Christianity in Crisis
A book which warns of false teachers
Imagine browsing in your local bookstore and reading statements like: You don't have a God in you, you are one. God cannot do anything on this earth unless we give Him permission. Satan conquered Jesus on the cross. Being poor is a sin. There will be no sickness for the saint of God... not even a headache, sinus problem, not even a toothache - nothing.
How would you respond? Past generations of Christians would have been shocked at such blasphemy. The truth, however, is that such statements have become commonplace in the books and broadcasts of a popular cultic movement which has now invaded the church. Under the banner 'Jesus is Lord', these teachers are leading thousands of unsuspecting Christians away from the Kingdom of Christ and into the kingdom of the cults. Christianity in Crisis is a rousing call for the church to take a firm stand for the faith 'once for all delivered to the saints'... while there is yet time to avert a disaster of unimaginable proportions.
This web page contains a portion from the beginning of Hank Hanegraff's paperback ISBN 1-86024-027-5 published by Word Publishing in 1993, and called "Christianity in Crisis".
The book deals with the topic of false teachers. Brother Hanegraff took over the presidency of the Christian Research Institute after the untimely death of Walter Martin whose research into many cults posing as Christian groups is probably for what he is best remembered. Walter served the Lord as a Baptist minister for many years.
Hank Hanegraaff is president of the California-based Christian Research Institute. He answers questions live as host of the 'Bible Answer Man' broadcast, heard daily throughout the United States and Canada.
Walter Martin started 'Bible Answer Man' decades before, I think in New Jersey.
Hank Hanegraaff lives in Southern California with his wife, Kathy, and six children.
The book is published by Nelson Word limited, Milton Keynes, England. ISBN 1-86024-027-5
We publish here, under the "fair dealing" section of the Australian Copyright Act, the introduction to Part One of "Christianity in Crisis", being entitled "Turning the Truth into Mythology"... a prologue, as it were, to chapter 1 which is titled "Cast of Characters".
I have chosen this excerpt, as it shows in a fairy-tale format, how easy it is to distort the gospel. The words are those of the book's author, to illustrate this.
He ties each reference back to a provable quote, given in public, by verbal address, or in print, or both, by one of these so-called apostles or prophets of the Word of Faith Movement.
If you doubt this claim, please obtain a copy of the book from any Christian bookstore, details being above. I have followed up some of them and have no reason to believe those I have not followed up are false. In any event, those which I have followed up - for example - "men being little g gods" - is sufficient to show that they are teaching heresy.
This prologue is prefaced thus... "The following tale is a composite of the erroneous teachings of individuals, Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Frederick Price, and many others.
While not all the Faith teachers hold to every aspect of this tale, they have all made substantial contributions to both the production and the proliferation of these aberrations and heresies."
[Ed Note] One should first clarify the term Faith teachers.
TURNING THE TRUTH INTO MYTHOLOGY
By this meant a teacher using the doctrines of the Word of Faith Movement.
Now let us begin this, in true Fairy Tale style....
Once upon a time, long long ago, on a faraway planet, (1) there lived a good God.
This God was was very much like you and me - a Being who stands about 6'-2" to 6'-3", weighs a couple of hundred pounds, and has a hand span of about 9 inches. (2)
God's wisdom and power were so great that He could visualise beautiful images and then turn them into reality (3) by utilising a special power called the force of faith. (4)
One day this God had a cosmic brainstorm. He decided to use the force of His faith to create something superb and special. (5)
He decided to bring a whole new world into existence. (6)
This was not going to be just any old world; it was going to be the most fantastic world imaginable. In fact this world would become so wonderful that it would feature an exact duplicate of the Mother Planet where God lived. (7)
After carefully visualising every detail of this wonderful world, God went into action. Releasing the force of His faith like a whirlwind, God spoke into existence the planet He saw in His mind's eye. (8) And was God excited! Looking down with fondness on this classic new creation, He named it planet Earth.
But this was only the beginning. Suddenly a host of brilliant new ideas began to flood God's creative consciousness. He began to visualise vast oceans springs abounding with water. He saw magnificent mountains and fertile fields. His mind produced flashes of thunder and lightning. Plants, flowers, and trees blazed in rapid succession through His thoughts. God began to visualise life replete with beautiful birds and creatures of every size and shape.
Yet there was much more to come, for after five days of vivid visualisations, God's mind moved into yet another dimension. On day six, in His mind's eye, God saw the crowning jewel of His creation. As the details coalesced in His mind, God suddenly found Himself focused on an exact duplicate of Himself. (9)
So God spoke, and suddenly out of the pristine soil of planet Earth there arose another god - a god spelled with a small "g", but a god nonetheless. (10) As the image of this little god (11) took form, God saw that He had outdone Himself. For there, before His eyes, stood another god - with a body just like His own, including size and shape. (12)
God finally had done it! He had thought the unthinkable, and by His Word of Faith had created a creature that was not even subordinate to Himself. (13)
But was God ever glad, for now He had a colleague whose nature was identical to His own - a god who could think like Him, be like Him, and do almost (but not quite) everything that He could do. God called His carbon copy "Adam", and gave him complete dominion and authority over the entire creation. (14)
This creature had so much power that his Creator could not do anything in the realm without first obtaining his permission. (15)
Adam was truly a super-being! He could fly like the birds and swim underwater like a fish. And that's not all. Even without a space suit, Adam could fly through the universe. In fact, with a single thought, he could transport himself to the moon! (16)
Yet, even after creating a super-being like Adam, God was not fully satisfied. Somehow He just knew that a piece of the puzzle was missing. So, putting His mind into action, God began brainstorming once more.
In a flash it dawned on Him Adam was made in His image, so obviously he must be as much female as he was male. So why not separate the male part from the female part? Not willing to waste a single moment, God charged into action! Causing a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, God opened him up, removed the female part from the male part, and made a being of surpassing beauty. He made woman - man with a womb - and called the womb-man "Eve" (17)
But this time God had gone too far, for He had brought into existence the very beings who would one day get Him thrown off the new planet He had created. As incredible as it may seem, these super-beings would one day turn on their Creator and relegate Him to the status of the greatest failure of all time.
You see, long before God had visualised planet Earth into existence, He had also created another world full of beings called angels.
One of these angels was a being of such breathtaking beauty and brilliance that he was named "Lucifer", the Morning Star.
Lucifer had great ambitions. In fact, he wanted to take control of everything God had ever created; he wanted to become exactly like the Most High.
Lucifer tried to overthrow God with the power of words, but ended up losing. (18) Because of his treason, Lucifer was cast out of heaven and was renamed "Satan", the deceiver.
Tumbling from the Mother Planet where God lived, Satan landed on the replica that God had spoken into existence. He landed on planet Earth, where Adam and Eve would one day live. There he lay in wait for the opportunity of the ages, the opportunity to get back at God.
And then, one day, opportunity came knocking. Not long after God had brought Adam and Eve into existence, Satan spied them standing naked in the middle of the Garden of Eden.
Satan instantly transformed himself into a serpent and cunningly tricked the two little gods into committing cosmic treason. For the price of an apple, Adam and Eve sold their godhood to Satan. And the Devil, through Adam, became the god of this world. (19)
Alas, not only did Adam and Eve lose their nature as gods, but they were infused with the very nature of Satan. (20) Adam had become the first person to be "born again"; he was "born" with the nature of God and "born again" with the nature of Satan. (21)
In one blinding instant, the first man and woman were transformed from divine to demonic, becoming susceptible to sin, sickness, suffering - and more importantly, spiritual death. In fact, Eve's body (which was originally designed to give birth out of the side), underwent a radical transformation. From that moment on, she and her female offspring would bring forth children from the lower region of their anatomies. (22)
In that fateful moment, Adam and Eve were barred from Eden and God was banished from the earth. Satan now had legal rights to the earth and all her inhabitants, (23) and God was left on the outside desperately searching for a way to get back in. (24)
God, in a flash, had become the greatest failure of all time. Not only had He lost His top-ranking angel as well as a third of His other angels, but now He had also lost the first man, the first woman, and the earth and all its fullness! (25)
But God was not yet ready to throw in the towel. Realising that He needed man's invitation to get back into the earth, God immediately went to work. After thousands of years, God finally found a man named Abraham, who took the bait and became the vehicle through which God, if He was lucky, might one day win back the world He had lost. (26)
Through Abraham, a second Adam would eventually come, who, if all went according to plan, would return to man his godhood, and to God His good earth.
Abraham could well have told God to "buzz off". (27) Instead, he decided to buy into God's deal. In fact, God and Abraham became blood brothers. (28) They forged a covenant that would gain Abraham health and wealth, and regain for God a foothold in the world He had created. (29)
God's plan was to make Abraham the "Father of all Nations" and to produce from his seed another Adam who would regain the turf lost by the first Adam.
In keeping with His Word, God made Abraham very, very wealthy. Then, once again, He proceeded to visualise. Through God's mind raced images of a brand-new Adam - a man who would one day restore Him to His rightful place in the universe, and who would forever banish his rival, Satan, from the kingdom.
And then it happened! One day the image of this Saviour coalesced in God's mind. Without hesitation, God began speaking into existence the picture of the Redeemer He had painted on the canvas of His consciousness. (30) Excitedly, God positively confessed,"The Messiah is coming, the Messiah is coming!" (31)
As God's Spirit hovered over a young woman named Mary, the confession began to take shape before His very eyes. (32) The spoken Word became legs, arms, eyes and hair. And then suddenly there emerged the body of the second Adam. (33)
The second Adam was named Jesus. As Abraham's descendant, Jesus was wealthy and prosperous. He lived in a big house, (34) handled big money, (35) and even wore designer clothes. (36) In fact, Jesus was so wealthy that He needed a treasurer to keep track of all His money. (37)
Jesus, who was a whiz at speaking things into existence, (38) showed His disciples how to master the art of positive confession. (39)
Thus they too enjoyed unlimited health and wealth. Some of His followers caught on so well that they became rich beyond comprehension. The apostle Paul, for example, had so much money that government officials would work feverishly to try to get a bribe out of him. (40)
Jesus also overcame every trick and temptation that Satan could throw His way. Even though He never claimed to be God, Jesus succeeded in living a life of sinless perfection. (41) When all was said and done, Jesus passed the test that the first Adam had failed.
And then, in the prime of His life, Jesus entered a garden - a garden much like Eden, where the first Adam had lost his godhood. In this garden, called Gethsemane, Jesus moved into the final stages of a process that would transform Him from an immortal man to a satanic being (42) and would in turn, recreate men as little gods (43) who would no longer be subject to the scourge of sin, sickness, and suffering. (44)
As part of the process, Jesus would have to die a double death on the cross. He would have to die spiritually as well as physically. If physical death had been enough, the two thieves on the cross could have atoned for the sins of mankind. (45) No, the real key was spiritual death and suffering in hell.
One day, upon a cruel cross, the crystal Christ - the paragon of virtue - was transformed into a defiled demoniac. The lamb became a serpent (46) and was ushered into the very bowels of the earth. There Christ was tortured by Satan and his minions. (47) And all hell laughed. (48)
Little did Satan know, however, that the last laugh would be on him. For just as Adam had fallen for Satan's trap in Eden, now Satan had fallen for God's trap in hell. (49)
You see, Satan had blown it on a technicality. He had dragged Jesus into hell illegally. (50) Satan had completely forgotten to consider that Jesus had not actually sinned. Jesus had merely become sin as a result of the sin of others. Alas, Satan and his demonic hosts had tortured the emaciated, poured out, little, wormy spirit of Christ without legal rights. (51)
This was exactly the opening God had been looking for. Seizing the moment, God spoke his faith-filled words into the bowels of the earth. Suddenly the twisted death-wracked spirit of Jesus began to fill out and come back to life. He began to look like something the Devil had never before seen. (52)
There, in the sinister presence of the evil one himself, Jesus began to flex His spiritual muscles. As a horde of whimpering demons looked on, Jesus whipped the Devil in his own backyard. He snatched Satan's keys and emerged from hell as a born-again man. (53)
God had pulled off the coup of the ages. Not only had He tricked Satan out of his lordship by using Jesus as the bait, but He had also caught Satan on a technicality through which Jesus could be born again.
But that's not all. Because Jesus was re-created from a satanic being to an incarnation of God, you too can become an incarnation - as much an incarnation as Jesus Christ of Nazareth! (54)
And, as an incarnation of God, you can have unlimited health and unlimited wealth - a palace like the Taj Mahal with a Rolls Royce in your driveway. (55) You are a little messiah running around on earth! [56)
All it takes is to recognise your own divinity. You too can harness the force of faith. Never again will you have to pray, "Thy will be done". (57) Rather, your Word is God's command. (58)
By using your tongue to speak whatsoever you desire into existence. (59) Then you can live happily ever after on this planet of prosperity.
Well, there you have it - the skin of the truth stuffed with a monstrous lie!
What you will discover as you read on is so horrifying that your natural inclination may be disbelief or even denial.
But I assure you that what I am communicating is not based on hype or sensationalism. Rather it is painstakingly accurate and thoroughly documented.
So prepare yourself as we descend for a while into the kingdom of the cults.
References
As a further word of warning to you my reader friend, please spare a thought for where the infiltration of these teachings has reached.
I live in Australia. We have cross denomination ministries operating in almost every church. Young people go to Youth Alive. Bible studies are frequently the Alpha Course. Worship music is by and large taken from recent Hillsong compositions.
Even if you don't live in Australia, the chances are very real that you are using material that comes from those who teach such weird distortions.
Please go and read my warning page about these, which all fall under the same teaching banner as the above bizarre anti-Christ teachings. Link
Access to my complete site can be made here
Kenneth Copeland
Morris Cerullo
Benny Hinn
Frederick K C Price
Kenneth E Hagin