like to know more about the incarnation, and this subject of the humanity and divinity of Jesus,
there is some helpful material, and scriptures, at the end of this article. Go to the "Notes" section below.
Copeland: "But the word of God, now, was brought alive in her womb and when Jesus was born of Mary - Spirit of God in Him,
the flesh of Adam - He's born of God. He's got God's blood flowing in His veins, just exactly the way Adam did, before he
sinned. Except, this one is just like he was right after he sinned, with all of the weaknesses that Adam had after he sinned. And the
first thing that Satan said to Him was, "Make these stones bread". Same thing that Adam fell for. Jesus said, "Man lives not by
bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." Instead of doing what Adam did, He threw the word at
him, which is what Adam should have done. He should have said, "I have been told that I have authority over this garden - you get
out of it." But he didn't. So, three different times Jesus said, "It is written, it is written, it is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord
thy God."
Copeland says that both Adam and Jesus had "God's blood flowing in his veins". This is a theological and medical question that
we could debate, but let's stay on course and ignore it.
Let's pass on to where Copeland talks about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by the devil. Notice that he says it's

THE WORD that defeated the Devil, NOT Jesus Christ the divine Son of God. This is important.
You remember that, earlier, we found the spoken word was the power of the universe. Well, in the W-of-F teachings, because
Jesus was another Adam, albeit a sinless one, He also had to rely on the power of the word.
I agree that it was not simply the presence of the Son of God that defeated Satan. But the victory was the obedience of Jesus,
not the fact that He used certain words found in His Hebrew Bible.
We can now see why, earlier in the tape, Copeland said that God stored up a sort of repository of words to cover every
eventuality, because now Jesus apparently needs them. It makes me wonder just what would have happened to Jesus, in
this temptation, confronted with the devil, if He had had no Scripture to quote.
Now we can go on to see why God had to get His word into the earth, as Copeland says. All of it was actually spoken to Jesus.
Copeland: "--- through Christ Jesus. And if you'll read right on down in that - that third chapter, bless you, you'll find out along
about sixteen, seventeen and eighteen verses in there that the word that God spoke to Abraham, in the way of covenant promise,
was actually being spoken to Jesus."
Galatians 3:16, which talks about the Abrahamic covenant, says this;
"Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to
your Seed," who is Christ.". Verse 17; "And this I say that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul
the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of
the law, then it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise".
What was that promise, by the way? In Genesis chapter 17, verses 2-8 God says to Abram,
"I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly --- behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou
shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father
of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out
of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting
covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein
thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
So, the blessing of Abraham that Paul refers to in Galatians chapter three is this covenant promising blessing, prosperity,
increase and a land. He also promised to be Abraham's God - his Saviour, Protector, Keeper and everything else that

implies. Furthermore these covenant blessings were to be passed through Abraham to "his seed", which Paul interprets as THE
Seed, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Now, Paul is saying that Jesus Christ came as the perfect recipient of that promise; "All the promises of God are Yea and Amen
in Him".
So that, even though Abraham's natural descendants were and are blessed, the complete blessing of salvation and the favour
of God are obtainable only in the Seed, Jesus. Where? - in Jesus. That is the plain meaning of Galatians 3.
Look at verse 29 of Galatians 3, it says, "If you are in Christ, then you are Abraham's seed". In other words, how do you inherit
this blessing? By being a joint heir with Christ, because He is the promised Seed. If you are IN Christ you receive the
covenant blessings; if you are OUTSIDE Christ you don't - simple as that.
Copeland, however, puts a spin on this and says "the covenant was actually spoken to Jesus". This allows him to develop the
idea that God was planting a cache of words upon the earth, and making a covenant in advance with Jesus his god-man so that
- come the time of redemption - Jesus would be able to achieve the works of God by drawing upon that covenant and those
words. Hence in the wilderness temptation, Jesus speaks out the written word of God and so defeats the devil.
This mistake is only amplified by then having Jesus utilise the words of the covenant to oblige God to do His will.
Copeland: "God's covenant partner in the earth, Abraham, had given birth, by flesh, to God's Spirit through the word. Through
what word? - the covenant word, the covenant word. God had a race of people walking close enough to Him that He could
keep feeding the word into. Now, here's Jesus saying, "Rise, take up thy bed and walk." So what happened? God said, "You better
get up. My Boy said, 'Rise.' - that means, get up." Jesus said, "Peace", to the wind, "Be still", to the sea. God said, "You better be
still." And He's walking as a man, baptised in the Holy Ghost, out from under the dominion of Satan, and when He says, "Rise.", -
bless God you can get up. When He says, "Be still.", to the wind, the wind said, "Amen." Isn't that right? Can you see why? It was
the word of God in action. He's called the word. It was the covenant in operation."
Again, the emphasis is on the word, rather than on God's will. The Bible says, Jesus did the works of God by the Spirit of God,
not by speaking the words. He said in John 14:10 "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that
I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" . God was with and in Him,
inspiring Him by the Holy Spirit, and the miracles were the miracles of God.
But Copeland says, the reason Jesus was able to perform miracles was because He was entitled to make use of God's promises.
It makes His ministry a matter of education and study of the Old Testament, rather than a dependence on God's Spirit. Was the
real saviour the word of God, which Jesus used, or was it the Lord Jesus, who fulfilled the word?
The problem with Copeland's doctrine, here, is that we end up trusting the word more than God, and even Jesus is reduced to
a man who used the word of God to do miracles.
Now Copeland makes a grave biblical error below when he tries to reinforce his teaching that the blessings and curses released
by the words of Jesus are those of the Abrahamic Covenant.
Actually, Jesus released us from the curse of the MOSAIC law, not the ABRAHAMIC covenant!
The covenant Jesus fulfilled, in order to release us from the penalty of death, was the Mosaic law; the legal covenant God
made with Moses and the people of Israel. (See Exod 34:8-11) In Galatians 3:16, the passage we recently looked at, Paul
contrasts the promise to Abraham with the Legal Covenant given to Moses, four hundred and thirty years later.
What you need to bear in mind is that passage in Galatians three. Paul shows that the Abrahamic covenant, given earlier than
the law, is a covenant of grace that promised blessing and salvation. The Mosaic law, on the other hand, with all its sacrifices
and regulations and commandments, was a covenant of law. And it was the law that brought man into condemnation. Jesus came
to release us from the penalty of the law and to bring the Mosaic covenant to an end, in Himself. But He did not end the
Abrahamic covenant. Quite the contrary, He was the epitome of it. He was the expression and fulfilment of it. He was the
promised Seed in whom all mankind was to be blessed. That is the difference between the covenants.
Copeland: "All right now, notice the promise of the Spirit was the Spirit promising Abraham his blessing. The curse, on the other
hand, which is all listed in the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy - first fourteen verses is the blessing, the rest of it's the curse
and it says every sickness and every disease not written in this book of the law is under the curse. All sickness and disease
came because of the curse that came in between Adam and Satan. And here is Jesus being made a curse for us. Now, what does
that mean? Jesus, walking perfect and upright before God, as a man full of the Spirit of God, baptised in the Spirit of God, walking
in the name of the Father, He said, "I have kept them in your name." He's walking as a prophet under the Abrahamic covenant. He
has walked perfect and upright before God, tempted in all things like as we are, yet without sin. He did not fail it like Adam did.
He proved it and walked upright before it. No legal reason for Him to die."
You see what I mean? There is a terrible confusion, here. It is just not sound theology.
Look at the passage in Deuteronomy 28 for example, which Copeland calls, the ABRAHAMIC blessing and curse. Rather, look
first at chapter 27, verse 1, "Then Moses" - MOSES - "with the elders of Israel, commanded the people", and so on.
It was part of God's legal covenant with Israel, wasn't it? Chapter 28 begins, "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey

the voice of God...that the Lord will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you".
And He goes on to list them, health, prosperity, and everything else. Likewise, if they do not obey God, the opposite will
happen. God knew, and it actually came to pass in history, that if the people of Israel turned from God and served other gods, it
would bring them nothing but heartache, pain and loss.
He even told them they would lose the land of Canaan, which they did; all because they turned away from loving God. But I do
not see anything there about the promised Seed, or the salvation of the Gentiles, or justification by faith - all of that was promised
to Abraham.
What Galatians is speaking of is the curse of the law, that is death. You can easily check that by reading Galatians 3:13, "Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law." Once Christ had become a curse for us and paid the death penalty, then we were
freed from the law and able to receive the blessing of Abraham. You see?
Verse 14 tells us what the blessing is; the Holy Spirit, to bring us to life and live in us, to raise us from the deadness of sin
and reunite us with the Father. It is NOT, as Copeland has it, the "promise the Spirit gave to Abraham"; it is the promise of the
Spirit. See verses 2 and 5 for confirmation of that.
[The above is essential background information for understanding the JDS doctrine. Now please proceed to Part B of this article
where the JDS doctrine is discussed more thoroughly.]
Continue to Part Two(b) (or look at the scriptural doctrine of the incarnation below)
NOTES
THE NATURE OF THE INCARNATION
The nature of the incarnation is given to us by Paul in the Philippian epistle in the seven-fold humiliation of the Christ of God.
The seven steps of Christ's humiliation are noted in the following outline of Philippians 2:6-8.
1. Who, being in the form of God
2. Thought it not robbery to be equal with God
3. But made Himself of no reputation
4. And took upon Himself the form of a servant
5. And was made in the likeness of men
6. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself
7. And became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
This seven-fold humiliation of Christ may be summed up in three major theological points:
1. His deity, clauses 1 and 2;
2. His humanity; clauses 3,4 and 5; and
3. His crucifixion, clauses 6 and 7.
When Paul states that Christ "made Himself of no reputation" he is saying that Christ emptied Himself By being in "the form of
God" and taking upon Himself "the form of man" there was a self-emptying process. This is spoken of as the Kenosis Theory.
The expression "emptied Himself" comes from the Greek word "Kenoo" meaning "to make empty". Theologians in general accept
the Kenosis Theory, that Christ did empty Himself in the incarnation, but there is much misunderstanding concerning this
theory. Common questions are, 'In what way did Christ empty Himself?' 'What did this self-emptying consist of?' and 'In becoming
man did He cease to be God?'.
1. False Concepts
a. He Emptied Himself of His Deity
This theory holds that Christ in His self-emptying laid aside His deity, giving up His essential attributes when He took upon
Himself humanity. It can be refuted in that Jesus was always conscious of His deity. Deity could take humanity into union with itself
but could never cease to be deity. Jesus was God manifest in the flesh.
b. He Emptied Himself of the Possession of Divine Attributes
This theory holds that in becoming man, Christ gave up the possession of certain essential attributes of deity, such as
omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. On the other hand, this theory holds that Christ in becoming man did not empty
Himself of His moral attributes, such as love, truth, holiness and life. Also the essential attributes of self-existence, immutability
and unity with the Father were not surrendered. However, if Christ would have given up some of the divine attributes, which
seems impossible, then He would have ceased to be fully God.
c. He Emptied Himself of the Apparent Possession of Divine Attributes
This theory holds that Christ did not divest Himself of either essential or moral attributes, but simply acted as though He did
not possess them. This theory introduces an element of deceit that is totally uncharacteristic of the God of truth.
d. He Emptied Himself of the Use of Divine Attributes

This concept holds that Christ in His self-emptying, gave up the use of divine attributes. It holds that He did not give up the
possession of the divine nature and attributes but only the use of them. However, the Gospels, as it will be seen, show that He did
use or exercise divine attributes at times.
2. Proper Concepts
Christ in becoming man did not cease to be God, neither did He give up the possession or use of divine attributes, whether essential
or moral. It should be noted that God was not changed into a man but rather assumed the nature of man without ceasing to be God.
What did this self-emptying then consist of? Christ surrendered the independent exercise of divine attributes. He laid aside
His prerogatives as God to act as God, and became dependent upon Father's will for any exercise, operation or manifestation of
these attributes. A. H. Strong "Systematic Theology" (p.703) says "His humiliation consisted in the continuous surrender, on the part
of the God-Man so far as His human nature was concerned, of the exercise of those divine powers with which it was endowed by
virtue of its union with the divine, and in the voluntary acceptance which followed upon this, of temptation, suffering, and death."
a. Christ Was Always God
Before His incarnation, Christ was in the form of God (Philippians 2:6-8). In becoming man He did not cease to be God. The truth
of His essential deity before His incarnation precludes that He could not cease to be God in becoming man. Jesus Christ was
God before and during incarnation. He never ceased to be God. He is eternally God, but now He has taken humanity upon Himself.
In taking humanity, He did not empty Himself of His deity. To deny this is to fall into the heresies of the early centuries and align
with those who rejected the deity of Christ.
Herbert Lockyer in "All the Doctrines of the Bible" (p.45) says: "At His incarnation, Christ added to His already existing divine nature
a human nature and became the God-Man. At regeneration, there was added to our already existing human nature, a divine
nature and thus we become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Thus, like Christ, every true Christian is divine-human."
In quoting Dr. Louis Berkhof, Lockyer continues to write, "Christ has a human nature, but He is not a human person. The person of
the mediator is the unchangeable Son of God. In the incarnation He did not change into a human person, neither did He adopt
a human person. He simply assumed, in addition to His divine nature, a human nature, which did not develop an
independent personality, but became personal in the person of the Son of God."
b. Christ Always Possessed Divine Attributes
In becoming a Man, Christ did not empty Himself of any of His essential or moral attributes. We note this in the following Scriptures.

(1) Essential Attributes
(a) Omnipresence (John 3:13; Matthew 28:19-20; 18:20) Jesus knew, as the Son of Man, that He was both on earth and in
heaven. This is omnipresence. Only by this attribute can He also be with His people everywhere a times.
(b) Omnipotence (John 6:36; 14:11; 10:25,37-38; 15:24). The works of Jesus were divine works. Certain works only God Himself
could do. Jesus forgave sins, declared the divine name, I AM, and exercised creative powers which c belong to deity. Jesus was
all-powerful.
(c) Omniscience (John 2:24-25; 18:4) Jesus knew all men. He also knew all that was in man. As to His deity, He was all-
knowing. Nothing was hidden from His sight.
(d) Immutable (Hebrews 1:12; 13:8) Jesus Christ is The same yesterday, today and forever. His character, love and life
are unchangeable.
(e) Self-Existence (John 8:58; John 1:4; 5:26) Jesus offered men eternal life, saying that this life was in Himself. He that has the Son
of God has eternal life. This is an attribute of deity (1 John 5:11-13).
(f) Eternal (Revelation 1:8; John 3:16; 5:26) Jesus is the eternal Son of God. He presents eternal life to all those who will believe on
the Father through Him.
(2) Moral Attributes
The following moral attributes were also manifested in the Son of God. In becoming Man, He did not empty Himself of these
moral attributes of deity.
(a) Holiness (Mark 1:24; Revelation 4:8; I Peter 1:15-16)
(b) Righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30; Jeremiah 23:4-5; I John 2:1-2)
(c) Love (John 3:16; Galatians 2:20; I John 4:16-19). Jesus Christ was perfect love manifested. This includes goodness, grace,
mercy, compassion and kindness; all of which are qualities of God's love. (Ephesians 2:4,7; Titus 3:4-7).
(d) Faithfulness (John 14:6; I John 5:20; Hebrews 2:17). Jesus Christ is truthfulness personified.
Jesus was and is God, possessing both the essential and moral attributes of deity. He possessed the attributes of God because

He was God. As the God-Man He could never cease to possess all the attributes of God. Jesus was conscious of His deity as well
as His humanity.
c. Christ as God Became Dependent Man
The self-emptying of Christ as God was in the fact that He humbled Himself, and from being in the form of God, took upon Himself
the form of a servant. Though He was God and never ceased to be God in the incarnation, He became a subject, obedient
and dependent Man upon the Father for the exercise of His essential attributes.
Of His own free will He subjected Himself as the God-Man to the Father's will in total dependence upon the Holy Spirit. The Son
took upon Himself the limitations of a perfect humanity and exercised a continuous surrender of His will. He did not need to
suffer hunger, thirst, weariness, sorrows, suffering or death, and He never used His divine prerogatives to alleviate these infirmities
of human nature.
This self-humbling was not forced upon Him or against His will, but the love of the eternal Godhead compelled Him to bring about
the redemption of fallen man. Christ delighted to do the Father's will (Psalm 40:6-7; Hebrews 10:5-10).As the subject and
dependent God-Man He said that He could do nothing of Himself, only as the Father directed (John 5:30). Thus He never
acted contrary to the will of the Father and any exercise or expression of essential or moral attributes was in accordance with
the Father's will. As the perfect God-Man, He was totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit for all He said and did.
In summary:
1. In His Self-emptying He gave up the glory, the outshining majesty and outward expression of the Godhead that He had with the
Father (John 17:5).
2. In His Self-emptying He gave up the form of God and took upon Himself the form of a servant, without ceasing to be God. This He
did in the virgin birth (John 1:14; Philippians 2:6-8; I Peter 1:16-18).
3. In His Self-emptying, He taught only what the Father told him to say (Jn 5:30, 8:28,35, 12:44-50)
4. In His Self-emptying, He did only what the Father showed Him to do (Jn 5:36)
5. In His Self-emptying He came into voluntary dependence upon the anointing and enabling power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38,
Luke 4:14-18, Matt 12:38, Heb 9:14, Acts 1:2)
6. In His Self-emptying, He laid aside the independent exercise of his divine attributes, only exercising them as the Father willed.
This was self-subordination for a redemptive purpose. He never used any of his divine prerogatives for selfish purposes. (Jn
14:28, 3:16, 10:18, 1Cor 11:3, 15:27-28)
From THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE by Kevin J. Connor

Continue to Part Two (b)

"Wells Without Water" (2b)

This four-part study is designed to demonstrate, using verbatim transcripts of the tapes
of Kenneth Copeland, some of the errors in the "Positive Confession" movement.
with the tapes. Not only did Copeland say these things in the 1980's when this study was first created but he continues to
reiterate them up to this very moment. So do many, many others in the Word of Faith leadership.
These teachers are totally unrepentant of their heresies, despite having been approached by countless brethren who tried to
The Doctrine
of Word of Faith
[Note: all emphasis in Copeland's quotes is added by the editor.]
Part Two(b): RE-BORN OR RAISED?
Copeland: "Death is to be cut off from the life-source, and become the spiritual property of whomever is lording over that family.
No man or woman is an entity of its own. There's no such thing as God's thoughts, the devil's thoughts and man's thoughts.
Man doesn't have any thoughts of his own. He's under dominion of spiritual authority, either by the devil, who's residing over
Adam's family, or by Jesus, who's residing over God's family and there's nothing in between."
Well, we have started now to get to the death of Jesus on the cross. He says death is to be cut off from the life-source. That is
true, spiritual life is found only in God, that is why our spirits are dead without Him. But something else is alive, isn't it? Our souls
and bodies.
Copeland says, there is no such thing as an independent human nature, that we either have the nature of God or the devil. So,
we are always dependent on either God or Satan for life.
Wait a minute, though. Doesn't that mean that Satan is our life-giver before we are born again? Is the devil really able to provide
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us with a nature? I do not believe so.
When we were created, God gave us mortal life as well as spiritual life. Look at 1 Corinthians 15 for example, verses 44 and 45
say, "There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body...The first man Adam became a living soul.". We were created to have
a bodily life, like animals, and also a self-conscious, intellectual life that sets us far above the animals.
Even greater is the spiritual life that lifts us to God but that part died out when Adam fell. Even so, there is not the slightest bit
of scriptural evidence that Adam stopped thinking for himself, that he was dependent on Satan's thoughts, as Copeland says. He
most certainly thought for himself, just as you do and I do.
If our nature really were Satanic and we had no independent life as a human being, then we would not be responsible for
our actions, would we? I could indulge my sinfulness to the full and then say, "Well, what can you expect? It's the Satanic nature
- nothing to do with me."
Jesus taught us where sin comes from; He said it proceeded from the evil heart of man, not the devil. "Out of your heart come
evil thoughts", He said - your thoughts, your heart. How could anyone blame us, how could God blame us even, if we were just
the puppets of Satan? However, this teaching that man has a Satanic nature, in effect he is devil-possessed, is central to the
JDS doctrine.
Copeland: "Jesus went to that cross, made Himself obedient to death - now listen. Death came into His spirit the same way it came
into Adam's. The difference being that Jesus received it - not by committing it but by an act of mercy. The devil didn't know
the difference between the two - he thought he had Him. Sometime read the twenty-second Psalm - it's the Spirit of God's account of
it. Jesus bore Adam's treason. In His Spirit was lodged spiritual death. No longer was God His Father. 'Cos until He dies, in your
heart and in your mind, you'll never really live the faith. 'Cos you can see yourself live, if you can see Him die. He became as mortal
as Adam. The spirit life-source was cut off. God turned His back. His spirit died. If His spirit hadn't died then there wouldn't be any
price paid for it. If somebody's just gonna die in the flesh and pay for it - I mean, Abel could've done that."
So, what supposedly happened to Adam, (that he lost his divine nature and received a Satanic nature) that also, Copeland
says, happened to Jesus on the cross. Jesus, he says, actually and literally died in His spirit and took upon Himself the nature
of Satan. He became the possession of Satan. He was Satan possessed, in effect.
This is serious. "Jesus became as mortal as Adam". In the first place, Jesus was already "mortal" for He was fully human as well
as fully divine, the two natures mixed perfectly into one. But Copeland is not I think arguing that the body of Jesus was not a mortal
one before the Cross (although others, like Kenyon DID teach that). In saying Jesus became as Adam, he is teaching that his
spiritual nature changed from that of the divine to that of the devil - indeed this is what he confirms later in the same tape.

Kenneth Hagin says the same - "spiritual death means having satan's nature".
In saying that Jesus became as mortal and satanically energised as Adam, surely Copeland cannot also argue that Jesus "was
not a sinner". You might be justified in saying that Copeland teaches that Jesus sinned, since He received the sin-nature of the
devil. But if you do, Copeland has a threat for you - you will be cursed if you oppose this teaching.
Copeland: "This is where religion really has a hard time - I mean, religious people write today, fighting, fussing, fuming over this.
And there's one man, for my preaching this, attacked me and just publicly set out to destroy what I was doing, and the poor guy died.
I mean, his - forgive me for saying it, I gotta tell you the truth, brother - it weren't because it was me, he opened himself up to the
devil. Whoa I mean, the devil'll kill you. That sucker will kill you. He's no good, you understand? That man's body rotted - man of
God, man called of God. And he thought he's doing God a favour - he just couldn't stand for somebody to say the things that I'm
saying to you right now.
"Why, the-er-er very idea that Jesus-er was-er died in His spirit." Well, if He didn't, there's no way for you to live. If He wasn't
your substitute you can't, you're not gonna make it. Then he went far enough to say that I said Jesus committed sin. Now anybody
who goes out of here and says that Kenneth Copeland said that Jesus committed sin, is a liar. And woe be unto you for saying it.
You understand that? And anybody that comes along and tells you that, don't you forget what I said. Well, I didn't stutter, and I
said that as a prophet of God. Woe be, to the man, woman or child that said I said Jesus committed sin."
What Copeland says does imply that Jesus sinned whether He committed sinful acts or not. The logic is inescapable. To
become mortal like Adam, and to possess the sin-nature of satan is to become a sinner.
I do not know the facts about the man of God, who died as a result of opposing Copeland, but I suspect it may have been
Hobart Freeman, who went on TV in the States to refute the JDS doctrine. Hobart Freeman died of an infected ulceration of the leg
a few years ago. [This written in the mid 1980's] How dreadful to say that it was a result of his opposition to this heresy. But at
the same time, we can see how powerful these ministries are and how much is at stake. Let us be just as bold for the truth
as Copeland is for the lie.
Copeland: "He bore the law of sin and death, because that's what got into Adam's spirit when he committed treason and did
against God's word. It wasn't any big, horrible thing he did, 'cept he just didn't - he just didn't - follow the covenant that he and God
had. Jesus bore that. Now, that meant that all of the curse, every sickness, every disease, every sin, everything that happened in
the earth, because of Adam's union with Satan, came into the spirit of Jesus, not leaving out one single thing that has caused
the slightest failure in the human family. Because it all came because of Adam's union with the devil. He bore our sicknesses,
He carried our diseases and if you'll read your Bible you'll find out, that He went into hell as if He had committed it. And this last
Adam is in there suffering all that the law of sin and death will produce. Every sickness and every disease that has ever occurred in

the earth, occurred in His body while He's hanging there on Calvary. He bore our sicknesses and carried our diseases. He bore our
sin in His own body on the tree. Now can you imagine? Sin produces every kind of a disease you can think of. Sin produces,
AIDS, syphilis, every kind of a mean killing disease you can think of. Can you imagine that, all in that body at one time? No wonder
it was so deformed and pulled and twisted. And He's in there and this little spirit is no longer the spirit of the spotless Son of God.
It's the emaciated, sin-ridden spirit - just like what happened to Adam."
Scripture does say that Jesus bore or carried our griefs and sorrows, or "sicknesses and pains", as it can be translated; the
Hebrew words mean the same thing. Yes, praise God, He was wounded for our sins and bruised for our iniquities but that is not
the same as receiving sickness into His spirit, as it says here.
And it is not the same as actually being diseased in His body. The Father had promised His body would never see
corruption. Disease would be corruption, wouldn't it? Jesus was beaten and abused, whipped and crucified; that is why the
Scripture says, "His appearance was marred more than any man's", in Isaiah 52, verse 14. It was not because He was diseased.
Copeland himself says, it is sin that brings disease - but Jesus never sinned, nor was He a sinner on the cross.
To understand what really happened you have to look at the animal sacrifices of the old law. Under that law, instead of putting
a man to death because of his sin, which was God's just punishment for sin, God accepted the life-blood or soul of an animal.
That animal had to be totally blemish-free, totally perfect; it was minutely examined by the priests and nothing deformed in any
way was acceptable. When they did offer deformed animals, God condemned them for it. Listen to this, Malachi 1:8; "When you
offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil?".
Yet, Copeland wants us to believe that God will accept the sacrifice of the body of Jesus marred by every disease known to man.
It cannot be!
I personally believe that the stripes of Jesus were part of the atonement, where Jesus received in His physical Body the
sufferings in atonement for sickness and disease. When He was flogged, the punishment He bore was not for His own sins or
because He had given Himself up to Satan, it was for us. He received those stripes in His body as the type of physical suffering on
our behalf, and "with His stripes we are healed".
The physical abuse was one thing but "taking into His spirit all sin and disease" is quite another. That would have polluted His
very nature. And not only would it have made the sacrifice unacceptable to God, it would have removed any possibility of
atonement because, in order to redeem mankind, God has sent a pure, perfect, sinless offering for sin.
The law of atonement, as we have seen, demanded a perfect sacrifice, without any defect whatsoever. Well, when such a
sacrifice was offered to God in the Old Testament, did it then become sinful? No! The priests would lay their hands on the animal
and symbolically transfer the human sin to the animal. But an animal cannot sin. It did not become a sinner. The sin was, as we
say, imputed to it. It was a legal transaction, under the covenant, whereby God accepted a substitute.
Now, Jesus was our substitute. He gave his own body as a sin offering for all mankind; and the sins of mankind were "laid
upon him" - that is what the Bible means when it says "He became sin". He became a sin-offering. It most certainly does not mean
that Jesus Christ became a sinner, or received the sin-nature into his own spirit.
The sin and the sin-offering are so closely identified, in the Bible, that the Hebrew language uses the same word.
CHATTA'AH. Compare its use in Lev 4:3-4 with Gen 4:7 "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well,
sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him."
God here tells Cain that if he is in need of an atonement for sin, then the "sin-offering" stands ready and will not resist Cain killing
it to provide a blood covering. There at the door of Cain's tent, lies the animal he could use for a sin-offering.
That animal represented Cain's sin but it was not Cain, nor was it sinful. And Jesus represented the Adamic race in its sin, yet
He was not Adam nor was He a sinner. The phrase "He became sin" means; He became our sin-offering, our CHATTA'AH, the
perfect sacrifice who dies in our place, on our behalf.
Read Isaiah 53:10; "You make His soul an offering for sin", and Ephesians 5:2 says the same thing.
However, Copeland says that Jesus died, having taken the sin-nature of the devil, and He goes to hell, not as the Son of God,
but as a sin-ridden spirit like Adam. That means, Jesus must suffer the torments of hell, just like any sinner. Even though He died
and paid the price for sin, He had to be taken down to Satan's domain and to suffer all the punishment for sin. He is unable to
save Himself. He is no longer God.
But how can that be? Can you ever imagine that God can cease to be God, even for a moment? It is unthinkable that the
indivisible unity of the Godhead could be shattered.
And even more so, if Jesus were not God, at that moment, there would be no hope for any man because it is the very fact of
His sinless, Godly perfection that makes Him the sacrifice acceptable to God.
What does the word of God say? It says, the physical death of Jesus, on the cross, made atonement for sin. Let me give you a
few of the many scriptures that prove this: Ephesians 2:16 Colossians 1:22 Hebrews 10:10 1 Peter 2:24 and 3:18 and 4, verse 1. All
of these speak of the physical death, on the cross, as the means for redemption.
But Copeland says, the death on the cross was just the beginning. The real redemption was in hell, where Jesus had to suffer
three days and nights of torment. This is made plain in another of Copeland's statements below, oft repeated in his booklets,
his magazine and on tapes such as "What Happened From the Cross to the Throne".
Copeland: "When Jesus cried "it is finished", He was not speaking of the plan of redemption. There were still three days and nights
to go through before He went to the Throne. Jesus' death on the cross was only the beginning of the complete work of redemption..."
Actually, one of the verses I have just mentioned, 1 Peter 3:18-19 says "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: By which also he went
and preached unto the spirits in prison"
Now how can Copeland teach that Jesus was dead in spirit, devoid of the Holy Spirit, cut off entirely from the Godhead, when
the Bible teaches that Jesus was "quickened" or made alive by the Holy Spirit after his physical death and furthermore preached by
the power and anointing of that same Holy Spirit to the righteous souls in "prison" who awaited the release of redemption. Jesus
Christ defeated death and the devil by his sacrificial death and went victorious to the lower regions in order to preach release to
its captives!! That is so very far from how Copeland portrays Jesus Christ as "emaciated, sin-ridden".
Copeland: "For unto which of the angels said He at any time, "Thou art my Son. This day have I begotten thee. And again I will be
to Him a Father and He shall be to me a Son."? He didn't say that to any angel. See, God says something it happens. And again -
say, "Again.". What's 'again' mean? It means again, dunnit? And again when He bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world. How
can you again bring in the first? You lose the first one, that's what you do. He brought in Adam, now He's about to bring in another
one. He didn't get Him out of the dust of the earth but He's about to create with the same thing that brought Jesus into the earth
the first time - His word."
So, having "lost" the Son of God, because Jesus has died, God has to recreate Him. Once again, it is the word that does
it, according to Copeland. The word created Adam because God said, "Let there be man.". The word brought Jesus into earth, as
we have seen. And now the Father has to use words, again, to recreate the Son of God.
It is incredible, really, that anyone can preach this, but Copeland does. He makes a big deal out of the word, 'again', trying to
prove that if something is done "again" then it's the second time not the first. Is that what the scriptures really say?
Let's look:
Heb 1:5-8
5. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?
And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

6. And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
7. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
8. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
This use of the word "again" simply means; here's another quote. It's a way of saying, "in one place the scripture says this,
and again in another place it says that..." Paul is quoting the scriptures to back up his doctrine, just as we would do. He refers
to several scriptures, such as the one from Ps 2:7 and another from 2 Sam 7:14 and so on. [Compare Acts 13:33-35]
The use of the word "again" certainly DOES NOT prove that God recreated Jesus all over again. This is just one example of
the misleading way in which the Word of Faith teachers support their doctrines. [See the NOTES below for scriptures on
the Resurrection]
Copeland: "'And, again, when He bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, He saith, "And let all the angels of God worship
Him.".' Don't miss what's being said here. God is creating a mortal, sin-filled spirit, not the spirit of the Son of God - the Son of God
died as a sacrifice. Let Him die. L-let l-let let that spirit die. With your sin and death, let Him die. He's no longer the Son of
God. 'Therefore - God!' This is God speaking - God! What did He just do? He recreated Himself. God! Whatever He says comes -
you know I mean really. And God's creating Himself again, and again - I'll be Your Father - and again - You'll be My Son.
' And God, thy throne O God is forever and the sceptre of righteousness is your right hand'. All this time, God's talking to Him,
'They shall perish but Thou remainest, they shall be wax old as doth a garment, vesture thou shalt fold them up. But to which of
thy angels said He at any time, 'Sit on my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool.'? Are they not all ministering spirits,
sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs unto salvation?'.
Now, Jesus -- now Adam was born again from life to death. Jesus, born of the Spirit, by the word of God. Born again from life to
death. Died the death of a sinner. He did not sin, He died the death of a sinner. Well, when did Jesus become a Son unto the
Father, when He's born of Mary? Naw, that's just when He took upon Himself flesh. He'd always been the Son of God. But that
one died. Can you understand that? He died, He died. That's not the same Jesus. No more than you're the same you. But you'll
never be a different you unless you let Him be a different Him. God recreated Himself. Jesus became the first to ever be born
again under the new covenant."
So, you can see, now, that the JDS doctrine goes much further than just saying Jesus took a sin-nature and died. It actually
says, He ceased to exist as the Jesus who walked on earth and was recreated as a new creature. Not just raised, from the regions
of the dead by the power of the Spirit, but recreated.
The idea of God recreating Himself is staggering. To think of the ever-existent, eternal, unchanging God of the universe having
to be reborn in hell is beyond my capability to grasp.

After all, the word tells us that Jesus Christ is upholding all things by the word of His power, Hebrews 1, verse 3. And if He
ceased to exist, even for a moment, all things would come to an end. Yet, here it is being said that the Son of God not only died
and took into his nature the sin-nature of satan (that's bad enough!) but that He totally ceased to exist as the Son of God and had to
be recreated. He "was not the same Jesus".
The implications are very serious because Jesus is our Lord and Saviour. Not only does this reduce our Lord to a mortal,
sin-ridden, dead spirit, at the mercy of the demons of hell, it makes salvation depend, not on Jesus, but on the process of recreation
by the word.
We have to understand this, if nothing else. The result of this doctrine is that Jesus becomes a born-again man, as an example,
a pattern, just to show us how to become divine. Jesus becomes, as they say, the Way Shower.
Jesus is just "the first one to be born again". He is not God now; He is a new type of Adam, a born-again, Spirit-filled Adam, just
like you and me. Do you see that? - just like you and me. That means, anything Jesus is, we can be. We have the right to be just
like Him, as God-like as He is.
Listen to Copeland explain this on another tape of his: "The Spirit of God spoke to me and he said, "Son, realise this" - (now, follow
me in this - don't let your tradition trip you up.) He said, "think this way: a twice-born man whipped Satan in his own domain". And
I threw my Bible down, and I said "What?!" He said, "A born-again MAN defeated satan! - the first-born of many brethren
defeated him." He said, "You are the very image and the very copy of that one."...And it just begun, I began to see what had gone on
in there. And I said, "Well, now don't you mean, you couldn't dare mean that I could have done the same thing." He said, "Oh, yeah,
if you'd known and had the same knowledge of the word of God that He did, you could have done the same thing, coz you are a
reborn man, too." He said, "the same power that I used to raise Him from the dead, I used to raise you from your death in
trespasses and sin." He said, "I had to have that copy of that Pattern, to establish judgement on Satan, so that I could recreate a
child, and a family, and a whole new race of mankind". And He said, "You are in His likeness..."
Salvation does not come, in Copeland's scheme, by unity with the glorious Lord of all, who destroyed the works of the devil; it
does not come by the shed blood and the death of the cross. Salvation comes, as you will see, by following the example of Jesus,
by getting an injection of power sufficient to make you a changed being; make you, that is in your own right, by yourself.
If God's power recreated and empowered that dead spirit in hell, He will do the same for you. Why would you need to be reunited
to Jesus for that? The glorification of yourself is just a matter of applying to God for spiritual power. This is a New Age,
altered consciousness, in fact; it is an initiation into power. It is not what the Bible calls justification by faith.
The gospel that Copeland, and all the other Word-of-Faith ministries teach is one of self- empowerment by understanding

and utilising the same spiritual energies and words that the Way Shower did in defeating sickness and death! Rather than submit
our sinful "vile bodies" to the death of the cross and come in our emptiness and incapability to Jesus Christ as the only Victor
over death - we follow an example of how to live victoriously, we emulate the pattern of what Jesus did in hell.
This gospel teaches that salvation rests NOT in and through Jesus Christ alone, but in and through OUR ability to obtain
and exercise spiritual power.
Copeland: "So what have we got here? We've got a born-again, Holy Ghost-empowered, with-might, man - huh? And He whipped
the devil in his own domain, without any outside support, except the might of the Spirit lives in Him.
'And all power's been given unto Me, both in heaven and in earth. Therefore, you go to all the earth and you tell 'em what's
happened. They'll believe you.' The same words - Ephesians, huh? - the measure? The same - the exactly the same thing that God
did when He raised Me up out of hell itself, will happen in them, in their death of sin and trespasses. And they'll be raised up
together, with Me, and made to sit together, with Me, in heavenly places, as a joint heir with Me - with the same power, the
same might, the same name, the same spirit, the same mind. We have the mind of Christ, the same life, the same God, the
same Father. Hallelujah! And you're no longer subject to the devil and to this world, you're Mine. You go cast him out. 'If ye be
Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed' - it's just as singular talking about you as it was talking about Jesus - according to the promise.
Now, if you'll walk on it, the way Jesus did, God'll do the same thing for you He did for Him. You're the seed of Abraham, you're not
a Gentile. Gentile means without God, it doesn't mean non-Jew. It means without God. You're not without God. You're not a
Gentile. You happen to be born of God, you belong to Jesus and you are the seed of God, you're the seed of Abraham and an
heir according to the promise. Hallelujah! Man, that is the gospel. And if somebody'll preach it, it'll sweep the world."
Well, this is a gospel, all right, but it is not the gospel of salvation in Christ. We are only the seed of Abraham if we are abiding
in Him and He abides in us. We are only saved by virtue of His defeat of Satan. All the blessings exist only in Jesus.
That is true of authority, too, as Jesus said, "All authority belongs to me." He delegates it to His Church but He never gives it
up entirely.
What is salvation, according to the word of God? Firstly, it means realising you are estranged from God and have no way
of reconciling yourself with Him. And that vacuum in your life has been filled by selfishness and all kinds of sin. You cannot
save yourself.
Secondly, you come to see that what you could not do, Jesus has done for you, on your behalf. He lived a perfect life and
fulfilled every aspect of God's law, so He was perfectly acceptable to God. Then, when Jesus died, He died in your place and
suffered the penalty for your sin. He offered Himself, as your substitute, to set you free.

There is much more to your salvation than just receiving a legal pardon for your sin; God forgives you because of Jesus but He
also raises you to new life. And this is the problem with the Word of Faith doctrine; it makes life and power available to you apart
from your unity with Jesus. However, all that we have we have in Him.
Being saved from sin does not make us divine or perfect, it makes us forgiven sinners. Without Jesus abiding in our hearts,
we would not even change our behaviour. We would go on acting according to our human nature. Copeland, and the others, seem
to want to change man by putting power there. That is not God's way. Think of it, if your human nature were more powerful, what
do you think you would do with it? You would just be a more powerful version of what you were before - a more empowered sinner!
Rebirth is awakening to a new spiritual walk in fellowship with God. That is what Christianity is all about; not power, not using
the creative word, not developing faith to move mountains. It is a voluntary submission to the will of God in your life because
you realise that in your flesh dwells no good thing, as the word says.
And you need a higher experience than your humanity in order to please God. Without the indwelling Holy Spirit, all of us
are incapable of pleasing God, in the slightest. When you became born again, you covenanted with God to make Him the Lord
and Guide and Saviour, in all things, at all times. You agreed to obey Him, not self. Yet you cannot do so without a spiritual union
with Jesus by the Spirit. In ourselves we are NOTHING.
What Copeland is proposing is very like the New Age initiation into power; the altered state of consciousness that makes you
a spirit-being with creative energy. It is a doctrine that leads to self-Godhood and psychic power.
Our glory is only in Christ's presence within us, because only He has fulfilled the law, only He has defeated Satan and death,
only He is filled with new life. It is Jesus who is the giver of the Holy Spirit. Colossians chapter 1, verse 27 says, "To whom God
would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
CHRIST IN YOU is salvation. And Ephesians 3:16-19 says the same, "That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory,
to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith...". And Romans 8, verse
9 says: "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".
There is no salvation, no power, no glory, outside of Jesus Christ. And our glory is unity with Him. We are made a member or
a "limb" of the Body of Christ. What the Word-of-Faith gospel does is rob Jesus Christ of his place of pre-eminence, demote Him
from being the Head of the Body, and replace his victory with some kind of ability of our own to know and work the wonders of God.
Let us pray that this "gospel" will never "sweep the world" as Ken Copeland believes.

Continue to Part Three (or look at the scriptures on the Resurrection below.)
NOTES:
Scriptures that demonstrate how God RAISED Jesus Christ from the dead, and that he was not corrupted by his experience of
death, nor was he changed in essence, only in his body being raised as a "spiritual body".
Acts 2:23-27
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified
and slain: 24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of
it. 25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not
be moved: 26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: 27 Because thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Acts 2:30-32
Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh,
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; 31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left
in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Acts 13:30-37
But God raised him from the dead: 31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem,
who are his witnesses unto the people. 32 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto
the fathers, 33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in
the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. 34 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now
no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. 35 Wherefore he saith also in
another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the
will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 37 But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.
1 Cor 15:35-50
But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? 36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is
not quickened, except it die: 37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance
of wheat, or of some other grain: 38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. 39 All flesh is
not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. 40 There
are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star
in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is sown in dishonour; it
is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is
a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam
was made a quickening spirit. 46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which
is spiritual. 47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, such are they
also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the
earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom
of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Continue to Part Three

"Wells Without Water" (3)

The Doctrine
of Word of Faith
Part three: dominion OR deliverance?
This is the third study in the series "WELLS WITHOUT WATER" which is looking at the Word of Faith or Positive
Confession teachings.
As I explained in part one, Kenneth Copeland's messages have been chosen as examples because he is the most well-known
faith minister in this country and his teaching is representative of the whole movement. As I also explained, I don't intend to criticise
or condemn every single thing the Copelands say or do. Some of their teaching is sound. In any case you wouldn't expect
false teaching to be 100% error. If it were it would never be accepted in Christian circles at all.
Nevertheless, a significant proportion of all these messages is unscriptural and misleading and it only takes a little leaven to
leaven the lump.
In Part One, we looked at the forces that Copeland said were implanted in the human spirit and available for our use. Part Two
was about the "Jesus died spiritually" teaching which is perhaps the most controversial of all the faith doctrines. This says that
Jesus became a lost soul in hell because he had received the sin nature of the devil and was literally recreated as the first born-
again man.
Well, in this third part we're going to see how spiritual power is put into action by using certain laws in order to overcome sin
and death.
The tape series from which these messages of Kenneth Copeland are taken was based on Romans chapter 8 which says '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'.
Right away we can see two important features of living victoriously as a Christian. It says to those who are IN Christ Jesus,
abiding in HIS life and victory, living in Him and also who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.
That is: who are not following the dictates of their naturally selfish lives but who are obeying the voice of God and letting Him
lead them.
This means the emphasis, as always, is on Jesus the victor and ourselves as His servants. We are simply living out of the victory
of Jesus. I've said this by way of an introduction because the whole content of Copeland's message emphasises the law part of
that scripture instead of the Jesus part. He seems to see the law of sin and death and the law of the spirit as universal spiritual
laws that we can learn like scientific formulae. But the law of sin and death simply means as fallen human beings we inevitably sin
and die and there is no help for us outside of God.
The law of the spirit of life-in-Christ means exactly the opposite. Once we're born again the Christ-life imparted to our spirits by
the Holy Spirit will inevitably cause us to hate sin, and will inevitably preserve our souls from hell and death.
As Christians we're destined to glory but not by the action of scientific laws. What the Bible refers to above are statements of
fact. The idea that the world and spiritual reality is run by universal cosmic laws is not a Christian one, because Christians know
there is an almighty and personal Father existing outside the world system, One who is Lord of all, the Creator. However, the
universal laws idea is a belief of many heretical cults.
For example one of the founders of a cult called Unity School of Christianity says "the mental and spiritual world or realms
are governed by laws that are just as real and unfailing as the laws that govern the natural world. Certain conditions of mind are
so connected with certain results that the two are inseparable".
In other words, the laws of the universe dictate that success is inevitable so long as you think and speak the right words.
This is precisely what Word of Faith teachers tell us. It's all a matter of learning about spiritual laws and then putting them
into effect. Christian living becomes like using a light-switch e.g. if you press the right buttons you get a guaranteed result. If you
do certain things and say certain things you cannot fail to dominate your circumstances, they say.
If this were so, you can see that our success could be unlimited. We could learn to change the universe. Even death could
be overcome by this process and we shall see that the Word of Faith ministers are beginning to hint at it even now. The idea
that certain spiritually advanced Christians will eventually overcome death has been around since the turn of the century and it
is coming back into vogue but you have to listen carefully to get the drift of this teaching. It is there if you listen closely.
This first portion emphasises the importance of learning the spiritual laws and then using faith filled words to activate those laws.
Copeland: "Hear what the Spirit is saying to you tonight. If you will be attentive and listen carefully, what the Spirit of God is going
to share with you tonight will change anything in the world order. It will change anything in your life. Now, if you will listen attentively
to what I'm going to share with you, you can use it to receive from God and meet any need and change anything that is in your life.
I like something, a phrase that brother Kenneth Hagin used that was in one of the first tapes of his that I ever heard and it really got
my attention. He said, you can write your own ticket with God. Well, I'd never heard anything like that, nobody ever said that to me
and it got my attention, boy, I mean, I can write my own ticket with God. I'd always heard that God wrote the ticket and I just
got whatever was passed out you know.
Everything is governed by law. There is a law that governs sin and death and there is a law that governs the spirit of life in
Christ Jesus, nothing happens by chance in this earth. Well if he broke his power over death then who's got the power of death?
The Bible says the power or the authority of death is in the tongue. "What? The power of life and death is in the tongue. I just
cannot accept that!" I know it. But we are the generation that's gonna have to start accepting that, coz some generation somewhere
is gonna have to stand up before God and be responsible for preaching the message that puts the last enemy of God underfoot,
which is death, Hallelujah! And you and I are that generation, so we might as well get at it.
Those things are governed by law and the thing that governs those laws are words, say it with me, we've been saying it in our
daytime class 'faith filled words', say that, 'faith filled words dominate the laws of death', now say it again 'faith filled words dominate
the laws of death'. Now why do faith filled words dominate the laws of death? Now analyse that just a moment. You remember what
we read in Romans 8? 'For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death'. Faith
filled words are the control factor of spiritual law. Hate filled words and fear filled words are the control factor of the law of sin
and death. Fear activates the devil the way faith activates God".
You can see here the emphasis has shifted away from God's will over to MY will. The shift is made to sound so scriptural
and acceptable that you'd hardly notice it. The idea of getting God to dance to our tune is all part of the system. Once we've
reduced God to an impersonal force, and spiritual life to a set of laws that we can learn to manipulate (the force) then of course
the game is all about writing your own ticket with God, not listening to and obeying Him.
Though Romans 8 tells us that the law of the spirit of life is just that, the law of the spirit, not our own, it's here turned into a
spiritual law, one we can learn to operate for our own benefit.
And what is it that supposedly operates these spiritual laws? Words. The whole Word of Faith doctrine rests on the vital
importance of words. The power is not God's but the power of words and God has to use words to utilise His own power they say.
And we were saved by the power of the words too according to this next extract.
Copeland: "You picked words that lined up with the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, you believed in your heart that God
had raised Him from the dead and you confessed Him as Lord with your mouth and when you did it set in motion a part of the law
of the spirit of life called regeneration, it's called the new birth, it's called salvation, you were made a new creature in Christ Jesus
by that law and when it did, that law then through those words, those words activated the law, and the law itself dominated the law
of sin and death.
God said in verse three: "let there be light", or "light be" and there was light. So what happened? The earth had come through a time
of being without form and void, darkness was on the face of the deep. If you'll keep reading you'll find out, most of you know, that
there had been a flood, flooded this whole planet and killed everything on it. Now I'm not talking about the flood of Noah, this
was before Noah's flood, Noah's flood was the second flood recorded in the bible and God separated those waters and put
this firmament in there that we know now. Now notice this, light changed things. The force of light, the energy force of light, changed,
it drove out the darkness and gave form and life, it was no longer void, it gave form and life to the earth, ain't that true?
Now look at the book of Hebrews chapter 11 and it explains how it was done. Verse 1 of chapter 11 of Hebrews, 'now faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, for by it (or by faith) the elders obtained a good report...
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made out
of things which do appear...' or in other words everything we see was not made out of something you could see, was made out
of something you can't see, was made out of faith.
Faith, the force inside the words, that release the power, that brought matter into existence, was the word of God. Faith filled
words dominated the law of death, or darkness, or being without form and void. Voidness - that's death isn't it?"
Notice that it wasn't God who brought you to new life in Christ but the law. The law that was activated by your words. It was
an impersonal transaction. You just said the right words. Even worse, God himself has to do the same thing. It wasn't the Spirit
who recreated the formless earth but the "energy force of light" and that force was put into operation by the faith in Gods' words:
"let there be light".

The scripture in Hebrews 11:3 is then made to sound as if faith was the power of creation but if you read that verse for
yourself you'll see that it says 'by faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God.' This means, it is BY
FAITH that we understand it, not, as Copeland says, 'by faith the worlds were framed' = the worlds were framed by faith.
[Also, it should be said that many other scriptures show Jesus Christ the pre-existent God as being the Creator of this world.
Jesus Christ is the Word of God of course, and in the verse we refer to, the worlds are framed by the Word of God, that is,
Jesus Christ.]
You see how scriptures are twisted to make the doctrine sound biblical. We must always check up on the scriptures people use
to support their beliefs because they may be using them wrongly. Even Satan used scripture to tempt Jesus, and he still uses
scripture today to enhance his own lies.
It should be plain enough that God does not have to work by faith or to have faith in His own words. For a start, in what would
He place His faith? There is nothing greater than God. What is God going to believe in? Secondly, God knows everything. All there
is to know God knows, therefore, what need does God have of faith since He knows everything?
There was never any doubt in His mind that that universe would obey His word because He is God. So God is not using a
spiritual law or a force of faith or any such technique. The power resides in God Himself and when He speaks, the universe
obeys simply because He is God.
If we were to speak the anointed words given to us by God the Holy Spirit then what we said would also come to pass. But
why? Not because we spoke, not even because we had faith, but because we spoke the words of God.
So if anyone is going to dominate the circumstances it is God - not me, not you. God has the power. God has the right
motivation and God alone has the knowledge that enables Him to direct our lives. We don't have that.
Copeland's teaching, however, describes a God who is forced to submit to certain laws once they're set into motion - laws as
fixed as the law of physics:
Copeland: Faith will move God because certain laws are in motion. It looks like God is a respector of persons but He isn't. He's
a respector of faith which operates in law. He respects the law. He respects the law of physics. Now, I don't--- there are a
few occupations that in order to live you have to respect certain laws, but I don't know any occupation, any order, that has to
respect the law of physics any more than the electrician. He's got to respect those laws or, you know, we're gonna send his
saddle home someday if he don't. Another profession that has to respect certain laws is a pilot. Boy, I mean there's certain things
you do and certain things you don't do. You have to respect the laws that govern what you're doing, because you've got one set of
laws superseding another set of laws, and any time there is any power involved, when power is released, governed by law, it is
a blessing. When power is released when it is not governed by law, or another way to say it is without proper demand being made
on it, it destroys. Electricity released without law is lightning. It'll kill you."
So you see God is governed by law according to this teaching. That means if we say the right words with enough faith in them
God must obey. He's obliged to respect the laws of faith.
Copeland now goes on to illustrate this with three bible stories. He says David slew Goliath with his words, because "he said
he would defeat him". Once he confessed his victory there was no way David could fail to kill Goliath.
In the same way the woman with the issue of blood said she would be healed and Jairus' father said Jesus would heal his daughter.
In each case it was the fact of their having made a positive confession of faith that supposedly brought about the healing. But
was God forced to kill Goliath? Was Jesus forced to do healings by mans words? Wasn't it rather that they responded to the
heartfelt plea and the faith that accompanied it? Though God is not obliged to hear anyone, no matter how much he asks, He
will respond to faith because He is a loving, giving Father, but making God subject to a law means He is obliged to do miracles to
order whether He wants to or not.
God would have to heal the most blasphemous sinner so long as he said the right words in faith. This reduces God to a push
button robot. It takes the control out of His hands and makes man the master of his own destiny.
Anyone, however irreligious or sinful could learn this method of getting God to dance to his tune. What a mockery of the gospel.
The illustrations Copeland uses, electricity, gravity and later he uses water as an example, all show the same thing, that God's power
is supposed to be as fixed as a natural law and we only need to learn these laws to know how to operate the power.
It also means that Satan's power is the same power but wrongly directed. Just as electricity can harm as well as heal, so
Copeland says, God's power without law will destroy. So, you see, even evil and sin and disease and death is God's power, this
force that they believe in. And the only problem is that through ignorance of the spiritual laws we have failed to control
our circumstances.
Copeland: "What they're talking about, so their minds were not running in line with the laws that govern their environment, so
the environment always governed them, they never governed the environment at all. Now this is the way Satan's been getting
away with what he's been getting away with in the church. He's been governing the body of Christ when he don't even have any right
to it and doesn't have any power to because of our ignorance. But we build up all these ideas in our religions trying to answer
certain things not knowing what the laws were that governed it or how they worked if we did know what they were. We never
dreamed that it was words, yet we knew it was words that governed everything else. You got outside the church door you didn't

have any trouble with it anywhere else, you get inside that church and words all of a sudden meant a different thing, because
of religion, and so the devil governed us because we didn't know the laws and by not knowing the laws we were governed by
our surroundings, instead of governing our surroundings and doing what Jesus said, cast him out. "
If adverse circumstances are the result of ignorance then what do we need in order to dominate the circumstances? Do we need
a deliverance out of the kingdom of darkness? Do we need the power of God to reach down and bring us out? No, it seems what
we most need here is revelation knowledge.
We apparently need knowledge to enlighten our minds and show us the spiritual laws of the universe so we can change
everything around us. It's not a deliverance out of the world but a domination of the world that Copeland is preaching. It's not
God's power that delivers us but we find a way to use power to dominate all that threatens us. As a method it's as reliable as using
any other mechanical device, he says.
Copeland: "I realise that's easier said than done but I'm fixing to give you some things in a moment --- I told you already it'll
overcome anything in your life, it'll overcome grief, it'll overcome sorrow, it'll overcome financial trouble, it'll overcome anything there
is, because there is no law bigger than any of us.
I'm gonna show you how to put your faith on it like putting your hand on the gear shift in your car. When somebody starts teaching
you how to drive, I don't know how they taught you, but they probably took your hand and put it on and said "now this is the wheel
you know, this is the gear shift and this is the ignition key", and go through all of that, and you started touching things and
knowing what they were. And I'm gonna show you some things you can begin to reach out with your spirit and lay hold on them like
a mechanic uses a tool.
I saw Oral Roberts twenty years ago, and I went to Oral Roberts university nineteen years ago. I saw him using his faith and
it impressed me. The thought I had was that man uses his faith the way a mechanic uses a wrench. He uses it on purpose, and I
didn't know you could do that, and it impressed me. So I asked God, I said, "I gotta know how to do that, man, I mean he don't shoot
a scatter shot." And he'd say to me "don't lay your hands on somebody till you're ready to release your faith." I thought, why
certainly, you don't want to shoot a scatter shot, shoot it all in that one direction, but I wasn't too sure how to shoot it. Now, begin
to believe in your words, begin to have faith in your faith".
We could perhaps go on to say 'begin to worship yourself' because if you've found a power this reliable to use to dominate
your circumstances, so that even God Almighty cannot resist, then you've become a god.
You can decide what to do, you can call the shots; you can choose your environment - why would you need a Father in
heaven? You might just as well dispense with Him and worship yourself.

Isn't that just what Satan wanted Adam and Eve to do, to believe in themselves and their own power and ability? Isn't that just
what the New Age is all about, man can save himself and transform his environment?
Copeland then gives us a technique for putting your faith in words to work to get what you want. He says
1. Find out your needs and your desires
2. Find a promise in scripture that fits them
3. Confess that word over and over until you get what you want.
This means that no matter what your relationship with God is like, or even if you don't know God, you can browbeat Him into
giving you what you need.
Unfortunately this method sometimes works. The Rosacrucians have been using it for years - not using the Bible of course.
Pagans know all about this method because it's the one they've always used to cast spells and to cause various things to happen -
to get riches for example. It's called the exercise of the self will and it's nothing to do with God.
Returning to the text of Romans 8, Copeland now gives us a novel way of transforming that chapter into a positive
confession manual by making the spirit mean the word, and the flesh to mean the five physical senses.
Copeland: "We need to know some more about the Bible folks, we've been fooled. Amen. So I want to show you something here
from the eighth chapter of Romans that'll help you know what the Bible's talking about. We know from the gospel of John it says 'in
the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God', amen. We know that the Bible tells us in first
John, that the Spirit of God and the word of God totally and completely agree, so for study purposes and illustration purposes here
in this eighth chapter of Romans let's substitute the word 'word' w, o, r, d, the word of God for the word 'spirit'. Biblically the Bible
says we can do that because they agree.
'In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God, the word became flesh and dwelt among men', see.
All right. Everywhere it says 'flesh' it is talking about anything that operates, lives in, is perceptible to the five physical sense
gates. Anything that enters into the mind of man through the five physical sense gates is referred to as being in the natural, or being
in the carnal, which means the same thing, that comes from the word carnivorous, which just simply means meat. So it comes
through the five physical sense gates.
Alright, now lets read that like that. We're going to call it, every time it says flesh we're gonna say 'five senses' or 'five physical
senses'. Verse one again, 'there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the
five senses but after the word. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For
what the law could not do in that it was weak through the senses, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for
sin, condemned sin in the sense realm that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the sense realm
but after the word of God, for they that are after the senses do mind the things of the sense realm but they that are after the word,
the things of the word realm."
This is a very neat trick. Copeland has, at a stroke, transformed a gospel of faith in the work of Jesus on the cross into faith in
words operating in the spirit realm as opposed to anything operating in the sense realm.
Though the word and the spirit do agree they're NOT THE SAME THING and we therefore cannot substitute one for the other
like this. Even less are Jesus Christ (the Word) and the Holy Spirit interchangeable. We cannot change the text of the scriptures to
suit our own interpretation, as Copeland does here.
One could equally argue that Jesus and the Father agree, so everywhere the Bible speaks of Jesus we can substitute the
Father. The Father was crucified on the cross, for example. But that's not what the Bible said is it?
So here in Romans 8, the Spirit of God is not "words", and the flesh actually isn't the five senses either. In the Bible the term
'the flesh' is used in several ways but mainly and certainly in this passage, it means the whole human nature without God, fallen
human nature. That would include the body, the soul and the dead spirit of an unbeliever. His whole earthly nature without God.
It's the flesh that opposes God and drags us away from God, not our five senses. Our senses, sight, hearing, taste and so on
are purely neutral and given to us by God as a way of finding our way round the earth. Our senses can be used for good or evil -
they are not in opposition to God in themselves, indeed we can utilise our senses in our Christian walk without committing sin.
Let me illustrate that point: you may have been out to a restaurant recently. There, you exercised your senses. You looked
around you and saw the other diners; you heard them chattering, you saw and smelt and tasted your food. None of this is evil in
itself. Yet Copeland seems to denigrate whatever is of the five senses as being in opposition to God..
What resists God is the fallen nature of the flesh, and our evil desires that impel us away from holiness and sanctification. But it
is perfectly possible to be guided by the flesh in something natural, without sin. For instance, when we smell dinner cooking,
we salivate and desire to eat!
But if you read this passage the way Copeland suggests, you end up with two opposing realms. One is the word realm and
the other is the five senses. So the word of God becomes some kind of mystical, esoteric revelation knowledge that's on a
spiritual plane above the natural world.

Reality and truth, for Copeland and the Gnostic heresies and many cults today, is on a spiritual plane, and to have victory over
the earthly plane we have to deny the evidence of our senses they would say.
Read the passage for yourself, trying it both ways and just see the difference it makes. Sinners walk in the sense realm
Copeland says - but don't we all do that? When's the last time you used your senses? You are using them all now - the sound of
the rain on the window perhaps, the smell and taste of your coffee, the sight of your computer screen, the touch of the keyboard ---
are you condemned for these? According to Copeland, YES, because you are "living in the sense realm".
And godly people walk in the word, Copeland says. But, can't we do both at the same time? Spiritual people acknowledge
their natural senses, and the world around them, but they recognise at the same time a higher reality. The two work together. Only
a Gnostic doctrine condemns "the sense realm" as "the flesh" and denies its contribution to our Christian lives.
This teaching, of course, leads up to the vital importance of words, of governing what you say in order to gain control of this
spiritual realm.
Copeland: "We need to understand more concerning the secret of words. We talked about it some already in this meeting, I want
to talk about it a little more. Jesus raised the dead with words. He healed the sick with words. He cast out the devil with words.
When you were reborn your spirit was reborn with that glory, that glory is in there. Now what God is wanting us to do is get out of
this physical sense realm, and quit being bound up by it, and stop letting your flesh rule and dominate you, and get the word of
God into your spirit until it gets into your mouth - and the word is where the glory is. He said it is the glorious gospel that gives you
the light of the knowledge of the glory that is in you, which is the power of God that created the heavens."
What we have to realise in order to understand this teaching is this: Copeland says that Jesus died in Hell and was reborn as
a regenerated man filled with the glorious power of God which in several places, by the way, he identifies as light.
Now because Jesus did this, so can you. You also, he says, have a power source inside you and that power is released by
words. Jesus did miracles by words and that is how you do miracles. Both you and Jesus draw on the same energy source of light
that originally created the heavens and earth.
With this sort of power available to man, it's no wonder some Christians believe we can take dominion of the world, defeat sin
and death and transform ourselves and our environment completely. But the problem is this, we'd be doing all that outside of
God's will, because in fact the glory of God is the glory of God, not of man. He will give His glory to no other it says in Isa.42:8.
How are we glorified then? Just by being united with the glorified Son of God, not by ourselves. Jesus has the glory, and we
only share it in unity with Him. For instance, a piece of coal is a dead chunk of dirty rock until you put it on a fire, then it takes the

glow and the flame and the heat of the fire and it becomes changed, it becomes part of the fire. But if it falls out onto the hearth it's
no good to anyone, it's just a chunk of coal again.
You are only able to have power or to be glorified so long as you stay in the fire of God, and abide in Christ.
But here we have a teaching which encourages bits of coal to join together and try to generate enough flame to cleanse the
hearth rug. It's senseless and totally unscriptural but it does appeal to some who want power outside of God's will.
Copeland: "Come on, it don't work for me cause I'm a preacher, it didn't work for the apostle Paul cause he was an apostle, it
don't work for Oral Roberts cause he's an evangelist, it don't work for Kenneth Hagin cause he's a prophet, it works because
we're Christians. And it works cause we believe it and it works because we stood on it and it works because we've studied it
and developed it and found out how it works, what makes it work. So if that's the same faith in us that's in God, and it is, and God
used His faith to create the heavens and the earth, how come I can't create a planet?"
Well, the logical answer is "YOU CAN", in this scheme of things, if only you could develop as much faith and understanding as God.
The way to become a god in all the cults is through secret wisdom, the knowledge of the cosmic laws that will enable you to
control your environment and even to overcome death.
Next, Copeland uses the story of Abraham and Sarah at great length to show how their ageing process was halted and they
were able to conceive a child in old age. How? By faith, because they exercised the power of faith and confessed the promises of
God until it came to pass. So, logically every Christian ought to be able to overcome the ageing process and even eventually
overcome death itself if he will become advanced enough in the knowledge of spiritual laws.
Copeland: "Now, God did as He had spoken at the set time she [Sarah] nursed. How did it come to pass? I'll show you it came,
go back over there to the fourth chapter of the book of Romans. It came to pass by being fully persuaded that what God had
promised He was able to perform. It came by faith, so that it might be by grace, it came by calling things that be not as though
they were, it came by believing the covenant that they had with God, and confessing it and acting as though with God that they
had never seen and God acting with them like they'd never seen.
"Well brother Copeland do you think I could have a baby and me eighty years old?" No, probably not. God hadn't promised you to
be the father of many nations, though some of them run around thinking that He did, but He didn't. But the same faith that changed
her that much, and stopped that ageing process in its tracks, will work in the life of a believer today.
There's all kinds of stuff that you've been blaming off on age, now there's, of course, there's things about your body that are going
to change over a period of time, but at the same time, you hadn't got any business going around confessing how old you are and
how you can't do anything and how nobody wants to listen to you -"we're just on a fixed income" - well who fixed it? Unfix it with
the power of almighty God. You're just now old enough to know a little something and we need you, we need your wisdom, we
don't need you griping and you bellyaching 'bout how old you are.
Let me talk to you young kids a minute, don't let anybody put you down cause you're young, don't let anybody put you down cause
you think you're middle aged. I'm not middle aged, well yeah I am too, I was middle age when I was forty six, the Lord told me I
was gonna live till I was ninety two so I was middle age at forty six but that don't mean nothing to me, that just don't mean a thing
to me, I fight this body of mine, I mean I fight this thing.
The apostle Paul said "I buffet my body and I put it under control". I fight this thing all the time, I mean I slap it --- I don't need to slap
it around, I let the devil slap it around. I fight the thing, I grab it and jerk it up and say "now you get in there, you get yourself on
that floor and do your exercises." "I don't want to." - "You get in there and do it anyhow. We're not through, we're not through". You
say, how'd ya lose all that weight? A lot of prayer, regular exercise and precious little food. You can't do it without all three. A lot
of prayer, a lot of the word of God, regular exercise and not much to eat."
Here we have another aspect of the struggle to gain dominion and it's really the same struggle that we see with the New Agers -
to change the world.
The fear of pollution and chemical additives and fertilisers, and all the other threats we appear to face today is forcing many
people today to set up campaigns to change our lifestyle. Some will even exaggerate the dangers to scare us into giving up
certain foods, scare us by talking about heart disease, cancer, allergies and so forth until we feel guilty if we are not making
strenuous efforts to improve our health and fitness levels.
And Copeland's desire to overcome the ageing process is really in the same category because he sees age and death as a
threat to his faith. Also, as we saw earlier, it's the spiritual realm that is important in this teaching, not the material, so it must
be possible, they believe, to develop to such an extent spiritually that we can dominate the material realm. And Copeland stresses
that not only prayer but diet and exercise are essential to achieve this domination. (Again, gnostic overtones in this belief!)
Now, of course, there's nothing wrong with being fit and healthy. We should take care of our bodies. But when the Apostle
Paul spoke of "disciplining his body" did he mean getting up early to jog around the block? Did Paul force himself to do press-ups
every morning? Is that what he meant? Was Paul seeking to develop dominion over the natural realm so that he could have
victory over the ageing process?
Let's look at the scripture Copeland used (from the New King James): [And By the way, Copeland quotes this scripture
incorrectly. He obviously quoted from memory, but his memory is faulty, and he ends up forcing the scripture to fit in with his
own philosophy. But note the correct reading.]

1 Cor 9:16-27
For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! ---
to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for
an imperishable crown.
Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.
But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
OK, then, what from that scripture do we learn about Paul's attitude to his physical flesh? And what did he hope to gain? Did
he undergo rigorous physical exercises in order to defeat the ageing process and to gain dominion over the sense realm? NO! It
is clearly shown that Paul kept his flesh in subjection so that he would not fall into sin, thereby forfeiting his "imperishable crown".
This passage has nothing whatever to do with diet and health issues.
A similar mention of the flesh/body is found in Rom 6:12-14
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as
instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (NKJ)
Now returning to Abraham and the covenant of promise to Abraham, we can see an illustration of Copeland's confusing treatment
of this whole subject. Instead of teaching on the blessings of God in the seed of Abraham, (that is, in Christ) Copeland turns it into
a personal and individual blessing for yourself alone.
You, Copeland says, are entitled to claim all the blessings of Abraham because the promise is individual for you.
Copeland: "Now anything that was promised to Abraham belongs to you. I'm talking about the promises of Abraham that were
spiritual, that were mental, that were physical and that were social.
The blessing of Abraham, Abraham's blessing is ours, by faith. We are the seed it says. D'ya notice the word seed is singular,
one seed. Back over now in that third chapter of Galatians verse 14, the last part of it, "...the promise of the spirit through
faith, brethren, and I speak after the manner of men though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed no man disannuleth
or addeth thereto, now to Abraham and his seed..."

You notice it's singular there, where the promise is made. He said "not unto seeds as of many or plural but as of one to thy seed,
which is Christ, and if you be Christ's then are you Abraham's seed...", it's still singular.
When it's talking about the promise it is just as singular talking about you and about me, the children of God that belong to Jesus,
we are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the same promise. In other words when you stand on the promises of God, they
work just as good for you as they do Jesus as long as you're standing on them in Jesus name."
You see, Copeland is telling us that what was promised to us 'in Christ', the Seed, is now ours on an individual basis. He
stresses that the "seed" is singular. Of course it is - as the Bible itself says in that passage, the "seed" IS CHRIST. But the real focus
of blessing for Copeland in this passage is YOU AND ME, not just Christ.
The implication in what Copeland says is that the promise of God to Abraham (which on the previous tape he told us were
the blessings of the Mosaic Law in Deuteronomy 28!) are promised to us as Christians, not just to Christ and thus ourselves
as members of Christ.
Please consider the important difference in the two concepts. If I take your credit card and take money out of your account in
your name, that's robbery folks. The money doesn't belong to me.
Even if you gave me permission to draw out money it would still come from your account, not mine. It's your money, not mine.
The blessing God made to Abraham was made to The Seed, which is Jesus Christ. Every bit of glory or blessing or favour or
power belongs to Jesus Christ. It's His. He was the one who died for our sins and rose again to be Lord over all the Church and
we're complete 'in Him' not in ourselves. The blessings are in Him not in us. We receive them by His grace as we walk in Jesus.
The second point is this: once again as in Part Two of this series, Copeland has confused the blessings of Abraham with
the covenant blessings of Moses. He talks about social, material and physical blessings.
This will ring alarm bells for anybody who believes in the promised blessing of Israel in the endtimes, or anyone who
has encountered "replacement theology" where the Church is supposed to replace Israel in the Old Testament blessings.
Copeland is here talking about the blessings promised to the tribes of Israel under the law of Moses in Deuteronomy 28.
These were national blessings and they were conditional on the people obeying the law. They included prosperity, fertility, victory
over enemies, and personal and national dominion over others.
Now I'm not saying we can't receive physical or material blessings from God - of course we can. The word of God says that we
can expect God to provide for our physical as well as our spiritual needs. ( Rom 8:32 /1 Cor 3:21-23 /Phil 4:19 ). So we
should confidently ask for whatever we need. But that promise is not based upon the covenant of Moses, it's based on the
new covenant or new testament sealed in the blood of Jesus.
If you have needs, you have a greater covenant in Jesus than the Jews had in Moses. Jesus has fulfilled the law in Himself
and brought us to greater blessing by His life. So you see, Copeland is deceiving his followers by telling them that they,
individually, are the seed of Abraham. We're only the seed if we're united to the seed, and even then the blessings are still HIS
not ours.
Now, what is the method that we have to use to receive these blessings, according to the Word-of-Faith doctrine? Well, one of
the main methods that Copeland suggests we use is visualisation.
Copeland: "The whole world is flowing in a death bound negative direction. You watch it on television, it's programmed into
your thinking, you see it in the newspapers, you see it in magazines, you hear it from people's mouths, it's around you all the
time, that's been built in there. Now you need to go to the word of God and begin to build God-based, word-based hope which is
an inner vision, an inner image painted by the word of God, and then when you put faith in that, faith becomes the substance of
things hoped for.
Now listen to me cause I'm about to tell you something that'll change your entire life if you'll just listen to me. I know, the Bible is full
of it, it's based on it, the Bible said Abraham received Isaac raised from the dead in a figure. He saw it in his heart and in his
mind before he ever saw it with his eye.
I was praying and I asked the Lord, I said "I'm asking you to help me, help me to draw from the word of God, help me paint
pictures from the word on the tablet of my heart and my mind". I know it's available cause I do it in the negative and in the natural
all the time. "Oh, but that might not be God, maybe I just dreamed that up". Not if you dreamed it out of the Bible. Now if you
just dreamed up some wild something on your own that's different but when you go to the word and you find God's promise in His
word and then you fit that promise to you, and you begin to paint a picture of what you would be like if that promise had already
been manifest in your life. You keep doing that, every moment or so during the day, close your eyes and say "I see myself recovering,
I see myself recovering".
You see, Abraham heard with his ears like brother Capps was talking to us today about. Dear Lord those services were good
today. And he said everytime somebody said Abraham, his name means 'father of a nation' or 'father of great multitudes' and
God affected his vision by taking him outside in a star-bright night and said "Abraham, see all those stars"? He said "yeah". God
said "I'm going to give you that many children". Now from then on when somebody said "Abraham", he saw the heavens. See what
he did? God marked his mind forever. That's the way you get it. You go to the word of God, you find the promise concerning
the situation and you start confessing that promise and you start seeing it. I don't care if you have to walk up and down your

bedroom floor, you wear a hole in the floor."
Here we have, then, the core of the Positive Confession teaching which is really a technique of applying Bible promises to
yourself by visualising them and confessing them until they come to pass.
Abraham is supposed to have used this technique when he believed God's promises. But did he? No doubt the illustration of
the number of stars in the sky and the sand underneath him impressed on Abraham the immensity and scope of God's promise to
him - yet would this have made him MORE inclined to believe, or LESS?
This also misses the point of the blessing, for it was based upon Abraham's total OBEDIENCE, and not upon his
mental capabilities, much less upon techniques of visualisation. Abraham did not bring the promise to pass through visualising
the night sky, but by being obedient to God, and believing the promise.
Gen 22:15-18
And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD,
for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in
multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall
possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
However, Copeland says "That's the way you get it. You go to the word of God, you find the promise concerning the situation
and you start confessing that promise and you start seeing it."
This is a technique that's now being used by thousands of deluded Christians to achieve success, prosperity and spiritual power
in order to change themselves and this world. Instead of submitting themselves to God's will for their lives, they set out to make
every Bible promise come true for themselves, in their own wisdom, regardless of their circumstances. They've strayed off the path
of gospel truth and are following myths and fables in the pursuit of personal advancement.
This is a religion governed by self. Let's pray that God will deal with every aspect of selfishness in our lives so that we can
avoid falling into this sort of error.
Another worrying aspect of this technique is that it will work (as Yonggi Cho states) whether you are a Christian or not.
MANY people in the world are practising visualising and receiving the end-result of their desires. This is undoubtedly a
psychic technique which - if perfected - will bring results. But should a born-again Christian have anything to do with it?
For example, the new-age article I referred to earlier in this series, on "Spiritual Healing of All Things" has almost exactly the
same sequence of events - affirmation, confession and visualisation - for producing the desired result:
" Spiritual Healing of all Things - From the Inside Out" by Michael Connolly.
Most of us have heard and a few of us practice the idea that "as we think so we are," and that our thoughts affect reality and
indeed magnetize and give life to those thoughts, feelings, and experiences we hold in consciousness. It's part of the
standard education curriculum for the new world. ...From a healing perspective, the restoration of health, balance, and life is a
function of using the creative potential we all have to project an image of restoration into the out-of-balance condition. While simple
in concept, it takes practice to discipline the mind to look past appearances and hold a vision of wholeness. This is where Faith
comes in. As long as you doubt the effectiveness of your visualization in bringing the healing you desire, you will have thoughts
that are at cross-purpose with your healing purpose and you will have mixed results. Any attempt to bless and heal through the spirit
is positive and will do more than believing in the appearances you see. Faith in healing is the certainty that the image you project is
a reality over any other appearance that may be present. It is more than belief. Belief doesn't mean knowing. Faith comes
from knowing with certainty. The more certain you are of your healing, the faster the results will manifest in the reality around you.
So as we see a condition we want to heal, here are a few possible steps we can use to get into the frame of mind to put this energy
to work for us.
1. Acknowledge what is. Start from what appears to be. All healing starts from where things are right now. But at the same time,
know that there is no condition or appearance that is stronger than the the power of the All-That-Is.
2. Acknowledge with a statement, the qualities of God you want to have expressed in this condition. Something like: The
Healing Energy of the All-That-Is is all powerful, all loving, and all knowing. There is no thing It cannot do, no condition It cannot
heal, and It knows how to restore perfection to every situation.
3. Acknowledge with a statement, your link to, and oneness with, these qualities. Say, "The healing power of God is present in
this situation. I am one with that energy and call it forth to heal, bless, and bring perfection to this situation.
4. State your desired result as if it is already so. Say, for instance, "In this situation there is only perfection, in this situation there is
only God expressing. In this circumstance, the energy of God is flooding the cells of this body, the heart of this soul, and the mind
of this being to accomplish a complete healing of this condition."
5 Give thanks that it is done.
6. Release it to God. "I know that I am one with God. I know that my prayers are answered. I know the highest and best outcome
is coming forth in this condition. I now release it for fulfillment."
The process becomes integrated and you begin to pray without ceasing. If your friend's friend has to go into the hospital for
an operation -- it becomes and automatic thing to invoke this energy. You can visualize white light energy filling their body,
pouring forth from their cells, and filling their aura like a cloud of bright potent light.
You now have a consciousness that can work miracles and all you do in service, in healing, in creating abundance, will be so
much more effective! There are many situations that will present themselves in the next few years that will call for miracles and
healing. We are all apt to become aware of much suffering as the old world begins to disintegrate at a more rapid pace. At the same,
I believe the miracles that will be possible for many of us will become commonplace. But we have to get into right mindedness in
order to call forth those miracles. So remember... We create each other; How you see someone else is how you contribute to their
self-image and circumstances; You can do miracles by calling forth the All-That-Is in every situation; Pray without ceasing.
I want you to consider in what way this occultic practise above differs from the Word-of-Faith doctrines of Ken Copeland? Does
he not teach the same things? Is their god one and the same?
Visualisation is not only a psychic/mental and occultic device for obtaining things for our own selfish needs, but it makes God a
slot-machine in the sky. We hold Him to ransom by demanding that He perform for us every promise in the Book. But where is
God's will in all this? It is overruled! God - they say - has no choice! God's will is not considered, and it is an error even to pray "if it
be Thy will" since God has already promised us everything. All we need to do is activate the promises by seeing them, speaking
them and claiming them.
As in the above quote, "god" become an Energy, a Force, that can be manipulated to cause certain miracles to occur. But this is
not biblical Christianity or biblical faith.
Is your God a robot who is required to answer your every desire? Is your Bible just a source-book of goodies, a chocolate box
of things that God wants you to claim? Is prayer a matter of Name-it and Claim-it? of Blab-it-and-Grab-it? Or is it an interaction of
TWO minds and hearts - both yours and God's?
If seeing a picture of yourself healed, blessed, prosperous (or whatever) is the key to answered prayer, then what becomes of
those devoid of imagination, or slow, or uneducated, or with a damaged mind? This is a technique that only some can follow,
and which penalises the Christian who has never learned the process, or who is unable to make it work properly!
But what does the Bible say about prayer? It is something we do "boldly" and without fear, but "in His will" and "believing" that He
is a God who cares and who knows our every need. And we can be confident of an answer to prayer IF we are walking IN HIS
WILL and doing what is pleasing to God:
I Jn 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

I Jn 3:22-23 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are
pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one
another, as he gave us commandment.
Matt 6:7-10 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their
many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask
In Part Four we will expose some of the more extreme teachings that are a direct result of these errors. Is Copeland heading
right into the New Age? Move on to Part Four by clicking the link below.
Continue to Part Four(a)

"Wells Without Water" (4a)

The Doctrine
of Word of Faith
Part four(A): teaching OR travesty (1)?
The messages studied in this fourth part of the series "Wells Without Water", were originally compiled by the Christian
Information Bureau, formerly the organisation handling Dave Hunt's material. (Dave Hunt's material is now available through
"Berean Call", and his website is therefore at Berean Call.)
The first message on this compilation tape shows us the goal of the Copeland ministry:
EXTRACT ONE: THE PURPOSE AND GOAL OF THE MINISTRY IS PROSPERITY
Copeland: "Now the purpose and the goal of this ministry, this is THE purpose and THE goal of this ministry, I want you to turn off
your religious thinking a minute. First thing somebody says 'what's the purpose and goal of this ministry'...'well the purpose and goal
of this ministry to get souls saved'..., well that's true yes, that is the purpose of the body of Christ, that's the purpose of every
believer. But there are different offices of ministry, there are different callings, there are different purposes inside that calling, and
the purpose and the calling of this ministry as of this day is to bring the body of Christ to a working, believing, operating,
functioning knowledge of the laws that govern abundance in the kingdom of God.
When God says I'll meet your needs according to My riches in glory, I want to know what those are, OK? And that's where we are, is
to share that with the body of Christ. To know what to do, how to function, in order to prosper in this earth, to be in line with the earth,
in order to win the world and bring the body of Christ to a place where Jesus can come.
This emphasis on teaching the body of Christ the laws of prosperity has governed the Word of Faith ministry for some years
now. Indeed, it is seen as central to the work of saving the world.
The fact that prosperity teaching is the goal and purpose of his entire ministry must mean that Copeland and the others like him see
a different vision of the future than we do. It is this vision that's at fault, much more than the supposed laws of prosperity.
What the Bible teaches is that God will supply your needs if you are truly serving Him. It also teaches that God cares about us
in minute detail and if we are poor, without proper housing or employment or anything like that, we can pray and believe that God
will deliver us from poverty.
God has nothing against you owning a house and a nice car so long as your heart is right with Him and you are not living in
greed and materialism. The word says it is the love of money that's the root of all evil, not money itself, so do not be afraid to ask
God to supply your needs, even to the point of abundance.
That's one side of the question. Another point is this: yes, God wants us to be generous and to give as He leads us. It is not
wrong to give to your church or minister or to other Christian works, of course not! It's also true that the measure you give is
the measure you receive, not only in giving, in giving money that is, but in all areas of the Christian walk. If we are open handed
and generous, we needn`t fear poverty because God will supply our needs as they arise.
So much for the positive side of things. But prosperity teaching goes much further than this. This whole subject is so huge it
would take an entire article just to begin exploring it. I will have to trust that readers are familiar with the Bible and its teaching
on riches, generosity and so forth. I hope you will be aware of the emphasis in scripture on being content with what you have,
and avoiding the love of worldly things.
So I'll just go on to the central vision of the prosperity message, that is, we need, as Copeland says; "To get into line with the
earth in order to reach people".
Copeland: I want to share some things with you that God showed me while we were in Africa, that I hadn't seen before, never
had occurred to me before, I should have but I didn`t... it just, err, a deeper revelation of what's already going on... The list - the
prayer list that we take, the computer readout on the prayer lists that are brought to me, all the prayer requests that are brought to
me for me to pray and lay hands and so forth - running away the most request, is for 'help in my financial life'. And 'in where I am
right now with the-the way the - the world's functioning financially and the - the needs and necessities of my life'. Far and away,
that's the number one prayer request and that's for two reasons, number one because the whole world's sick financially. Two,
is because we have some reputation of knowledge in that area, so people are consequently gonna ask for prayer concerning
that, where we are concerned, because we don`t write them back and say, well God may be trying to get everything ya got. Ya
know (ha ha!)
So it is important - it is vital to what the body of Christ is doing right now, to know how to function in this. One other thing I`m going
to tell ya before I go any further: THIS IS, this is the message this ministry is going to preach until God says different, THIS is
what we're going to preach and teach. I'm going to preach it, until you get tired of hearing it, and then when you get tired of hearing
it, I`m going to preach it until you get untired of hearing it. It's going to be just like it was on faith, back there-15, 16, 18 years ago,
when God was getting hold of the people that would listen to Him concerning faith and righteousness in God. You are going to
hear about finances and about how to prosper in the Kingdom of God and how to prosper in this earth and bring the body of Christ
- thereby, bring the world to a saving knowledge of Jesus - you are going to hear it, and you are going to hear it, until you either
shout or stick your fingers in your ears, one or the two, but you're gonna find out and God is not gonna be held responsible for
your poverty and for your life."
There is today an increasing demand on the church to dominate the nations and Christianise the world. We are being urged
to become an army sent out to capture all men for Christ, despite the prophecies that speak of a world-wide apostasy and
satanic worship in the end-times.
One of the ways in which we can change the world's system, so they say, is to gather into the church all the wealth of the
nations, (the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the church they say, misquoting the OT prophecies) and with these riches we
can influence governments and change society for God.
Furthermore, on a personal level, in order to impress men and women of the world with the gospel, we ought to be just as rich,
just as successful, just as worldly in effect as they are. We have to "get in line with the world"; we have to get on to their level.
Well I don`t need to tell you, that this is not the way of God! It never has been and it never will be. The power of riches is a
corrupt power. We have seen it bring men and women of God, even recently, to a complete shipwreck of their faith.
Once the motivation of wealth takes hold, preachers get hooked on receiving more and more money from their followers, and
their spiritual lives go into decline. These men begin to lie and cheat and exploit Christians simply to keep their status.
They compromise so as not to lose followers, who begin to represent an income rather than people in need of help and support. It's
a ploy of the devil.
Prosperity teaching is not going to win the world. The preaching of the gospel doesn't need million-dollar jets or glass cathedrals
to be effective, anymore than it needs a Vatican City and treasure houses of paintings and works of art. God abhors this
materialistic attitude because it exploits and endangers His beloved sheep. Let God supply your every need, but don`t be coerced
into supporting the "Salvation of the world by the Laws of Prosperity".
You`ll notice too, that Copeland says the greatest amount of prayer requests is for financial help. Isn`t that sad? Have we
become so deaf to God that our only concern in life is to be prosperous and successful? God forgive us, we are the Laodicean
church! We are poor and naked but we don`t see it. We need God so much.
EXTRACT TWO: COPELAND'S SPIRIT COMES OUT OF HIS BODY AND HIS RESISTANCE OF
IT BECOMES AN ENTRANCE FOR SIN.
Copeland: And I got into a service one night...I was standing - [it was in a city auditorium it had a regular type stage with curtains
on both sides] and I was standing over there, you know like you do, and - and I was standing behind the curtain waiting for 7.30
to come, I don`t like to start at 7.29 or 7.31, I like to start at 7.30. That's what the sign says, so I just figured God would bless not lying
- you know, and I`m standing there just waiting on 7.30. The microphone was standing on, a -a, mic stand out there in the middle of
the platform and I`m standing back over there behind the curtain, and - and- and my body was so [eeky? (tape unclear)] and so
tired my knees would hardly hold me up. And I`m standing going like this and the [eekiest?(tape unclear)] sensations started
taking place inside me I have ever felt in my life. And suddenly I began to be a-w-a-r-e that my body, that my spirit is coming out of
my body.
It scared me and I grabbed hold of it with my will and wouldn`t let it go. And I said, 'now God, somehow now its 7.30 and I`m
going out there where that microphone is'. I really didn`t think I could make my foot go one step. I thought if I move it, I'd fall over.
I didn`t have any energy, nothing left in me , zero, zip, that's it. Now I`ve been exhausted before, I mean, I've been an athlete all my
life and done all that, I`ve played till there wasn`t any play left you know, you go and take a shower and in a little bit you're alright -
but this time, man, there was nothing left. I did not have anything there.
I am trying to impress on you that it was God, Holy God! And I said 'in the name of Jesus', and I started, the word says, say to
the mountain, and the mountain was my feet, they wouldn`t move and I said ' in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, you will
walk, bless God, you will go out there, I will not back down, lay down, bless the Lord God, I will lay down and die before I back off
and say, I can`t, in the name of JESUS'.
I just kept on and kept on, and I finally got out there to the microphone and took the microphone and sang about four notes, then
the anointing of God hit me. Man, I want you to know, I preached half of the night, I mean with [power coming (?)] out of my body, and
I-I mean and I-I really did, I just preached and preached, and preached and preached and preached. I got back over to the hotel and
I couldn`t quit. And went to bed and couldn`t sleep, and all night long I didn`t sleep (mumbles and stammers) got everything
packed, got everything going, went out to the airport, and got into the airplane and flew the thing home. Couldn`t quit! I got home
and decided I'd better go to bed. I went in there, layed on the bed and finally went off to sleep and slept for fourteen hours.
Now it took days and days and days and days and days, to get that off me and to get to where I felt I was just, you know,
just anywhere just near like normal - not rested, dear Lord, I didn't feel rested for years after that. Go on, you can laugh, but
every meeting I would go into I would go down to the bottom, and I would go home and try and rest a few days and I would not
get rested till I had to go in another meeting and finally got into a rest debit. I couldn`t catch up with it, I couldn`t get rested, my
body was getting weaker all the time. It kept getting weaker after that night. It began to get weaker and weaker and weaker and
weaker and I began to think, I don`t know what I`m going to do. And then I got the word, well I thought, well I-I want to meet
the people's needs by the power of God, I-I, but if it involves anything physical, I`m liable to die right in the middle of the prayer
line, now I`m telling you it ain't funny (?)( tape unclear) and I just, I didn`t know what to do.
Over a period of three or fours years, I noticed a strong spirit of compromise on me and I don`t compromise. I`ve based this
ministry on not compromising the word of God. The little things began to get in. Sin wasn`t as repulsive to me as it used to be, and
not nearly as repulsive as it should have been. Even though I was standing against it, it began to kind of aggravate me, because,
O well you know, I mean, everybody does that (mumbles). Pressure got on me so bad, that I began to say some negative things
once in a while and I'd hear that stuff come out my mouth, and I couldn't believe my own ears. It would come out before I could catch
it, and I'd think, 'Lord this ain`t right'. Always in the past if something like that would start out of my mouth, I'd catch it and
certainly wouldn`t let it come out of my mouth, and I would repent and renounce it and fall on my face. And now I found myself being
a little bit, say, a little bit aggravated because, bless God for fifteen years, I hadn't had to rant or cuss or nothing , I can`t even say,
I can`t!! Huh?
I still had the revelation of it, but I was having a hard time trusting. Now when I begin to minister, I get on the road, get in the word
of God the anointing would come on me, man! And I mean I hit that platform, and I mean it was good old age of hearing it .[??]
I'd come off that platform and get out of my ministry and get in my every day life and it was breaking my back, physically and spiritually.
It finally got to be such a heavy burden on me, that I cried out to God, I said, I can`t stand this anymore, I got to go one way or
the other, and I am not going to go that other way. Now we got to come to an understanding here someway or another, so God
began to deal with me. He said, I want you to go on a fast next January - this was back last summer. He said, I want you to go on
a fast next January, and He said, when you pray, and when think, and when you start to pray about it, don`t even pray about it, just
talk in tongues about it a little bit, He said, don`t tell anybody about it, don`t tell Gloria or nobody what you`re going to do.
So January came, and I got into that fast, and I began to pray and seek God. God all around me had begun to speak through
the mouths of other spiritual people, and began to tell me, and I didn`t want to hear. It would make me so mad, it would just fly all
over me, just like taking an old rooster and rubbing his feathers the wrong way.urrr Man ! Somebody come up to me and say,
'Oh! Brother Copeland, The Lord is telling me, that God wants you to double up and get faster and reach more countries and
more nations and go to the other parts of the world', and I`m thinking on the inside and I'd [be saying (mutters) (tape unclear)] ' yea
just shut up will you!! I`m worn out! Besides that for the first time in my life I`ve got a son that's old enough to do somethings with me
as my friend and my buddy. He loves to hunt, I love to hunt; he loves to fish, I love to fish; he loves the boat, I love the boat, ha ha !
He loves to water-ski, I love to water-ski; he loves to snow-ski, I love to snow-ski, (I fall, he skis) but I love being with him, and I love
to do all these things with him. And for the first time in my life, I`m not sweating where my meals are coming from. I don`t have a
bunch a money in the bank, but it got to where I can buy my groceries. And over a period of time, just when things would
happen, different people had given me guns to hunt with, and gifts from God, I knew they were from God and I said, for the first time
in my life I got a gun in there to hunt everything, and every season, and I want to hunt, and so does John.
And now God's coming in here and telling me, I want you to be going one hundred per cent commitment, I want you [fully
(?unclear)], I said 'don`t you give me that trash', I weren`t ready to hear that. And I finally told the Lord, 'we got to get
something straight here.' Now I-I don`t know whether I just want to get out here and die for you or not. Now it had been all that
years ago, that I would have died for Him on the spot. My heart still wanted to, but my old bone meat didn`t. My old flesh didn`t, and
my flesh was ruling me, in my own personal life, and it was about to get over into my ministry and I knew it. So it had to be
stopped before it could get over into that ministry. I'd rather die than have that ministry putrefied with the flesh.
So, I got into that fast. Oh dear Lord, I got out there with God and God began to work me over and I let Him, I told Him, I said,
I'm not going to be able to do this without any strength, I said, you`ve got the strength and I`m here, so let's get at it. I had
already made up my mind, and I said, well whatever you want to do, I'll do it, dear God. I don`t know what I was thinking about
anyway, that ain`t nothing but sin. If I know I`m going to fall dead in my tracks the next time I lay my hands on, well-well I'll just
die that's all, I`m going to do it.
Well then God started to turn my heart. Then I started tearing the thing up too, digging around in it, digging the selfishness out of
it, and about fourteen days on nothing but water, I found the seed to that compromise. I was begging God, show me where that
thing is, I got to know where that spirit got into my ministry and into my life, I-I, how did it get in there? I hate sin with a passion, how
did that get into me, got buried up in my flesh somewhere. How did it do it? He said, 'the day, the day you down there in such and
such town, standing over there behind that curtain and your spirit starting coming out of your body and you jumped back like
you thought you was dying and you let fear get a hold of you', and I remember, I did.
And I said, 'well God, I mean - ha-ha, - really now, what kind of horse do you think I am, that they're not going at least to give [a
few chairs?(unclear)] to stand there and die'. He said, 'you weren`t dying', I said, 'what you mean, I wasn`t dying, my spirit was
a coming out of my body'! He said, 'that's right, you were fixing to'- He said, 'you were about to come out of your body and I was
going to allow you to minister to that congregation without your body. You were going to go through that congregation like a

whirlwind of the power and the glory of God'. I said 'you`ll have to show me that in the scripture'. And He said and He showed
me Second Corinthians, and chapter One, two, three, four, five and six.
The Apostle Paul said, 'I bear, I carry around with me the dying in my body for you, that the life of God might be manifest in
my mortal flesh' he said, 'the one that raised Jesus from the dead is in you and He will make alive your mortal body'.
He said, 'you missed that opportunity for that experience'. I said 'what was I going to do?' He said, 'I`m not going to tell you, coz
you missed it...' I said, 'could I have a second chance?' -ha-ha. He said, 'you walk with Me, I`m going to teach and train you about
the glory'.
I saw where the compromise had came in, and at that time I read about the Apostle Paul, and the fact that he wouldn`t quit..
No Lord. They tried to kill him, but the bible says, he wound up being the aged Paul. And I got to reading Maria's Woodworth-
Etter's Diary, and she preached and prayed and preached and prayed and preached and prayed til when she was a little over
forty years old she couldn't get out of the bed. Every morning somebody would have to come and lift her body out of the bed. She
was so tired and so weary, and they would help her, and she would get to the auditorium and get to where she was to minister, and
the glory would come on her and she would preach from nine thirty in the morning until one-two o clock in the morning.
But, I said Lord, ain`t you going to give the women any rest at all? He said, O yea, read on a little further. So God ministered to
her, and said, I want you to start ministering healing, and I want you to start laying hands on the sick. I thought, yea, God you`re
going to kill her! And she prayed, she said, I prayed and said, God how can I do this, I can`t get out of bed without help now! She
was forty-five years old, a year younger than I was, felt like the oldest woman in the world.
I heard Oral Roberts, I heard a tape that Oral Roberts, preached back during the tent days, he said one night "I feel like the
tiredest man in the whole world but I can't quit, Can't quit." And that was thirty years ago and he's still swinging a big stick. Praise
God, Hallelujah.
She began to lay hands on the sick, and that's when another manifestation began to occur. God would freeze her body. All of
her physical functions would stop except her heart-beat and her breathing, Oh, He rested it! Sometimes she'd fall over and just
lay there, sometimes for a few minutes sometimes for a few hours. A few times for days. She rested without movement, and twenty
five thousand people paraded by her to see the statue woman. And over ninety percent of them were born-again just standing
they're looking at her. Why? The glory was flowing.
This second message given in July 1983 shows us that something is seriously wrong with Copeland's understanding of
the scriptures on the subject of the body and the spirit.
He says that God showed him that compromise and sin began to get a hold on his life because he resisted God's efforts to bring

his spirit out of his body. God supposedly wanted to have Copeland preach to the audience as a disembodied spirit.
Now right away we can see some links here with occult teachings, because the basis of the metaphysical religions and cults,
like Christian Science, is that the spirit, your spirit, and the spiritual realm is the true reality not the material world.
For instance, Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science says this: "Spirit is real and eternal; matter is unreal and
temporal. Spirit is god; man is his image and likeness. Therefore man is not material, he is spiritual".
Thus, it would be a higher experience to quit the material body, and move into the "spirit realm". Of course New Agers teach
this too, and they tell us we must train our imagination to 'see in the spiritual realm', and to meditate until we contact the beings
that inhabit that so-called higher realm.
The Korean Pastor, Yonggi Cho, calls this realm the Fourth Dimension and says it contains both gods and demonic spirits.
He teaches that this present material world has three dimensions, but the Fourth is the realm beyond which contains spiritual
things, gods, demons and the Lord God Himself. Of course God's Heaven is far above the demonic realm and He doesn't exist in
any fourth dimension at all but in the City of God - but we can't go into that now.
However, satan has been telling people for centuries that the spirit realm is the important thing, not this world. He wants men
and women to contact his demons, to hear their voices, to be guided and deceived by them, and to believe that all the while they
are entering a higher realm of consciousness.
Now Copeland also believes that the spirit realm is the important one, the only true reality, and consequently when he senses
his spirit leaving his body, (that's what new agers call an OBE or out-of-the-body-experience), he believes it will lead him to a
more powerful Christian experience. Consequently, to resist it is to disobey God.
(Copeland does say that he was totally exhausted at the time. That, and the stress of the build-up to the meeting may have
caused him to begin to faint. But I will add that, personally, I don't discount - whether through occult spiritual exercises or because
of extreme circumstances like a near-death trauma - that it is actually possible for the spirit to be parted from the physical
body momentarily. But this is an experience neither to be desired nor sought-for.)
We mustn't forget that the Positive Confession Movement has roots that go deep into occult teachings, though most of the
leaders of the movement are unaware of this. They have picked up the doctrines without really knowing where they come from. But
we have to remember the goal of the New Age Movement is to deliver man from his so-called lower or carnal nature, and for him
to become a spiritual being. This is also part of Gnostic teaching.
However, the Bible teaches that we are an integrated being of body, soul and spirit. God created us to be human and not a
spirit-being imprisoned in a material body, ever seeking a way to overcome the limitations of the body.
Adam was created as a body of flesh, and a personality, and a spirit. I Thess 5: 23, says this: "May the God of peace
himself, sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit, and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ."
You are not just a spirit being in a body. You are a whole person - body, soul and spirit - and your body will also be resurrected
and glorified at death or at the rapture. God recognises the necessity of the body. Jesus himself of course has a glorified body. He
is just not a spirit being. If God were so very ashamed of and opposed to the material realm and our bodies, He would deliver us out
of them entirely at death, yet he chooses to "clothe us" with a glorified BODY after death!
Out of the body experiences are highly sought-after in New Age circles today. You can even buy books to tell you how to
achieve them. One occult book says this:
"The fourth dimension is that of the will or life spirit, and it is of this world that the real individual is a part. It is the ego who uses
the physical body as a tool with which to achieve his purpose. When it is completely under his control, and he becomes
omnipotent and has achieved conquest over matter, he can after careful training shed his physical body like a coat" ("The Finding
of the Third Eye", page 50 by Vera Stanley Alder.)
Copeland quotes some scriptures in the second book of Corinthians to back up his experience, but he misunderstands the
whole context of what Paul is saying. If you read chapters, one, two, three and four of 2 Corinthians you can see Paul is speaking
of the humbling of his flesh to allow the life and glory of Jesus to shine through his humanity. It was his submission to the life of
Jesus within his mortality that empowered Paul as an Apostle of God. In no way was he speaking of a spiritual experience that
took him out of or beyond the body!
Interestingly, Paul DID have an "out of the body" experience, [that is, he was not really sure whether he was in his body or out of
it at the time] but he was very reluctant to speak of it, and he does not attach ANY doctrinal significance to it whatsoever. That is,
he nowhere suggests this is, or should ever be, the normal experience for a minister, or something to be aimed at.
"It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above
fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught
up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he
was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." (Cor 12:1-4)
More worryingly, there is a teaching embedded within Copeland's statements that can only be teased out by knowing the

entire breadth of his doctrine, and how it is rooted in the Latter Rain understanding of the scriptures. I am referring to the teaching
on "the glory" - something that has now been introduced as part of the Toronto Blessing and associated experiences. Notice that
he hints at this by saying God told him "I`m going to teach and train you about the glory."
Now if you read the passages that Copeland suggests you will find teaching on "the glory" all right. Copeland is rather shy of
going into this area on the tape, perhaps concerned that his listeners would misunderstand, or reject such heresy (quite rightly)
but underneath what he says, and his treatment of his out-of-body experience, is the belief that certain super-Christians
(the "overcomers") will ultimately transcend their mortal bodies and walk in glorious spiritual bodies on the earth!
This teaching is BASED UPON (but does not conform to) the passages mentioned, from 2 Corinthians. You need to read them
for yourselves, but I will just quote a couple of relevant passages, to show the misinterpretation of them:
"But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at
the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not
be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For
even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was
glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech-- unlike
Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But
their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is
taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord,
the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled
face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the
Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor 3:7-18 NKJ)
This passage is key to certain beliefs throughout the charismatic world. It is believed that Christians can become so enlightened
that they will become "transformed" (some call this "raptured!") into the glorious new body of the resurrection, and thus be like
Jesus not only in spirit but in body! (On the earth.)
You can perhaps now see that Copeland, in his own OBE experience, believed he was about to be "transformed" by God at
his meeting, and because he resisted the "glory of God" he was pulled back into the world and compromised. Only THIS
explanation makes any sense of what Copeland says! (No wonder he skips over the doctrine and does not explain it to his listeners.)
It should not need to be said that the glorious resurrection body is given to us AFTER DEATH (or in the Rapture, if that
comes sooner.) Even within the same passage of scripture, Paul states clearly that we have the Spirit "in an earthen vessel" -
the physical body - so that the glory should not be OURS, but always GOD'S.

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of
God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but
not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of
Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of
Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. (2 Cor 4:6-11 KJV)
What could be more plain? And this:
"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so
be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we
would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame
thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are
at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to
be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." (2 Cor 5:1-8 KJV)
This is another key verse used to "prove" that Christians can be clothed with the glorious spiritual body on earth if they reach
the heights of spiritual enlightenment.
However, it is quite obvious to me that Paul meant the post-death body, like the body of Jesus after his resurrection. This is
a heavenly body. Of course, if you are going to argue that "heaven is on earth" as Paul Cain does for example, then I suppose
you would have no problem also arguing that the spiritual, resurrection body comes upon living Christians on the earth!
Part and parcel of the belief that we can be transformed, is that we have a god-like nature. This is explored in the next extract:
EXTRACT THREE: YOU ARE A GOD.
Copeland: First John, chapter two, verse five: "Whoso keepeth his word in him, verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know
we, that we are in Him". Now remember we said in Romans 5, it says: "the Holy Ghost sheds the love of God abroad in your heart".
It's in there. His nature, this force of his presence is in there, this is an omnipotent force and it's in there, it is the very nature of
God. You see, you have to see through this spiritually a little bit because you can hardly put it over into English words, ha-ha!
It's bigger than that; we're talking about God. But now, it is the nature of God, very much like you are a human and you
impart humanity into a child that's born of you, Ain't that right? He is a human, he is born after you. It's because you are a human,
and you have imparted the nature of humanity into that born child. God is God, He is a spirit, and Jesus said, the time's a-coming

and now is, they that worship Him worship Him in spirit and in truth. And He imparted in you when you were born-again. Peter said
it just as plain: we are partakers of the divine nature. That nature is life eternal in absolute perfection and that was imparted,
injected into your spirit-man and you have that imparted into you by God, just as same as you imparted into your child the nature
of humanity. That child wasn't born a whale, born a human, ain't that true? Well you don't 'have' a human, do ya? No, - you are
one. You don't have a god in you, you are one, and we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
We have come now to a notorious teaching common among word of faith ministers, that "ye are gods". This is based on
a misinterpretation of scripture. We partake of the divine nature of God ONLY through our spiritual unity with Jesus Christ, NOT
by having it "injected" or "imparted" into us like a 'flu jab!
Though these ministers may not know it, they have been led astray by one of the subtlest lies of the devil. This lie is a core
doctrine of the New Age movement, and many other cults who believe man is godlike in nature and needs to rediscover this great
fact about himself.
The bible teaches that man is a created being - yet more, a FALLEN being out of touch with the Godhead - who must
be redeemed. That redemption takes the form of Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God. The (eternal) life is IN THE SON. We partake
of it when we willingly enter into communion (com-union, ie, with-unity) with Jesus.
Satan's religion opposes this teaching of the Bible. He says that man can make it alone. Satan wants to show us that we
have supernatural powers, divine powers as he would call them, and that using these powers we can overcome our problems, put
the world to rights, and assure ourselves of a glorious future. If only we will open ourselves to his supernatural wisdom, and learn
the laws of the universe, we can change the world, he says.
This scheme is attractive to man for several reasons. It plays on our feelings of pride and it avoids the question of sin. Also, it
does away with the vital necessity of God's salvation.
So much for the New Age doctrine. However, without realising it many Christians are following the same satanic path. Copeland
has changed the Love of God into an omnipotent force, which we possess.
Now, is God's love an impersonal force or is it part of the nature of God? Does it belong to God, or to you?
The Bible says that God is Love but it never says that Love is God. God is a Person not a power source. His attributes, like
love, flow from His personal will and under His own direction. We can experience them through our unity in the Spirit with God, but
we can never own the attributes of God for ourselves.
When we are born again, our human spirits are made alive to God. God's Holy Spirit unites with us, and thus we become one
spirit with God. As in marriage (which is a picture of our union with Christ) the two become "one" yet neither person is dissolved in
the other, and both remain individuals. It is a partnership, or a sharing. That's what Peter meant in 2 Peter 1:4, when he said,
"we become partakers of the divine nature".
"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."
We become partners with God Himself, but we do not "become gods". That word "partakes", in Greek is koinonos, and it the
word that is translated in other scriptures as fellowship or partnership or communion.
This merely implies having something by virtue of being associated with someone else. We understand this principle in daily
life, where we have business partners and marriage partners. We also understand this concept in Holy Communion where
we "partake" of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, not in reality - for the bread and wine do not actually become flesh and blood -
but even so in a real way, for the mystical union between us is remembered and strengthened as we symbolically feed on the
Living Bread. What we do outwardly, we are doing in our hearts, feeding on Jesus and receiving the benefits of his death.
The scriptures tell us that, by coming into oneness with Jesus Christ the Saviour, we can share (as if it were our own!)
HIS righteousness, HIS victory over sin, HIS wisdom and HIS obedience, etc. But does that mean we BECOME a messiah, that
we ARE divine, that we are, as Hagin says below, an INCARNATION? No!
. To understand why Copeland believes we possess a divine nature when we are born-again, we have to see how he interprets
the creation of man.
The common teaching of Kenyon, Hagin, Capps and all the fathers of positive confession, is that man was made in the god-class
as they say, that is, man was created to be on the level of the god-head. That is how they interpret the scripture that man is "made
in the likeness of God".
Elsewhere, Copeland says:
"God's reason for creating Adam was His desire to reproduce Himself...he was not a little like God, he was not almost like God,
he was not subordinate to God even..." - and
"Adam in the Garden of Eden was God manifested in the flesh. He was God's very image, the very likeness..." - and -
"Adam was walking as god. Adam walked in God's class. Adam did things in the class of God.... He was created in the god-

class, but when he committed high treason, he fell below the god-class..." - and -
"Am I God? Man was created in the god class - he was not created in the animal class, he was in the god-class..Peter said
"you become partakers of the divine nature". All right. Are we gods? We are a class of gods!"
And worst of all, Copeland boldly states: "You are Jesus in the flesh"...
How does he come to these beliefs? Well, if God made man as a fellow-god, then what Adam lost in the Fall was his god-
nature. So, according to Word-of-Faith thinking, when Jesus came as the Second Adam, it was a mission to recover and restore
the god-nature to mankind (whosoever would take up the offer of exercising it, that is.).
However, as most Bible students already know, God did not create Adam "in the god-class" or as a reproduction of Himself.
Firstly, there is only ONE Godhead, and nobody and nothing will ever be in that "class". Only God is divine. To teach anything else is
to fly in the face of the entire word of God!
There is but One God in three Persons, and only they posses the divine attributes of omnipotence, omniscience,
and omnipresence. Only God can create matter from nothing. Only God knows all things, and upholds all things.
Secondly, Adam was created with a body of the earth, and an eternal spirit. This did not make him divine! As I have already
pointed out, Copeland believes that there are only two natures, divine and satanic. He misses the point here, for human
beings possess a human spirit which is neither divine nor satanic.
To teach that every man and woman possesses, at least potentially, a piece of divinity from the Godhead is very near to the
Gnostic doctrine which is that we all have "a divine spark" within us that has been quenched by the Fall, but which can be
reactivated by learning how to co-operate with the laws of the universe and the powers of God.
God created Adam not as a spirit-being or a god, but as a human being - as "man-kind". Animals were created in their kinds
(or, families) and Adam and Eve were created as man-kind, the family of man. Certainly, Adam enjoyed a close relationship with
God in his perfection, but that is very far from divinity.
We have a relationship to God that is higher than the animals, higher even than the angels, but we are not gods!
What does it really mean, that we are made "in the likeness of God, in God's image ". Is Copeland correct to say that when
God created Adam, he was an exact duplicate of God, a replica of God in every detail?
Many scholars have debated this text from Gen 1:25:

"And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after
his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and
female created he them.
A "likeness" (DEMUTH in Hebrew) is a resemblance, or model, of something, but this passage shows that it does not
necessarily mean an EXACT copy:
"Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness (same word) of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had
the likeness (same word) of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings..." (obviously not identical to
man, then!!) Ezek 1:5
What then does it mean that God made man "in his image". Gen 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of
God created he him; male and female created he them."
The word "image" (TSELEM) is also used of "a statue or idol". But this is not just an inanimate object, but has the idea of a "spirit"
or "ghost" within it. But by implication this means the resemblance of something or somebody, as a ghost resembles a man. Yet
the two objects are not the SAME. A ghost lacks the substance and reality of a real person.
No, God was not "reproducing Himself" as Copeland claims. God made man in His own "likeness," reflecting some of His
own perfections: perfect in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, and with dominion over the creatures . Man was also a
composite creature, for he like God had a tripartite existence - man's body, soul and spirit. However, these were all pale reflections
of the real thing.
There is NOTHING that can adequately carry God's likeness, for He is unique - as this scripture testifies:
Isa 40:18-26 "To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman melteth a graven image,
and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth
a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. Have ye
not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of
the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers;--- To whom then will
ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that
bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not
one faileth."

In a quote from the Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, we find: "And in what did this "image of God" consist? Not in
the erect form or features of man; not in his intellect, because the Devil and his angels are in this respect far superior; not in
his immortality, because he does not have, like God, a past as well as a future eternity of being; but in the moral dispositions of
his soul, commonly called original righteousness . Since the new creation is only a restoration of this image, the history of the
one throws light on the other; and we are informed that it is renewed after the image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and
true holiness."
The verses referred to in this quote are Eph 4:24 "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness." and Col 3:10 "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that
created him" .
From this we can clearly see that the "new man" in christ, the image restored by redemption, is to do with righteousness and a
right relationship to God, and consists in perceiving and walking in truth. It is not about being "gods", having divine attributes,
taking dominion or using the powers of the Godhead for ourselves.
If you do believe that man is divine, and that he lost his divinity at the Fall, then it is but a short step to reclaiming that divinity
at salvation. If Jesus Christ was re-born as a man anointed with the Spirit, then we all as Spirit-filled, re-born men and women
share the very same divine power, authority and attributes as Jesus Christ. Copeland does indeed go down this road. He believes
that we are literally re-born as a god, on an equal footing with Jesus.
Kenneth Hagin also says, "in the new birth God imparts his very nature, substance and being to our human spirits" and he
says that, "every born-again man is an incarnation, as much an incarnation of God as Jesus." He goes further to say that, "the
church is Christ. It is the incarnation of Christ, and we need to realise that in order to save the world."
If the incarnate Christ is now present on this world, saving the world, defeating the powers of evil and ruling on behalf of God, I
ask you, what is the point of Jesus Christ returning in the flesh? None! The work of restoring the glories of Eden is in our hands,
and Jesus is a mere figure-head in this task. God has become an "icon" of belief, a beloved "father-figure" in OUR fight to
overthrow satan and take the nations for Christ. Jesus Christ has become a Type, a Pattern, the one who went on ahead to show
us how to achieve godhood!
If human beings are receiving the divine nature, equal with Jesus, and learning to be gods of this world, then our world's fate lies
in re-education, not salvation. We need to teach men and women to act like gods, and to take dominion back from the devil! And is
that not what is taught by every triumphalist, restorationist group in the churches? But where exactly does God fit into all this?

Continue to Part Four(b)

"Wells Without Water" (4b)

The Doctrine
of Word of Faith
Part four: teaching OR travesty?
The next except from Copeland's teaching, beginning "You are a being of three worlds" is important because it illustrates a
basic error in all the Word of Faith doctrines.
EXTRACT FOUR: UNLIKE SATAN, YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO BE LIKE GOD
Copeland: You are a being of three worlds. This human being can function in the spiritual realm, he can function in the middle
realm, he can function in the physical realm, and he is the only creature God created that can do that. Angels can not do that.
They don't have the same rights of choice that you have. They do as they are told do, they speak as they are told to speak, and
they speak what they're told to speak, and they hearken only to the word of God. And every angel that ever made a choice to
do otherwise is doomed forever, and Satan is their god. And he is the chief angel that changed his mind and said 'I want to be like
the most high God', and God said, 'huh-huh that's what you think'
But did you ever notice that He created us in His image, and said 'you be like Me'. We have a right to say that, -ha, ha- really, you and
I can stand up and say, 'I will be like my most high God' and to Him, it is dedication and consecration. The devil stands up and says,
'I'll be like the highest God', and God says shut up. He's out of his class, but a man is not out of his class when he speaks those
words, 'I'll be like the highest God', hallelujah!
No, not stand up and say 'I'll be a god' like that, no, no but 'I want to be like my God, I want to be like my most high God, every way
I can, hallelujah' and for a human being it's a blessing.
First, Copeland says that we human beings function on three levels: the spiritual, the "middle", and the physical realm. I'd like you
to consider this statement for a moment.
What precisely is this "middle" realm?
Since we have a spirit, soul and body, logically, the spirit functions in the spiritual realm (supposedly), the body in the physical,
and the SOUL in the "middle" realm - which would then be the psychic realm, but of course Copeland would not use this word!
Later, what he says about "the intellectual realm" suggests this middle area is that of the mental/intellectual functions. But just
how these function separately to the physical realm, I do not know, and Copeland does not explain this mystery.
Next, Copeland says we are entitled to stand up and say, 'I will be like God' - and it's a blessing to man. God sees it as
dedication, he says. Well, when Adam said so, it caused all mankind to fall into sin. I know Copeland tries to qualify his statement
by saying it's different to wanting to be a god in your own right, but is there any real practical difference?
The book of Genesis says that Satan tempted Eve with the words, 'you will be as gods'. Surely it is more than a coincidence that
the very same prideful act of Satan when aspiring to godhood is the temptation he then presents to Eve? And the result is just
the same: Satan was cast out of heaven, and Adam and Eve were also cast out of the presence of God. Their perfection depended
on their obedience and subservience to Almighty God. Their aspirations to godhood led only to the downfall of the entire human
race, and a severance of their relationship to God. That same prideful attitude also led to the sin and evil we are now experiencing
all around us!
Adam was God's servant. God had given mankind a task, to fill the earth and subdue it. They were not given carte blanche to
take dominion over God's creation and become a divine rulers of the world in their own right. That was Satan's plan for man, not God's.
We have already (in the previous section, part 4(a)) gone over the scriptures pertaining to godhood and man made in the
likeness of God. We have also seen how the Word-of-Faith leaders preach that re-born man is as much a god as Jesus, with the
same rights, authority and powers. This teaching comes from the same source.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin
be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he
as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. ( 2 Th 2:3-4)
If God is so pleased that we could stand up and boldly say "I will be like God" then why is the one who achieves this noble
aim called "the son of perdition"?
Will we be like God? Yes, in the Resurrection - but never on this earth, not by striving, by education, by spiritual knowledge,
by anointing or by any other thing.
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we
shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." I Jn 3:2
EXTRACT FIVE: ANIMALS GO TO HEAVEN.
Copeland: Now you see, animals can operate and function in two worlds, I'm talking about the higher level of animals, I'm not
taking about the cold blooded animals, I'm talking about warm blooded animals. [They] can operate in the physical world of course,
but did you know, that they can actually function in the spiritual realm to a limited degree? The intellectual realm is where they
can't function. If you're going to have any brains, you're going to have it on ---- [Copeland pauses here, possibly because he
realises what he's saying makes no sense!! If animals can function in the physical realm AND in the spiritual realm, there's nothing
to prevent them "operating on an intellectual level" so he's just destroyed his own argument!].
They can function in the intellectual - oh, I mean, the spiritual realm. Animals can be demon-possessed, isn't that true? The bible
tells us that it can. What happened in the Garden of Eden? Huh? Somebody lied to you, and told you, that when animals die that
they are just dead and don't exist anymore, wonder what bible they got that out of? Do you ever notice that people, and we're
talking about Christian people just kind of assume there? You can't find it the bible. I have never been able to find it in the bible and if
a-a like a dog, an animal, a horse or something like that, if a horse has no spirit then it is the only thing God ever created, that's
all around God ever created, didn't have a spirit that walks in a body and could function in the spiritual realm.
"O, brother, I never heard anything like that!", well, aren't you glad you heard (?) something new, "well, I just don't understand that!"
- Well, look in the word of God and you'll find that Jesus comes riding on a white horse, glory be to God, hallelujah!
I know one dog that got saved (lots of laughter) O yeah, now don't argue with me about this, friend of mine from [somewhere
in Alabama] used to live there when he was with the CPA, he's now the pastor of a church. I don't--- his church may not know his
dog got saved, I don't know. His son came in there, and said daddy, I want you to lay hands on this..., he called that dog by its name,
I don't remember what that dog's name was. He said, I want you to lay hands on him. He said, why? He said, I've got him saved, now

I need to get him baptised in the Holy Ghost. (Lots of laughter) You laugh if you want to, but that means something to God.
Do you realise, if Copeland is telling the truth, if animals do have eternal spirits (and we know all creation is fallen because
of Adams sin), then we are responsible for saving the souls of all creatures to prevent them going to hell?!
Can you imagine such nonsense being preached in the name of Christian truth?
At the start Copeland says that human beings were created to function spiritually, mentally (?) and physically - and that's true.
But then he says, animals function on two of these levels: physically and spiritually, but not mentally.
Come on, anyone who owns a pet knows that they have a mind of their own! If animals had no intellect, they would be
robots, unable to think or reason, which is clearly not true.
My cat has memories that go back to kitten-hood. He can work out whether I'm upstairs or in the garden, and remember what
time he gets his supper. He certainly has an intellect, a very sharp one sometimes. What else causes him to reason within himself
- shall I obey this call to come in, or shall I keep on chasing this interesting leaf around the lawn? And he comes to a reasoned (but
not reasonable!) decision which demonstrates he has a thought-process of his own that frequently opposes mine. Don't you know
what I mean!!
But does he have a spirit? Does he have a God-consciousness? If he did, then I would have to preach him the gospel and get
him saved, just like the dog in the story. Does my cat have a nature that allows him to commune with God Almighty? If he does,
I've never seen it in action. I don't know - have you ever noticed your hamster trying to pray?
Mankind was created as a "living soul" to receive the "breath of life" from God. Thus, man has a spirit, whereas animals have
only souls. For this, see Job 12:10 "In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind."
Animals were created as lower beings made out the dust of the earth, animated by a mind and soul ('Nephesh' in Hebrew). That
is why when they die they return to the dust, and are no more. We get sentimental about our pets, but most of us know they are
not going to heaven! If they were, we would be obliged to develop animal funeral rites, animal coffins and animal cemeteries.
On the other hand, why assume all animals make it to heaven, when human spirits don't? If dogs have to be saved to go to
heaven, then presumably unsaved dogs go to hell?
The idea that animals have spirits leads to all kinds of problems, beginning with the concept of animal sacrifice in the
Old Testament. Would God kill his own spiritual servants in order to redeem man's sin? Would he place Adam in dominion over
the animal "kinds" if there was a spiritual unity between them?

Once you accept that animal have spirits, you are treading a dangerous path leading to the New Age view of the universe.
You begin to see all creation as one in God, we and the animals being joint owners of the planet. We would have to agree, then, that
to end the life of an animal is a crime. We would have to endorse the recent efforts to give apes and gorillas "human rights" and all
the other animal rights lunacies. We would have to become vegetarians, and environmentalists, working to save the animal
species instead of having dominion over them as God commanded!
The only proof Copeland offers for his theory is to say animals can be demon possessed. Well, yes, I believe that is true,
(for example the herd of pigs that fled over the cliff.) But are demons possessing the spirit or the BODY of animals?
Now we see how muddled Word of Faith teachers are about the spirit realm! If, like Yonggi Cho, you think all spiritual activity
- human, divine and demonic - happens in some parallel reality called the Fourth Dimension, then it makes some sense to say
that demons posses the spirit. But Copeland strays from the fold here. (Or maybe his doctrine was formed before he heard of
Yonggi Cho?).
The animals of heaven that Copeland mentions, such as the horse Jesus rides at the Second Coming, are of course
heavenly creations of God. They were made to exist in heaven. I believe the Heavenly Paradise will have many animals, birds,
and other creatures, but these are special creations of God, not reborn earthly creatures.
What does the Bible teach about the spiritual realms? The Holy Spirit, in inspiring the word of God, used a plural (or, dual) word
for the "heavens" (shamayim) suggesting there are differences between the demonic realms and God's realm.
Paul speaks of the "third heaven" (2 Corinthians 12:2) and of "paradise" (2 Cor. 12:4), and the common understanding in his
day was that "The first heaven is that of the clouds, the air; the second, that of the stars, the sky; the third is above both, where
God's glory continually shines".
Since satan is "the prince of the power of the AIR" and his fallen powers are often referred to as "stars" we can see that
the demonic realm is that of the sky and outer space, (but on a spiritual level, ie unseen!). However, God's Throneroom and
Heavenly Temple exist in a higher dimension. (The word "paradise" means "garden" and is often used to describe a perfect
Eden surrounding God's Temple which is inhabited by the saved. Since the earthly Temple was copied from the Heavenly realities,
this garden would be represented by the Court of the Temple.)
And on the subject of animals, the Bible is plain. Peter likens false teachers to beasts and describes them, therefore, as
creatures "made to be taken and destroyed" - that is the biblical view of animals. (2 Pet 2:11-12)
Psalm 104 describes the death of animals in this way: "thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust."

EXTRACT SIX: GOD IS THE BIGGEST FAILURE
Copeland: I was shocked when I found out who the biggest failure in the bible actually is. When everybody asks whose biggest
failure is, they say, 'Judas'. Somebody else will say, 'no I believe it was Adam', but how about the devil? He's the most
consistent failure (another person laughs and says OK) but he's not the biggest in terms of material failure and so forth. The
biggest one in the whole Bible is God, huh?! What, don't you turn that set off, I told you, you sit still a minute, you know me well
enough to know that I wouldn't tell something that I couldn't prove from the Bible. But you just stop and think about it for a minute.
I mean, He lost his top ranking most anointed angel, the first man He ever created, first woman He created, the whole earth and all
the fullness therein, a third of the angels at least - that's a big loss man. I mean, you figure that out, that's a lot of real estate,
brother, gone down the drain.
Now God didn't cause all that. You see He didn't do something to cause it. And we have to understand all that, but He took the
blame for it, didn't He, yeah, He took the blame. Why? Well the buck stops there. In the fifty fourth chapter of Isaiah He said, 'I
created the smith that blows the coals in the fire, He said, I created the waster that destroys, therefore no weapon formed against
you will prosper', in other words 'I created him, I can handle him'. In other words, I take responsibility for it and I take the
responsibility for the deliverance and the turn round of the whole thing.
Now, the reason that you don't think of God as a failure, is He never said He's a failure, and you're not a failure till you say you're
one, (another voice says, say that again). You're not a failure until you say you're one. And He won't say it, no! He just started off
and said, there's coming one, that's gonna put His heel on your head, and just set out to get it done, no matter how many thousands
of years it takes and how many generations it takes and how many He had to hunt for until He found one: Abraham. It doesn't
make any difference to God if it takes eighteen million years; He took off to do nothing else. Now I brought this because this
the direction we're going to see. Now I want you to see this, God doesn't do anything else, He [tape unclear] one day of the week.
The bible said, 'He ever liveth to make intercession for us'. We are forever twenty-four hours a day in His heart and [His]
primary objective.
He could have said, 'I got a major problem here. Now what am I going to do with it? Well let's see. The first thing I'm going to do is
fast, no, I tell what, maybe that's not right, I don't want to do much of that. I know! Prayer, that's number one!' Well, who's He going
to pray to? He's as high as He can get. Well since I'm God, I know how this thing works, the cardinal law is the law of giving and I
so love the world, giving is the way out of this. Giving is the most powerful thing that I have at My command, and I'm going to give
My way out of this problem. I have lost the earth, I have lost a third of the angels, and I have lost the Director of Praise. Then the
Bible says, we give, and it causes a thanksgiving to God. He said, I lost the Director of Praise, I am going to give and get it all back.
Now lets see, what am I going to give? I got a lot of money. I had a lot more, but, that boy down there dug into my account, he cost
me heavy! But I am still way out ahead of anybody else. Well, who would I buy it from though? I am not going to do business with
the devil, I am going to have to give to get this thing out. It's beyond buying. I can't buy My way out of it. I am going to have to give
my way out of it. What am I going to give, now let's see. I think what I'd better do, I have still got two thirds of the angels left, and-
and there's a lot of them, and besides that, I can create more of them, you know. I can create them dudes, faster than they can fly
out of here.
Maybe that's what I ought to do, you know, I sure wouldn't want to give Jesus! Now He's the only thing I got left that's on my level.
It's down to He and I, and if I lost Him, I'd be, O God, I-I, can't do that, that would leave Me lonely that would leave Me without, I-
I couldn't stand to see that happen to My own, My own life, eh-eh, I mean I can spare those angels. There are all kinds of things
up here. I mean, I could create things nobody ever heard of before and you know, if I did all that, I wouldn't be giving. I'm going to
have to give something that'll cost me, to get these laws into motion. I'm going to have to give something that'll cost me. Cause until
it cost Me, I haven't kicked my faith out anywhere's (and He's got a faith).
So I am not going to give my nubbin corn. I am going to eat the biggest, I mean, I am going to eat the nubbins and give the
biggest, fattest corn I've got, that big fat corn. That's your seed corn. You don't want to eat that good stuff and plant those
nubbins. Eventually you won't have nothing good to eat. You're going to keep producing the nubbins, you're going to downgrade,
you see. Your harvest is downgrading all the time. So I am going to give the best stuff which makes my harvest upgrade all the
time. And as the good seed that I am planting increases in quality, I take my seed out of the best I have, and I continue to plant
that. Eventually my nubbins will be better than I started out with back there originally.
So God said, I'm going to take the best I have. And out of the mouth of Jesus flowed the most important verse of the entire bible,
when He said, 'God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son' . Now there was a moment, Paul, (Crouch), man
had proven that he had a free choice. He had proved he didn't have to accept anything that he didn't want, right? There was a
moment when Jesus was separated from God. Jesus had gone into the place of the damned, the answer for Adam's treason.
There was a moment there that the only thing God had to give had been released, and there was no guarantee of ever getting
Him back, except the law of giving and receiving. (Applause and a voice in the background saying, praise God, there it is).
There was a moment when as far as God was concerned there was no Jesus. Nobody had to accept Jesus Christ as Lord
and Saviour. There weren't nobody had to do that. They could have said 'forgive me', I don't know, there has been thousands that
have done it. God had no guarantees except --- but then this 'except' turns into the greatest guarantee that there is. He had
no guarantee that anybody would accept it, except when you plant a seed it will produce, it will produce, it will produce. You can
can't stop it. (Applause) The devil can't stop it, Paul can't stop it, and the Bible says He planted one Son to receive many sons.
(Loud applause) And now, I mean God is sitting up there now all kicked back, got His feet on the throne, saying get 'em boy, get
'em, glory to God.

The whole tone of this message is offensive to me and I imagine it would be to any sensitive Christian who loves and worships
God. It is only human reasoning that calls God a failure, because man sees everything in terms of success and ownership
and prosperity. Man measures by what he gains.
We are not at liberty to speculate on what was in God's mind when Adam sinned, but we know from scripture that He is a God
of love, and love is glad to give all freely and without coercion.
Copeland portrays God as struggling with His emotions, trying to convince Himself to part with Jesus, as if Jesus were not
God Himself and totally at one with the Father in any decision they made!
But instead of salvation being an act of love and mercy and grace, it is that God was forced to find something he could use to
get back what He's "lost". God turns to the universal laws of the cosmos, supposedly, in order to win the world to Himself,
and unfortunately those laws "obliged Him" to give up His beloved Son.
Do we see here an Omnipotent Ruler, an Almighty Lord, the One who foreknew all things, or a snivelling self-obsessed
loser? Copeland says God was "the biggest failure..." so presumably he is portraying him as just that! What blasphemy!
Where is the love of God in this reluctant sacrifice? And if God had to use His faith to operate a law, where is His omnipotence?
God had to scrape around looking for a plan of action, since He'd been thwarted by Adam and Satan. But the word of God
says, "we were chosen in Him and foreordained before the foundation of the world." (1 Peter 1 19-20).
The doctrine that Jesus had to die in hell to pay for Adam's sin is covered in Part Two of this series, but it's interesting to see
it preached here for a second time.
Jesus, the Bible says, went and preached to the spirits in prison by the Spirit of God. (1 Pet 3:18-19) How else could He preach
the word of God except by the Spirit of God? So the Spirit was upon and within the Lord Jesus at that time, even in the realm of
the dead. (Copeland calls this the place of the damned. No, there was no point visiting the damned, for they were eternally lost. It
was to the righteous of the pre-redemption creation that Jesus went, to those who waited in hope for Christ's day.)
But wherever Jesus went, it was not as a dead, mortal, sin-ridden spirit as Copeland says on an earlier tape. He paid the price
for our sin with His blood and by His death, 1 Peter 1: 19 says, "You were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as a
lamb without blemish and without spot".
And as for there being "no guarantee" of Jesus ever coming back - what utter nonsense! The prophecies of the Old Testament
as well as the very words of Christ Himself promised a return from the dead! Are we to believe that God cannot fulfil His own

word? Jesus never once lost control of his destiny, for He says:
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down
of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. (John
10:17-18)
On top of the error of the " law of giving" being God's tool of salvation, Copeland says that the same law of giving was a
guarantee that men would respond to the gospel. Jesus was God's best seedcorn, and having planted Him, there MUST be a return.
O yes? So, we are not creatures of freewill, but obliged by universal law to accept Jesus, not because of our faith in Him,
but because nothing can withstand the law of giving and receiving!
However, there is actually no obligation upon us at all to believe the gospel. If there were some kind of compulsion in this way,
it would not have been a genuine offer, a free gift of life eternal!
God foreknew that many would believe Him, though. The word says that we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the
world, and those He foreknew, He predestined to be justified and glorified in Jesus. But - that was not a result of any law!
In any case, that "before the foundation of the world" demonstrates conclusively that God wasn't stuck for a way out after
Adam sinned. Copeland represents it as a big surprise and shock to God. Not at all! We were chosen and foreordained to
salvation BEFORE the Fall in Eden!!! The Plan of salvation was already laid.
EXTRACT SEVEN: TWO SIDES OF THE BRAIN - SOUL AND SPIRIT
Suddenly I just saw it, I'm talking about in my mind's eye, you know, in my mind. What I am talking about is, I didn't have a vision in
the spirit, like a prophetic thing, it was in my mind's eye and that's what I was dealing with. And I can see it right now. It's got
stronger, that I can see it now with my eyes open. As I'm talking to you I can see it. That's the way some of those debts and
problems and everything got with you. You saw yourself as just a total disaster, and you got to where you can see it without
closing your eyes.
Well, that is a God-given thing in the wrong hands. It got over into the hands of worry, it got over into the hands of fear, it got over
into the hands of the devil, it got over into the hands of poverty, it got over into the hands of sickness and disease. Some people
cannot see themselves anyway but sick. See.
This is really the guts of Christianity, coz man has always been this way. God made him this way. And the devil got a hold of him
and perverted what God had already built. Man was a visionary. He's always been a visionary. I mean, even in recent years they

found out that everybody's brains got two sides to it. One side is analytical side, and the other is the visionary side. On one side you
do all your numbers and logic and figuring, and the other is where you are creative. Well, surely it's that way! You've got your
soul using one side your brain and your spirit uses the other side of your brain. But most people don't know how to get hold of
that visionary side and that's where all the creativeness is, that's where all the great things come from. But God put part of your
brain for your soul to use, and part of your brain for your spirit to use. You are a spirit, you have a soul and you live in a body.
See, medical science is finally finding out that God knew what He was doing all the time, see.
This final piece of nonsense is a classic! I simply do not see how anybody can revere Copeland as a Teacher in the Church,
when he not only accepts New Age hype as scientific but gives it a twist of his own like this!
You are probably aware of the New Age interest in this issue of right-brain/left-brain. It is one of the areas in which they depend
on supposed scientific evidence, but the real aim is the religious one. The hidden agenda is to open us up to the mystical realm
where we can develop psychic powers and meet spirit-guides.
For a start, New Agers say that man, in his fall, lost the use of his imagination and visionary abilities, his creative and god-like
skills, and the knowledge of how to perform supernatural feats, like levitation for example. (Remember how Luke Skywalker in
Star Wars was taught by his spirit-guide to shut his eyes and visualise himself being able to raise a spaceship out of the water? It
was done with the powers of his imagination, because the belief is, whatsoever you can imagine you can DO.)
The problem, New Agers say, is that we have lost contact with the right side of our brains! We have become a left-brained
society, too analytical, methodical and word-oriented to move in the realm of visualisation. We need to teach ourselves to re-
integrate the right and left brains. To do this, we need to develop the neglected half of our brain - the right brain. We must
meditate, imagine, visualise and drift in the subconscious dreamworlds where creative urges spring up and cause us to explore
new revelations.
To achieve this, all kinds of strange devices have been tried, including hallucinogenic drugs, hypnosis, meditation music,
brainwave inductors, and sensory deprivation tanks.
Unfortunately, the truth is that seeking to develop the imagination in this way is a fast track to bondage and oppression,
because demons love the fertile ground of any passive, drifting, open mind. They quickly steer it towards the worship of false gods.
However, Copeland goes even further down this road by telling us we have two halves of the brain, one used by the spirit and
one used by the soul! According to this version, we need to develop the "spiritual side of our brain" where the powers of creation
and imagination are.
There is so much that is wrong here that it's hard to know where to begin commenting.
Firstly, the whole concept of the "two halves of your brain" and the supposed unused right side is a New Age myth. There
is absolutely no scientific evidence for this belief. Brain scans show that thought processes occur all over the brain equally in
both halves, and both sides of the brain are also active in imagination and dreaming. While there may be some differences in
emphasis between the two halves, there is nothing like the total separation of function suggested here!
Medically speaking, the two sides of the brain are not as separate as all that. One section of the brain called the Corpus
Callosum has been shown to be the link between the two halves and it channels information between them. Even when this is
severed, there is still some interaction between the two halves of the brain. It may be that we use different areas of the physical
brain for different functions - I don't question that. But God did not create a brain that was half useless, that sits dormant until
we consciously develop it. Both the soul and the spirit of man have equal access to the entire functions of all the body.
Despite Copeland's reminder that we are a spirit-being in a physical body (thus suggesting the spirit is more important) the
Bible does not make such a distinct separation. Men are called "souls" in the Bible. (For example Lev 17:12) Also, the soul and
spirit are so closely intertwined that the words for these areas in the OT are used interchangeably.
There is so much shared activity between the soul and spirit that we have difficulty dividing between them. It is perhaps one of
our greatest problems as Christians, to know what is "of the spirit" as opposed to our own soulish activity. We are told that only
the word of God, sharp and precise as a sword, can effectively divide between them - and as you read this familiar passage be
aware that it is speaking not only of the written word but the WORD of God who is Jesus Christ.
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that
is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that
we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 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. (Heb 4:12-15 KJV)
Jesus knows and sees all things, and knows the interior workings of our hearts. He knows the difference between soulish
emotions and the spiritual prompts from God, because he, too, once lived on earth in a human body and has been touched by
"the feelings of our infirmities" and temptations. We, however, are often in the dark over this and confuse the workings of soul and
spirit - making Copeland's claim that we use two completely different sides of our brain for soulish and spiritual activity a
complete fallacy.
Also, contrary to Copeland's assertions, "imaginations" are said to arise from the heart, not the spirit. The "heart" is the

emotional centre of man, the centre of thought, will and feeling. It is part of the fallen nature. Furthermore, the Bible usually
shows these imaginations to be wicked and ungodly! (e.g.: Ps 140:2/Prov 12:20/Zech 8:17) In particular note:
"And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually." (Gen 6:5 KJV)
"...the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth..." (Gen 8:21 KJV)
Man may have been born a "visionary" but since the Fall he has been busy envisioning rebellion against God and
wickedness against his fellow-man. Whenever we get to work with our imaginations, we invariably end up disobeying God. Isn't that
the truth? How, then, can Copeland claim that our purified, reborn, spirits are responsible for our visionary skills?
If it were true that the spirit and soul are apportioned different parts of the brain by God, then logically the entire spiritual half
would have ceased to function when Adam fell! No human being would have the full function of the right side of his brain until
he became saved! You know that isn't so.
No, we need all that God provided, and we use all that God provided. We have been created with a physical brain that is
designed to get us effectively through this life on earth, with powers of thought, imagination, will, reason, logic and analysis - all
are needed and all are used continually.
But let's not confuse the physical mind and soul powers of our human existence with the spiritual gifts given us by God. These
are totally different. If we do confuse them, as Copeland does, we could easily begin to accept the New Age view of man as
a undeveloped superman who needs to enter into a spiritual realm by the development of his brain.
Copeland here is already calling "visualisation" a God-given spiritual gift, one of the most commonly used techniques for
developing higher powers in the pagan religious cults, in Satanism and esoteric philosophies, and in all areas of the occult. It
is visualisation that's being used to bring man's thoughts (however evil) and dreams (however damaging) into reality.
This whole issue of visualisation is a burning topic in the church right now because some Christians feel that we can use pictures
in our imagination to bring healing or peace, or to get answers to prayer. Ministers such as Dave Hunt, who wrote the book
"The Seduction of Christianity", point out that as a technique it is much more a part of pagan culture than Christian.
His comments can be read in his book in chapters 9, 10, 11 and 12, and also in his sequel, " Beyond Seduction" chapters 10
and 11.
One final thought on the errors of Ken Copeland and the Word-of-Faith doctrines: where ignorant and deceived men

raise themselves up into positions of power, they frequently become idols of the masses. Just because Copeland has millions
of followers around the world does not make him correct in his doctrine. I have nothing against the man personally, but his teaching is
- as I have shown - often completely misleading and wrong.
If you are a part of this Movement, consider that fresh and brackish water cannot come from the same source! There is
enough brackish water here to fill a lake. Consider your Christian walk, and the safety of your eternal spirit, and if you value truth
and have any regard to correct biblical doctrine, you MUST forsake this teaching.
And may God bless you with open eyes and hearts
to hear his voice and to do His will!

Wells-Without-Water Word of Faith Expose Tricia Tillin

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Wells Without Water by Tricia Tillin - The Word of Faith Teachings

Birthpangs | A NEW WORLD ORDER IN THE MAKING

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"Wells Without Water" (1)

the "Positive Confession" movement.

many others in the Word of Faith leadership.

their outcome, and destructive to the genuine faith of a Christian.

Part One: FORCES OR FRUIT?

common to them all.

have these doctrines with very little variation.

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God for it.

prayer about it. Ask Him to show you the truth.

but damage to themselves and to others.

has everything. We can boast of NOTHING.

says that he was asked to pray for a brain-damaged little girl:

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I said 'Well, huh! Why?'.

He said 'Coz you don't NEED that kind of a miracle.'

I said 'Well WHY don't I need that kind of a miracle?!'.

He said 'Isn't she born again?'.

their mental capacity?'

don't know what is.

it's surprising how many Christians make this mistake.

is still alive and active!

Jesus who opened the Way to spiritual unity with God:

second man is the Lord from heaven. 1 Cor 15:45-47

different parts of our brain all at the same time.

unleash psychic forces - the hidden powers of the mind.

hidden resources of her brain.

she's denied it - on the basis of what HE hears from God.

talking about the recreated HUMAN spirit.

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OWN HUMAN SPIRIT!

means.we resist God.

of the Spirit of God?

out victoriously." [My emphasis throughout]

so. But He was following a higher way than man's way.

saving faith is BELIEVING GOD.

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"great faith"(Matt 8:8-10)

The grace of God had to PUT it in there - as a gift."

my house". it's that ridiculous.

in our redemption, but my real intention is to refute Copeland's error here.)

I quote from Adam Clarke's commentary:

God, not of works: so that no one can boast."

the act of believing, are two different things.

faith in that sense is a gift or administration of the Holy Spirit.

come, and has put all things under His feet'.

us'? What he says: it did us the same way."

to bring Him alive in Hell.

again. Salvation is in JESUS; Jesus only.

right now to do anything you'll ever need on this earth.

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did God believe in?! Himself? Creation? Mankind?

power belongs to God.

Continue to Part Two(a) (or browse the notes below)

Scriptures that distinguish mind, soul and spirit:

have souls, but human beings have spirits as well.)

strength: this is the first commandment.

preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

no man, but the Spirit of God.