Kenneth Copeland’s COVID problem
Although I’ve known about Kenneth Copeland and those like him for some time, it was just four of five years ago that Kenneth really came on my radar with a YouTube Video sent to me by ministry friends, all of us frequent flyers to accomplish our own work and ministry. In the video, which you can see here, Kenneth is talking to Jesse Duplantis about how they must fly on private jets in order to do most of the ‘ministry’ that they are doing, since the airlines can’t get to where they are going. And it was what he said next that caught the ear of those of us who travel on commercial airlines to accomplish our ministry. While talking about being able to wrestle and talk with God, he said that they couldn’t do that on a commercial flight, in this ‘dope-filled world, getting in a long tube with a bunch of demons… and it’s deadly.’
Much to be said here, but I don’t really think Kenneth realized how badly he insulted the very people he’d like to minister to! He just called those that fly commercially demons that work negatively on his heart! OK, thanks for that! In a follow up to my previous post about Kenneth and his kind, which was an introduction to who these ‘pastors’ are and what they believe, I wanted to follow that up with some thoughts I’ve been having for some time. For ANYONE who has fallen for Kenneth and his kind, their false teaching, lies and deception, this is information for you, and it has to do with Kenneth’s proclamations against COVID-19 that we find over the course of two YouTube videos that his ministry has on their YouTube channel.
In this first video from March 19, 2020, Kenneth shares a story about being in bed with his wife, when God begins talking to him with the message that ‘COVID 19 will be over much sooner than you think.’ In the second video, which takes more understanding to really get what he’s saying, Kenneth states, “In the Name of Jesus, standing in the office of the prophet of God, I execute judgment on you COVID-19. I execute judgment on you, Satan, you destroyer, you killer. You get out. I break your power. You get off this nation. I demand judgment on you. I demand. I demand. I demand a vaccination to come immediately. I call you done. I call you gone…. You will destroy through COVID-19 no more. ‘It is finished! It is over! And the United States of America is healed and well again,’ saith the mighty Spirit called Peace, who is also the Prince of War, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Because I like keeping these posts somewhat brief, here are three key things that he says here shows that he does not have a good understanding of Scripture, and shows his true stripes as a false prophet:
- standing in the office of the prophet of God, I execute judgment on you COVID-19.
He should know that biblical prophets didn’t (and still don’t) ‘execute judgement,’ but rather, a prophet’s primary function was to serve as God’s ambassador by communicating God’s word to his people. True prophets never spoke on their own authority, but spoke God’s message to the people.
2. I demand a vaccination to come immediately!
I don’t see anything scripturally that would say that we have the right and/or ability to demand anything from God. This demand seems like he’s missing the ‘He’s God and I’m not’ part of our relationship with God. The closest in Scripture that I think we see to this is Jesus’ teaching in John 15 as Jesus says, ‘If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.’ The key phrase here is that Jesus gives a precondition to us asking Him for something…. We must abide in Him. This is a deep walking with Him and tuning our hearts to his. After we ‘abide,’ we must also make the distinction between demanding from God and asking Him for something. There’s a big difference!
3. I call you done. I call you gone…. You will destroy through COVID-19 no more. ‘It is finished! It is over! And the United States of America is healed and well again!
This second video was posted on March 30th, 2020, relatively early in America’s journey with COVID. Since this proclamation that COVID is over, there have been 6.4million cases and 190,000 deaths. Kenneth clearly does not have the power of God in the way that he thinks that he does. The United States of America is still dealing with a lot of COVID cases…. Still, in September 2020, it is not finished and it is clearly not over.
Two Scripture passages come to mind as I think about Kenneth and COVID. In Matthew 7, in a passage I use often in my ministry about bearing good fruit, Jesus warns us to “beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”[1] Kenneth is most definitely a ravenous wolf, who preys on unsuspecting ‘followers’ and is interested only in his own comfort and gaining more riches. The second passage could not describe Kenneth any better…. Think about the three videos of Kenneth I’ve mentioned in this post as you read from 2 Peter 2:
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.[2]
Kenneth Copeland is a false prophet, following his own sensuality and greed. If you follow him and give any money to his ministry, let me tell you that he is exploiting you with his false words and clear inability to actually hear from God. How do we know his words are false? Easy! They don’t ever come true. It would be like if I demanded of God that right now, ‘I want a cheeseburger to appear in my hands now!’ As we sit and wait, no cheeseburger appears. What would you say? ‘Mike, I don’t think you have the power to demand of God for that cheeseburger,’ Or at the very least, ‘I don’t think God wanted to give you a cheeseburger!’ May we all see his deception and call him out for the false prophet that he is!
[1] Matthew 7:15
[2] 2 Peter 2:1-3