Kenneth E. Hagin
Kenneth E. Hagin (
August 20,
1917 -
September 19,
2003) was a
Pentecostal minister for about seventy years. He is often referred to as the "father of the modern
Word of faith movement". Many of his followers often refer to him lovingly as "Dad Hagin" or "Papa Hagin".
Kenneth Erwin Hagin was born in
McKinney, Texas, a son of Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin. He has two children, a son named Kenneth Hagin Jr. who presently runs Rhema Bible Church, and a daughter named Patricia. He was married to Oretha Rooker.
He was sickly as a child, suffering from a deformed
heart and an incurable
blood disease. He was not expected to live and became bedfast at age 15. In April
1933 during a dramatic conversion experience, he reported dying three times in 10 minutes, each time seeing the horrors of
hell and then returning to life. He also claimed that he was raised from a deathbed in
1934 by "the revelation of faith in God's Word". There is no evidence known to exist regarding the original
diagnosis.
Two years later he preached his first sermon as the pastor of a small community church in Roland, Texas (9 miles from McKinney, Texas).
His favorite scripture was
Mark 11:23 "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith". Dr. Hagin often said "I have quoted this scripture so many times that some people may have thought I wrote it, but I didn't, it is God's holy word and promise."
During the next 12 years he pastored five churches in Texas: in the cities of Tom Bean, Farmersville (twice), Talco, Greggton, and Van. In
1949, he began an itinerant ministry as a Bible teacher and evangelist.
In
1966, he moved to
Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he opened a ministry office. That same year, he taught for the first time on
radio â€" on
KSKY in
Dallas. In
1967, he began a regular radio broadcast that continues today as Faith Seminar of the Air. Teaching by his son, Rev. Kenneth Hagin Jr., is also heard on the program.
Hagin never received any formal theological training of any kind. His doctorate was honorarily given by
Oral Roberts University in the 1970s.
Hagin was considered by his followers to be a dynamic
preacher, teacher, and
prophet known for preaching healing and prosperity through searching God's word and believing God in faith for financial gifts, then claiming and receiving them by faith. He taught on every subject in the Bible from "cover to cover", focusing mainly on faith and what it is. Critics of the
prosperity gospel movement consider his teachings to be controversial. However, walking in love was a priority message throughout his ministry.
Since its inception, his organization,
Kenneth Hagin Ministries, grew to include numerous
media outreaches and ministries. These include Faith Library Publications, with 65 million book copies in print; "RHEMA Praise", a weekly television program on the
Trinity Broadcasting Network; "Faith Seminar of the Air", a radio program heard on many stations nationwide and on the Internet; "The Word of Faith", a free monthly magazine with roughly 250,000 subscribers; crusades conducted throughout the nation; RHEMA Correspondence Bible School; and the RHEMA Prayer and Healing Center.
In
1974, Hagin founded RHEMA Bible Training Center USA, which now has training centers in fourteen countries and has 23,000
alumni. In
1979, he founded the Prayer and Healing Center there to provide a place for the sick to come to "have the opportunity to build their faith",. Its Healing School continues to be held free of charge twice daily on the RHEMA campus. There are many other outreaches and RBTC graduates throughout the world.
In 1983, two students at Oral Roberts University discovered that the bulk of Hagin's theological teachings were lifted verbatim from the writings of other authors. D.R. McConnell, who wrote his Master's thesis about the Word of Faith movement noted that Hagin had plagiarized the writings of evangelist
E.W. Kenyon, teaching not only the ideas of Kenyon but also lifting text word-for-word from many of Kenyon's eighteen published works. Dale Simmons, one of McConnell's colleagues doing research for his paper entitled
"An Evaluation Of Kenneth E. Hagin's Claim To Be A Prophet", discovered that Hagin had plagiarized another author named
John A. MacMillan. In this case, Hagin not only plagiarized word-for-word, he even plagiarized the title,
"The Authority of the Believer".
Upon discovering Hagin's use of MacMillan's material, Simmons contacted the publishing house that published MacMillan's original work. The president of the publishing company confronted Hagin with written proof of the plagiarism. Hagin's response was to claim that he had not plagiarized anyone but that his acknowledgement of MacMillan had been an oversight. Hagin then implicitly claimed that the plagiarism was actually proof that his teaching and MacMillan's teaching were from God. In a portion of a letter printed on page 68 of
"A Different Gospel" by D.R. McConnell, Hagin argued that persons speaking on the same subject use 'virtually the same words' because 'it is the same Spirit that is leading and directing.' Simmons did not accept this argument, noting that it begged the question why Hagin felt it necessary to read any books at all if God was going to inspire him to have the same thoughts and words as another author. This information is available from Oral Roberts University in Dale H. Simmons' Master's thesis,
"An Evaluation of Kenneth E. Hagin's Claim To Be A Prophet". Simmons repeats these charges in his 1997 book,
"E.W. Kenyon: The Postbellum Pursuit of Peace, Prosperity, And Plenty". Hagin did, however, give credit to MacMillan when a new copy with a new title (
"The Believer's Authority") was released in 1984.
The charismatic movement is divided over the question of whether or not Hagin plagiarized. Kenyon's Gospel Publishing Company, based in Washington state, argues that Hagin did not plagiarize based on the fact that his books were merely sermons that were converted into book form. This argument, however, fails to explain how it was that Hagin claimed to have received many of these plagiarisms 'by divine inspiration.' Many examples of Hagin's plagiarism can be found at the following website: http://www.intotruth.org/wof/kenyon.html
William DeArteaga, a defender of the Faith movement, acknowledged that Hagin was guilty of plagiarism in his 1992 book,
"Quenching The Spirit" (p. 243-245 of the 1996 edition). Geir Lie, a scholar who is favorable to E.W. Kenyon went so far as to say that Hagin's plagiarism was conscious and systematic (according to DeArteaga). Derek Vreeland, another charismatic scholar, presented his findings at the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies (http://www.logosword.co.uk/articles/RWOF-1.htm). Vreeland, too, believes Hagin to be guilty of deliberate plagiarism.
The 'informal borrowing' that is common among preachers may account for some of the instances of plagiarism. Hagin lived near Dallas in his formative years, and E.W. Kenyon's works were very popular in the Dallas area at that time (the 1930s). Although this fails to explain the massive amount of plagiarism Hagin apparently committed, it is worth noting that in many instances he has cited by name sources that he used including Dr. Lillian B. Yeomans, Smith Wigglesworth, Corrie ten Boom, Ethan O. Allen, and some other (mostly Pentecostal-type) preachers. He has also favorably remarked about the ministry of
Charles G. Finney. Even one of Hagin's major critics, D.R. McConnell, acknowledges the instances where Hagin gave credit to the sources he used.
It is also worth noting that although Hagin argued in numerous books - including "Healing Belongs To Us," "Seven Things You Need To Know About Divine Healing" and "Faith Takes Back What The Devil's Stolen" - that he had never been sick since 1933, he contradicted himself numerous times. For example, although Hagin taught that God NEVER used sickness as punishment for a believer, he claimed that his arm was 'only 99 percent healed' by God in order to remind Hagin 'not to disobey Him.' (This is found on page 102 of the 1996 edition of "I Believe In Visions.").
Hagin finally died three days after lapsing into a coma due to a heart arrhythmia in September 2003.
*
Official Website of Rhema Bible Church*
Documentation of Hagin's plagiarism*
Charismatic Acknowleding Hagin's Plagiarism*
Citation Of Hagin Misusing Greek*
Citation of Hagin Changing Greek in Mark 6:5*
A Former Hagin Disciple Discusses His Mentor*
A New Site Featuring Hagin's ArticlesCritics:
*
Review of movie against Hagin, highly Critical of Hagin
