Kenneth Copeland is reckoned to be a great prophet in the Faith movement circles. In 1987, he prophesied that Jesus never claimed that He was God. His prophecy went like this:
“Don’t be disturbed when people put you down and speak harshly and roughly of you. They spoke that way of Me, should they not speak that way of you? The more you get to be like Me, the more they’re going to think that way of you. They crucified Me for claiming that I was God. But I did not claim I was God; I just claimed I walked with Him and that He was in Me. Hallelujah. That’s what you’re doing.” 23
Since Copeland’s alleged prophecy, a number of Christians have sought to confront him with his error. Copeland has refused correction, and he stands by his alleged revelation. Trying to refute the criticism, he wrote: “I didn’t say Jesus wasn’t God. I said He didn’t claim to be God when He lived on earth …. Search the Gospels for yourself. If you do, you will find what I say is true.” 24
Of course, Copeland’s prophecy did not come from God. Jesus Himself claimed that He was the Messiah and the Son of God while He lived on this earth (Matthew 26:64, Mark 14:62, Luke 22:70, John 5:18, 10:36, 14:9). The Jews had a very clear understanding of what it meant to claim deity. They understood Jesus perfectly well, and they wanted to kill Him for claiming to be equal with God. Thus, Jesus did not leave His listeners in any doubt concerning His claims of deity.
A compromise or outright denial of the status of Jesus as fully God and fully man is something most heresies have in common. This particular heresy, stating that Jesus emptied Himself of deity in the incarnation (when He was born into this world), is known as kinetic theology. It is one of the foundations of the Faith teachings.
Footnotes
23. Kenneth Copeland, Believer’s Voice of Victory, February 1987, p 9.
24. Kenneth Copeland, Believer’s Voice of Victory, August 1988. p 8.
