What Happens to Shooting Stars
As a comet orbits near the Sun, it starts to melt down and ejects lots of dust and chunks of rock on its path. We call these particles meteors. They begin to heat up through the earth’s atmosphere, start to glow, and then burn down.
Who is in your top two-or-three people you’d like to meet? In my top three these days is Jazz musician Wynton Marcellus. I enjoy listening to him tell the American story through the lens of the arts.
In 1983, my wife and I ran into the person at the top of my list. We traveled from the West Coast to my next military duty station and made a stop in Fort Worth, TX, to visit a ministry headquarters.
A guide told us that the leader’s wife was speaking at a local hotel that evening, so we decided to go. We had no idea he would be there, but standing in the lobby was Kenneth Copeland.
We spoke with him for several minutes. He was a kind and gracious man. He was there because Gloria was speaking at his mother’s Bible Study that evening.
Kenneth Copeland was the most visible spokesperson for the Word of Faith Movement. Critics referred to it as the prosperity gospel.
The father of the movement was Kenneth E. Hagin. In 1974, Hagin started Rhema Bible College in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and inspired the ministries of famous preachers like Copeland, Charles Capps, Jesse Duplantis, Creflo Dollar, and others.
Hagin taught that poverty did not glorify God, and believers who give should expect financial rewards in this life. Unfortunately, many cases of abuse took place within the framework of his teaching.
In 1999, Hagin brought together leaders of the movement to correct them for what he regarded as manipulating the Bible to support greed and indulgence.
Hagin wrote a book in 2000 entitled the Midas Touch in an attempt to correct abuses. Among other things, He said:
- Financial prosperity is not necessarily a sign of God’s blessing.
- Believers should not give to get.
- It is not biblical to “name and claim” a benefit from an offering because it corrupts the attitude of our giving.
Hagin died in 2003. His son Kenneth W. Hagin leads the college he founded. The degree to which Hagin corrected the abuses he addressed is a matter of opinion.
Today, Kenneth Copeland is admittedly a very wealthy man. His comments in 2019 on remedies for COVID-19 and the outcome of our most recent presidential election landed him in a great deal of controversy.
The Word of Faith Movement was like a shooting star, which is unfortunate in some respects because it had an upside.
Kenneth E. Hagin was bedridden at the age of 15 and not expected to live. God healed him miraculously, and divine healing became one of the foundations of his ministry.
There was a poverty mindset in the church that Hagin should receive some credit for breaking.
Hagin believed that the ministry of Jesus included modern-day apostles and prophets, which was rare at the time, and he operated in and taught on the gifts of the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:8-10)
We don’t need a revitalized Word of Faith Movement. We need Faith in God.
This week my dentist and friend showed me a list of six of his medical buddies who recently came down with cancer and other serious ailments. He told me they had from 1-5 years to live. He is a Jewish man who is one of the most positive people you will ever meet, but he had no hope for them at all.
Too often, that is how we feel in the church. I got so angry that I asked him to let me take a photo of his list. I told him to tell his friends that I was praying for them.
I’ve shown two other groups of believers this list, and their immediate response was to pray. Please pray for these men as well.
My dentist friend does not believe in Jesus. My prayer is that God will touch his friends and draw him and his family to the Lord.
I am learning that we must demonstrate the gospel and not just preach the gospel.
We live in an evil world, but where evil abounds, grace does much more abound. (Romans 5:20) If grace is to abound, then you and I must put our faith to work NOW. God Bless! Press On!! Kevin
I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)
I will be praying 🙏 for them.
Faith! That is what I stand on!!