How Kenneth Copeland BUTCHERS The Bible!

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Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to Fight for Truth, the channel where we bring you Christian commentary about the things that matter.

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In today's video, we're going to be talking about Kenneth Copeland. This time, we'll be reviewing a sermon of his entitled, quote,

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You're Supposed to Be Healed. As you can see, this is quite a provocative idea. But the million -dollar question is, is this biblical?

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That is the question we're looking to answer in today's video. You see, in the sermon, Copeland uses a variety of biblical texts to supposedly prove his point.

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As Christians who care about the Bible, we would do well to analyze these scriptures and see what they're all about.

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But before we do that, we need to know what Kenneth is trying to prove. What exactly is his main point?

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Watch this. Now, I've said it already, healing is not a reward.

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It is a property, and you have to receive it.

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So there you have it. Kenneth Copeland says that, quote, healing is not a reward, it is a property.

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You have to receive it, end quote. Essentially, Kenneth is alluding to what has become known as Word of Faith teaching.

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The idea here is rather simple. If you want your healing, go get it. Name it and claim it.

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If you want it bad enough, take it by faith, and it will be yours. This, ladies and gentlemen, is Word of Faith 101.

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And Kenneth Copeland's main idea here is that healing is not a reward. In other words, it's not a benefit that you receive for doing the right thing.

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Rather, it is your rightful property. So it is a spiritual thing that you must take the initiative to reach out and take for yourself.

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There are a few issues with this, but the foremost of these issues has to do with God's sovereignty.

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God is sovereign over who is sick and injured and who is not. In Exodus 4 11, God says to Moses, quote,

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Then the Lord said to him, Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind?

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Is it not I, the Lord? End quote. So you see, the Lord is sovereign over not just healing, but also sickness and infirmity.

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But effectively, in Kenneth's theology, you are sovereign over your own health. It is fundamentally up to you if you will be sick or not.

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All you have to do is choose to receive your healing by faith. After all, it is your property.

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Just go get it. Essentially, in Kenneth's view, getting healed is as simple as taking a Christmas present out from under the tree and opening it.

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It's all very much within your power. But in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul is confronted with what he calls a, quote, thorn in the flesh.

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In verse 8, Paul says this, Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.

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Much has been speculated about what this thorn could be. But one thing remains certain.

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It was some sort of problem that Paul wanted solved that would have improved his quality of life.

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Taking away this thorn would have been the removal of some kind of burden for Paul. And yet, in verse 9,

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Paul recounts God's response to him, quote, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

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The problem with this is that it does not line up with Kenneth Copeland's theory. Why wouldn't

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Paul just step up and claim his property? Why wouldn't Paul just receive his blessing by faith?

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Isn't it supposed to be his choice? You see, evidently, the Bible has a very different view of hardship compared to Kenneth Copeland.

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But with all of that said, Kenneth still has a few tricks up his sleeve. In fact, Kenneth tries to use three biblical passages to defend his claims about healing.

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Watch this. We'll look at three incidences in the life of Jesus.

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We'll look at Matthew 9, 2, and Mark 2, and Luke 5.

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Because there's something different in each one of these, the man born by four.

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So the three passages, the three points of evidence for Kenneth's healing doctrine are Matthew 9,

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Mark 2, and Luke 5. But here's the catch. These three passages all recount the same essential story used by Kenneth as evidence.

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And that story is when Jesus heals the paralytic man. Let's focus on Mark chapter 2. As the narrative goes,

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Jesus is in Capernaum, and a whole house is filled with people who want to hear His teaching. And it is so full that verse 2 says, quote,

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There was no more room, not even at the door. Now there was also a man with some sort of paralysis who was being carried by four men.

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And verse 4 says, quote, They could not get near Him, Jesus, because of the crowd. So they removed the roof above Him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.

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End quote. So after these men lowered their friend down through the roof to Jesus, the passage says, quote,

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And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven. And of course, the

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Pharisees, as they always do, take issue with this, suggesting that Jesus is guilty of blasphemy, as only

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God can forgive sins. In response to this, Jesus demonstrates His power by healing the man as He says,

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I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home. And the passage says, quote,

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He rose and immediately picked up His bed, and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed.

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That is essentially the story. But in each of these three passages, there is some comment made about what verse 5 in the

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Luke account specifically says, when Jesus saw their faith. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the core evidence offered by Kenneth Copeland.

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This is why Kenneth Copeland said, healing is not a reward, it is your property. You see, in Kenneth's mind, these men are living proof of the principle that he mentioned.

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These men boldly approached Jesus and took healing with their friend by faith. But there are a few problems with this view.

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First, there is no specific narrative in the passage itself about these men taking healing as property.

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Nowhere in the passage does it say that these men named it and claimed it, or used any other Word of Faith practice.

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All we are told is that they approached Jesus in faith, knowing that He could heal their friend.

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But this isn't Word of Faith doctrine, it is basic Christian doctrine. We all believe, or at least we all should believe, that Jesus can heal anyone.

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But this does not mean that healing is our rightful property as Christians, which is what Kenneth Copeland said.

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So his point is unproven. Again, the passage doesn't say that or imply it anywhere. But this brings us to an important question.

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How do we make sense of the fact that all three of these passages make some sort of reference to the men's faith?

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And more than this, why did the passages mention that Jesus noticed their faith? Here's one potential answer.

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Jesus oftentimes did use people's faith as part of healing them. There's no denying that.

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For example, in Matthew 9, 22, Jesus says to the woman with the issue of blood, quote, Your faith has made you well.

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And He says virtually the same thing to one of the ten lepers in Luke chapter 17, and to the blind beggar in Luke chapter 18.

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Clearly, there is a pattern here. Yes, Jesus did the healing, He's responsible for it.

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But there is some reason why the faith of the person being healed is mentioned consistently by Jesus.

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And yet, we are also faced with examples of Jesus healing people without any recorded prerequisite faith.

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For example, in John chapter 5 we find the account of the Pool of Bethesda, and we are told in verse 4 that there was a, quote, multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed.

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And curiously, Jesus approaches one man in particular who, according to verse 5, quote, had been an invalid for 38 years.

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Jesus sees this man and asks him, quote, Do you want to be healed? And the man responds in verse 7, saying,

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Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I'm going down, another steps down before me.

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So the man is engaging in this conversation with Jesus, answering His question. And clearly, he is not hopeful that he will be healed.

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And in response, Jesus says, quote, Get up, take up your bed, and walk. And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked, end quote.

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We should notice here that there is no mention of the man having any level of faith in Jesus for this healing, nor does he ask

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Jesus to heal him in general. He simply goes from talking with Jesus to being immediately healed, and at no point does

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Jesus say afterwards, Your faith has made you well, or anything like that. He just heals the man.

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But that's not even the strangest part. You see, later on, this man has an encounter with the Pharisees, who tell him that it is not lawful for him to carry his bed on the

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Sabbath. And after hearing his story, they ask him who it was who healed him. And verse 13 records that, quote,

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The man who had been healed did not know who it was who healed him, for Jesus had withdrawn, end quote.

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This is extraordinary. You see, if faith is what gets you healed, how could this man have exercised faith in Jesus if he clearly didn't know who

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Jesus was? And why is it that Jesus chose to heal this one man out of all of the injured people there, when this man didn't show any faith toward him in the first place?

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These are important questions, so here's the situation in brief. Some people in the New Testament are definitely healed after coming to Jesus in faith.

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And Jesus oftentimes chose to highlight their faith in connection to their healing. That is undeniable.

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But what is equally undeniable is that Jesus also healed people who had seemingly no faith.

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So how do we reconcile this? Well, the only common denominator to all of this is Jesus. To put it simply,

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God is going to heal whoever He chooses, yet we are still commanded to worship and serve Him regardless of if we get what we want.

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And by the way, even faith itself is not some magical force that you can conjure up in your own will to receive any blessings you desire.

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Ephesians 2 .8 says, This, I think, is a much more balanced and biblical view compared to what is offered by Kenneth Copeland.

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As we've already covered, God is sovereign over everything and can freely choose what He will do. This fits well with all of the

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Scriptures we've read today. But in Kenneth Copeland's theology, faith is a powerful force that you can use to summon your health and wealth.

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And none of the passages that we've seen today provide any solid evidence to back that up.

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Kenneth Copeland is a false teacher and a charlatan, plain and simple. He constantly misinterprets the

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Bible for the benefit of himself and at the expense of his audience. And we hope we've demonstrated that, at least in some small part, in today's video.

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I pray that this has been a blessing to you, and please know that this video isn't meant as a sinful attack, but rather as a biblical critique.

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Please, pray for this channel and for anyone discussed in the video. And if you're looking for teaching resources or trying to find a new church, check out the teaching ministries and church networks linked in the description.

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And by God's grace, let's move forward joyfully, holding to the truth of God's Word. Thank you so much for watching that video.

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