Kenneth E. Hagin Kenneth Erwin Hagin (
August 20,
1917 -
September 19,
2003) was an influential
American Pentecostal preacher. He is often referred to as the "father" (or "grandaddy") of the
"Word of Faith" movement.
Many of his followers often refer to him affectionately as "Dad Hagin"
or "Brother Hagin". Hagin never received any formal theological
training, however, he received an
honorary doctorate from
Oral Roberts University in the 1970s.
Biography
Personal life
Kenneth Hagin was born in
McKinney, Texas,
the son of Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin. He was so small and
lifeless that the doctor thought that he was stillborn. He had two
children, a son named Kenneth Hagin Jr. who is presently the pastor of
Rhema Bible Church and President of Kenneth Hagin Ministries, and a
daughter named Patricia Harrison. She is the widow of the late Doyle
"Buddy' Harrison and is the owner and publisher of Harrison House,
located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was married to Oretha Rooker.
On
many occasions Kenneth Hagin demonstrated his ability to memorize large
portions of scripture and other materials. Testimony of friends and
family indicate that he possessed an amazing memory with which he could
recall specific details such as the day of the week that a specific date
fell on and that days weather.
Hagin died five days after lapsing into a coma due to a heart arrhythmia in September 2003.
Claimed he was healed
According to Hagin's testimony, he was sickly as a child, suffering from a
deformed heart and what was believed to be 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 firm evidence of 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.
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".
Beginning to preach
During the next 12 years he pastored five
Assemblies of God churches in Texas: in the cities of
Tom Bean,
Farmersville (twice),
Talco,
Greggton, and
Van.
Establishing a faith-based corporation
In
1949, he began an itinerant ministry as a Bible teacher and
evangelist. Hagin was at this time also given full admission to the
Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International
(FGBMFI) which had been established in 1951. He was also a part of the
Voice of Healing Revival in the U.S. in the 40s and 50s together with
Oral Roberts and T.L.Osborn. In
1963, Kenneth E. Hagin Evangelistic Association was incorporated, and the offices of the ministry moved to
Tulsa, Oklahoma in
1966. That same year, he taught for the first time on
radio — 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.
Since its inception in 1963, his organization grew to include numerous
media outreaches and ministries. These are:
- 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
- the RHEMA Prayer and Healing Center, located on the Rhema campus in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
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.
Controversial legacy
Hagin was considered by his followers to be a dynamic
preacher, teacher, and
prophet known for preaching
divine healing
and prosperity through searching God's word and believing God in faith
for financial gifts, then claiming and receiving them by faith. His
Bible teaching focused mainly on
faith
and the victorious life of a Christian. Hagin's critics, however,
including a large number of charismatic critics, believe a number of his
teachings including the born again Jesus (as contained in "The Name of
Jesus," 1978 ed., pp. 29-33) and 'God has faith' to be outside the
confines of Christian orthodoxy.
Plagiarism Controversy
In
1983, two students at Oral Roberts University alleged 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 alleged 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 what he has described as plagiarization by Hagin of an author named
John A. MacMillan. In this case it is alleged that Hagin not only plagiarized word-for-word, but also 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 evidence of the
plagiarism. Hagin's response was to claim that he had not plagiarized
anyone but that his acknowledgment 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
real question, however, is not whether Hagin plagiarized. That fact has
been established in numerous places. The question is whether or not
Hagin received the plagiarism from God as he alleges.
At present,
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 claim, however,
contradicts the statements of Ruth Kenyon Houseworth, Kenyon's daughter,
given to both Judith Matta and D.R. McConnell in 1982.
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
[1].
Vreeland, too, believes Hagin unintentionally used the thoughts and
ideas of Kenyon without properly attributing them to Kenyon.
Dale
Simmons, who discovered Hagin's plagiarism of John A. MacMillan,
concurs that Hagin plagiarized, but he theorizes that it was an instance
of informal borrowing in Hagin's early preaching ministry.
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.
Before his presidency, he was a
guerilla fighter for Tupamaros, which acted like “Robin hood.” They
literally robbed evil banks, gun clubs, and other businesses to give to
the poor. He truly believed that his value was not in gaining more
money, it was in the wellbeing of his country and people. He
was imprisoned 2 times for a total of 14 years and shot 6 times after an
escape attempt, But he still continues to fight for the people even in
his high office now as president of Uruguay. 
While
on his way home from the Akron, Ohio tire company where he worked as a
teen, young Aiden Wilson Tozer overheard a street preacher say,“If you
don’t know how to be saved…just call on God.” Upon returning home, Tozer
climbed into the attic and heeded the preacher’s advice.
