Hello and welcome again! In recent times, an previous ‘pal’ of ours has popped again up within the information — and now not for a excellent explanation why. Kenneth Copeland has been making waves along with his latest money-making scheme. His involvement within the grifty finish of Christianity ain’t new, although. As we’ll see, his title pops up during trendy fundagelicalism. He couldn’t exist with out the failings working in the course of the underpinnings of his tribe — however he additionally helped create the ones flaws. Lately, let’s have a look at Kenneth Copeland and his grifting griftery — and why he’s trapped in his gilded cage.
Born in 1936, Kenneth Copeland has made himself a family title in fundagelicalism. However now not simply any fundagelicalism. He hangs out within the prosperity gospel finish of the fundagelical pool. There, he preaches that his god completely needs other people to be wealthy, wholesome, and satisfied. All his god wishes is a few signal that believers in reality imply their worship, and the most productive signal there may be of sincerity is a huge donation to his “ministry.”
Many critics have tsked-tsked at his lavish way of life, which contains the usage of personal jets to get round. However there are plenty of different causes to totally despise Kenneth Copeland and imagine him yet-another-fundie-scammer but even so his glaring money-grubbing:
And now, only in the near past, he’s were given his, uh, thumb within the Covid-19 profiteering pie.
Every week or so in the past, this nutjob Kenneth Copeland held a magical-healing consultation. This televised program, “Status Towards Coronavirus,” had him oiling up his hand and lengthening it to the digicam whilst he proclaimed that Jesus would completely heal and give protection to audience who put their arms to their televisions.
Deficient man, he simply can’t close up about right-wing Covid-19 conspiracy theories.
He attempted telling his fans that the sickness is a few roughly vulnerable pressure of influenza, which isn’t true, and that “wholesome other people don’t seem to be demise from this,” which may be now not true. Demonstrating his common incompetence, he mentioned he sought after everybody to wait his church regardless of the outbreak:
“I need you in my church. If we need to move out thermometers. If we discover one with a fever, let’s get him healed appropriate there,” he mentioned. “What when you do get it? Large deal!”
I guess he’s a gradual learner and that the measles outbreak in 2013 didn’t clue him in. In fact, there’s now not one example of a Christian being magically healed of this or every other illness.
As past due as final week, he used to be available in the market stating that fundagelicals’ prayers “have beaten” Covid-19. And naturally, it has simplest gotten worse since this declaration. Oh, and he blames other people’s hatred of Donald Trump for taking away the “divine coverage” he thinks his god had over The usa, which “opened the door” to Covid-19.
He acts like this kind of candy previous man, like hyuck hyuck let’s simply praaaaaaaaaaaaaaay now y’axe, however in his middle, he’s as nasty, evil, vicious, and emotionally-shriveled-up because the worst unhealthy apples in his faith.
Kenneth Copeland’s god is a horrific, evil, punitive, and vicious being — similar to he’s.
However he didn’t simply move slowly out of the faith’s posterior the day before today to take in the lack of information banner.
A few years in the past, he ingratiated himself with a brand new motion in fundagelicalism known as “Phrase of Religion.” If that title sounds acquainted, it will have to! A protracted, lengthy listing of the worst-and-ickiest fundagelical leaders have embraced that motion.
Phrase of Religion started many a long time in the past with E.W. Kenyon, who influenced Kenneth Hagin, Sr., who influenced Rodney Howard-Browne, who influenced the Toronto Blessing hucksters David and Carol Arnott. In his house nation of South Africa, Rodney Howard-Browne himself attended “Rhema Bible Coaching Heart,” itself a part of Hagin’s Phrase of Religion motion.
If truth be told, the timeline we used for our Toronto Blessing sequence if truth be told refers to Kenneth Copeland as a “protege” of Kenneth Hagin!
It’s moderately an incestuous, tangled internet, isn’t it? Attention-grabbing stuff!
“Phrase of Religion” and prosperity gospel are intently comparable. In Phrase of Religion, Christians assume in the event that they title what they would like, then it turns into actual. In that approach, it operates just like New Idea, which resulted in The Secret and different snake-oil techniques, and will even derive from that older philosophy.
Listed here are the primary portions of Phrase of Religion:
I’m simply now figuring out that the Pentecostals I joined as a young person should were into these things beautiful closely. They formally rejected prosperity gospel, however they totally purchased into different main portions of it, particularly the bits about spoken phrases having huge energy.
The large drawback with wingnuts is that they just spiral in a single course: wackier. They don’t ever pull again at the throttle. They just push ahead on it to propel themselves into stranger and stranger territory. No person can rein them again in, as a result of there’s no tether to truth that any of them settle for as legitimate. They simply stay development on their earlier sand-castle of wingnuttery and pushing concepts additional and extra into the perimeter.
When a perimeter thought first seems, it’s frightening and peculiar — nevertheless it has a foundation in precedent, so fundagelicals settle for it. A 12 months or two later, it’s canon. Then, a brand new wingnut seems to push the perimeter out even additional.
Kenneth Copeland helped create that complete mindset, and it’s made him filthy stinking wealthy in addition to given him a humongous quantity of private energy over others. However this ideology additionally created for him a gilded cage, as a result of there’s no preventing the teach now. He has to get out in entrance of each unmarried wingnut thought the tribe comes up with, or the teach will depart him at the back of.
So it’s now not that Kenneth Copeland would possibly even need to smear oil on his hand and shove it at a digicam whilst claiming “Jesus” cares greatly if a Christian Carol-Anns their track.
It’s that if he doesn’t do it, then any individual else will — and the flocks will give that wingnut their cash as a substitute of him. He should forever push the envelope of wingnuttery.
Being trapped in a gilded cage filled with wingnuts may now not occur to a extra deserving individual.
And if his antics alienate much more other people from his faith, such a lot the simpler. Would possibly he fly his freak flag as prime as he can — for the reason that complete international wishes to peer precisely what Christianity’s end-run looks as if.
NEXT UP: Very important oils! See you the following day!
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