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Positive confession preachers and teachers list of heresies

by | Feb 10, 2021 | Apologetics, Preachers and Teachers

There are a lot of preachers and teachers in the positive confession movement who say some pretty bad stuff. This is often what happens when they are not theologically trained and, in my opinion, become enamored with their own position and self-perceived authority.  The reason they fail so miserably as they do not hold the word of God as the final authority. Therefore, they get so-called words from God. They tend to speak to God and contradict Scripture. These people are false teachers.

1 Timothy 6:3–5, “If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

I bolded in brown those statements which are particularly heretical. Finally, a lot of these quotes are taken from the book Christianity In Crisis, by Hanegraaff, Hank.1 Others are from youtube and various other books. The positive confession movement is filled with all kinds of teachers and false doctrines. We will expand this list over time.

 

  1. AVANZINI, JOHN
    1. John Avanzini

      JOHN AVANZINI

      Jesus had a big house, “Jesus had a nice house, a big house-big enough to have company stay the night with Him at the house. Let me show you His house. Go over to John the first chapter and I’ll show you His house…Now, child of God, that’s a house big enough to have company stay the night in. There’s His house.” (John Avanzini, “Believer’s Voice of Victory” program on TBN [20 January 1991].)

    2. Jesus handled big money, “Jesus was handling big money because that treasurer He had was a thief. Now you can’t tell me that a ministry with a treasurer that’s a thief can operate on a few pennies. It took big money to operate that ministry because Judas was stealing out of that bag.” (John Avanzini, “Praise the Lord” program on TBN [15 September 1988].)
    3. Jesus wore designer clothes, “John 19 tells us that Jesus wore designer clothes. Well, what else you gonna call it? Designer clothes – that’s blasphemy. No, that’s what we call them today. I mean, you didn’t get the stuff He wore off the rack. It wasn’t a one-size-fits-all deal. No, this was custom stuff. It was the kind of garment that kings and rich merchants wore. Kings and rich merchants wore that garment.” (John Avanzini, “Believer’s Voice of Victory” program on TBN [20 January 1991].)
  2. CAPPS, CHARLES
    1. Charles Capps a positive confession teacher

      CHARLES CAPPS

      Faith is a substance, “Faith is the substance, the raw material…Faith is the substance that God used to create the universe, and He transported that faith with His words… Faith is the substance of things, but you can’t see faith. Faith is a spiritual force.” (Charles Capps, Changing the Seen & Shaping the Unseen [Tulsa, OK: Harrison House, 1980], 14-15.)

    2. God filled his words with faith, “God filled His words with faith to cause the things He said to come into manifestation. There was an image inside Him. He expressed it in words.” (Charles Capps, The Substance of Things [Tulsa, OK: Harrison House, 1990], 19.)
    3. God used words as containers to hold faith, “He framed the world with His words. You can’t build without substance. He took words—faith-filled words were God’s substance. Here, essentially, is what God did. God filled His words with faith. He used His words as containers to hold His faith and contain that spiritual force and transport it out there into the vast darkness by saying ‘Light be!’ That’s the way God transported His faith causing creation and transformation.” (Charles Capps, Dynamics of Faith & Confession [Tulsa, OK: Harrison House, 1987], 28-29, emphasis in original.)
    4. Adam was an exact duplication of God’s kind, “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image after our likeness. The word likeness in the original Hebrew means “an exact duplication in kind.’ … Adam was an exact duplication of God’s kind!” (Authority in Three Worlds [Charles Capps, Tulsa, OK: Harrison House, 1982], 15-16, emphasis in original.)
    5. God needed permission from man to work on earth, “In this [the Abrahamic Covenant], God is establishing some legal entry into the earth, and He is giving Abraham access to Himself…This Covenant gave God legal entry into the earth through Abraham…Until that time God was, to a certain extent, still on the outside looking in. He needed a legal entry through man so that he could destroy the works of the devil who was running rampant on earth…Abraham was God’s avenue of entry into the earth.” (Charles Capps, Authority in Three Worlds, 60-61.)
    6. When Jesus said it was finished, it was not finished, “Notice that when Jesus said ‘I have finished the work’ [John 17:4], we know that He had not finished the work. But I want you to catch something in the way He prayed and the way He talked—He spoke the end results. He never spoke what He never admitted death or defeat…Jesus was speaking the end results in His prayer to the Father.” (Charles Capps, Authority in Three Worlds, 258-59, emphasis in original.)
  3. COPELAND, KENNETH
    1. Kenneth Copeland a positive confession teacher

      KENNETH COPELAND

      Heaven is a planet,Heaven has a north and a south and an east and a west. Consequently, it must be a planet.” (Kenneth Copeland, “Spirit, Soul and Body I” [Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1985] audiotape #01-0601, side 1.)

    2. Faith is a conductive force, “Faith is a power force. It is a tangible force. It is a conductive force.” (Kenneth Copeland, The Force of Faith [Fort Worth, TX: KCP Publications, 1989], 10.)
    3. Earth is a copy of the mother planet,You don’t think earth was first, do you? Huh? Well, you don’t think that God made man in His image, and then made earth in some other image? There is not anything under this whole sun that’s new. Are you hearing what I’m saying? This is all a copy. It’s a copy of home. It’s a copy of the Mother Planet. Where God lives, He made a little one just like His and put us on it.” (Kenneth Copeland, “Following the Faith of Abraham I” [Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1989], audiotape #01-3001, side 1.)
    4. Adam had the same size body as God, “God spoke Adam into existence in authority with words (Gen. 1:26, 28). These words struck Adam’s body in the face. His body and God were exactly the same size.(Kenneth Copeland, Holy Bible: Kenneth Copeland Reference Edition [Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Minis­tries, 1991], 45, emphasis in original.)
    5. Adam is a reproduction of God, “God’s reason for creating Adam was His desire to reproduce Himself. I mean a reproduction of Himself, and in the Garden of Eden, He did just that. He was not a little like God. He was not almost like God. He was not subordinate to God even… Adam is as much like God as you could get, just the same as JesusAdam, in the Garden of Eden, was God manifested in the flesh.” (Kenneth Copeland, “Following the Faith of Abraham I,” side 1.)
    6. Adam was as much male as female, “Adam was made in the image of God. He was as much female as he was male. He was exactly like God. Then God separated him and removed the female part. Woman means ‘man with the womb.’ Eve had as much authority as Adam did as long as they stayed together.” (Kenneth Copeland, Sensitivity of Heart [Fort Worth, TX: KCP Publications, 1984], 23.)
    7. For God to work on earth, He has to be in agreement with a man, “God had no avenue of lasting faith or moving in the earth. He had to have a covenant with somebody… He had to be invited in, in other words, or he couldn’t come… God is on the outside looking in. In order to have any say so in the earth, he’s gonna have to be in agreement with a man here.” (Kenneth Copeland, “God’s Covenant With Man II” [Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1985 audiotape #01-4404, side 1.)
    8. God is the biggest of failures, “I was shocked when I found out who the biggest failure in the Bible actually is… The biggest one is God… I mean, He lost His top-ranking, most anointed angel; the first man He ever created; the first woman He ever created; the whole earth and all the fullness therein; a third of the angels, at least – that’s a big loss, man… Now, the reason 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.” (Kenneth Copeland, Praise-a-Thon” program on TBN [April 1988” racket.)
  4. CROUCH, PAUL
    1. Paul Crouch

      PAUL CROUCH

      We are gods, Paul Crouch, speaking to Kenneth Copeland, said: “Somebody said—I don’t know who said it—but they claim that you Faith teachers declare that we are gods. You’re a god. I’m a god. Small ‘g’ now, but we are the gods of this world...Well, are you a god—small ‘g’?” To this, Jan Crouch, referring to Copeland, enthusiastically exclaimed: “He’s gonna say, ‘Yes.’ I love it.” (Paul Crouch, “Praise the Lord” program on TBN [5 February 1986].)

    2. I am a little god, “He [God] doesn’t even draw a distinction between Himself and us…You know what else that’s settled, then, tonight? This hue and cry and controversy that has been spawned by the Devil to try and bring dissension within the body of Christ that we are gods. I am a little god!… I have His name. I’m one with Him. I’m in covenant relation. I am a little god! Critics, be gone!” (Paul Crouch, “Praise the Lord” program on TBN [7 July 1986].)
  5. HAGGIN, KENNETH
    1. Kenneth Hagin a positive confession teacher

      KENNETH HAGIN

      Adam was the god of this world, “Originally, God made the earth and the fullness thereof, giving Adam dominion over all the works of His hands. In other words, Adam was the god of this world.” (Kenneth E. Hagin, The Believer’s Authority, 2d ed. [Tulsa, OK: Kenneth Hagin Ministries, 1991], 19.)

    2. Satan became the god of this world due to Adam’s sin, “Adam committed high treason and sold out to Satan, and Satan, through Adam, became the god of this world. Adam didn’t have the moral right to commit treason, but he had the legal right to do so.” (Kenneth E. Hagin, The Believer’s Authority,)
    3. Adam became satanic when he sinned, “God came down in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden to commune and fellowship with him [Adam], as he had in the past. And he couldn’t find him. He called out to him, ‘Adam, where art thou?’ And he said, ‘I hid myself.’ Why? Because of sin. Because, first, sin separates you from God. Secondly, by sinning, by listening to the devil, he took upon himself the nature of the devil into his spirit being.” (Kenneth E. Hagin, “How Jesus Obtained His Name” [Tulsa, OK: Kenneth Hagin Ministries, n.d.], audiotape #44H01, side 2.)
    4. Jesus’ physical death did not remove sin:  Jesus “tasted spiritual death for every man. And His spirit and inner man went to hell in my place. Can’t you see that? Physical death wouldn’t remove your sins.” (Kenneth E. Hagin, “How Jesus Obtained His Name” (Tulsa: Kenneth Hagin Ministries, n.d.), tape #44H01, side 1,m cited in Christianity in Crisis, by Hanegraaff, Hank, Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.)
    5. Jesus went to hell, “Why did He need to be begotten or born? Because He became like we were – separated from God. Because He tasted spiritual death for every man. And His spirit and inner men went to hell in my place. Can’t you see that? Physical death wouldn’t remove your sins. He’s tasted death for every man. He’s talking about tasting spiritual death. Jesus is the first person that was ever born again. Why did His spirit need to be born again? Because it was estranged from God.” (Kenneth Hagin, How Jesus obtained His Name, Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Audio Tape #44-H01)
    6. Every believer is an incarnation, “You are as much the incarnation of God as Jesus Christ was… the believer is as much an incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth.” (Kenneth Hagin, Word Of Faith, December 1980, pg 14)
    7. We are the same class as God, “That means God has made us as much like Himself as possible. He made us in His image. He made us in His likeness. He made us the same class of being that He is Himself.” (Hagin, Kenneth E.. ZOE: The God-Kind of Life (p. 30). Faith Library Publications. Kindle Edition.)
  6. HINN, BENNY
    1. Benny Hinn a positive confession teacher

      BENNY HINN

      Adam used to fly, “Adam was a super-being when God created him. I don’t know whether people know this, but he was the first superman that really ever lived. First of all, the Scriptures declare clearly that he had dominion over the fowls of the air, the fish of the sea – which means he used to fly. Of course, how can he have dominion over the birds and not be able to do what they do? The word ‘dominion’ in the Hebrew clearly declares that if you have dominion over a subject, that you do everything that subject does. In other words, that subject, if it does something you cannot do, you don’t have dominion over it. I’ll prove it further. Adam not only flew, he flew to space. He was-with one thought he would be on the moon.” (Benny Hinn, “Praise the Lord” program on TBN [26 December 1991].)

    2. Eve was supposed to bring children out of her side, “He [the Holy Spirit] says, ‘God’s original plan is that the woman was to bring forth children out of her side.’…Adam gave birth to his wife out of his side. It was sin that turned the thing around…And it was sin that transformed her flesh and her body. When God took the woman out of man, He closed up his rib. But she was created identically as him. In other words, she was created with an opening in her side, and children were supposed to be born. And I get that from the very fact that you’ll never see birth spiritually, except from the side.” (Benny Hinn, “Our Position In Christ #5-An Heir of God” [Orlando, FL: Orlando Christian Center, 1990], audiotape #A031190-5, side 2.)
    3. Don’t say to God, “if it by your will,” “Never, ever, ever go to the Lord and say, ‘If it be thy will…’ Don’t allow such faith-destroying words to be spoken from your mouth” (Benny Hinn, Rise and Be Healed!, 1991, p47-48).
    4. To say you are a Christian is to say you are a little messiah, “When you say, ‘I am a Christian,’ you are saying, ‘I am mashiach,’ in the Hebrew. I am a little messiah walking on earth, in other words. That is a shocking revelation…May I say it like this? You are a little god on earth running around” (Benny Hinn, Praise-a-Thon, TBN, 6th November ’90)
    5. God touched a piece of dust and turned it into a god, you are divine, “God came to earth and touched a piece of dust and turned it into a God. …Are you a child of God? Then you’re divine! Are you a child of God? Then you’re not human!” (Benny Hinn, TBN, Dec 1, 1990).
    6. You are Jesus touching somebody, “When I stand in Christ – I am one with Him; united to Him; one spirit with Him. I am not, hear me, I AM NOT PART OF HIM, I AM HIM! THE WORD HAS BECOME FLESH IN ME!. …When my hand touches someone, it’s the hand of Jesus touching somebody” (Benny Hinn, Our Position in Christ).
  7. KENYON, E.W.
    1. E. W. Kenyon a positive confession teacher

      E. W. KENYON

      Adam adopted the satanic nature: “Man [i.e., Adam] was actually Born Again when he sinned. That is, he was born of the Devil. He became a partaker of Satanic Nature.” (W. Kenyon, The Father and His Family, 17th ed. [Lynnwood, WA: Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society, 1964], 48.)

    2. Transfer of authority, “Adam evidently had a legal right to transfer this dominion and authority into the hands of the enemy. God has been obliged through the long period of human history to recognize Satan’s legal standing, and legal right and authority, and on this ground, and this only, can we understand the legal side of the Plan of Redemption…Adam had legally transferred to him [Satan] the Authority with which God had invested him.” (W. Kenyon, The Father and His Family, 38-39.)
    3. “[A]s soon as they [the parties of the covenant] cut the covenant, they are recognized as blood brothers by others, and they are called the blood brothers… God and Abraham had entered the Covenant….God cut the Covenant with Abraham.” (W. Kenyon, The Blood Covenant [Lynnwood, WA: Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society, 1969], 14, 16.)
  8. MEYER, JOYCE
    1. joyce meyer

      JOYCE MEYER

      Jesus stopped being the Son of God:  “He could have helped himself up until the point where he said I commend my spirit into your hands, at that point he couldn’t do nothing for himself anymore. He had become sin, he was no longer the Son of God. He was sin.”

    2. Jesus paid for our sins in hell:  “He became our sacrifice and died on the cross. He did not stay dead. He was in the grave three days. During that time he entered hell, where you and I deserve to go (legally) because of our sin. He paid the price there.” (The most important decision you’ll ever make, by Joyce Meyer, second printing, May 1993, page 35)
    3. If you don’t believe Jesus went to hell, you cannot be saved:   “His spirit went to hell because that is where we deserve to go… There is no hope of anyone going to heaven unless they believe this truth.” (The most important decision you’ll ever make, by Joyce Meyer, second printing, May 1993, page 37)
    4. The host of hell was literally on Jesus and was laughing:  “They were having the biggest party that had ever been had. They had my Jesus on the floor and they were standing on his back jumping up and down laughing. And he had become sin.”
    5. Joyce Meyer gets revelation knowledge:  “The Bible can’t even find any way to explain this. Not really that is why you have got to get it by revelation. There are no words to explain what I am telling you. I have got to just trust God that he is putting it into your spirit like he put it into mine.”
    6. Joyce Meyer says she is not a sinner
    7. Joyce Meyer says we can be called little gods
    8. Joyce Meyer saysJesuswas born again

       

  9. Osteen, Joel
    1. Mormons are Christians, “You know we could look at our faith versus the Catholic faith or some other faith, Mormonism is a little bit different, but I still see them as brothers in Christ.”
      (Interview with Wolf Blitzer on 4/24/12 in The Situation Room)

      Joel Osteen

      JOEL OSTEEN

    2. Self Esteem, God knows your value; He sees your potential. You may not understand everything you are going through right now. But hold your head up high, knowing that God is in control and he has a great plan and purpose for your life…God stands before you with His arms open wide. He always accepts you. He always confirms your value. You are His prized possession. No matter what you go through in life, no matter how many disappointments you suffer, your value in God’s eyes always remains the same. You will always be the apple of His eye. He will never give up on you, so don’t give up on yourself.” (Joel Osteen; Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential)
  10. PRICE, FREDERICK
    1. Frederick Price a positive confession teacher

      FREDERICK PRICE

      God can’t do anything on earth, unless we allow him to do it, “God can’t do anything in this earth realm except what we, the body of Christ, allow Him to do. Now that statement is  so foreign and so contrary to tradition That, like I said, if they could get their hands on me right now most evangelicals would burn me at the stake and dismember me and feed me to the crocodiles because they’ll consider that statement to be just heresy.” (Frederick K.C. Price, “Ever Increasing Faith” program on TBN [1 May 1992], audiotape #PR11.) Cf. chapter 6, 85.

    2. For God to get back into earth, He needed an invitation, “Adam, as I said, gave it [the earth] away to the serpent, to the Devil. As a result of it, he got his behind kicked out of the garden. He went out of Eden, out of the garden. He began to wander around, and he has troubles from day one. Now God was out of the God was out of the earth realm. God had no more stock in this earth realm. No more. None at all. Nothing He could do. Not a thing in the world He could do…The only way God could get back into this earth realm, He had to have an invitation. Ha-hah! He had to have an invitation. And so, God looked around-saw different men, saw Noah, saw different ones. He gave them a few instructions. They did what He said. So and so and so and so. But, finally, He got to a point where He had His plan ready for operation. And He saw a man named Abraham.” (Frederick K.C. Price, “Ever Increasing Faith” program on TBN [1 May 1992], audiotape #PR11.)
    3. The disciples had lots of money, “The Bible says that He [Jesus] had a treasurer – a treasury (they called it “the bag”); that they had one man who was the treasurer, named Judas Iscariot; and the rascal was stealing out of the bag for three-and-a-half years and nobody knew that he was stealing. You know why? Because there was so much in it, He couldn’t tell. Nobody could tell that anything was missing. If He had three oranges in the bottom of the bag and he stole two of them, don’t tell me He wouldn’t know that some was missing. Besides that, if Jesus didn’t have anything, what do you need a treasury for? A treasury is for surplus. It’s not for that which you’re spending. It’s only for surplus – to hold it until you need to spend it. Therefore, He must have had a whole lot that needed to be held in advance that He wasn’t spending. So He must have had more than He was living on.” (Frederick K.C. Price, “Ever Increasing Faith” program on TBN [23 November 1990].)

More on the Preachers and Teachers page

References

References
1 The material in the book is excellent though Hanegraaf has joined the Eastern Orthodox Church in recent years. The Eastern Orthodox Church is a false religion.

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