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Particulars of Christianity:
310 Pentecostalism,
the Charismatic
and Faith Movements


The Test of Heresy

5 Tests for Authenticity: The Test of Apostolic Continuity
The Test of Origination
The Test of Quality (or Ecstasy)
The Test of Heresy
Defining the Test of Purpose and Verifiability
On Faith and Miracles
The Sign Sign-Giver Process
Applying the Test of Purpose and Verifiability (Part 1)
Applying the Test of Purpose and Verifiability (Part 2)

Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 | Section 5



This test is quite straightforward really. Basically, this test involves whether or not a hypothetical charismatic restoration involved heretical statements either at its origination or at any a time prior to the present. If it did, then the entire occurrence of gifts in the present is invalidated by the fact of the heretical statements, which are themselves the sure marks of the counterfeit. And, as with the Test of Quality (or Ecstasy), it is not enough for a movement or group to simply remove these heretical doctrines from their practice. So long as a movement began in heresy or even involved heresy at any time prior to the present, as soon as heresy occurs, the entire movement is invalidated thereafter because either the origin is invalidated by the marks of the counterfeit or the practice was previously corrupted by the marks of the counterfeit and so the continuity to the origin is broken even if the origin was authentic.

For an illustration, we can again look to the Shakers. Knowing that the Shakers believed that Ann Lee was the female version of Jesus Christ and that the Shakers also practiced the gift of tongues, we might imagine the following as an illustration. Suppose that someone came to us and said that they spoke in tongues and could trace their practice of tongues with documentation all the way back to the restoration of tongues given to the Shakers. We might quickly point out that the Shakers were heretics, to which the other person might reply that they have since abandoned the heretical views of the Shakers and returned to orthodoxy.

However, once one admits or understands that any group involved in a hypothetical restoration of the charismatic gifts was heretical, it is impossible to accept that the restoration of the gifts they experienced was simultaneously authentic. For, to trace the practice the gifts from a formerly heretical group requires the absurd belief that God restored and fueled the gifts to heretics. This would contradict the very purpose of miracles (as we will see in Test No. 5) because God would be validating the heresy by providing the heretics with miraculous signs from himself.

Therefore, any group or movement that has prior heresy must be rejected as a valid restoration of the gifts. And, under this test we would also include alongside heretical statements, false prophecies as well. False prophecies are predictions that have precisely failed to come to pass, such as Edward Irving's publicized prediction that Jesus Christ would return in 1864.

"His popularity waned, however, because of his increasing stress on apocalypticism and eschatology, including his prediction in 1825 that the Second Coming of Christ would occur in 1864." (Britannica.com, "Irving, Edward.")

Like heretical doctrine, once a Charismatic movement or group has involved a falsified prophecy, the validity of the charismatic gifts in that group is disproved. Since Deuteronomy 18:21-22 tells us that we can identify a false prophet by the fact that their predictions do not come to pass, we can also conclude that anyone who prophesied falsely is not operating under the authentic gifts from God. And once this has occurred in a movement, the entire movement is thereafter discredited because to conclude otherwise would require that God is giving authentic gifts to those who are giving false prophecies. And such an act on God's part would make him complicit in misleading people to believe false prophets and prophecies that he himself did not give.

Now that we have explained how the Test of Heresy works, (including falsified prophecy), we will now go on to document some of the heretical statements made by leading members of the Charismatic and Faith Movements.

Now, typically we draw our supportive material from common reference sources such as encyclopedias, etc. But with the following quotes, we are taking excerpts from Hank Hanegraaff's book Christianity in Crisis, published by Harvest House Publishers, Inc. July 1997, 590 pages.

The reason that we are departing from our pattern of using commonly available sources in this case is because these quotes are not quotes of Hank Hanegraaff's opinions or views. Rather, these quotes are statements made by some prominent leaders of the modern Charismatic Movement and Faith Movement. Furthermore, each quote from these Charismatic leaders is taken either from a printed work or a tape cassette published by that individual themselves. And so it is the documented "on-the-record" statements of these Charismatic leaders themselves that appear below. Moreover, the book Christianity in Crisis (for which there is also an audio tape of these Charismatic speakers,) meticulously documents exactly where each of these quotes can be found either on tape or in a book published by the Charismatic leader who made the statement.

So, while this topic may be controversial in nature, because of the documentation provided by Hank Hanegraaff, the authenticity of the following quotes is a matter of public record and as such can be looked up by anyone who doubts their validity.

With that being said, we must also remember what we have learned from our encyclopedia sources above.

"Parham was the first in a long line of Pentecostal evangelists (Mary B. Woodworth-Etter, Charles Price, Aimee Semple McPherson, and, more recently Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhman, and Benny Hinn) who taught that Christ's atonement provides deliverance from sickness and is, therefore, the privilege of all who have the requisite faith." (Britannica.com, "Pentecostalism.")

"The Charismatic Movement - A second form of Pentecostalism arose in the 1960s after many non-Pentecostals became aware of Pentecostalism through an earlier Pentecostal revival organized by faith-healing evangelists (notably Oral Roberts)." (Bartleby.com, The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001. "Pentecostalism.")

"...And Southwestern Pentecostal Holiness College in Oklahoma City, Okla., which Oral Roberts, a faith healer and evangelist, helped to establish." (Britannica.com, "Pentecostal Holiness Church, Inc.")

As the above 3 quotes demonstrate, Oral Roberts was a prominent contributor to what is called the second wave of Pentecostalism that began in the 1960's. Benny Hinn is also included as a prominent member of this movement. And as we have reasoned above, once heresy and false prophecy enter into a Charismatic movement or group, the charismatic gifts practiced in that movement are invalidated thereafter because continuity to an authentic beginning is broken by the corruption of the heresy. With that in mind, any modern group that practices the gifts as a result of the Pentecostal Movement, which involved Oral Roberts or any of the other Charismatic leaders included below must be rejected as counterfeit on the grounds of the heretical nature of the statements made by these persons (quoted below). To conclude otherwise is to believe that God has restored and fueled the charismatic gifts to those who speak heresy.

And, it is necessary that we also understand the close relationship the following Charismatic leaders have with each other. Oral Roberts, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Charles Capps, Frederick K.C. Price, and Benny Hinn all have interwoven associations one to another. So, if one makes heretical statements or false prophecies and the others quote them or have them as guests to their ministries all of those involved are discredited by the heretical statements. You cannot have a heretic practicing gifts that are endorsed as authentic by his associate and still maintain that the gifts practiced by the associate are authentic. The heretic invalidates the entire group. Otherwise, God is providing authentic gifts to those who endorse and associate with heretics.

But this is not just our view. Consider the words of John the Apostle.

2 John 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. 9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

According to John, to invite into your house (or church) men who teach heretical doctrine concerning Christ Jesus or to even bid them "God speed" is to partake of their evil deeds. Therefore, we reject as counterfeit the charismatic gifts of any man who claims to have authentic gifts while associating with and endorsing a heretic.

Here then, are some assorted heretical statements and falsified prophecies documented in the book Christianity in Crisis. The page numbers appear after the quotes for reference purposes. For those who might question the authenticity of the quote, the quotes can be confirmed by looking up the original tape or book in which they appeared as documented in the book Christianity in Crisis. This information also appears after the page numbers below.

For the purposes of being brief and conclusive, we have chosen only to show the most obvious and significant heretical statements. As can be seen from the documentation in Christianity in Crisis, the quotes below are merely the tip of the iceberg. Our hope is that readers will follow the instruction of Deuteronomy 13:12-14 to "enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth" by looking up these quotes up where they originally were written and spoken to investigate for themselves the reliability of these Charismatic leaders.

Kenneth Hagin: "Every man who has been born again is an incarnation and Christianity is a miracle. The believer is as much an incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth." - Page 383: "The Incarnation," The Word of Faith 13, 12 [December 1980]:14; cf. E.W. Kenyon, The Father and His Family, 100.

Kenneth Copeland: "Satan conquered Jesus on the cross." - Page 338: Copeland, Holy Bible: Kenneth Copeland Reference Edition (Forth Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1991), 129, emphasis in original.

Kenneth Copeland: "Adam, in the Garden of Eden, was God manifested in the flesh." - Page 338: Kenneth Copeland, "Following the Faith of Abraham I" (Forth Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1989), audiotape #01-3001, side 1.

Kenneth Copeland: "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 Jesus...Adam, in the Garden of Eden, was God manifested in the flesh." - Page 338, 379, and accompanying audiotape supplement: Kenneth Copleand, "Following the Faith of Abraham I" (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1989), audiotape #01-3001, side 1.

Kenneth Copeland: "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." - Page 380, Sensitivity of Heart [Fort Worth, TX; KCP Publications, 1984], 23.

Kenneth Copeland: (Speaking as though Christ Jesus was speaking through him) "They crucified Me [Jesus] for claiming that I was God. But I didn't claim I was God; I just claimed I walked with Him [The Father] and that He was in Me." - Page 382, "Take Time to Pray," Believer's Voice of Victory 15, 2 [February 1987]:9. [Believer's Voice of Victory is the newsletter published by Copeland since 1973.]

Benny Hinn: "Man, I feel revelation knowledge already coming on me here. Lift your hands. Something new is going to happen here today. I felt it just as I walked down here. Holy Spirit, take over in the name of Jesus...God the Father, ladies and gentlemen, is a person; and He is a triune being by Himself separate from the Son and the Holy Ghost. Say, what did you say? Hear it, hear it, hear it. See, God the Father is a person, God the Son is a person, God the Holy Ghost is a person. But each one of them is a triune being by Himself. If I can shock you-and maybe I should-there's nine of them. Huh, what did you say? Let me explain: God the Father, ladies and gentlemen, is a person with his own personal spirit, with his own personal soul, and his own personal spirit-body. You say, Huh, I never heard that. Well you think you're in this church to hear things you've heard for the last 50 years? You can't argue with the Word, can you? It's all in the Word." - Page 123-124: Benny Hinn, "Benny Hinn" program on TBN (3 October 1990).

Benny Hinn: "God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost-three separate individuals, one in essence, one in work-and, may I add, each one of them possesses His own spirit-body. You don't like it?" - Page 124: Benny Hinn, "Praise the Lord" program on TBN (23 October, 1992). Cf. Hinn, Good Morning, Holy Spirit (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), 72, 82-84.

Benny Hinn: "I'm going to be led by the Holy Ghost today. Is that alright with you?...God came from heaven, became a man, made man into little gods, went back to heaven as a man. He faces the Father as a man. I face devils as the son of God. Do you see what I'm talking about? You say, ÔBenny, am I a little God?' You are a son of God, aren't you? You're a child of God, aren't you? You're a daughter of God, aren't you? What else are you? Quit your nonsense! What else are you? If you say, ÔI am,' you're saying I'm a part of him, right? Is he God? Are you his offspring? Are you his children? You can't be human! You can't! You can't! God didn't give birth to flesh. He gave birth to a new creation. And the new creation is not flesh and blood and bone, for no flesh and blood would inherit heaven. Did you hear what I said? Some of you didn't really hear what I said. You said, ÔWell, that's heresy.' No, that's your crazy brain saying that." - Page 382: (Our Position in Christ #2-The Word Made Flesh" [Orlando, FL; Orland Christian Center, 1991], audiotape #A031190-2, side 2.)

Benny Hinn: "When you were born again, the Word was made flesh in you. And you became flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. Don't tell me you have Jesus. You are everything he was and everything he is and ever shall be...it [the new man] says, ÔI am as he is.' That's what it says. As he is, so are we in this world. Jesus said, ÔGo in my name, go in my stead.' Don't say, ÔI have.' Say, ÔI am, I am, I am, I am, I am.' That's why you never ever, ever, ever ought to say, ÔI'm sick.' How can you be sick, if you're the new creation? Say, ÔI'm healed!' Don't say, ÔI'm a sinner.' The new creature is no sinner. I'm the righteousness of God in Christ." - Page 382-383: (Our Position in Christ #2-The Word Made Flesh" [Orlando, FL; Orland Christian Center, 1991], audiotape #A031190-2, side 2.)

Benny Hinn: "When you say, ÔI am a Christian,' you are saying, ÔI 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." - Page 384: ("Praise-a-thon" program on TBN [6 November 1990].)

Frederick K.C. Price: "Do you think that the punishment for our sin was [for Jesus] to die on a cross? If that were the case, the two thieves could have paid your price. No, the punishment was [for Jesus] to go to hell itself and to serve time in hell separated from God." - Page 347: Frederick K.C. Price, "Identification #3" (Inglewood, CA: Ever Increasing Faith Ministries, 1980), audiotape #FP545, side 1.

Charles Capps: "The sinless Son of God became as a serpent that he might swallow up all of evil...If you will behold what happened when the sin offering was made and the fact that Jesus became a serpent upon the pole, it will change your life...Jesus died spiritually, not for any of his own sin! He became the serpent on the pole, the snake on the ground, in the Old Testament type." - Page 383: (Authority in Three Worlds, 177, 166-67.)

A comparison of the above statements to the historic Christianity of the first few centuries AD reveals conclusively that these statements are heretical. And the level of influence that the above speakers and their associates have had on both the Charismatic Movement and the Faith Movement in their present forms strongly indicates that these Movements have failed the Test of Heresy and, therefore, should be considered counterfeit rather than authentic gifts.

As we conclude this section on the Test of Heresy, we should note that doctrine is the final test of authenticity. As will be demonstrated in greater detail in our next section, the Bible instructs that there will be some legitimately supernatural events, which are not from God at all but are the work of the adversary. So, even if something is legitimately supernatural, that does not guarantee it's from God. Ultimately, a sign or miracle is counterfeit if the message it accompanies does not line up with the existing revelation of God's Word. In other words, any miracle that accompanies doctrine that is contrary to the Bible is a counterfeit sign and should not be accepted as authentic, even if it is legitimately supernatural.